Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 151

juf 1 n'n 5 ft ft ff(r preview I Arthur left battles Modred Nicol Williamson right as Merlin 1 1 By Joseph Gelob Numbers it and of each feting present ths movie ttiester (tut hn the corresponding number on the tlmetabls which appears on hge 9 PREVIEW 8KNBHTRBERE (36 67 167 16i 171 18 FIRST MONDAY 0CT0- (m NEW ON LONG ISLAND (R) EXCAUIUR A sword-snd-soiosiy epic of ths legend of King Arthur filmed with solemn grandiosity and ope ride flourishes Nicol Merlin is biogsr-than-Hfe The battles aria gorgeous Irish sunsets and landscapes surrealistic spsdil an more Impressive thin much of the cast and drama With Nigel Tarry Helen Mlr-ran Cherle Lunghi (It 31 -41 61 94 71 108 106 lit IB 141 ISt IB 10t i7t im aa (4 FEAR NO EVL (144 tt (R) MODERN ROMANCE Neurotic film editor drives himself snd the woman hs lows daffy One joke stretched through an hour and a half of permutations and combimtloni Tlw ham played by comic actordlrao-tor Albert Brooks Is more obnoxious than lovable With Harold (Nudity at 1K1M lit 104 tt (R) NI6HTHAWK1 New Yon City cops vs in International terrorist who takes owr a Roosewit Island tram car to get attention Razzie-dazrie action rots performances stereotypical characters wtth Sylvester Stallone Billy Dee Wffliami Rutger Haueh-M It 1 76 IB lit IB 143 IB 171 IB IB 302) 89 PRIVATE EVEt 07 117 IB IB IB IB 174 REVIEWS sorcery movies in the works are being financed as earthbound versions of the intergalactic "Star Wars and "He Em- pire Strikes The mythical dements of the foundling who is tutored by a wizard and ultimately duels with his own evil kin are derived from basically the same literary traditions as those which George Lucas transmuted into the Jeddi knight figure of Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader Though they share an iconography "Excalibur" suffers by any comparison with "Star which was a peerless combination of action technology and fantasy The humorlessness of is closer to the spirit of "Empire reviews Excalibur (B) Nighthawks (B) DOA (Unrated) tt La Drolesse (Unrated) VVM While is uneven it works pretty much as intended as a mood piece a hallucinatory evocation of legendary times and mystical adventures The actor who holds it together is Nicol Williamson as Merlin Some-' times declaiming his lines as if he were doing Shakespeare then again slyly stealing a scene by ignoring a king or witch as if they were guests in his world his film non-human wizardly Merlin strides through "Excalibur" as paradoxically its omy flesh-and-blood character prophesying invoking swirling fogs and crackling lightning finally vanishing into the imagination where magic continues in a world dominated by technology EXCALIBUR (R) A vword-uid-orcery epic of the legend of King Arthur filmed with solemn grandiosity end operatic flourishes Nicol Merlin is blggerthan-llfe The battles and visuals gorgeous Irish sunsets and landscapes surrealistic special are more Impressive than much of the cast and drama With Nigel Terry Helen Mirren Cherle lainght A new trend begins with Knighthood is back in In the next 18 months a dozen or so variations on the theme will reach the screwi or will have completed filming- Opening next Friday is with modem knights jousting on motorcy- des Arriving in a few mnmtha is "Dra-' John "Excalibur" is an ambitious production a respectable film to inaugurate a cycle It owes its inspiration as much to CO mystical theories of the collective unconscious and archetypes as it does to "Le Morte It is a movie about the death not only of Arthur but of magic The title of the film refers to the magics! sword of power The sword emerges at the start of the film Later when Arthur wields it his kingdom tHHves When Arthur yields it on being betrayed by Guinevere and Lancelot the bingdam fall to ruih When Arthur reclaims it to vanquish the evil claimant to his throne then dies the sword is returned to a lake where it submerges fix on the legend is that the sward as well as the magician Merlin has retreated out of sight to the unconscious the dreamworld which is now the stronghold of magic and the other sword-and- (B AMB0CAN FOP American hlston toiy Survey and music of of ir Strikes which succumbed to Taking Itself Seriously The Camelot sequences which provided enough material for a hit Broadway musical are flimsy merely ornamental tableaux in "Excalibur The movie appears to be uncomfortable and deals peremptorily with the days of peace and plenty the enlightenment the knights telling war stories at the round table And the romance that unhinges Arthur is bland Lancelot (Nicholas Clay) seems a posturing narcissist Chene Lunghi is an insipid Guinevere The of Helen Mirren and the nuances of her iniefaw performance the past 80 years as experienced by four generations of an bumf-giant family's man Animated feature by Ralph BaJohl Facile ideas Interesting graphics (84 ra BUCK ROBBS THE an CBfTURY Dumb Not funny-dumb Just dumb (71) MBIMJHNER'S nphy of country singer Loretta Lynn based on George Veceei bestseller Sansi-tive human drama is enhanced by superb performances notably Sissy Spacsk's award-calibre acting and singing In title mis With Tommy Lea Jones and Beverly D'Angelo (7 It 41 4t 10t 1t 314 DO DUTY DUCK Fret screen appearance of Nfiional Lampoon's comic Duck" Muk Volmen and Howard Ifeyfen better known as Flo and Eddie (of the Turtles) provide the musical accompaniment) 44 ERASERHEAD Surrealistic cult melodrama out of the "El Topo" and "Andaluaiin Dog" schools focusing on an amiable fuzzy-hairad young min and Ms sweetheart and the unexpected horror that iwaiti them with tlw birth of their chHd fill) (N FAME Bltteryweet Running a lengthy two hours and 40 minutes "Excalibur jbr all its flaws is a visual treat cinematic grand opera MM NIGHTHAWKS (R) New York City cops vs an International terrorist who takes over a Roosevelt Island tram car to get attention Rasul e-dasSie action rote performances stereotypical characters- with Sylvester Stallone Billy Dee Williams Rutger Hauer begins with Sylvester Stallone as a decoy cop in drag walloping muggers dumb enough to come at him with knives and demand his pocketbook The story soon veers off into a wild melodrama about an international terrorist who comes to Manhattan looking for Alinwa and diary too-bad A major film about decoy vs muggers in New York would be even more relevant today than it waa when Charles Bronaan auckered predators into attacking him in "Death of trying to manipulate emotions by playing on the common fear of crime in the streets opts to involve us in the more exotic but loss Nwmedlete threat of international terrorism The result is a dynamic action film whose expertise is never in question but which fails to touch a nerve in the viewer The opening scene and a subsequent drug bust are intended to demonstrate the prowess of the two hero cops tar 9 cops far the- whom-the film ppening at- loca todajis axe local I i0iUiV Mtlt JSjjt- iiU (giro spwii left and Rutger HauerwNightkawks 10 Y-H fJ torwrcO ftXE-eVMJK) c-UW uwewi 21P klMI.