Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 49

ir r- EVENING DECEMBER 12 1984 FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM WEDNESDAY i ii in P'f 1 1 1 1 11 Jill 1 1 1 11 1 1 i 4 --I ty Stash a lot of style in your sleigh Bv BETTY HALL this year jewelers say the ladies are longing for Star-Telegram Writer sapphires With deference to diamonds they Perfect Gift Department Santa speaking cSiSu" What's that? You Want the very latest in status- Wjnn Ohr JJ everyones eyes symbol gifts? The presents tnd-set ers prefer? somejewelersinsistthatthe only gem for a Texas It's the newest you want? The absolute end? Of diamondThe bigger the better they claim course I know what you mean I've been keeping 1 1 mfeQre is better t00 listNowsomeoftheseareahttletnckytogetino not dJMd by dazzle are selecting cultured the sleigh but don't worry Arent you worth it? th And the Here'sjustasmatteringof what the fng boys and minM types arPe sporting blue topaz girls will be getting this year And unless I stm a Blue Christmas miss my guess they'll be the first ones on their block as usual Diamonds mav be a eirl's best friend -but newMuMu8 4i HSlwf Svrrovw (iiitiiihiiili'nJif! rue Some insist that only diamonds are suitable for Texas women but this year sapphires are in A Texas longhorn is an investment gift halim riiiniaMfilriiiiHi aiwn iimifi odern TV merriment: Oil exploration threatens North Pole Art U5 7 Chapman V'' Television the Scrooge-like Sumner Murdoch (Mason Adams) decides to use dynamite at the alternate site then North Pole City will end up looking like an icemaker on the blink You are not buying this are you? It's OK to spin a yarn or two for the children's sake you say but really this is too much Well Santa knows how you feel and he knows how the Baldwin family will take it So he sends his chief elf to make everybody understand The chief elf is Ed Paul Williams to some of you grown-ups and he visits the drilling site to warn Baldwin and his blasting buddies of the impending danger It's all a hoax they agree and the meeting is passed off as an elaborate practical joke When Ed shows up to take the family on a tour of North Pole City Baldwin excuses himself and the rest of the family goes along for the ride What a ride! They travel at an impossible 100 miles per hour in a track vehicle Then they board a sleigh that takes them on a roller-coaster ride to the protected city of the North Pole Mama isn't believing this at all and the oldest child is on her side But to the two smaller Baldwins this is fun Tlease see Christmas on Page 12 This holiday we call Christmas has been an enduring one We know the Grinch tried to steal it Jacob Marley's partner Ebenezer tried to ruin it And even in the biblical sense it wasa miracle that it ever began in the first place But that's all behind us Christmas has grown to the point that department stores are perpetually open just to serve our jingling pockets Every town has a lighted Christmas bush a nd the school calendars allow the children a holiday respite from the chalkboards and books What could possibly happen now? Is there anything so strong so coveted by us that it could get in the way of Santa Claus and his sky-riding Christmas Eve? Certainly there is Just as sure as there's a need for a new televison Christmas movie there's a danger to Santa Claus This time Thursday night at 7 on Channel 8 the problem is oil In The Night They Saved Christmas it's the search for oil that really is the problem An exploration company is dynamiting the whole Arctic Circle and the explosions are causing more damage than you would expect Michael Baldwin (Paul Le Mat) who manages the drilling rigs lives with his wife Claudia (Jaclyn Smith) and their three children But as we soon learn they're not an altogether happy family Oneofthechil-dren is having trouble at school other children keep telling him there is no Santa Claus and he keeps punching them out and all the family is tired of an igloo existence But Baldwin is sure that he is just ice cubes away from striking it rich He keeps blowing up the tundra without results but he has an alternate site These ground-ripping explosions are not producing oil but they are producing havoc at North Pole City That's where Santa and Mrs Claus live and work and I don't mind telling you that they're more than just a little peeved about all the commotion They are a little scared too The present explosions are bad enough about tearing up the place but if Baldwin at the urging of his boss feu vA: i i -rfr-mliti r- -HT mm Art Carney and Jaclyn Smith star in The Night They Saved Christmas Men' They call them 'Hollywood's Hit 1 i 1 1 tunnt C-i rff prpat storv" Flashdance tor examDle stands not onlv as a Rv ANNE MARIE BIONDO 4 I I i "'X A The idea came from an article in California magazine Simpson said Within hours after reading the story the two had bought the rights and were looking for screenwriters They expect to cast "types" of actors such as Tom Cruise Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke and promise to have the movie out for Christmas 1985 Whether Bevery Hills Cop makes it big the Bruckheimer Simpson team has made a mark With a year and a half to go on the contract with Paramount the film makers already are being wooed by Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney Productions pease see 2 on page 9 box-office smash and a top-selling videocassette but as an exploitable product for television's music-video channels "We were one of the first producers who used MTV to promote a movie" Bruckheimer said "We also just finished a music video on Bei'erly Hills Cop with Eddie Murphy and the Pointer Sisters" Bruckheimer and Simpson have what they term an "exclusive" contract with Paramount Pictures to develop and produce movies Beverly Hills Cop is their third joint effort In the works for next year is Top Guns a film about a naval-pilot academy in California "It's a school that takes the top 1 percent of fighter pilots" Simpson said "They are the tip of the sphere of the best And our instincts say it's a Star-Telegram Writer In Los Angeles they've been dubbed "Hollywood's Hit Men" When they get to the plate they aim for over the fence But as a producing team Jerry Bruckheimer 40 and Don Simpson 38 are batting 500 a $217 million winner in Flashdance and a $97 million loser in Thief of Hearts They are counting on the expected box-office blowout of Beverly Hills Cop to secure their reputations as hit-makers producers who can anticipate the market and get a movie to the theaters at the front end of a trend From the looks of its nationwide box-office showing for the first two days industry officials expect that it could hit $20 million its first week making it one of the biggest openers in movie history CISSY is on vacation Don Simpson Jerry Bruckheimer.