FILM INDEX
Anjelica Huston. 129 mins. Slow-witth Mafia hit-man Nicholson beds and weds his female counterpart Turner. but middle-aged bliss is not to be his. She has besmirched his family name with a double-dealing casino scam and nobody. not even relatives. violates the code ofthe Prizzis with impunity. Skilful black comedy directed with a veteran's assurance and distinguished by a rogues"
J gallery of performances. Glasgow: GFT.
I Problem Child (PG) (Dennis Dugan. US. 1990) John Ritter. Michael Oliver. Michael Richards. Gilbert Gottfried. Amy Yasbeck. 81 mins. Adopted and
returnedthirtytimestotheorphanage.
Junior is a troublesome child. a monster for foster parents. .\'ow yet another hapless couple (Ritter and Yasbeck) have
taken him into their home. and all hell is
going to descend upon them. Flippant—if funny — comedy on what would. in other hands. be a serious topic. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: L'Cl. Strathclyde: L'Cl
, Clydebank.UC1 East Kilbride.
I Psycho ( 15) (Alfred Hitchcock. LS. 1961)) Anthony Perkins. Janet Leigh. Vera Miles. John Gavin. Martin Balsam.John Mclntire. 109 mins. Hitch'smisogynistic masterpiece has a young secretary take off to hicksville with a bagful of her boss‘s money. Unfortunately for her she chooses to put up at the Bates' Motel. run bythat nice Norman boy. The ironic dialogue (‘Mothcr‘s not quite hcrselftoday‘) make it a joy to catch anytime around. We liked it didn't we mother. . . mother‘.’ Glasgow: GFT.
I The Secret Garden (PC) (Fred M. Wilcox. US. 1949) Margaret O‘Brien. Helen Marshall. Gladys Cooper. 92 mins. Sumptuous MGM adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel about a young orphan girl staying with her crotchety uncle. Director Wilcox later went on to make forbidden l’lmiei. Glasgow: G FT.
9 .Au 15.0,.
Now Showing King Of New York 1.
4.30, 6.45, 9.00pm L A 1’ E N l G H 'l’ S All at 11.15pm Thursday June 27th Ghost 12 81 Ghostbusters 90
Friday June 28th Nikita 1e 81 Gloria 15 Saturday June 29th Flatliners 15 81 Angel Heart 18
Friday July 5th Wild At Heart 18 8. Blue Velvet 18
Saturday July 6th imi Hendrix Double Bill 15 81 Withnail 81 l 15
SUNDAY- MATINEES
Sunday June 30th at 2.00pm An American ln Parisu 81 Gigi re Sunday July 7th at 2.00pm Beauty And The Beast (La Belle Et La Bete) Po
The Singing Ringing Tree u
office. launching director Ruben into the
; including The .S'repfurher and True anything other than gripping
i Strathclyde: L'C‘l Ciydebank. WMR Film 1 (‘entre
Cannes is set in Argentina after the
I Silence 01 The Lambs ( 18) (Jonathan E Demme. L'S. 1991)Jodie Foster.
Anthony Hopkins. Scott Glenn. 119 mins. Following a series of horrific serial
murders. imprisoned psycho-killer
Hopkins is released to help Foster and Glenn‘s FBI agents track down the culprit. Adapted from a novel by Thomas Man/nutter Harris. Dcmme's film version is a subtle but scarey suspense shocker. with two excellent performances and great narrative drive. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Odeon. Salon. Edinburgh: Odeon.UC1. Central: Allanpark. Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburne. Odeon Ayr, Odeon Hamilton. La Scala. UCI Ciydebank, UCI East Kilbride.
I The Singing Ringing Tree (L‘) (Francesco Stefani. East Germany. 1958) 73mins. imaginative adaptation of the Grimm Brothers' tale. in which Princess Thousandbcauty‘s suitor prince has the
' unenviable task ofsupplying her with said ' vegetation in order to win her hand.
Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Sleeping With The Enemy ( 15) (Joseph Ruben. US. 1990) Julia Roberts. Patrick Bergin. Kevin Anderson. 115 mins. Hollywood's hottest female star isonce again the centre of attention in this effective thriller about a woman driven to desperate steps to avoid her psychopathieally violent husband. The delicate — not to say socially important— subject matter is approached with as much ;
sensitivity and responsibility as can be
expected from Hollywood. and the film has done very healthy trade at the US box
big league after a string of minor hits
Believer. L'ltimately. though. the film is too light and glossy to be taken seriouslyas :
entertainment. Edinburgh: 11(‘1.
ISur(15) (Fernando Solanas.Argentina. . 1988) Sus Pecoraro. Miguel Angel Sola. I Philippe Leotard. 119 mins. Solanas‘ winner ofthe 1988 Best Director award at collapse of the military junta. and follows one released prisoner's efforts to be reunited with his wife and reconciled to
the haunting memories of the past. (ilasgow: (il'vi‘.
I Tatie Danielle ( 15) (litienne (‘hatilieL France. 199ll)'1‘silla ('helton.(‘atherine Jacob. Isabelle Nanty'. l 111 mins. 'l‘he apparently charming old dear with her dog (ianle-u-vous and her belcagurcd housekeeper ()dile proves to be far from charming. particularly after her relations decide to move her w ith them to Paris. ()nee there. her malicious ways grind their innate bourgeois decency to powder. until she meets her nemesis . . . It allsounds rather enjoyable. and (‘helton's performance in the title role is a joyous creation. but a sadly predictable and underw rought structure take the bite out
of a promising-looking satire from the director of Life Is A Long QuietRii-er. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
ITime OiThe Gypsies ( 15) (Emir Kusturida. Yugoslavia. 199(1) Davor Dujmovic. Bora Todorovic. Ljubica Adzovic. Sinolicka Trpkova. Elvira Sali. 142 mins. in a rough but fecund Yugoslavian gypsy community. young Pcrhan (Dujmovic) lives with his grandma and aspires to marry Azra (Trpkova). but is too broke. When the mysterious Gypsy Sheik Ahmed (Todorovic) arrivesin town. he sees a chance to better himself. and returns with him to Italy fortutoring in dirty dealings. Tecming with life and spectacularly scored. this is a gritty. brutal comedy: epic in scope and hugely enjoyable. (ilasgow:(iF1‘.
IToo Hot To Handle ( 15) (Jerry Rees. USA. 1991) Kim Basinger. Alec Baldwin. Robert Loggia. Elisabeth Shuc. 117 mins.
T00 HOT T0 HANDLE Too Hot To Handle (15) (Jerry Rees,
us, 1991) Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, 1
Robert Loggia, Elizabeth Shue.117 mins. Bedevilled with acrimonious disputes between the stars from the earliest stage of the shoot and with the director eventually ending up in hospital, this ill-fated 403 comedy with music proves remarkable on two counts. First, despite the much-touted torrid goings on between Kim 'n’ Alec, their sexual chemistry seems to have evaporated somewhere between the set and the screen. Secondly, ever-reliable wisecrackmeister Neil
' Simon hits a dubious career-first with a
virtually chuckle-tree screenplay. The date 151948, and grin-happy playboy toothpaste magnate Charley
; Pearl (Baldwin) is on the point of tying - the knot with the daughter (Shue) of top
Hollywood producer Lew Homer (Loggia). Although keen to do the good
i deed, his pals persuade him into one last Vegas bachelor party, in the course r of which he meets and falls hopelessly
in lust with hl-voitage lounge chanteuse Vicki Anderson (Basinger). Aware that her current paramour is none other than crime kingpin Bugsy
: Slegal (a snakelike Armand Assante), f be sneaks back to her place for an
evening of illicit passion. Butwhen the
. irate mobster discovers them in the ' throes of the rumpy-pumpy demon, his
revenge is to marry them off and thus
scuttle Charley's future plans.
Performed at gunpoint it might be, but this trip up the aisle is to be only one of many to follow.
Clearly what the makers are after is a would-be classic romantic-comic encounter reminiscent oi the Hollywood 01 old. The problem is that Simon’s central conceit- that despite countless remarriages, Charley and Vicki’s precarious balance of thermonuclear lust and ieisty combativeness is as close to love as they're going to get— simply fails to work. It’s not so much a running gag as a heavy cross beneath which the film crawls along at a snall’s pace. The
tlmespan traverses some eight years
, and. boy, don’twe feel every one of i them. (TrevorJohnston)
From Fri 5 July. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon, UCI. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr, Odeon Hamilton, UCI Ciydebank, UCI East Kilbride.
See review. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: f
Odeon. L'Cl. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton. L'Cl Clydebank. L'Cl East Kilbride.
IThe Unbelievable Truth ( lS)(iial Hartley. 138. 1989) Adrienne Shelly. Robert Burke. (‘hristopher Cooke. Julia .\1c.\'eal. 89 mins. iinigmaticand charismatically performed independent small-tow n romance. which looks like a cross between .larmusch and early (iodard. Young. impressionable Audry (Shelly) falls for shy ex-con Josh (Burke). a titan whose saintly aura belies rumours ofa violent past. As his dark history is unveiled. and Atidry embarks on a lucrative career in modelling. Hartley explores the implications ol truth in the multi-faceted but platitudinous context of modern American society and beyond. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Venus P818i(12)(1an Sellar. UK. 1989) Ray McAnally . Gordon R. Strachan. David Hayman. 92 mins. Affecting adaptation shot on Orkney of Scots writer Christopher Rush‘s impressionisticA 'I'welvemonlli elm/A Day. set in a fishing village in the 195(ls. OneochAnally's last roles casts him beautifully as the sympathetic grandfather of Peter. played by nine-year-old Strachan (who is not to be confused with the diminutive Scottish midfield genius) in this moving study ofa dying community seen through the eyesof a young boy. Glasgow: GFT.
IWhite Palace(18) (Luis Mandoki. US. 1990) Susan Sarandon. James Spader. Kathy Bates. Jason Alexander. 1(13mins‘. Comedy -romance which begins a St Louis diner. where Jewish yuppie Spader (familiar but successful casting) meets older fast-food waitress Sarandon. An unlikely. cross-class affair ensues. which allows Mandoki not only to indulge in a predictable but stickily enjoyable love
story. but also provides the backdrop for observant. witty satire on the largely ignored L'S class system. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I White Fang (PG) (Randal Kleiser. ['S. 199(1) Klaus Maria Brandauer. Ethan Hawke. Jed the dog. Bart the bear. 1(l9 mins. Jack London's classic adventure yarn set in the cold wastes of the Klondike. brought to the screen again by Disney 's 'l‘ouehstonc subsidiary . A satisfying version with a strong cast and excellent use ofbleak Alaskan locations. fidinburgh: Dominion. ()deon. 1’('l. (‘entralz Regal. Strathclyde: ()deon Ay r. La Scala. 1‘('l (‘1ydeoank.L.'(‘1 liastls'ilbride.
IWildAt Heart ( 18)(David Ly nch. 178. 1991)) Nicholas Cage. Laura Dern. Diane Ladd. Willem Dafoe. 127' mins. Lynch‘s much-hyped (‘annes prize-winner turns out to be weird and wondrous in itsown way. if not quite as cohesive as the earlier Blue Velvet. Cage and Dcrn are the energetic young lovers on the run. pursued by ultrastrange hitman Dafoe on a sometimes comic. sometimes disturbing. trail towards the ultimate rendezvous with Elvis and the Wizard ofOz. Aside from lovingly detailing the pernicious influence
of pop kitsch upon our very consciousness
however. the movie isn't really about anything. even ifit is a helluva trip. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Withnall 8: I ( 15) (Bruce Robinson. CK. 1987) Paul McGann. Richard E. Grant. Richard Griffiths. 1117 mins.Two out-of-work actors surviving 1969 London ' giro squalor take a break in a picturesque
Lake District cottage. where one ofthem
suffersthc attentions ofthe ageing i homosexual owner. Reasonably i entertaining British comedy witha I tendency to rely on the all-too-easy targets l ofdrug-taking and gay stereotyping forits humour. Edinburgh: Cameo.
32 The List 28June— 11 July 1991