Video

Rip It Up, Issue 95, 1 June 1985, Page 8

Video

CBS/Fox has Paul McCartney's semi-autobiographical film, Give My Regards To Broad Street, which also stars Tracey Ullman, Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach and Bryan Brown and performances by various bits of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, lOcc, the Johnson Brothers and Toto. There’s also Sylvester Stallone teamed up with Dolly Parton in the comedy Rhinestone and Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone. Videocorp have come up with the Rolling Stones’ retrospective package, Video Rewind, which features unedited versions of 12 videos interspersed with backstage shots and interviews, etc. There’s also Stephen King’s The Dead Zone', Roger Donaldson’s The Bounty, starring Mel Gibson; Johnny Cash and Andy Griffiths teamed up in the Western, Murder in Coweta County, Sakharov, the story of the Russian dissident, starring Jason Robards and Glenda Jackson; Jack The Ripper, a semi-documentary that claims to reveal the Ripper's true identity; Surburbia, a Roger Corman movie along the same lines as

Class Of 1984 and about a lotta violent punk types; Inside Moves, starring John Savage as a man who, through friendship and love, recovers and readjusts after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Among Roadshow releases are: Silkwood, starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell and Cher; and Threshold, starring Donald Sutherland. Palace has French director Francois Truffaut's The Last Metro, starring Catherine Deneuve; Angelo My Love, a film directed by Robert Duvall which tells the story of a street kid who is part of both the Manhattan lifestyle and the uncoinventional world of the gypsies; Laurence Olivier and Jackie Gleason in Mr Halpern and Mr Johnson-, and Elizabeth Taylor and Orson Welles

narrating Genocide, a documentary of German war atrocities. Pink Floyd The Wall (CEL) Welcome to the land of 1000 Hipgnosis covers or is it welcome to my nightmare? Roger "Troubled” Waters takes us for a wee trip into the pained and strained mind of yer average rock megastar on the brink. In this case the protagonist is one Pink,"personified" by Bob Geldof, who spans the emotional spectrum between angst and anguish and back to -inert. Director Alan Parker flashes us back and forward through the now familiar rock legend; Daddy’s killed in the war, school’s no fun, not enough pocket money for pinball machines (shame, things could've turned out better for the wee nipper) and somehow Mum's to blame. Ultimately, Pink trusts no one and retreats into his fascist utopian fantasies, which suits Parker fine. Fie excels at epic crowd scenes, be they school halls, mock Nurembergs of world wars. Pink's twisted worldview is periodically invaded by Gerald Scarfe’s equally twisted animations, technically wonderful, but maybe he would’ve been more at home in Syd Barrett’s head. Unless you’re a Pink Floyd fan, it’s shame about the music ... all in all it comes across like a mega-mix of Tommy, Dad’s Army and a bad night on RWP\ roll on the Sunday Horror. ID Rolling Stones Video Rewind (Vestron) Video era Rolling Stones promotional clips linked by Julien (The Great Rock 7V Roll Swindle) Temple’s conceptual links starring Mick and Bill unearthing Stones

videos in the Museum of Mankind’s "Withdrawn Exhibits” room and featuring insufficient footage of Norman Gunston's interview and Robert Frank’s controversial Stones-owned on tour movie minutes only and seconds only, respectively. Temple’s 'Undercover' proves to be the most interesting recent clip, though oldies like ’Angie’ and 'lt’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll’ are fun. The tracks here, however, prove that the Stones ain't “the most outrageous band in the world” as the video slick claims. To support such a statement this movie would need clips from the 60s Ready Steady Go TV show, the Altamont movie, the concert in Hyde Park after Brian Jones’ death, or news footage of the Jagger/Faithfull years. Entertaining, maybe. Outrageous, no. _ MC Suburbia (Vestron) Suburbia is about a gang of LA punks who leave their middle class homes in the suburbs to live in a Squat at the edge of town. They call themselves The Rejected' and can be identified by the letters ‘TR’ branded into their arms. The local townspeople, rednecks one and all, detest them and do their utmost to drive them out of town. This is an actionpacked movie which accurately documents modern punk philosophy. Well directed by Roger Corman with some memorable camera work. The soundtrack includes tracks by the Germs and the Vandals. I could think of worse ways of spending 99 minutes.Pß The Jam Transglobal Unity Express (CEL) The concert that was screened on TV a couple of years ago but with the major bonus of hi-fi stereo sound. The Woking lads haven't messed about with visual pyrotechnics and this 30 min tape adds up to an honest record of what made the Jam tick live. Most of the material is drawn from The Gift LR with the highlights being a superb version of ‘Ghosts’ and the older 'Private Hell'. SS ABC, Mantrap (CEL) The release of this 55-minute story video was ABC’s last successful public stroke before their rapid slide from grace. There’s a knowing, tongue-in-cheek humour

akin to that of the Lexicon Of Love LP here and it’s Martin Fry against the world again. The story is one of European espionage and intrigue, with (natch) a beautiful woman. Director Julien Temple keeps things consistently attractive and slips in the odd trick along the way. The interesting thing is that the songs aren’t just lifted from the record, but performed partially (perhaps wholly) live. Not a bad shot at an interesting, cohesive video album. SS Big Country Live (CEL) Filmed New Year’s Eve 1983 in Glasgow, before an audience of looney Scotsmen. The early part of the concert is pretty turgid, but as midnight draws nearer and passes (with a pipe band on stage!), the Scotsmen get loonier and the band sounds better and it all ends up like a big, romantic football match,‘with everyone on the same side. Highlights are the obvious ones ‘Wonderland’, ‘Fields Of Fire’ and 'ln A Big Country’. SS Tina Turner Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll (CEL) Recorded at London’s Apollo Theatre about 1978, in the early years of Tina’s solo career. The lineup (four dancers) is like her 1977 NZ concerts but the repertoire is very different, 'River Deep Mountain High’ and 'Nutbush City Limits’ being the only oldies Tina performs in their entirety. The remainder of the show consists of rock standards (’Hotlegs) and disco/soul medleys the worst being seven songs (including 'Proud Mary’) in three minutes. But the ‘Don't Leave Me This Way’, ‘Giving Up, Giving In’, 'Disco Inferno’ medley is one of the highlights. Best soul moments are Redding's 'l’ve Been Loving You Too Long' and ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’. Tina proves here, as she does with her current hit (‘Show Some Respect’), that she is a graduate with honours from the “gotta” school of soul. People too readily overlook Tina’s ability to really sing a lyric. This video doesn’t feature vintage Ike and Tina or her current recordings, but there are some great moments, -such as when Tina and her bandleader exchange lines on ‘Everyone’s A Winner’, elevating an average MOR song to soul status. MC

Reckless (CEL) All the Right Moves (CBS/Fox) Two movies that borrow the Pennsylvanian steel town backdrop that first found screen fame in The Deerhunter to depict youths, both football players, growing up with aspirations to buck the system that would have them become underpaid mill labour like their solo fathers. Though both films fit into the teen soap genre, both have excellent fragments, particularly in the father/son relationship in Reckless. Ironically, both actors have gone on to find fame since these movies, Tom Cruise in Risky Business and Aidan Quinn in Madonna’s Desperately Seeking Susan. Maybe neither Reckless or All the Right Moves is a Wild One and maybe Aidan Quinn ain’t an 80s Marlon Brando, but these movies sure ain’t from the Porkys/Bachelor Party vacuum either. MC On Any Sunday (Palace) A 1971 American documentary on motorcycle sport. This award winner begins with a look at speedway racing, with interviews with the 1970 world champion, some spectacular crash sequences and great racing shots. This is followed by a look at motocross with a special guest appearance by Steve McQueen, wearing his “raceface". Bruce Brown, who wrote, produced, directed and narrated this documentary has an obvious passion for his subject. I unfortunately don’t and didn’t perservere through the entire documentary, which is very dated and suffers from an extremely corny script. For fanatics only. PR Bachelor Party (CBS/Fox) Rick (Tom Hanks) announces his engagement to his friends, who decide to throw a bachelor party for him. The family of his bride to be, Debbie, consider Rick an “immature asshole" and encourage an ex--boyfriend to do all he can to prevent the marriage. Much of the action takes place on the night of the party in a very expensive hotel suite. There are some hilarious one-liners and the occasional very funny scene but on the whole it’s a very patchy comedy, marred by an extremely sexist script. PR