The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 49

COLOR v- Double' your pleasure 'Presidio' cops out on S.F. Midler and Tomlin hilarious as twins in 'Big Business' Movie Review 'Big Business' Cast: Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin Director: Jim Abrahams Writers: Dori Pierson and MarcRubel Rated: PG Theaters: Royal, UA Stonestown Evaluation: By David Armstrong EXAMINER STAFF CRITIC IG BUSINESS," the delight I ful new Bette Midler-Lily Tomlin comedy, is an ideal pe 74r I ft 8 I summer entertainment. It's big, brassy, slightly bawdy and very funny, with the laughs multiplying as the breakneck pace of the story accelerates. The premise an endlessly compounded case of mistaken identity is not new. Indeed, "Big Business" is loosely based on "A Comedy of Errors." But its execution has few equals.

"Big Business" is filled with pared-down, snappy dialogue, inventive plot-turns, superb performances and seamless special effects that allow Tomlin and Midler who play sets of identical twins separated at birth to appear onscreen as a quartet, to hilarious effect Things begin slowly, almost bucolically, in the West Virginia of the 1940s, when a rich corporate executive visiting from New York buys a company-town hospital on the spot so his wife can deliver twin girls in the employees-only facility. A local farmer's wife also has twins, naming them Sadie and Rosie, same as the New York couple's girls. A befuddled nurse mismatches the newborns and the two sets of twins grow up unaware of each other. One pair of twins, Rosie Shelton (Tomlin) and Sadie Shelton (Midler), grow up as pampered heirs in Man- hattan. The other, Rosie Ratliff (Tomlin) and Sadie Ratliff (Midler), come of age poor in tiny Jupiter Hollow, W.Va.

But while you can take the twins out of the country (or the city), you can't take the country (or the city) out of the twins (whoever they are). Midler's Sadie Shelton grows up to be a tough, cold company president, determined to close down her firm's unprofitable subsidiary in Jupiter Hollow. Her Sadie Ratliff, contrariwise, is a local girl opposed to the shutdown who pines; for some inexplicable reason, for city living. When her chance comes to journey to the Big Apple to challenge management over the closure, she jumps at it. Meanwhile, Tomlin's Rosie Shelton inexplicably yearns for a simpler life amid the sybaritic pleasures of Manhattan.

Her Rosie Ratliff, on the other hand, is a militant worker out to stop the sale. The country girls go to the city where they are mistaken for their powerful look-alikes by deferential corporate employees and a visiting Italian takeover specialist who wants to buy the subsidiary himself By David Armstrong EXAMINER STAFF CRITIC ON MY WAY OUT of a promotional screening of the new, filmed-in-San Francisco thriller "The Presidio," I heard a moviegoer turn to his pal and shrug, "'Rambo was better more action." That may sum up the problem facing this workmanlike but unexceptional film. Although "The Presidio" has its share of shoot-'em-ups and, especially, chase scenes, I suspect they'll barely register on the Sense-O-Meter with a public that is getting saturated with big-screen carnage. The flip side of that problem is the movie's earnest but only mildly successful attempt to give its characters emotional depth. Star Sean Connery, playing a tough old soldier, has to come to terms with his beautiful, tempestuous daughter (Meg Ryan) and her boyfriend (Mark Harmon), a young cop who clashed with her dad when he served under him as an MP before joining the SFPD.

Director Peter Hyams and screenwriter Larry Ferguson must be congratulated for at least trying to flesh out their characters it's rare enough in action-adventure films, lord knows. But their efforts seldom get under the skin of these conventionally drawn people. "Cries and Whispers" it's not. "The Presidio's" plotline turns on the tense marriage of convenience between Provost Marshall Lt. Col.

Alan Caldwell (Connery) and S.F. police Inspector Jay Austin (HarmojU as they attempt to unravel the murder of Harmon's ex-partner, an MP shot to death at the Officers 'Club while investigating a late-night break-in. Caldwell is a by-the-book guy who believes there's a proper way to do things. Austin is all testosterone and adrenaline. He wants to throw out the book and do things his way.

Sound familiar? It should. It's the set-up for countless TV cop shows and movies during the last 20 years, minimum. One twist in "Presidio" is making the old cop a soldier to dramatize his fealty to procedure and the young cop a civilian. Another is drawing a parallel to the father-figureyoung whelp conflict with the contest of wills between Caldwell and his rebellious See PRESIDIO C-2 See BIZ, C-2 Bette Midler as the twin sister Sadie Shelton Lily Tomlin as the twin sister Rosie Shelton Live from Oakland it's Sesame Street! By Philip Elwood EXAMINER STAFF CRITIC parents; among other things, they spend more time with the Muppets in an imaginary, and imaginative, world. "Big Bird and the ABCs" runs about 100 minutes with intermission.

Only the southern half of the arena is used, creating a comfortable amphitheater. The thrust stage I HIS TIME around the wonderful "Sesame Street Live" show at the Oakland Coliseum Arena through Sunday focuses on the theme "Big wander about the stage and through the audience. Tee Hee speaks Crayon, not Earth-language, so she (and the audience, of course) joins her new-found Sesame Street friends as they tell her about their world; Big Bird (who is a very big bird, indeed) instructs Tee Hee ith "The Alphabet Song." Then Cookie Monster, Guy Smiley, Grover and the Count run through is for Cookie," and Bert and Ernie have fun with Tee Hee's name a name like that you've got to romping through a wonderful routine on "Everybody Likes to Laugh." The shaggy mastodon Snuffleupagus is absolutely marvelous with Tee Hee on "My Womblie." Snuffleupagus is huge, with big, batting, long-lashed eyes and an amazing mouth; hesheit ranks as one of Henson's grandest creations. The show's first half (40 minutes) con- See SESAME, C-15 Many's the child in a 'Sesame Street Live' audience who is more closely attached to these Jim Henson Muppets than to his or her parents Bird and the ABCs," a clever, simple structure that captivates the audience from the very first notes of the "Hello" overture. Over the years the remarkable integrity and common sense projected by all concerned with the Sesame Street roadshow producers, writers, choreographers, artists, etc.

has set it apart from other arena productions. Sesame Street's audience for the live shows is basically the same as for its TV presentations: preschool and early elementary school kids and their parents. Since the ''Sesame Street" TV show will be 20 years old in 1989, we can assume that the adults bringing youngsters to the Coliseum have been fans of Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert and all the rest for a generation. After all, many's the child in a "Sesame Street Live" audience who is more closely attached to these Jim Henson Muppets than to his or her Movie Review 'The Presidio' Cast: Sean Connery, Mark Harmon, Meg Ryan Director: Peter Hyams Writer: Larry Ferguson Rated: Theater: Regency 1 Evaluation: reaches out into the main-floor audience; two smaller satellite stages extend even further into the crowd. The lighting is bright and colorful, nicely synchronized and delightful; the backdrops and mini-sets on the shallow main stage (again radiant and fun) change, shift and move unobtrusively.

A newcomer to this program is Tee Hee, who arrives (via flying saucer) from the planet Crayon while the cast sings "Hello" as they Big Bird teaches Tee Hee, a newcomer to both the TV show and 'Sesame Street Earth-language with 'The Alphabet Song' I I A ALLS COLOR OUTDOORS movies! T7 SIDE One of the great redwood stands in Northern California some 2,500 acres of forests, hiking trails and fantastic views is only a 30-minute drive from downtown S.F. Tom Stien-stra reports on the Peninsula's Puris-ma Creek Redwoods. Page C-14. iffiKJk MuM SOLD OUT It's another big week for movies: In addition to "Big Business" and "Presidio," openers include the scary "Poltergeist III." Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire," the British bank-heist thriller "Bellman and True," the black comedy "Eat the Rich" and a very unconventional thriller from Spain, "Matador." In addition to reviews by David Armstrong and Barbara Shulgasser, coverage includes an interview with "Big Business" stars Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin, and a preview of the American Indian Film Festival. Page C-2.

JUST ANNOUNCED George Michael, second show added, Sept. 28, Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View (on sale Sunday). 762-BASS. July 8, The Fillmore (on sale1 Spyro Gyra, 7:30 p.m. Friday.

8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Paul Masson Vineyards, Saratoga. RESTAURANTS CIIANGES Sunday). 782-BASS Iggy Pop, July 10, The Fillmore (on sale Sunday).

762-BASS. The Ramones, July 11, The Fillmore (on sale Sunday). 762-BASS. Expensive it might be, and a bit out of the way, but Auberge du Soleil is well worth the expense and the trip. Jim Wood celebrated his birthday with dinner and a night at the Napa Valley resort, and says it was an experience he'll long remember.

Page C-15. Comedy pageC-28 Dance pageC-28 pageC-20 Kids page C-1 5 Movies page C-2 Museums pageC-28 Music pageC-7 Outdoors page C-1 4 Radio page C-1 9 RecordsTapes page C-22 Restaurants page C-1 5 Saloons pageC-28 Television page C- US Theater page C-11 MOVIES John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Sorentinos replace Silver Platinum and Gold and the Soul Spots, 9 p.m. Saturday, Last Day Saloon, 406 Clement St. Call 387-6343 or 762-BASS. Harry James Orchestra, Phyllis Diller, 8 p.m.

Saturday, Paramount Theatre, Oakland. The James Orchestra replaces Al Htrt, who canceled because of illness. 762-BASS. RECORDS STILL AVAILABLE Bob Dylan, 8 p.m. Friday, Greek Theatre, UC-Berkeley; 8 p.m.

Saturday, Shoreline Amphitheatre. 762-BASS. Graham Parker, 9 p.m. Saturday, The Fillmore. 762-BASS.

Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, 8 p.m. Saturday, Greek Theatre. 762-BASS. Bnh Dvlan sinas at the "A History of Sexuality," an experimental theater piece based on the writings of Michel Foucault and created by Theater the Milwaukee collective, opens at Life On The Water. Encore Presentations begins its summer season at the ACT Playroom with David Vtamet's "The Water Engine." And the Kipper Kids bring their dada comedy the New Vaudeville Festival.

by Scott Rosenberg and Robert ddrwitt start on Page C-1 1. Greek Theatre and the The Symphony's annual Beethoven Festival begins Monday. The composer has proved inexhaustible for performers, audiences and record producers. Allan Ulrich surveys the first complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle played on fortepiano and authentic instruments, as well as hot, budget reissues by Edwin Fischer and Hermann Scherchen. Page C-22.

Shoreline Amphitheatre Examiner Lance Jackson COLOR d.ni i hi.