Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 96

MOVIES CASUALTY OF REALITY Contrivances mar a miscast effort By HAL UPPER Times Film Critic I 1 JJ "'J 'i'i iiL la I Action, talk and visual flash. That's what Peter Hyams' consistently stylish, consistently predictable mass-market movies are made of. Whether it be High Noon in space ((Jutland), a literal resolution to a mystical journey through time (2010) or a salt-and-pepper buddy movie like Running Scared, Hyams strives to pack mega-jolts amidst prolonged passages of wise and witty banter. Hyams, a more accomplished cinema-tographer than a screenwriter or director, tends to supplant style for substance while endeavoring to achieve both. His latest venture, The Presidio, is a noble effort.

It attempts to explore parental-offspring relationships and the nature of control within a romance while focusing on a murder investigation. That's complex enough. But then it employs the 48 HPS. twist: the cops investigating the shooting are hyper-testosterone types who'd rather be crucified than work together. One, Sean Connery's character, is a grizzled Army provost marshal.

The other, played by Mark Harmon, is a cocky San Francisco detective who makes the moves on Connery's daughter faster than a hustle in a single's bar. The story gets more complex. Harmon, or Mr. Hot-Shot Detective, used to be an MP at The Presidio, a military compound by the Golden Gate Bridge. There, he served under Connery, Mr.

Ramrod Military, who busted him a stripe for arresting the commanding officer the same commanding officer who becomes a central figure in this homocide case. There are more coincidences and virtually no red herrings in Larry Ferguson's densely packed script. If a character is introduced, he's guilty of something. The Presidio is dependent on chemistry: the volatile combination of Mr. Ramrod Military and Mr.

Hot Shot Detective; the combustibility when Mr. Hot Shot Detective and Mr. Military's Too-Hot-To-Trot Daughter start shakin'; the bonds between Mr. Ramrod Military and his former commander (Jack Warden) and the Presidio's commanding officer (Dana Gladstone). More often than not, the elements don't react.

Paramount Characters portrayed by Sean Connery, left, and Mark Harmon are a volatile combination. THE PRESIDIO Cast: Sean Connery, Mark Harmon, Meg Ryan Director: Peter Hyams Screenplay: Larry Ferguson Rating: violence, profanity, sexual situations Running Time: 97 minutes Excellent Very good Good Mediocre Poor Connery is solid, though perhaps too reserved, given situations he's confronted with because of his daughter's promiscuity and Mr. Hot Shot Detective's immaturity. Harmon is completely miscast. He's too soft.

Too sane. He should exhibit the twisted side of Mel Gibson. But his character comes across as a neo-Nautilized John Ritter. It's Meg Ryan who gives The Presidio its fire between the opening and closing shoot-outs. Pinning Harmon to the trunk of her Corvette and none-so-gently ripping off his jeans, or calculating his emotional limitations and using them to provoke a fight in the officer's club, Ryan controls the movie's most difficult situations and its most difficult character.

Although murder remains the primary focus of The Presidio, Ryan's relationships with her father and lover prove infinitely more compelling. This is due, in part, to the heat and brevity of her scenes. Even her teary confession to Harmon about her need for distance and dominance in an affair is mercifully short compared with her father's wallowing about his problems to former commander Warden. That scene, with Warden and Connery sitting atop a roof overlooking San Francisco, looks like it was filmed on a sound stage it was and sounds as if its dialogue came courtesy of True Confessions. Harmon's questioning of a venture capitalist, whose car was used in the crime, is too perfunctory even if the scene is meant to illustrate his limited skills as a detective.

The conspiracy that is eventually revealed is too far-reaching and complex to believe. Yet, for all its shortcomings and long speeches, The Presidio is to be credited for trying to reach beyond formula. Hyams and screenwriter Ferguson (Highlander, Beverly Hills Cop II) have aspired to make more than a mismatched buddy movie. But the task has proved too intricate for them to achieve. AT THE BOX OFFICE HAL UPPER'S TOP 5 IAu Revoir Les Enfants Louis Malle's tragic wartime memoir about friendship, betrayal and innocence.

2Manon of the Spring Claude Berri's epic tale of greed and revenge in 1920s rural France. 3 The Last Emperor Bernardo Bertolucci traces China's leap into the modern era through its last monarch. 4 Big The kid-in-an-adult's body formula finally works, with Tom Hanks' innocence winning over a corportion. 5 Colors Dennis Hopper directs a supercharged thriller about two cops coping with gang violence in L.A. Top area movies selected by Times critic Hal Lipper.

6 7 8 9 10 1 Crocodile Dundee II, Paramount Last $1 2.72-million on 2,837 screens. 2 weeks: 2 Big. 20th Century Fox Last week: $8 22-million on 1.132 screens. 1 week: 3Rambo III, Tri-Star Last week: on 2,478 screens. 2 weeks: 4 Funny Farm, Warner Bros.

Last week: on 1,557 screens. 1 week: 5 Willow, MGM-UA Last week: $5-million on 1,035 screens. 3 weeks: Colors, Orion Last week: $1 on 1 ,1 51 screens. 8 weeks Beetlejuice, Warner Bros. Last week: $1 on 1,307 screens.

10 weeks: Friday the 13th Part VII The New Blood, Paramount Last week: $900,156 on 868 screens. 4 weeks: $1 7.1 8-million. Moonstruck, MGM-UA Last week: $612,475 on 631 screens. 25 weeks: Good Morning, Vietnam, Disney Last week: $540,891 on 621 screens. 24 weeks: $1 19.5-million.

Movie earnings compiled tor most recent week and for complete run of films nationwide. 6 FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1988 ST. PETERSBURG TIMES.