Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130197
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Here's a quick list of 22 favorites on video. There's precious little cinematic "art" to be found here. These are good films; some of them are excellent. Each is worth seeing more than once.
What would the season be without romance? One of the best summer romances is Eric Rohmer's 1987\ "Boyfriends and Girlfriends" (Orion, 102 min. subtitled, Rated PG). It's a leisurely paced delight about the complications that arise between two mismatched young couples.\ "Dirty Dancing" (Vestron, 105 min., PG-13) is a lot livelier and more suggestive. It's also an archetypal summer love story that stands up well to a second viewing. At first glance,\ "Risky Business" (Warner, 99 min., R) might not seem like it belongs on this list, but it too has a solid sense of hot weather. Remember Tom Cruise and Rebecca DeMornay on the El?\ "Independence Day" (Warner, 110 min., R) is another odd love story, starring Kathleen Quinlan and David Keith. Without being released in theaters, it became one of the first original cult hits on video.
Summer is also the setting for four high-temperature thrillers. Lawrence Kasdan's\ "Body Heat" (Warner, 113 min., R) rediscovered film noir, and made the lack of air-conditioning sexy. Though it's far less suggestive, Alfred Hitchcock's \ "Rear Window" (MCA, 113 min., NR) is every bit as highly charged. The feeling of intense, unrelieved heat is just as palpable, and James Stewart and Grace Kelly set off just as many sparks as William Hurt and Kathleen Turner.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall didn't get quite as overwrought in\ "Key Largo" (MGM/UA, 101 min., NR) but the steamy atmosphere of the Florida Keys is an important part of the story. The heat and the dust of an army base provide a gritty backdrop for Howard Rollins' investigation in\ "A Soldier's Story" (RCA/Columbia, 127 min., R).
Growing up (or not growing up in some cases) is another standard theme for summer movies. That's what the excellent and underrated\ "Lifeguard" (Paramount, 96 min., PG) is all about. Director Daniel Petrie captures the fleeting attraction of beach life and Sam Elliot turns in a fine performance as a man who is forced to decide what he's going to do with himself.\ "Places in the Heart" (CBS/Fox, 113 min., PG) captures the flavor of the prairie in much the same way.
Mark Rydell's version of\ "The Reivers" (Key, 107 min., NR) is one of the best adaptations of William Faulkner ever put on screen. Steve McQueen did some of his finest work as the man-child Boon Hoggenbeck, who leads young Lucius (Mitch Vogel) off on a 1905 adventure to Miss Reba's sporting house in Memphis. The supporting cast, including Rupert Crosse, Sharon Farrell, Will Geer, Dub Taylor, and Clifton James, couldn't be better. This one is a delight.
Four boys learn about life, death and such in Rob Reiner's\ "Stand by Me" (RCA/Columbia, 87 min., PG). Less serious is the sleeper summer-camp hit\ "Meatballs" (Paramount, 93 min., PG), which launched Bill Murray's cinematic career.
The combination of sultry Southern heat and crime has been responsible for three of the most enjoyable summer movies. Paul Newman was guilty of nothing more than cutting the heads off of parking meters in\ "Cool Hand Luke" (Warner, 126 min., NR). But he and another all-star supporting cast turned what could have been a cheap prison flick into a popular classic. Marlon Brando plays the sheriff of one of those little Southern towns with a sleepy facade that disguises a seething interior in\ "The Chase" (RCA/Columbia, 86 min., NR). Again, the supporting cast is filled with familiar faces. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman and the direction by Arthur Penn couldn't be better.\ "In the Heat of the Night" (MGM/UA, 111 min., NR) handles similar material in a slightly more serious vein and won five well-deserved Oscars.
Two black-and-white Southern courtroom dramas used memorable summer settings. In\ "Inherit the Wind," and\ "To Kill a Mockingbird" (both NR), lawyers took off their suit coats and spectators fanned their faces to beat the heat. Both movies are marked by brilliant casts - including Spencer Tracy, Harry Morgan, Frederic March, Gregory Peck, Brock Peters and Robert Duvall - and equally brilliant storytelling.
No list of this kind would be complete without at least a mention of Stella, Stanley, Blanche, the kindness of strangers and all that in\ "A Streetcar Named Desire," (Warner, 124 min., NR) perhaps the ultimate New Orleans summer movie.
Finally, my own three favorite evocations of the season: Take away all the high-powered horror trappings and\ "Jaws" (MCA, 124 min., PG) captures the beach and the off-shore ocean about as well as any film ever has. Steven Spielberg made that world seem so real that complaints about the mechanical shark are quibbles.
\ "Picnic" (RCA/Columbia, 113 min., NR) is set on Labor Day, but the story of a ne'er-do-well (William Holden) and a small-town beauty (Kim Novack) somehow distills summer. George Duning's score is a big help. In\ "Breaking Away" (CBS/Fox, 100 min., PG) writer Steve Tesich and director Peter Yates tell an eccentric, yet completely believable story of dreams, bicycles, love and growing up in Indiana. It's a deliberately "small" film filled with well-drawn characters and memorable scenes; swimming in the quarry, serenading the sorority house, and more. Truly, a great summer movie.
New release this week `Heart Condition' : Starring Bob Hoskins, Denzel Washington, Chloe Webb. Directed by James D. Parriott. RCA/Columbia. 97 min. Rated R for extremely rough language, sexual situations and violence.
"Heart Condition" is one of those projects that was obviously put together by Hollywood deal-makers who could describe it in "high-concept" terms: combination supernatural comedy and California buddy/cop movie, a sort of "Ghostbusters" meets "Beverly Hills Cop" when the heart and spirit (or something) of a slick black lawyer are transplanted into a racist white cop. An extremely talented and attractive cast is generally wasted.
What the ratings mean:
****Wonderful; one of the best of its kind. See it right away.
***Very good; definitely worth renting.
**Average. You've seen better; you've seen worse.
*Poor. Make sure the fast-forward button on your VCR is in good working order.
\ Dud An insult to intelligence and taste. This category is as much a warning as a rating.
by CNB