The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 3

The Courier-Journal, Saturday morning, May 17, 1986 A 5 Firom MOVIE REVIEW 'Sweet Liberty' THE SOAPS By DUDLEY SAUNDERS Staff Critic "Sweet Liberty" should appeal to four groups of moviegoers: Alan Alda fans; Michael Caine fans; those who love movies about movie-making; and those who simply enjoy funny movies. If you belong to at least two of these groups, then "Sweet Liberty" should be a real bonus. It may be one of the few movies this summer aimed primarily at adult moviegoers. "Sweet Liberty" not only pokes fun at Hollywood and its stars, but at the business principles that guide the industry, such as the holy trinity of things the "kids" demand in movies. The "kids," according to one Hollywood character in "Sweet Liberty," want movies that defy authority, destroy property and take people's clothes off.

"Sweet Liberty" does all three, but not quite in the usual "Animal House" manner. Writer-director-star Alda turns his knowledge and under standing of Hollywood into an amiable behind-the-scenes romp. "Sweet Liberty" shows us what happens when a Hollywood company Invades a small college town in North Carolina to make a big budget movie based on a historical novel written by a local professor (Alda). The town goes a little crazy. The movie people were already that way.

The leading man (Caine) is a charming and habitual seducer in the manner of Errol Flynn. He starts with the college president's wife (Lois Chiles) and then works his way down. The leading lady (Michelle Pfeiffer) is one of those dedicated actresses who simply becomes the character she plays. The arrogant young director (Saul Rublnek) and the screen writer (Bob Hosklns) have decided to turn Alda's historically accurate book about the American Revolution into a comedy that tramples history. Alda fights back and wins Pfeiffer's support and, much to his surprise, access to her bedroom.

In time, Alda will learn that Pfeiffer's only genuine loyalty Is to the roles she plays. In addition to rewriting his script and wooing Pfeiffer all night, Alda is having problems with his comically insane mother (Lillian Gish), who wants him to find her missing beau before she dies. All of these chores have sorely complicated his relationship with his mistress and fencing partner, Lisa Hilboldt, a comely professor. Their frequent chatter about whether to wed or simply live together is a bore and the film's only major flaw. Alda's script offers some comic byplay between the naive local actors and the Hollywood professionals.

His script Is truthful without being cruel to either group. Alda is Alda and he is also Hawkeye but that's probably why we like him. Caine, in one of his better comic roles in recent years, is a marvelously funny scalawag. The icily beautiful Pfeiffer reveals new skills as the tough actress who i kit Michael (Alan Alda) tries conversing with his mother's dog. turns ladylike in front of the cam- another Louisvillian, appears fleet-era.

Gish, who is 89, proves she can ingly as the governor of North Caro-still steal a scene from anyone. lina. The supporting cast is excellent. At Showcase Cinemas. Rated PG: Louisville's Leo Burmester has an Some profanity and obscenities, amusing cameo and Bryan Clark, Sexually suggestive.

Here's what happened on this week's soap operas. By LYNDA HIRSCH ALL MY CHILDREN: When a gun goes off during a scuffle with Adam, Tad mistakenly believes he's killed him. When Adam's wounds prove superficial, he decides not to report the shooting. Benny realizes that he belongs with Donna. Donna tells him he must give up any relationship with Nina.

Jeremy is stunned when Natalie says she's considering an abortion. ANOTHER WORLD: Kathleen walks down the aisle, but she takes the walk alone since Cass has been kidnapped. The stevedores who kidnapped Cass refuse to tell him who ordered them to do it. Cass is taken to a yacht. During an escape at-, tempt Cass comes face to face with his captor, who turns out to be Ce-' cile.

AS THE WORLD TURNS: Lisa and Earl go to New York for a holiday. When Lucinda and Lily show up in New York, Lisa is furious. Lily overhears Lisa tell Lucinda that Martin did not kill himself over any bad business dealings with Whit. A shattered Lily runs off. Tonio threatens Craig to stay away from Sierra.

Kim learns that Hobson knew she lied from the beginning. CAPITOL: Kate gives Leeanne a bone-marrow transplant and, after a touch-and-go situation, doctors re- port that Leeanne is going to be fine. Dylan turns down Sam's offer for a four-year college scholarship; Instead Dylan decides to work at the same club as Wally. Sloane and Trey get closer to finding All, but" their search for All also brings the two of them closer together. DAYS OF OUR LIVES: A moun-, tain lion bares its teeth at Hope but Bo manages to rescue her.

Shane and Kimberly reconcile. Shane delivers Kim's baby while both are in the woods. When Bo goes to shoot John, believing he's Stephano, Mar- lena walks into the line of fire. See-' ing plastic surgeon's report, Marlena is stunned that John Black isn't Ste-' phano but Roman. Marlena runs to cliff screaming for Roman to but it's too late.

GENERAL HOSPITAL: While in a tryst with Monica, Sean spots bugging device that's been placed in their room. When Frisco finds Lucy's black stockings, she starts MOVIE REVIEWS 'Top Gun' l2 Susan Shadburne's screenplay blends bits of Twain's life with such stories as "The Diary" (Twain's version of the Adam and Eve legend), "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and "The Mysterious Stranger." The overall structure is suggested by "Tom Sawyer Abroad," in which Tom and Huck Finn made a tour of the Near East by balloon. In this version. Twain himself (expressively voiced by James Whitmore) is aboard, and Huck's sidekick Jim has been replaced by winsome Becky Thatcher. The purpose of the journey is for Twain to track down Halley's comet and be reunited, in death, with his wife, Olivia.

"I came in with the comet in 1835 when I was born, and I expect to go out with it" he snorts. As produced, directed and animated by Vinton, the film never shies away from the morbid aspects of Twain's nature. At times, there is a certain labori-ousness in both the storytelling and the visual effects. But "Mark Twain" is a superior children's film. At Showcase Cinemas.

Rated An occasional "damn" or and some effects may be a bit spooky for very young children. Cruise not only challenges and puts down one of his instructors (Kelly McGillis), but begins courting her. The baby-faced Cruise somehow seems out of place wooing the sensual, seemingly more mature McGillis. Cruise's troubles mount until he realizes that he has to clean up his act. Then bad luck strikes.

He loses his $36 million aircraft, his best friend and some of his courage and cockiness in a terrifying accident. It takes a last confrontation with marauding MIGs over the Indian Ocean for him to get over it "Top Gun" aims to please younger audiences and the easily entertained. A better script wouldn't have spoiled anybody's fun. Cruise handles the cockiness well and tries to put some underlying feeling into his role. McGillis works hard to make her silly role plausible.

Kilmer makes a strong Impression as Cruise's enemy. Don't be surprised to see Kilmer in starring roles by next summer. Anthony Edwards is likable as Cruise's buddy. At Showcase Cinemas. Rated PG: Should be rated PG-13 because of its bawdy humor, language and sexual suggestiveness.

cans. This is when Trish Van Devere comes in for about five minutes. Each of these misadventures is a little more boring, and less funny, than the previous one. And believe me, things don't exactly start at a high-water mark. Through it all, there's a conscious effort to pass off these guys as a cross between Laurel and Hardy and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

But they're more like two of the Three Stooges on a bad day. And they make "Uphill AH the Way" one slooooow ride. At Green Tree 4, Dixie 4, Jeff Plaza, Village 8 and South Park Drive-In. Rated PG for mild profanity throughout into shape by pushing it almost beyond endurance. He is helped by his former coach, a grizzled old-timer who knows all there is to know about the sport but is no longer in demand.

The third feature by director Rob Nilsson, who Is also writer and co-producer, "On the Edge" reaches into the same wellspring that drenched audiences with bathos and sentimentality through four Rocky films. But Nilsson reaches deeper and manages to come up with some real sentiment. "On the Edge" is an upbeat, beautifully photographed film about a 44-year-old runner who comes home after an absence of 20 years with only one goal to enter and win an important mountain marathon that pits men and women of all ages against one another. At Oxmoor. Rated PG-13: Mild vulgarity and brief partial nudity.

'The Adventures of Mark Twain' By ROGER FRISTOE Staff Critic Flying in the face of most contemporary C-rated fare, "The Adventures of Mark Twain" is one of those rare movies that refuses to play down to its young audience. This Clubhouse Pictures release Is, in fact so literate, imaginative and challenging that some children and even some grownups not intimately familiar with Twain's writings may be slightly puzzled. But they should also be intrigued. This unusual treatment of several Twain stories is the first feature-length film in Claymation, Wil Vinton's patented stop-action photographic process that was used to striking effect in sequences of "The NeverEnding Story" and "Return to Oz." A variety of astonishing effects some quite spectacular and others remarkably subtle are accomplished in "Mark Twain," which took more than three years to complete because the process is so painstaking. 'Wise Guys' l2 By ROGER FRISTOE Stiff Critic It has been largely forgotten that mayhem master Brian De Palma began his career as a director of comedies that were small In scale and big on outrageousness.

Before the crime melodramas and Hitchcock-inspired shockers to De Palma gave us such counterculture capers as "Greetings" and "Hi, Mom!" The director returns to comedy in "Wise Guys," a freewheeling little farce about two small-time hoods played by Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo. It's a decidedly minor affair really just a character sketch elongated by bits of comic action. But the scale suits the story, and De Palma provides several quirkily original touches. He's one of those film makers who appears to be hav- MOVIE CAPSULE "Say Yes," an independent venture released through CineTel Films in Los Angeles, is a comedy starring Jonathan Winters as W. D.

Westmoreland, an eccentric millionaire who wills his fortune to his grandson Luke (Art Hindle). The catch is that W. D. disapproves of Luke's playboy lifestyle and demands that the young man get married within 24 hours. The screenplay is by Larry Yust, who also directed.

At Oxmoor, Raceland, Westland and Jeff Plaza. Rated PG-13. It's a marriage of music that is immensely entertaining. Center officials chose to try something new, too, opening a dance floor in front of the bandstand. It didn't take long for many in the audience to respond to the invitation.

Vocalist Steve Calafato made it all official when he shouted, "This is a party, not a concert." So it was. And the dancers, most with graying andor thinning hair, were not so much trying to recapture their youth as just enjoying themselves. Among the Dorsey standards handled sharply by the band were "Opus One," "Swanee River," "The Sunny Side of the Street," "Once in a While," "Boogie Woogie," "Marie," "Kickin' the Blues Around" and "Song of India." In addition. Morrow offered from his own repertoire "My Foolish Heart" and "Night Train," and an By DUDLEY SAUNDERS SUH Critic Real Navy fighter pilots probably will snicker and shake their heads in fatherly disbelief at much that happens in "Top Gun." But in fairness to this childishly plotted action film, real pilots probably will feel their pulses quickening, just like the rest of the audience, during the aerial combat scenes. The Mach 2 action will have you a little dizzy and feeling the power of the F-14 Navy Tomcats that are the film's real stars.

"Top Gun's" plot, however. Is straight out of the corn barrel and similar to movie plots from the 1940s and 1950s. Former Louisvil-lian Tom Cruise has the Jimmy Cag-ney role. You know the type: a small, pugnacious, wisecracking, rebellious, hotshot pilot who defies authority, breaks rules and chases women. He allegedly gets away with 'Uphill All the Way' By DAVID INMAN Staff Writ.r So you've been waiting for those two favorites of yours, Roy Clark and Mel Tlllls, to appear in a good movie.

Better just give up hope and catch them in "Uphill All the Way" instead. It's not the worst movie ever made; it doesn't have enough misguided energy behind it to be that. It just sort of lies there. Everything in it just seems tired, from the script to the cast to the theme music. These are the things it uses to get laughs: A fat woman.

A character named "Booger." Mild cursing. Driving a car in circles. Men in underwear. Offensive portraits of minorities babbling Chinese and greasy Mexicans. None of these are really very funny.

Oh, all right, maybe "Booger" is, but even that starts to get old after it's mentioned about 75 times. Wait a minute Clark is funny. But unintentionally. See, he can't act. Neither can Glen Campbell, who THEATER REVIEW 'Annie' By ROGER FRISTOE Staff Critic "Annie" is back and the Broadway Series has her again.

Everybody's favorite orphan returned to Louisville Thursday night, and an almost full house welcomed her with open arms as the musical bearing her name became the first entry in the Louisville Theatrical Association's "Encore!" season at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The latest touring company of the cozily old-fashioned musical will perform through Sunday in the center's Whitney Hall. This is a splashy, handsome, and nicely acted and sung "Annie." And, leapin' lizards, folks, it had better be. Some of us are close to being overexposed to this musical exercise in nostalgia. The show opened on Broadway in 1977, was made into a movie in 1982 and has since been performed, it sometimes seems, by every theatrical group that can lay its hands on a dog and a moppet who can belt out "Tomorrow." By now, to many of us, the show's book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin are almost as familiar as the Harold Gray drawings that started the whole thing back in a Depression-era comic strip.

There are those, of course, who have never before seen a full-scale production of "Annie," and if they enjoy the predictable pleasures of an old-style, "well-made" musical, they should get their money's worth here. The story in a nutshell in case you've spent the last 10 years on Ura a it because he's the best of the best. In the real military, even the best get busted if they don't obey the rules. But "Top Gun's" plot is aimed at giving its young male audience a vicarious thrill by putting them In Cruise's shoes and making them feel as gifted as he is. It also aims to give its total audience an ego lift when Cruise knocks the socks off several Soviet MIGs in the climactic shootout.

In the beginning. Cruise is playfully buzzing MIGs over the Indian Ocean and irritating his commanding officer when he is selected to go to "Top Gun," the Navy's elite fighter pilot school at Miramar, Calif. This is "Fightertown," where the Navy's best compete with each other to hone their skills. Cruise continues his smart aleck ways at Miramar and earns a reprimand during his first training mission. He also begins feuding with another hotshot pilot (Val Kilmer).

shows up as an Army captain and looks like he's reading his lines off the brim of his hat. Clark and Tillis are two scalawags living by what passes for their wits in 1917 Texas. After they're wrongly accused of trying to rob a bank, they hightail it out of town. They're followed by a posse led by the sheriff, Burl Ives, and the town madam, Elaine Joyce. Then Clark and Tillis run into two Chinese guys doing laundry, and then the Army guys led by Campbell, and then they get caught in a shootout with some Mexi 'On the Edge' By NINA DARNTON Naw York Tlmai Ntwi Service NEW YORK "On the Edge" strikes some familiar chords.

An athlete struggles to win with all the odds against him. He whips his body nus has Annie running away from an orphanage, being recaptured and then rescued by a nice, bald old capitalist named Oliver Warbucks. This energetic and likable cast works hard to pump fresh blood into the overworked plot. Annie is played with zest by Sarah Bethany Reynolds, a 12-year-old with a properly piping voice for "Tomorrow," the anthem of baby Ethel Mermans. She is partnered by a Daddy Warbucks of warmth and charm played by Robert Tiffany, who is especially engaging in their duet, "I Don't Need Anything But You." The plum comedy role, of course, is the evil Miss Hannigan (read who runs the orphanage from which Annie escapes.

As played by Teri Gibson, she's younger, prettier and more agile than usual but still bursting with glorious malevolence. Gibson is aided in her villainy by snappy turns from Don Cohen as her sleaze bag brother Rooster and Meryl Natter as his dumb-blonde mistress, Lily. The three villains provide one of this company's two most rousing moments when they throw themselves into a delectably wanton "Easy Street" The other number that comes closest to being a show-stopper and to demonstrating the simple joy that this kind of musical can provide is "You're Never Fully Dressed Without Smile," performed with high-kicking gusto by Annie's orphan cronies. Leslie Castay looks elegant and sings sweetly in the rather thankless role of Warbucks' long-suffering secretary. Ron Wisnisk offers a stylish impersonation of FDR, and Michael Oliver lends some sophisticated fun as a prissy butler.

Finally, attention must be paid to Moose, who appears to be mostly Airedale and all heart, and who delivers an especially soulful interpretation of the role of Sandy. ing such a great time with his camera and his actors that his movies have an enjoyable kick even when they don't amount to much. The setting is much-maligned New Jersey. The state Is in for still more satirical knocks in George Gallo's screenplay, which is also peppered with ethnic humor. As the Jewish mother of Moe Dickstein (Piscopo), Julie Bovasso complains that she's "the only member of the Newark Hadassah who lists her son's profession as hoodlum." The ambition of Moe and his best friend, Harry Valentini (DeVito), is to open "the first Italo-Judeo deli and restaurant." In the meantime, they are the lowliest members of a motley Mafia crew that suggests what the "Godfather" gang might have been like had they been created by Damon Runyon.

In between petty errands for mob boss Tony (Dan Hedaya), Moe is forced to be a guinea pig for bulletproof jackets, and Harry has to start the company car every morning just in case it's rigged with a bomb. The pair gets into real hot water when scheming Harry talks dull-witted Moe into putting a bundle of Tony's money on the wrong nag. In a plot device lifted from "Priz-zi's Honor," the two pals are assigned as each other's assassins. Adding to the complications is Tony's murderous henchman, the Fixer, crudely but hilariously played by former professional wrestler Captain Lou Albano. At Showcase Cinemas.

Rated Minor violence, profanity, frequent vulgarities. talking and admits she covered up for Kevin. Kevin drugs Teri and then brainwashes her in hopes of getting her to write letter confessing she is killer. GUIDING LIGHT: A totally unhinged Cain holds Reva captive. Fletcher and Claire find Reva distraught over Cain's violent behavior.

Cain knocks Fletcher unconscious; and forces Claire and Reva to the bridge. Kyle finds Fletcher and the. two of them devise a plan to rescue Reva and Claire. Despite Reva's pleas, Cain pushes Claire off the bridge. Fletcher is shot while trying to distract Cain.

Kyle shoots Cain. LOVING: While watching Johnny, Stacy becomes ill and the little boy falls off the table. Rushed to hospital, Johnny is fine but Ava tells' Stacy that's the last time she'll ever place her child in Stacy's care. In Montreal, Hunt kills Cridee but is unable to gain any information on Steve and Trish's ONE LIFE TO LIVE: Connie tells Asa she knows everything about David and Jenny. Tina finds a special' delivery letter to Clint from a woman in Texas, which was stolen months ago.

Jenny, posing as bag lady, spots Brad and the two embrace. David is forced to give an anti-American interview in ex-, change for Jenny's safety. RYAN'S HOPE: Rick meets Frank in a garage to discuss Rick's undercover assignment. Rick wants to stop, but Frank says he must continue. Jill finds Little Al tied up in basement and sets him free, but two of Dakota's punks find him.

Dakota tells Mr. Ed that for 10 percent of their business Little Al can go free. Maggie's proposal to Roger is turned down. SANTA BARBARA: Mary tells Mason she still loves him. Eden tells Gina that she'll try to get Brandon in Gina's permanent custody if Gina will play along with her.

Mark conquers his impotence but it's too late to regain Mary. Dylan is enraged when Kelly says she's decided to go back to Nick if he'll have her. SEARCH FOR TOMORROW: Es- telle tells Liza she'll make sure Lloyd gives Liza custody of their unborn child if Liza tells him Estelle didn't push her down the stairs. After Wilma sings a special song for Stu at the club, he asks to say a few words. He admits he's a fraud; not a multi-millionaire but a hard-working businessman who's taken over running Liberty House with Joanne.

YOUNG AND RESTLESS: Kaye realizes her revolver is missing from the house. Carl questions John and Jack. Michael Crawford hires Paul to investigate Jill's shooting. A revolver is found in a hotel alley, but ballistics test cannot pin it down as the one used in Jill's shooting. Lauren tells Diane that Andy's still a free agent and urges her to go after him.

Faron tells Andy she's a victim of total amnesia. Nin America Syndicate MUSIC REVIEW The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra outstanding jazz rendition of "It's You or No One." On the latter, Jack Schantz did a valve-popping solo on flugelhorn and Tracy Knoop raced over the keys of his alto sax for an equally superb flight. Tying it all together was the driving rhythm section of pianist Tom Sapienza, drummer Tom Ka-sperek and bassist Lee Hudson. Another highlight of the evening came in Marvin Hamlisch's romantic "What I Did For Love," from "A Chorus Line," as Schantz and tenor saxophonist Jeff Hackworth brought caressing solos to the cheek-to-cheek tune. Calafato was pleasant and stylish with a number of songs, particularly on his rendition of "Angel Eyes," with the theater's microphones turned off, and his swinging medley of "Chicago" and "(My Kind of Town) Chicago Is." Not to be to be overlooked is Morrow.

His trombone-playing still rings with clarity, perfect pace and the style and feeling that come with a lasting love affair with music. By GENE WILLIAMS Staff Critic Every time the big-band sound comes to town, I wonder why we ever let it get away. But, thankfully, it hasn't been abandoned by musicians young and old alike and the music plays on, even if only for a night here and a night there. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, conducted by Buddy Morrow, packed the Kentucky Center for the Arts' Bomhard Theater with people, music and memories Thursday night. To his great credit Morrow, a band leader and trombonist of considerable note during the 1940s and '50s, has taken the orchestra well beyond the bounds of Dorsey memorabilia.

He emphasizes the ability and versatility of his young players by updating the presentation with a mixture of a lot of old, some new, some borrowed from jazz and some blue..