The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 85

i ivMmm i 1 i MOVIE, Film explores unique situation ofblack hero in the '40s By Jay Boyar 1 i I I -j i' i fc r. Li LJ SENTINEL MOVIE CRITIC into a shadowy world of politics and passions, blackmail, murder and what used to be known as miscegenation. In some ways, this world is familiar to readers of traditional detective fiction. Yet in others, it's distinctly different from the world of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. The differences are that Easy is black and that his case turns Devil in a Blue Dress is set in the vanished era of cars with fins and men in hats, restricted hotels and unrestricted cigarettes.

This is El Lay, circa 1948 a wide-open, postwar boomtown if ever there was one. And our REVIEW 7 J. 'L j'f V- .1: nr I on a question of race. The color of our hero's skin helps to define and limit his world in unexpected ways. Devil in a Blue Dress is based on Walter Mosley's book of the same name the first Easy Rawlins novel in a successful mystery series that's a favorite of none other than President Clin-t Carl Franklin wrote and directed this oddly captivating film, a much smoother piece of man on tne scene is Eze-kiel "Easy" Rawlins, a war hero from Texas who has come to try his luck in California.

One of the few blacks around who owns his own home, Easy (Denzel Washington) lately has been hav-1 ing trouble keeping up the payments. In desperation, he i accepts an offer from a sin- ister gent1 (Tom Size-more) to make some quick-and-dirty cash by locating a 'Devil in a Blue Dress' Cast: Denzel Washington, Jennifer Beats, Don Chea-dle, Tom Sizemore. Director and screenwriter: Carl Franklin. Cinematographer: Tak Fuji-. moto.

Music: Elmer Bernstein. Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes. Industry rating: (restricted) Parents' guide: Adult situations, violence. Reviewing key. excellent, good, average, poor, awful I HIS I AH PICIUHtS Jennifer Beals makes a strong impression as Daphne Monet, the 'devil' of the title.

something small yet telling. Her career seemingly reborn since her Flashdance days, Jennifer Beals makes a strong impression as the woman that Easy is trying to find a shady lady named Daphne Monet, the "devil" of the title. And as Easy's amoral, trigger-happy Texas friend, Don Cheadle is chillingly funny. Franklin is fortunate to have Denzel Washington leading his cast. An understated performer, Washington can do a lot with the slightest smile or the tiniest scowl.

There's a fundamental heroism about this actor, a basic decency that helps you overlook whatever moral lapses his character's business requires. Washington carries himself with such nobility that you always want to believe the best about him. And with Washington in the role, you feel that Easy Rawlins has a right to believe the best about himself too. Understated performer Denzel Washington does a lot with his role as Easy Rawlins in 'Devil in a Blue serpentine tale. But the world to her room.

that Franklin evokes is so fasci In Devil in a Blue Dress, the '40s atmosphere is rich, but Franklin doesn't make the mistake of laying it on too thick. He has a fine eye for detail like, for example, the weird guy who hangs around Easy's middle-class neighborhood, stealing whole trees from in front of homes when the occupants are looking the other way. Virtually every scene contains something like that nating that you're inclined to stay with him even when you're not quite sure why something is happening. What's best about this film is the director's canniness in exploring the sociological implications of his hero's situation. Even meeting a woman at a hotel isn't always easy for Easy: If the place is closed to blacks, a bellhop must smuggle him up work than his terrific, gut-wrenching B-movie, One False Move (1992).

In the new film, however, the filmmaker's earlier lack of finesse sometimes reappears when it comes to presenting the twists and turns of Mosley's mysterious figure who is described (not very politely) as a white woman who enjoys the company of blacks. Easy knows that there's more to the job than he's being told, but he takes the money anyway. Soon enough, he is drawn move was easy for E3osIey By Jeanne Wolf and Shep Morgan NEW YOHK TIMES SPECIAL FEATURES i i asy Rawlins is the reluctant, Ei struggling black private-eye who exploded into the world plays the character in director Carl Franklin's adaptation of Devil in a Blue Dress, which opens today. Mosley, who has written three subsequent Easy Rawlins mysteries A Red Death (Norton, 1991), White Butterfly (Norton, 1992) and Black Betty (Norton, 1994) smiles at the thought that Easy is about to be introduced to a new audience: filmgoers. "You learn something about Hollywood," he says.

"You can't really put any faith in a movie happening. So I never really believed it was going to happen although I was always happy people were interested. "In the end, what's up on the screen doesn't belong to me. It really belongs to Carl and Denzel." Clad all in black, Mosley is sitting in a conference room at TriStar Pictures, the studio that is distributing the film. He is eager to make it clear that although he didn't have much to do with the film, he is happy with Easy's transition to the screen.

"I think it's a great movie," the author says. "My characters are there, Denzel is fantastic as Easy and some of the language is mine. But it's not my work. "I'm just very laid-back about my book becoming a film. I remember somebody asking James Cain, who wrote The Postman Alioays Rings Twice, what he thought Hollywood had done to his book on the screen.

He said, 'All my books are right here on the shelf. Hollywood hadn't done anything to my book the last time I "He was right. The book is there and the movie is there two different animals." See AUTHOR, Page, 18 from the pages of Walter Mosley's first mystery novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, in 1990. The popular character catapulted the book onto best-seller lists and helped the author earn critical plaudits. Mosley even got a rave from Bill Clinton, an avid mystery reader, who announced during his 1992 presidential campaign that Easy was his favor-, ite character.

Now Rawlins, who solves crimes in Los Angeles in the late '40s, is making TRISTAH PICTUHtS Walter Mosley said he is happy with the his debut on the big screen. Holly-screen adaptation pf 'Devil in a Blue wood superstar Denzel Washington H'J 1 i. i.