FILM

Rip It Up, Issue 50, 1 September 1981, Page 21

FILM

William Dart

Altered States

Director: Ken Russell

Generally acknowledged as a return to' form for Russell after I his I eccentric forays | into rock cinema (Tommy, Lisztomania), this film, based on a|Paddy! Chayevsky novel, explores the origins of life through various experiments with psychedelic drugs. It's like a two hour trip back to the late 60s. Right up-to-date however, are Russell's dazzling special effects as I his scientist hero regresses to simian form, and the Dolby soundtrack (the first in Auckland) is brilliantly handled. But don't let the pyrotechnics distract you in this thoughtful and thought-provoking piece of fcinema^B^Hi^BifcßßM Escape from New York City Director: John Carpenter ~ Escape is a totally preposterous and quite outrageous film that works so successfully that occasional illogicalities ;and|loose ends are quite forgotten. A cross between black i comedy and the 24-hour escape genre film,, this J takes .us to the end of the century when Manhattan Island is an isolated prison from, which the kidnapped President of. the United States has to,be rescued. Sleek [and[bleak night scenes set the initial mood, and the tension is maintained by the contrast of the various characters from Kurt Russell's laconic anti-hero and Adrienne Barbeau's edgy accomplice to Ernest Borgnine's gung-ho cabby. Watch out for | Season Hubley's wry cameo in the Lotsa Nuts ice cream parlour.

My Bodyguard Director: Tony Bill A "heartwarming" film that, alas, left this reviewer as cold as Alaska in winter. The plot of a put-upon bullied high-school junior protected by a loner 6 foot hulk sounds like, D. W. Griffith on an off day strained through some misbegotten masterpiece of soft-core homoerotica. The saddest thing of all is to see Ruth Gordon, once so charming in films like Inside Daisy . Clover and; Harold . and Maude, doing g the g same g old schtick in yet another "swinging octogenarian" role. Clash of the Titans Director: Desmond Davis Davis made a tremendous impact in the early 60s with a touching film of Edna O'Brien's The Girl with Green Eyes. Clash , marks his first major

piece of film-making for over a decade, and it is a mixed bag. In this mythological cartoon-come-to-life there are bonuses

such as Ray Harryhausen's monsters (of which the Medusa has a definite head start) and prime specimens of youthful beauty in the two romantic leads (Harry Hammill looks as if he spends 26 hours a day working out in a gym). Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen Director: Clive Donner The plot has more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese and this disastrously unfunny spoof even manages to make fine comedy performers like Lee Grant, Peter Ustinov and Roddy McDowell hardly register at all. And after last year's Nude Bomb, I thought that up was the only direction that Clive Donner's career could have moved