FILM

Rip It Up, Issue 63, 1 October 1982, Page 30

FILM

Four Friends Director: Arthur Penn Initially, Penn's film looks as if it is going to be an exercise in a familiar vein of sub-Kazan lyricism, with its first few scenes of the immigrant boy, Danny, growing up in East Chicago, Indiana. But as the film progresses it becomes apparent that this account of the problems of the Great American Dream during the sixties is a quintessential Penn movie. On the surface there's the same nostalgic trappings as a film like Lucas' American Graffiti with marvellously evocative use of popular songs of the period, such as Ray Charles' version of Hoagy Carmichael's 'Georgia On My Mind’. But there are darker moments: one is totally unprepared for the violence that erupts at the wedding scene or the San Francisco LSD sequence and the racist taunting at a teenage beach party is similarly disturbing. The film is being advertised as being "by the director of Bonnie

and Clyde" as if Penn had never made the subsequent Little Big Mart or Night-Move's (a film very close to Four Friends in feeling): 1 Four Friends ; is a fine movie, stylish,' intelligent • with its eloquent and - moving vision' of the sixties pieces of . cinema to get-to New Zealand screens so far this year. Time Bandits - -" 3 ‘ i Director: Terry Gilliam Gilliam was the young American'responsible for all those cutout , animations that linked various episodes in the television series,- ‘Monty Python's Flying Circus. He co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail, designed Life of Brian and wrote and directed Jabberwocky, all of which starred John Cleese and his fellow Pythons. Now he has co-written and directed his most ambitious work, a Pythonesque time-warp fairy tale called Time Bandits.

The plot involves a dotty band of dwarfs who take the young hero off, with the aid of a secretmap, in search 0f... who knows? Then follows a series of adventures in different centuries and various bizarre situations. The film stands or falls, in part, by its special effects and these are brilliantly and inventively handled right through to the ship which becomes a novel piece of millinery for a giant. William Dart FORTHCOMING FILMS Union City ... Debbie Harry apparently proves to have some acting talent in this tale of murder and paranoia, set in 1950 s industrial USA. A claustrophobic setting for a tense tale, based on the Cornell Woolrich short story The Corpse Next Door'. Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black and Phantom Lady were also Woolrich stories that became films. Deb plays the

bored wife of a jealous accountant (Dennis Lipscomb). Pat Benatar also* appears, making her screen debut and Deb's beau, Chris Stein/ writes the' music. Sounds promising. Classic.Theatre Oct 22. ■■■•■ - The ‘Thing ... John Carpenter (Escape ' From - New ■ York, Halloween, The ; Fog) ; sets up to scare the hell out of people once again, as an alien, creature is discovered under the ice in the Antarctic. A remake of the classic The Thing From Another World Nationally Oct 22. E.T. ... stands for The ExtraTerrestrial' and looks set to . be the summer box office smash. This Steven Spielberg giant starts Dec 3. Prince Of The City ... dark tale of the pressures of being a cop. Based on a true story, stars Treat Williams (Hair) and directed by Sidney Lumet ( Scorpio, Dog Day Afternoon, Network). Oct 15. Neighbours ... swansong of the great John Belushi, teamed up again with fellow Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd, along with Cathy Moriarty and Kathryn Walker. Based on Thomas Berger's novel, it's a comedy about the upheaval in a very average suburban household, caused by the arrival of zany new neighbours. John G. Avildsen (Rocky) directs. Oct 22. Deliverance ... reissile of a fine film, this time in 70mm and Dolby sound. Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds meet southern rednecks head-on. Starts Nov 12. Chariots of Fire now ranks as the highest-grossing imported film in US box office history, with a take so far of $27.5 million ... producer of Chariots, David Puttnam, has now undertaken, production work on Local Hero, the new film from Scottish director Bill Forsyth (Gregory's Girl) .::,' meanwhile, Chariots' director, Hugh Hudson, is now filming

■.Gfeystb'ke:' Tarzan of -the Apes from . a screenplay,- by Robert' Towne, based on the novels of *" Edgar Rice Burroughs ... Peter Weir (Gallipoli) is now finishing up. The Year Of Living Danger- n ously, a film set against the . collapse, of the Sukarno govern-'*" 4 ment in Indonesia. Film stars Mel r.t . Gibson and Sigourney Weaver ... newest Woody Allen film is titled ,*'* A Midsummer y Night's " Sex Comedy ... Francis Ford Coppola is at work on* Rumble Fish, based on the novel of the same name by S. E. - Hinton.'. Coppola's just completed work on the filming of "another Hinton novel,* The' Outsiders. Both films feature, young . US actor Matt Dillon ... scriptw'riter Dennis Potter is adapting thriller Gorky Park for the screen ... Steven Spielberg Presents The Twilight Zone is a compendium film based on the old television series. There will be four segments in the film. Directing one each are Spielberg, Joe Dante, John Landis and George Miller ... Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In America now shooting, with Robert De Niro, Louise Fletcher, Treat Williams and Tuesday Weld ... Psycho 11, which is a sequel rather than a remake, is in the making. Norman Bates is once again played by Tony Perkins. . Direction is by Australian newcomer Richard Franklin ... in the works are . a biopic of Ethel Merman's life ... and, of course, Superman 111 ... Franco Zeffirelli has completed work on film adaptation of Verdi opera La . Traviata ... Herbert Ross has l icompleted a further film starring Marsha Mason, from a play by : • Neil Simon. Newest edition is ; titled Mag Dugan Returns ... Norman Jewison is directing Burt . : Reynolds and Goldie Hawn in. Best Friends and ... sigh, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta team up romantically again in About A Week.