Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 143

'YentV preview Numbers at the end of each Kiting represent tha move theater Vat has corresponding number on the timetable which ap-pam on Pegs 5 YENTL (PG A bizarre but charming serious comedy about a turn-of-the-cenhuy East European young woman who poses as a young man to study the Talmud In adapting the Isaac Bashevis Singer short story Barbra Streisand makes a notable directorial debut and gives one of her most likable performances in years At Syosset Cinema 150 Commack Multiplex Valley Stream Sunrise Multiplex and Manhattan Zlegfeld theaters PREVIEW of Liny McMurtry's Ontfl0y MKLMflsi 1 aifihnl ana jock wenor- isfWf staiisi Debra Winger ion 6 NEW (N) AMTYVUE ML A psychic meiicher discover Oa truth about the Amttyvili I at abandoned well in the base-ment time out to be the 'Gale-w to Had' (k 8 A A A 8 7k A 1A 117 12k 1M 153 173 2M 20k 84 B7 Z13L 31k 22k 1) IK 3COW Fred Wam-con as a maverick cop caught tha moo and hie own With John and Richard Roundtree (22 A 4k 7k Wk IB 13k ML 20k 2B1 212 214 223 22k 234 P9 DMSTVIAS TORY A 1940c nosialgii trip to sma-town Indiana when a 9-yeer-otd boy draerna of getting a BB gun for Christmas Good perfor-minces from tha Me but basically an undistinguiahsd mete-appeal pudding epicid with humor and Christmas music (k 14 32 3k 117 121 13k 127 132 IB 14k Ml 17k 17k SB 29k 222 22k 2 Barbra Streisand producer director coauthor and star in 'YentV movie since Robert Redford coetarred with ing the obvious burden of trying to satisfy tt (FBI Mil AND HAVES Buccaneering adventure set in the South Sees with boatloads of pirates a hero and a pretty girt needing tascus Almost but not quite in the grand old tradition of ewaehbuddeig ecreen fere Tommy Lee Jones Michael O'Keefe Jenny Seagrove (2k 3k 4k II A 117 123 12k 14k 15k 17k 17k 2Dk 2Bk 22k 22k Big 0 A IBBHT Bl HEAYBL A college instructor becomes sexually tas-cinaM by one of her Undents her in "The Way We And Amy Irving is flawless as Hadass a paragon of womanhood in her society My reservations about are minor judgment calls I would have preferred fewer songs preferably staged strictly as thoughts rather than having mouth being shown moving And the tension wobbles for a while towards the end The masquerade seems to have been stretched too far when Yentl marries and bride demands her connubial rights It seems at that point as if has no place to go But Streisand does know where the film is going and despite our temporary loss of faith she gets us there The payoff is a memorable image Bravo Barbra a mana audience the film does its commercial best to dole out the requisite nostalgia without being too sticky The result is a pleasant undistinguished Christmas pudding spiced with humor and enriched by some good performances from the kids You can understand the spirit of this cinematic venture if you remember Jean Shepherd and his late-night nostalgia show on WOR radio back in the 1960s and 1970s He filled the airwaves with a wonderful inexhaustible supply of memories about growing up in small-town Indiana in the 1940s One of those quaint reminiscences was about the time when he was 9 when what he wanted most for Christmas was a BB gun or as it is referred to lovingly in the movie again and again a "genuine Red Ryder Carbine Action Two Hundred Shot lightning Loader Range Model Air Rifle His parents objected fearing he would hurt himself with it Shepherd turned the experience into a short story that was included in his 1973 book "In God We Trust All Others Pay This movie written by Shepherd Leigh Brown and producer Bob Clark has evolved from that slender tale By Joseph Gelads Barbra 15-year quest to bring "YentT to the screen was well worth the effort adaptation of Isaac Bashevis "Yentl the Yeshiva is a unique blend of entertainment and metaphor with a' charming fairy-tale quality No need here to recapitulate in detail the parallels between the maker and her heroine Suffice to say that each in her own way heroically overcomes restrictions placed on women by men in their times Set in the Orthodox Jewish world of Eastern Europe 80 years ago "Yentl" is the odyssey of a young woman who masquerades as a man to study the sacred scriptures of the Talmud It is serious comedy that integrates a musical score by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman The heroine voices her inner feelings as songs We knew up front that would confirm the best or worst things ever said about Streisand The years of opposition to her being allowed to make this film about a woman who bucks the system were due in part to her determination to direct it as well as produce coauthor and star in it Streisand the director does justice to Streisand the actress The blithe performance as a pixieish Yeshiva boy in front of the camera is matched by the neophyte graceful performance behind the camera on location in Czechoslovakia and in a London studio Beyond the sleek craftsmanship and luminous visuals of is the screen magic of Streisand 41 convincingly metamorphosed into a woman about half her age With her shorn hair prominent ears and granny glasses Streisand seems to look younger than she did in her 1967 screen debut as "Funny Dedicated "to my father and all our fathers" the film is about a girl raised like a son by her widower father (a lovely cameo by Nehemiah Persoff) At the time the movie takes place American women had not yet won the right to vote insatiable hunger for knowledge is considered sacrilegious in her Old World culture Education biblical rhnluinhip was reserved for men Women were confined to trivial amusements and to the serious business of bearing and raising children to carry on tradition When her father dies and she is threatened with assimilation by the Orthodox female relatives who regard her as a Yentl cuts her hair in clothes changes her name to Anahel and becomes a Yeshiva student in a nearby town The deception becomes increasingly outrageous through no deliberate design of hers She begins with love of learning She gets herself into a preposterous predicament for love of the older student Avigdor who has befriended her and become her big brother at the Yeshiva uses its bizarre elements to create and sustain tension Our occasional nervous laugh as situation worsens is artfully rhannalod into the lighthearted tone of the film Tie bittersweet humor in is organic: It grows out of character situation and social shibboleths laughing at human foibles keeps from being either soppy or a polemic Its sentiment has spine: Its resolve to fulfill her dream whatever the cost The scenario poses some fine ironies like having its maverick heroine tangled in a romantic triangle with a dogmatically Orthodox man and woman Mandy Patinkin as Avigdor the man of her dreams is probably the most attractive male figure Streisand has had a yen for in a diner With Lesley Ann Warren Christopher Atkins and Robert Logan Ik 2k 2k 3k 4k IBkllk 12k 13k 14k 171 111 2B1 20k 21k 2A 2B re 0 CMP Shock honor film Cast of unknowns Ik Ik Ik A 7k 7k 11k 12k 13k 111 117 20k 8k 21k 28288kre re YBm A bizarre but chinning is nous comedy about a tum-of-threentury East European young women who poses as a young men tg study the Talmud In adapting the Isaac Bashevis Singer short story Barbra StraisMd makes a notable dime-toriX debut end gives one of lor most likable performances in years (Sk A 117) Christinas Story" (FG) A 1940s nostalgia trip to small-town Indiana where a 9-year-old boy dreams of getting a BB gun for Christmas Good performances from the kids but basically an undistinguished mass-appeal pudding spiced with humor and Christmas music At area theaters REVIEWS By Leo Sellgeoha "A Christmas was designed to fill the annual longing for a movie that like snowflakes and chestnuts roasting in the "A Christmas should not be confused with any of the goes with the yuletide spirit Consider- Continued on Page 6 PI ALL THE RIGHT M0VE1 High school football is the only escape route out of Daadends-vMi USA Uninspired drama Tom Cruise Craig Nelson Profanity some nudity and simulated sex (81 22 PI THE B8 CHLL A reunion of 1960s college chums on the occesion of the death of one of their pals and by implication of their youthful ideals Imperfect but provocative Two hours in Hurt Close Kevin Nine Jeff Goldblum Mary Kay Place Meg Tilly JoBeVi wrens Tom Ber-snger (k Ik 3k 2k Ik 4k 5k A 11k 1A Hk 17k 17k 3A 8k re Continued next page These listings ate compiled by Renee Kaplan Audrey Clinton (events) denies Finley (movie timetables ana film buffs) Lynn Retry (pop musk end clubs hobbies youngsters sports and beasts) Judy Rais (art theater classical musk and dance) Send 4 1 Bam- ABffU IK nVMWW Hf Part 113 'A Christmas Story based on a Jean Shepherd story: from left Melinda -Dillon Darren McGavin- Ian Petrella -and Peter Billingsley as Ralphie:.