Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 32

movies tGteuision DETROIT FREE PRESSFRIDAY, MAY 16, 1986 4C 'Top Gun' never gets off the ground TOP GUN Area theaters OUT OF 10 4 Pete Mitchell Tom Crulso Charlotte Blackwood Kelly McGlllli Goose Bradshaw Anthony Edwards Mike Metcalf Tom Skerritt Tom Kazansky Val Kilmer Carole Bradshaw Mag Ryn Directed by Tony Scott. Written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. Music by Harold Faltermeyer. Executive producer Bill Badalato. Produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer.

PARENTS' GUIDE: PG. profanity. Tom Cruise disarms with cheeky charm CRUISE, from Page 1C is clad only in his briefs. Then, a part as a steel-town football star in "All the Right Moves" solidified Cruise's youthful macho mystique. And they've already labeled a sequence from "Top Gun" as "The volleyball scene." In it, Cruise and his fellow pilots face off in what is as much a display of suntanned muscle as athletic skill.

Cruise defends the scene as crucial to communicating character. "The physical elements; it's an aspect of the competition. These men compete on every level of what they do." BUT CRUISE, a former high school athlete who was hampered by dyslexia in his studies, rejects the teen idol image. "I don't exploit myself you know, the way I look. "You don't see shots of me with my shirt off any poster you see of me has been black market.

It's easy to do that, but I'm an actor, and that's not what I'm about at all. "I don't go around in huge limos. You know, I ride the subway. (Cruise lives in New York). I love my work; I love acting I feel that everything I do is for the work." His attitude toward success: "I don't question it.

I just figure it's happening if it's working, don't question it." And his only complaint about fame is that "they tend to make up a lot about the women I'm dating but we won't get into that now. (Cruise has been reported as a hot item with "Risky Business" co-star Rebecca DeMornay.) Some things they make up that's all I want to say." By MARTIN F. KOHN Free Press Staff Writer To the types of movie like the Western, the comedy and the whodunit you should, by now, have added the military, which is not the same as the war movie because it isn't about war, only warriors. "An Officer and a Gentleman" was a well-acted military. "Stripes" was a funny military.

"Private Benjamin" was a Goldie Hawn military. And so on. "Top Gun" is a second-rate military sort of triteness in uniform. It's about brash young fighter pilots, their gallant sidekicks, their superior officers who are as crusty as day-old Italian bread, their hopes, their dreams, their triumphs, their tragedies, ya-deh ya-deh ya-deh. The title is the nickname given to the Navy's Fighter Weapons School, in Miramar, where most of the film is set.

Top Gun is a kind of graduate school where the top one percent of Navy pilots, "the best of the best," go to become even better. ENTER PETE (Maverick) Mitchell (Tom Cruise), a hotdog pilot who breaks the rules as easily as he does the sound barrier, and his flying buddy, Radar Intercept Officer Nick (Goose) Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards.) "You two characters are going to Top Gun," erick is a hotshot pilot, but gently rebuffs his advances, even after he trails her to the ladies' room. Guess what happens next? Their first day in class, Maverick and Goose discover that McGillis is their teacher, a civilian with a PhD in astrophysics. It takes a good two seconds for Cruise and McGillis to develop a major case of the mutual hots. This is a clever move on the filmmakers' part, since many moviegoers will recall McGillis from her role as the gorgeous widow in "Witness." FOR THOSE of you highbrows dying of curiosity, we see far less of McGillis in "Top Gun" than we did in "Witness," if you catch my drift.

We also see very little of her character or, for that matter, anyone's character in "Top Gun." Scriptwriters Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. haven't provided much for the actors to work with. Motivation? Schmotivation. Who needs it is what Cash and Epps seem to be telling us. The only actor to overcome this handicap is Tom Skerritt, in the role of Top Gun's commanding officer.

He seems like a real person. Meg Ryan, in the small role of Goose's wife, Carole, also brings more to her part than the writers deserve. Otherwise we have a good-looking collection of two-dimensional characters in their skeptical CO. informs them. "You screw up this much you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog out of Hong Kong." In this film, that is what passes for humor.

Their first night at Top Gun they hit 1 the local bar and (2) upon the luscious Kelly McGillis. To McGillis they sing, rather badly, the old Righteous Brothers' song "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." McGillis, overwhelmed with amusement, invites Maverick to sit beside her and chat. Goose, like sidekicks since time immemorial or the dawn of silent movies (whichever came first), observes from the sidelines. McGillis appears to be impressed that Mav Tom Skerritt plays Mike (Viper) Metcalf, commanding officer at Top Gun. one-dimensional situations, all played against the relentless background music of Harold Faltermeyer.

Will Maverick overcome a tragic accident in the air and regain his will to be the best of the best of the best? Will Cruise and McGillis find happiness together? And who will be the hero when the newly graduated Top Guns are called into actual combat? Your guess is as good as mine. It doesn't matter if you haven't seen the movie. Sly flexes, sequels pile up for summer Series jazzes up Perot's real-life rescue mission evil Professor Ratlgan In this mousy version of Sherlock Holmes. July 2. "Haunted Honeymoon" Gene Wilder, Gllda Radner, Dom DeLulse and Jonathan Pryce in a picture directed and co-written by Wilder.

Wilder plays a famous radio actor who Is overwhelmed by irrational fears perhaps because he's marrying Radner. His psychiatrist uncle plans a drastic cure. July Arthur (Bull) Simons to organize a strike force of EDS executives-turned-commandos for a thoroughly improbable rescue mission. Which is when "On Wings of Eagles" gets very interesting. That's because Burt Lancaster is perfectly cast as Bull Simons.

He is the epitome of the grizzled, tough leader sporting a no-nonsense haircut, Navy pea coat and stocking cap pulled over his skull while barking out orders and perpetually chomping on an unlit SUMMER, from Page 1C as the only survivor of the original spaceship. Industry gossip is that it's as scary as "Alien." July 18. "Alan Quartermaln and the City of Gold" Cannon's sequel to last summer's disastrous "King Solomon's Mines," with Richard Chamberlain again starring as the white hunter and Sharon Stone repeating as co-star. Aug. 8.

"American Anthem" Olympic gold medalist Mitch Gaylord and Janet Jones star in Gaylord's debut, a contemporary romantic sports drama directed by Albert Magnoli of "Purple Rain." June 27. "Armed and Dangerous" A Mark Lester comedy co-written by Harold Ramis about training security guards. John Candy or no, it sounds like "Police Academy." Aug. 15. "Back to School" Rodney Dangerfield, a rag-trade millionaire, joins his son at college.

With Sally Kellerman, Ned Beatty and M. Emmet Walsh. June 13. "Big Trouble In Little China" Director John Carpenter's $18 million picture has Kurt Russell hauling hogs in an 18-wheeler called the Pork Chop Express. July 2.

"The Boy Who Could Fly" A widow and her kids restructure their lives after her husband's death, findina both new friends MISSION, from Page 1C But aside from wbat Perot himself refers to as "a little TV flair," "On Wings of Eagles" does a pretty fair job of accurately telling its story and of capturing the spirit of a wild and woolly American odyssey. "The story of America," Perot says, "is ordinary people going off and doing extraordinary things." And that is the essence of this true-life great escape, which was brought off a few months before the takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran. WITH IRAN descending into chaos and attitudes toward those from the West turning ugly in December 1978, American corporations such as Perot's EDS began to evacuate employes and their families. But Chiapparone (Louis Giambalvo)and Gaylord (Jim Metzler) were hauled off and tossed in a miser of St. Cloud, Minnesota, with Dan Aykroyd as executive producer.

June 6. "Out of Bounds" Anthony Michael Hall In a thriller about a West Coast kid Involved in murder and intrigue. July 25. "Pirates" Director and co-writer Roman Polanski's flve-years-in-the-maklng, $29 million swashbuckler (his first movie since with Walter Matthau, filmed In Tunisia, Angola, Portugal and the Seychelles. July 18.

"Poltergeist II" The original has grossed $100 million worldwide, not including video rentals. Now the Freeling family had moved to Phoenix, but the nightmare is still real. Will we see what that light at the end of the tunnel is all about? If not, we have Richard Edlund's special effects to scare us bug-eyed. May 23. "Psycho III" Anthony Perkins directs from a script by Charles Edward Pogue, who co-wrote "The Fly." Back at the Bates Motel, the woman who claimed to be Norman's real mother Is missing.

Diana Scarwid co-stars. July 2. "Quiet Earth" A film from New Zealand starring Bruno Lawrence as perhaps last man on Earth. May 23. "Raw Deal" Arnold Schwarzenegger is a former FBI agent (dismissed because of his use of excessive force) who infiltrates the Mob to avenge the death of his boss.

With Sam Wanamaker and Darren McGavin. June 6. "Red Dragon" A new and as yet unknown title is in the offing for this detective story about an Atlanta psychopath. Written and directed by Michael Mann of "Miami Vice," It stars William Petersen and Kim Grelst. Aug.

15. "Running Scared" Gregory Hlnes and Billy Crystal play Chicago undercover cops trying to stay alive long enough to make early retirement. June 27. "Ruthless People" Danny DeVito marries Bette Midler for her money and discovers he hates her. When Judge Reinhold kidnaps Midler, DeVito won't pay.

June 27. "Solarbables" Richard Jordan, Jaml 25. "Heartburn" Nora Ephron's novel about the breakup of a celebrity marriage bears a mighty strong resemblance to her divorce from Watergate reporter and celebrity escort Carl Bernstein. Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson (he replaced Mandy Patinkln) star, with Maureen Stapleton and Chelsea's Jeff Daniels for support. July 25.

"Howard the Duck" When an off-beat scientist's experiments go phlooey and create a cosmic inversion, the lead singer of a rock band is attracted to a duck from another planet. An evil force that may destroy Earth as we know it comes with the duck. George Lucas executive produces this live-action comedy based on Marvel Comics. Aug. 1.

"Invaders from Mars" Tobe Hooper directs Karen Black, Hunter Carson, Laraine Newman, Timothy Bottoms, Louise Fletcher and Bud Cort in this Golan-Globus remake of the 1953 sci-fl thriller about a youngster who tries to warn Earth of a hostile invasion. June 13. "Jake Speed" This may be the $2 version of "Indiana Jones," with the picture's co-producer, Wayne Crawford of the Comet," "Valley starring as Jake Speed. May 30. "Jumpln' Jack Flash" Whoopi Goldberg works in the international money transfer department of a mega-bank.

To stave off boredom, she sends personal items to foreign counterparts recipes, rock 'n' roll tapes, advice. But one of her contacts Is a spy, and life becomes a detective story. Carol Kane and Annie Potts support; Penny Marshall debuts as a director. Aug. 1.

"The Karate Kid II" Daniel and Miyagi Whoopi Goldberg gets into the spy business in "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Gertz and Lukas Haas In a futuristic fantasy with special effects by the ubiquitous Richard Edlund, this summer's real star. Aug. 1. "Space Camp" Kate Capshaw as an aspiring astronaut and space camp instructor (as In tennis camp or fat camp), with Leaf Phoenix, sibling of River. Does this sound like "The Breakfast Club in Outer Only asking, as Shirley Eder would say.

June 6. "Stewardess School" A comedy in the "Police Academy" vein, this follows students through stewardess training school. Aug. 22. "Texas Chalnsaw Massacre II" Tobe Hooper directs the sequel to his cult-film original.

Aug. 22. "Under the Cherry Moon" Prince's new movie, set in the French Riviera; he plays a young American pianist in Nice's fanciest hotel. July 2. "Vamp" A bunch of fraught-wlth-horn guys visit a club where, it Is rumored, the women will do anything.

They will but they're vampires, and payments are made in blood. Best of all, Grace Jones is the head vamp. July 25. "Whoopee Boys" Paul Rodriguez and Michael O'Keefe star as young teachers In what is described as "a comedy of manners by the makers of 'Revenge of the Sounds like a funny contradiction in terms. Aug.

1 VETERAN ACTION director Andrew McLaglen Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission;" "The Blue and the Gray," as well as several John Wayne movies) keeps the pace reasonably taut, although he is clearly more interested in theatrical sizzle than dramatic substance. But first-class professionals Crenna and Lancaster deliver solid performances with more depth than Sam Rolfe's script ever provides. And they receive a notable assist from young Esai Morales as Rashid, the EDS rescue team's brash, coura-; geous Iranian confidante. Best of all, "On Wings of Eagles" picks up considerable steam as it moves along. And there's a nifty, tense show-; down of nerves that supplies a satisfying emotional wallop at the end.

Cheering and tears are welcome. able, overcrowded cell on trumped-up charges. Back at EDS headquarters in Dallas, Perot was angered and determined to help obtain freedom for his men. "All I know is I want them out of that jail," PerotCrenna snaps. "I want them out whatever it takes." Whatever it takes meant hatching a crazy, bold scheme of extreme derring-do once all attempts to free Chiapparone and Gaylord through official diplomatic channels had failed.

That's when Perot called on retired Army colonel Katie Kelly. ABC-TV "A THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE SCI-FI THRILLER!" -Pia LindstromNBC-TV "A SCARE WITH A GOOD SENSE OF Dennis Cunningham CBS-TV BOTH THUMBS UP! -Ebert Siskel AT THE MOVIES and new truths. Bonnie Bedelia stars with Colleen Dewhurst, Louise Fletcher and Fred Gwynne. Aug. 15.

"Cherry 2000" David Andrews journeys into the future's lawless zone to search for a replacement for his missing robot love partner, and meets a strong-willed guide (Melanie Griffith of "Body "There's more to love than hot-wiring," advises the press kit. Uh-huh. Aug. 15. "Club Paradise" Robin Williams Is a former fireman who buys a rundown Caribbean hotel, intending to open a resort.

Eventually, instead of on the beach, paying guests find themselves in the middle of a revolution. With Peter OToole, Jimmy Cliff, Rick Moranis, Twiggy and the late Adolph Caesar. July 18. "Cobra" Marion Cobrettl Is a big-city cop who does real dirty work; this time, he's after a serial killer. With Stallone directing and starring, better believe Cobretti's called Cobra, not Marion.

May 23. "Crawlspace" Klaus Kinski stars as an apartment-house tenant who hears strange zioises and is swept into a horrifying cat-and-mouse game that eventually leads him into the building's crawlspace. May 30. "Desert Hearts" Donna Deitch's knockout film about a New York college professor who, in the '50s, goes to Nevada for a quickie divorce and discovers a whole new dimension to her sexuality. Sterling performances from Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau and Audra Llndley.

May 23. "Ferris Bustler's Day Off" In his first film since cutting his production deal with Paramount, John Hughes directs Matthew Broderick in a story about a middle-class high-school truant who skips school with a couple of friends and spends the day exploring downtown Chicago. June 11. "A Fine Mess" Director Blake Edwards' comedy involves the escapades of two pals a movie extra (Ted Danson) and a fast-food restaurant employe (Howie Man-del) and their encounters with the mob, a crooked horse race and $10,000 of Mafia money. Aug.

8. "The Fly" Director and co-writer David Cronenberg remakes the 1958 classic with Jeff Goldblum as the unlucky scientist and Geena Davis and TV's "Buffalo as his girlfriend. Special makeup by "THE FILM IS SCARY. Clever special effects and nerve (Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita) go to Okinawa and confront Miyagi's past, which includes a vicious nephew, Yuji Okumoto of "Real Genius." June 20. "Labyrinth" An adventure fantasy about a young woman's journey to rescue her little brother.

The Labyrinth's ruler is David Bowie, who also wrote five new songs for the film and performs three. Lucas is again executive producer; puppeteer Jim Henson directs. June 27. "Legal Eagles" A Manhattan DA (Robert Redford) falls in love with a lawyer (Debra Winger) whose client (Daryl Hannah) is accused of a sensational crime involving murder, arson and fraud. June 20.

"The Manhattan Project" John Lithgow stars as Tension mounts when a smart teen builds a working nuclear device. June 13. "Maximum Overdrive" Emilio Estevez and Pat Hingle in a machines-revolt-against-manklnd thriller. Stephen King's directing debut was taken from his short story, "Trucks." July 18. "My Little Pony" Built around a toy and a TV cartoon, with voices by Danny DeVito, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Rhea Pearlman and Tony Randall.

June 13. "Nothing In Common" Tom Hanks stars in this contemporary dramatic comedy about an ambitious advertising man whose life mirrors what some consider the American Dream until his parents announce their divorce. Aug. 1. Startling!" Janel Maslin.

THE NEW YORK TIMES "FUN FOR 1 slri iiiiiwiiiiiiiiiI "One crazy summer" Jonn ousack and Demi Moore thwart a greedy real-estate magnate through machinations that are entirely too complicated. If you think you've HORROR Bits of satiric humor, scare effects and a surprise ending." Archer Winslen. NEW YORK POST seen something like this before, you proba Chris Walas of "Enemy Mine. Aug. 8.

"Friday the 13th, Part VI" The saga continues. Aug. 13 "The Great Mouse Detective" Disney's 26th animated full-length feature comedy stars Vincent Price as the voice of the bly have. Aug. 8.

"One More Saturday Night" Tom Davis and Al Franken in a comedy about the odd and amorous adventures of the citizens "THE MONEY PIT IS SIDE-SPUTTINGLY HILARIOUS! Rex Reed, NEW YORK POST mw mmm. mm w. rnmm mm mm -m ii SS iiW. fr mvjsv urn. (mi OLM ELM STREET-2 y'AMBI IN IPGj DDI A UNIVERSAL Picture ft univmeu city (Tuoiot use FREDDY'S REVENGE NOW SHOWING 5:25 7:20 9:10 New imt (mem AitocuMon witn Vn Ptcturet twntf a Sx) Film Production CUTTERS Stwrirtf DtC WALLACE STONE m.maaT WALSH BULV GREEN BUSH SCOTT GRIMES N0NE VAN DER VI IDE DON OWH ANO TERRENCE MANN OrcctOf of PNMOyaor TIM SUHRSTEDT Muwc by OAWO NEWMAN AftwxuHC Producer SARA VTShER ScrecnoMv Ov DOMONtC muiR and STEPHEN HfREK Cxccutiwe Producer ROtCRT SmatE Produced ov RUPERT HAftvfv Directed or STEPHEN HEREK ROBERT SHAVE Production NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.

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