TELEVISION PREVIEW

Actor Oscar for his I Staptoo And Son Hide V m portrayal of the crusty Again (PG) (Warner w, chat the VHS decks ! blind war veteran £9.99)

with a round.“ of the ; spending Thanksgiving in I On The Buses (PG) “a” “has” magma 5 New York iii the company Classic 70s comedy with

for the shops this 0f, concge boy Chris Reg Varney and the gang

iortnight. I O Donnell. Wordy. in a gloriously dated send- g Worthy. and SlUShil)’ up of the doomed sex

Rental sentimental. this iS lives of randy bus drivers.

I Accidental “3,0(15) ? Cdmmall)’ heavy 0" the ‘She‘s pretty fullupstairs

Dustin Hoffman. Andy ; Yawn filCtOF- (CIC) Stanl' and other infectious

Garcia and Geena Davis ; I splint"! "at" (PG) A I catchphrases feature

star in a comic drama i feeble and rather sad ' prommcmly- (Warner

attempt at screwball £9.99)

ragga 1:323:36 comedy starring Eric Idle I Mutiny On The 3088‘s

. . as a humble broker who (PG) (Warner £9.99) rrzfghc ? discovers he‘s the long- I Holiday (In The Buses

- ' lOSt Duke Of (PG) (Warner £9.99) CGa:ré?aa2:(a&T'fl::/2:2dit Bournemouth. a title _ I Boomerang (15) (CIC (and the $1 million currently usurped. by his £13.99) reward) Hoffman retumq American boss Rick I Patriot Games ( 15)

Moranis. Comedy that (CIC £13.99)

and he's not happy. An entertaining enough caper. if a tad too soft-centred.

remains resolutely broad. I Tommy (18) Ken bawdy. banal and. frankly. Russell‘s typically over-

(Columbia Trim") bOHOCkS- (CIC) the-top version of The I Jack The Bear (15) Who‘s rock opera. which (18) (FOX) was overblown enough Auztralian qkihhmd ? I ma” 0' A "tuna" (18) even before Ken got his (Fox) hands on it. (Polygram

shocker gets a video

. £12.99)

Back in the TV hinterland between the . Larry Sanders Show starring verité 3813:3003 I The meat Rock in: no" 705 and 805, when erin ‘i HalfHoi' king Gary Shandling. In the meantime Russeficmwc Smm‘as the . swindle (18) Overlong Mum consistently topped the ratings we have Seinfeld (BBCZ) in which our Chan'smatic leader of a Pistols shenanigans made and Frank Bough was still allowed on ' hero, Jerry Seinfeld, talks about his life, gang of violent racist (mostly by'MalCOlm screen, a tank-topped japester called 1 his circle of acquaintances and romance skins who declare war on gtc‘l‘arcii) Into a kind of

. - - - - .- ickensian soap opera. Kelly Monteith was allowed to prowl . in that typically American self- their local A31?" (p01 mm £10 99) the nine o’clock slot on BBC2 for a revelatory style. And, against all odds. comlllumly- 1‘ S a _ I Giynfime Shatter ( t s) generous four years or so. i it’S brilliant. Shogkmg agdhpmléocagvc The classic documentary

Monteith was a pioneer in several The show gives off all the right qggfgongm a‘gfiilca“ of the Stones. 1969 senses. He was the first of a whole signals from the opening credits, a hip, ‘remfingg mémny American tour. a dramatic influx of wisecracking Pilgrim Fathers . flip retro sequence conjuring up images ambivalent provides a 1,, record of events leading in reverse, American comics who of Rhoda or The Odd Couple. Like visceral impression of 2 1 Up to the notorious ) crossed the Atlantic to ply their trade in those classic comedies, Seinfeld violence. However . comp'e‘ m roar (18) ;\lta‘Lntlnstzgggzrtowdlleafia Britain. having found themselves revolves around the ‘singles in an disturbing the racial (Odyssey) ($12)] Sam £11 99) . relative plankton in the shark-infested aPartment blOCk’ scenafiov With hinted may 56ml“ the . . I Fume! Young (PG) I cgptain Scarlet Versus waters of American comedy. attendant throwback dating routines. .V'cll’cr is left mm 3 WW} (warmer) The Mysterons (U) peer pressures and sex. Whatss apparent lllSlghtdnlO the gang I Salt On Our Skin (18) Already picking up a cult mentality. (Medusa) (Warner)

from the start is how old-fashioned it I. I We Sketch Artist ('8) following on BBC2. the

frankly reddish one takes

all looks. like a 70s theatre impro (Warner) _ . . cl" Sam's”, as In reality, session, With each characterodeveloping , I crisis la the Kremlin :rl'cn“ nobody wants to supply the ; their oddball idiosyncraSies in f (15) (ClC) mb‘wn mc‘n‘acin , t d I. , t competition with one another. Dialogue j I Out On A limb (PG) Sheila mg“) everythti’ng 99 ' nes- ; is wordy, solipsistic and neurotic. There I, i 3 (CIC) (Polygram £999) ' f are no straight guys, which would be ' I Rom." was ('5) (CIC) B (it Th t . . . I oi oi les (18) (CIC) I ""9" ° ; anathema in British comedy where the I cybogg“ (l8 Mysterons From Mars (U) S h . . . d A . m i bulk of the cast are invariably (P01 r211) ) (Polygram £9.99) .uc Is our Ingram? memOp e i cardboard stooges. ln Seinfeld, as in . yg i I The Fugitive (PG) TWO attitude that we routinely accept that a . I National Lampoon S - , t f ; reality. nobody wants to supply the i Loaded weapon | (PG) CP‘SOdLS 0“ “Ch tape 0 any Yank gag-merchant has to be 1; feedJineg . (Guild) the classic 60s drama worth. oh at least a couple of stints on g ' ' starring David Janssen as Channel 4 and an Edinburgh Fringe E ' M4; I The cum m The, , a wrongly-accused man . i I camosau' A ; Dragon Th6 late g“,le .n from lice and showcase. Hence the likes of Ruby A “block horror black 3 Bruce Lee stars as a kung “in”! g . WaX. Mike McShane. Greg Proops and ‘comedy ghee of j fu hotshot with a bad case WWW“ ‘.‘"k“'.N°w 3‘ Denis Leary. who probably couldn’t get ‘Such Is our ingrained dinoman‘ia produced by . of pre-menstrual tension. d arrested in the land of the free-market. I Amorlcophlle attitude that we Bmovie maestro Roger I (Warner). ‘(Scrccn Entcr‘minmcm' come over here, steal our stages, our Corman. Diane Ladd 3 _ £17 99 meh [a e) TV slots and probably our women (wen routinely accept that any Yank plays a naughty geneticist E Sell through I o." The A" vtvuhmsl not Wax I grant you), a“ the Will] a deranged mission 1 I Carry tin Columhus and (Screen while laughing up their sleeves at the Oil at IOBSt a OOIIPIB 0i stlnts I: ""lifiqg a lethal: "ms, 4 (PG) Afdlsfippc‘f'mngo Entertainment £12.99 . , - t at W] estroy umanity i return or t c any n .ach m t _ :$:%§;::::r;h3 lLbuty a-lOb 10‘ Of on Channel 4 and an Edlnhu'gh and replace it with a new genre features Jim Dale of LI Shea: (15) (Feature . k d e an er‘ no Fringe Showcasa.’ strain of prehistoric the old bunch as the title Film Company £12.99) question‘s ‘35 c ' . . dinosaurs. Only two 1 character. supported by a I Death In Brunswick Monteith 8 other innovation was people stand in her way: 5 posse of the ‘alternative‘ (15) Sam Neill (the surly attempting to import a peculiarly cynical janitor Doc Smith. I crowd. including Alexei prof in Jurmm-c park) American, and resolutely old-fashioned and the beautiful. if , Sayle. Julian Clary and stars in a knockabom for-mat to British comedy. Essentially, unfortunately-named. Tony Slattery. (Warner black comedy from Monteith was himself, a less-than- After one episode my favourite is Thrush. (First £10.99) Australia. He plays a scintillatin comedian who [a ed out already Kramer, the an 1 semi- Independent) 1 I "'9 PW" m a“ ('5) nightclub cook in g. p y . . g gy lWildWosmsn/ie '(Wamer£1099) - half-hour episodes from his life for us PSYChOth "ClgthUf With a - . . l ' Melbourne Who Slup'dly , , , Commitments goes I The Mambo Kings ( 15) hm in love with the every Tuesday evening. It was fleshed- pathological enthusrasm for cantaloupe country and eastern in [his v (Wilmer £10.99) b‘m‘“ irlmend and even 09‘ Stanfl'up bit-510.31”, tOPPeq 311d from 10.6.5 SUPerntakat-' Seinfeld exuberant British comedy 1 I The California Solution méicistgupidly. ' tailed With Monteith at the microphone. scores direct hits wrth its depiction of about a Southall Asian 1 (p0) (screen accidentally kills the Comedy verité was the insiders’ term, everyday mundanities like the recipient Country band and their ! Entertainment £12.99) 1 kitchen help, After that, although less generous observers may of a wrong number call hanging up quest for unlikely I Tom Mitt JO"! 0" 3 things get progressively have preferred comedy of the banal. without telling the caller how he dialled Stardom Sharp; funny and l Para“ (U) more chaotic and . Whatever the terminology, it proved incorrectly. or your neighbour insisting (emismngly 0’13"”! “um I (MGM/Warner £899) disgusting (Eleath surprisingly popular you try hig cantaloupe .Go on try starringNaveen Andrews 1 I Tom And Jerry Cartoon pictures £15.99) ' , , . , , ' , , and Santa Choudhury. Cavalcade (U) I seven songs For Fifteen or so years later. American some . No , Go on , ‘No , ‘Go on , - . . . . 1 , , , (First Independent) (MGM/Warner £8.99) V Malcolm x (p6) (Hecmc producers still adore this format. No . Yes , Oh, OK . 1 love that guy. I Scam 01 A woman (15) I supra And Son (po) 3 Pictures £999) oming soon to our screens is The (Tom Lappin) Al Pacino won the Best (Warner £9.99) 1

88 The List 8-21 October 1993