The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 46

12 Thursday 18 August 1988 HPS Mill Hi nd Ed (Wcol8Co and HeSy Hunter) wgattoilK of Lunatic larceny baby by the return after 10 years of the husband she believed killed in Vietnam. But if not a happy-ever-after reunion. The husband is hiding some dark secret about his Immediate past and is being stalked by a killer (Preston). When he says their only chance of escape is to change their Identities and flee the country, Maura goes along with his elaborate plans, until the thought occurs that this husband of hers, who has changed so much, may be Interested merely in getting his hands on her money. It's a plot that will keep you guessing right to the final frame, which is its chief attraction.

There are some good laughs in The Boas' Wife, a kind of sexy How To Succeed In Business with Daniel Stern as Joel, a self-effacing Junior stockbroker invited along on the company weekend in Palm Springs "to see how he will fit in, panache-wise''. If he makes a good Impression on the boss (Christopher Phimmer), promotion is his. Unfortunately, the big impression he makes is with the boss's nymphomaniacal wife (Arielle Dombasle), who thrives on sex spiced with the danger of discovery, and any French farce would be satisfied with the complications that ensue when she lures him to her boudoir before dawn for a seduction while the boss snores. IMAGINATIVE sci-fi fantasy sustains the Interest in Overdrawn At The Memory Bank even beyond the point at which the plot becomes quite tortuous. It is set in a ltMlsh future when a handful of large corporations rule the world and their computers control even the weather.

Raul Julia plays Aram Flngal, a clerk at Novacorp who cracks the code that gives him ac-cesss to the forbidden Cinema file containing all the motion-pictures now banned. He Is whlling away the time watching Casablanca when he is caught and sent to the company psychisf who prescribes two days' 're-hab' at Nirvana Village where he is to be 'doppled'. 'Doppling' is a form of relaxant, achieved by an implantation In the brain which allows a human's identity to be lifted and transferred temporarily into tennis, hiking and camping that neither enjoys. Mark DelmeL who directs and had a hand in the script, doesnt always keep the touch light enough, but one should perhaps be grateful for any boygirl movie these days that attempts to deal with feelings and not Just gymnastics. OBODY makes a decent Western- nowadays or so I thought until The Quick And The Dead turned up.

It's a TV movie based on a novel by Louis. L' Amour, and it follows the rules of the Western in that the characters, are boldly drawn, the plot is simple, and direct, nobody wastes time talking too much and the great outdoors looks simply Even 'Tom Conti playing an American is acceptable because, with the name Duncan McKaskel, his character could be the son of a Scots immigrant (albeit one who had trouble spelling). There are overtones of Shane in the story of pacifist Pennsylvania schoolteacher McKaskel, his pretty wife Susanna (Kate Capshaw) and young son Tom making their way across Wyoming Territory in 1876 towards a new life in the West when a gang of outlaws tries to steal their horses. To their rescue comes a silent stranger, Con Valllan (Sam Elliott), a half-breed gunsllnger who scoffs at Duncan's turn-the-other-cheek philosophy. "The meek aint gonna inherit nuthln' west of Chicago," he observes succinctly.

Because the gang leader's brother was killed in the attempt on the horses, the outlaws vow to track the McKaskels and their helper to the last (i.e.t the inevitable showdown). But Vallian's presence among the McKaskel family is disruptive, as both Susanna and Tom are drawn to him; he offers each of them qualities that Duncan, as husband and father, does not provide. REMEMBER Mike Preston singing and compering on GTV9? He plays the heavy in a neat telemovte mystery thriller, Long Journey Home, produced by and starring husband-end-wife David Blrney and Meredith Baxter Birney. Maura Wells Is taken aback buy popularity at schooL Cindy Mancini, captain of the cheerleaders and universal lust object, is in dire financial straits, and Ron the geek weighs in with $1000 (from his savings out of his lawn-mowing Job) on condition that the beauteous Cindy pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. Ron's acceptance rating soars.

The Jocks tolerate then befriend him, the sexy co-eds queue up to ask him out everyone figuring that if he's good enough for Cindy, -he must be worm cultivating. Trouble is, Ron deserts his true friends, who liked him simply for what he was, in his quest for popularity with the shallow set Patrick Dempsey and. Amanda Peterson are engaging in the lead roles, and director Steve Rash nwlntniiHi a good level of fun. The Perfect Match is a variation on the same theme. Marc McClure plays Tim, a couch potato who has no luck with the opposite sex in fact, on one date the girl steals his car.

He places a lonely-hearts ad describing himself as an active outdoors type because he thinks that's what women want, and gets a reply from Nancy (Jennifer Edwards), a student who works nights in a video store. To impress him, she describes herself as an advertising executive, and together they go off on a calamitous weekend of skiing, rHOT MANY films are funny I I through and through. Some I successful comedies get by Uu ona wisecracking script or on the sheer personality of amusing actors, while the films themselves, if examined clinically, are routine, conventional, even unimaginative. No so Raising Arizona, a deliriously mad movie in which everything is funny the script (dry and laid-back), the actors (ranging from droll to demented), the music and soundtrack in general (wacky), the direction and camerawork (often blissfully lunatic) and the editing (a comic sense of its own, capable of doubling the intensity of a. belly-laugh).

In short, it is hilarious, a wildly nonsensical and outrageous comedy about a stolen baby that is visually and verbally funny throughout its entire 90 minutes. Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter are wonderful as convenience store robber H.L. McDonough and his wife, Edwina, who met and fell in love as a result of his numerous stints in Jail (she was the police officer who took the mug shots). Life in their desert-edge slum is idyllic until they are informed they can never have children. This intelligence coincides with a lot of publicity for quintuplets born to high-profile Nathan Arizona, proprietor of a chain of unpainted furniture stores and the sort of fellow appears in his own TV com- JIM KUHPHY'S guide to videos appearing in the stores over the next week mercials.

It is unfair, reason Hi and Ed, for him to have five while they have none, so they pinch one of the babies. There are complications when two of Hi's coarse prison colleagues come a-visiting (temporarily at liberty and seeking a hideout) and twig to the identity of the baby; a spot of ransom, they reckon, would fit in nicely with a bank Job they had planned. And there is a mean bounty-hunting blkie named Leonard Smalls on the trail as weU. The plot is amusing. The way the cast and director Joel Coen develop it is side-splitting.

You won't see a funnier movie this year. THE BEATLES' song Cant Buy Me Lave provides both the title and the moral for a teen comedy that is wen above the average quality of the genre. Writer Michael Swerdlick makes some nice observations about adolescent insecurities in his brisk, entertaining screenplay about Ronald Miller, "a member of the nerd herd', and his expensive ploy to PRECISION RESPONSE This is an excellent opportunity to invest in a piano of undisputed quality Superior materials and fastidious craftsmanship set Royale apart. RQYALE KxYBUAKU KEYBOARD Royale keys are made of solid sitka spruce with Canadian hard rock maple key buttons and individually balanced with lead for consistent touch weight FULL IRON FRAME Sealed and coated with gold bronze, the Royale frame has structural strength to withstand a force of 20 tons. THE BRASHS BONUS A piano is a major investment It's good to know you have the reassurance of over 120 years of dependability and service behind you.

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