The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 84

8 FriflAfUttf 1981 "Philadelphia Inquiry 1 1 i jjf 1 11 Film: 'Flashpoint' stars Kristofferson Review 'My I that has been uncovered. (While it is clear that there's a cover-up going on, not until the final scene of the film is.it apparent that it's the Kennedy assassination that's being covered up.) Rip Torn, playing a grizzly old Texas sheriff, gets embroiled in things, as do Tess Harper and Jean Smart girlfriends of sorts, though their respective characters are so shabbily drawn that they come off like a couple of smalltown bimbos. Flashpoint is the first feature film by William Tannen, veteran TV commercial director, and his inexperience working with actors and plot shows. Kristofferson and Williams are both likable enough fellows, but there's no tension between them, no energy. They just stand around and recite their lines, which, as scripted by writers Dennis Shryack and Michael Butler (The Car, The Gauntlet), are not particularly good.

And Torn, one of the great character actors of our time, sleepwalks through his small role, wearing a dry smirk, dark he works for is. Of course, Kristofferson and Williams decide to find out about the driver, the gun and the cash, but the duo turn out to be boobs when It comes to detective work; they're far more adept at tooling their jeeps through the sagebrush and for skulking Mexicans than they are at fitting together pieces of a 20-year-old puzzle. However, the pair has unwittingly opened up a major can of worms. Though Flashpoint has been patched together so poorly that it's possible to miss the revelations about the skeleton in the jeep, said skeleton turns out to be the "grassy knoIT gunman, the money his assassin's fee. Conspiracy buffs' claims that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone are thus confirmed there was another gunman, hidden behind shrubs, training his telescopic site at JFK's motorcade.

Enter the feds, led by Carson (Kurtwood Smith), an odious rodent in a black raincoat intent on covering up (at any cost) the mess By Steven X. Rea Inquirer stall Writer Somewhere in this stuff there's a good movie. There's political intrigue, JFK assassination-conspiracy theories, cowboy-style shootouts, secret agents, drug smuggling, illegal-alien smuggling, plus a macho, buddy-buddy relationship. But Flashpoint, based on thriller writer George LaFountaine's novel of the same name, is a botched job. It takes a potentially fascinating premise and proceeds to bury it, to the point that it's nearly irrelevent to the film.

This is what happens. Kris Kristofferson, playing a Texas border-patrol officer by the name of Logan, uncovers a jeep in a desert ravine. He finds a skeleton in the driver's seat with a driver's license issued in 1962; in the back of the jeep there's a box with a rifle and another box stuffed with $800,000 in 10s and 20s. Kristofferson, a cynical type who takes his shirt off a lot, wants to 'TERRIFIC! Michael part James Dean." Pare is just about part Gary Cooper, -Jot Bohoke. Philadelphia daily news SEE 'GREMLINS' AGAIN BEFORE YOU HIT THE BOOKS JM, 'AC ffr' "Wat Tkt 1M BUS STOP FLASHPOINT Produced by Skip Short, directed by William Tannen, written by Dennis Shryack and Michael Butler, photography by Peter Moss, music by Tangerine Dream, distributed by Tri-Star; running time: 1 hour.

37 minutes. Logan Kris Kristofferson Ernie Treat Witkams Sheriff Wells Rip Torn Kurtwood Smith EHen Tess Harper Parents' guide: split the money with his partner, Treat Williams playing an earnest officer by the name of Ernie and split to Mexico. Williams, sorely tempted, will take the money only if the pair can trace its origin. Kristofferson argues that the $800,000 has been buried in Texas dirt for two decades, and nobody has missed it; Williams sticks to his guns, chews his gum and complains how corrupt the Border Patrol unit mNM.fM.M- FBOM VWOTNER tflOS A WABNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY The Never Ending Story SaH MIDTOWN $2.50 TIL 1 P.M. KREMLINS" 2.40, 6.45, 10.45 "NEVER ENDING STORY" 12.45, 4:50, 8.50 ECC PLTMOyTB HT6.

MJUJ. 1 2 Gwmantown Pi ab. Pa. Tot TYSON 7043 Castor PMa NcwJikitr AMCMARLTONS 800 Nortti Route 73, Marttoo ERIC TWIN ROUTE 38 Mj toChertyH Mai, Cherry Hi CCC OLPTFOSD MALL 6 Depttord Center Rd. (odd.

Sears Auto) Kris Kristofferson as Logan glasses and a thick, furry mustache. What Flashpoint needed was an able rewrite and an experienced action-film director to handle all the intricacies of a terribly convoluted story line. It got neither. STEWART RAEFILL Pirine. ij)4 NlWJCRStr AMC KPTFORI On Oeimrrt Bndge Rd, cross from tht itwU Daptford STEVEN SPIELBERG CftEMLiNS STARRING IM GAI.LIGAIM PHOEBE ATIS HOYT AXTO POI.IV HOLLIDAV FRANCES I.F.E Ml CAIN Ml MC BY JI.RRY GOLDSMITH EXECl TIVE PRODI 'CERS STEVEN SPIELBERG FRANK MARSHALL KATHLEEN KENNEDY WRITTEN BY CHRIS COLI'MBIIS PRODUCED BY MICHAEL FINNELL DIRECTED BY JOE DANTE NEW WORLD PICTURES CINEMA GROUP A DOUGLAS CURTIS PRODUCTION MICHAEL PARE NANCY ALLEN "THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT" ERIC CHRISTMAS BOBBY Dl CICCO WILLIAM GRAY MICHAEL JANOVER WALLACE BENNETT DON JAKOBY SS JOHN CARPENTER KEN WANNBERG ST" JOEL B.

MICHAELS DOUGLAS CURTIS Produced hi association with New P'lClUieS GfOlip, Ltd. SUGMSTFD Itj 2nd feature at Midtown 3 CMCSTWUT AT goD STHFE 5H7 7021 AMC PREMIERE 2 NoharrartyMa. at Sears. Rt fUPaTuinuke BUDCO BUCKS CO. DRIVE IK 611, 5 1115 ot Willow Grove BUDCO CITY LINE TWIN 77th City line Aves.

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