The Windsor Star from Windsor, Ontario, Canada • 22

THE WIND SOU STAR FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1930 gmxsmmtxmmmirmmmmmimmismmmxMmmmm1, THE LITnfr Saturday Sunday at 1:50 P.M. EgMS ONLY! Movie confused by recent events C2 HILARIOUS Li MAGICAL t.lrk -tayCfiiU, WMArv DALLAS A- STEEL and a messed-up veteran of Afghanistan (Jurgen Prochnow), glaring at each other across the snowfields. Like a granddad Rambo, Scheider starts making private incursions intended to humiliate the old foe he can no longer afford to slaughter. Prochnow instantly understands the game. Maybe hes been watching old cowboy movies where enemies become worthy through slug-fests in the dust.

HARRY DEAN STANTON chimes in occasionally, as commanding officer and narrator, to explain both mens psychology. The story also strains to introduce a female, Lara Harris, with a heart-rending refugee tale intended to redeem Scheider who otherwise would look like a pure psychotic. The war games shift back and forth; John Frankenheimer can still direct action sequences in a declining career where nothing else is available. Certainly, the director draws only action and icy stares from his two protagonists. To be fair, both men dont need his guidance to act with clenched jaws.

Scheider often takes bravado roles in mediocre films; Prochnow belongs to the long Hollywood tradition of bad guys with European accents. None of them, actors or director or scriptwriters, have truly accepted the new international order. They understand that exploding corpses are no longer acceptable but cant put away the easy excitement of sabre-rattling. (Neither can the worlds politicians.) The scripts tricks feel manipulative because the two rivals are not given equal value or explanation. With that balance tipped, the plot deteriorates into a snowball fight, ammunition thoughtfully supplied by the Alberta winter.

The Fourth War, starring Roy Scheider, Jurgen Prochnow, Harry Dean Stanton and Lara 'Harris. (Adult Accompaniment under 14: coarse language.) Forest Glade. i Deep-freeze action keeps The Fourth War alive when silly plotting threatens to stop it cold in its tracks. The Alberta winter is the real star of this clumsy thriller, hanging icicles on every line of dialogue in a landscape bleaker than the inside of an empty refrigerator. Like any star, the province does not play itself.

Instead, its win-tery forests represent a remote section of the German-Czech border. Thats a dra-ftnatic convenience, like everything else in the picture. Trying to keep up with international ffieadlines, The Fourth War makes noises about the old Cold War tensions being outdated. THEN IT GOES ahead and uses them as excuses for action anyhow. At the movies, the Cold War always welcomed hotheads, throwing fuel on any conflict between East and West.

current thaw is melting that easy I tension and The Fourth War isnt real- ly sure what to do about it. The story tries to equate a messed-up Vietnam officer (Roy Scheider) Wn 'Shot-- PRtULH-VWBs RADIO Fri. at 7:10,9:10 Sat. Sun. at 2:05, 7:10, 9:10 Sat.

Sunday at 7:10 9:10 ONLY 0 SET mjIHMI.Tf TOM HANKS MEG RYAN JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO on shaky ground It could be curtains for Detroits Attic Theatre, unless the feisty operation can stave off bankruptcy with a $550,000 US emergency fund drive. The Attics managing director, James Moran, said this week that the theatre, -located at Third and West Grand Boulevard, could only stay open a week or two without a cash transfusion. i However, board chairman Andrew Soffel said the deadline for the theatres rescue would be Aug. 31, when the fiscal year ends. Artistic director Lavinia Moyer said the Attic has been in a state of financial collapse" since 1984 when fire at its Greektown site forced it to relocate to its current, more expensive, location near the Fisher Building in the New Center area.

The problem stems almost entirely from expenses we incurred as a result of fthe destruction of the Greektown theatre in 1984, Soffel said. There was substantial capital outlay required to bring the new building up to code. Contributions can be sent to the Attic at P.O. Box 02457, Detroit, 48202. MEG RYAN "JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO LLOYD BRIDGES ROBERT STACK GEORGES DELERUE STEVEN SPIELBERG, KATHLEEN KENNEDY, FRANK MARSHALL JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY TERI SCHWARTZ JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY AMmN rt PARENTAL 1 GUIDANCE Tonight ot 7:00 9:00 Sat.

Sun. at 2:00, 7:00, 9:00 Tonight at 7:15 9:15 Sat. Sun. at 1:40, 7:15, 9:15 R1C1IABD GERE JULIA ROBERTS Channel 50- PARENTAI 1 Guidance I Sat. Sun.

At: 7:20 9:20 ONLY She walked off the street, into his life and stole his heart. FAMOUS FLAYERS BEST PICTURE BEST ACTOR Morgan Freeman Kt FAMILY Fri. at 7:05, 9:05 Sat. Sun. at 2:05, 7:05, 9:05 Continued from Cl It has followed that up with the purchase of some other heavyweights, like Whos The Family Ties, and, most recently, Golden Girls.

Channel 50s recent history that is, since the early '80s has soared on the wings of such first-run syndication shows as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Charles In Charge, and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Today, the station is a pale imitation of the way it looked 25 years ago. In 1987, the fledgling Fox Network asked Channel 50 to join on as its Detroit affiliate. At the time, it looked like a shaky proposition, even though there were shows like Married With Children and The Tracey Ullman Show which had promise. The major networks NBC, ABC, and CBS were patronizing at best to the new kid on the block.

NBCs entertainment chief, Brandon Tarti-koff, referred to Fox as the coa-thanger network" because of the rapid turnover of shows and executives. But Fox and Channel 50 hung in there and eventually its programming began to show results. In fact, a new Sunday night addition, The Simpsons, has won its time period on Sundays at 8:30 p.m. the last two weeks in Detroit. PAUL PRANCE, Channel 50s program director, said the image of WKBD as the distributor of old TV shows is outdated.

A good half of our programming day now, he said, is programming that hasnt been seen before. Besides the first-run syndication shows, there are some local programs, like the 10 Oclock News every weeknight, Ask The Governor, Places For Kids and Newsline. But Fox has turned that old image inside out: I think Fox brought us a certain energy that is to a degree difficult for a station this size to generate on its own. Fox is a network on the way up and thats the way we think of TV 50." Channel 50 is a firm fourth in the television market in Detroit behind the three other network affiliates -WXYZ-Channel 7, WDIV-Channel 4, and WJBK-Channel 2. But being No.

1 isnt a priority around Channel 50. Said Duane Kell, who took over as W'KBD's general manager in February 1989: Being first isnt our goal. We can do better in certain areas, like news, and thats what we are working towards. Channel 50s 10Clock News was an innovation in Detroit, although of course a 10 p.m. newscast has been a way of life on CBC in Canada for more than a decade.

Recently, Channel 50 purchased new microwave equipment to increase its news-gathering efficiency. The station is now ready to compete with the Big Three affiliates in local news coverage, a priority when the station was bought out by Atlanta-based Cox Broadcasting Ltd. in 1983. TWO YEARS AGO this month, the station moved into a multi-million dollar new headquarters adjacent to its former location. The feeling among the staff now, Kell said, is Channel 50 is ready to accept any new challenge.

A second studio now being built will allow the station to produce more local programming come this fall, including some childrens shows and maybe some newsmagazines. For years, Channel 50 had to worry only about the other UHF stations in the area and it ruled the roost as the top independent. Now, with the intrusion of cable and pay TV, along with home video, the station is having to look at new and innovative ways to stay competitive. Prange said many of the movie packages the station might have been interested in buying in the past are now being snapped up by cable. The sames true of many old TV shows.

The station has had to change its image or close. When Williams retired to Florida last year, he left the reins to a young, forward-thinking executive Kell is 43; Prange 36. It reflects Channel 50's commitment to staying alive by staying young. Over the years, Channel 50 has tried to accommodate a younger audience children and teenagers which tends to tune in independents. Thats why shows like American Gladiators and World Wrestling Federation thrive on the station.

BUT EVEN THAT audience is becoming fragmented and the spectre of the Zapper the remote control device haunts every TV programmer. The future of Channel 50, not the next 25 years but the next five or six, depends on programs like The Simpsons, Prange said. The sticks, pucks, and nets will still be there, like old drinking buddies, but the real business of WKBD-Channel 50 will rely on youth-oriented shows, at least in the short term. 9 4 T-4 KEAN CONNERY STARTS TONIGHT rcm FiOCCIBSER ATEC mum PARAMOINT PKTVRFSwr, NEITFLD JERRY SHFRIOCK JOHN SF IN CONNERY ALECBaLWIN THt HINT KW RHHXTUUtR SOFIGLEvS JAMESEAR! JONES SAM HLIMSI1 UlrM Rh RAliLARRl DE MAAIibJERRY SHERLOCK SLARRI TOM i UNO TMAIENFIFFIU -SJOHNMdORNBN APiRAMOINTPICHRE wj- mow iupntttmimimtmj At: 7:05 9:25 Sat. Son.

at 1:35,7:05,9:25 PAPENTAI. GUIDANCE Tonight ot 9:30 Sat. Sun. at 1:30, 7:00, 9 JO 4.