Boxoffice-December.1992

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The business magazine of the motion picture industry 

DECEMBER, 1992 VOL. 128 NO. 12 

t:„eiy man alone is sincm. At the entrance of a second person, hyfiomsy hef^ns. 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

N THE COVER 

)bert Downey, Jr., stars as the man who 

ide 'The Little Tramp" an American myth 

Sir Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin," a 

iristmas day release from TriStar. (See 

ver story, page 12) 

FEATURES 

12 

t 

EVIEWS-Followingpage37

SENIOR EDITOF 

Ray Greens 

EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHEF 

Harley W. Lone 

Lightning is about to strike thrice as at least 

four "Frankenstein" projects are on the verge 

of being re-animated by those crazed creative 

geniuses known as studio development executives. 

At Columbia/TriStar, where the response 

to director Francis Coppola's take on 

"Bram Stoker's Dracula" can only be called 

ecstatic, Coppola's American Zoetrope Productions 

is 

readying a project under the title 

of (what else?) "Mary Shelly's Frankenstein." 

The script, written by Steph Lady, is from a 

story co-written by Lady and Jim V. Hart 

("Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Hook"), a 

writer who has made a specialty of retooling 

the classics. Zoetrope is shopping for a director, 

which indicates that Coppola's involvement 

will likely be as a part of the producing 

team only. Also at Columbia/TriStar, former 

studio honcho |on Peters' Peters Entertainment 

has a "Frankenstein" in development, 

though with the Coppola project already on 

the production fast-track, it's difficult to say 

where the Peters project stands. Lastly, 

Warner Bros, is developing a "Frankenstein" 

project by English writer johnathan Gems; 

though reports have circulated that Warner 

would like to package "Batman Returns" director 

Tim Burton and "Terminator" star Arnold 

Schwarzenneger (presumably to portray 

Adam—which was the monster's name in the 

book), neither Burton nor Schwarzenneger 

has committed to the project yet. 

Universal Pictures, which gave the world 

the most enduring "Frankenstein" of all with 

the Boris Karloff/Colin Clive feature directed 

by lames Whale in 1931, has gothic novelist 

Anne Rice ("Interview With The Vampire") 

hard at work on a screenplay based on the 

studio's 1935 classic "The Bride of Frankenstein." 

Since the events depicted in "Bride" 

were based on portions of Mary Shel ly's novel 

which went unused in the 1931 "Frankenstein," 

the Rice screenplay is technically a 

fourth adaptation of the same material as the 

other three projects currently in development. 

No word yet from Mel Brooks about 

whether or not he intends to remake or sequelize 

his famous 1 974 horror spoof, but with the 

studio development process itself degenerating 

into self-parody in the proliferation of 

these imitative project announcements, the 

moment seems ripe with satiric possibilities. 

"Mary Shelly's Young Frankenstein," anyone? 

After the free-for-all that erupted around 

issues of creative control on his Warner Bros, 

movie version of "Malcolm X," writer/director 

Spike Lee signed a multi-year production deal 

with Universal Pictures, the studio where he 

made the films "Do the Right Thing," "Jungle 

Fever" and "Mo' Better Blues." The agreement, 

which covers Lee's services as a writer, 

producer, director and actor, gives Universal 

first refusal on all projects developed by Lee's 

40 Acres and A Mule Filmworks, and provides 

Lee with the opportunity to acquire and produce 

projects by others. Lee's Universal deal 

gives him complete creative control over his 

future films, in marked contrast to what Lee 

termed the "meddling" of Warner Bros., 

which briefly assumed control over "Malcolm 

X" through a completion bond company during 

the film's editing. Lee's Warner Bros, arrangement 

was apparently a temporary marriage 

of convenience, since Warner held the 

film rights to the slain activist's life-story, a 

project Lee desperately wanted to adapt for 

the screen. With "X" completed, Lee was 

more than happy to return to the friendlier 

environs of Universal, where he has enjoyed 

a working relationship with the chairman of 

MCA Motion Picture Croup, Tom Pollock. 

MPAA president Jack Valenti has moved 

from lobbying the Washington powers that be 

to writing about them in fictional form. "Protect 

and Defend," Valenti's first novel, has 

been published by Doubleday, just in time to 

capitalize on the heightened interest in 

matters 

political that accompanies any election 

year. Blending an espionage thriller with electoral 

drama, "Protect and Defend" is the story 

of an incumbent vice president who decides 

to run against the president he serves under. 

Though Valenti, who was a special assistant 

to Lyndon Johnson from 1963 to 1966, has 

more than enough first-hand experience to 

write about life in the executive branch, Doubleday 

insured the veracity of his manuscript 

by assigning it to one of the publisher's more 

renowned editors—a woman named Jacqueline 

Onassis, widow of President Joh n F itzgerald 

Kennedy. Valenti's moonlighting career as 

a novelist opens up some interesting possibilities 

where his day job is concerned. What on 

earth will he do if the movie version (Buena 

Vista is rumored to be already interested in 

purchasing the rights) gels an uncommercial 

ratingof NC-17? 

beginning to look more and more as if 

It's 

pay cable and home video giant Turner Entertainment 

is poised to become a major provider 

of theatrical product. After acquiring the 

Hanna-Barbera animation studios. Turner 

commissioned its first-ever theatrical feature, 

"Tom and Jerry: the Movie," a modestly budgeted 

$10 million production featuring the 

durable animated characters popularized by 

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in the 

1 940s. To give an idea of Turner's reach, the 

rightstoTomand Jerry weren't part of the H-B 

deal; those rights came with Turner's purchase 

of the MCM library a few years back. 

Now comes the announcement that Turner 

has signed pint-sized powerhouse Macauley 

Culkin to star in "Pagemaster," an ambitious 

$35 million fantasy about a boy who is 

knocked unconscious in a library during a 

severe thunderstorm and awakens inside the 

pages of a children's novel. "Pagemaster," 

which will feature live action blended with 

the H-B unit's animation, will be directed by 

Joe Johnson ("Fôney I Shrunk the Kids") with 

Christopher Lloyd ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit") 

appearing as the title character. The 

"Pagemaster" project, will be released by 

"FHome Alone 2" distributor 20th Century 

Fox, furthering that studio's relationship with 

Culkin; production start on "Pagemaster" will 

have to wait in line behind another Fox project, 

a psychological thriller entitled "The 

Good Son" in which Culkin portrays his firstever 

screen villain. 

ASSOCIATE EDITOF 

Marilyn Mos; 

EDITORIAL ASSISTAN! 

Cathy J. Lope; 

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: VIDEC 

George T. Chronii 

CONTRIBUTING WRITER! 

John Allei 

Bruce Austii 

Marl Florena 

Alan Kaq 

Karen Krep; 

Shiomo Schwartzben 

Fern Siege 

Mort Wax (International News 

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4 BOXOFFICE

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Niro as the colorful but strict stepfather who 

changes a young boy's life. Ellen Barkin costars. 

(Warner, 1 2/25) 

Peter's Friends 

Actor/director Kevin Branagh ("Henry V") 

follows up his hit thriller "Dead Again" with 

this "Big ChilT'-type ensemble comedy about 

A Few Good Men 

Actor-tuned-director Rob Reiner ("This 

Spinal Tap") stakes his claim on the holiday 

season with this eagerly anticipated movie 

adaptation of Aaron Sorkin's hit Broadway 

play. After his critical and commercial disap 

pointment as an Irish immigrant in Ron 

Howard's "Far and Away," Tom Cruise re 

verts to type as a cocky, amoral Navy lawyei 

whose only priority is to advance his career 

A red hot murder case involving two marines 

is thrown his way by the brass with the expec 

tation that he'll bury it before embarrassing 

information can be revealed, but Cruise' con 

science is awakened by his feisty defense 

partner (Demi Moore). In 

is 

the ensuing legal 

battle. Cruise risks his career to see if justice 

can be done within the framework of military 

law. jack Nicholson (the upcoming "Hoffa") 

and Kiefer Sutherland ("The Lost Boys") costar 

as a gung-ho naval base commander and 

his fascistic lieutenant. Sorkin wrote the 

script, based on his own stageplay. The advance 

word on this one is very good indeed. 

(Columbia, Dec. 11) 

six university friends who hold a tenth-anniversary 

reunion on New Year's Eve. As in his 

previous two films, Branagh himself co-stars 

with his wife, actress Emma Thompson 

("Howard's End") and comedienne Rita Rudner; 

the script is by Rudner and Martin Bergman. 

The next project on deck for the 

Branaghs will be their first Shakespearean 

comedy, an all-star adaptation of the Bard's 

"Much Ado About Nothing." (Coldv 

Christmas) 

Indochine 

The French colonial legacy in Indochina is 

examined in this political drama, set in French 

Indochina in 1 930. Catherine Deneuve ("The 

Hunger") is a plantation owner caught in a 

three-way love affair, with her own daughter 

(Linh Dan Pham) as her rival fortheaffectioi 

of a French naval officer, played by Jea 

BaptisteLeCuen. RegisWargnierdirectsfro 

a script he co-authored. (Sony Classics, Dec 

Damage 

Josephine Hart's debut novel "Damagi 

was considered such a hot property when 

was released last year that her publishers toe 

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nheard of step of including a letter with 

it 

review copy asking opinion-makers to 

extra consideration. A saga of sexual 

sslon, "Damage" concerns an illicit affair 

een an aging politician (Oscar-winner 

iy Irons) and his son's young girlfriend. 

te Binoche ("The Unbearable Lightness 

ing"), Miranda Richardson ("Dance With 

anger") and Rupert Graves ("A Room 

a View") fill out the cast; playwright 

d Hare wrote it, French director Louis 

s ("Atlantic City" "Au Revoir Les En- 

") directed it. Dan Quayle take note: 

s is the real life husband of Murphy 

'n actress Candice Bergen, so "Damage" 

or may not reflect conventional family 

;s. (New Line, Late Dec.) 

Maunder, "Talons of the Eagle" was produced 

by lalal Merhi. (Shapiro Glickenhaus, Dec.) 

Forever Young 

by Jeff Abrams ("Regarding Henry.") (Warner, 

Dec. 18) 

The Bodyguard 

In one of the more intriguing holiday pairings, 

Kevin Costner ("JFK") and pop vocalist 

Whitney Huston team in this romantic thriller 

about a bodyguard (Costner) hired to protect 

a glamorous actressAint:i r 1 1 1< iusi( in i who has 

ons of the Eagle 

been a good year for fans of the martial 

iction film; from "3 Ninjas" for the kids 

?apid Fire" for teenage action junkies, 

of the last few months has seen at least 

lew entry in the choppy-socky genre, and 

5 without including high-profile releases 

ckboxer lean-Claude Van Damme ("Uni- 

Soldier")and karate master Steven 

all ("Under Seige") which, while not mararts 

films, exploited their lead's fighting 

bilities. From the low budget end of the 

trum comes "Talons of the Eagle," a 

dy cop actioner starring |alal Merhi 

:ick Pearls") and Billy Blanks ("The Last 

Scout") as two vice cops dedicated to 

ging down the underworld empire of the 

[rious Mr. Li (James Hong). Directed by 

Inael Kennedy and written by Stephen 

Two-fisted superstar Mel Gibson ("Lethal 

Weapon 3") tries a change of pace in this 

romantic fantasy with comedic overtones. 

Gibson is a brokenhearted test pilot in the 

1940s who signs on for a top secret government 

experiment in order to escape from his 

memories of the woman he loves. 

Reawakened after 53 years in suspended animation, 

Gibson finds himself both still romantically 

afflicted and ill-equipped to deal 

with contemporary life. "Forever Young" costars 

Jamie Lee Curtis ("Blue Steel") and Elijah 

Wood ("Avalon"). Steve Miner directs a script 

been receiving threatening letters from an 

obsessed fan. Mick Jackson ("L.A. Story") directs 

a script by Lawrence Kasdan ("Grand 

Canyon"), with Kasdan, Costner, and 

Costner's friend and long-time associate |im 

Wilson producing. "The Bodyguard" is Whitney 

Huston's first feature film. (Warner, Dec. 

11) 

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Response No 23

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i 

Lorenzo's Oil 

probably the last thing the "Mad Max" 

It's 

audience would expect of him, but writer/director 

George Miller (who made all three 

"Max" films) was a medical doctor before he 

becamea filmmaker. Miller's latest film draws 

on that experience by casting Nick Nolle and 

Susan Sarandon as a couple who challenge 

the accepted wisdom of the medical community 

in a desperate attempt to save the life of 

their ailing son. "Lorenzo's Oil" is based on 

fact; the screenplay is by Miller and Nick 

Enright, with Miller directing. (Universal., 

Dec. 18 tentative) 

Leap of Faith 

Steve Martin ("Housesitter") takes a 

leap 

into potentially controversial waters in this 

"Elmer Cantry"-ish comedy-drama about an 

evangelist and con artist named Reverend 

Jonas Nightengale, who makes his living 

source with this anthology of the old babyboom 

favorite from the 1 960s, which was one 

of the first animated series produced in Japan 

to find favor with American audiences. Given 

the kitschy nostalgia so currently in vogue, 

"The Speed Racer Show" will almost surely 

find an audience with the midnight movie 

crowd. (Streamline, Dec.) 

Trespass 

Universal's hot potato action film will 

finally 

make it 

to theatres this month, perhaps 

in the hope that Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" will 

have already exhausted the media's capacity 

for controversy by the time Dec. 23 rolls 

ind. Originally titled "Looters" and slated 

Hoffa 

1 992 is shaping up as the year of the bio-ll 

pic. Joining Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" and Sir. 

Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin" in the^ 

Academy Award sweepstakes, Danny DeVitc 

("Batman Returns") directs his "One Flew 

Over the Cuckoo's Nest" co-star (and close 

personal friend) Jack Nicholson in this biog-j 

raphy of controversial Teamster labor leader. 

Jimmy FHoffa, whose contributions to the' 

union movement have often been overshadowed 

by his links to organized crime and hi; 

lengthy feud with Robert F. Kennedy. Playwright 

David Mamet ("GlenCarry Gler 

Ross") wrote the script. 

"Hoffa", which costars 

DeVito in a supporting role, offers a 

marked departure from DeVito's previous, 

more comedic directorial efforts ("Throw 

Mamma From the Train" and "The War of the 

Roses"). Though Nicholson is reportedly 

proud of both projects, he was unnerved tc 

discover that "Hoffa" is being released in 

direct competition with Rob Reiner's "A Few 

Good Men," in which Nicholson also stars 

(Fox, Dec.U) 

fireman who get into trouble with a ring ( 

crooks while on the trail of some stolen good 

Director Walter Hill ("48 Hours") works fror 

an early but unproduced script by Bo' 

Zemeckis and Robert Gale (the "Back to th 

Future" boys). (Universal, Dec. 23) 

Used People 

With Jane Fonda's recently announced ni 

tirement, Shirley MacLaine ("Postcards Froi 

the Edge") continues to be the only actress ( 

her generation to make a graceful I transitio 

from "A"-list Ifad .u tress u, more maturi 

fleecing his flock by puling off phony miracles. 

The plot thickens when Nightengale develops 

a hesitant relationship with a small 

town waitress, while the local sherrif gets 

suspicious. Debra Winger ("The Sheltering 

Sky") co-stars with Lolita Davidovich ("Raising 

Cain"). "Leap of Faith" is directed by 

Richard Pearce from a screenplay by janus 

Cercone. (Paramount, Christmas) 

The Speed Racer Show 

Streamline Pictures, which has made a specialty 

out of releasing the latest in featurelength 

Japanese animation, returns to the 

for a summer '92 release but renamed and 

rescheduled in the aftermath of the Los Angeles 

riots, "Trespass" had barely begun to inch 

its way toward a late fall opening when the 

controversy at Time-Warner over star Ice-T's 

"Body Count" record "Cop Killer" boiled 

over, creating nervousness in Universal's corporate 

ranks. After being briefly removed from 

Universal's schedule, "Trespass" is back, with 

rap and film stars Ice Cube ("Boyz 'N the 

Hood" ) and Ice T ("New Jack City" ") armed 

to the teeth and ready for action as two rural 

character-based roles. In "Used People 

MacLaine plays a widow whose gentlem; 

admirer of nearly a quarter century begii 

courting her on the day of her husband 

funeral. Italian superstar Marcell 

Mastroianni makes a rare appearance in J 

American film as the suitor, with Oscar-wii 

ning actresses Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bate 

who seem to be making a habit of co-starrir 

together lately, continuing here the traditic 

established in "Fried Green Tomatoes 

Beeban Kidron directs; the screenplay, t 

writer Todd Graff, was reportedly based c 

events in his own mother's life. (Fox, Dec. 2, 

10 BOXOFFICE

1 which 

HOLLYWOOD REPORT 

Wesley Snipes 

A/esley Snipes is 

rapidly be- 

Tiing one of the most sought 

?r actors in Hollywood. In 

ceezer," Snipes reunites with 

ew lack City" screenwriter 

rry Michael Cooper for a 

igland melodrama about two 

ithers who become successdruglords 

on the streets of 

w York city but then end up 

opposite sides of the issue 

en Snipes' character has a 

iis of conscience and decides 

go straight. Director Leon 

laso ("Crossover Dreams") 

Tipares "Skeezer" to a cross 

ween the "Godfather" films 

d Sergio Leone's "Once 

on a Time in America;" the 

h was set to film for 60 days 

Manhattan this fall, 

pnipes then jumps right 

into 

emolition Man," a buddy acfilm 

co-starring, Sylvester 

Hone (the upcoming "Cliffiger") 

and produced by |oel 

/er (the "Lethal Weapon" and 

e Hard" series). Though 

inally scheduled to roll in 

fall of '92, Silver and Stale 

pushed back production 

'Demolition Man" to Februof 

'93 in order to accommoe 

Snipes' schedule, with 

/er also increasing Snipes' 

ary from a reported $2.5 mil- 

1 for "Skeezer" to a reported 

million for "Demolition 

1." When powerhouses like 

Hone and Silver are willing to 

dI their heels for close to four 

•mths for an actor, its a cer- 

;ity the actor in question has, 

,a word, arrived. ("Skeezer" 

x; "Demolition Man" 

arner) 

["The Man Without a Face" 

berstar Mel Gibson makes his 

'acting debut with this drama, 

he'll also co-star, 

lice" details the relationship 

^veen I 

2 year old Nick Stahl 

a child coming to terms with 

the death of his father, and Gibson, 

who portrays an equally 

scarred recluse. "Face" was 

scripted by Malcolm MacRury 

from the novel by Isabelle Holland; 

Bruce Davey (executive 

producer of the Gibson "Hamlet") 

is producing the film for 

Gibson's Icon Productions, with 

Warner Bros, set to distribute. 

(Warner) 

"The Crush" Television 

writer Alan Shapiro makes the 

leap to feature film writer/director 

with Morgan Creek 

Productions' "The Crush," a 

psychological thriller starring 

Carry Elwes ("The Princess 

Bride"), Jennifer Rubin ("The 

Doors") and newcomer Alicia 

Silverstone. Elwes is a journalist 

in love with a photographer 

played by Rubin who becomes 

the obsessive object of 

Silverstone's pathological affections. 

"The Crush" will be shot 

entirely on location in Vancouver, 

British Columbia for spring 

1993 release. (Warner) 

"Gilbert Grape" lohnny 

Depp seems to be making a 

habit of playing offbeat characters 

with wacky names. First 

came his delightful performance 

as the man-made Edward 

Scissorhands in Tim 

Burton's satiric fantasy of the 

same name. Now Depp is slated 

to play the title character in 

"Gilbert Grape," a big-screen 

version of the novel "What's 

Eating Gilbert Grape?" to be directed 

by Sweden's Lasse 

Hallstrom ("My Life as a Dog") 

from a script by Peter hedges, 

who wrote the original book. 

Set in Iowa, "Crape" is the bittersweet 

story of a maladjusted 

boy's relationship to his chronically 

overweight mom. Given 

his penchant for misfits with 

mysterious monikers, its a wonder 

Depp let Brad Pitt walk off 

with the title role in "lohnny 

Suede". ..(Paramount) 

"Shakespeare in Love" The 

year-long hiatus of Hollywood's 

top female star may at last be 

ending. According to industry 

reports, actress Julia Roberts 

was preparing to join Daniel 

Day-Lewis ("The Last of the Mohicans") 

in the cast of director 

Edward Zwick's "Shakespeare 

in Love," a romantic comedy set 

in Elizabethan England. The 

sticking pomt in negotiations 

between Roberts and Universal 

Pictures is apparently Roberts' 

salary requirements, which the 

studio feels might overburden 

the budget on what is essentially 

an "art-house" type movie, with 

specialized audience appeal. 

But Roberts, who is 

in the position 

to have her pick of Hollywood 

projects, is reportedly 

enamored of "Shakespeare in 

Love," and Universal was prepared 

to seek outside financing 

partners in order both to secure 

Roberts' services and to insulate 

the studios investment. With or 

without Roberts in 

the cast, director 

Zwick ("Glory") is preparing 

to start production on 

"Shakespeare" sometime in late 

fall. The script for "Shakespeare 

in Love" was written by Marc 

Norman. (Universal) 

As if 

the current Hollywood 

fad of putting three or four versions 

of the same classic literary 

property into development simultaneously 

(see Updates) 

isn't bad enough, virtually every 

major studio is now participating 

in the equally derivative, 

"Addams Family"-inspired 

trend of adapting TV series from 

the 60s, 70s, and even the 80s 

to the screen. 

At Warner Bros., Harrison 

Ford is in negotiation to portray 

"The Fugitive," based on the 

role David Janssen made famous 

in the downbeat vintage 

teledrama, which ran from 

1963-67. "The Fugitive" is the 

story of Dr. Richard Kimball, a 

man unjustly sentenced to die 

for the murder of his own wife, 

but who escapes when the train 

carrying him to the death house 

derails en route. Kimball must 

find the mysterious "one armed 

man" he saw fleeing from the 

scene of the crime before the 

police catch up to him. Ironically, 

the bigscreen "Fugitive" 

was originally to be portrayed 

by Alex Baldwin, whom Ford 

replaced as CIA analyst jack 

Ryan in "Patriot Games," the 

sequel to Baldwin's "The Hunt 

for Red October." 

Meanwhile at Fox, "Wayne's 

World" director Penelope 

Spheeris brings her expertise in 

thinking big about small-screen 

characters to a new "Beverly 

hiillbillies" feature from a 

screenplay by Larry Konner and 

Mark Rosenthal. No word at 

press time as to just who the 

lucky actors are who'll recreate 

the roles of )ed and all 

his kin, 

but a decision is certainly imminent; 

"The Beverly Hillbillies" 

is scheduled to start 

Julia Roberts 

production sometime in January 

of 1993. 

At Paramount, in addition to 

studio chair (and former NBC 

exec) Brandon Tartikoff's rumored 

interest in developing a 

"Hill Street Blues" project, producer 

Sherwood Schwartz is negotiating 

to transplant his 

quintessential early '70s family 

comedy to the big screen under 

the highly imaginative title of 

"The Brady Bunch Movie." 

"The Brady Bunch," which ran 

from 1969 to 1974, is undergoing 

an inexplicable revival of 

popularity, thanks in part to the 

best-selling memoir "Growing 

Up Brady" by Barry Williams 

("Greg" in the original series) 

and the record-breaking success 

of "The Real Live Brady 

Bunch" stage show, which recreates 

actual "Brady Bunch" TV 

scripts in a "Rocky Horror Picture 

Show"-like atmosphere of 

audience participation. Since 

"The Brady Bunch" was itself an 

imitation of the 1968 feature 

film "Yours, Mine and Ours," 

which starred Lucille Ball and 

Henry Fonda as the single parents 

who marry and combine 

their families, "The Brady 

Bunch Movie" can be said to be 

a derivation of a derivation, and 

as such a fitting symbol of the 

conceptual impoverishment 

within the current generation of 

studio managers. 

Also in the works from 

Schwartz: a "Gilligan's Island" 

feature (yes, he made "Gilligan" 

too), in which Schwartz claims 

he'd like to cast Martin Short (as 

Gilligan), John Goodman (as 

Skipper) and Leslie Neilson (as 

millionaire Thurston Howell the 

III), among others. For those unfamiliar 

with the premise of 

"Gilligan's Island," consider 

yourself blessed. ("Fugitive," 

Warner; "Brady," Paramount, 

"Hillbillies," Fox) 

December, 1992 11

COVER STORY 

TO SIR, WITH LOVE 

The Maker of "Gandhi "Brings 

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin 's Life to the Screen 

By Ray Greene 

Senior Editor 

I've just seen one of them 

bom this morning!" Sir Richard 

Attenborough says gleefully 

from his trailer on the set 

of Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic 

Park." "I have just lefl the set 

after having watched a little dinosaur 

burst out of an egg. It's 

the most brilliant special effects 

work I've ever seen in my life!" 

Attenborough, who began his 

career as an actor (he was the 

British commander in "The 

Great Escape") before becoming 

one of the most celebrated 

movie directors the United 

Kingdom has ever produced, is 

acting for the first time since he 

performed in Satyajit Riiy's 

"The Chess Players" in the late 

1970s— an interval of approximately 

a decade and a half The 

return to performing is "very 

nerve-racking," 

Attenborough 

says, mock ruefully. "I hasten to 

say that Steven is an angel. He 

treats me with courtesy, and 

has a great deal of kindness for 

this old man." 

While "Jurassic Park" is undeniably 

an at>'pical break from 

the directorial concerns that 

have become the primary focus 

of Attenborough's professional 

life, his acting holiday is very 

much a working vacation. Even 

as he steps before the cameras for Spielberg, Attenborough is 

readying his own, very different sort of film for release. 

Attenborough, whose name has become almost synonymous vvdth 

a type of film that might be called the "epic of conscience," who 

gave the world "Gandhi" (and won an Oscar for doing it), whose 

"Cry Freedom" was the first mainstream Hollywood feature to 

attack South African apartheid, has found anodier topic worthy of 

the epic sensibilities of which he (since the passing of Sir David 

Lean) is perhaps the last acknowledged master But this time, 

Attenborough found his epic subject not in India, or South Africa, 

but much closer to home. For his new film, Attenborough chose the 

world of film itself, as epitomized in the life of the greatest star of 

them all— a man whose name, like Gandhi's, is all the title a movie 

of his life requires: "Chaplin." 

On paper at least, there are some rough parallels between the life 

of Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin and that of Sir Richard 

Attenborough. Bothare British; bothbegan as theatrical performers. 

"/ really do believe that there is a yearning 

among the public for people to whose ideas 

they might aspire, and that there's a case to 

be made for reflecting that in films. " 

then moved into movie acting 

both later began directing theij 

own films. And both have beer 

knighted by the British crowr 

for their contribution to the 

filmmaker's art. 

Presented with the statistica 

comparison, Attenborougl 

laughs. "Well, there's a veri, 

rough element of comparabUitj 

within the background, but, 

mean, one man's a genius th« 

other man is a workhorse!" hf 

says wryly. "Tti the extent that 

am in love with the movies, am 

want my own final cut, and mj 

own right to say what I wish tt 

express, then, yes, I supposf 

there is a parallel. But only ii 

circumstance, rather than ii 

skill and capability. When the} 

presented him with the Oscai 

the citation said 'He turned ai 

industry into an art.' And I thinl 

that's true, I 

really do." 

Despite Chaplin's contribu 

tion to cinema, the process o 

bringing his life to the screei 

was surprisingly arduous, espe, 

cially given the enduring appea 

of his "Little Ttâmp" persona 

"Once 'Gandhi' got going am 

was definite," say 

Attenborough, "it was tough, bu 

it was well organized, all withi] 

control. The actual green light in 

'Charlie' [Attenborough still calls 'Chaplin' by its working tide] wai 

very difficult— madi harder to come by, in its way." 

If anything, Attenborough understates the degree of difficultl 

"Chaplin" encountered. Originally slated to be produced at Univer 

sal (the studio where, ironically, Attenborough is currendy appeal! 

ing in "Jurassic Park"), the "Chaplin" project stalled out aftei 

Attenborough had devoted years to developing it. "Itjust didn't wor. 

out," he says diplomatically. "In truth, I don't know the actuii 

reason. My supposition is that it had to do with casting. And I finall < 

had to say |to Universal] 'unless you commit, I wish the picture t1 

go into turnaround; which they were good enough to allow. Ani 

then I took it to Carolco." 

The casting disagreement he alludes to went straight to the heai| 

of Attenborough's interpretation ofthe material. Inhisbiographia 

films, Attenborough has shown something of a flair for makin 

unconventional casting choices that work beautifully on screen. H 

put the unknown Ben Kingsley in the title role of "Gandhi," an 

12 BOXOFFICE

• "I 

I 

" 

ade him a star in the process. When he needed someone to 

)rtray South African civil rights leader Steve Biko in "Cry Free- 

)m", Attenborough cast an American TV actor named Denzel 

ashington (known at the time for his role on "St. Elsewhere"), and 

felped Washington make the transition from small screen to large 

the proverbial one fell swoop. 

For the sought-after role of Charles Chaplin, Attenborough made 

ihat was perhaps his most daring choice yet. Though he has given 

number of excellent performances (usually in less than distinlished 

films), Robert Downey Jr. is still largely associated with his 

iolescent leads in teen films like "The 

ck-up Artist" and "Less Than Zero"— 

)out as far from a prestige epic like 

;haplin" as an actor can get. There 

ere those in 

the development pro- 

:ss who found it hard to set aside their 

reconceptions about Downey's 

yê" in favor of Attenborough's un- 

Bvering faith that tlie 27 year old 

erformer was right for the role. 

was howled down for choosing 

im," Attenborough says. "You know, 

i-hat are you doing? He's not a mime, 

Dt British! Why aren't you choosing 

lie of the great serious actors?' The 

bople who derided the choice hadn't 

lought of the problems. Charlie was 

[millionaire, running his own cominy 

before he was thirty! Youth was 

\sentml to the role. At the same time, 

r.C. 

Fields said he was probably the 

eatest ballet dancer who was never 

ballet dancer Laurence Olivier said 

lustache on, pick up a cane and stick his toes out, and play the 

ramp," Attenborough adds. "But genius is very difficult to convey, 

didn't cast Robert 'cause he could stick his toes out. I cast him 

Ecause he has that rare capability ofconveying greatness or genius 

1 the screen. You really l3elieve that Robert is capable of innovate 

invention, which is what Charlie had." 

r -w- 

\\/ 

-T-hUe its safe to assume that many moviegoers will have a 

preconceived notion of Chaplin's work and life, 

jT y Attenborough believes his film will come as something of 

jrevelation even to devotees. "I think people will be surprised by 

>e depth of despair and deprivation of his origins," Attenborough 

ij's. "The fact that when he was 5, he saw his mother collapse 

ristage and he went on in her place and performed. The fact that 

p had to go and collect food off the banks of the River Thames to 

;;ep the family going. The fact that at the age of 11 , 

he, by himself, 

Bd to take his mother and have her committed to a lunaric asylum, 

iud then I think the film will be revelatory to a certain extent of 

is absolute Mesmeric concentration and devotion to his work, 

ihich meant that anything and everybody, even to a selfish degree, 

iiok second place. Charlie was obsessive— that was a major part of 

s brilliance. But a major part of his shortcomings also." 

lb Attenborough, Chaplin's adult life was no less dramatic then 

is impoverished childhood. Though he became through his movs 

one of the wealthiest men of his time, Chaplin never lost his 

'mpathy for the poor and dispossessed, and he used his position 

the prototypal actor/ director to attack and satirize anything he 

w as a dehumanizing force arrayed against the common man. 

By die 30s and 40s— the era when Chaplin took aim at the 

lachine age in "Modem Times" (1936), at fascism in "The Great 

ictator" (1940) and at the predatory impulses of modem business 

radices in his neglected masterpiece "Monsieur Verdoux" 

947)— Chaplin's work was becoming more overtly polidcized, at 

precisely the time when the U.S. government was beginning its 

descent into McCarthyist suppression of the arts. Chaplin became 

a favorite target of the FBI's tyrannical founder J. Edgar Hoover, 

who amassed close to 2000 pages of invesrigative documents on his 

movements, and who finally managed to have Chaplin's visa 

revoked when the comedian attempted to retum to the U.S. after 

the European premiere of "Limelight" in 1952. 

"It's absolute bullshit to say that he was a member of the Communist 

Party," Attenborough says of the FBI-inspired rumors that 

dog Chaplin's reputation to this day. "As he himself said, he was a 

humanist. He was left of center, he 

challenged authority, he challenged 

the cruelty of the advance of industry 

and so on, but he was never a member 

of the Communist Party. When somebody 

from the FBI asked Doug Fairbanks 

if in fact Charlie was a member 

of the Communist Party, Doug said 

'No of course he's not!' And the guy 

said, 'Why on earth isn't he? We all 

thought he was!' And Doug said, 'He's 

too mean to pay the dues!'" 

Attenborough laughs. "And that was a 

relevant dismissal!" 

On the subject of J. Edgar Hoover, 

Attenborough is almost generous. "I 

think Hoover was a very, very, very 

bright man," he says, as if giving the 

devil his due. "An absolute shit, probably 

one of the most dreadfijl men 

that's ever breatlied, but a very bright 

man. And he was conscious of the 

fact, as was nobody else at that time, 

1 

was probably the greatest actor of 

that if somebody came up and presented 

3 

That rare capability of conveying greatness or genius on the 

1 time. Doug Fairbanks said he was 

screen... Robert Downey as "Chaplin" 

something truthftil in a movie, 

le most amusing and attractive man 

" 

my God! Millions of people were 

5 ever met. And Robert has that, Robert has that brilliance. 

touched! Hoover realized the potenrial of the movies, and Charlie 

"Any actor, if he's worth his salt, can put a silly little black was the guy who was pursuing that potential, in temis of attacking 

injustice, or taking on the establishment. And so Hoover decided, 

come hell or high water, he had to destroy Charlie — which of course, 

in his way, he did." 

Even before he went into exile, Chaplin was under siege for his 

complex personal life and from the disinformation about him 

spread by Hoover's joumalisric contacts. Chaplin lived out a familiar 

trajectory; both Woody Allen's recent fall from grace and last 

summer's Pee-wee Herman scandal could be interpreted as recent 

examples of the vindictiveness certain sections of the American 

public can show toward fallen champions. 

"In the UK, we do exactly the same thing," Attenborough says. "We 

take great joy in destroying what are ostensibly idols. Sections of 

the media love to find the clay feet, whether they're there or not, 

and if they're not, they are not shy of inventing them. I don't know 

quite why they do it, I suppose there's a degree ofjealousy or envy. 

Attenborough admits tliathis own affinity for dramatizing on film 

the lives of great historic figures is in part an attempt to counteract 

this destructive iconoclasm, which he views almost as a societal 

danger. "I think the movies have a phenomenal opportunity to 

present us with true heroism, and that we are increasingly without 

heroes," he says. "The devils, the despots, the crooks and so on, you 

can find by the thousand. Who sets what is accepted as a decent 

way of behaving and philosophy, other than heroes in some form 

or another? How do we judge, what do we choose as an example 

for how we might aspire to certain things, if we aren't aware of 

them? Now immediately, there will be a thousand people who will 

say, 'Oh that boring old idiot, with his hagiography and his 

sycophancy' and so on. But I'm very happy to put my shield up and 

draw my sword and defend that position. I really do believe that 

there is a yearning among the public for people to whose ideas they 

miglit aspire, and that there's a case to be made for reflecting that 

in films. I hope so anyway. I suppose we'll soon see about that, won't 

L 

December, 1992 13

" 

INSIDE EXHIBITION 

Roberts Theatres: 

A Silver Screen Success for a Small 

New Jersey Chain 

When 

By Fern Siegel 

the award-winning film "Bob 

Roberts," actor/director Tim 

Robbins' tour-de-force, debuted in 

New Jersey, it played first at The Lost Picture 

Show, the state's premier art cinema. 

Lo( ated in Union, N J and drawing a tri- 

, 

to take the time to build an audience. I 

tried 

screening art pictures in my general release 

theatres and it just didn't succeed. Art 

houses have their own following and you 

have to promote these films and cater to this 

sophisticated audience accordingly." 

He does. The Lost Picture Show was built 

In the 1960s in Union, a quiet suburban 

Roberts contends that the future of the. 

tre ownership lies in marketing speciall 

movies in select theatres. A former fill 

producer and the first manager of a cab) 

station in New York, Roberts fell into th 

ownership end of the business by chano' 

"A fiiend ft'om MGM hooked me up with ih 

troubled management of the Oaklan( 

state audience, The Lost Picture Show is 

beloved by patrons of the silver screen, lb 

prove it, over 200 people threw a thank-you 

party in March of this year for Robert Roberts, 

the theatre's surprised owner 

"This isn't just a business, this theatre is a 

labor of love," reports Roberts. The party 

was an impromptu outpouring ofgratitude, 

he says with his blue eyes twinkling. "It was 

a press agent's dream come true." So unique 

is Roberts' art theatre, that the Newark Star- 

Ledger sent a reporter to cover the event, 

and New Jersey Governor Jim Florio dispatched 

a letter of congratulations noting, 

"The Lost Picture Show is truly a unique 

theatre dedicated to showing avant garde 

films and the best of foreign films that are 

not always readily available for New Jersey 

theatre audiences. Your theatre fills a real 

need for movie aficionados seeking quality, 

thoughtful films." 

His words are music to a cinema entrepreneur. 

"There is a genuine desire for this 

kind of theatre," insists businessman Roberts. 

"In order to make it work, it's important 

Outside the Wellmont and The Lost Picture Show 

town on the outskirts of Manhattan. A single 

screen enterprise, it still retains a channing, 

unassuming atmosphere, a reminder of 

simpler days. Yet the theatre boasts a mail- 

Lobby of the Wellmont 

ing list with thous.inds ot names and enjoys 

the distinction of promoting independent 

films-tumed-hits such as "One False Move" 

and "sex, lies & videotape." 

(New Jersey) TVin in 1971. A deal wj 

struck. They got much needed capital an 

I got," he grins slyly, "a bargain." 

Producer-tumed-entrepreneur, Rober 

soon parlayed the ailing theatre into a n 

spectable money-spinner, recently sellir 

the property when business in town bi 

came too competitive. Yet, during thos 

halcyon years, he purchased seven add 

tional New Jersey theatres, four ofwhich li 

still owns. The Center Theatre in Bloon 

field and the Wellmont in Montclair sho' 

action/adventure films such as "Boyz N' th 

Hood" and "The Tterminator," which attra( 

a younger, predominantly male audieno 

The Chatham Cinema in Chatham, feature 

family pictures such as "Sister Act," whil 

The Lost Picture Show boasts a staggerir 

array of foreign and independent film 

And, unlike New York theatres which di 

mand a pricey S7.,50 admission fee, all ( 

Roberts' theatre tickets are $6.00. Rober 

also operates all his own concession stand 

As he explains with a smile, "the real profi 

ft-om movies are in popcorn and soda." 

14 BoxoFncE

amazing, in an age when multies 

reign supreme, the Roberts' theatre 

n champions single screen theatres, 

one exception, the tliree screen Welhnoffers 

Dolby sound while mono sound 

;ard in his other properties. The Chat- 

Cinema was built in tlie 1970s, but the 

ter and Wellmont theatres, which were 

structed in the heyday of the 1920s, still 

in their striking decor 

rhe Well mont's original artwork is beaund 

irreplaceable," beams Roberts. 

r Italian chandelier and interior design 

wonderful that we even get architec- 

.1 historians visiting the dieatre. My goal 

keep these movie theatres small and 

mate, though demand is such," he sighs, 

may transform the Center into a 

lex." 

lis decision reflects, in part, the draw of 

5udget films and the hugh initial monies 

/ generate. Though Roberts does not 

e a contract with any one studio, he 

to play Tbuchstone/Disney fdms at 

Chatham, Fox/Warner/ Paramount protions 

at the Wellmont, and Columbia 

ures at the Center. 

oberts and his film buyer, Craig Zeltner, 

wnally oversee all film selections. "You 

have to know your audience and know what 

picture will sell. The choice is critical. My 

theatres are open 365 days a year, 

seven 

days a week. 'Howards End' is pl.iving to 

often bombs and what is sometimes assumed 

to be a loser hits it big. Paramount 

expected 'Saturday Night Fever' to die at the 

boxoffice but it turned out to be a hit! Or 

consider 'The Exorcist' which was a cash 

cow, but 'The Exorcist IT did nothing. It 

didn't have legs. It's always been my policy 

to play a film as long as it holds out." 

The Roberts theatre chain is something 

of an anomaly in the competitive, multiplex 

world of film exhibition. Robert Roberts 

does admit that tenplex screens in crowded 

.shopping malls are the wave of the future. 

Bucking a popular trend, he prides himself 

on sole proprietorship of four thriving cinemas. 

"I have been approached by others to go 

into partnership and expand my company. 

The truth is," he smiles quietly, "I love the 

film business. I think it's a very personal 

business. By keeping a low overhead and 

having my theatres specialize in genre 

films, I can make money in single screen 

Poster decorated lobby of The Lost Picture Show 

houses. And I really prefer to do things my 

sold out crowds, for example, and we do way." 

^H 

spectacular business on weekends. 

"The movie business is like shooting Few Siegel is a New York-based journalist 

dice," he grins. "Until the film opens, it's and a frequent contribuor to Boxoffice. 

hard to predict success. Big pictures are 

Who offers the largest 

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equipment in the world? 

Stereo Processors 

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Mono Sound Systems 

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Response No 35 

December, 1992 15

I 

t 

Lloyd 

[ David 

I Tom 

JPER SAVER CINEMA 

iStartime Cinema, Inc. 

109 N.Oregon, #1000 

El Paso, TX 79901 

(915)532-1943 

1(915) 542-2945 (fax) 

^cutive Roster: 

F. Curley - President and CEO 

Jim McKenna - Sr. VP, Operating Director and PR/Advertising 

Hoover - Asst. VP, Operating Director 

Moviz Alibhai - Controller 

Lois Hufnagle - Theatre Operations/Concessions/Personnel 

)ohn Shaw Head Booker/Buyer 

- 

Olson - Key Equipment Buyer 

Irrent number of screens/sites: 181/23 

CROWN CINEMA CORPORATION 

406 West 34th Street 

Kansas City, MO 641 11 

(816)753-2355 

(816)931 6021 (fax) 

Executive Roster: 

Richard M. Durwood - President 

Harold D. Sawtelle- Head of Concessions/Key Equipment Buyer 

Hal McClure Head - Booker/Buyer 

Current number of screens/sites: 1 51/44 

Projected totals by end of 1 993: 1 59/45 

State(s) located in: Mo., Kan., Ohio 

ijected totals by end of 1 993: 21 4/30 

te(s) located in: Calif., Ariz., Colo., Ok., Neb., Ohio, N.Y., Fla. 

story: 

Founded in 1987, Super Saver is devoted to discount theater 

Deration, exclusively building from the ground up or completely 

furbishing choice locations. We hope to expand our audience 

ationwide by offering deluxe operation in a discount admission 

ena. 

gship theatre: Forest Fair in Cincinnati 

lat do you think a circuit such as yours offers the public that 

)erhaps overlooked by the "majors" ? 

The value of continual first class product in a first class facility at 

scount prices. 

lat causes you concern? What do you perceive to be the 

;gest challenge facing an exhibitor such as yourself? 

Steadily obtaining quality product. 

iat do you think the next 10 years hold? Are you optimistic? 

Steady growth. 

History: 

Crown Cinema Corporation was started in September 1 976 with 

three indoor sites (12 screens) and four drive-in locations. We are 

continuously striving to provide our customers with the best quality 

movie-going experience for their entertainment dollar. This philosophy 

is promoted by the emphasis on teamwork within our company. 

We feel very positive about the future of the industry and look 

forward to a great 1 993. 

Respondent: Richard M. Durwood, President 

December, 1992 17

GIANTS OF EXHIBITION V 

CINEMA ENTERTAINMENT 

CORP. 

P.O. Box 1126 

St. Cloud, MN 56301 

(612)251-9131 

(612) 251-1003 (fax) 


Robert Ross - President 

Tony Tillemans - Vice President 

David Ross - Secretary 

George Becker - Treasurer 

Ed Villalta Head - of Concessions 

Stan McCullocfi Head - Booker/Buyer 

Subsidiaries: Premiere Video (1 6 stores) 

Current number of screens/sites: 74/1 2 

Projected totals by end of 1 993: 87/1 4 

State(s) located in: Minn., Wis., N.D., Iowa 

Please describe your flagship, or the theatre you feel best represents 

your circuit. 

All of our facilities are fairly new, having been built since 1 983. 

Even our locations in smaller cities have ample facilities, each with 

s Larger cities have facilities with six to 1 screen 

What do you think the next 10 years hold? Are you optimistic 

We anticipate continued steady growth for ourselves as well a- 

the industry. 

Respondent: David Ross, Secretary 

Same unbeatable optics as 

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Large access doors and 

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Clean and uncluttered 

interbr for 

easy maintenence 

THE NEW KNEISLEY CONSOLE 

Whatever your choice, Console or Xenex II, you 

WILL obtain the HIGHEST PICTURE QUALITY AVAILABLE. 

Write or call for descriptive literature. 

lyfVl 

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We specialize in providing equipment 

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your theatre: Seats, Sound, Projection. 

(No, we don't sell popcorn!) 

See why more and more, 

Hadden has become the industry 

standard for high performance! 

HADDEN r-t 

THEATRE SUPPLY COMPANY 

10201 Bunsen Way 

Louisville, KY 40299 

(502) 499-0050 

(502) 499-0052 FAX 

Louis Bornwasser, Owner 

(419) 241-1219 FAX (419) 241-9920 

Design-Consultation-Sales 


18 BOXOFFICE

' 

: 

MPIRE THEATRES LIMITED 

115 King Street 

Stellarton, Nova Scotia 

Canada 

(902) 755-4440 

(902) 755-6477 (tax) 

-^ *R^^^^^^^BHItfMlinMMMMi*.«i« 

icutive Roster: 

Stuart C. Fraser - President 

Dean Leiand - Operations/PR & Advertising 

Kevin MacLeod - Operations/Concessions/Key 

luipment Buyer 

Greg Mc Neil Head - Booker/Buyer 

lean Runole - Controller 

3sidiaries:Mariplex Confections, MariplexEquipnt 

Supply 

rrent number of indoor screens/sites: 62/23 

rrent number of drive-in screens/sites: 1/1 

ite(s) located in: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 

^'wfoundland, Prince Edward Island 

spondent: Stuart C. Fraser, President 

INEMA NORTH 

ORPORATION 

P.O. Box 549 

1 65 Woodstock Avenue 

Rutland, VT 05702 

(802)775-4915 

(802) 775-6943 (fax) 

ecutive Roster: 

Gerald L. Couture - President 

Kevin j. Mullin - Vice President 

Martin Goldman Head - Booker/Buyer 

Edward Horvath - Key Equipment Buyer 

irrent number of screens/sites: 59/1 

ojected totals by end of 1993: 71/12 

ate(s) located in: N.Y., Mass., Vt. 

story: 

Cinema North turned 10-years-old in 1992. Having started with 

ve screens and an arcade, the circuit has shown much growth in 

ie last 1 years. Cinema North hopes to continue to expand in the 

Northeast in the smaller, less competitive markets. 

ease describe your flagship, or the theatre that best represents 

>ur circuit. 

Movietime Cinema 1 0, a 10 screen cinema located on beautiful 

ake Canandaigua in the Finger Lakes region of New York. While 

mall in size, Movietime is big in quality, offering the best in picture, 

ound, and seating with a large concession stand to satisfy the 

latrons' appetites. It is a complete entertainment experience under 

ine roof.


Please describe your flagship theatre, or the theatre you feel bes 

represents your circuit. 

South Dennis Cinema, a 10-screen multiplex, is complete witi 

luxury amenities: brass, mirrors, oak, marble, handicapped acces 

to all auditoriums, special sound systems for the hearing impairec 

computerized ticket reservations, 70mm projection equipment, 

custom designed seats, water pools with fountains, column 

wrapped in neon make it the house of which we are most proud, l! 

reflects class, and part of the fun is 

the decor. 

What do you think a circuit such as yours offers the public tha 

is perhaps overlooked by the "majors"? 

We feel that we are soon to become one of the majors. Entertair 

meni Cinemas offers terrific, innovative theatres to its patrons fc 

their "movie-going" experiences. In the past few years, we have bui 

and opened more theatres than any other circuit in the state c 

Massachusetts. 

What causes you concern? What do you perceive to 

be tl 

biggest challenge facing an exhibitor such as yourself? 

One of the biggest challenges is keeping your theatres up to date 

not only in appearance, but also with the latest in cinema technoi 

ogy. Also, keeping your ticket prices as low as possible. If prices fc 

tickets get too high, the patrons will stay home and rent videos. 

ENTERTAINMENT CINEMAS 

Entertainment Management Corp. 

807 Washington Street 

Stoughton, MA 02072 

(617)341-2800 

(617)344-5812 

(617) 341 -41 70 (fax) 

What do you think the next 10 years hold? Are you optimistic 

1 feel that we at Entertainment Cinemas are optimistic, as long£ 

we can continue to build great theatres and run them at gre; 

reasonable prices. 

Respondent: Jo-Ann Overstreet, Administrative Assistant 


William ). Hanney - President 

Keith C. Ash - VP, Director of Operations/Personnel 

Michael L. Harmon - Dir. of Field Operations/Key Equipment 

Buyer 

)o-Ann Overstreet - Administrative Assistant and PR/Ad. 

Martin Zides - Head Booker/Buyer 

Concessions: Boston Concessions Group 

Booking: Martin Zides, Cinema Film Consultants 

Current number of screens/sites: 51/9 

Projected totals by end of 1 993: 80/1 2 

ALLEN THEATRES INC. 

Box 1500 

Farmington, NM 87499 

(505)325-9313 


Lane Allen Owner 

- 

Larry Allen Owner - and Film Buyer 


State(s) located in: Mass., R.I. 

Associated Companies: 

Cinema Designs Croup 

Cinevalue Theatres 

Hollywood Restaurants 

The Hollywood Back Lot Stores 

Cinema Pubs Ltd. 

History: 

Entertainment Cinemas is the movie theatre arm of Entertainment 

Management Corporation. Both were founded and continue to be 

operated by William J. Hanney. Entertainment Cinemas has been 

in business for over 1 2 years. During that time, it has opened and 

operated nine theatre locations with 51 

screens. Over the years. 

Bill's philosophy is that going to one of his theatres should be a true 

"night out" experience, making sure his customers are as comfortable 

and aesthetically pleased as possible. 

ROTH COMPANIES 

91 2 Thayer Avenue, #300 

Silver Spring, MD 20910 

(301)587-8450 

(301) 587-8454 (fax) 


Paul A. Roth - President 

Michael E. Rowan - Executive Vice-President 

loan B. Roth - Vice-President 

Marc Madison - Film Buyer 


20 BOXOFFICE

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SEVEN SPECIAL REPORTS FOR THE MOTION 

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STUDIO MARKET SHARES 

5-YEAR HISTORICAL BOX OFFICE REFERENCE BY TITLE 

TOP 100 OPENINGS FOR THE PAST YEAR 

ROLLING 52-WEEK MARKET ANALYSIS 

PROPRIETORY REPORTS AND MARKET STUDIES 

U.S. AND U.K. REPORTS AVAILABLE 

EXCLUSIVE FROM ENTERTAINMENT DATA, INC. 

8350 Wiishire Blvd., Suite 210, Beverly HiUs, CA 9021 

(213) 658-8300 FAX: (213) 658-6650

SILVER SCREEN AMUSEMENTS INC. 


Current number of indoor screens/sites: 49/8 

3 180 Crow Canyon Place, #210 

Current number of drive-in screens/sites: 2/1 

San Ramon, CA 94583 

(510)867-3456 

State(s) located in: Ca. 

(510) 867-0590 (fax) 

Respondent: James H. Edwards, President/CEO 


Howard L. Taormino - President and Film Buyer 

Jeffrey Conley - Vice-President 

Mark Padron - Administrative Assistant 

WALLACE THEATRE CORPORATION 

3375 Koapeka Street, #345 


Honolulu, HI 

(808) 523-5888 

Projected totals by end of T 993: 91/33 

(808) 637-3002 (fax) 

Respondent: Howard L. Taormino, President and Film Buyer Executive Roster: 

Scott C. Wallace - President and CEO 

Brett Havlik - General Manager/Concessions/Personnel 

Craig Hyerdall - Area Manager, Mainland/Key Equipment Buye 

STOREY THEATRES INC. 

David Passarella Area Manager, Hawaii 

- 

572 Morosgo Drive, N.E. 

Richard Jenks 

Atlanta, CA - Dir. of Accounting 

30324 

Dick Gambogi - Film Buyer/Booker 

(404) 266-2800 

(404) 261 -9604 (fax) 



Projected totals by end of 1 993: 98/24 

Fredrick C. Storey Chairman - 

of the Board 

James H. Edwards - President/CEO 

State(s) located in: Hawaii, Calif., Nev. 

Rick Adams VP/COO/Key Equipment Buyer 

- 

Robert P. Sedlak - VP/Film Buyer 

Frank B. Coulon Head - of Concessions/Personnel/PR Respondent: Scott C. Wallace, CEO 

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"Batman Returns" with 

Promotional Gusto 

The Century Park T2 Theatre, Tucson, 

Ariz, (owned and operated by Century Theatres-Syuty 

Enterprises of San Francisco) 

created and displayed a "Bat Signal" for the 

entire run of "Batman Returns." The Batman 

symbol, which measured 12-feet tall 

and 20-feet from wing tip to wing tip, was 

hung from the ceiling in front of the snack 

bar. The Century Park 1 2 general manager 

is Dennis M. Garrett and the house manager 

is Brett Miller. The Batman symbol 

was made by floor supervisor I rv in Stafford, 

an art student at the University of Arizona. 

"Batman Returns" was one of the better 

grossing films of the summer for the theatre. 

The crew at the Plymouth Theatre, in 

Plymouth, N.H., mounted an exciting campaign 

for their run of "Batman Returns." In 

addition 

to turning the concession stand 

into a "Batcave" (with "Batman" food specials), 

Todd Paine dressed up as Batman 

and periodically climbed down the side of 

the theatre building to the sidewalk to fight 

The Penguin (Jamie Sharps). After the second 

day of the opening weekend, the 

crowds got so big that traffic had to be 

SHOWMANDISER 

Maltais). Record breaking crowds made 

"Batman Returns" a smashing success for 

the Plymouth. 

The James Island Cinema, in Charleston, 

S.C., went all out for their screenings of 

"Batman Returns." For the opening weekend, 

cinema personnel dressed up as characters 

from the film: after shaking hands 

with the "Caped Crusader," customers purchased 

popcorn and candy from young 

women dressed in "purrfectly crazy" 

catwoman attire. At night, a state-of-the-art 

"sky tracker" lighting system, resembling 

the "Bat Signal," summoned audiences to 

the theatre. Free T-shirts were given to the 

crowd awaiting admission to a special midnight 

screening. According to theatre manager 

Andy Lancaster, the weekend 

screenings were sellouts. 

The Harkins Theatres circuit in Phoenix, 

Ariz, greeted "Batman Returns" in its theatres 

with a barrage of multi-faceted and 

multimedia promotions. The chemistry of 

Warner Bros.' summer blockbuster hit and 

Harkins Theatres' promotional efforts 

earned the Harkins Cine Capri and Fashion 

Square theatres the number one and number 

two grosses in the Phoenix 1 7-run 

break of the film 

A showmanship team assembled under 

the leadership of theatre managers Roy 

Dunkelbarger and Bill Bounds launched 

their promotion three months in advance 

of opening date. The result was an event 

that made going to the movies an exciting 

and memorable experience for Phoenix 

moviegoers as the Harkins Theatres earned 

media exposure valued at close to 

$20,000. 

Working with local set designers, 

Dunkelbarger and Bounds elaborately decorated 

the Cine Capri and Fashion Square 

stopped. The Plymouth Theatre's manager 

is Patrick McCart, Melissa Whiting is the with movie theme props and graphics. The 

assistant manager (far left and left of "Batman" 

Paine, respectively, in the photo. elaborate cityscape scene featuring a life 

centerpiece in the Cine Capri lobby was an 

Standing to the right of The Penguin is Dan sized Batman model poised for rooftop 

action. Patrons entering the Fashion Squan! 

lobby were soon emersed in a realistic ba' 

cave with a special edition black Corvetb 

decorated as a replica of the Batmobili, 

parked near the auditorium entrance. /; 

15-foot painted replica of the Batman'' 

upper body was mounted to the front build' 

ing face of the Cine Capri in mid-May. / 

Cine Capri marquee also featured custonj 

Batman graphics. 

Opening night moviegoers were treate' 

to a major event. With some rehearsal an. 

bravado. Bounds delighted movie patron 

and TV camera crews by rappelling off th 

roof of the Cine Capri Theatre in costum 

like the real Batman. 

"Batman's" engagement at the Cin 

Capri was launched with a 30-hour mara 

thon beginning at 9:30 p.m. on the eve Ci 

"Batman's" nationwide opening. The firs' 

movie buff in line was Arizona State Gov] 

ernor Fife Symington who was greeted b, 

theatre owner Dan Harkins and crew 

Shortly thereafter, TV crews teleca; 

Bounds' Batman stunt, interviewed th 

Governor and Harkins, and showed filr 

footage. One station ran an unusually Ion 

four minute segment. The opening nigf 

prime news and following morning covei 

age by three Phoenix network affiliate stc 

tions, KPNX-TV 12 (NBC), KTVK-TV 

(ABC), AND KTSP-TV 10 (CBS) gav 

Harkins' promotional team a gigantic boo; 

of air time valued at $ 1 2,000. Local newi 

papers also photographed the event. Ba' 

man, later joined by his nemesis, Th 

Penguin, gave away prizes to moviegoeii 

waiting in line. The combination 

state governor. Batman, The Penguin, T 

news coverage, lobby decor, the Batmol 

ile, and prizes gave moviegoers an unprec 

edented pre-movie show. 

The Cine Capri finished the marathon b 

achieving the highest opening day gross ( 

any motion picture in Arizona's histor 

beating the previous record held by th 

original "Batman" in 1989. 

Radio stations KUPD-FM and KKFR-F/ 

promoted the Harkins movie event, wit 

KUPD morning disc jockey Sue Cook 

24 BOXOFKICE

I 

I 

SHOWMANDISER 

sting a remote broadcast from the Cine 

pri Theatre during the "Batman" maran. 

Also, radio station KOY-95 mounted 

jtwo-day promotion for Harl

SHOWMANDISER 

our prices?" After discussing the situation 

with, and getting ideas from company president 

Daniel Crown and general manager 

Thomas Becker, Zazzaro formulated the 

"Amazing Movie Bucks Coupon Book" 

This project was presented in conjunction 

with several local retailers and the Connecticut 

Post newspaper. 

The "Amazing Movie Bucks Coupon 

Book" offered moviegoers discounts on admissions 

and refreshments at the Crown 

Trumbull Cinemas in Trumbull, Conn. In 

an effort to make the promotion even more 

attractive, Zazzaro went to area merchants 

for their support. As a result, Crown Trumbull 

Cinemas patrons could dine, rent videocassettes, 

subscribe to the Connecticut 

Post, have their homes cleaned, and even 

shop for fine clothing with the "Movie 

Bucks" coupons. If a moviegoer took advantage 

of all of the offers in the booklet, 

he/she would have saved an incredible 

$500.00! 

The coupon book was free with each 

paid admission, Monday through Thursday, 

to the Crown Trumbull Cinemas, located 

in the Trumbull Shopping Park. It was 

that easy. 

A full scale advertising campaign was 

launched to promote this offer. As co-sponsor, 

the Connecticut Post provided 1 5,000 

coupon books, ran pre-opening flyers in 

their daily paper, and ran ads announcing 

facts and information about the program 

throughout the campaign. Area merchants 

prominently displayed signs and table tents 

in their businesses. Crown Trumbull Cinemas 

made special announcement tapes to 

be played on their answering machines, 

giving all 

the details concerning the promotion. 

The theatre also had several signs 

in the lobby displaying all of the "Movie 

Bucks" information. In addition, several 

one-inch by three-inch special "Movie 

Bucks" ads were run in the Connecticut 

Post during the campaign. Most impressively. 

Crown Theatres employed Pike 

Productions to create a special 30-second 

"Movie Bucks" trailer featuring all of the 

necessary information on the promotion 

and highlighting the participating merchants. 

The promotion began in April and ran 

until the end of July, 1992. As a result, 

hundreds of "Movie Bucks" coupons were 

used and participating merchants reported 

a very positive response. Zazzaro says that 

the response to this project has been so 

positive and overwhelming that he is already 

working on a bigger and better circuit-wide 

"Movie Bucks 93" program. 

Fox Theatres' "Honeymoon 

in Vegas" Elvis 

Lool

! exact 

VIDEO: Merchandising 

In-Store Promotional Campaigns: 

Sidestepping Studio P-O-P 

By George T. Chronis 

I casual look through video trade 

\ magazines will always reveal nu- 

"Xmerous studio advertisements 

jting new releases and the promonal 

campaigns supporting them. The 

ligatory P-O-P kits made up of theatriposters, 

standees, counter-cards, 

'ilf-talkers and hanging mobiles have 

:ome standard— and in another word, 

ring. 

Discounting the secondary irritation of 

p-P kits that never arrive, or arrive too 

^ to be used effectively as customer 

sers, how helpful is it really to be using 

same materials as every other 

leo store in the U.S.? Even if a chain is 

ge enough to be looked on with extra 

or by their distributor reps and are 

tunate enough to receive extra promonal 

materials from which its more aric 

employees can create eye-catching 

plays, 

the basic ad materials are still 

; same. 

>mart and savvy dealers know that the 

leo retail business is in a state of conidation, 

and the stores that stay in 

siness will be the ones that do the job 

ter, and with greater flair, than their 

mpetitors. The smartest of all also 

ow that these goals can be accomshed 

without putting out a lot of 

mey. 

rhe studios are quick to point out how 

jch money was spent on advertising a 

jtion picture in its theatrical release. As 

iwell known, studio promotion camigns 

are enormous. What may often be 

gotten, however, is the multitude of 

iducts that are licensed around characs 

and props from high profile movies, 

fore too many bad memories of "Dick 

icy" toys and curios that couldn't be 

d causes a panic, the object of this 

COMPUTERS: ONE BYTE AT A TIME 

Buying Printers: Wending Your Way 

Througii a IVIaze of Choices 

By Russell Wintner 

President 

WinterTek, Inc. 

Selecting 

a printer can be a bit of an 

unsettling process. When you're 

faced with all the varied choices, 

when you're faced with multiple brand 

selections and hear all the sales hype, 

you may begin to wonder if it isn't easier 

to stick with paper and pencil. 

It isn't. Like other purchasing decisions, 

you simply have to understand the 

alternatives and be prepared for some 

simple compromises so that when you 

choose a printer it can become a genuine 

friend. 

Printers for your PC are available each 

of which use three different technologies. 

Each of type of printer offers specific 

advantages: dot matnx, ink jet, and 

laser. Dot matrix printers are by far the 

least expensive and, in many ways, the 

most durable and flexible. Inkjet printers 

offer many of the features of a laser 

printer at a much reduced price. And 

laser printers offer unequaled letter and 

graphics quality. The primary differences 

in the technologies are simple to 

understand and we shall review them 

here. 

Let's start with the oldest and most 

common printer— the dot matrix. A dot 

matrix printer uses a print head constructed 

from individual wires that pop 

out under programmed control, each hitting 

a ribbon against paper forming little 

dots. The dots, when taken together, 

form a block in which a character is 

formed (hence the term matrix) or a line 

of dots which, added together line after 

line, create a picture. Because dot matrix 

printers are impact printers, they are the 

only printers capable of using multiple 

part forms. If your need to print invoices 

in three parts, your decision on which 

technology to use is decided for you. 

Likewise, for printing ledgers, journals, 

and management reports for which multiple 

copies are required for circulation 

quality, however. While dot matrix printers 

are commonly rated this high, they 

do not produce output as eye-catching as 

a 300 by 300 dpi laser. Large characters 

and rounded graphics do not have the 

smooth edges characteristic of lasers and 

impact printers are prone to banding. 

Banding isn't a problem in text applica- 

throughout an office, dot matrix printers tions, but in graphics this phenomem 

and multiple part forms are far more cost results in alternating bands of dark a; 

effective and efficient than photocopying light ink density running in the directii 

and collating single sheets. In addition to of the print head's movement. 

being the least expensive variety of If you've decided that a dot mati 

printer, dot matrix printers are also the 

least expensive to operate. A typical fabric 

ribbon will last for 2,500 pages in a 

normal office environment and cost between 

$3 and $15 each. 

difference between various dot 

Thematrix printers, and that which 

makes some more expensive than 

others, is speed, print quality, print options, 

fitness for task, and durability. Dot 

matrix printers have become very fast 

compared to the printers of just a few 

years ago and for a small sacrifice in 

quality (using fewer of the print wires to 

form each character) they can be quite 

fast indeed. Speeds of 120 to 220 characters 

per second (cps) are common among 

the least expensive machines for draft 

printing mode as are 40 to 75 cps speeds 

for Near Letter Quality (NLQ) mode. 

As you'd expect, the more print wires 

in the printing head, the more the cost 

goes up. But so too does quality. Having 

more pins allows the printer to form each 

character a little more carefully so that it 

is appealing to the eye without a major 

loss of speed. In fact, some 24-pin printers 

can print in NLQ. mode as fast as less 

expensive 9-pin printers can print draft 

quality. As for graphics, the quality of a 

24-pin printer is again superior to a 9-pin, 

with 24-pin printers usually capable of 

yielding 360 by 360 dpi (dot per inch) 

graphics. [The more dots per inch, the 

finer the graphical resolution] Don't be 

fooled by any claim that this is near laser 

printer is the way to go, one major co 

sideration you should have in an offi 

environment is fitness-for-task. Ap; 

from quality and simple printing spee 

is the print head big enough not to ovi 

heat during long print jobs? Is the it 

chine rugged enough for the shared u 

it might get in your office? And have yi 

considered all of the options you mis 

need to make the printer work efficieni 

in the workplace? 

Options for dot matrix printers a 

many, more of which are becoming st£ 

dard all of the time, and due to compe 

tion with laser printers, which a 

coming down in price every year, t 

prices for dot matrix printers and th. 

options are coming down too. Sinj 

sheet and envelope feeders, internal a 

downloadable font capabilities, pap 

handling features (like holding contir 

ous paper at bay while you insert sinj 

sheet letterhead so that you're not C( 

stantly loading and unloading form 

paper parking and tear-off featui 

(which help to reduce paper waste), a' 

color capability for text and graphics ; 

all possibilities you might want to c( 

sider. With more and more software h, 

ing graphics capabilities with built 

typesetting font libraries, reside 

printer fonts may be less important 

you than good graphics capability, 

with everything else, consider your sc 

ware carefully and your actual printi 

needs before making your decision. 

jet technology bridges the gap 1 

Ink tween dot matrix prices and las' 

printer quality. Ink jet printers usi 

new and highly sophisticated technok 

which blends the techniques of the otl 

two. Inkjet printers actually shoot lit 

microscopic drops of ink at the pap 

forming dots that create characters a 

30 BOXOFFICE

phics. These printers are extremely 

et and quite fast. They generally pro- 

;e output a page at a time and, because 

re is no hammer device, only single 

t forms are possible. Many ink jet 

nds feature totally replaceable heads 

)art of the ink cartridge. So, when the 

runs out and you have to replace the 

tridge, you get a brand new electronic 

It head as well. The remaining parts 

he printer are fairly simple and duramaking 

disposable heads an importbenefit 

in terms of reliability and 

gevity. 

resently, 

ink jet printers have fixed 

alutions of 300 by 300 dpi. Ink jet 

phics, while definitely more pleasing 

n those produced by impact printers 

n at 360 by 360 dpi, are still prone to 

ttle banding which may vary from 

nd to brand. Ink cartridges cost about 

i each and last according to the 

cunt of ink you use per page, more for 

phics and less for text. And, if you 

ct to go color, the "real" costs can 

rocket. [Explanation: Each of four colhas 

it's own non-refillable reservoir, 

en one of the colors runs dry, the 

ole cartridge becomes useless unless 

ivilling to do without that color or 

' other color derived from a combina- 

1 which includes the empty color.] 

here aren't too many options one 

;ds to consider with ink jet 

printers, 

nt quality, durability, the benefit of 

disposable print head, and some 

nds that feature tractors for continuforms 

are the basic considerations. 

i your dealer for explanations and 

nple output and pick from what you 

1 t the top of the line are laser print- 

A ers. These printers are ultra-quiet, 

^produce extremely high quality 

fput, and are fairly expensive (but 

ces do keep coming down). Laser 

nters use a printing technique identito 

small office and personal copy 

ichines. But instead of the glass table 

i scanner of the copy machine, laser 

nters receive their input from your 

Tiputer and translate the printing inuctions 

into a page of copy drawn on 

: print drum by a laser beam. 

Jnlike the other printers mentioned, 

er printers are strictly page printers, 

is means that they must receive the 

1 page of text and/or graphics before 

nting begins. (Ink jet printers might 

o wait for a full page of information 

rbre they start to print, but then the 

?e is drawn character by character and 

e by line.) Because of this "page 

printer" design, laser printers require a 

lot of memory of their own. About 51 2K 

of memory produces a standard text 

page, a simple graphics page, or a half 

page (or less) of complex graphics. A 

minimum of I Megabyte of memory 

probably makes more sense for most 

common graphics applications. In comparison, 

a dot matrix printer requires 

virtually no memory since it prints each 

character (or row of dots) as soon as it is 

received from the computer. Any extra 

memory in a dot matrix printer is used 

for 

storing downloadable fonts or as a 

print buffer. 

Laser printers are popular because of 

their capability for high quality printing. 

But there are a lot of differences between 

models and manufacturers and you must 

be careful to ask a lot of questions before 

you jump in and buy. For instance, there 

are several versions of the popular PCL 

(Printer Control Language) and each offers 

a greater degree of sophistication. 

Make sure that the printer you buy handles 

the same level of sophistication as 

the software you plan to use. 

Postscript is another popular graphics 

language for printers which is not supported 

on every machine nor is it always 

supported the same way. Some machines 

use a Postscript cartridge, some 

use an emulator to approximate the Postscript 

language, and some have special 

hardware to accelerate the Postscript 

commands. If Postscript is important to 

you (check your software!), then be sure 

that the printer you buy implements the 

Postscript capability in a manner that is 

efficient for your needs. 

Also, some printers that bill themselves 

as laser printers are really LED 

printers, like Okidata's 400 and 800 series 

printers. These, unlike lasers, use a fixed 

array of LED's which, according to the 

manufacturer, add to reliability. The 

trade-off is 

that they also offer a fixed 

resolution of 300 by 300 dpi. True laser 

printers are labeled 300 by 300 dpi, but 

manufacturers have developed techniques, 

so-called image enhancement 

technologies, for modulating the laser 

beam to yield results appreciably greater 

than 300 by 300 dpi. 

Laser 

printers are exclusively single 

page printers (no continuous 

forms) and, for our purposes, monochrome, 

too. You may be able to install 

different color toners, but technicolor 

images are not going to be produced. 

Laser printers excel at graphics, but the 

reality here is that complex graphics take 

a long time to print, up to several minutes 

a page. If you're ambition is to use 

the laser to design and produce ads, flyers 

and brochures, you may well want to 

consider a printer accelerator such as the 

LaserMaster. Devices such as this one 

speed up the time it takes to calculate 

and draw the image and can also boost 

quality up to 800 dpi. 

As cited earlier, your choice of technology 

may rest in a simple decision 

such as the need for multiple part forms. 

Personally, if I could have but one 

printer (which is all 1 can have right 

now!), it would be {and is) a dot matrix 

simply because of its affordability and 

flexibility. With my dot matrix I have a 

choice of either continuous form paper 

or single sheets each in single or multiple 

parts. Mine is a 24-pin printer with excellent 

letter quality and 360 by 360 dpi 

graphics. It serves me well because I run 

many trial copies of reports and frequent 

long program listings when I'm writing 

programs. For graphics and presentation 

quality spreadsheets, someday I hope to 

have a laser printer. But for now, with a 

Pacer Style Tickets 

little compromise, I've got the best of all 

worlds for mv situation. 

warn

I 

I 

I 

NEW PRODUCTS 

Odell's of Reno, Nev., recently announced 

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Bag»ln»The»Box, which uses the first automatic 

portion control pump for use specifically 

with pre-packaged canola oil. The 

box weighs only 35 pounds and measures 

Lavi Industries of Valencia, Calif. 's 

Beltrac Public Guidance System is a complete, 

integrated line of crowd control 

equipment featuring posts designed to 

allow the belt mechanism to be concealed 

within the post itself. Engineered and made 

in America, the posts (portable, removable 

and permanent) are multi-directional, accommodating 

interchangeable belt mechanisms 

while accepting as many as three 

belts from other units. They also come in 

colorful Lido-Tone, chrome, champagne, 

bronze and gold finishes; barrier belts are 

also available in a variety of standard colors 

and can be ordered with custom logos, 

colors and graphics. A complete line of 

accessories for the system is also available. 

Response Number 301 

Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet template provided 

by the company. Flomatic has been an innovator 

in 

post-mix dispensing technolo 

for more that 40 years. 


Lawrence Metal Products Inc. of Mi 

ville, N.Y., has announced the develo 

ment of a heavy duty, self-closing gate tf 

is designed for constant use and also mei 

handicap requirements. The model SAL 

designed for left swing, right swing or do 

ble acting applications, and features 

15.5-inches long by 11.5-inches wide by 

8-inches high, which means ease of handling, 

more convenience and safety, and, 

most importantly, no more spills and less 

waste. 


Flomatic Manufacturing, Inc. of Portland, 

Ore., has introduced a programmable 

portion control for beverage dispensing that 

counts the exact number and type of fountain 

drinks poured from a post-mix valve. 

According to the company, this provides for 

greater accuracy in tracking profitability by 

letting a manager keep abreast of the 

fountain's performance in ways that were 

not possible before. Drink history is tracked 

at the valve where the product is dispensed, 

and consumption history is easily retrieved 

through Flomatic's Consumption Logging 

Device for analysis on any PC running a 

"feather" mechanism that prompts a gem 

return. The gate system measures 3.5-fe 

wide, center to center of posts, by 3-f( 

high. The all-welded construction gal 

which is supplied with a stop post ai 

hinged post, is offered in three finish( 

brass, polished stainless steel and sal 

stainless steel. 


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' 

— 

INDUSTRY 

BRIEFINGS 

Moving Image Preservation 

Still Cause for Concern 

Fully 50 percent of all movies produced In 

the U.S. prior to 1950 no longer exist. Cone 

forever is half of this century's preeminent 

and most widely enjoyed art form. Likewise, 

much of television's "Golden Age" programming 

has also literally turned to dust. 

Moreover, the deterioration and irretrievable 

loss of motion picture and video productions 

is not limited to the U.S., nor has the 

destruction meaningfully abated. The problem 

is equally urgent both for present and 

future productions. 

Exploring preservation issues of moving 

images—from motion pictures to television 

is the goal of the third international conference 

entitled "Fast Rewind III: The 

Archaeology of Moving Images." Fast Rewind 

III 

will be held from July 22 to 25, 1 993 at the 

Rochester Stouffer Plaza, Rochester, N.Y. 

Organized and sponsored by Bruce A. Austin, 

the William Kern Professor in Communications 

at Rochester Institute of Technology, 

the 1993 Conference is the sequel to those 

held in 1989 and 1991. 

Past conferences have each "attracted 

more than 125 participants from more than 

35 states and a dozen nations," Austin says. 

Among those attending were archivists, curators, 

filmmakers, academics including historians 

and social scientists, and museum 

administrators. 

"This time around," Austin reports, "we're 

expecting even greater attendance and an 

even broader range of topics to be discussed, 

especially given the increased attention being 

paid to this vital issue by the Hollywood and 

legislative communities." 

Billed as a "Four day dig into the past, with 

an eye toward the future," Fast Rewind III will 

engage experts in a dialogue on such critical 

issues as financing preservation efforts; ethical 

and legal questions of industry practice, 

such as the colorization of black and white 

films; methods of preserving moving images; 

and the accessibility of moving image documents 

to researchers, scholars, artists, and the 

public. 

"Moving images represent an important, if 

not essential, touchstone of our culture," says 

Austin. "They should be treasured as crucial 

artifacts of our past. But, because of inattention 

or oversight, our link to the past is weakening. 

These documents are literally turning 

to dust—an action which borders on the criminal." 

"That we should permit moving images to 

disappear is not only sad, it is something we'll 

live to regret," Austin asserts. 

For more information contact Austin at 

(716) 475-2879, or write him at: Rochester 

Institute of Technology, College of Liberal 

Arts, Rochester, NY 14623-0887. 

EASTERN NEWS 

BANTAM, CT 

The single-screen Bantam cinema, owned 

by Lisa Abelow Hedley and her mother, 

Adrian Munuchin, hosted a rare screening of 

"Queen of the Stardust Ballroom," followed 

by an interview with leading lady Maureen 

Stapleton, who talked with Broadway producer 

David Black about her long acting 

career. Tickets were $20, with proceeds 

going to the Northwestern Connecticut AIDS 

Project. The Bantam is one of the few remaining 

one-screeners in the region. 

BURLINGTON, VT 

In 

an unusual move to assure patrons of 

quality entertainment, Merrill Theatre Corp. 

president Merrill C. larvis carried the typeline, 

"Guaranteed— like it, or get a pass" with 

circuit advertisements for the recent showdate 

of MGM's "Diggstown" at Merrill's Showcase, 

a five-screen plex here. Jarvis noted a 

"positive response" to the offer. 

HAZLET, NJ 

Dedham, Mass. -based National Amusements 

opened its fourth New jersey plex, the 

Hazlet Multiplex Cinemas, on the site of the 

Route 35 Drive-In, the state's last remaining 

drive-in theatre. To introduce the 12- 

screener, the circuit offered a "Celebration 

Day" with a 50 cent charge in place for all 

films, popcorn, candy and soft drinks. 

JERSEY CITY, NJ 

The long-shuttered Loews Jersey Theatre, 

the last remaining film venue in Jersey Square, 

is the focus of a multi-million dollar fund-raising 

effort by the newly-formed Jersey City 

Center for the Performing Arts to develop a 

first run motion picture theatre/performing 

arts center in 1994. Jersey Square's Stanley 

Theatre is now owned by a religious group, 

and the State Theatre was gutted and modernized 

several years ago. 

CAMBRIDGE, MA 

The Brattle Theatre garnered considerable 

media attention with a near-month-long series, 

"One More for the Road," screening 

product focusing on Hollywood's treatment 

of alcohol. The series, which ran on Wednesdays 

during September and October, featured 

films such as 1 945's "The Lost Weekend" and 

1987's"BarfJy." 

BOSTON, MA 

The 600-seat Paris Cinema, in-town 

Boston's last single screen theatre, is being 

replaced by a Walgreen's pharmacy. The 

Boylston St. site faces the Prudential Center. 

The former Exeter Theatre building in the 

Bay (the longest running movie house in the 

city, which went dark in 1 985) has been sold 

to British investors for $11 million. Se 

Jonathan Davis bought the property in 1! 

for $2.8 million. Non-theatrical use had b 

made of the property in the intervening ye 

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 

Lewis I. Gantman, executive vice presic 

of Kravco Corp., disclosed that the comp 

will add a 1 0-screen United Artists plex to 

Oxford Valley Mall in Middletown, Pa. 

TREVOSE, PA 

More than 1 ,000 Three Stooges fans assi 

bled at the Ramada Inn here for the ni 

annual Three Stooges Convention—the I, 

est ever of Stooges enthusiasts. Fans c; 

from all over the country to see showing 

the trio's films and to mingle among do2 

of tables and exhibits of Stooges memorab 

Among those present was Robin Lassir 

grandniece of Larry Fine, one of the Stooj 

PHILADELPHIA, PA 

A Candidates Comedy Night, with 

leading state political candidates particii 

ing, recently took place at the Comedy W( 

comedy club for the benefit of the Philai 

phia Variety Club to help handicapped c 

dren. Each candidate took to the stage wi 

stand-up comedy routine. 

To encourage the use of facilities in 

Greater Philadelphia region as a site for m 

motion pictures and allied film projects. 

Greater Philadelphia Film Board has b 

organized by the former Philadelphia F 

Office. Under city sponsorship, some 22 

dividuals have been named to the Bo 

each associated with the motion picture, 

or video industry here. Joseph H. Ball, f 

lisher of Advertising/Communications Tir 

a monthly publication here, and presider 

American Advertising Services, Inc., 

named executive director of the new bo 

It is reported that a new Greater Philadel| 

Production Guide will be published and 

tributed after February, 1993 and that 

voluntary efforts of the new board mem 

will mean tens of thousands of dollar 

income for labor and businesses here ar 

ally. 

A major celebrity tennis tournament 

drew stars to the city and brought 

money on behalf of disabled children ma. 

a one-day Family Teen Fun Fest. The e 

was presented by Kal Rudman, publish< 

Friday Morning Quarter-back, a radio in 

try trade publication, under the sponsor 

of the Philadelphia Variety Club. Almc 

dozen TV celebrities popular with teena 

appeared at the tournament, which 

staged at the Cherry Hill Racquet Clu 

nearby Cherry Hill, N.J. In addition to pla 

tennis, the stars signed autographs to be 

Variety Club. Admission to the event 

SlOdonation. 

34 BOXOFFICE

, thousand-square 

added incentive was provided by UA 

res here for the fund-raising member- 

Irive of public service TV station WHYY. 

lers enrolling as station members at $35 

e year also received a free pass good at 

JA house in the city. 

NCHESTER, CT 

lited Artists Theatres East in this city is 

id run triplex with a first run atmosphere. 

Shelsky, manager of the theatre, says, 

want to give our patrons the best of 

'thing: a crisp, clear picture, outstanding 

imer service and extreme cleanliness. All 

ik is that they wait a little bit before seeing 

ew film releases." 

SOUTHERN 

NEWS 

ILANDO, FL 

isney announced plans to double the size 

s Florida animation studio to meet the 

land for its animated feature films, 

juty and the Beast" established the fact 

there is 

a huge audience for quality anied 

features. The animation facility at Dis- 

MCM Studios opened in 1 989 and has 73 

,ts. Projections see the facility producing 

length films in Florida every other year, 

expansion began in July, with an addilal 

20 thousand-square foot modular 

iding now being built next to the current 

foot studio. 

bRT LAUDERDALE, FL 

i;ripping movie thrills will be available 

n the Blockbuster IMAX Theatre opens in 

/ntown Fort Lauderdale in November. The 

•en at this Blockbuster IMAX Theatre is 65 

high and 80 feet wide, approximately 1 

s larger than those used in most commertheatres. 

It will accommodate 300 peo- 

)f the 77 permanent IMAX and OM- 

-lAX theatres in the world—the high-tech 

:ion picture system developed in Can- 

—39 are in the United States. The Fort 

derdale IMAX theatre will be the only one 

lorida offering a large variety of films. 

EST PALM BEACH, FL 

/\onty Hall, international chairman of Vay 

Club, paid a one-day visit to Variety Club 

ie Palm Beaches earlier in the season and 

ted the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St. 

•y's Hospital, in the company of Irving 

piro, president of the local Variety Club 

pter, and Howard Minsky, movie pro- 

:er and chairman of the club. Variety Club 

a $250,000.00 pledge to the Neonatal 

'nsiveCare Unit. 

iW ORLEANS, LA 

lans are underway to renovate the Downn 

State theatre (formerly the Loews State) 

a 

American Seatings Cinema Series 

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• 


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December, 1992 35

ack into condition to be restored to a 2,000- 

seat, one-screen configuration of its glory 

years. In recent years the theatre was divided 

into a triplex. A revival of "Singin' in the 

Rain," with a new remastered 40th anniversary 

print, will be the premiere attraction. 

Hurricane Andrew played havoc with local 

moviegoing for three days in August. Theatres 

closed early on Monday, August 24 and remained 

closed all day on the 25th as the storm 

approached the city. Fortunately, the hurricane 

steered west, missing New Orleans entirely, 

and local houses reopened August 26. 

High winds caused some power outages, but 

no major damage was reported. With most 

schools closed, business was brisk. 

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INTERNATIONAL 

NEWS 

EUROPE 

There is now a major addition to the choice 

of films being offered in Dublin: the opening 

in September of the Irish Film Centre. Among 

other things, the Centre houses two new 

screens. The opening was marked with a gala 

screening of "Waterland," starring Jeremy 

Irons and Sinead Cusak and produced by 

Dubliner Katy McGuinness. The cinemas are 

to be programmed by Mick Hannigan, who 

has previously programmed the Cork Film 

Festival. The autumn fare strikes a balance 

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between art house and more mainstres 

films as well as late night screenings a' 

shorts. 

The recent British Budget held no joy i 

what is left of the British film industry—totti 

ing under the near collapse of indigene 

production and the dominance of the big U 

studios, which make and distribute 90 p 

cent of the films screened in the United Kir* 

dom. The government reiterated that filmsc 

not require special tax assistance. Fewer th 

20 films are currently being made in Brita^ 

compared with about 200 1 years ago. V\ 

Stevenson of the British Film Institute t( 

reporters at a recent seminar, "There is son 

thing fundamentally wrong with a coun 

which has its most popular cultural fo 

Ifilmsl dominated to such an extent that li 

than 10 percent of the audience share goes 

indigenous films." David Putnam, who is 

tempting to set up a European film school 

the site 

of the BBC's Ealing Studios, says 

has received "zero support" from the gove 

ment. In contrast, he said, he had recen 

received a telephone call from jacqi 

Chirac, the Mayor of Paris, offering to und 

write the project if it were to be located 

Paris. 

Meanwhile, Sydney Samuelson and a s^ 

of four have moved into offices on Ba! 

Street to operate the British Film Commissii 

Samuelson, the first Commissioner, ha; 

budget of £3.5 million to attract filmmakf 

Director Michael Winner ("Death Wish")5. 

the industry is in its worst state since 

entered it in 1 955. "Then there were 60 offii 

you could go to seek full finance for a fi 

Now there are none." Winner dismisses 

Commission as "at best quaint and at wi 

useless." 

British film 

investment has dropped fc 

fold since capital allowance on film inv( 

ment was phased out by Nigel Lawson, tl 

Chancellor of the Exchequer, inthemid-'f 

He also abolished the so-called Eady Le 

which gave one twelfth of boxoffice rece 

of films with a significant British involvem 

back to the successful producers. As a res 

British investors have increasingly had to t 

to American backers. The result is that Bri 

films are being "Americanized": David I 

nam made "Memphis Belle" only by chanj 

the British aircrew of the original script i 

an American one. "A Fish Called Wanda, 

another example, had to hire two Ameri 

stars (albeit good ones), lamie Lee Curtis 

Kevin Kline. As many as 20 top British Ci 

matographers are in virtual exile, worl 

only in Hollywood and the great British 

dios—Pinewood, Elstree and Shepperto 

are virtually at a standstill. Cyril Howard, 

managingdirector at Pinewood, saysthati 

are making television commercials at the 

ment. Commissioner Samuelson has aire 

had one minor success, bringing three 

sodes of the American soap "Married \ 

Children" to Britain for filming. 

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Despite all 

the critical brickbats throw 

the Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman film "Far 

Away," directed by Ron Howard, the fill 

least appears to be heading for boxoffice 

36 Boxoffice

in Ireland. It 

. 

received scornful reviews in 

rish press, but by September it had been 

by a respectable 750,000 people in the 

h and South, since it opened on July 31 

puts it, says Eilish McPhillips of UIP 

j'ibutors, "neck and neck with [Martin 

sese's] 'Cape Fear.' It 

has been very pop- 

Briin's Defa film complex, the former 

lilywood of Europe" to the German induss 

to be sold to a French property devel- 

Compagnie Immobiliere de Phenix. 

I, which bought the property through 

Treuhand privatization agency, says it 

ids to build homes, hotels and offices on 

l6-hectare site, as well as modernize the 

France, the Centre National de la 

matographie (CNC) has announced that 

ucers who do not shoot their films in 

ch will 

lose the grants they currently re- 

! from the ministry of culture. Over the 

few years there has been a wave of 

nsive large-scale French productions 

in English (Miles Forman's "Valmont" 

Ridley Scott's "1492: The Conquest of 

dise" being foreign directed, while Luc 

on's "The Big Blue" and lean-Jacques 

jud's upcoming "The Lover" |to be re- 

;d in the U.S. by Metro Goldwyn Mayer] 

g home-grown product). France has a 

Tous film policy and co-production 

ements with more than 30 countries. The 

rnment injected 200 million francs into 

cts in 1989 alone to help the industry 

pete both internationally and at home. 

, however, the country's institutions to 

ct the French language are fighting back, 

ng that the cash injections have since 

! nothing for the French industry or the 

ch language. Both "The Big Blue" and 

Bear," although popular in Europe, did 

ly at the U.S. boxoffice, while Alex 

's "The King's Whore" sank into obliv- 

post of vice president, creative affairs for the 

SotoCompany....LouiseSpencer to vice president 

of special projects, publicity at Buena 

Vista Pictures Marketing. ...Barry Ferrell to 

product manager at Audio Products. ...John J. 

Walker to senior vice president, finance at 

Loews Theatres. ...Paul F. Gibbons to vice 

president and treasurer of General Cinema 

Corp. ...and Robert Rehmeto president of the 

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

OBITUARIES 

Richard F. Walsh, 92, former president of 

complete line of . . . 

the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage 

Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators, 

died in August in New York. Walsh 

was also a past president of the Inter-American 

Federation of Entertainment Workers. 

Morris Yuter, 66, theatrical publicist for 

both motion pictures and legitimate theatrical 

shows, died in September. Yuter was the longtime 

press agent in Philadelphia for the 

Shubert Theatrical Organization. After the 

closing of the Shubert-operated theatres in 

that city, he worked on movie publicity in the 

region for Orion, United Artists and Columbia 

Pictures. 

John W. (Jack) Servies, 85, died this past 

August in Florida. Servies was a 40-year veteran 

of the motion picture equipment industry. 

He was president of National Theatre 

Supply Company, having joined that company 

in 1928 soon after it was formed and 

when its headquarters were in Chicago. Servies 

spent his entire business life with them. He 

was central district manager for 25 years, 

before being elected president in 1966. 

Concession, Snack Bar and Janitorial Supplies 

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Response No, 96 

)nically, the French language-inspired 

kdown comes at a time when the French 

los are pushing a new found internation- 

T which saw them invest in such films as 

minator 2," "jFK" and David Lynch's 

n Peaks." A further irony: "The Lover" 

been mainly responsible this year for a 

t-term but substantial rise in the French 

industry's share of the domestic box ofand 

half the cinemas in Paris are showhe 

film in an English language version. 

ON THE MOVE 

n the move recently: Bill Gerber to execvice 

president, production at Warner 

Pictures and Joe Hyams to executive 

ce president, special products for Warner 

Karen Schafer to the newly created 

December, 1992 37

, 

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS 

Stamng Darnel Day-Lenns and Madeleine Stowe. 

Directed by Michael Mann. Screenplay by Michael Mann and 

Christopher Crowe, from the novel by James Fenimore Cooper 

and the 1936 screenplay by Philip Dunne. Produced by Michael 

Mann and Hunt Lowry. 

A Twentieth Century Fox release. Action-adventure, rated R. 

Running time. 120 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Scope, 

70mm. Screening date: 9/16/92. 

"The Last of the Mohicans" is the kind of matinee-ready, 

epic action movie Hollywood all but forgot how to make in 

the aftermath of the "Indiana Jones" trilogj'. "Mohicans" is a 

throwback in the one way the otherwise bijou-derived "Raiders 

of the Lost Ark" never intended to be: in its lack of 

self-consciousness, its dogged determination to stay true to 

the logic of its storyline, without the knowing asides and 

parenthetical movie-movie references Lucas and Spielberg 

traded on. Paradoxically, "Mohicans" reminds us of the great 

action-adventure films of the '30s and '40s because it speaks 

in the present tense; its characters are too preoccupied with 

the desperate business of their predicament (they are caught 

in the bloody events of the French and Indian War) to indulge 

in the "lookMa, no hands" indulgences through which most 

contemporary action films demonstrate their awareness of 

the fact that the audience is watching them. 

The achievement is all the more remarkable considering 

the source. With nary a rain-slicked boulevard or pastel-colored 

sports car in sight, "Miami Vice" creator Michael Mann 

confidently takes the events of James Fenimore Cooper's 

classic novel and works them to his own mostly action-oriented 

purposes. The irony of American colonists fighting 

Means as Chingachcook; for those in the know, the fi 

combat between Magua and the Last Mohican warrior 

comes a contest between opposing visions of Native Ami 

can history. 

Despite Mann's accomplishment, it would be easy to ov 

praise "The Last of the Mohicans" and even easier to pra 

it 

for the wrong reasons. Mann has mastered at least one 

Spielberg's aesthetic diversionary tactics— that of cast 

British master thespians in roles that require about th 

percent of their acting resources in order to confer arti; 

legitimacy on a piece of popcorn moviemaking. No c 

would want to deny a pair of actors like Daniel Day-Lc 

and Madeleine Stowe the commercial breakthrough a f 

like "Mohicans" represents, but it would be simply frauduL 

to pretend, as some reviewers have, that "The" Last of 

Mohicans" is a showcase for great acting, or that it in anxT" 

tests the artistic limits of its uniformly excellent cast. Ma 

is no more willing to detour from his purpose (to make a gr 

adventure film) for an extraneous great acting moment tl 

he is to turn his film into a political diatribe. Toward his o 

goals, Mann's aim remains straight and true throughc 

Even if the result isn't a lasting work of art, surely tha 

achievement enough. 

Rated R for violence and sexual situations.— Kai/ Green 

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT 

Stamng Craig Shcffer. Brad Pitt. ToniSkerntt, BrendaBletl 

and Emily Lloyd. 

Directed by Robert Redford. Screenplay by Richi 

Fnedenberg, based on the stoi-y by Norman McLean. Prvdu 

by Robert Redford and Patrick Markey. 

A Columbia Pictures release. Drama, rated PC. Running di 

123 ymn. Sound: Dolby SR Projection: Flat. Screening dt 

10/2/92. 

Director Robert Redford has overcome some tough odd: 

bringing Norman McLean's autobiographical story "A Ri 

Runs Through It" to the screen as successfully as he has 

narrative of McLean's mysterious and often unspoken n 

tionship to those closest to him would not seem the t 

material for a film, given that the medium of the cine 

relies heavily on what can be immediately seen, extern; 

grasped. McLean's story is that of a life lived in emotio 

silence; to be able to translate such a life to the screen mi 

seem a filmic task not easily attainable. Yet Redford 

pulled off an enormous feat, and he has done so with amaz 

Review Index 

circa 1760 to preserve British rule doesn't elude Mann, but it 

doesn't preoccupy him either; his British commanders unfailingly 

demonstrate the contempt for democratic principles 

which ignited the American Revolution roughly 20 years 

after the action depicted onscreen, but Mann studiously 

avoids hamfisted ironies, instead trusting his audience to 

make the connections for themselves. 

Given the source material (which, after all, is about the 

extinction of an entire Native American tribe), Mann's refusal 

to use his film as a pulpit is rather remarkable— particularly 

in the aftermath of "Dances With Wolves"— and it pays 

dividends by allowing several of his Native American characters 

to become rounded creations, instead of the ideological 

mouthpieces they might have become. In the vindictive 

Huron-turned-Mohawk warrior Magna, Mann and actor Wes 

Studi have created a truly memorable screen villain whose 

monomaniacal desire for revenge against the British for 

wiping out his family achieves an almost Shakespearean 

resonance precisely because Mann allows the character to 

own his rage rather than transforming it into a symbol born 

of some abstract modern moralism. Either to deflect potential 

criticism or to weave his own politics into the film's 

margins, Mann slyly cast Native American activist Russell 

Breaking the Rules 

R-9; 

Captain Ron 

R-9( 

Crossing the Bridge R-9 

Day In October, A 

R-9: 

Few Good Men, A 

R-8( 

Hero 

R-8( 

Last of the Mohicans, The 

R-8! 

Mighty Ducks, The 

R-9: 

Mr. Baseball 

R-8i 

Mr. Saturday Night R-8 

Of Mice and Men R-8 

Reservoir Dogs 

R-8! 

River Runs Through It, A R-S: 

Saraflna! 

R-8: 

School Ties 

R-9' 

Simple Men R-9 

Singles R-9 

Under Siege R-8 

Wisecracks 

R-9 i 

Zebrahead 

R-9! 

R-85 BOXOFFICE

,1 their 

i 

ice and finesse. 

\lieady a lyrical painter of American scenes on the 

een— the repressive atmosphere of suburban Chicago in 

rdinary People"; the colorful expressions of the southwest 

'The Milagro Beanfield War" — with "A River Runs Through 

Redford has fine-tuned his talent for telling American tales 

d rendering them with the sensibility of a skilled portrait 

ist. It helps to no less a degree that he also has the rare 

derstanding of how film and literature come together to 

d a shared language. "A River Runs Through It" is a 

isterful cinematic expression of literature's deepest secret: 

exploration of human mysteries that ordinarily lie hidn 

from view. 

t is easy to see how deeply Redford identifies with Norman 

Lean, using his own voice to narrate this story ofMcLean's 

ire played by actor Craig Sheffer) relationship to his famand 

riiost of all to his younger brother Paul (played by 

id Pitt). Redford also seems to adore the setting of their 

es: Missoula, Montana during the first half of this century. 

this beautiful (and as yet unspoiled) land, the story of 

Lean's young manhood unfolds. 

Reared by the oft-times repressive hand of their minister 

her(TomSkerritt), Norman and his youngerbrother, Paul, 

im their father's love of fly fishing in the rivers close to 

ir home. It is during these outings, first with their father 

silence oftheir own brotherhood, 

iU their liM'stiKst Like .shape. Yet eventually the differences 

psyche begin to take hold. Norman learns early his 

/e of literature, a gift he's received from his father. On the 

ner hand, Paul becomes increasingly reckless, drawn to 

nger and more and more motivated by his own sense of 

ienchantment with life. Eventually, Norman goes off to 

liege and Paul takes a job as a journalist. When Norman 

turns home he comes to see the difference between his 

other and himself. Ultimately he chooses a structured life, 

at of a professor of literature, and goes off to teach at the 

liversity of Chicago (where the offscreen Norman McLean 

tually taught for many years). Paul, quite to the contrary, 

ems destined for a tragic end. 

The beauty of this story is not so much the action that 

ifolds within its borders— for there is hardly any action to 

eak of Instead it is Redford's ability to lyricize the life of 

o brothers who, in fact, never verbalize themselves to each 

her at all. It is only at the conclusion of "A River Runs 

trough It" that this silence comes to take on its greatest 

eaning. As an old man, Norman McLean realizes that he 

s never really understood those who were closest to him — 

s father, his mother, his wife, and most of all his brother 

lul. He finally comes to accept the mysteriousness of his 

lations to others and the silence he has always lived with. 

is Redford's great coup in this film that such a silence, such 

mysteriousness, becomes a tightly directed and delicately 

Id American tale. 

Rated PG-13 for metaphorical fly ilshing.— Marilyn Moss 

FEW GOOD MEN 

Starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. 

Directed by Rob Reiner Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. Proiced 

by Jeffery Scott and Steve Nicolaides. 

A Columbia Pictures release. Drama, rated R. Running time: 

135 min. Sound: Dolby SR. Projection: Scope. Screening date 

9/30/92. 

With "A Few Good Men," director Rob Reiner has crafted 

a classic military courtroom drama starring Jack Nicholson 

as a tough-as-nails Marine commander on Guantanamo Bay, 

Cuba and aided by Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. Aaron 

Sorkin adapted his own Broadway play for the screen, which 

was an excellent place for Reiner to start. The script leaves 

open many possible plot turns and, even when the viewer 

has determined guilt, the moment at which the truth is 

extracted is sudden and unpredictable. Flashbacks are used 

sparingly and with great effect and the moral issues of 

individual responsibility versus military orders are explored, 

but never begged. 

Although the plot revolves around two Marines accused 

of killing a member of their platoon in an unsanctioned 

disciplinary action, the progression of the drama lies in the 

development of Navy lavi^yer Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) 

from a glib master of the plea bargain to a driven defender 

of the truth. He is partially coaxed and partially shamed out 

of the passive posture he has assumed to avoid comparisons 

with his highly successful father, also a military lawyer, by 

Joanne Galloway (Demi Moore), who wanted to take the 

case herself As Kaffee's interest in the case develops so does 

the motive of Colonel Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) to 

cover up the truth. 

The film's only weakness lies in Kaffee's sudden and 

unbelievable metamorphosis from lightweight lawyer to 

skilled prosecutor. Although Kaffee graduated from Harvard 

Law School, his professional experience has been limited to 

negotiating a quick plea bargain. If, as claimed, he has never 

seen the inside of a courtroom, where does he suddenly get 

the skill necessary to uncover the hidden facts in the case 

much less extract a confession out of a vastly more experienced 

officer? He receives his motivation from Galloway, 

but he can hardly have acquired his skill from her, because, 

as her superiors point out, she has no courtroom experience 

either. Some of that slack is taken up by Cruise's straight 

man, Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak), who is assigned to help 

Cruise with the finer points of military protocol. 

The exceptional cast is rounded out by Kevin Bacon as the 

government defense attorney, James Marshal ("Twin 

Peaks") and J.T. Walsh as the accused Marines, and Kiefer 

Sutherland as Lt. Kendrick, who is instrumental in the 

cover-up. The film's tension grows as the conflict shifts from 

Kaffee and Galloway to Kaffee and Jessup and the scenes 

where Nicholson faces off with Cruise are powerful stuff 

indeed, making this film well worth the price of admission. 

Rated R for violence and language.— Marianne Cotter 

HERO 

Starring Dustin Hoffnian, Andy Garcia, and Geena Davis 

Directed by Stephen Frears. Screenplay by David Webb Peoples. 

Produced by Laura Ziskin. 

A Columbia Pictures release. Comedy, rated R. Running 

Tune: 112 min. Sound: Dolby SR Projection: Flat. Screening 

date: 9/25/92. 

"Hero" starts from a promising if somewhat derivative 

idea, a sort of fun-house distortion of Capra's 1941 social 

comedy "Meet John Doe." In that uneven but fitfully powerful 

film, Gary Cooper was a homeless bum hired by Jean 

Arthur's wisecracking newspaper reporter to masquerade as 

a fictional "voice of the people," invented in her column as 

a publicity stunt. Cooper started out amoral and then 

blossomed into his role as a cornpone Everyman, but the 

film's populist optimism was counterbalanced by genuine 

despair; after his fall from public grace (he's revealed as a 

fraud just as he begins to believe his own message). Cooper 

could redeem himself only by attempting suicide as a protest 

against modern callousness, according to the terms of the 

persona Arthur concocted for him. 

In "Hero," Cooper's unscrupulous but ultimately heroic 

John Doe persona has been split into two characters, the 

obnoxious and misanthropic Bernie LaPlante (Dustin Hoffman, 

in a parody of Ratso Rizzo from "Midnight Cowboy") 

and the seemingly more sensitive John Bubber (Andy Gar- 

December, 1992 R-86 

.

cia). In the film's main (and almost solitary) plot twist, 

LaPlante acts heroically after witnessing a plane crash, but 

no one (not even the passengers he's saved, which include 

the ever-plucky Geena Davis as a Jean Arthurish newscaster) 

can believe such an unsavory character would have done 

what LaPlante did. When the more conventionally heroic 

Bubber materializes to claim a $1 million reward offered for 

LaPlante's actions by a local TV station, Bubber is immediately 

crowned by the media and public alike against any 

claims to legitimacy LaPlante might make. 

Poised for a satire of American hero worship, director 

Stephen Frears ("Dangerous Liaisons" and "The Grifters") 

and writer David Webb Peoples ("Unforgiven") settle for 

shooting fish in a barrel by reserving most of their comedic 

energy for broad barbs aimed at TV newscasting practices. 

Frears knows how to paraphrase some of the more egregious 

visual excesses of TV, but it's irritating to see so much 

attention lavished on a subject that is already self-caricaturing 

while more interesting possibilities— such as the darker 

motivations of Bubber's character— are dismissed via redemptive 

bromides, seemingly out of an unwillingness to 

cast any of "Hero's" three celebrity performers in anything 

other than the mushiest, most flattering kind of motivational 

light. 

An overcooked mainstream entertainment served up with 

a dollop of thematic seriousness, "Hero" is exacfiy the type 

of confection a heavyweight actor (hke Hoffman) or arthouse 

director (like Frears) cooks up when he is simultaneously 

seeking mainstream boxoffice sustenance while 

trying to assuage artistic guilt over such a crassly commercial 

undertaking. Like director Barbet Schroeder's "Single White 

Female," "Hero" is an artist's idea of commercial entertainment; 

both Schroedci and Fri-ars seem to equate accessibility 

with shallowness. The pervasive sense that the filmmaker 

feels he's slumming makes "Hero" far less rewarding than it 

might have been in the hands of a less talented director, who 

might at least have approached the material sincerely. 

There's nothing inherently amusing about condescension, 

after all. 

Rated R for semi-adult situations.— Kai/ Greene. 

MR. SATURDAY NIGHT 

Stamng Billy Crystal, David Paymer, Julie Warner, Helen 

Hunt, Mary Mara and Ron Silver. 

Directed by Billy Crystal. Screenplay by Billy Crystal and 

Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel. Produced by Billy Crystal and 

Peter Schlindler. 

A Columbia Pictures release. Comedy, rated R. Running time: 

119 min. Sound: Dolby SR. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 

9/18/92. 

During the opening credits of "Mr. Saturday Night," the 

camera strolls lovingly over a feast of rich Jewish food: 

chicken filled with stuffing, fatty brisket, potatoes swimming 

in gravy and stuffed kishke. It all adds up to schmaltz, a 

perfect metaphor for this film by first-time director Crystal. 

Swimming in schmaltz more than in the stuff of believable 

characters, "Mr. Saturday Night" is a loving tribute to 

Borshtbelt Jewish comedians of decades past. Yet more tribute 

than anything else. Crystal's attempt to hone a central 

character (Crystal himself as fair to middlin comedian Buddy 

Young) upon which to hook his story doesn't really add 

Whether or not people have been listening, Billy Cr 

has been telling us for years that in his heart he's a come 

of the '50s Borshtbelt circuit. In "Mr. Saturday Night" he 

the opportunity to do what we just know he's been waj 

years to do— put himself in the shoes of comedians the " 

of Henny Youngman, Alan King and Shelley Berman. W 

he does this, the film takes off on a flurry of shticky one li 

that are truly hilarious (compliments of writers Cry 

Mandel and Ganz). Yet when he gets serious he also 

maudlin— and there's nothing funny, or satisfying, aboi. 

The character Buddy Young has been evolving before 

eyes for years in all of Crystal's skits on stage and televif 

He's the young comedian who began making his family 1 

with laughter in his Brooklyn living room and who dec 

to strike" out on his own and make it in the big time. 

Crystal also wants us to feel sympathy for this not-soguy 

who is, at his core, a self-consumed little monster 

abuses his family by taking them for granted and who ti 

his loyal and sweet-natured brother-manager (playet 

David'Paymer, who literally steals this film) by continuo 

putting him in his place. When it finally comes time 

Buddy to pay his emotional dues after years of such beha- 

Crystal expects the audience to sympathize with the tui 

events and find simpatico with him. Yet all along, Budd\ 

been such a mish-mash of one-liners that he has faile 

become a full-blooded dramatic character. We can laugh 

we can't as easily care about what happens to him. 

Despite its failure as a dramatic piece (as much as Cr; 

wants it to be one), "Mr. Saturday Night" is at no los; 

providing constant— and often ingenious— laughs. Th 

Billy Crystal at his best and at his should-a-been-better. 

Rated R for off-color language.— Man7i/n Moss 

OF MICE AND MEN 

Stamng John Malkoinch, Gail/ Sinise, Ray Walston, She 

Fenn and Casey Siemaszko. 

Directed by Gary Sinise Screenplay by Horton Foote. 

duced by Gary Sinise and Russ Smith. 

A Metro Goldwyn Mayer release. Drama, rated PG-13. 

ning time: 110 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Scree 

date: 9/23/92. 

As difficult as it is for a writer to produce a sin 

unpretentious masterpiece, it is even more difficult for 

masterpiece to make it onto the screen with its inte; 

intact. Yet director, co-producer, and star Gary Sinise 

delivered John Steinbeck's short novel, "Of Mice and IV 

to the screen fully clothed in all its quiet strength 

humanity. From the central California harvest scenes ti 

bunkhouse banter at the Tyler Ranch, Sinise balances 

progressive cycles of nature against the desperation of 

pie dreams in hard times. 

Lennie (John Malkovich) and George (Gary Sinise) ^ 

as migrant laborers during the Depression, trying to 

together enough money to buy a small farm of their ( 

Lennie is physically powerful but mentally feeble, an( 

innocent desire to fondle soft things has gotten them 

trouble in the past and will get them into trouble ai 

George is Lennie's protector, having promised Lennie's 

he would take care of Lennie after she died. When Cur 

R-87 Boxoffice

Drton Foote's ("To Kill a Mockingbird" and " I'he Trip to 

itiful") screenplay captures perfectly the tone and pacf 

Steinbeck's careful foreshadowing. The desire to tend 

own animals 'and crops is as precious to Lennie and 

rge as the pets that Lennie kills by caressing too hard, 

viewer is lead to the knowledge of what will inevitably 

George and Lennie's dream to dust and yet the suspense 

Is past the obvious and holds tight to the very end. 

ctor Sinise, wisely, finds no need to revise Steinbeck's 

on the American dream. The cracks that Steinbeck saw 

)le falling through in the 1930s are fundamentally the 

3 cracks that people are struggling against today, 

ited PG-13 for adult situations.— Mananne Cotter 

IDER SIEGE 

filing Steven Seagal, 

Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey. 

rected by Andrew Davis. Screenplay by ].F Lawton. P)Vd 

by Arnon Milchan, Steven Seagal and Steven Reuther. 

Wamer Bros, release. Action, rated R Running time: 102 

Sound Dolbij SR*D. Projection: Flat Screening date: 

/92 

An early scene in which Ryback is imprisoned in a meat 

locker by the menacing Commander Krill (Gary Busey) 

clues the audience in to the fact that all is not right on the 

good ship Missouri; soon after this, the fireworks begin in 

earnest. 

Using the ship captain's ('Patrick O'Neal) birthday as a 

ruse, Krill arranges for a strike force headed by a maniacal 

ex-CIA operative (Tommy Lee Jones) to board the Missouri—and 

in nearly no time at all, the ship is under siege. 

With most of his shipmates locked up in the hold, Ryback, 

who is only partially aware of what has happened, manages 

to escape from the meat locker with a flourish. Trading in 

his chefs hat for some ingeniously concocted weapons, he 

then wastes little time cooking up enough clever maneuvers 

to put his unsuspecting adversaries in more than a little hot 

water. Before long, Ryback is joined in these escapades by 

Jordan Tate (Erika Ele'niak), a former Playboy playmate who 

was lured aboard the ship under the pretense of performing 

for the captain but who passed out before the actual hijacking 

occurred. 

Of course, if most of this doesn't seem to make much 

sense, rest assured that plausible plot mechanics are the 

furthest thing from the filmmakers' (and most audience 

members') minds. Besides, they would only get in the way 

of Ryback's single-handed heroics. So, suffice it to say that 

the saboteurs are out to steal the Missouri's nuclear warheads 

and that Ryback is the only one who can stop them. 

One guess as to who will win. 

The film moves along at a suitably rapid clip and Seagal's 

action stunts are consistently top drawer. Factor in two 

appropriately over-the-top performances by Busey and 

Jones as the heavies, a healthy dose of humor and Seagal's 

deliriously deadpan delivery and you've got a sure-fire recipe 

for success. 

Rated R for exaggerated violence, language and brief nu 

dity.— Alan Karp 

SARAFINA! 

Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo and Miriam 

Makeba. 

Directed by Darrell James Roodt. Screenplay by William 

Nicholson and Mbongeni Ngema, from the play 'Sarafina!" by 

Mbongeni Ngema. Produced by Anant Singh. 

A Hollywood Pictures/Miramax release. Musical drama, 

rated PG-13. Running Time: 110 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projec 

tion: Flat. Screening date: 9/17/92 

"Sarafina!" is a movie that earns its exclamation point 

Adapted from Mbongeni Ngema's stage musical about the 

children's uprising in Soweto, South Africa in 1979, the film 

version has recast itself in the deadlier days of martial law 

)r those with a taste for slam-bang action in the "Die 

i" mold, "Under Siege" delivers, in spades. Tightly paced 

loaded to the gills with the kind of high-tech heroics 

red by fans of the genre, this big budget sledgehammer 

movie could prove to be Steven Seagal's biggest grossing 

ire to date. 

agal stars as Casey Ryback, a highly decorated navy 

A.L. who has been demoted to ship's cook aboard the USS 

louri for punching out his former commanding officer. 

and government crackdown which occurred seven years 

later, at a time when Soweto's optimistic schoolchildren of 

'79 have become seasoned revolutionaries on whom South 

Africa's white supremist government wages merciless war. 

The journey from classroom to class action is depicted in 

bitter, harrowing and traumatic terms, fraught with a moral 

ambiguity that raises "Sarafina!" beyond the pedantry of its 

agitprop "underpinnings. This is the first film about South 

Africa to depict the black struggle there as something other 

December, 1992 

R-:

than a writhing human backdrop against which well-heeled 

white liberals have their crisis of conscience; despite the 

clarity of their sympathies for the oppressed, the white South 

African director James Darrell Roodt and scripters William 

Nicholson and Ngema address the implications of political 

violence in an unflinching style the earlier South African 

dramas never approached. 

"Sarafina!" hasn't much in the way of a conventional 

story—just the barest outline of a coming of age saga, coupled 

with the inherent drama of an oppressive social structure. 

The luminous Leleti Kliumalo repeats her stage role as 

Sarafina, a schoolgirl in the process of political awakening, 

with Whoopi Goldberg doing her bit for the cause as 

Sarafina's inspirational schoolteacher, Mary Masembuko. 

After Goldberg is arrested and several of her students are 

shot down by the venomous South African security forces, 

all hell breaks loose. In a protracted and viscerally wrenching 

sequence, the students rampage through the streets of 

Soweto, matching violence for violence. The narrative takes 

on the logic of hallucination— we move through a delirium 

of rebellion and police brutality that is almost as difficult to 

watch as it is impossible to turn away from. 

While clearly on the side of the insurgent students, Roodt 

and Ngema don't glamorize their actions, but rather point to 

the cost to their humanity of the repressive system they live 

under and react against. After watching her schoolmates 

burn a police informer to death, the light seems to go out in 

the effervescent Khumalo's eyes; even when she regains 

something of her sparkle for the film's musical finale, we 

don't quite believe it. As the film's radiant icon of a better 

future, Khumalo's psychological defilement becomes, at the 

level of symbol, "Sarafina!"'s central tragedy. Her childhood 

is another casualty of Apartheid, and the film grieves for her; 

those young eyes have simply witnessed too much to ever 

see with innocence again. 

Rated PG-13 for violence and mild language.—Kaiy Greene. 

Overall, "Mr. Baseball" is a likable, funny and well-ci 

film —one that can appeal to general audiences, giv< 

production merits and Selleck's pleasing screen per 

Baseball fans will find even more to like about 

Baseball's" manifestly accurate handling of the sport ai 

players. 

Rated PG-13 for language. — George T. Chronis 

RESERVOIR DOGS 

Starring Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn. 

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produce 

Lawrence Bender; co-produced by Harvey Keitel 

A Miramax Films release. Crime melodrama, rated R. 

ning Time: 99 min. Screening date: 7/23/92. 

The year 1992 has turned out to be great for a los 

form— the B-movie, film noir crime drama. First there 

Bill Duke's savvy, streetwise "Deep Cover," with I 

Fishburne as an updated version of the kind of gravel-vo: 

seen-it-all cop that used to populate four out of five c 

movies in the '50s, but which disappeared in favor of 

detta-crazed supermen in almost every Hollywood cop 

since "Dirty Harry." Now comes Quentin Tarantino's "R« 

voir Dogs," an exhilarating if somewhat derivative caper 

in the pessimistic tradition of Stanley Kubrick's "The Kil 

and John Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle." 

Terse, excessively violent and blackly comedic, "Resei 

Dogs" achieves the sort of ironic demystification of small 

gangsterism Martin Scorsese couldn't pull off on abot 

times the budget in his overpraised "Goodfellas." The s 

behind the story is almost as dramatic as the film itsel 

actor frustrated by his inability to land a decent role, 

antino wrote "Reservoir Dogs" so he'd have somethin 

perform in (he has a cameo in the finished film as one o 

robbers). 

MR. BASEBALL 

Starring Tom Selleck, Ken Takakura, Aya Takanashi, Denms 

Haysbert and Toshi Shioya. 

Directed by Fred Schepisi. Screenplay by Gary Ross, Kevin 

Wade and Monte Merrick. Produced by Fred Schepisi, Doug 

Clayboume and Robert Newmyer. 

A Universal Pictures release. Comedy. Rated PG-13. Running 

time: llOmin. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Scope. Screening date: 

9/24/92. 

Although his motion picture career has had more than a 

fair share of critical and boxoffice disappointments, Tom 

Selleck has maintained that his films have made money for 

his producers. Even so, waiting for the curtain to go up on a 

new Selleck movie is a by now an unnerving experience as 

we wait to see whether what follows will be worth the price 

of admission. Luckily for all, "Mr. Baseball" joins "Three Men 

and a Baby" and "Quigley Down Under" as a solid vehicle for 

this likable and attractive actor. 

Selleck is Jack Ell iot, an aging major-league baseball player 

whose game is off due more to lack of interest than a lack of 

skills and who is forced to realize that his career as a player 

in North America is over. Although he doesn't like the idea. 

Jack's only option is an offer to play with a league team in 

Japan, The Dragons. As expected, everything— including 

baseball — is played differently in Japan, and Jack is cast 

along upon his own personal odyssey of humbling redemption. 

Everywhere he goes, everything he does, doesn't fit in 

or sit well with his host country. With the help of a female 

ad executive (Aya Takanashi), a fellow American on the 

team (Dennis Haysbert) and his hard-line coach (Ken 

Takakura), this perennial misfit begins to turn around. 

Selleck's role as the often surly and uncouth jock suits his 

physical qualities perfectly, and the character is equally well 

suited to his on-screen persona. Underneath it all. Jack is a 

likable rogue, and that's exacdy the way audiences like to 

respond to Selleck the actor. Takakura and the rest of the 

mainly Japanese supporting cast, while not portraying characters 

in a stereotypical fashion, do fall completely in line 

with the way American audiences expect the Japanese to 

act-stoic, honorable, gracious and intense. 

The result is staggering for a first time writer-director, 

only is "Reservoir Dogs" one of only a handful of truly g 

American releases so far this year, it's also quite possibly 

most auspicious American filmmaking deljut since Ste 

Soderburgh's "sex, lies, and videotape" in 1989. 

Except for a brief and hilarious pre-tide sequence, the : 

is set in the aftermath of a robbery gone wrong. As the bro 

and battered survivors of a police shootout arrive in t 

post-heist hideaway, the true nature of their situation da' 

on them: The cops were waiting; somebody snitched. The 

a betrayer in their midst. 

It would be unfair to spoil Tarantino's plot-twists by 

cussing them, since each is delivered for maximum dram 

effect. The violence in the film is excessive but never gr 

itous; a scene in which a chillingly downbeat Micl 

Madsen (last seen as Susan Sarandon's beau in "Thelma 

Louise") tortures a kidnapped police officer is almost 

watchably sadistic, but the sadism is the character's, not 

director's. 

Violent as "Reservoir Dogs" often is, the real drama of 

story isn't in the spilling of blood but in Tarantino's assu 

telling ofhis tale. The film's unconventional structure, wl 

flashes back and forth between the crime and it's pun 

ment, is a classic example of turning economic limitation 

advantage — it both neatly allows Tarantino to avoid el; 

R-89 BOXOKFICE

; one 

' 

;ed R for language and violence. — Ray Greene 

IGLES 

rring Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, 

itten and directed by Cameron Crowe. Produced by Richard 

imoto. 

Warner Bros, release. Comedy-drama, rated PG-13. Runtime 

120 min Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening 

9/15/92. 

meron Crowe is a very clever fellow, and his heart is in 

ight place. There's a winning gentleness about his movnd 

he has a way with precise comedic details— both in 

rst film, "Say Anything," and in his current one, "Sinthat 

gives his wittily observed but essentially two-disional 

characters the appearance of three 

nsionality. 

Hollywood movies nowadays, there's rarely anything 

nbling a random detail— everything is either a set up or 

-off, so that when the obviously off-kilter Jennifer Jason 

buys a puppy in "Single White Female," the audience 

aces, knowing the creature's cuteness amounts to a 

al death sentence sometime in the next 40 minutes of 

n time. Crowe is certainly a state-of-the-art practitioner 

5 modern screen story— he can plant and pay off with 

est of them, and he's not above throwing two seemingly 

oncilable ex-lovers into each other's arms merely beof 

them recognizes the other's character tag (she 

a man to say "God bless you" when she sneezes). But 

's something so acutely observed about the mundane 

ts Crowe invests with emotional resonance (as when 

Sedgewick's garage door opener becomes the symbol of 

ears about "opening up"), that it makes the lives he's 

ing us onscreen seem lived-in as a consequence. 

e accumulation of shaggy and amiable marginalia 

s the viewer unprepared for the moment when Crowe 

Dack on melodramatic plot twists which show us that his 

icters really are just movie constructs, albeit lovingly 

rved ones. Crowe starts trading in hoary, soap-opera 

es at just the point where another burst of imagination 

t have transformed his Film into something even rarer 

nore precious than just a well-above-average entertainted 

PG-13 for language and sexual situations.— Rai/ 

HOOL TIES 

rring Brendan Fraser, Cody Conklin and Matt Dillon, 

ected by Roben Mandel. Screenplay by Dick Wolf and 

yl Ponicsan. Produced by Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing 

Paramount Pictures release. Drama, rated PG-13. Running 

105 mm. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 

/92. 

though it might not at first glance seem obvious, "School 

is of a kind with this year's "1492" and "Christopher 

mbus." Amidst all the hub-bub about the European cont 

of the Americas and the subsequent enslavement and 

cide of the native peoples, one could easily forget that 

is in that landmark year that another paradise of sorts 

destroyed by European racism and prejudice. 1492 was 

/ear that the advanced culture of Moorish Spain was 

,y conquered; the Moslems and Jews were subsequently 

lied from Spain. It is fitting, then, that this 500-year 

versary also be the occasion for the release of "School 

story about anti-Jewish prejudice. 

;hool Ties" is, like the Columbus stories, a work of 

>rical fiction. This film, however, takes place in 1958, 

I here in the United States. It details the encounters a 

tear-old working-class Jewish boy has with his Christian 

lemporaries. "School Ties" begins with David Green's 

indan Fraser) last day in his home town of Scranton, Pa. 

lias been recruited as a football star to play for the St. 

Shews School of Cabot, Mass. (deftly portrayed here by 

Concord, Mass.' Middlesex School). St. Matthew's has a very 

anxious group of blue blood alumni willing to countenance 

the admission (for senior year only) of this proletarian Jew, 

if it will help them to finally defeat their arch rival. The 

condition, of course, is that all is kept discrete— no one is to 

know "the truth" about the new quarterbnrk. 

We follow David in his bewildering initiation into this 

rarefied world of St. Matthews-the strangeness (andbruta' 

ity) of the traditions of the wealthy. The genius of "School 

Ties"— the factor that makes it more than an exposition of 

American parochialism— is that the inevitable revelation o' 

David's religion/race is paralleled by the gradual narrowing 

of the class and cultural differences between him and the 

otherboys. As the film progresses. Green becomes more and 

more driven. His desire for the same comfortable status of 

his peers— the kinds of opportunity not normally available 

to the son of a steel worker— leads him into conflict as his 

"difference" is revealed. 

"School Ties" almost entirely escapes the considerable 

dangers inherent in portraying contemporary bigotry. Most 

importantly, it avoids painting its protagonist as victim 

Green's rapid transformation from outsider (lay class) to 

insider (through his sharing of the school's hegemonic ideology) 

to outsider again (by religion) reveals the wrongs of 

this upper class enclave without turning its characters into 

cardboard cut-outs. 

Although a world apart from 1492,"School Ties" is a fitting 

mark of how far American society has come— and how far 

its has yet to go. 

Rated PR-13 for serious themes.— /e)>i Axelrod. 

CAPTAIN RON 

Starring Kurt Russell, Martin Short, Mary Kay Place, Benja 

min Salisbury and Meadow Sisto. 

Directed by Thom Eberhardt. Screenplay by John Divyer and 

Thorn Eberhardt. Produced by David Permut and Paige Simpson 

Ȧ Buena Vista release. Comedy, rated PG-13. Running time. 

95 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening date 

9/14/92. 

Maybe it's coincidence , or maybe it's karma, but comedies 

set and shot on location in the Caribbean seem to suffer from 

sloppiness in execution-"Water" and "Club Paradise" are but 

two examples of films with some wonderful moments separated 

by longer stretches of semi-comic tedium. "Captain 

Ron" is no exception to this phenomenon. 

The plot centers around a well-to-do suburban family-the 

Harveys— that inherits an elderly yacht, supposedly once 

owned" by Clark Gable, and drops everything to go to some 

obscure Caribbean island and take possession of this new 

prize. Although Martin and Katherine (Martin Short and 

Mary Kay Place) disagree about putting their careers on 

hold, both recognize they are losing control of their children 

(Benjamin Salisbury and Meadow Sisto) and decide that a 

three-week family adventure on the ocean may be the perfect 

way to keep the family unit together. 

Enter Kurt Russell as Captain Ron, the random element 

that threatens both to bring the Harvey family together and 

tear it apart. Possessing dubious nautical skills, Captain Ron 

December, 1992 R-90

is the prototypical expatriate American screw-up who gets 

by on his good looks, brazen non-conformity —and lady luck. 

With his not-so-steady hand on the helm, he charts the 

Har\'ey family's dilapidated vessel and their adventure begins. 

Despite Ron's uncanny ability to pull success out of failure, 

Martin becomes more and more obsessed with his captain's 

penchant for getting lost, attracting catastrophe and corrupting 

the wife and kids. Martin becomes especially jealous of 

Ron's overly familiar attitude toward Katherine. Although he 

dearly wishes to get rid of Ron, circumstances always keep 

the captain around. 

While the actors provide enjoyable performances, they are 

betrayed by a screenplay that fails to serve up engaging 

situations after the film traverses its first half In the second 

half the comic set-ups come off as stale, and in many cases 

they appear forced. The climatic excursion to Cuba, along 

with Ron's contrived rescue, are especially unbelievable. 

"Captain Ron" remains just a little too conventional and 

makes far too little use of its Caribbean inspiration to hold 

on to an audience's attention. 

Rated PG-13 for language. -George T Chronis 

CROSSING THE BRIDGE 

Staning Josh Charles, Jason Gednck, Stephen Baldwin and 

Cheryl Pollack. 

Written and directed by Mike Binder Pi-oduced by Jeffrey Silver 

and Rob Newmyer. 

A Buena Vista release. Drama, rated R Running time 105 

min. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 9/17/92. 

In a peculiar way, writer-director Mike Binder's "Crossing 

The Bridge" is reminiscent of Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" and 

"Brighton Beach Memoirs." That this is so is odd because 

Simon's semi-autobiographical chronicles of his youth are so 

rinsi,,l-H i!l\' redolent of the past — the "real" past. World War 

II, ilic Jitterbug, FDR. Simon's films evoke the charm— and 

peril — of a time gone by; the evocation is softened by a 

knowledge that everything did in fact work out: we won the 

war, and the tumultuous age of the 1940s can be safely recast 

as the last era of innocence and honesty. The same certainly 

cannot be said for Binder's time of adolescence, the 

1970s. Indeed, "Crossing The Bridge" calls us back to a t 

not at all distant from our own, one intimately connee 

with our own contemporary economic, cultural and spiri' 

problems. In an important way, we have not crossed 

bridge; we have not passed into a radically different psy( 

era from that of 15 years ago in the same way as we h 

with the 1940s. 

Yet "Crossing The Bridge" has much in common v 

Simon's coming-of-age stories. It substitutes depress 

weary 1975 Detroit for Brooklyn or Bilo.xi. Its protagor 

Mort (Josh Charles), and his two best friends, Tim (Ja 

Gedrick) and Danny (Stephen Baldwin), do not have 

wartime draft to force that difficult transition from cb 

hood, family and home to adult life. Instead, they 

about petty jobs in Detroit, desperately trying to hang oi 

mythic legacies of high school and continuing the ss, 

routine of subtle transgressions that have become so m 

less thrilling now that they are legal. They drink beei 

empty fields, play pick-up games of muddy football 

,| 

cruise "over the bridge" to strip joints in Canada. 

The film revolves around the Ambassador Bridge (Cj 

necting Detroit with Ontario) and the beat-up Buick Elet, 

225 that the three friends use to cross it. The car serves , 

sort of tangible link with high school and wild youth, serv 

as well to give solid form to the camaraderie of the yo^ 

men. Appropriately, Binder's tale locates the bridge asi 

physical manifestation of the journey into adulthood. ' 

film culminates in the ultimate crossing of the bridge: 

three men are offered the opportunity to make $9,000 

smuggling some drugs back to Detroit from Canada. 1 

marks the end of the innocence; as in Simon's story, , 

amber-perfection of childhood is challenged, and ultimadissolved, 

by the coming of adult problems. 

In "Crossing The Bridge," Binder has produced a nosta 

picture that nevertheless maintains a strong attachment v 

the characters and with their futures. It is a fine outing ft 

this young director, portending even better things to cor 

Rated R for serious themes and some violence.—/em 

elrod 

SIMPLE MEN 

Stalling Robcn Burke, William Sage, Karen Sillas and E 

Lowensohn. 

Written and directed by Hal Hartley. Produced by Ted h 

and Hal Hartley. 

A Fine Line Features release. Drama, rated R. Running fi 

205 mm. Screening date: 8/18/92. 

At its best, "Simple Men" is a refreshingly off-beat odi 

whose quirky stylings may enable it to curry favor am 

the art house set. On the other hand, it's all too easy to disr 

writer-director Hal Hartley's irreverent iconoclasm i 

rather pointless outpouring of style over substance. Will 

real simple men please stand up? What makes it particul, 

difficult to categorize this film is Hartley's self-consci 

attempt to infuse his work with some kind of contras 

dichotomy at every structural level. 

For starters, the two main characters, Dennis (Will 

Sage) and his brother Bill (Robert Burke), are total opposi 

When the action begins. Bill finds himself being dou 

crossed by his girlfriend during a robbery that is so a 

wardly staged that the viewer is immediately forcec 

question his or her perception of what is actually going 

Before long, Bill hooks up with his younger brother, Den 

a shy young college student who is determined to track d( 

their long lost dad. 

In keeping with Hartley's dichotomous structure, it ti 

out that dad, a former shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodger 

a radical fugitive from justice who may or may not h 

caused the death of some innocent bystanders durir 

bombing of the Pentagon in the 1960s. In any event, Dei 

convinces Bill (who is now also on the lam) to join in 

search, which leads them to a little Long Island inn rui 

Kate (Karen Sillas), whose psychotic ex-husband is abot 

be released from prison. This sets the stage for Hartl 

pivotal examination of appearance and reality, as we are 

unclear as to whether the romantic relationship which 

R-91 BOXOFFICE

; successful 

^ between Karen and Bill is genuine or not. 

confuse matters further, Hartley fills the fringes of 

ly of his ingeniously composed shots with surreal bits of 

an. Summing it all up, "Simple Men's" elliptical eclecti- 

1 combines art school chic with half-baked Godard 

inds like nouvelle cuisine), and the result is only inter- 

;ently palatable. Nevertheless, those willing to put up 

Hartley's self-indulgent style just might find themselves 

)ying this sporadically engaging picture, 

ated R for language.— A/an Kary 

IE MIGHTY DUCKS 

aniitg Emiho Estevez, Joss Ackland and Lane Smith 

irected by Steven Herek Screenplay by Steven Brill Produced 

ordan Kenier and Jon Avnet. 

Buena Vista release Comedy, rated PC. Running time: 100 

Sound: Dolby SR, SR»D. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 

7/92- 

s one prospective audience member quipped before the 

ts went down, "I don't know if I want to see 'The Bad News 

rs Hit the Ice.'" Bearing more than a few similarities to 

1970s franchise, "The Mighty Ducks" travels 

y familiar territory. 

milio Estevez plays a win-at-any-cost Minneapolis lawyer 

morously named Gordon Bombay) who winds up getting 

Ight joy riding in his Corvette while intoxicated. No friend 

he court or the district attorney's office, he's forced into 

ing on hours of community service, and a revocation of 

driver's licenSe. Long ago Bomba\ was a star pee wee 

key player who missed the winning goal in a championp 

game and was psychologically scarred by his win-at-anyt 

coach. In a fitting twist of fate, Bombay's community 

vice now forces him to coach a pee wee hockey team. 

Jaturally, the kids he has to work with are a lovable bunch 

ittle misfits just bad enough at hockey to be funny but not 

|ity enough to be unsympathetic. There is the expected 

mber of scenes where Bombay must learn to respect the 

|S, and they must learn to trust him. Soon, the Ducks are 

and skating like pro players on the ice, defeating all the 

jms that previously ravaged them. They even make it to 

state championship game, where they meet the peren- 

:1 champs, the Hawks, Bombay's old team that is still led 

his old coach. Not unexpectedly, by the film's conclusion, 

-nbay learns that there's more "to life than winning. 

Overall, "The Mighty Ducks" is a competently made com- 

/ that, while it never rises above its formulaic origins, is 

/er really disappointing, 

lated PG for kids and adults.— George T Chronis 

REAKING THE RULES 

)tamng Jason Bateman, C. Thomas Howell, Jonathan Silvern 

and Annie Potts. 

directed by Neal Israel Screenplay by Paul W. Shapiro. 

)duced by Jonathan D Krane and Kent Bateman. 

K Miramax Films release Comedy-drama, rated PG-13. Run- 

\gtimc 100 mm Screenmg date: 10/8/92. 

.ook quickly for "Breaking the Rules," because it will 

doubtedly pass by in a flash- which is not to say that it 

3sn't have its moments to make the hanging around worthwhile. 

An annoyingly predictable story cloaked in some fine 

performances, this film leaves a slight but slightly sweet 

memory before it moves on to its conclusion. 

Yet another variation on the roadie movie, this time we're 

on the road with three twentysomething-age buddies who've 

been best friends since they were in grade school in Cleveland, 

Ohio, where they would spin themselves in the dr\'er 

at the corner laundromat to help pass the time. Now having 

been separated for a period (it's not quite clear how they've 

kept in touch), they reunite when one of them, Phil (Jason 

Bateman), discovers he has terminal cancer and wants to 

take a cross-country trip to Hollywood— to see the sunset and 

hopefully audition to become a contestant on "Jeopardy" 

(the latter wish being a metaphorical hook that, expectedly, 

never comes to pass). 

Phil and his two buddies take their determinedly spontaneous 

trip and ultimately hook up with thirtysomething-age 

waitress named Mary (Annie Potts), a figure who brings out 

in the trio their deep-seated sexual and familial longings, not 

to mention a little misogyny that pops to the surface. By the 

time they make it California, events work themselves out 

pretty much as expected. Mary turns out to be the catalyst 

who brings the three friends together, this despite her potential 

for tearing their friendship apart. "Breaking the Rules" 

feeds itselfon its own contrivance and melodrama, given the 

fact that the entire story spins around on the last wishes of 

a dying character. Yet despite such familiarity, it also manages 

occasionally to break out of its generic restraints and 

cook up four characters who remain fresh and worth remembering 

when the journey comes to an end. 

Rated PG-13 for language and a scene of love-making.— 

Manlyn Moss 

WISECRACKS 

Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Phyllis Diller, Joy Behar, Ellen 

DeGeneres, Sandra Shamus and others. 

Directed by Gail Singer. Produced by Gail Smger and Signc 

Johansson. 

An Alliance Communications release. Documentary, not 

rated. Running time: 93 min Screening date: 8/11/92. 

For the most part, this interesting blend of performance 

film and feminist documentary does a creditable job of 

informing its audience as it entertains. The topic is female 

stand-up comics, 24 of whom are glimpsed both on and 

off-stage in Gail Singer's frequently funny exploration of the 

performers and their work. Cutting between their comic 

routines and (in most cases) more serious backstage observations, 

Singer displays a wonderful knack for letting her 

material speak for itself, thereby avoiding the kind of ponderous 

narration that typifies most television documentaries. 

Accordingly, even those who wouldn't be caught dead 

in a comedy club may find themselves drawn in by the 

movie's concerns with female comics and the ways in which 

they function in what is usually considered to be a maledominated 

field. Still, it is the performances themselves, as 

opposed to the film's more overt attempts at social commentary, 

that prove to be most appealing. 

Singer has done an excellent job of filling her movie with 

a strikingly diverse group of comics. Ranging from the 

traditional (Phyllis Diller), to the trendy (Whoopi Goldberg), 

to the off-beat (Sandra Shamus), what is particularly impressive 

is that these women don't necessarily share anything 

more in common than the desire to be funny. Of course, 

some are funnier than others. Among the most humorous of 

the lot are the Clichettes, a threesome who dress as men and 

lip-sync Paul Anka hits. Also particularly worthy of mention 

is the caustically hilarious Joy Behar and Ellen DeGeneres, 

whose comic observations have nothing at all to do with 

gender. In other words, they're just plain funny. On the 

downside, some of the interviews tend to go on a bit too long 

and the inclusion of a string of old clips highlighting the 

largely self-deprecating humor of the likes of Mae West and 

Lucille Ball seems to miss the mark. Which is not to say that 

these sections of Singer's heartfelt homage are without 

merit, but rather that they pale in comparison to the wealth 

of contemporary comedic performances that "Wisecracks" 

showcases. 

Unrated; look for strong language.— A/an Karfy 

December, 1992 R-92

A DAY IN OCTOBER 

Staning D.B. Sweeney, Kelly Wolf and Tovah Feldshuh. 

Directed by Kenneth Madsen. Screenplay by Damian F. Slattery. 

Produced by Just Betzer and Philippe Rivier. 

A Castle Hill release. Drama, not yet rated. Running time: 103 

min Screening date: 8/6/92. 

The dramatic rescue that occured in 1943 when the Danes 

helped their entire Jewish population escape the Nazis is a 

riveting story that, surprising, has been mainly overlooked 

by the media until now. "A Day in October" recounts these 

events in a heart-pounding tale of romance, courage and 

moral responsibility made even more poignant by the recent 

hesitancy of NATO nations to respond to reports of human 

rights violations in Eastern Europe. 

The production is stunningly realized by the same team 

that five years ago won an Oscar for "Babette's Feast." Producer 

Just Betzer shot the English-language film entirely on 

location in Denmark, with authentic production design by 

Sven Wichmann (including a scene in a 1 50-year-old synagogue) 

and flawless cinematography by Henning Kristiansen. 

Director Kenneth Madsen focuses on the story of one 

Jewish family whose lives are profoundly affected when they 

reluctantly "harbor a radical young resistance fighter 

(D.B.Sweeney) after he's wounded by German gunfire. He 

inspires them to shed their passivity and face up to the 

horrors that await them under Nazi rule. We come to care 

deeply about the whole family: the strong-willed, daring 

dauther (Kelly Wolf), her fearful father (Daniel Benzali) and 

her courageous mother (Tovah Feldshuh, star of the TV 

series "Holocaust"). They are ordinary people in extraordinary 

times. 

"A Day in October" is hampered only by a few moments of 

romance that border on melodrama and a stylish production 

that occasionally looks too picture-perfect. 

Not vet rated; look for some violence.— Karen Kreps 

ZEBRAHEAD 

Starring Michael Rapaport, 

Wright. 

DeShonne Castle and N'Bushe 

Written and directed by Anthony Drazen. Produced by Jeff 

Doivd, Charles Mitchell and William Willett. 

A Triumph release. Drama, rated R. Running time: 105 min 

Screening date: 7/28/92. 

Spike Lee might have written and directed "Zebrahead," 

but it is, in fact, the work of Anthony Drazen, a new talent 

discovered by Oliver Stone's production company, Ixtlan. 

Drazan delves into the complex layers of relationships in a 

racially diverse high school and wrestles with the hypocrisy 

expressed in the proverbial bigotry, "Well, they can live next 

door, but I wouldn't want my kid going out with one of 'em." 

Drazen works with a group of unknown young actors and 

pieces together a gritty example of urban realism. With the 

language and the look of today's interracial street culture, it 

almost has the feel of a documentary. The Aryan-looking 

Michael Rapaport plays Zack, a Jewish white rapper who 

tries to cross racial lines. Trouble is inevitable when he falls 

for Nikki (N'Bushe Wright), the pretty cousin of his best 

friend (DeShonne Castle), who has just moved to Detroit 

from East New York. Their families and community have 

very mixed reactions to their interracial romance. And Nikki 

fits in better with Zack's white friends than he does with hers. 

But she gets enraged when she overhears Zack make an 

adolescent remark that is as sexist as it is racist. Tensions 

mount and the film takes a tragic turn when one of the home 

boys goes off the deep end. 

Drazen bravely takes his film beyond the explosions of 

violence where Spike Lee might have stopped and gives the 

film a more interracial perspective. The kids, many in front 

of a camera for the first time, offer performances that are 

uniformly natural and raw. The drama develops slowly, yet 

there is much going on in this movie, with many characters 

briefly, but strikingly sketched. "Zebrahead" raises hot, controversial 

issues but offers no solutions other than a prayer 

for mutual respect. 

Rated R for language, 

Karen Kreps 

violence and sexual situations.— 

REVIEW DIGEST 

Story type key: (Ac) Action; (Ad) Adventure; (An) Animated; i 

Comedy; (D) Drama; (DM) Drama with Music: (Doc) Document 

(F) Fantasy; (Hor) Horror; (M) Musical; (My) Mystery; (I 

Science Fiction; (Sus) Suspense; (Th) Thriller; (W) Western. 

li

€NT€RTniNM€NT DRTR, INC.'S 

consT TO consT BOXOFFICC SUMMRRV 

WcOP 1 NflTIONfiL R€L€flS€S lueekeod 

Totol 

CThe Last of the Mohicans

mSGIONnL RflNnlNGS Cop ujeeksncl grossers ronhcd by screen ovsroge) 

Dallas exchange 

LUeeK 

Screens 

LUeekend 

Totol % Chg Totol Boioffice 

9/25 • 9/27 Total Through • 9/27 

C" The Last Of the Mohicans 

San Francisco €xchange 

Chicago €xchange

j 

Klaus 

1 

OXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart DECEMBER 1992 

OVEMBER 

A.I.P. Studios 

310-559-8805 

)\e Threat, Hor, R, 100 

Sally Kirkland, Andrew 

;ns. Dir: David Prior. Fall 

Aries 

212-246-0528 

ha and I, D, NR, 107 min. 

anneSaagebrecht. 

Cannon 

213-966-5640 

l-Fifty, Ac, R, 101 min. 

I'Weller. Dir: Charles Mar- 

Imilh. 

I'lacetoHide, D,'R,95min. 

i»v Barrymore, Kris 

lofferson. 

ueMe, Ac,PC-13,99min. 

hen Dorff. 

Castle Hill 

212-888-0080 

)ming Collette, Bio, 97 

Maria Brandauer, 

jhilda May. Dir: Danny 

ston. 

Fine Line 

310-659-4141 

eriand, D, R, 95 min. Jer- 

Irons, Ethan Hawke. 

First Run 

212-243—060 

D, NR, 1 10 min. Armand 

ller-Slahl. 

Hemdale 

213-966-3768 

ikfast of Aliens, C, R. Vic 

lop. Dir: David Lee Miller. 

end of Wolf Mountain, 

I, PC, 94 min. Mickey 

ney. Bo Hopkins. 

I.R.S 

818-505-0555 

MewGun, D,99 min. Diane 

3, lames Le Cros. 

Myself and I, C, , 100 min. 

'th Williams, George Segal. 

Kino 

212-629-6880 

Match Factory Girl, (Fin- 

I), D, NR, 70 mm. . Dir:Aki 

rismaki. 

Kit Parker Films 

408-393-0303 

)oge, (Re-issue/1 970), Mus, 

09 min. Albert Finney, Alec 

nness. 11/20 

Nutcracker Prince, (Ree/1990), 

Anim, C, 75 min. 

er Sutherland, Megan Fols. 

11/20 

Miramax 

212-941-4033 

Close to Eden, (formerly 

"Urga") (Russian), D, 1 8 min. 

The Crying Game, Sus, 108 

min. Dir: Neil lordan. 

October Films 

818-783-3200 

Tous Les Matins Du Monde, 

NR, 114 min. Gerard 

Depardieu, Anne Brochet. Dir: 

Alain Corneau. 1 1/13 

Shapiro Glickenhaus 

818-766-8500 

Red Room, A. Maryanna Morgan. 

Dir: Tony Zarindast. Fall 

Sony Classics 

212-702-6695 

Van Gogh, Bio, 185 min. 

lacques Dutone, Alexandria 

London. Dir: Maurice Pialat. 

Streamline 

310-657-8559 

Neo-Tokyo/Silent Mobius, 

Anim, NR, 100 min. 

Tara Releasing 

415-454-5838 

Bethune, D, 1 1 5 min. Donald 

Sutherland, Helen Mirren. Dir: 

Phillip Borsos. 

Trimark 

310-314-3024 

Solar Crisis, Ac, R. 11/25 

Troma 

(212) 757-4555 

Nerds of a Feather, C. Pat Mc- 

Cormick, Kathleen Kichta. Dir: 

Lloyd Kaufman. 

DECEMBER 

Aries 

Bad Lieutenant, D, NC-17, 96 

min. Dir: Abel Ferrara. 

Shapiro Glickenhous 

Talons of the Eagle, A, R, 90 

min. Billy Banks, lames Hong. 

Dir: Michael Kennedy. 

Sony Classics 

Indochine, D, 1 60 min. Catherine 

Deneuve, Vincent Perez. 

Dir: Regis Wargniers. 

msiM 

Aries 

Docteur Petiot, D, NR, 102 

min. Michel Serrault. Dir: C. De 

Chalonge. 

American Ninja 5, Ac, PC-13, 

90 min. David Bradley. Dir: 

Bobby Gene Leonard. 

Fine Line 

Volere, Volare, Anim. Dir: 

Maurizio Nichetti. 

First Run 

short and Funny, Doc, NR, 85 

min. 1/16 

Greycat 

702-737-5258 

Dingo, {Australian}, D, NR, 108 

min. Colin Fields, Miles Davis. 

Monika, Monika, the Girl Who 

Lived Twice, D, NR, 105 min. 

The Shanghai Gesture, (reissue/1941 

}, NR, 98 min. Dir: |. 

Von Sternberg. 

To Cross the Rubicon, D, NR, 

107 min. Patricia Royce, Lorraine 

Devon. Dir: Barry Caillier. 


Figures in a Landscape, (Reissue/I 

970), D, 1 09 min. Robert 

Shaw, Malcolm McDowell. 

Dir: loseph Losey. 

MK2 

212-265-0453 

Betty, D, NR, 99 min. Stephanie 

Audrane. Dir: Claude 

Chabrol. 

Streamline 

The Speed Racer Show, (compilation), 

Anim. 

Wicked City Anim, NR, 90 

min. Dir: Yoshiaki Kawijiri. 

Trimark 

Leprechaun, Hor, R, 92 min. 

Dir: Mark lones. 

Triumph 

212-702-6165 

Jersey Girl, R.Com, PG-13, 95 

min. lamie Gertz, Dillon Mc- 

Dermolt. Dir: David Burton 

Morris. 

Troma 

The Good, The Bad, and The 

Subhumanoid, C, R, 100 min. 

Brick Bronsky. Dir: Eric Louzil. 

FEBRUARY 

Cannon 

To the Death, D, 90 min. lohn 

Barrett. Dir: Darrell |. Roodt. 

Fine Line 

Riff Raff, D. Dir: Ken Loach. 

Greycat 

High Strung, C, NR, 9 3 min. 

Dir: Roger Nygard. 

No Tellmg, Hor, NR, 95 min. 

Dir: Larry Tessenden. 

Hemdale 

lust Wrangler, (AKA "Outback"), 

Jeff 

D. Fahey, Tushka 

Bergin. Dir: Ian Barry. Winter 

'93 

Interstar 

913-338-3880 

Night Moves, D, PG-13, 105 

min. Christopher Lambert, Tom 

Skerrit. Dir: Carl Schenkel. 


Lisztomania, (Re-issue/I 977), 

Bio., R, 1 06 min. Roger Daltrey, 

Sara Kestelman. Dir: Ken Russell. 

The Puppetoon Movie, (compilation), 

Anim., G, 79 min. E)ir: 

George Pal. 

Miramax 

Children of the Corn H, Hor, R, 

92 min. Terence Knox, Paul 

Scherrer. Dir: David Price. 

1993 

Roxie Releasing 

415-431-3611 

Women's Erotic Film Festival, 

(compilation). Doc, NR, 85 

min. 

Sony Classics 

Olivier, Olivier, D, 110 min. 

BrigitteRouan, FrancoisCluzet. 

Triton 

310-275-7779 

Hyenas, D, NR. Mansour 

Diouf, Ami Diakhate. 

Troma 

Vegas in Space, Ac, 85 min. 

Miss X, Doris Fish. 

mj;m 

Hemdale 

Seven Minutes, Sus. Brian 

Dennehy. Dir: Klaus Maria 

Brandauer. 1 st quarter '93 


Laurel and Hardy Festival, (5 

features), C. 

Miramax 

Ethan Frome, D, 109 min. Liam 

Neeson, Patricia Arquette. Dir: 

lohn Madden. 1993 

Sony Classics 

Gacquot, D. Dir: Agnes Varda. 

December, 1992 49

FEATURE CHART—December 1992 

lEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH 

Buena Vista 

(818)567-5030 

Columbia 

(310) 280-8000 

(212)751-4400 

New Line 

(212)239-8880 

(310)854-5811 

Paramount 

(213)956-5000 

(212)333-4600 

Universal 

(818)777-1000 

(212)759-7500 

Warner Bros. 

(818)954-6000

Miami. 

Suite 

Lynnwood. 

Oxford, 

San 

attn 

Call 

Clearing House 

RATES: 9Cc per word, minimum $25, $7 50 extra 

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to BOXOFFICE, P O Box 25485, Chicago, ILL 

60625 at least 60 days prior to publication, 

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Replies held in strict confidence Harkins Theatres. 

Inc. 8350 McDonald Dr . 2. Scottsdale, AZ 

85250, 

NORTHWEST CIRCUIT for south California experienced 

multiplex manager-operator, also assistant manager 

with proiectionist expenence for Seattle, WA, 

Send resume, salary, history, and references, Nick 

Paluzzi. 3815 196th St S W WA 98036, 

. 

MANAGER OPERATOR-Experience required Triplex 

showing specialty quality films in San Francisco 

Bay area location. Small but growing company. Send 

resume and salary history to Boxoffice Response Numt>er 

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1305 Distributors Row, Suite I, Harahan, LA 70123, 

POSITIONS WANTED 

MANAGER POSITION WANTED: Know all phases of 

theatre operations, over 25 years experience Can 

operate and repair most booth equipment, concession 

equipment Salary negotiable Respond to Boxoffice 


EQUIPMENT FOR SALE 

EXPORT SPECIALTIES: Kinoton FP20's. DP75S. 

Cinemeccanica V4's. V5's. V8's, VIO's. V12's. Bauer 

U4's, Deliveries & installations worldwide. Fax us for 

our super quotes USA Government guaranteed financing 

to qualified buyers Catalog International Cinema 

Equipment, 100 NE 39th Street, Miami, FL 33137 Ph 

(305) 573-7339. Fax (305) 573-8101 

WESTAR XENON BULBS. Full warranty 1000W 

$362. 1600W $375. 2000W $450. 2500W $475. 

3000W $547. 4000W $985 Volume discounts. Exports 

welcome International Cinema Equipment, 100 

NE 39th Street. Miami. FL 33137 Ph (305) 573- 

7339. Fax (305) 573-8101, 

QUALITY REPLACEMENT parts, affordable prices, 

for Century. Westar, Westrex, Catalog We still stock 

factory original spares for Kalee. Prevost. Veronese. 

Cinemeccanica. Kinoton. Bauer. Hortson. Eiki. B&H, 

Many hard to find items Sync motor kits 1 or 3 phase, 

slow start kits. 50/60 cycle for all US & UK soundheads 

Intermittent repairs & exchange (new or 

rebuilt) 

International Cinema Eq. 100 NE 39th Street. 

Miami. FL 33137. PH (305) 573-7339, Fax (305) 

573-8101, 

DI/AN computerized ticketing systems up to 8-plex, 

reconditioned. Includes boxoffice issuer, movie master 

drive, managers station, monitor, keyboard & printer, 

concession caster master. $6700 Trade or sell us 

your old ticket machines 

International Cinema Equipment. 

100 NE 39th St FL 33137 Ph 

, (305) 

573-7339. Fax (305) 573-8101 

MISC GOODIES: Kodak Carousel slide projectors, 

$150 Strong Trouper Xenon spotlights. $3500, Carbon, 

$1200, Sony VO-7600 34-inch VCR like new. 

$995, Projector carbons 50 percent off list ADC curtain 

controls w/motor, $400, 16mm professional projectors, 

EIKI EX-6000 rebuilt $4000, EX-4000P 

$3000. EX-2000A $1500 Many more Free lists. International 

Cinema Equipment. 100 NE 39th St,. Miami. 

FL 33137, Ph (305) 573-7339. Fax (305) 573- 

8101. 

SIMPLEX XL'S REBUILT $2850, w new Auto-Turret 

$4850, Century SA, H, & C rebuilt $2800, w/new 

Auto-Turrets $4750 We can convert your Century. 

Simplex XL. Ballantyne or Kinoton to Auto-Turret, Consoles, 

lamphouses, rectifiers, automations, lenses, 

platters & more Westar 4-channel stereo processor 

w/sub-woofer new $2525 Eprad Star Power-4 amp 

$395, Dolby CP-55 $4300, CP-50 $3000, CP-100 

$3500, MPU-1 $995 Speakers, exciters, slit lens. 

stereo cells Catalog, trades welcome International 

Cinema Equipment. 100 NE 39th Street. Miami. FL 

33137 Ph (305) 573-7339. Fax (305) 573-8101, 

TWO CHRISTIE CONSOLES, model CH10-CC9, 

1000 watt with Strong Super Lumex reflector conversions, 

bulbs. $1800 each. Two Cinemeccanica V-4 

projectors, #44418, #44419, 5 mil slits, stereo cells, 

$1500 each. One Ultra-Stereo processor JS5-95 with 

auto-format card, $1500, Two Kelmar AS7200 sound 

systems, $700 each One Xetron Maxi 8X, cue dector, 

remote start. $500 Two Xetron Maxi lOX. cue dector, 

remote start, $550 each. Two Xetron Maxi 1 1X-DC's, 

cue dector, remote start, $600 each, Ampex 35mm 

interlock system— 2 units, 

1-6 channel heads, test loop 

reels, complete. $750 One Dolby MPU. 3 CAT 92's. 1 

CAT 96A. $1400 One Potts 35 /70mm platter conversion. 

$250 Two Eastman Kodak 25C protectors. 

16mm: one with Christie H-10 Xenon 1000 watt, rectifier 

CC10U 3 phase, bulb, $2200, one without lamphouse 

or rectifier, $1200 One Chnstie platter Autowind 

3, 35/70, $6000 One Century JJ35/70, MAG 

Penthouse, Optical soundhead, $7000. One Brenkert 

BX80 protector, very good condition, $150 One 

Setron N3 X75DM rectifier. 3 phase. $1000 One 

Christie lamphouse H-10, 1000 watts. $500, One 

Christie rectifier, FXM 1600-025, 3 phase, 45-75 

amps, 2400 watts, $900 Two Christie rectifiers, 

CCIOU, 3 phase. 32-45 amps. 1000 watts, $500 

each. Two Christie lamphouses, vertical, BFD16FB. 

1600 watts. $250 each. One Xetron rectifier. 

MHXM 1600-25. 3 phase. 30-75 amps. $700 Two 

Cinemeccanica amplifiers, C40TP, wall mount. $50 

each. Hundreds Wagner lO" black plastic slotted Marquee 

letters, $2 each Hundreds histonc aluminum 

Marquee letters, Wagner and Adier 8-inch, 10-inch, 12- 

inch, some larger—send sample, what needed. $3 to 

$6 each. Misc, 17-inch Wagner red plastic slotted Marquee 

letters, $4 each All prices COD. plus packing 

and shipping from Downers Grove. II Phone (708) 

968-1600. ask for Willis or Lee 

COMPLETE THEÂTRE EQUIPMENT: (New. Used or 

Rebuilt) Century SA. R#. RCA9030. 1040. 1050 Platters: 

3 and 5 Tier. Xenon Systems 1000-4000 Watt. 

Sound Systems mono and stereo, automations, ticket 

machines, curtain motors, electnc rewinds, lenses, 

parts and many more items in stock, COMMERCIAL 

large screen video projectors. Plenty of used chairs, 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND INSTALLATION 

AVAILABLE, DOLBY CERTIFIED Call Bill Younger, 

Cinema Equipment, Inc , 1375 N W 97th Ave, Suite 

14. Miami, FL 33172, Phone (305) 594-0570 Fax 

(305) 592-6970 1-800-848-8886 

BURLAP WALL COVERING DRAPES: $2 05 per 

yard, flame retardant Quantity discounts Nurse & Co 

, 

Millbury Rd MA 01540 (508) 832-4295 

, 

NOW MICRO-FM'" stereo radio sound systems FOR 

THE HEARING IMPAIRED, Meets FCC part 15 Call or 

write Audio Visual Systems 320 St, Louis Ave Woonsocket, 

Rl 02895 Phone (401) 767-2080, 

. 

Fax 

(401) 767-2081 

NEW LENS-Super Sankor—Satisfaction guaranteed 

Call us for a cost-plus quote MELCHER ENTER- 

PRISES 1-800-423-5020, in Wisconsin (414) 442- 

5020 

TELEPHONE ANSWERING EQUIPMENT. All major 

brands of reliable, heavy-duty tape announcers and 

digital announcers are available at discounted prices 

Please call Jim at Answering Machine Specialty, 

(800) 222-7773 

FACTORY FRESH fully warranted bulb sale Proudly 

made in US ORC XM 2000 H/VC, $525 00 XM 

3000 H/VC, $650 00 We ship anywhere in the world. 

Other sizes available at special prices Write, wire or 

call Cinema Equipment Inc, 1375 NW 97th Ave, 

Suite 14, Miami, FL 33172, USA Phone (305) 594- 

0570, Telefax (305) 592-6970 1-800-848-8886 

NEW 5000 HOUR 130V 1 1S14 bulbs with industrial 

seven support filament Clear and standard colors, plus 

pink, purple, fuschia Quantity OEM, and distributor 

price levels 40 AMP chase controllers, 2x2 chase 

channel cans, sockets, belt lighting, neo-neon, dimmers, 

chase lighting relays. Catalog 800-248-0076, 

CUPHOLDER ARMREST "state of the art" Cy 

cupholder Call 1-800-729-2610 for FREE SAW 

PATRON TRAY. Fits into cupholder a 

Young, Inc, Phone 1-800-729-2610, Call for fre 

QUIK SHIP REPLACEMENT drapes, valances 

wall drapes & masking yardage. Small or large 

$1,86 sq, ft, Cy Young Industries. Inc 

2610. 

EQUIPMENT WANTED 

WANTED: Projection equipment. Simplex XL c 

Cinemeccanicas; Soundheads and other booth 

ment. Good condition seats. Call Beth or Tor 

800-833-0093, 

OLD TUBE-TYPE equipment such as amps, sp 

drivers, horns, etc, from Western Electric. Vk 

Langevin. Jensen, Altec. JBL. Tannoy. Mclnto: 

rantz, etc. Call Audio City at (818) 701-5633, 

to Audio City, P,0, Box 802, Northndge, CA 

0802 

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: We will purchase C 

projectors or soundheads, new or old, comp 

incomplete, for cash. Also interested in XL ai 

1000. Call (502) 499-0050. Fax (502) 499 

Hadden Theatre Supply Co Louis 

. 

THEATRES WANTED 

WANTED: THEATRES AVAILABLE TO BE Lt 

in NC, SC. TN, VA Aggressive independent 

oriented, highly promotional company seeks 

available for leasing or assumables Old. dow 

uptown, or new theatres, closed or open, Drive-I 

comed Send synopsis, phone numbers, and pic 

available. All conversations and correspondenci 

ly confidential. Reply to Boxoffice Response t 

4705 

THEATRES WANTED-Northern California, C 

Washington. Phone Eric Wexelman at (510 

6849. or send information to 1065 Quartermast 

yon Rd Ramon. CA 94583 

. 

THEATRES BOUGHT AND SOLD by growingi 

operators/consultants. Prefer East. Mid-West, 

Write: Cinema Associates, 3678 Marbella 

Springfield. Ohio 45502. Or call (513) 325-321 

THEATRE SEATING 

USED SEATING: Irwin Citations from $30. Ar 

Stellars & Massey Polaris from $20. Bodiforn 

$15, Wakefield and Massey rockers from $ 

buy, sell & export International Cinema Equ 

100 NE 39th Street, Miami, FL 33137, Ph (30! 

7339, Fax (305) 573-8101, 

THEATRE SEATS FOR SALE: Approx 60 

wood Wakefield seats. Self risers Extra clear 

backs with extra seat covers $25 00 each. Call 

842-0122 or (405) 948-7467 

SEAT BACK /COVERS: Most fabrics in sto 

Young, Inc, Call 1-800-729-2610 to match fabr 

ON-SITE RE-UPHOLSTERY, "While T 

Sleeps." Top fabrics, molded cushions and "S 

' 

Art Cy Young Cup Holder Armrest Cy 

Industries. Inc 1-800-729-2610 

"ALL AMERICAN SEATING" by the EXPERTS 

seats of quality Various makes American Be 

and Stellars from $12 50 to $32 50 Irwin; 

$12 50 to $30 00 Heywood & Massey rockei 

$25 00 Full rebuilding available New Hussey 

from $70 00 All types theatre projection and 

equipment New and used We ship and ins 

makes Try us' We sell no Junk! TANKEI 

ENTERPRISES BOX 36009 DENVER. CO. 

Phone: 303-980-8265 

INTERNATIONAL RENOVATION SERVICE 

Used chairs from $15 00. covers from $4 95. d 

er armrests, installations and on and off site 1 

tions 1-800-531-2767

Red -Blue/G 

Anaglyph Glasses 

-LOW PRICES, 

FAST SERVICE 

-24 HR HOTLINE 

DEEP VISION 3-D 

213-465-5819 

FOR TWINNING THEATRES call or write Fnddel Construction. 

Inc 402 

. Green River Drive. Ivlontgomery. TX 

77358 (409) 588-2667 

WE CAN MULTIPLEX your theatre, make it look fantastic, 

and your profits will soar No one does it (or less. 

Multiplex Construction Corp Call (708) 293-1401 

DRIVE-IN CONSTRUCTION 

SCREEN TOWERS INTERNATIONAL New, Used, 

Transplanted, Complete Tower SErvice Box 399— 

Rogers, TX 76569. 1-800-642-3591 

DRIVE-IN SCREEN TOWERS Since 1945 Selby Products. 

Inc., P.O. Box 267, Richfield. Ohio 44286 (216) 

800-647-6224 

MARQUEES, SIGNS 

MARQUEE: Repossessed eight by twenty feet Will 

insert customized theatre over marquee frames Interior 

high output lighting 

Sale or lease, very reasonable 

Also. 5 X 336' extruded bronze aluminum interior 

lighted sign for theatre name Bux-lvlont Electrical 

Advertising Leasing Phone (215) 675-1040. Fax 

(215) 675-4443 

LEASE OR PURCHASE PLANS: Replacement IVIarquee 

letters shipped immediately BUX-lvlONT Electncal 

Advertising Systems. Horsham, PA, 19044 Call 

(215) 675-1040 

Ad Index 

Alpro Acoustics 37 

American Seating 35 

Automaticket 36 

Bevelite-Adler 35 

Cfiristie 02 

Cinema Supply Company, Inc 37 

Deep Vision 3-D 53 

Drink Tfiing 22 

Entertainment Equipment Corp 32 

Entertainment Data Inc 21 

Hadden Ttneatre Supply 18 

Hersfiey Foods Corp 5 

Hurley Screens 36 

Hussey Seating Company 7 

International Cinema Equipment .... 53 

JBL Professional 

C4 

Kneisley Products 18 

National Ticket Co 31 

New England Ttieatre Service Inc. ... 36 

Optical Radiation Corporation 03 

Smart Tfieatre Systems 15 

Soundfold International 22 

Strong International 8-9 

Weldon, Williams & Lick 53 

THEATRE BACKGROUND MUSIC. Various artists on 

high quality cassette tapes Contemporary. Oldies and 

Easy Listening formats available with quarterly updates. 

Call PROFESSIONAL AUDIO SERVICES, 

(912) 233-1402 

MOTION PICTURE THEATRE CONSULTANT SER- 

VICES All aspects from construction to equipment 

installation to operation Anywhere in the USA or overseas, 

LUNAfvlAR THEATRE IVIANAGEIVIENT. INC. 

P.O Box 1344, Winter Park, FL 32790 Phone (407) 

678-6049, FAX (407) 678-8621 

lOJECTORS^ 

J , 

_ 

)ven reliability 

over 40 years (~ 

lUineWESTAR 

,ectors, soundheads 

' 

parts are available! 

:ck these features: 

' 

j^, 

"' 

ew Turret & Auto Controller 

ew Single Piece Trap & Gate 

ew Aperture Plate Changer 

ew Vernier Focus Control 

emovable Main Drive 

emovable Upper & Lower Sprocket Assembly 

ew Gears Provide 30% More Contact Area 

may convert your old WESTAR 2001 , 

Century, 

ecita or Monee projector into a modern turret 

Jel 

Or, purchase a new genuine WESTAR prolor. 

Take advantage of our liberal trade-in 

wances for your old equipment, 

can supply all 

lipment and installations. 

your requirements for cinema 

idING SOON! Auto Turret Kits for Kinoton FP-20 

IP 75, Simplex XL and Ballantyne Pro 35. 

isult with your theatre equipment supplier or 

itact us directly for more information and free 

rature. 

I incernacionai Cinema 

y eQuipmenc company inc 

I N.E 39th Street. Miami, FL 33137 3632 

(305) 573 7339, Fax: (305) 573-8101 

SERVICES 

FINANCING AVAILABLE for theatre acquisition, multiplexing 

or remodeling 

TCI works with buyers, sellers 

and operators of theatres to create sound financial 

plans THEATRE CONFECTIONS, INC, (800) 688- 

PREVIOUSLY OWNED equipment available; National 

Cinema Supply can provide your equipment needs We 

will also liquidate your surplus theatre and concession 

equipment. We have clean Automaticket model 

IVIGEIVI-3 in stocki Contact Gene Krull. (913) 492- 

0966. National Cinema Supply. 8229 Nieman Road. 

Lenexa. KS66214 

BACKGROUND MUSIC: WHY PAY (VIULTIPLE 

LICENSING FEES? Theatre background music from 

PROFESSIONAL AUDIO SERVICES requires only one 

fee High quality tapes, various artists. Contemporary 

and Easy Listening formats. Call (912) 233-1402. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

WANT TO BUY MOVIE POSTERS, lobbies Bruce 

Webster, 426 N W 20th, Oklahoma City, OK 73103. 

Phone (405) 524-6251 

WANTED: MOVIE POSTERS, lobbies, stills, etc. Will 

buy any sized collection The Paper Chase, 4073 La 

Vista Road, Tucker, GA 30084 Phone 1-800-433- 

0025. 

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES 

FOR SALE: Ivlidwest Theatre Equipment Dealership 

Established nationwide customer list Two million dollars 

possible sales this year 

Submit inquines to Boxoffice 

Response Number 4700, 

TICKETS AND 

COMPUTER SYSTEM STOCK 

SHIPPED WHEN PROMISED 

PRINTED AS SPECIFIED 

CONTACT DAVE KOTAREK 

Weldon, Williams & Lick 

P.O. Box 168 

Ft. Smith, Ark. 72902 

501/783-4113 FAX 501/783-7050 

1-800-242-4995 


December, 1992 53

— 

The ICia Picture 

The French poeticb.ed him by naming him "Chariot" hi the 

English speaking world, he was less elegandy but no less affectionately 

"the Tramp." To his creator, 

for whom he became increasingly a 

symbol of the human condition, he was "the Litde Fellow"—an Everyman, 

whose courage in the face of catastrophe epitomized the resilience 

and humor Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin always foimd when 

contemplating affairs of the human heart 

Chaplin recalled the creaUon of his Litde Fellow's as something of 

a happy accident. He was standing on the set of only his second 

Keystone comedy when Mack Sennett turned to him, saying "We need 

some g^s here. Put on a comedy make-up. Anything will do." 

Chaplin slapped together available pieces of Keystone wardrobe 

by some accounts, the baggy pants were Fatty Arbuckle's—and something 

magical happened. 'The moment I was dressed, the clothes and 

make-up made me feel the person he was.. .By the time I walked on the 

stage he was fully born." 

Millions ofwords have been written about the humanity that smiled 

out on the world from beneath Chaplin's clown white make-up and 

painted must;iche—a hiimanit)' so real to audiences that at the h< 

of Chaplin's popularity, exhibitors showing a Chaplin short su 

could fill a theatre without reference to the film's tide or prei 

simply by displaying a pain ted Chaplin caricature and the words " 

Here Today" Chaplin's own definition of the character, being an 

the simplest, is perhaps the most true: 

"You know this fellow is 

many-sided," Chaplin wrote in his au 

ography. "A tramp, a gendeman, a poet a dreamer, a lonely fi 

always hopjeful of romance and adventure. He would have you b« 

he is a scientist, a musician, a duke, a polo player. However, he i 

above picking up cigarette butts or robbing a baby of its candy, 

ofcourse, if the occasion warrants it he will kick a lady in the rearonly 

in extreme anger!" 

"This month. Sir Richard Attenborough brings Chaplin's life ar 

to the screen one last time in his epic bio-pic "Chaplin." ( 

Chaplin's importance to the art of moxiemaking, it's a uibute I 

both deser\ed and long overdue. 

Merry Christmas. 

54 BOXOFFICE

^^^gff; ^ , ^ 

, 

As the industry's innovation 

ui image oiqiialityL 

use the show must 

more than just go on. 

leader, ORC specializes in providing 

the ultimate in projection. 

The only single-source manufacturer 

with a comprehensive 

product line, we offer first-rate 

quality and the high level of 

service you'd expect from an 

industry leader. And we are 

committed to continuing innovative 

development. 

So contact us today We want 

to help you enhance your image. 

Century Projectors. 

After more than a half century 

of excellence. Century projection 

systems have become the standard 

in cinema presentation. 

Rugged turret and aperture 

changer design offers perfect 

image registration. Plus, Century 

systems are the easiest to operate 

and maintain. And long-term 

design stability makes Century 

the choice in cinema projection. 

OPTIMAX- Consoles. 

Our OPTIMAX consoles feature 

vertical bulb design for longer 

lamp life. They offer superior 

optical alignment with a 

pre-aligned collector, lowest ripple 

for enhanced bulb life and infrared 

heat niters to protect print quality 

Platters. 

Now with two models, ORC's 

platters are the industry's most 

advanced and cost-effective filmhandling 

systems. No need for 

on-site adjustments, just quick, 

easy installation. Three disc 

sizes are available to fit 

any 

need. Film thread-up with moveable 

take-up roller automatically 

programs the unit. And the 

platter's modular construction 

allows easy servicing. 

Automations. 

Look to ORC for the highest 

performance automations with 

solid-state construction, an 

easy-to-use front panel and 

factory programming to meet 

your specifications. With the 

versatility to allow you discreet 

adjustment of cinema ambiance, 

such as curtains, masking, 

dimming and sound. 

Xenomax Bulbs. 

As the largest U.S. Xenon 

bulb manufacturer, ORC features 

bulbs with proprietary electrodes 

^ 

ISCO©[FirD€' 

Optical Radiation Corporation 

for enhanced stability longer life, 

low nicker and higher brightness. 

Our Xenon bulbs also offer 

ribbon seals for greater durability 

and are available for immediate 

deliver)- for any application. 

Cinema Products Division 

1300 Optical Drive, Azusa, California 91702 

(818) 969-3344 (800) 423-8564 FAX (818) 969-3681 

• 

.Ml Optical Radiation Corporation prodiiLts a 

Cotporation. Otlier brand and prodiici 

respective companies. 

nam 

r ^ 

; trademarks or registered trademarla of Optical Radiatic 

5 are trademarks or registered t 

Isco UltraStar' Lenses. 

With three Academy Awards" 

for technical excellence and an 

unchallenged reputation as the 

world leader in advanced projection 

optics, Isco sets the pace 

for excellence in lenses. Multicoated 

optics maximize light 

output while uncemented elements 

increase lens life. 

available is 

Also 

the industry's only 

integrated anamorphic for 

turret systems. 

1991 Optical Radiation Corporation. .Ml rights reser\'ed- 

Response No. 99

This Season's Hottest Sequel. 

Cinema Sound. 

Kvcr>- sequel has a successful 

predecessor, andJBL Cinema 

Sound Systems are no excep 

)r years, they have been 

a box office smash, and our 

newest loudspeaker systems 

are destined to get two thum 

up from the toughest critics of all... 

the movie going public. 

Behind The Sen 

I"or superior matchin 

various screen sizes i 

exhibition areas, JBl 

Cinema Sound Systei 

provide a choice of s 

or dual direct radiato 

frequency designs. Vi 

preniiere componeni 

our patented titaniiin 

diaphragm compress 

dri\ers. Vented Gap 

)ling(VGC) lowfrequi 

loudspeakers and exclusive 

Bi-Radial® horns, your touf 

system requirements can easily be met. 

Plus, to help you save time and money, we've significantly 

reduced installation costs by partially pre-assembling the syj 

Behind the Scene. 

As good as any cinema loudspeaker might be, you can 't stai 

behind the product if the manufacturer won't stand behind 

you 100%. That's why specifyingJBL Cinema Sound System 

marks the beginning of a true long-term parmersliip. You're 

never without immediate and complete technical support. A 

the inventory you need to make your biggest order happen 

in the shortest possible time is in the warehouse and ready 

- 

ship. Today. 

Like you, we know that 'cinema sound magic" is really the 

of very hard work. That's why we put so much effort into IT 

JBL Cinema Sound Systems the number one sequel of the s 

JBL Professional 

8500 Balboa Boulevard, Northridge, CA 91329 

H A Harman International Company

Boxoffice-December.1992

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