Boxoffice-March.1988

world and win back his wife. As an epilogue, Cosby's wife
throws food on hirr.. Don't ask.
There are those rare, magical movies in which really bad
filmmaking becomes really f;ix>d psychedelia, and "Leonard
Part 6" is such a movie At one memorable point, Oosby and
his ex-wife are tied up and stalked by killer lobsters Reaching
into his pocket and finding wads of butter, the most
popular man on television proceeds to chase away his
attackers by squatting on the groimd and chanting "Melted
butter! Melted butter!" Right then, we knew that we had
another 'Rocky Horror Picture Show" on our hands, complete
with props and talk-along dialogue It's that terrible.
Cosby is one of the leading victims of "Jerry Lewis disease,
"
in which a once-funny comic has become so wealthy,
so sated by public adoration, and so vitriolic about his critics
that he has come to demand laughs simply because of who
he is, not because of what he's doing ( Las Vegas showrooms
seem to be a major breeding ground for this disease, for
which the only cure is a laugh track) When Bill c:osby, the
man who long ago introduced us to his little brother Russell
and the Chicken Heart, sits in an agonizingly unfininy scene
and seems interested only in making sure that his Coke bottle
is in clear view of the camera, the message is obvious:
The man is more concerned with pleasing his sponsors than
he is his audience. And why not? The sponsor pays better.
What a guy.
The film is rated PG for mild language and violence. Tom
M(itthni"i
IRONWEED
Starring Jack Nichobion, Meryl Streep, Carroll Baker, Michael
O'Kce.fe. Diana Venora. Tom Waits and Hy Anzell
Prmhtced hy Keith Bansh and Marcia Nasatir Directed hy
Hector Bahenco Written hy WiUiam Kennedy
A Tn-Star rekftst Drama, rated R Running time 134 minutes
Screening date 12/15/87
Somewhere within the 114 minutes that comprise "Ironweed"
is a great movie trying to get out Is it a great film? Is it
even a good film? Honestly, "Irnnweed" contains scenes and
whole sequen(;es as powertui and compelling as any seen
this year, but William Kennedy's screenplay doesn't string
them together tightly enough to generate much real momentum
—
—
Meryl Streep, ,is I'hclans .somciiinr bum girllnimd, all but
disappears after the first hour or so. which was fine with us
Glad to see the back of her. Top-heavy with mannerism and
affectation, Streep's annoying ponrait of the cloying, whiny
Helen Archer may be representative of some of her worst
work on film to date. She often seems to be overplaying in a
misguided effort to inaintain some sort of screen-presence
parity with Nicholson, who actually has a much larger role
At times Streep even .seems to be trying to make up ground
by turning Helen into some sort of delirious goofball, but
doesn't demonstrate much of a vocation for low comedy
Once Helen shuffles off, Francis hooks up with far more
interesting characters, and the movie almost gets going Our
own personal favorite sequence involves Hy An/cll as the
gruff immigrant junk dealer Rosskam, who hires Phelan as a
day-laborer. Anzell, all old-world muscle and yiddish bluster,
provides a perfect counterpoint to Nicholson's wry, brooding
loner Had the entire movie been about these two mismatched
characters getting to know each other aboard Rosskam's
horse-drawn junk wagon, we probably would have left
the theatre in much happier mood.
Tom Waits, who may actually be better at acting than he is
at even singing or songwriting, is similarly enjoyable as
Rudy. Phelan's sickly, brain-damaged occasional sidekick
And c;arroll Baker. Diane Verona and Michael O'Keefe (perfectly
cast as Francis's son. the notorious Billy Phelan) are
all quite effective as Francis' abandoned family re-visited
Episodic and meandering, though, "Ironweed" finds its
weakest link in Kennedys pt^rhaps too-reven;nt adaptation
of his own novel A little economy goes a long way. and a
good man with a red pencil might've lost thirty minutes or so
without diminishing the film's power
"Ironweed" is rated R for l.inpu.icr, nutlitv .nnd sexual situ
ations lim Kozttk
Humn, nhosts and had di-ntjl hvfiii-nr — no ttnndrr
this yrr\- dnttnhr.it .ind trr\ lonn film in countinn on
Osfjrs titr .1 hig pus/i. Mtrr thn-i- uri-ks in \ri*- York
and I.. \., itnl\ SJh /,""/( h.is l.ikcn in.
,)d(.k Nicholson i.oriitibutes a cunninglv uiuicisiali d performanf.e
a.s the haunted depression-era drifter f'rancis I'hclan,
an ex-big league ballplayer, ex-lab