Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993 TAG: 9312140012
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Are you paying attention yet, guys? Ready or not, Rush Limbaugh's worst nightmare comes to cable's HBO on Saturday night, when Daryl Hannah stars in ``Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman.''
As improbable as it sounds, this comedic remake of the schlock 1958 science-fiction thriller has a roguish charm and a comfy B-movie feel. What's different is that the 1993 version is a parable about feminist awakening.
Science fiction and female rage! Neat idea, huh?
Hannah, who's played an android (``Blade Runner'') and a mermaid (``Splash''), shows surprising range and depth as Nancy, the emotionally fragile, powerless victim of two overpowering men in her life.
First, and worst, is her nasty, philandering husband, Harry, a rotter (greasily played by lovable Daniel Baldwin of NBC's ``Homicide'') who's two- timing her with a beauty shop queen named Honey (Christi Conaway).
And then there's Nancy's father, a corrupt real-estate developer named Hamilton Cobb (William Windom), who literally drove Nancy's mother crazy and is looting his daughter's wealth.
Both men bully poor Nancy. They patronize her, infantilize her and marginalize her, turning her into a numb, feckless doormat - a woman who cherishes her childhood dollhouse and stuffed toys.
Nancy is trying to heal, undergoing therapy with psychiatrist Dr. Cushing (Frances Fisher), but the trap is stronger than she is.
Then a flying saucer hums into her life and things...change.
``You could call the story of Nancy Archer a positive fable of female empowerment,'' says screenwriter Joseph Dougherty. But the film's '50s roots mean ``it's about paranoia: Male paranoia in the face of female empowerment.''
Dougherty, who won a writing Emmy for the TV series ``thirtysomething,'' based his screenplay on the original movie, written by Mark Hannah.
The original had cheesy special effects, including a giant hand that looked as lifelike as an empty rubber glove. The '93 version's effects are shoddy only when director Christopher Guest (co-star of ``This Is Spinal Tap'') is trying to evoke the B-movie look of the original.
HBO's version has some startlingly good effects. One scene, when 50-foot Nancy has dinner with six-foot Harry, is seamless. The secret (revealed here or you'll go crazy trying to figure it out) is called ``forced perspective.''
Hannah sits on a platform in front of a miniature barn, trees and a truck aligned with an actual barn, trees, truck and Baldwin in the background. The closeup camera makes her look huge, and picks up the image of Baldwin, 25 feet away, atop the truck.
``Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman'' has one other thing in common with the 1958 original: The movie is nearly stolen by the Bad Brunette from the Wrong Side of the Tracks.
In the original, actress Yvette Vickers gave the movie's only real performance. In HBO's remake, Christi Conaway's voluptuous Honey is a woman who attains power as an eroticized object - an object with brains and ambition.
Conaway is a fine actress and comedian, and her sassy, energetic performance lifts the movie when it threatens to lag. And she's also drop-dead, heartbreakingly gorgeous.
If there's a weakness in ``Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman,'' it's that the movie takes too long to get going. Once we've determined that Nancy is a victim, the movie fails to move on.
Once Nancy starts growing, however, the picture takes off. Hannah's scenes as a giantess have real power, and both Baldwin and Windom make for a wonderful bad guys.
by CNB