Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 93

4 3 0 6) 6) 0 61 04--Atanw-1-o-----4--a------000-w00--A-oo)- 0--t-04--)-4----olio4404tme-4-40401A-wo FRIDAY MORNING DECEMBER 20 1985 FRIDAY MORNING DECEMBER 20 1985 At the movies 'A Chorus Line' stumbles some in move to big scr en l' I l' A '-6ci i 1' 'Pa a i I it2'' do' 4v' l'i i': rl''''' 4 --1 --c '''1'' iitt -1 '1 0'' i 4 4 ty" 1 I I '-1 t' el 1: i At Fil y1 oft 1 et "r' ile A k- i W7 0 :4 n' 'g 1 A iif 7 Ail' r1 I 4 ''''''s 4-1 i it (77' '4-- I oit '44-- 4 -1N- 4 :4 0- A v' 4( 4-i 1 it' 1 -4-19 1k" 0 'z 1 e' 1 3 i' i i I 4' i 4 4- 1 ') I t)i' '7 -P T' i ck re) 1 ki 1 4 0 7 4''- 'erit ii t' IN'' 4: i d'y --0 Is 4 1 1- 0' 1 i41 '''1' '1 1 i l''l '4 ii 4- i- gi 4 i 1i 1 tiY w-A 1 6 w-'r' 1 'i U' -5 ii PIN Ai- i4: ipr'i'' 10 1 i if 4 1 f44 L' 1 IP- 'A 'r i A l'- 4 7 -I -t et i- 1 r- so le 4 '11' 11 1: 'e- i'( 3 4-- "40V i i 441- "t- 47 7ti lc :2 y'' i Li 1 4 zg s( 1 'i'''uki -0410t 'a 2 -Z- or 1- 4-' I a t414000i 74 2 4 4: of 0 -i rp i' At! ri f-'' t'soteO' t( ''c'r''4i 1 If :0 -f: AAN V'Al 4 W- 't 4 Wit 1 4'14 it 't '''44 'T- a' 'e 1 't '44''M' ''''''''ri '7 ''-7' A ''1 L''' :5 '4 '-'d -v 40 ts114 ANA414114404 9141a1C7 rr1r cs l''''44 Ay' i' 'i t7i-1 701! 474'4V''' i 't: je 09P-4Az 7t'' '1' 7 ei rhAoSVt 'Ov P11tHP104061At4t-le'0031- A' ''I By PERRY STEWART Star-Telegram Theater Editor I it good? Yes II But is it in the words of its finale a "singular sensation?" Well no it isn't What this means is that if you never saw A Chorus Line on stage you're bound to be charmed by the film version If you did see and savor it on stage you're bound to find fault with the screen edition in particular the excesses of that aforementioned closing number But you will be entertained It's risky to transplant a theatrical piece In the non-musical ranks Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'? clicked and Romantic Comedy failed miserably Hair which no American film maker would touch with a 10- foot headband was cut spliced and punched into an authentic triumph by director Milos Forman But remember On A Clear Day You Can See Forever? Great stage musical criminally bad movie The celluloid Chorus Line is director Richard Attenborough's first effort since Gandhi Considering how Attenborough glitzed up Oh What A Lovely War (his directing debut) it's surprising that he attacks Chorus Line in such a traditional manner What's meant by that is that Attenborough doesn't concoct some Mark He where more than 300 dancers respond to a blanket audition known as a cattle call In a longer and more straightforward version of Bob Fosse's audition opener in All That Jazz the horde is Spielberg's 'Color offers rainbow of 4 4 0' 1 1 7: -r yi it ied4 ite 1 too Ilk 'i: 4 4::: '1 41'2 440AllIegc- 1 'i '444 4' ''-i: 1 it p--x -Z- 4 4 1 44t r311 i i i1 4A -aAe' 0 '1t-e 4'7 ''''''(i 'lb ''1 1 -t1 A 'to 44 i -fI0" ii4 -i 4 01 0 1 1 1 Sli '14ft-: 4 -'7t4441'11-33I'Z: A-tt tl k1irltr'' it '74 te 4 --its '4- irT'' (i '4 1-1: eP A 47 il: 'PA 4 44 ----or A or tit! 1V 4 40 o' t''' 7 '-5t! ogi --r ao Y' 1 i E4 -'4 'Ir 4111 l'' 4-i- err -2 f0- i I 40- l' 1-) 1 7 04iil 4 '1 4 IktA' '''k'' Stl' 1 0 tr' 7 i A ilk 1 4 '''s 1 'I se: -tviAv4 fol 4 I 'A 4 WI A 11 It 1 i 1 4 t''' 4 t' irtoz I It -4 -1 )J 4 1 1-- 'I' iiiN s' 1 i'f TI" Aoot 44 0 :0311 I9r: 7: 4: 1 0 1 440: A 4 i4 4 i 4: p11 3N116 4 1011t4 i4 vtill j- -0: -7S i'ltailriC tio '4-0444 'alt te- it i0 0 -4440-3- 4 -11t! -1 1 4kfs4c i '-'9 )'1' 1 2 'i: A Chorus Line WITH: Michael Douglas Alyson Reed and Terrence Mann OPENING DATE: Friday AT THESE Hu len 10 Fort Worth North Hills North Richland Hills Forum 6 Bowen 8 Loews at 1-20 287 Arlington RATED: PG-13 profanity and adult situations (Out of a possible 4) ly Zach the tyrannical director choreographer who sits in the middle of the empty seating area and barks commands over a microphone Among the auditioners is Cassie a former chorus gypsy who graduated to featured roles and eventually a Hollywood break which prompted her to leave her lover But the movies didn't pan out for her and Cassie is back on the bottom rung A bit of dramatic garnish here: The lover she walked out on was Zach As played by Michael Douglas (who reportedly won the role at the last minute over Al Pacino) Zach is a fierce torch-carrying voice in the dark This is not a likable person but I would say that Douglas takes the character one toke over that line separating taskmaster and monster Alyson Reed is a compelling presence as Cassie but one can't help but wonder why her character submits Please see A Chorus on Page 8 Purple' delights the big screen by an enormously popular movie Mogul white and male a fact that some have attempted to turn into an issue itself How could Steven Spielberg know about such personal suffering and the specifics of this culture? At first Alice Walker wondered Indeed Spielberg questioned himself But both were soothed by Quincy Jones the master composer who served as one of four producers of Please see Color on Page 3 INSIDE rn Ezn) Survival game When survival counts even foes become friends as in the science-fiction type film Enemy Mine opening Friday SEIB 'Bleak' at best Viewers would be well-advised not to tune in KERNChannel 13's opening two-hour Bleak House splurge at 8 pm Sunday thinking it's another Christmastime treat from that nice warmhearted Mr Dickens 6139 A Chorus Line Funny Lady) didn't make some significant changes in the 1975 hit which sets a new Broadway longevity record every evening As before the setting is the stage of a Broadway theater (in reality the Out of Africa (Universal) WITH: Meryl Streep Robert Redford Michael Gough Klaus Maria Brandauer OPENING DATE: Friday AT THESE THEATERS: Hulen 10 Cinema Fort Worth Loews 20 287 Six Flags Arlington North Hills North Richland Hills Central Park Bedford RATED: PG tastefully depicted adult situations some animal-attack violence 12 (Out of a possible 4) ADDITIONALLY: The source books include Out of Africa (Vintage Books $495) and Shadows on the Grass (Vintage Books $395) both by isak Dinesen tions of colonialism the Dinesen stories throb with a deeply involved even possessive sense of wonder The "my Africa" of which Blinn wrote has challenged and thwarted movie makers for nearly 50 years Her vision flickers to life in the centenary of her birth in Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa So does Blixen whose life was her own Please see Loyalty on Page 4 The dancers take to the stage in elaborate subplot as was done for The French Lieutenant's Woman (Which admittedly was never a stage musical so far) Not that the director and screenwriter Arnold Schulman (Goodbye Columbus Top: With her husband often gone Karen Dinesen Blinn (Meryl Streep) takes care of the coffee plantation Above: Robert Redford portrays Denys Finch Hatton Karen's lover 4Alitt It -rt-1 i': itoc: A 1:1 tA ::1 1 i t': '1 li I 1' -41 ''1' ii 7 'S'Pi 114 0: i '7''''t''''''tl! i ''V' it 1 4 gill of pared down to 17 From this already select group eight dancers will be picked for the chorus line of a new musical This final winnowing is an agonizing process for everyone The Color Purple WITH: Whoopi Goldberg Danny Glover Adolph Ceasar Margaret Avery OPENING DATE: Friday AT THESE THEATERS: Cinema Fort Worth RATED: PG-13 (Out of a possible 4) her sister Nettie These are the issues of The Color Purple written by a then-obscure black woman poet and brought to :4 Whoopi Goldberg stars as Celle k- A 4 to Loyalty to source books both hinders helps 'Out of Africa' By ANNE MARIE BIONDO Star-Telegram Writer any discussions debates even will ensue over Steven Spiel-berg's movie version of The Color Purple Before Alice Walker won a Pulitizer Prize for this deep-felt tale of sisterhood and strength she was known for her "womanist" writings a term she prefers to "feminist" saying the latter is too limited The Color Purple examines the complete degradation of a black girl in turn-of-the-century Georgia and follows her for 30 years as she not only survives the cruel men in her life but transforms them from monsters into human beings The transformation of one of these men in particular and this likely will be the subject of much debate illustrates the long-held belief by some that when life is especially intolerable the women conjure the strength and power to enlighten So what is the source of abuse in The Color Purple? Is it race or sex? Is Celie mistreated because she's female or is she mistreated because her real father a successful businessman was lynched by white men leaving her mother desperate enough to marry an abhorrent man? Is Celie kept down by "Mister" because she is his "wife" and wives are kept down or is it because he himself is a beaten man born beaten because he was born black? The actor who portrays Celie thinks she knows" The Color Purple is not a movie about race What happens to Celle is happening to women all over the world of all races and backgrounds that is the fact This is a story about the trials of the human spirit" Whoopi Goldberg told Ms magazine As evidence one can easily point to the Olinka society in Africa where girls are not allowed to attend school this Celie learns about through -1 57 t- t' 4 A Le By MICIIAEL PRICE Star-Telegram Film Writer I 1914 just as Danish-born story- I teller Karen Dinesen Blixen was settling in to run an African coffee plantation the British game hunter Lady Mackenzie was marching through the continent with a movie-making crew And while Blixen (1885-1962) forged emotional impressions that many years later would become a stirring legacy of stories about Africa the Lady Mackenzie Film Co recorded its impressions on the spot to make Heart of Africa This silent picture's influence would be felt well into the 1930s The longer incubation period for Blixen's accounts published under the pen name of Isak Dinesen has made them the more lasting That hers have taken so long to reach the movie screen attests to an intensely personal vision with which Blixen invested her tales: No mere documentary accounts of African folk-life or safari perils nor celebra lot of broken ugly toys Two men in a big truck picked me up and hauled me away to a warehouse building There I was dusted off checked and wrapped again in "special" paper After a month or so I began to feel cold again and lonely Then I was taken with some other good toys to a different house There was a small special tree It wasn't so pretty but it was warm and friendly That "special" day came again This time it was different A little boy opened my package He took me out of the box and looked at me hugged me and cried a tear ''I've never had such a beautiful toy" he said I knew right away I would like my new home I was "something special" Nowitiriew 1 4' In Ittlf it ts1t 41 '4 CI t'91r- 1 tt lb 'I rt i 1410 A I '1-- Something Special My life began in a toy facto- ''1' ry two years ago As my parts -o 4 were put together I came to i 4 life I began to wonder what 1 4''''''- it would be like I heard once 14- that a mother of a little boy a IL) Tr would buy me wrap me and cN put me under a tree decorat- 1 ed with lights and orna- ments I would be opened on that day It happened just like I heard it would I was happy Aftera week everything changed I was dumped ma toy box in a dark cold room After a few months it got real hot but I stayed in the toy box One day the mother took me out of the toy box looked at me sighed and threw me into a bag with a BRADLEY BOURLAND Fort Worth Clauses" is a special Star-Telegram Christmas leajure Selected letters from area children and youth will appear until Christmas in the Living and Lifestyle sections).