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***************************************** TOM'S REVIEWS *********** 07/15/04 **************************

FILMS VIEWED OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS:

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Ratings

* * * * * * Must See, An Artistic Great Film. Most Highly Recommended

* * * * * Well Worth Seeing, Good Film. Highly Recommended

* * * * Worth the Effort, Good Film. Recommended

* * * Entertaining, Recommended Rental

* * For Personal Tastes Only

* Not Worth You Time

0 Run!

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AT THE MOVIES NOW

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SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004) * * * * *

Directed by Sam Raimi; written by Alvin Sargent, based on a screen story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon and the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; director of photography, Bill Pope; edited by Bob Murawski; music by Danny Elfman; production designer, Neil Spisak; produced by Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 110 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Kirsten Dunst (Mary Jane Watson), James Franco (Harry Osborn), Alfred Molina (Doc Ock/Dr. Otto Octavius), Rosemary Harris (May Parker), J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson), Donna Murphy (Rosalie Octavius), Daniel Gillies (John Jameson), Dylan Baker (Dr. Curt Connors), Bill Nunn (Robbie Robertson), Vanessa Ferlito (Louise), Aasif Mandvi (Mr. Aziz) and Cliff Robertson (Ben Parker).

Other films by Sam Raimi: Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man (2002), Gift, The (2000), For Love of the Game (1999), Simple Plan, A (1998), Quick and the Dead, The (1995), Army of Darkness (1993), Darkman (1990), Evil Dead II (1987), Crimewave (1985), Evil Dead, The (1981), Clockwork (1978), Within the Woods (1978), It's Murder! (1977)

Peter Parker (Tobey McGuire) can't seem to catch any kind of break. Being Spiderman has brought him nothing but problems as far as his personal life is concerned. Not only that, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is engaged to astronaut John Jameson, and Peter may lose her forever. Things are so bad for him that he is pushed past his breaking point, so he decides that he doesn't want to be Spiderman anymore, until a freak accident transforms Dr. Otto Octavius into Dr. Octopus, a super-villian with four metal tentacles coming out of him. Peter realizes that only Spiderman can stop him, but of course, problems arise. Mary Jane gets caught in the middle, and Harry Osborn, who still blames Spiderman for the death of his father, Norman Osborn, also the Green Goblin, wants him dead. Spiderman will have to push himself past his limits if he's going to survive.

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OUT ON DVD/VHS

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THE 400 BLOWS (LES QUATRES CENTS COUPS) * * * * * *

Director: Francois Truffaut; Producer: Francois Truffaut; Writer: Francois Truffaut, Marcel Moussy (story by Truffaut); Editor: Marie-Josephe Yoyotte; Musical Composer: Jean Constantin; Art Director: Bernard Evein; Cinematographer: Henri Decae; B & W; Production Co(s).: Carosse

Released By: Janus; MPAA Rating: NR; Running Time: 93 minutes In French with English subtitles

WITH: Jean-Pierre Leaud (Antoine Doinel), Claire Maurier (Mme Doinel), Albert Remy (M Doinel), Guy Decomble (Teacher), Patrick Auffay (Rene Bigey), Georges Flament (M Bigey), Yvonne Claudie (Mme Bigey), Robert Beauvais (Director of the School), Claude Mansard (Examining Magistrate), Jacques Monod (Commissioner), Henri Virlojeux (Night Watchman), Jeanne Moreau (Woman with Dog), Jean-Claude Brialy (Man in Street), Jacques Demy (Policeman)

Academy Award Nomination:

Best Original Story and Screenplay - Francois Truffaut, Marcel Moussy

Other films by Francois Truffaut: Confidentially Yours (Vivement dimanche!) (1983), Woman Next Door, The (Femme d'à côté, La) (1981), Last Metro, The (Dernier métro, Le) (1980), Love on the Run (Amour en fuite, L') (1979), Green Room, The (Chambre verte, La) (1978), Man Who Loved Women, The (Homme qui aimait les femmes, L') (1977), Small Change (Argent de poche, L') (1976), Story of Adele H, The (Histoire d'Adèle H., L') (1975), Day for Night (Nuit américaine, La) (1973), Gorgeous Bird Like Me, A (Une belle fille comme moi) (1972), Two English Girls (Deux anglaises et le continent, Les) (1971), Bed and Board (Domicile conjugal) (1970), Wild Child, The (Enfant sauvage, L') (1969), Mississippi Mermaid (Sirène du Mississipi, La) (1969), Baisers volés (1968), Bride Wore Black, The (Mariée était en noir, La) (1968), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Soft Skin, The (Peau douce, La) (1964), Amour à vingt ans, L' (1962) (segment "Antoine et Colette"), Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) (1962), Sad Sack, The (Tire au flanc) (1961), Story of Water, A (Une histoire d'eau) (1961), Shoot the Pianist (Tirez sur le pianiste) (1960), 400 Blows, The (Quatre cents coups, Les) (1959), Kids, The (Mistons, Les) (1957), Une visite (1955)

FROM CINEBOOKS DB: This extraordinary film was the first feature from Francois Truffaut, who was, until its release, best known as a hell-raising critic from the journal Cahiers du Cinema. THE 400 BLOWS is not only one of the foremost films of the French New Wave, but also the first in a Truffaut series that included "Antoine and Colette" (an episode from LOVE AT TWENTY), STOLEN KISSES, BED AND BOARD, and LOVE ON THE RUN.

These films all starred the remarkable Leaud as Truffaut's alter ego Antoine Doinel and span 20 years in this semiautobiographical character's life. Here Leaud beautifully embodies Doinel at age 12, a child more or less left to his own devices by his mother (Maurier) and father (Remy). He gets into trouble at school, runs away from home, and eventually ends up in an observation center for juvenile delinquents.

THE 400 BLOWS--an idiomatic French expression for the limit of what anyone can bear--is a nonjudgmental film about injustice, pain, and the events in a young boy's life that make him the person he is. Neither good nor bad, Antoine is treated with warmth and compassion by Truffaut as a child caught up in a maelstrom not of his own making. The grace and perfection of THE 400 BLOWS has made it the standard against which all films on the subject of youth are judged, and Leaud's portrayal that to which all young performers' are compared.

The film also features Decae's poetic black-and-white photography, and together he and Truffaut offer a glimpse of the freedom that Antoine's life never really affords. Images such as a line of schoolboys snaking their way through the streets linger like pages from a mental yearbook of schooldays. Best of all, though, is the film's famous final freeze frame, in which Truffaut conveys both promise and sadness, and demonstrates that the cinema offers no easy answers to the problems of living.

RIPLEY’S GAME (IL GIOCO DI RIPLEY) (2001) * * * *

Director: Liliana Cavani; Producer: Simon Bosanquet, Ileen Maisel, Riccardo Tozzi; Writer: Liliana Cavani, Charles McKeown (based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith); Editor: Jon Harris; Musical Composer: Ennio Morricone; Production Designer: Francesco Frigeri; Cinematographer: Alfio Contini; Country of Origin: Italy; U.K.; Color; Production Co(s).: Baby Films; Cattleya; Dogstar Films; Mr. Mudd; Released By: New Line Home Entertainment; MPAA Rating: R; Running time: 110 minutes

WITH: John Malkovich (Tom Ripley), Ray Winstone (Reeves), Uwe Mansshardt (Terry), Hanns Zischler (Art Dealer), Paolo Paoloni (Franco), Maurizio Luca (Franco's Assistant), Dougray Scott (Jonathan Trevanny), Evelina Meghnagi (Maria), Chiara Caselli (Louisa Harari), Lena Heady (Sarah Trevanny)

Other films by Liliana Cavani: Ripley's Game (Gioco di Ripley, Il) (2000), Manon Lescaut (1999) (TV), Cavalleria rusticana (1996) (TV), Where Are You? I'm Here (Dove siete? Io sono qui) (1993), Traviata, La (1992/I) (TV), St. Francis of Assisi (Francesco) (1989), Berlin Affair, The (Interno berlinese) (1986), Beyond the Door (Oltre la porta) (1982), Skin, The (Pelle, La) (1981), Beyond Good and Evil (Al di là del bene e del male) (1977), Milarepa (1974), Night Porter, The (Portiere di notte, Il) (1974), Guest, The (Ospite, L') (1972), Cannibals, The (Cannibali, I) (1970), Galileo (1969), Francis of Assisi (Francesco d'Assisi) (1966), Primo Piano: Philippe Pétain processo a Vichy (1965)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Chronologically the third of Patricia Highsmith's five Ripley novels, Liliana Cavani's film transplants the novel's action from France to Italy. Now middle aged and hugely wealthy by virtue of his canny dealings in forged and stolen paintings, Tom Ripley (John Malkovich) is married to pianist Louisa (Chiara Caselli) and has nearly finished renovating a vast country mansion. Invited to a party by local frame maker Jonathan Trevanny (Dougray Scott), who's done some work for him, Ripley overhears Trevanny mocking his nouveau riche taste in interior design. Outwardly unruffled, the seething Ripley awaits a chance to make Trevanny pay, perhaps by exploiting the fact that Trevanny has incurable leukemia and has no means of providing for his widow-to-be, Sarah (Lena Heady), and their small son, Matthew (the singularly charmless Sam Blitz). Ripley's opportunity comes in the form of Reeves (Ray Winstone), an old criminal associate whom Ripley once cheated. Now a Berlin-based club owner, Reeves needs someone to kill a Russian gangster and wants Ripley to do the job; Ripley instead suggests Trevanny, telling Reeves exactly how to manipulate his knowledge of Trevanny's failing health and fear of leaving Sarah and Matthew impoverished. Once Trevanny has become a killer, Reeves bullies him into agreeing to a second murder for hire. But the mercurial Ripley is over the fit of pique that prompted to torment Trevanny, allies himself with his former victim and angles for a way to get Reeves into hot water. The whole sordid situation culminates in a STRAW DOGS (1971) style siege from which only the ever-slippery Ripley emerges unscathed. Though more faithful to the letter of Highsmith's novel than Wim Wenders' THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977), this is a far less successful film. Highsmith's novel is set some 20 years after Talented Mr. Ripley, and while Malkovich is somewhat older than her Ripley, his silky manner, petulant voice and vaguely reptilian gaze make him ideal casting for the charming sociopath in middle age. Unfortunately, he's mired in a film whose tone is consistently off: The supporting performances are pitched all over the scale — Scott is truly terrible — the pacing is sluggish and at least one key sequence, which involves a series of murders aboard a moving train, plays like a demented comedy sketch. Made in the wake of the success of Anthony Minghella's THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999), Caviani's film was acquired by Fine Line Features for US theatrical distribution but eventually debuted on cable television in December 2003 and went to video a few months later. — Maitland McDonagh

TILL HUMAN VOICES WAKE US (2002) * * * * *

Director: Michael Petroni; Producer: Dean Murphy, Mathias Emcke, Shana Levine, Nigel Odell, Thomas Augsberger, David Redman; Writer: Michael Petroni; Editor: Bill Murphy; Musical Composer: Dale Cornelius, Amotz Plessner; Production Designer: Ralph Moser; Art Director: Adele Flere; Cinematographer: Roger Lanser; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: Australian Film Finance Corporation; Instinct Entertainment; Key Entertainment; Released By: Paramount Classics; MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 97 minutes

WITH: Guy Pearce (Dr. Sam Franks), Helena Bonham Carter (Ruby), Frank Gallacher (Maurie Lewis), Lindley Joyner (Young Sam Franks), Brooke Harman (Silvy Lewis), Peter Curtin (Dr. David Franks), Margot Knight (Dorothy Lewis), Anthony Martin (Russ), Dawn Klingberg (Mrs. Sacks), David Ravenswood (Lawyer), Stewart Faichney (Reverend Mortenbury), Diana Greentree (Mrs. Pickford)

Other films by Michael Petroni: Till Human Voices Wake Us (2002), Trespasses (1999)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Taking its title from the final haunting verse of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," screenwriter Michael Petroni's directing debut is like a well-crafted ghost story: It's smart, subtle and deeply romantic. Successful Melbourne psychiatrist Sam Franks (Guy Pearce) makes an unexpected journey into the past when he learns that his late father's last wish was to be buried in Genoa, the sleepy, rural Australian town where Sam grew up. Dr. David Franks (Peter Curtin, in flashbacks) was a cold, distant widower who cared deeply for his late wife but little else. Sam, it seems, has grown up to be a lot like his father and only reluctantly agrees to escort his father's coffin back home. After falling asleep on the train to Genoa, Sam awakes to find himself sharing his compartment with a dark-haired stranger who introduces herself as Ruby (Helena Bonham Carter). Sam is soon after called away by the conductor, and when he returns, Ruby is gone. That night, as he's driving through Genoa's rainy back roads of Genoa, Sam sees her again; this time she's perched on the edge of a train trestle. As an oncoming train whizzes past, she plunges into the water below. Sam jumps in after her and pulls her to shore, but when she awakes the following morning safe in Dr. Frank's old house, Ruby is suffering from total amnesia: She doesn't even remember her own name. The circumstances of Ruby's sudden reappearance in Sam's life further stimulates memories already stirred by Sam's trip home, memories of someone he didn't save: Sam's childhood sweetheart, Silvy (Brooke Harmon), a young disabled woman whose tragic end has haunted Sam through adulthood. The things Ruby says, the word games she likes to play, even the snatches of verse that spring into her mind — lines from "Prufrock" — are uncannily familiar to Sam. It's almost as though Ruby's slowly returning memories once belonged to Silvy. Australian-born Petroni, whose screenplay for THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS beautifully captured the power of adolescent love and loss, deftly balances the probability that Ruby is simply a blank slate onto which Sam is projecting long repressed feelings of guilt and regret with the growing possibility that she's something else entirely. His film obviously owes a debt to Hitchcock's VERTIGO (1958), but it's far from a slavish copy: In Genoa, Australia, Petroni has created an enchanted forest all his own, a dream world in which anything is possible. — Ken Fox

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1969) * * * * *

Director: Martin Ritt; Producer: Martin Ritt; Writer: Guy Trosper (based on the novel by John Le Carre), Paul Dehn; Editor: Anthony Harvey; Musical Composer: Sol Kaplan; Production Designer: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen; Art Director: Edward Marshall; Cinematographer: Oswald Morris; Country of Origin: U.K.; B & W; Production Co(s).: Salem; Released By: Paramount; MPAA Rating: NR; Running Time: 112 minutes

WITH: Richard Burton (Alec Leamas), Claire Bloom (Nan Perry), Oskar Werner (Fiedler), Peter Van Eyck (Hans-Dieter Mundt), Sam Wanamaker (Peters), George Voskovec (East German Defense Attorney), Rupert Davies (Smiley), Cyril Cusack (Control), Michael Hordern (Ashe), Robert Hardy (Carlton), Bernard Lee (Patmore)

Other films by Martin Ritt: Stanley & Iris (1990), Nuts (1987), Murphy's Romance (1985), Cross Creek (1983), Back Roads (1981), Norma Rae (1979), Casey's Shadow (1978), Front, The (1976), Conrack (1974), Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), Sounder (1972), Great White Hope, The (1970), Molly Maguires, The (1970), Brotherhood, The (1969), Hombre (1967), Spy Who Came In from the Cold, The (1965), Outrage, The (1964), Hud (1963), Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962), Paris Blues (1961), 5 Branded Women (1960), Sound and the Fury, The (1959), Black Orchid, The (1958), Long, Hot Summer, The (1958), No Down Payment (1957), Edge of the City (1957),

Academy Award Nomination:

Best Actor - Richard Burton

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (B/W) - Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Edward Marshall, Josie MacAvin

From CINEBOOKS DB: Gripping grit, with a perfect performance from Burton, before Liz and alcohol robbed him of his center.

Spying is a grim, desperate business that is at once boring and exciting, with dirty work behind the scenes and hardly any derring-do. This superb adaptation of John Le Carre's novel artfully conveys that sense. Audiences must have preferred the more glamorous spies like James Bond because this film, which was one of the best ever made on the subject, failed to gather much interest at the box office. Produced and directed by Martin Ritt in Ireland and England, with some second-unit lensing in Europe, the film stars Richard Burton as a burnt-out case, a man who is looking forward to getting out of the spy game and retiring from British Intelligence. Just before he is to leave, Burton is called back to London and put on the carpet. It seems that several of his sub-agents have been caught by Van Eyck, who is Burton's counterpart on the East Berlin side. Van Eyck is a former Nazi who has taken over as chief of operations for the Communists, and his handiwork is putting a crimp in the British operations. Since it is well known that Burton is tired of what he's doing, Burton's boss, Cusack, gives him his final assignment. He is to masquerade as a drunk who wants to defect to the East Germans. If it works and Burton gets inside the Communist operations, he can find out if there is a "mole" in their own organization as well as get the goods on what's happening inside the East German operation.

There are no gimmicks, no fast cars that turn into airplanes, no weapons that fire lasers, just a tense battle of wits shot in stark black and white. The title refers to the time when an outside spy has to "come in from the cold" and take a sedentary job as another spy's control or even some menial desk assignment until the mandatory age limit forces retirement. Only Graham Greene has come close to Le Carre in detailing the emotional drudgery of the espionage world.

THE LADY EVE (1941) * * * * * *

Director: Preston Sturges; Producer: Paul Jones; Writer: Preston Sturges (based on the story "The Faithful Heart" by Monckton Hoffe); Editor: Stuart Gilmore; Music Director: Sigmund Krumgold; Art Director: Ernst Fegte, Hans Dreier; Cinematographer: Victor Milner; Country of Origin: U.S.; B & W; Production Co(s).: Paramount; Released By: Paramount; MPAA Rating: NR; Running Time: 97 minutes

WITH: Barbara Stanwyck (Jean Harrington), Henry Fonda (Charles Pike), Charles Coburn ("Colonel" Harry Harrington), Eugene Pallette (Mr. Pike), William Demarest (Muggsy-Ambrose Murgatroyd), Eric Blore (Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith), Melville Cooper (Gerald), Martha O'Driscoll (Martha), Janet Beecher (Mrs. Pike), Robert Greig (Burrows), Dora Clement (Gertrude)

Other films by Preston Sturges: French, They Are a Funny Race, The (Carnets du Major Thompson, Les) (1955), Vendetta (1950), Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, The (1949), Unfaithfully Yours (1948), Sin of Harold Diddlebock, The (1947), Great Moment, The (1944), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The (1944), Palm Beach Story, The (1942), Sullivan's Travels (1941), Lady Eve, The (1941), Christmas in July (1940), Great McGinty, The (1940)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Sturges's chic, sly little masterpiece of comic seduction. Fonda, who is the son of a wealthy brewer (Pallette, whose slogan is "Pike's Pale, the Ale That Won for Yale"), is a rather shy and backward young man whose main interest is in snakes. As the film opens, he has just spent a year with a scientific expedition on the Amazon, looking for undiscovered species of reptiles. He and his bodyguard, Demarest, board a ship in the Atlantic which will take them back to New York. Of course, Fonda, being young, handsome, and the heir to a vast fortune, attracts the attention of virtually every female on the ship, but he shows no interest in the opposite sex.

Also on board is a team of card sharps, father and daughter Stanwyck and Coburn, and Cooper, posing as their butler. They figure Fonda would make an excellent pigeon, and Stanwyck conspires to gain his trust, which she does. Fonda is quickly smitten with her, and sits down to play some cards with her and her father. He considers himself to be quite the card player, but is embarrassed when he wins $600 from these nice people. Of course, he's only being set up to lose, but before the cons can reel in their prey, they hit a snag. Stanwyck has genuinely fallen in love with the man, much to the disgust of her associates.

THE LADY EVE is one of Sturges' best romantic comedies, with just the right blend of satire and slapstick, the laughs coming mostly from his clever, often inspired comedic lines. His direction is flawless, and the cast, from stars to stock players, performs beautifully. Stanwyck, is particular, is an effortless comedienne. She pitches much of her performance into a kind of hushed, urgent, intimate whisper. When she talks to Fonda, she's constantly toying with him, touching him like a fetish, and she's always in his face, often looking at his lips. Then out snakes a sexy leg--a very sexy leg--and over he topples. There's an unparalleled moment early on, when she narrates his movements, taking his part and every woman's who attempts to trap him in conversation, while watching the action backwards in her compact mirror. It's a daring, roguish display of her talent; one can't imagine any comedienne--even Colbert or Russell--bringing it off as she does. Sturges, who began as a contract scriptwriter for Paramount, promised Stanwyck that he would write a great comedy for her some day, and she got it.

RUSHMORE (1998) * * * * *

Director: Wes Anderson; Producer: Paul Schiff, Barry Mendel; Writer: Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson; Editor: David Moritz; Musical Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh; Production Designer: David Wasco; Art Director: Andrew Laws; Cinematographer: Robert Yeoman; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: American Empirical; Touchstone Pictures; Released By: Buena Vista; MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 95 minutes

WITH: Bill Murray (Mr. Blume), Olivia Williams (Miss Cross), Jason Schwartzman (Max Fischer), Brian Cox (Dr. Guggenheim), Seymour Cassel (Bert Fischer), Mason Gamble (Dirk Calloway), Sara Tanaka (Margaret Yang), Stephen McCole (Magnus Buchan), Luke Wilson (Dr. Peter Flynn), Deepak Pallana (Mr. Adams), Andrew Wilson (Coach Beck), Marietta Marich (Mrs. Guggenheim), Ronnie McCawley (Ronny Blume), Keith McCawley (Donny Blume)

Other films by Wes Anderson: Royal Tenenbaums, The (2001), Rushmore (1998), Bottle Rocket (1996), Bottle Rocket (1994)

From CINEBOOKS DB: Another quirky, hard-to-put-your-finger-on delight from the boys who brought us BOTTLE ROCKET. Geeky 15-year-old Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has cornered the market on extracurricular activities at snooty Rushmore Academy, though he's flunking out academically. And he's got a crush on first-grade teacher Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), whom he pursues with predictable relentlessness. The consummate multi-tasker, Max embraces, ingests, condescends, comprehends and fails to comprehend with incredible ardor. Yet despite the scattered, frantic quality to Max's pursuit of everything -- courting Miss Cross; writing plays based on seminal '70s films like SERPICO, THE DEERHUNTER and APOCALYPSE NOW; engaging in endless activities, from kite-flying to chess club -- he's irresistible. He hasn't lived through his first heartbreak, hasn't suffered adult disappointment and doesn't know the meaning of passivity: He's bursting with a deep enthusiasm for life. Max schemes to impress Miss Cross by building her an elaborate aquarium, but he needs steel tycoon/school patron Mr. Blume (Bill Murray) to pay for it. Blume, tired of his family, his job and life itself, needs someone like Max around and lets the youngster go to town. And Max happily plans activities that bring together his two favorite people, never dreaming that Cross and Blume will begin a relationship. Without being slavish, Owen Wilson and director Wes Anderson's subtle and witty script echoes the themes (and sometimes the look) of Hal Ashby's best films, including HAROLD AND MAUDE and BEING THERE. And Anderson's mise en scene -- heavy on the '70s influences and bolstered by the combination of Mark Mothersbaugh's excellent score and the British Invasion soundtrack -- captures the wistful nature of Max's teenage tumult and outsider's ebullience. A rare comedy that keeps you thinking long after its plot machinations have played themselves out, this film is the product of artists working at the peak of their powers: Let's hope they keep it up. — Sandra Contreras

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (1999) * * * * * *

Director: Anthony Harvey; Producer: John Foreman, Paul Newman (uncredited); Writer: James Goldman (based on his play); Editor: Jerry Greenberg; Musical Composer: John Barry; Production Designer: John Robert Lloyd; Cinematographer: Victor J. Kemper; Country of Origin: U.S.; Color; Production Co(s).: Universal; Released By: Universal; MPAA Rating: G; Running Time: 91 minutes

WITH: George C. Scott (Justin Playfair/Sherlock Holmes), Jack Gilford (Wilbur Peabody), Lester Rawlins (Blevins Playfair), Rue McClanahan (Daisy), Ron Weyand (Dr. Strauss), Kitty Winn (Grace), Peter Fredericks(Her Boy Friend), Sudie Bond (Maud), Jenny Egan (Miss Finch), Theresa Merritt (Peggy)

Other films by Anthony Harvey: This Can't Be Love (1994) (TV), Grace Quigley (1984), Svengali (1983) (TV), Patricia Neal Story, The (1981) (TV), Richard's Things (1980), Eagle's Wing (1979),

Players (1979), Disappearance of Aimee, The (1976) (TV), Abdication, The (1974), Glass Menagerie, The (1973) (TV), They Might Be Giants (1971), Lion in Winter, The (1968), Dutchman (1966)

From CINEBOOKS DB: A strange movie that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Sentimental, biting, satirical, whimsical, and self-righteous, it begins with a romp at high speed, then goes straight into a hole from which it never emerges. Scott is an aging, recently widowed judge who has gone off the deep end. He believes that he is Sherlock Holmes, so he dresses, speaks, and comports himself like Doyle's famed detective. His brother is Rawlins, a cad who is being blackmailed and would like to see Scott placed in an institution so he can get his hands on the money in Scott's estate. Scott is taken to a clinic and meets Woodward, whose name just happens to be "Watson." When Scott uses Holmesian logic to correctly assess the problems of one of her patients, she is impressed. Clark is a short, fat man who thinks he is Rudolph Valentino but is unable to speak. Scott reckons that Clark won't talk because Valentino was, after all, a star of silent pictures. Clark is thrilled that someone understands, and as he leaves, Scott tells him to pass on regards to Vilma Banky. Woodward plays along with Scott, aiding him in his "work" just as her fictional namesake helped Sherlock. Scott's brother has left a blackmail note lying around which mentions "twenty grand," and Scott feels that it's a clue which will help him trap his long-time enemy, the heinous Professor Moriarty. He takes the note literally, and he and Woodward go downtown to No. 20 Grand Street. That begins a chase that is missing only the wild geese. They travel through Manhattan, visit an aged couple (Miner and Fuller) who have not come out of their home since before WW II, sneak into a telephone company switchboard office, visit a library and meet Gilford, an aged keeper of the books who dreams of being "The Scarlet Pimpernel," then on to a movie house on 42nd Street, where Scott engages in conversation with the flotsam who make the theater their home. Rawlins' blackmailer tracks Scott all the while, hoping to get enough on him to have him committed once and for all. Scott keeps telling Woodward that he can darn near smell Moriarty and that they are getting closer. While Woodward makes dinner for Scott at her place, shots ring out and Scott is nearly killed. Late in the movie Scott and Woodward are joined by all the nuts they've met earlier, and they form a hardy band. It seems that the whole group shares a paranoia, and each has another identity. They all march into a huge supermarket, and Scott takes the manager's microphone and announces outlandish prices on items, setting off a chaotic scene. By this time, instead of curing Scott, Woodward has entered into Scott's world and is just as crazy as he is. The two stand in Central Park at night and walk toward a tunnel. They hear the clop of horses' hooves in the tunnel, and Scott is convinced that Moriarty approaches, but before anything is completed, the screen fades to white and this ponderous statement appears: "the human heart can see what is hidden to the eyes, and the heart knows things that the mind does not begin to understand."

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) * * * * * *

Director: John Huston; Producer: John Foreman; Writer: Gladys Hill (based on the story by Rudyard Kipling), John Huston; Editor: Russell Lloyd; Musical Composer: Maurice Jarre; Production Designer: Alexander Trauner; Art Director: Tony Inglis; Cinematographer: Oswald Morris; Country of Origin: U.K.; Color; Production Co(s).: Allied Artists; MPAA Rating: PG; Running Time: 129 minutes

WITH: Sean Connery (Daniel Dravot), Michael Caine (Peachy Carnehan), Christopher Plummer (Rudyard Kipling), Saeed Jaffrey (Billy Fish), Karroum Ben Bouih (Kafu-Selim), Jack May (District Commissioner), Doghmi Larbi (Ootah), Shakira Caine (Roxanne), Mohammed Shamsi (Babu)

Academy Award Nomination:

Best Adapted Screenplay - John Huston, Gladys Hill

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration - Alexander Trauner, Tony Inglis, Peter James

Best Costume Design - Edith Head

Best Film Editing - Russell Lloyd

Other films by John Huston: Dead, The (1987), Prizzi's Honor (1985), Under the Volcano (1984), Annie (1982), Victory (1981), Phobia (1980), Wise Blood (1979), Love and Bullets (1979) (uncredited), Independence (1976), Man Who Would Be King, The (1975), Mackintosh Man, The (1973), Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, The (1972), Fat City (1972), Last Run, The (1971) (uncredited), Kremlin Letter, The (1970), Walk with Love and Death, A (1969), Sinful Davey (1969), Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), Casino Royale (1967), Bible, The (Bibbia, La) (1966), Night of the Iguana, The (1964), List of Adrian Messenger, The (1963), Freud (1962), Misfits, The (1961), Unforgiven, The (1960), Roots of Heaven, The (1958), Barbarian and the Geisha, The (1958), Farewell to Arms, A (1957) (uncredited), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Moby Dick (1956), Beat the Devil (1953), Moulin Rouge (1952), African Queen, The (1951), Red Badge of Courage, The (1951), Asphalt Jungle, The (1950), We Were Strangers (1949), Key Largo (1948), Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948), Let There Be Light (1946), San Pietro (1945) (uncredited), Tunisian Victory (1944) (replacement scenes), Report from the Aleutians (1943) (uncredited), Across the Pacific (1942), In This Our Life (1942), Maltese Falcon, The (1941)

From CINEBOOKS DB: This was writer-director John Huston's dream project for decades. He originally wanted to film the Rudyard Kipling short story in the 1940s with Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart. Later he envisioned Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. However the long wait paid off: Michael Caine, Sean Connery, and Christopher Plummer deliver outstanding performances in a classic adventure that delivers thrills even as it meditates on issues of power and imperialism.

Kipling (Plummer) is working in his office in Lahore, India when an aged beggar enters and begins to spin an amazing tale that fascinates the writer. We flashback to Kipling's office many years earlier when a young, vibrant, if somewhat boorish Peachy Carnehan (Caine) and his dashing friend Daniel Dravot (Connery) ask the writer to witness some "official" document. Stationed in India, these British army officers have been supplementing their salaries with various scams. Down on their luck after squandering their money on vice, they have concocted a new scheme: they will sojourn into the hills of Kafiristan (a province in eastern Afghanistan now called Nuristan) where they will set themselves up as rulers. Intrigued by these brazen soldiers-of-fortune, Kipling secures them an appointment with the District Commissioner (May). However the official sees their true colors and sends them packing. Dravot and Carnehan endure assorted hardships as they trek through the storied Khyber Pass, and although Dravot gets mistaken for a god at one point, things don't quite work out as planned.

This is a grand adventure tale that does not stint on characterization. Connery and Caine join the ranks of Huston's classic overachievers, most notably Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs in THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE. Caine may have gone a wee bit over-the-top but that helped the audience distinguish between the the natures of the two men. The film was shot on location in Morocco because of the costs and dangers of working in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the score by the celebrated Jarre (LAWRENCE OF ARABIA) failed to match the evocative power of the setting. However these are minor flaws in a delightful and memorable film.

ENTER THE DRAGON (1973) * * * * *

Director: Robert Clouse; Producer: Jerry Weintraub, Paul M. Heller, Raymond Chow; Writer: Michael Allin; Editor: George Watters, Kurt Hirschler; Musical Composer: Lalo Schifrin; Art Director: James Wong Sun; Stunts: Bruce Lee (fights); Cinematographer: Gilbert Hubbs; Country of Origin: U.S.; B & W; Production Co(s).: Concord Productions Inc.; Warner Bros.; Released By: Warner Bros.; MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 99 minutes

WITH: Bruce Lee (Lee), John Saxon (Roper), Jim Kelly (Williams), Shih Kien (Han), Bob Wall (OHara), Anna Capri (Tania), Angela Mao Ying (Su Lin), Betty Chung (Mei Ling), Geoffrey Weeks (Braithwaite), Bolo Yeung (Bolo), Peter Archer (Parsons), Ho Lee Wan (Old Man), Marlene Clark (Secretary)

Other films by Robert Clouse: Ironheart (1992), China O'Brien II (1991), China O'Brien (1990), Gymkata (1985), Master Ninja I (1984), Deadly Eyes (1982), Force: Five (1981), Big Brawl, The (1980), London Connection, The (1979), Game of Death (1978), Pack, The (1977), Amsterdam Kill, The (1977), Ultimate Warrior, The (1975), Black Belt Jones (1974), Golden Needles (1974), Enter the Dragon (1973), Dreams of Glass (1970), Darker Than Amber (1970), Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes, The (1964), Cadillac, The (1962)

From CINEBOOKS DB: If you have a yen for spectacular chopsocky action, this is as good a flick to start with as any. The legendary Bruce Lee is showcased in his most lavish adventure--though, as this was made in Hong Kong after all, it still feels like a low-rent James Bond thriller crossed with Fu Manchu.