Valley. Classically drawn and chockful of edifying moral lessons. this is solid entertainment perfectly tailored to the demands of its target audience of very young children. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Central: Regal. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. UCl Clydebank 10. I Licence To Kill (15) (John Glen. UK, 1989) Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Talisa Soto, Robert Davi. 133 mins. The latest Bond flick has Timbo Dalton once more attempting to act himself back into the shoes of vintage Connery and a straightforward though rather low-powered narrative drive that involves the credible machinations of nasty South American drug dealer Sanchez (Robert Davi). As for the lasses. there‘s ‘Plain Old Bimbo‘ bimbo Soto. the Latin playthingof both men, or there‘s ‘Woman of the Eighties' bimbo Carey Lowell, who‘s allowed to have a brain and be feisty; sometimes both at once. In other words, the same old routine, only with more gratuitous sadism and an eye-catching truck chase. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Dominion. Odeon. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank 10. I Little Vera (15) fi (Vasili Pichul, USSR, 1988) Natalya Negoda, Andrei Sokolov, Yuri Nazarov. 134 mins. See panel. Glasgow: GFT. I Mac and Me (U) (Stewart Raffill. US. 1988) Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Ward, Tina Caspary. 100 mins. Mac is in fact an acronym for Mysterious Alien Creature in this kiddies‘ adventure that follows the cute little extraterrestrial‘s earthbound encounters with a gang of four young chums. And yes. it does sound a lot like Spielberg’s ET. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr. UCl Clydebank 10. I Manhattan (15) (Woody Allen, US. 1979) Woody Allen, Diane Keaton. Mariel Hemingway. 96 mins. Woody wanders through the female jungle of New York in search of a perfect soulmate after the demise of his marriage. Sublime comic delight with a soulful Gershwin score. Edinburgh: Cameo. I My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (PG) ( Eric Rohmer, France. 1987) Emmanuelle Chaulet, Sophie Renoir. Eric Viellard. 102 mins. The sixth and final offering in Rohmer‘s series of Comedies and Proverbs focuses on the relationship between computer programmer Renoir and shy civil servant Chaulet as their search for love results in a series of embarrassing romantic entanglements. Typically perceptive and self-assured work from the Gallic master, as usual apparent spontaneity of performance and naturalness of observation creates a deft investigation of life‘s emotional complexities. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Nightfall (PG) (Jacques Tourneur. US, 1957) Aldo Ray. Brian Keith. Anne Bancroft. Ray plays an innocent man implicated in a crime. who takes tothe Catskill mountains to dodge both the cops and a felonous duo who are out to eliminate him. Excellent outdoor locations in this fast-moving gem from expert craftsman Tourneur, whose other thrillers include the splendid Build My Gallows High. Glasgow: GFT. I Pascali's island (15) (James Dearden. UK, 1988) Ben Kingsley. Charles Dance. Helen Mirren. 104 mins. A typically excellent Ben Kingsley stars as a meek but perceptive spy on a small Aegean island in 1908. whose life is disrupted by the arrival of an enigmatic English architect (Charles Dance). The latter may or may not be after some of the island‘s cherishable antiquities, but his romance with the sensuous woman artist (Mirren) whom Pascali himself has long admired helps to spring the diffident Turk into action. Elegant and not overly obvious entertainment boasts attractive locations
LITTLE VERA
Little Vera (15) a (Vasili Plchul, USSR, 1988) Natalya Negoda, Andrei Sokolov, Luidmilla Zaltseva, Yuri Nazarov. 134 mins. In one of the most outrageous scenes here, the eponymous heroine writhes on top of her layabout boyfriend’s body and purrs: ‘You and I share the same goal, communism'. The distanced knowingness of its anti-establishment stance certainly struck a chord with audiences in the USSR, and combined with the film’s unprecedented sex scenes, took it to widespread box office success. flow it arrives in Britain, trailed as the ultimate post-Glasnost movie in Its warts-and-all documentation oi Soviet life.
What comes over most strongly is the absolute drabness of it all. From the dour railway lines and docklands oi the industrial town where the film is set, to the colourless decor of the small flat where the characters live, everything has a desolately washed-out look. The narrative, however, seems to offer a few emotional sparks by way of compensation. While waiting for her higher education papers Vera (Regoda) spends the vacation hanging around with and getting pregnant by the unprepossessing (and unemployed) Sergei (Sokolov), but when he joins her and her parents in their tiny flat, father’s constant vodka consumption is to be the catalyst for violent conflict.
While the insights into the guotidian trudge oi ordinary Russians, and the
and fine performances, but the narrative is never quite controlled enough for the film to move the viewer quite as much as one would like. Glasgow: GFT. I Paths of Glory (PG) (Stanley Kubrick, US. 1957) Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou. 86 mins. Moving portrayal of the madness of war has three men selected for trial for cowardice aftera futile WWI mission unsurprisineg fails. Douglas is superb as the defence lawyer during the court martial scenes, shot on location in the French chateaux. Kubrick‘s lengthy tracking shots through the trenches are among the most effective scenes of battle ever filmed. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Performance (18) (Nic Roeg & Donald Cammell. UK. 1970)James Fox. Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg. 105 mins. A gangster on the run and a famous rock star in seclusion hole up in a London mansion, and amidst a welter of sex and drugstheir two lives begin to intertwine. Fascinating avant-garde-ish mosaic that announced the arrival of two unique directorial talents. though the fragmentary narrative and visual overload make it an uneasy experience. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Planes. Trains and Automobiles ( 15) (John Hughes, US. 1987) Steve Martin. John Candy. Laila Robbins. 92 mins. Hughes relinquishes his position asthe most pertinent commentator on teenage woes and graduates with honours in the side-splitting adult comedy stakes. Martin is a harrassed Chicago businessman desperate to return home from New York for the Thanksgiving celebrations. After a frenzied attempt to catch the last flight home he undergoes a series of increasingly fraught misadventures. Along the way he meets Candy‘s accident prone shower curtain salesman and they inadvertently become travelling companions through treacherous snow, hell. high water and
glimpses of Soviet youth culture in all its desperate tastelessness are of course intriguing, perhaps even shocking, the well worn storyline of inter-generational conflict somehow lends the film as a whole the rather iamiliar air of kitchen-sink melodrama. Yet behind the surface clatter of drink, sex and subtitled swearing, Pichul and his cast manage to convey a sense of despairthat is moving in its universality. The difficulties in communicating with peers and elders, the scant satisfactions offered by the quality of life, the need to anaesthetize it all with drink, all this is humanely conveyed in a way that demands sympathy not disgust. While we may look at this Soviet landscape as if for the first time, these struggling souls are not so far away. (Trevor Johnston)
mutual incompatibility. Predictable and sentimental Odd Couple on the road which is genuinely funny. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (PG) (Paul Boncrz. US. 1989) George Gaines, G.W. Bailey. Matt McCoy. 90 mins. The laff-a-minute boys in blue take on a crime ring in this latest instalment of the series that explores new depths in infantile comedy. They stopped showing these to the press ages ago. So there is a God after all. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank 10.
I Predator ( 18) (John McTiernan. US. 1987) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers. Elpidia Carillo. 107 mins. Arnie and his dirty half-dozen are hired to enter a dense South American jungle to free a kidnapped cabinet minister. but lurking unseen in the foliage is a chameleon-like being waiting to skin alive any unsuspecting human to cross its path. Slow to build. but ultimately gripping macho mayhem with a real sense ofthreat. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road.
I Rain Man (15) (Barry Levinson. US, 1988) Dustin Hoffman. Tom Cruise. Valeria Golino. 114 mins. lmpecunious smalltimc hustler Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) ends up kidnapping his previously unknown autistic savant brother Raymond (Hoffman). when their late father leaves his $3 million fortune to the latter. However. as the two cross America by road genuine feelings of fraternal affection well up between them. The 1989 major Oscar winner is a warmheartcd and touching buddy movie that scrupulously avoids sentimentality. and boasts a detailed performance from Hoffman that skilfully elicits both compassion and frustration. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.
I The Return of The Musketeers (PC) a (Richard Lester. UK/France. 1989)
Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, C. Thomas Howell, Kim Cattrall. 100 mins. The 17th century. Twenty years after their original adventures, the fab Four Muskeeters. (D‘Artagnan, Aramis. Porthos and Athos), re-form to fight against France‘s corrupt new ruler Cardinal Mazarin, who‘s in league with the unscrupulous Justine (Cattrall). the daughter of their former arch-enemy Milady. in planning to depose the boy king Louis XIV and retain cowpkitsmddl'gmmoahhglimbs and a creaking script, one wonders whether the world was really crying out for another Musketeers film, least of all this one. Glasgow: Grosvenor, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Central: Regal. Strathclyde: UCl Clydebank 10.
I Running On Empty (15) (Sydney Lumet, US, 1988) Christine Lhati, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Martha Plimpton. 117 mins. The family of a couple who bombed a napalm factory during the Vietnam war are forced to live on the run. changing names and hairstyles like socks. and sticking together. When Danny (Phoenix) starts growing up and wanting to go his own way, the family must confront permanent separation.
Fine acting and restrained if sentimental plotting make a remarkable. haunting film, which may not be Lumet's best,but demonstrates his determination and ability to engage the audience in questions of social responsibility. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street.
I The Serpent And The Rainbow (18) (Wes Craven, US, 1988) Bill Pullman. Zakes Mokae, Cathy Tyson. 98 mins. Papa Doc Duvalier‘s Haiti. and American anthropologist Pullman investigating the island's voodoo cult comes up against the involvement of the local chief of the Ton Ton Macoute as part of his search for a mysterious drug which is turning people into zombies. Craven, uneasy away from Elm Street. manages to fall between two stools here by not quite knowing whether he's making another effects extravaganza or a film of serious anthropological intent. Glasgow: Grosvenor.
I Shame (15) (Steve Jodrell, Australia, 1987) Deborra Lee Furness. Tony Barry, Simone Buchanan. 92 mins. Asta (Furness) is an independent barrister and a biker. whose motorcycle breaks down while she is travelling through the outback. She finds herself in a small town where a conspiracy of silence is covering up the gang-rape of a young girl. Asta takes on her case and becomes locked in a battle with the sheriff and the whole ofthe town‘s male community for recognition of the crime. Powerful companion piece to The Accused which manages to create a
brooding atmosphere of male threat without resorting to explicit detail. Glasgow: GFT.
I A Summer Story ( 15) (Piers Haggard. UK, 1988) James Wilby. lmogen Stubbs. Susannah York. 95 mins. Tasteful adaptation of a John Galsworthy story has city lawyer Wilby on a rural jaunt falling for attractive peasant Stubbs without stopping to consider the differences in social caste between them. The sort of attractively put together literary movie we British do best, or truly dullsville: it all depends on your personal predilection. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Torch Song Trilogy (15) (Paul Bogart. US.1988). Harvey Fierstein. Anne Bancroft. Matthew Broderick. 1 19mins. The story of Arnold a New York drag queen's search for acceptance of his sexual orientation from his mother (Anne Bancroft) and a steady relationship with his lover (Matthew Broderick). Adapted from the hit stage show with writer Fierstein taking the lead role. it's theatrical roots lead to a succssion ofshurp one liners and knock ‘em dead musical numbers. The result is a heady mixture of laughter and tears. Edinburgh:
Filmhouse.
The List 11* 17 August 1989 75