INDEX FILM
milestone in Hollywood drug movies. Strathclyde: UCI East Kilbride.
I DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (U) (Bob Hatchcock. US. 1990) With the voices of Alan Young. Terence McGovern. Russi Taylor. Christopher Lloyd. 90 mins. The first release on Disney‘s ’Movietoons‘ subsidiary is a feature-length development ofthe
Duck Tales cartoon series seen on US television. It stars Scrooge McDuck , who. with his nephews Huey. Dewey and Louie, foils the evil Merlock and gains the long-lost booty of Collie Baba. One for the kiddies. Edinburgh: Odeon. UCI.
I Easter Parade (U) (Charles Walters, US. 1948) Fred Astaire. Judy Garland, Ann Miller. 109 mins. Astaire, true to type, plays a song and dance man on the look-out for a new partner. Enter Garland stage left. and the result is an enjoyable if lightweight musical that brings together Hollywood‘s top genre stars for the first and only time. A film that lives forits Irving Berlin numbers. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I The Edge of the World (PG) (Michael Powell. UK. 1937) Niall MacGinnis. John Laurie. Belle Chrystal. 81 mins. Powell‘s first major feature was shot on the wild remote landscape of Foula in the Shetland Isles. Inspired by the evacuation ofSt Kilda, the narrative charts how the struggle to survive breaks down even the closest of friendships. Powell returned to the project in 1978 to add new footage for a BBC version, but the enterprise only proved that his original material and imagination had stood the test oftime. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Emerald Forest (15) (John Boorman, US. 1985) Powers Boothe, Charley Boorman, Meg Foster. 113 mins. The young son of an American engineer working in the Amazon jungle is kidnapped by an Indian tribe. After ten years' search, his father tracks him down. but he has been raised by the tribe as one oftheir own. Inspired by actual events,
THE HARD WAY
The Hard Way (15) (John Badham, US, 1991) Michael J Fox, James Woods, Stephen Lang, Annabella Sciorra.111 mins. As Brian De Palma’s disastrous Bonfire of the Vanities illustrated, poor casting can destroy a film’s credibility from the outset. By the same token, an inspired choice of actors can transform a routine mainstream movie into a classy popular entertainment. Witness this clever variation on the mis-matched buddy cop movie scenario, which pairs abrasive sleazeball James Woods with silky-smooth light comedian Michael J. Fox.
Woods' tough NYC cop John Moss is mightily pissed off when he’s landed with spoiled Hollywood film star Nick
Lang (Fox) - star of vacuous fantasies like Smoking Gun II -who’s researching his next on-screen role. Inconvenient at the best of times, but quite disastrous when you’re on the trail of a crazed serial killer, the sell-styled party-crasher, who’s been slaughtering nightclubbers all overthe city. As the unlikely duo pound the mean city streets, scoring points and striking sparks off one another, Moss introduces Lang to cop routine and cuisine, while his new partner offers some sensitive pointers on Moss’s strained relationship with his girlfriend, Susan (Sciorra).
The plot is preposterous, full of high speed car chases, contrived situations and expensive shoot-outs, but that’s pretty much the point, because it’s as if the gritty real-life lot of the cop has been jazzed up by some facile Hollywood scriptwriter. In this context, even the shameless plagiarism of the North By Northwest-style cliffhanger finale (this time it’s a billboard high up overTimes Square) is forgivable. Job-ol-work director Badham just keeps the action coming and the inimitable Woods burns with his usual manic energy, but Fox shares the acting honours with an expertly judged performance mercilessly sending up his own screen persona. (Nigel Floyd)
From Fri 3 May. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Boad, Cannon The Forge, Cannon
Sauchiehall Street. edlnburgh: Cannon, UCI.
Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: UCI Clydebank. UCI East Kilbride.
Boorman‘s film concerns itself with the gap betwen ‘natural' and ’civilised‘ man. and the destructive effect of modern technology upon the unspoilt environment and man‘s relationship with nature. The stunning visual grandeur takes precedence over an occasionally ropey narrative in a serious action movie typical of the director. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Environment Is Your Business A programme of videos showing how environmental concern can be economical (especially in the long term) as well as good for the health and the conscience. Includes ‘Grime Goes Green' and ‘Environment Now: Profit Or Penalty‘. Followed by a short talk by March Consultants, who specialise in environmental auditing. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Exorcist (18) (William Friedkin. US. 1973) Linda Blair. Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. 110 mins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little obsessed girl in this hugely effective scarefest. Dead good, dead scarey. dead priest.
; Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I Expresso Bongo (PG) (Val Guest. UK, 1958) Laurence Harvey, Cliff Richard. Sylvia Syms. Yolande Donlan. Hermione Baddeley. 111 mins. In the days when Cliff really was as young as he looked (fnarr, fnarr.’). he starred in this rather spunky adaptation of Wolf Malkowitz‘ stage musical. He plays a boy who bonksbongos (though it‘s a purely Platonic relationship) and gets thrust into the limelight by entrepreneurial agent IIarvey. Pretty darned wild! Glasgow: GET.
I Extramuros ( l8) (Miguel Picazo. Spain. 1985) Carmen Maura. 120 mins. A dark and ironic tale of 16th century lesbian lovers in a nunnery. who hit on awizard moneyspinner— faked stigmata. It seems that blemishes from God are a growth industry. however. and things get out of hand. with potentially disastrous effects for the women and their relationship. A
l bizarre and compelling film with the
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Spanish Civil War is POIGNANT, AMUSING and VERY TOUCHING ...SIMPI.Y UNMISSABLE"
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The List 3— 16 May 1991