Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 70

On Screen YOUR WEEKLY LOOK AT THE LATEST AND GREATEST IN MOVIES AND VIDEO lmm Wm Duty A creative director and talented actor make Devil in a Blue Dress a. mystery worth pursuing. 20 tooO By STEVE PERSALL Times Film Critic PTn rrr --n A II i A 'J) When Roman Polanski unraveled the secrets of Chinatown in 1974, he probably didn't realize what a cross he was causing future filmmakers to bear. Two decades later, when we see a film based in 1940s Los Angeles, with sharpies in the shadows and speakeasy suspicion, we're most likely to dismiss the whole affair with the final words of Polanski's classic "Forget it, Jake, ifs Director Carl Franklin must know this. Thankfully, he also knows the difference between an homage and a rip-oft Franklin's seductive gumshoe flick Devil in a Blue Dress often tips its fedora to Polanski, with its tale of entwined politics and passion, sorted out by a prying hero who never knows exactly what he's up against Yet, Franklin never loses sight of the fact that he's creating his own film, maybe a franchise, in Devil in a Blue Dress.

This isn't merely a dress-up exercise for actors, but an intricate mystery well-told, and adapted by Franklin from novelist Walter Mosley's crime-fighting creation Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins. Franklin keeps things familiar enough to throttle our attention, and the flair for tension he displayed two years ago in One False Move never seems too showy or intrusive on the plot Denzel Washington stars as Easy, and ifs remarkable to watch this most contemporary actor easily slip into the role of a marginally smart, occasionally browbeaten and reluctant private eye. Devil in a Blue Dress is a smart thriller, but a smarter period piece, with Easy and other African-American characters sometimes forced to suck-up to white authority figures, just because mat's me way things were done. Easy isn't John Shaft, a black superman who bucks a system slanted for audiences. Washington's perfor-.

mance never gets too funky to be believed, or too pensive that it isn't fun. He's an actor who shows us his mind is working through the details, rather than posing, and Washington it at his best here. Rawlins is a World War II veteran whose service to his country still can't guarantee a job. He can't resist when a shady guy (Tom Sizemore) offers him $100 simply to find a white mayoral candidate's fiance before her parry habits ruin the campaign. He scours the inner city, stumbling on clues in the darnedest places (and in one very funny seduction scene).

As the case evofves, Easy learns that few people are who they seem to be, as he inverts everyone else's corruptness into a satisfying conclusion. Franklin displays fine control of his film, from the neatly disguised performances to the re-creations of LA 50 years ago, which might be more opulent (and therefore less credible) in the hands of another director. His tension percolates, rather than explodes. When shocks arrive, they're genuine. Franklin isn't from the Tarantino school of gasp-and-giggle filmmakers; he's closer to Scorsese and, yes, Polanski, in his escalating, insinuating pace.

-r -t rt.r COlUmDU in a- A FINE SENSE OF MYSTERY: Jennifer Beals and Denzel Washington star in Devil in a Blue Dress. Non-stop dining. Non-stop entertainment Dancing. Casino. Fresh sea air.

Leave Tampa Friday. Return Sunday. Washington gets great support from Sizemore's oily villainy (watch for a moment that mimics Polanski's own entrance into Chinatown), and Jennifer Beals as the woman of mystery whom Easy pursues. The only actor who completely snatches our attention from Washington, however, is Don Cheadle as "Mouse," a trigger-happy hipster whose departure from the screen tempts one to yell for him to come back. MOVIE REVIEW: A- Devil in a Blue Dress Director Carl Franklin Cast Denzef Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, Don Cheadle Screenplay: CarrFrankTin, based on the novel by waiter Mosley Rating RTprofanity, violenceTsexual situations, nudity Running time: 102 min.

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Studio: Tri-Star Pictures In fact, that same feeling surfaced when the final credits rolled on Franklin's film. How many times have you left a theater hoping that a sequel is being planned? This critic did. Devil in a Blue Dress is a taut, ingenuous bit of Hollywood fantasy that deserves a follow-up. It isn't Chinatown, but audiences won't soon forget it REGENCY CRUISES iTJ 6 TIMES FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1995.