As he proved in 1976's Marathon Man and 1990's Pacific Heights, director John Schlesinger knows how to milk a situation to get all the tension out of it. In this take on the 1974 Charles Bronson vehicle Death Wish, the situation in question is the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl by a feckless grocery delivery boy, played by Sutherland. Unfortunately, Schlesinger just doesn't know when to stop. It's not enough for him to show how vile Sutherland is by having him rape and murder, we also have to see him abusing stray dogs, spitting on the sidewalk, even eating ice cream straight out of the carton.
Field and Harris are the suburban parents of the young victim. But the crime isn't really what the movie is about. The plot ignites when Sutherland escapes prosecution on a technicality and Field becomes obsessed with avenging the crime herself. She takes a martial arts course, buys a gun and sets out to hunt him down.
Despite all Schlesinger's best—and worst—efforts, the pudgy, mumbly Sutherland is not convincing for one second. He is outacted not only by the reliably subtle Harris and Mantegna—who plays the Field-badgered cop—but by Alexandra Kyle, who plays the victim's 5-year-old sister with great poise and restrained cuteness.
As for Field, that most sympathetic of actresses makes her pain and frustration palpable, as always. She's no Charles Bronson, but then Bronson would have made a weak flying nun. (R)
James Earl Jones, Richard Harris
This terribly sad movie, filmed in South Africa and based on Alan Paton's famous 1948 novel, serves to remind us that James Earl Jones is more than a large man whose resonant diction makes him ideal for voice-over work. He's a superb actor. Here he plays a poor country preacher forced to journey into Johannesburg to rescue a wayward sister fallen into prostitution. He plunges into a far greater tragedy when his son, who also disappeared into the city years ago, is arrested for murdering the son of a wealthy white man (Harris) during a robbery.
It's a fairly routine piece of moviemaking, although John Barry's slow, lulling score (which doesn't sound much different from the one he did for 1985's Out of Africa) is a plus. But Jones is flawless as a good man struggling to shoulder the awful weight that God has inexplicably dumped on his shoulders. Shaken by tragedy, weeping with gratitude at the smallest kindness, he is infinitely touching. (PG-13)
Gong Li, Li Baotian, Wang Xiao Xiao
Some movies are so ravishingly beautiful, you're willing to forgive their lapses. That's the case with this period gangster drama from Chinese director Zhang Yimou, which stars his longtime muse, the enchanting Gong. (The two broke off their real-life romance last year after seven years and seven films together, including 1991's Raise the Red Lantern.)
Shanghai's story, which doesn't gel until the final rain-and blood-soaked minutes, is of a power struggle between a 1930s Shanghai crime lord (Li) and his rivals, seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old country lad (Wang). Having snagged a job in the big city serving the godfather's miserable mistress (Gong), the hapless bumpkin finds himself caught up in murder and betrayal beyond his understanding.
Too much happens too late, though the film's color-drenched visuals will stay with you. I particularly liked the musical numbers showing Gong (as a hardly talented songbird) and her fellow sequin-costumed chorines lined up across a nightclub stage like so many gam-waving gumdrops. (R)
>FOR THE CHINESE, FEB. 19 MARKS THE transition from the Year of the Pig to the Year of the Rat. But in Hollywood—the town that has given us Cheetah, King Kong and Bonzo—the last 12 months have been monkey time, Sim City, a primate's paradise. Check out the movies and TV shows that have gone ape to get laughs or heighten the drama.
Friends.
David Schwimmer's pet monkey Marcel retired from the show last April—but not from show business. (Guess who that was opposite Jerry Seinfeld in a recent American Express commercial.)
Outbreak. The outbreak of an Ebola-type virus is traced to an African monkey.
Congo. An expedition team runs into a band of killer gorillas in Africa.
Chicago Hope. In an ongoing story, a lab monkey, after being infected with AIDS, bites nurse Diane Grad (Jayne Brook). Stay tuned.
Cutthroat Island. Hey, are you a pirate who hates to deal with a squawking parrot on your shoulder all day? Do what Geena Davis does and get a shoulder-perching monkey.
Toy Story. Woody and Buzz get all the ink, but it's the Barrel of Monkeys who form a rope in a rescue scene. Best supporting actors? If only they hadn't fallen.
Jumanji. Our fine, hairy friends show their range in this board game gone amok. They rob, they loot, they create a force nastier than the LAPD.
12 Monkeys. The old bait and switch. The title promises actual monkeys, but what does the movie give you? Brad Pitt. Grrrr.
Dunston Checks In.
A boy and an orangutan (Dunston) foil a burglary in a hotel owned by Faye Dunaway. She last worked with Brando—what draws Dunaway to costars with strangely reddish hair?
Ed. Ed is a chimp on a minor league baseball team in this March comedy. Friends' Matt LeBlanc is a pitcher. They bond.
- Contributors:
- Ralph Novak,
- Tom Gliatto,
- Leah Rozen.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
