Boxoffice-December.1992

,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
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