Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 55

THE HARTFORD COURANT: Friday, November 3, 1995 E3 Girlfriends go for the gold in fast-paced adventure flick Film review i it 1 If I By MALCOLM JOHNSON Courant Film Critic Though "Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain" does not offer a single kaleidoscopic dance routine by Busby Berkeley, this girl's version of the adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer spins along quite breathlessly it explores the waters and mountain leaves of the Pacific Northwest. Jj Its outsider tomboy and daring new girl in town do' indeed perform their spelaean investigations in search of the glittering ore that once drew miners to Bear Mountain. But Beth Easton, who has just moved to quaint Wheaton, and Jody Salerno, who has already gained a reputation as the most terrible girl in town, are still much too young to be interested in sugar daddies like the chorines are in Berkeley's famed "Gold Diggers" musicals of the '30s. As played by the sweet-faced and understated Christina Ricci and the less pretty, more awkward Anna Chlumsky, Beth and Jody are still of that age when girls can be the most unselfishly devoted friends, almost ready to die for one another. Dating has yet to raise its Ugly head.

The attraction of opposites forms the heart of "Gold Diggers." Ricci's Beth arrives in picture-perfect Wheaton in culture shock, wondering where one might find a mall in such a postcard Podunk. Her recently widowed mom has inherited a pretty, white farmhouse, but no farm, from a recently deceased "aunt. Right away, the nice girls in the neighborhood are warning Beth against attaching herself to Jody, whom the new Wheatonian first sees beating up a boy on Main Street. i mnwwmnmcn It Jack Rowand Universal Pictures Christina Ricci, left, and Anna Chlumsky have a Tom Sawyer-Huck Finn type adventure in the rugged Pacific Northwest in "Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain." Perhaps because she is bored Jody are girlishly infatuated with with the good girls, and with Whea- "Winnie the Pooh," the polite wid-ton, perhaps because both Beth and ow's daughter begins to hang out river voyage to Bear Mountain. Their boat, which the ever-resourceful Jody appropriated from a company that went bust and which she then repainted gaily, lends circus-like color and an odd excitement to this part of the film, set against the magnificent scenery of rushing waters, towering rocks and mountain greenery.

There, on noon of the summer solstice, Jody sights the location of the gold in the rays of the sun. Then the girls sail into peril. Unhappily, plastic stalagmites and stalactites make the cave look even phonier than the papier-mache rock formations created for the 1938 "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." But although her outbursts are occasionally strained, Chlumsky darts about to give us a convincing adventuress. And the clear-eyed, quietly passionate Ricci makes us care about Beth, especially when the poor child comes in harm's way. The grown-ups are distinctly secondary in "Gold Diggers," but Polly Draper gives Beth an understanding, if self-absorbed yuppie mom; Diana Scarwid does another of her messed-up matrons as Jody's loser mother; and Brian Kerwin lends a touch of romance and a bit of bumbling to the sheriff ordered about by Beth at the climax.

The only match for the girls is David Keith, who brings gimlet-eyed duplicity to the seeming nice guy, buddy of the cops and all-around party guy, who turns into a much darker figure when drunk and alone with Jody and her mom. Rated PG, this film contains unflattering talk about Jody's mom, evidence of abusive behavior on the boyfriend's part and a tense and rather frightening near-death experience for Beth, renewed thri i mm OK' jr. 1 Pat's Pointers Welcome to Pat Trexler's needlework column. This week's design is the Quick Knit Pullover, No. 102995, pictured here.

To call for color information, price, or how to order, please dial 246-1000 or (800) 246-8070. The four- digit Source number is 1 080. A touch-tone phone is required. We'll give you the price and color information and tell you how to order the instructions or the kit for making this design. Please Include the newspaper code number, which is 091 000.

IT JL NEW YORK i PH II 1 (Thr JUrtforu tfounmt. ALSO PLAYING AT SONY THEATRES BRISTOL 8 589-7070 PINE STREET PLAZA, BRISTOL "A Terrific Adventure. Great family fun with action and suspense." Bob Heily, SATELLITE NEWS NETWORK "A Thrilling And Heart-Warming Adventure!" Anne Brodie, BATON BROADCASTING "An Adventure Story For The entire Family. All the excitement of a treasure hunt and more." Jim Feruuaon. REVUE CHANNEL "A Huck Finn for Young Women." Hob Holun.ky, CHS NEWS CHANNEL GOLD DIGGERS: THE SECRET OF BEAR MOUNTAIN, directed by Kevin James Dob-son; written by Barry Glasser; director of photography, Ross Berryman; music composed by Joel McNeely; production designer, Michael Bolton; edited by Stephen W.

Butler; produced by Martin Bregman, Rolf Deyhle and Michael S. Bregman; executive producer, Louis A. Stroller. A Universal Pictures release of a Bregman-Deyhle Production, opening today at Showcase Cinemas, East Hartford, East Windsor and Berlin. Running time; 92 minutes.

Beth Easton Christina Ricci Jody Salerno Anna Chlumsky Kate Easton Polly Draper Matt Hollinger Brian Kerwin Lynette Salerno Diana Scarwld Ray Karnisak David Keith Grace Brlggs Gillian Barber Tracy Briggs Ashleigh Aston Moore Samantha Jewel Staite Molly Morgan Amy Kirk Sgt. Waller Dwight McFee Mysterious Woman Betty Phillips Excellent; Very Good; Good; Fair; A Poor with the bad girl daughter of a woman known as a boozer. Their first, nearly catastrophic meeting as Beth careers downhill on an out-of-control bike, flinging both girls into a pond just pulls them closer together, and they become inseparable. The central plot of "Gold Diggers" turns on two points: Jody's obsession with finding the nuggets supposedly hidden in Bear Mountain by a legendary gold-rush queen named Molly Morgan, and her struggles against the Papp FinnInjun Joe of the piece, her hard-drinking mom's boyfriend, Ray. Though well-paced throughout by Australian director Kevin James Dobson, this adventure yarn written by Barry Glasser really picks up speed when Jody takes Beth on a TODAY JSL hn mm mwmmm the ON THE EDGL SHfSA WOMAN iCTV WCnt BEEN TARGETED BY THE RUSSIAN MOB, Vfti rlYl'r AND NOW THETRE B0TH fi km rulnM ill SI Vi I wm STARTS TODAY W0MSSK rmrmrrrniznm PERFECTION." .9 4 1 1 ItT 'jlMfr mm 11 if RR An PITT MORHAW FRFFMAM 1 Seven deadly sins.

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