FILM LIST
INDEX
0 This section aims to provide a review of every film to be seen in central Scotland overthe next iortnight. For programme times see individual cinema listings.
U - Universal, suitable torall ages.
PG - Parental Guidance suggested as some scenes may be unsuitable for
1 younger children.
15 - No-one underthe age of 15
f admitted.
18 - No-one underthe age oi 18 admitted.
0 Arts Council Film and Video New Prizewinners(15)11(1mins.A programme ofeight prize-winning films and videos submitted to a new Arts Council scheme sponsored by Television Services International PLC. An exciting opportunity to see the best ofcurrent British independent film-making given the channel it deserves to reach a wider audience. Positive proof that our native cinema does not begin and end with David Puttnam. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
o The Ambassador ( 18) (J. Lee Thompson. US. 198-1) Robert Mitchum. Ellen Burstyn. Rock Hudson. 95 mins. Mitchum is Peter Hacker the American ambassador to
l Israel who has his own very clear
ideas about how to bring peace to the Middle East. However when he arranges a desert meeting with the PLO he is led into extremist conflict. kidnapping and blackmail. Hudson’s final film is a pedestrian. old-fashioned drama in which he plays a security chief. Glasgow; Rio. Strathclyde; Rialto. Dumbarton 0 Angels With Dirty Faces (PG) (Michael Curtiz. US. 1938) James Cagney. Pat O‘Brien. Humphrey Bogart. 97 mins. Two childhood friends develop diverse associations in adulthood; one becomes an idolized gangster the other a priest. However in death he redeems himself. Time has not withered this Warners classic nor staled the infinite delight ofCagney's audacious. conclusive screen charisma. Glasgow: Grosvenor e The Ballad oiNarayama (18) (Shoei Imamura. Japan, 1983) Ken Ogota. 129 mins. In a remote mountain community. the villagers live out their existences to a set ofseemingly harsh laws — voluntary death at seventy to make way for the next generation, and marriage only permissible for the eldest son in each
'i
family. 1983 Cannes Grand Prix winner is a frighteningly realistic portrayal of human survival in a hostile environment. capturing evocatively the rhythm of the seasons. and infused with a shockingly earthy sexuality. Glasgow: GFI‘
0 Beverly Hills Cop( 15)( Martin Brest.US.1985)Eddie Murphy. Judge Reinhold. John Ashton. 105 mins. A downtown streetwise Chicago cop is out of his element but never out of his depth investigating a friend's murder in tip-market Los Angeles. Murphy reigns supreme in this well-paced slice of entertainment.
0 The Chain (PG) (Jack Gold. UK. 1984) Denis Lawson. Nigel
— DEFENCE orrH
Delence oi the Realm (pg) (David Drury, UK, 1985) Gabriel Byme, Greta Scacchi. Denholm Elliott. 96 mins. Delence oi the Realm is that rare cinema creature, a contemporary British thriller. Gabriel Byme stars as a Fleet Street hack whose scandal story linking the KGB, a call girl and an opposition M.P. leads to the iatler’s resignation and much mutual back-slapping at the circulation-boosting success of what he has achieved. One man who remains sceptical is senior reporter Denholm Elliott, a friend oi the disgraced MP, and, when he dies in mysterious circumstances, Byme is alerted to a larger story simmering beneath the iaise front of his hollow triumph.
Co-producer Lynda Myles hopes that Defence of the Realm will follow the honourable tradition of lilms like 3
Days at the Condor and illustrious V Corpses.London Film Festival Director 3 and Guardian illm critic Derek Malcolm i
Hawthorne. Billie Whitelaw. Warren Mitchell. 100 mins. Seven groups of people. each one symbolic of a deadly sin. shift house one day in London assisted on their way by the ruminations of philosphic removal man Mitchell.
A formidable cast enlivens this overly schematic. unavoidably episodic. but otherwise inoffensive British comedy-drama. Glasgow; GET 0 Chuck Jones Highlights (U) A full programme illustrating the master animator‘s handiwork over the past fifty years. Best ofthe best includes the Oscar-winning The Dot and The Line and the vintage Joe Glow and the firefly. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
o Cocoon (PG) (Ron Howard. US. 1985) Don Ameche. Wilford Brimley. Hume Cronyn. 117 mins. Veteran inhabitants of a Florida retirement community discover a veritable fountain ofyouth when they swim in an out-of-bounds pool infested with alien pods.
An engaging central idea is treated with wit. warmth and delicacy but is compromised by the apparent need to appeal to the lucrative youth market in America. Director Ron Howard eschews overt sentimentality and the consummate veteran talents on display afford considerable pleasure but Cocoon
EKREALM
has already described it as
‘taut. . . . .holding the attention with sheer cinematic skill. it ought to I entertain a lot of people and make them think too.’
Edinburgh audiences can be among the ilrst in the country to judge for themselves when the iiim receives a Royal Scottish premiere in aid of the RSSPCC on Wednesday 20 November at the Ddeon in Clerk Street. RSSPCC President Princess Margareth" attend, as will David Puttnam, Lynda Myles, Gabriel Byme and certain Scottish stars. Some tickets may still be available, priced £35 (which , includes a post-premiere reception at the King James Hotel) and the more : ailordable £10. (Allan Hunter). I
i 5 Glasgow; ABC. Sauchiehall Street. Grosvenor. Strathclyde; ABC
fails to fulfil all its early promise.
Edinburgh; Odeon. Glasgow; Odeon. Rio. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock. ABC Kilmarnock. Rialto. Dumbarton. Lothian; ABC Falkirk.
o Detence oi the Realm (PG) (David Drury, UK. 1985) Gabriel Byrne. Greta Scacchi. Denholm Elliott. 96 mins. (See caption review).
0 Desperately Seeking Susan ( 15) (Susan Seidelman. US. 1985) Rosanna Arquette. Madonna. Aidan Quinn. 103 mins. Bored suburban housewife Roberta. looking for escape from her humdrum existence through the personal columns. becomes fascinated with a series of ads ‘desperately seeking Susan‘ and plucks up the courage to spy on the next rendezvous. By a sequence of coincidences she unwittingly swops identity with Susan and her life is changed forever.
Much more than‘the Madonna movie‘ this is a delightful feminist fantasy that can be enjoyed by all. Quirky observation conspires with an offbeat humour to create an unexpected treat.
Edinburgh; Dominion. Strathclyde; Kelburne.
o Doin’ Time (15) (George Mendeluk, US. 1984) Richard Mulligan. John Vernon, Muhammed Ali. 85 mins. Low-brow comedy plummets to a new nadir with this dreadful mish-mash enjoying a quick cinema exploitation prior to a December video release. .
Richard (Soap) Mulligan is the new warden of the John Dillinger Memorial Penitentiary whose tough-as-nails tact‘;s infuriate the once comfortably ei‘trenched inmates. A musical interlude satirising Jailhouse Rock and Presley invokes the catchy lyric ‘All Fucked Up‘, ifyou find that funny then this is the film you’ve been waiting for. Irredeemably abominable.
Kilmarnock. Lothian; ABC Falkirk.
o Educating Rita ( 15) (Lewis Gilbert. ; UK. 1983) Michael Caine. Julie l Walters, Michael Williams. 110 mins. A Pygmalion for the 1980s as chirpy working-class hairdresser Rita enrols in an Open University course and emerges an uncertain independent woman and revivifier of
her dissolute professor. ‘
Willy Russell‘s popular West End
1 hit is competently transferred to film
and although Walters‘
personification of Rita teeters on the
brink ofirritating caricature Caine gives a masterly display ofscreen i acting as the ‘geriatric hippy‘ ofa i professor. Edinburgh; Filmhouse o The Emerald Forest ( 15) (John Boorman. US. 1985) Powers
Boothe. Charley Boorman. 113
mins. The son of an American I
engineer working in the Amazon i i Jungle is kidnapped by an indian tribe while still a young boy. Ten
years later. after a desperate search.
j his father manages totrack him ; down. but he has been brought up by l
the tribe as one of their own and a great gulf has grown between them. Inspired by actual events. John
The List 15—28 November 25