The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 28

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Sycamore Kokomo CL to rt -i in i -i I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I The movies being honored this year are largely lackluster. BY ROBERT DIMATTEO he 61st Annual Academy Awards Presentation" (airing Wednesday, March 29 on ABC) is billed as the most spectacular yet and we don't doubt it. Produced by glitz- meister Allan Carr the Broadway musical "La Cage Aux this year's ceremony will include a further glorification of Hollywood's legendary stars from the '30s through the '80s and a film tribute to the splashy movie musicals of the '50s. There will also be an increased focus on the arrival of the stars at the Shrine Civic Auditorium, a rite of entrance which has struck some of us as the best part of the show anyway. The presenters and their costumes of choice are another rite we look forward to.

This year, Goldie Hawn will turn up with live-in Kurt Russell, Jimmy Stewart will present an award with his "Vertigo" co-star Kim Novak and that nonpareil, Cher, will go it alone, presumably enhanced by one of Bob Mackie's body-baring get-ups. Hopefully the gloss and lore of the telecast itself will make up for the largely lackluster movies being honored. As usual, the Oscar voters narrowed the field down to five nominees. Two Academy nominations went to films derived from books: "The Accidental Tourist," a muted adaptation of Anne Tyler's engagingly oddball bestseller, and "Dangerous Liaisons," an arch yet sexy treatment of Choderlos de La- clos' 1794 epistolary novel. Also in the running is "Working Girl," a popular comedy with echoes of "Kitty Foyle" (1940) and yup-era humor.

With eight nominations overall, "Rain Man" leads the pack of Best Picture contenders. Betting money is on this tender-hearted study of the relationship between two brothers, one an autistic savant played by Dustin Hoffman. "Rain Man" 's biggest competitor for top honors is the fifth nominee, "Mississippi Burning," Alan Parker's well-acted, classy-looking melodrama about the FBI investigation into the 19(i4 murder of three civil rights workers. Though it tackles a worthy Rainmnn's Cruise and Hoffman this movie has been justifiably criticized for taking a real-life event in which blacks triumphed, and turning it into a typically contrived detective tale with two white men as heroes. Yet just as "Rain Man" is buoyed by Dustin Hoffman's performance, "Mississippi Burning" is given life by Gene Hackman's excellent work as a tough, Southern G-man.

Hoffman and Hackman will duke it out for best actor honors, in a field that includes surprise nominees Max von Sydow the and Edward James Olmos and Tom Hanks should be ruled out as a probable winner. One encouraging aspect of the 1988 movies was the number of good performances by leading actresses. Just look at the nominees: Jodie Foster Melanie Griffith Glenn Close Sigourney Weaver in the and Meryl Streep Cry in the It's a wide-open field, though we predict Glenn Close. In the Supporting Actor race, look for Sigourney Weaver to get the nod for "Working Girl," besting Joan Cusack Geena Davis Frances McDor- mand and Michelle Pfeiffcr Supporting Actor nominees are Alec Guinness Martin Landau River Phoenix on Kevin Kline Fish Called and Dean Slockwell to the Stockwell, in a career comeback, will probably win. THE KOKOMO TK1BUNE.