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The Package (15) (Adrew Davis, US, 1989) Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy. Tommy Lee Jones. 108 mins. There’s something distinctly odd about movies made before the opening up of the Berlin Wall and the political changes which accompanied it. Here, the Wall is in the first shot of the movie, and the remainder of the plot rests largely on the kind at divisions between East and West that these days seem lairly outmoded. Hackman plays US army
- sergeantJohnny Gallagher, who's busily leading his patrol along the
wooded perimeter enclosing the location of a high level Superpower security conlerence when his suspicions are aroused by a gaggle of
. sightseers who really shouldn’t be
there. Before he has time to take any iurther action, the local police turn up and take control of the situation because it’s not under us jurisdiction. Later, of course, he discovers that all concerned were indeed imposters, and it's under the weight of such leelings of failure that he takes on his next assignment, escorting the eponymous ‘package’, in the shape of court-martialled soldierTommy Lee
‘ Jones (who’s not quite what he seems
either), back home to sale-keeping in
America. Yet as soon as the pair have crossed the Atlantic, Hackman’s captive manages to slip lrom his grasp, and with two major boo-boos in a row against his name he has no choice but to seek help from the ex-wite, Colonel Joanna Cassidy.
Admittedly, ‘The Package’ delivers the goods on a superlicial thriller level with unilormly adequate performances, but it doesn’t otter a great deal more. Towards the finale Hackman runs around a very similar milieu to the New York streets leatured heavily in ‘The French Connection’, the movie that confirmed his star status in the early 70s, and there are more than a few passing nods to the plot of Frankenheimer’s milestone conspiracy thriller ‘The Manchurian Candidate’. Redundant historical context and knowing cinematic relerences aside however, this particular movie is one that’s likely to come, thrill audiences brielly, and then quietly slip back into obscurity. (Jeremy Clarke)
From Fri 8. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon.
aboard a Soviet subamarine and the NATO sub sent to hunt it down. in response to the plot-spoiling thaw of East-West relations. McTiernan sneakily sets the film a few years back. which can‘t help but render it anachronistic. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Dominion. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.UC1 Clydebank, UC1 East Kilbride. IlntemalAltairs(18) (Mike Figgis. US. 1990) Richard Gere. Andy Garcia. Nancy Travis. 105 mins. In the wake of hisstylish homegrown debut Stormy Monday. British director Mike Figgis makes his Hollywood debut with this stylish thriller. Garcia is a quietly efficient cop working for the internal Affairs Dept. of the LA police . who comes across damning evidence that respected street cop Gere is in fact up to his neck in corrupt activities. and before long the two are at loggerheads in a clash that is to get increasingly personal. Predictable but very flashy cop
fare with remarkably intense performances from the two central protagonists. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride.
I Jean De Florette (PG) (Claude Berri. France. 1986) Gerard Depardieu. Yves Montand. Daniel Auteuil. 121 mins. Provence. during the 1920s. Depardieu's indomitable hunchback struggles against impossible odds to make a success ofhis inherited farmland. unaware that his neighbours are plotting to drive him from his land. Beautifully photographed. with flawless performances. this is a towering tribute to the highest aspirations ofFrench storytelling. A BAFTA winner forthe film ofthe year. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. I Jesus Of Montreal (18) (Denys Areand. Canada. 1989) Lothaire Bluteau. Catherine Wilkening. Johanne~Marie Tremblay. 12(lmins. Hired to revampa
Catholic passion play. M. Bluteau enlists four actors from diverse sources. casts himself as Jesus. and sets to work on a stunningly radical version of his own. Naturally. life begins to imitate art.but don’t expect anything else predictable. because Arcand‘s follow-up to Decline Of The American Empire is chockful of twists. surprises and incisive satire. Finely acted, elegantly filmed and always intriguing. Glasgow: GF'I'. I King 01 The Wind (U) (Peter Duffell. UK. 1990) Navin Chowdry, Jenny Agutter. Frank Finlay. 104 mins. Tunis 1727. and mute stablegroom Agba (Chowdry) finds himself and his beloved Arab steed Sham part of a deal that whisks them first of all to France and thence onwards to England. where horse trainer Edward Coke (Frank Finlay) plansto race the stallion and his daughter Hannah (Jenny Agutter) helps the groom learn to read and write. Occasionally a bit too gushy for its own good. the film is crammed full of performances by respected English thesps (Richard Harris and Glenda Jackson pop up as George 11 and Queen Caroline), which help it glide along quite smoothly. Edifying fare for younger children who haven‘t yet discovered the delights of Freddy and Arnie. Glasgow: Odeon. I The Krays (18) (Peter Medak. UK. 1990) Billie Whitelaw. Gary Kemp. Martin Kemp. 119 mins. The long planned biopic of the terrible twins: Ronnie and Reggie, comes crashing onto the screen. Director Medak opts to imbue their lives with the mythic qualities ofa fairy tale and thereby ignores most of the grisly details ofthcir reign of fear. Whether or not you believe that their sordid tale deserves such treatment. the Spandau siblings do turn in a passable impersonation. despite their love of gazing moodily at the camera. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: Cannon. UCl Clydebank. I Last Tango in Paris ( 18) (Bernardo Bertolucci. France/Italy. 1973) Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider. 130 mins. A young Parisienne meets a middle-aged man with whom she develops an increasingly violent and purely sexual relationship. One of the key films ofits decade. Bertoiucci‘s powerful drama is a meditation on the expression and communication of personal identity through intense sexual contact. Glasgow: Grosvcnor. I Leviathan ( 18) (George Pan Cosmatos, US, 1989) Peter Weller. Richard Crenna. Amanda Pays. 98 mins. This latest entry in the post-Abyss school of underwater sci-fi actually manages to take most ofits inspiration from Ridley Scott‘s Alien. On a deep-sea mining mission the wreck ofa mysterious Soviet vessel, the Leviathan. is discovered. but contact with the unexplained contents of her safe is to unleash a monstrous genetic mutation which picks off the mining crew members one by one. With a tough heroine parading around in white underwear and both the production designer and special effects man pilfered from Scott‘s original (which in itself ripped off Fifties monster movies) this is a familiar ride. but an enjoyable one at that. Glasgow10deon. I Little Wizards From 02 Three programmes compile some ofthe outstanding short films made in Australia during the 1980s. The first selection showcases the early work that brought Jane Sweetie Campion to wider attention, while the second gathers together the innovative work of several other Antipodean women film-makers and includes Tracey Moffatt‘s experimental doeu-drama on Aboriginal women Nice Coloured Girls. Among the highlights of the third programme is John Taylor's animated poot comedy The Huge Adventures of Trevor, A Car. and Luigi Acquisto‘s Jarmuschian look at Italian immigrant life Spavenrapasseri. See also
22The List 1— 14June 1990