Boxoffice-April.1998

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**KINO EXTRAS*
©1998 Christie, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Vol.1 No.l TUESDAY, March 10, 1998
CHRISTIE INTRODUCES
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—
.
FADE IN...
Even before the film industry reaches the newcentury
mark, it might be entering a new epoch.
Ahhough other announced circuit itiega-deals
either evaporated or have yet to close, the Regal/
UATC/Act III merger, if consummated later this
year, could herald a new way of doing the theatre
business. If and when the trinity becomes one,
BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE will provide our readers
with an analysis of that brave new landscape
of exhibition. If nothing else, one can expect that
geography's mountains, valleys and oceans to be
of jovian rather than terrene dimensions, which
seems appropriate for the age of 2001
Perhaps matters aren" t looking to be as radically
different on the producer/distributor side. Bigbudget
films, thanks to "Titanic." remain in, as
will be obvious to ShoWest attendees of a certain
studio event: Even if its eponymous .star creature
in reality fits on a microchip. "Godzilla" hardly
counts in the micro-budget category. Neither does
Buena Vista's "Armageddon" nor Warner's "Lethal
Weapon 4," proving that the tentpole strategy
launched in the mid- '80s at Paramount remains
the industry standard. But there are some newwave
changes. Off-balance sheet financing is becoming
more popular on the filmmaking side, and
marketing efforts—as Christine James' story on
New Line's "Lost in Space" website show.s—are
becoming more savvy on the film-selling side.
And so is our coverage of the biz. BOXOFFICE
ONLINE (http://www.boxoffice.com) with this
ShoWest launches its electronic coverage of the
convention. After all, even giant Microsoft seems
to acknowledge this gathering's standing in the
film world. If you run a spellcheck on the word
"ShoWest," Microsoft's Word program will suggest
"showiest"—which is exactly right.
We're cheered by the latest praise for our online
offerings. The folks at Dow Jones, publisher ofThe
Wall Street Journal, tout BOXOFFICE ONLINE
in its select group of movie sites on its online
business directory (businessdirectory.dowjones.
com), giving us an industry-high grade of 32,
thanks to across-the-board good marks on content,
speed, navigation and design. We're at the top, but
hardly alone: Paramount papa Viacom and Disney
also receive 32s, with Fox and Miramax right
behind at 31 and Universal and Sony at 30.
And we're going to continue to expand our
online services to our core readership, the exhibition
community, so stay tuned. Of course, nothing
will ever replace the convenience of use and depth
of coverage that
an annual print subscription to
BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE provides. But look at
it this way: You can have both.
Kim Williamson
BOXOFFICE ONLINE
WEBSITE ADDRESS: http://www.boxoffice.com
E-MAIL ADDRESS: boxoffice@ear1hlink.net
APRIL, 1998 VOL. 134, NO. 4 SHOWEST
UNQUOTE: I've never even looked around to go anyplace [else].
It's the atmosphere—WMHER BROS.' BARRY REARDON
PAGES 81—132 (SW-1—SW-52)
SPECIAL REPORT:
ShoWest 1998
DEPARTMENTS
10 LETTERS
In this issue, BOXOFFICE
provides its annual preview
of the nnammoth Las Vegas
convention. For an at-aglance
overview of our
ShoWest Intro contents,
see page 83 (SW-3).
Sllpsliding away; Hollywood IQ; snack attack
12 HOLLYWOOD REPORT
Dave Foley "Bugs" out, plus early word on 20 other productions
14 MAY TRAILERS
What's flowering in Hollywood
74 MOVIEGOER ANNUAL CHART: 1 997
The moviegoer year in review
166 EXHIBITION BRIEFINGS
LWE sets terms; Loeks-Star revs Detroit engines; MovieFone-speak
1 68 NATIONAL NEWS/HOLLYWOOD UPDATES
Omaha stakes; studio financials pass muster
171 NORTHERN EXPOSURE
On good Behaviour; Red Sky warning
172 EUROVIEWS
More top ticket numbers; DIP reap—RIP?
174 PACIFIC OVERTURES
Shockwave at Shochiku; no secret, Asian man
176 FILM REVIEWS
Sundance coverage heads our 129 reviews (see title list, P. 6)
21 8 STUDIO FILM RELEASE CHART
Major releases through June—and beyond
220 INDEPENDENT FILM RELEASE CHART
Specialized fare through December
222 MOVIEGOER ACTIVITY CHART
The latest ranking results for 30 markets
223 HOME RELEASE CHART
"Alien Resurrection" in May, "Scream 2" in June
224 CLASSIFIEDS
Including our index to advertisers in this Issue
CIRCULATION INQUIRIES
BOXOFFICE DATA CENTER
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Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 922-9326; fax: (312) 922-7209
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OFFICES
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Fax:(213)465-5049 (773)338-7007 Fax:(312)922-7209

April, 1998 5
APRIL FEATURES
24 SUMMER HEAT: Preview Pictorial
An advance look at the films of June, July
and August. Compiled by Kim Williamson
38 WIRED WORLD: "Lost in Space"
New Line creates a worlds wide web for
Its April sci-fi flick. By Christine James
40 SNEAK PREVIEW: David Mamet's
"The Spanish Prisoner"
A dialogue with the master of dialogue on his
new Sony Classics release. By Ray Greene
42 COVER STORY: "The Mask of Zorro"
The swashbuckling
Latin legend returns
to the bigscreen this
July. BOXOFFICE
interviews Antonio
Banderas, Anthony
Hopkins, Catherine
Zeta-Jones, director
tVlartin Campbell,
producer David
Foster and costumer
Graciela Mazon. By
Kim Williamson
50 EXHIBITION PROFILE:
Kerasotes' ShowPlace 16
The nation's 16th-largest chain signals
V for victory with its new V-shaped
1 6-plex prototype. By Bridget Byrne
Plus: A conversation with the LJ of
architects LJ Technologies. By Lisa Osborne
56 INDEPENDENT SHOWCASE: Showboat Ahoy
The Showboat of Lyons, near Lake Geneva,
Wis., is a swimming success. Plus: The
Showboat operators' drive-in aims and
Theatre Service Network. By Bridget Byrne
62 PUBLIC SERVICE: Movie Charities
Hunting Good Will: The Boys and
Girls Club, Variety Club and Will Rogers
Memorial Fund help the industry make
a difference. By Bridget Byrne
66 LAW: Risk Management
Avoiding risky business: Two attorneys provide
a risk management primer for exhibitors. By
Vincent R. Fontana and William Ricigliano
68 TRIBUTE: A Half-Century of SPECO
The equipment supplier that began
as Drive-ln Manufacturing celebrates
its 50th anniversary. By Kim Williamson
70 TECHNOLOGY: Sounding SMARTer
A lesson in niche-building, SMART Theatre
Systems travels the analog alley to sound
success. By Karen Achenbach
72 BLUE RIBBON POLL
The votes are in:
Exhibition selects the
best and worst films
of 1997. Compiled
by Christine James
75 OSCAR BALLOT
Who will be the
honorees at the 70th
annual Academy
Awards? Here's a
ballot to mark your
choices. Compiled
by Christine James
76 SPECIAL REPORT:
Oscar Turns 70
A pictorial account that remembers the
seven grand decades of the Academy
Awards. Compiled by Christine James
78 SHOWEST EXTRA: Special-Format Films
Vegas isn't only the site for ShoWest; it's
home to cutting-edge large-format and ride
films that could provide exhibitors ancillary
revenue back home. By Louis M. Brill
1 33 1 1 TH ANNUAL MISCELLANEOUS AWARDS
There are our true-Blue Ribbon Awards, and
there are the golden Oscars—but then there
are our raspberry-flavored Joke Awards, which
provide a snapshot of 1997's red faces.
April Contents continue on next page...
EDITORIAL STAFF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Kim W/illiamson
MANAGING EDITOR
Christine James
SENIOR EDITOR
Lisa Osborne
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Linda Andrade
CONTRIBUTORS
EDITOR AT LARGE
Ray Greene
FEATURE CHARTS EDITOR
Wade Major (310) 456-2767
CANADIAN CORRESPONDENT
Shiomo Schwartzberg (416) 638-6402
WRITERS
Karen Achenbach, John F. Allen, Glenn Berggren, Louis
M. Brill, Bridget Byrne, Norman R. Chester. George Chronis,
Kevin Courrier, Vincent R. Fontana, Mary Ann
Grasso, Susan Green, William F. Kartozian. Pat Kramer,
Susan Lambert, Rick Leddy, Dwayne E. Leslie, Wade
Major, Jon Matsumoto, Melissa Morrison. Simon O'Ryan,
Michelle Santilli. Dan Taylor, Cathy Thompson-Georges,
William Ricigliano, Jack Valenti, Craig Vickers, Jon A.
Walz, Daniel Wheatcroft, Dale Winogura
BUSINESS STAFF
PUBLISHER
Robert L. Dietmeier (773) 338-7007
NATIONAL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Robert M. Vale (213) 465-1186
ADVERTISING CONSULTANT
Morris Schlozman (816) 942-5877
WEST COAST ADVERTISING REP
Gwen Campbell (310)792-9011
BUSINESS MANAGER
Dan Johnson (773) 338-7007
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
Chuck Taylor (312)922-9326
BOXOFFICE (ISSN 0006-8527). Published monthly by RLD Communications, Inc., 203 N Wabash Ave.. Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601.
Subscriptions: U.S. $30 per year; Canada and Mexico $40; airmail $80; overseas subscriptions (all airmail) $80. Periodical postage paid at
Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster; Send address changes to Boxoffice, 725 South Wells St., 4th Floor, Chicago, IL 60607.
© Copyright 1998 RLD Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

APRIL FEATURES (continueil)
144 SHOWEST AWARD WINNERS
And the honors this year
go to.... By Lisa Osborne
1 64 SHOWEST EXTRA: New Products
The latest from the supply side. Compiled
by Cattiy Thompson-Georges
226 THE BIG PICTURE: Zorro
As the Latin legend of Spanish
California readies to ride again
across Hollywood's screens, we
remember the first Zorro: Douglas
Fairbanks. By Kim Williamson
FRANKLY...
Corrections & Clarifications:
In our March issue Tribute
piece on Ray Dolby, a
reference to $60 million in
annual profits should have
read $100 million in annual
revenue; the correct
employee count is 400...
In our January issue
Big Picture, an editing error
led to a misdating of
"The Ten Commandments";
the release year was 1956.
FILM REVIEWS IN THIS ISSUE
SUNDANC E
"Beautopia"
"Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss"
"Buffalo '66"
"The Castle"
"Classified X"
"Conceiving Ada"
"Dead Man's Curve"
"Decline of Western Civilization 111"
"The Farm: Angola USA"
"Frat House"
"Girls' Nighf
"How to Make the Cruelest Month"
"I Went Down"
"Jerry and Tom"
"Land Girls"
"Lou Reed; Rock and Roll Heart"
"The Misadventures of Margaret"
"Miss Monday"
"Next Stop Wonderland"
"Once We Were Strangers"
"Orgazmo"
"Out of the Past"
"Pi"
"Relax. ..It's Just Sex"
"Slam"
-2 by 4"
"Under Heaven"
"Wild Man Blues"
PALM SPRINGS
"The Accompaniment"
"Bag of Rice"
"Betty"
"The Bride's Journey"
"Conspirators of Pleasure"
"The Dark Side of Venus"
"A Forgotten Lighf
"Hard-Boiled Egg"
"Headless Chicken"
'I'm Crazy About Iris Blond"
"Kiler
"Knocking on Heaven's Door"
"Knowledge of Healing"
"Passage"
"Scratch the Surface"
'Stone Bridge"
Things I Never Told You"
184
181
177
182
!
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186
187
186
193
188
191
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182
178
186
185
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TORONTO

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LETTERS
SLIPPING STANDARDS
Dear BOXOFFICE:
am a projectionist for a major chain and
I am very concerned about how poor our
industry is becoming and how much home
theatres are improving in comparison. Are
we losing our edge? Home theatre is closing
the gap fast. We are supposed to be the
professionals and provide an experience that
cannot beduplicated at home. I definitely do
prefer the bigscreen as opposed to TV. But
with new technology at extremely low
prices, we can watch movies at home that
far exceed what is presented in 90 percent
of the theatres around the country, just get
yourself a LaserDisc and DVD player, a
Dolby Digital and/or DTS receiver, a large,
quality TV, and some decent speakers and
you're set.
Let's see how our exhibition industry compares.
First off, as a projectionist, am noticing
more and more prints of poor quality
I
coming from the labs. Many arrive prescratched.
Prints will frequently have at least
one defective reel that will need replacing.
And sometimes replacements are not even
available at all. Some have bad dye jobs.
Someevenmisprintthe Dolby Digital and/or
DTS timecode, making them unplayable in
digital. And there are at least 100 percent
more cement lab splices in prints than there
were three years ago, many of which actually
discolor the picture for many frames as
they pass. They must be removed for obvious
reasons, thus losing a frame in the process.
Then there are the film cans themselves,
many of which are 50+ years old, and flaking
heavily on the inside. Of course, this gets all
over the film.
Let's talk about presentation, a word unfamiliar
to many in the exhibition industry. At
most theatres, the film is out of frame, the
focus is poor, and drifts go uncorrected, even
if you complain. Let's not forget about hopelessly
dirty and scratched prints. Then you
have your poor splices, which are easily seen
onscreen and can make the sound cut in and
out. There is often inadequate light output
from the xenon bulb as well, because theatres
like to run them low to save on bulbs.
Sometimes the bulb focus and position is
very poor, providing dim spots and basically
making the picture unwatchable. Often a
movie is advertised in digital and, when you
go there, it is obviously playing in analog. It
seems projection and overall presentation
are an afterthought at most theatres. Usually
an usher or manager who have other things to
do will run up and prepare the film, instead of
a trained professional. Managers seem
happy just as long as the light hits the screen.
Many of the theatres I have visited (including
the one I work at) are very messy and
even smell. V^/hat they do here is blow all of
the trash behind the screen between shows
and just let If
sit there and rot. This can start
stinking up the place very quickly. Then of
course you get customers running out
screaming because they saw mice or some
other critters roaming around. I often see
messes in the lobby, stains on the carpet, and
gunk on the seats and In the aisles. Some of
the mess even ends up on the often torn or
stained screens.
go on and on about this. All of this
gives a serious air of unprofessionalism to
any theatre. Of course, this doesn't apply to
everybody, but it applies to many. When
watching an LD or DVD at home, you don't
need to worry if it is going to come up out of
frame, have a big chunk missing, have half
the screen darker than the other, have a
scratch throughout theentire feature, or have
crackly audio.
What do we have that can't be duplicated
in the home? Well, we have giant screens,
smell of popcorn in the lobby, a viewing
experience with a large audience, and a
chance to get out of the house. We just need
to give people a better reason to leave the
house! Joe Redifer, Lakewood, Colo.
Here's
what BOXOFFICE readers remarked
about our publication on
their Star Poll and Blue Ribbon ballots—more
praise than criticism, we're
pleased to see! But, positive or negative,
we'd love to receive your comments about
BOXOFFICE as well as issues pertaining to
the exhibition and motion picture industries.
Send your letters to us at BOXOFFICE,
Letters Dept., 6640 Sunset Blvd., Suite 100,
Hollywood, CA 90028, or via fax at 213-
465-5049, or by e-mail at boxoffice@earthlink.net.
Additionally, please see our
FAXBACK SU RVEY on page SW-48 //"you'd
like to voice your opinion about the editorial
contents of BOXOFFICE —and become
eligible to win a set of limited edition
BOXOFFICE cover posters!
BOXOFFICE is and always will be the
Bible of exhibition—-P/i// Herman, Falcon
Theatre, N.Y., NY
Keep up the good work. (Include more
information about] foreign movies. finko
Senkel, Cinemacal Enterprises Inc., Monterey,
Calif.
BOXOFFICE Magazine is a wonderful
magazine full of interesting articles and
useful information on upcoming movies.
—Marilyn Anderson, B&B Theatres,
Harrisonville, Mo.
Continue with advance informationcoming
month's Trailers very helpful.
Tom S. Graff., Kings D/l Theatre, Armona,
Calif.
Excellent, most objective magazine on entertainment.
Gives a wide scope of information.
Love it— it truly is the Bible of the
industry. Your reviews are right on target,
including the foreign and independent releases.—/o/in
Speranea, Framingham, Mass.
Great articles. The reviews of upcoming
movies and trailers are even better!—Art
Lehr, Douglas Theatres, Omaha, Seb.
Great magazine—wc would be lost without
a\—Brooks Robinson, Carmike Cinemas,
Milledgcville, Ga.
Love it!—B/// Hill, Hilltop Prod., Sania
Fe, N.M.
Your magazine is one of the best in covering
the movies. Always informative and
enienaintn^.—Edward Ortiz, General Cinana
Rancho Six, Cotton, Calif.
HOLLYWOOD INTELLIGENCE
Dear BOXOFFICE:
I've always heard of BOXOFFICE Magazine,
but had never really taken a deep look
into it. I was browsing through the Internet
Movie Database when I noticed your reviews
were contained in almost every film
link section. So I to take a look,
and was very pleasantly surprised at a very
real, very pleasing magazine. As I began
reading your articles contained here on the
web, I
with everything I read...
almost every review, every interview, etc.
matched my opinion and I think your critics
and columnists have obviously done
an absolutelyfantastic job. Your marvelous
display of Hollywood intelligence is
something very rare. fustin Cowan,
zzcarno@hotmail. com
Marketing campaigns that you suggest in
this magazine could be greatly helped if
there were more behind-the-scenes coverage.
Overall good coverage of the business;
perhaps there could be a bit more interaction
between theatres and magazine (like
Letters to the Editor.)—y/m Martin, Chapel
Hill, N.C.
Terrific coverage—not only of the Big
Events and studio films, but also (or even
moreso) of the lower-end, often more obscure
art-house offerings. BRAVO! Chris
Bolton, Act III Theatres, Eugene, Ore.
Great!! A real asset!—A4/c/iae/ /Curopas,
Sycamore Theatre, Sycamore, III.
Great job! greatly on your reviews
—£/izabe//» C. Reeves, Gem Thea-
I
tre, Beaverton, Mich.
Love that you try to keep up with independent
as well as big-budget lfilmsl.—/ae
lustus, REI Cinemas, Easley, S.C.
Still the best mag around for exhibitors.
Sure wish the big studios would advertise
more [as they did in the past] —Terry Sutherland,
Tell City, Ind.
Thanks to your magazine, movie managers
can keep up with the new movies coming
out! Doug LaCombe, O'Neil
Theatres, Crowley, La.
Would love to see a more elaborate,
concise and expanded list of future release
dates —Don Williams, Cinemark Hollywood
20, Pasadena, Texas
Keep it coming! Excellent resource.
Shirley Peters, the Opera House Theatre
Co., Elgin, Ore.
I really look forward to every issue [of
BOXOFFICE]. Reviews, Independent Exhibition
Showcase and Feature Chart are
most useful—M. Seal, Ritz, Thomaston,
Ga.
OUTSTANDING.— B. Calder, Millennium
Communications Inc., Columbia,
Md.
Bring back Regional News, (Lit down on
International News.—Wenc/es/aos Schuiz,
Star Theatre, Bay St. Louis, Miss.
Wo love it-

I
resent
—
simply
SNACK ATTACK
Dear BOXOFFICE:
I have to write this anonymously because
my husband is in the business and I don't
want to embarrass him. I would like to [suggest]
some reasons why moviehouse customers
sneak food and snacks into theatres
instead of buying them at the snack bars
reasons that theatre managers might not have
thought of in their desire to increase profits.
This reminds me of when, in the early '50s
(not long after we had fought the Japanese in
a war), I read in the business section of the
newspaper that the American tuna industry
was dying because everyone was buying
Japanese tuna. They did not know why. The
answer was simple: It was because the Japanese
were packing their tuna in water instead
of high-calorie oil at a time when
American women were becoming weight
conscious. We preferred to buy American,
but the desire to be svelte and healthy won
over patriotism. As you will note, almost all
tuna is now packed in water.
I confess I'm guilty of sneaking candy into
theatres. Not only do I resent paying $1 .50
to $2 for a 69-cent candy bar, but, even more
importantly, I already feel guilty eating
candy. I certainly do not want to have a
king-size bar in my hands, because / will eat
all of it! And I being treated like a
captive audience with no choices and being
forced to overpay on sizes I do not want.
don't want a box of Bon-Bons heavily
laden with fat for $2.50, so I have been
known to carry in no-fat frozen yogurt.
Has theatre management ever thought of
selling low-cal candy, or creating some sort
of a tie-in with Weight Watchers Snack
Foods? Apples are fine, but they're not a
"fun" snack for an outing. I bring from
home (as do many of my weight-watching
friends) air-popped popcorn with no salt
I confess Tm guilty of
sneaking candy into
theatres. Not only do I
resent paying $1.50 to $2
for a 69-cent candy bar,
but, even more
importantly, I already
feel guilty eating candy.
I certainly do not want
to have a king-size bar
in my hands, because I
will eat all of it!
and no oil, because I can't buy it in
theatres.
At ShoWest some years ago, 1 remember
complaining to everyone who would listen
that the oils used to pop corn were arteryclogging
and loaded with salt. Someone did
listen, and now there's Canola oil too. That's
progress, but c'mon fellas, how about no oil
and light on the salt?
The theatre snack bars are not doing
enough to serve people's changing tastes
and diets. There are those people who miss
dinner to attend a movie, perhaps coming
directly from work, and they are hungry. If
there were hunger-satisfying "legal" food,
maybe they would not bring in distractingly
odoriferous outside foods.
Perhaps the industry should hire a qualified
food economist to develop more good,
salable food choices, like one of the major
airlines did when it hired a cookbook author
to rethink its whole cuisine.
Finally, do not price-gouge people who
have come to your theatres by trying to pick
up shortfall income, lost from the people
who are staying home watching videos and
TV. Make the theatre a good value experience
in everyway. And, lastly, be kind to the
family with food- and drink-guzzling children
and a whoppingly big theatre admission
bill. They will be grateful and attend
more often.
Thanks for listening.
— A Regular Theatregoer
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Response No. 14
April, 1998 11

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HOLLYWOOD
REPORT
DAVE FOLEY
"Bugs" Out
MILLAJOVOVICH
Shapes Story "Arc"
JOHN LITHGOW
Sails Into "Port"
"A BUG'S LIFE" Pixar Animation
Studios, creator of 1995's
"Toy Story," Is producing this
computer-animated comedy/
adventure about an ant named
Flik (voice of "Kids in the HaN:
Brain Candy's" Dave Foley)
who must protect his colony
from a gang of grasshoppers, led
by Hopper {voice of "Midnight
in the Garden of Good and
Evil's" Kevin Spacey). Other actors
in the voice cast include
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David
Hyde Pierce, Bonnie Hunt,
Denis Leary, Madeline Kahn,
John Ratzenberger, Jonathan
Harris, Roddy McDowall, Alex
Rocco, Edie McClurg and Phyllis
Diller. "Toy Story's" John
Lasseter co-directs with Andrew
Stanton. (Buena Vista)
"PORTOFINO" John Lithgow
Action") and Dianne
("A Civil
Wiest ("The Horse Whisperer")
will star in this romantic comedy
set in the '60s about two
feuding families, one American,
one British, on holiday in Portofino,
Italy. Lithgow and Wiest
previously worked together in
1 984's "Footloose." (Distribution
is to be set)
"200 CIGARETTES" Courtney
Love ("The People Vs. Larry
Flynt"), Affleck brothers Ben
and Casey (both of "Good Will
Hunting") and Kate Hudson
("Ricochet River") will star in
this drama about a group of
friends heading to New York to
celebrate New Year's Eve in
1981. (Paramount)
"JOAN OF ARC" Director Luc
Besson and actress Milla
Jovovich, who have become romantically
involved since working
together on "The Fifth
Element," will reunite professionally
on this historical drama
about the young 15th-century
French martyr who believed she
was charged by God to lead an
uprising against- the British.
(Distribution is to be set)
"RANDOM HEARTS" Harrison
Ford ("Six Days, Seven Nights")
will star in this film about two
paramours who are killed in a
plane crash. The only evidence
that could link the two together
are the identical keys they were
carrying. (TriStar)
"ENTRAPMENT" Antoine Fuqua
("The Replacement Killers") will
direct from this cat-and-mouse
thriller/love story about two rival
thieves, played by "The Rock's"
Sean Connery and "The Mask of
Zorro's" Catherine Zeta-jones.
Ron Bass ("My Best Friend's
Wedding") scripts. (Fox)
"ALIEN LOVE TRIANGLE" This
comedy, to be comprised of
three segments, will feature a
vignette by "Trainspotting's" director
Danny Boyle, writer John
Hodge and producer Andrew
Macdonald. Their story will be
about a man ("The Gingerbread
Man's" Kenneth Branagh) who
discovers that his wife ("Scream
2's" Courteney Cox) is not only
an extraterrestrial, but a male
extraterrestrial. "Lost in Space's"
Heather Graham also stars.
(Miramax)
"A QUEER KIND OF DEATH"
This adaptation of George
Baxter's 1966 novel will star
Laurence Fishburne ("Hoodlum")
as Detective Pharaoh Love,
a black, gay P.I. investigating
the bathtub electrocution death
of a male model. (Distribution is
to be set)
"WING COMMANDER"
group of young space pilots
("Senseless'" Matthew Lillard, "I
Know What You Did Last
Summer's" Freddie Prinze Jr.,
"The Matchmaker's" Saffron
Burrows and "Scream 2's" Elise
Neal) discover that their ship
has been rigged to destroy the
universe in this adaptation of
the popular video game. (Fox)
"TRAINING DAY" In this
drama, a rookie cop on the undercover
narcotics squad
("Good Will Hunting's" Matt
Damon) is partnered with a corrupt
officer ("Sphere's" Samuel
L. Jackson) who teaches him all
the wrong things. (Distribution
is
to be set)
"THE RUGRATS MOVIE"
Nickelodeon's popular animated
TV show about the adventures
of four babies will be
made into a feature film, in
which Tommy Pickles (voice of
Elizabeth Daily) gets a new baby
brother, Dil. (Paramount)
"OFFICE SPACE" Mike Judge
("Beavis and Butt-head Do
America") will direct and script
this live-action comedy, based
on his cartoon short, "Milton,"
about a corporate drone and his
co-workers. (Fox)
"A MAP OF THE WORLD"
Frances McDormand ("Fargo")
("Mi-
and Andie MacDowell
chael") will play best friends
who face tragedy when one's
child drowns while in the
other's care. The story is based
on Jane Hamilton's best-selling
novel, and will be adapted by
Peter Hedges ("What's Eating
Gilbert Grape"). (Distribution is
to be set)
A
"THE RED DOOR" Madonna
("Evita") will play a woman who
must overcome her differences
with her estranged brother
when she discovers he's near
death from AIDS. Together, they
uncover the reasons why they
drifted apart. Mattia Karel
("Cadillac Dreams") will direct.
(Distribution is to be set)
"HE WON'T GET FAR" "Good
Will Hunting's" star Robin Williams
and helmer Gus Van Sant
will reteam on this film, which
Van Sant is also scripting, about
a quadriplegic cartoonist (who's
based on an acquaintance of
Van Sant's). (TriStar)
"THE BUMBLEBEE FLIES ANY-
WAY" A young amnesia victim
("The Ice Storm's" Elijah Wood)
wakes up in a hospital for the
terminally ill, and must uncover
his past and identity. Rachael
Leigh Cook ("The House of
Yes") also stars. Martin Duffy
("The Boy From Mercury") directs.
(Distribution is to be set)
"SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE" Joseph
Fiennes, younger brother
of Ralph and star of the upcoming
"Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel
and Laurence," will star in this
romance as William Shakespeare.
In the film, he's in the
middle of writing the play
"Romeo and Juliet," while a
love story is also unfolding in his
real life. Gwyneth Paltrow
("Sliding Doors") co-stars; Judi
Dench, who played Queen Victoria
to such acclaim in "Mrs.
Brown," may take on another
potentate portrayal as Queen
Elizabeth I. (Miramax)
ETCETERA: Director Milos Forman
will team again with "The
People Vs. Larry Flynt" scripters
Scott Alexander and Larry
Karaszewski on Universal's
Andy Kaufman biopic "Man on
the Moon." Jim Carrey, Nicolas
Cage, John Cusack and Edward
Norton are on the short list to
portray the late comic. ..Parker
Posey stars as Tom Hanks' girlfriend
(until Meg Ryan starts sending
him e-mail love missives) in
Warner's "You Have Mail."
Greg Kinnear has also signed
on. ..Michael Keaton will take
the lead role iced by George
Clooney in Warner's "Frost";
he'll play a neglectful father
who dies and is reincarnated as
a snowman. ..Alicia Silverstone,
Christopher Walken, Sissy
Spacek and Dave Foley will join
Brendan Eraser in New Line's
"Blast From the Past," about a
man who emerges into modemday
society after spending his
whole life in a bomb shelter.

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I d
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MAY
TRAILERS
Flowering next month:
the latestfrom Hollywood & Vine
The annual New York Toy Fair was a relatively downbeat
place for movie tie-ins this year. The reason: Some of last year's
expected-to-be-big summer movies found only doll-sized returns
at the ticket booths, and the 1 998 summer slate is thought
not to contain a lot of event movies.
Except for certainly at least one, that is: "Godzilla" puts his
foot down on May 20 (see P. 15), the Wednesday before the
i^m
*«K
Memorial Day weekend. It's a date that the studio hopes will live
in famy, so to speak, the way that its "Men In Black" did in
summer 1997 and Fox's "ID4" did the year before that.
Id II 3 iiaiuiy iiic \jtttj iiiiii tjt\M\j 1, **« til*. iTiMj in^m^ij.
The Vl frame has Columbia's "Les Miserables"; Paramount'*
meteoric "Deep Impact" hopes to make a large imprint on auds
come 5/8, with the older-trending "Twilight" the likely choice
for any Mothers Day moviegoers; May 1 5 makes for a differentdemos
pleaser with Warner Bros.' high-profile animated "The
Quest for Camelot" aimed at families and Buena Vista's delayed
"The Horse Whisperer" looking to satisfy more mature audiences;
and Universal's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and
Fox's "Bulworth" plan to counlerprogram the big beast on 5/22.
Of course, there are .V.\ other titles swinging into the scene, like
Warner's "Tar/an & the Lost Cily" (see photo above).
It's going to be a jungle out there. Kim Willi.imson
—
MAY1
He Got Game
Denzel Washington stars in
this drama about a prison inmate
named Jake Shuttlesworth who is
temporarily paroled by a basketball-alumnus
governor in the
hopes that Jake can persuade his
estranged son (Ray Allen), a heavily
recruited high school hoop
star, to sign with the college in
question. Milla Jovovich ("The
Fifth Element"), John Turturro,
Zelda Harris and Ned Beatty costar.
Spike Lee directs and scripts,
and he produces with Jon Kilik
(Lee's "Girl 6"). (Buena Vista, 5/1
Exploitlps: Despite Washington
and Lee's high-profile names
and their experience together
from "Malcolm X" and "Mo' Better
Blues, " this Touchstone effort
comes from one ofthe successfulin-the-'80s
directors who've seen
the '90s bring a downturn in audience
turnout. Like Oliver Stone
with his latest opuses, Lee has
seen the likes of "Get on the Bus"
and "Crooklyn" get high-profile
releases but low-count ticket
sales— and "He Got Game" bows
on a date congested with titles,
especially ofthe dramatic variety.
Still, to heighten interest, highlight
the Denzel-Spike re-pairing
to perhaps repair those results.
Black Dog
In this action/thriller, Patrick
Swayze ("Three Wishes") plays a
troubled but kind-hearted ex-con
who's set up by the Mob to drive
a truck carrying illegal weapons.
Randy Travis ("Fire Down
Below") and Meat Loaf ("The
Rocky Horror Picture Show") costar.
Kevin Hooks ("Fled") directs;
Leslie Bohem ("Daylight") scripts
with Scott Sturgeon, Dan Vining
and William Mickelberry; Rafaella
De Laurentiis (also "Daylight")
produces with Peter Saphier and
MarkKoch. (Universal, 5/1)
Exploitlps: Till felled by injury,
Kevin Sorbo (TV's "Hercules")
was set to make "Black Dog";
then '80s icon but '90s ican't
Swayze came in. Given the likely
audience— not swoony teenage
girls but young male action fans—
a tagline like "from the director of
'Passenger 57' and 'Fled'" and a
genre emphasis are likely to be
more effective draws than touting
the Swayze name.
Almost Heroes
Originally called "Edwards and
Hunt" and set for mid-1997 release,
this period comedy pairs
the late Chris Farley ("Beverly
Hills Ninja") and Matthew Perry
("Fools Rush In," but still better
)
known for TV's "Friends") as a
mismatched duo of 19th-century
frontiersmen who lead a bumbling
expedition into the Wild
West. "Waiting for Cuffman"
helmer Christopher Guest directs,
and his fellow "Guffman" alums
Eugene Levy and Parker Posey costar;
Mark Hutter, Tom Wolfe and
Boyd Hale (TV's "Full House")
script; Denise Di Novi ("Ed
Wood") produces for Turner Pictures.
(Warner Bros., 5/1
Exploitlps: One must worry
about this facing the same postmortem
fate as John Candy's
westerner comedy "Wagons
East," and Guest's previous comedy
was rightly switched from a
wide Columbia release to a specialized
Sony Classics debut. But
Di Novi is a noted name, and the
film is the date's only comedy.
Les Miserables
In this drama, an adaptation of
the Victor Hugo novel (and not
the stage musical), Geoffrey Rush
("Shine") plays Javert, a police inspector
who chases an escaped
convict named Jean Valjean ("Michael
Collins'" Liam Neeson) for
years to bring him to justice. Uma
Thurman ("Gattaca") portrays
Fantine, a factory worker-turnedprostitute.
Bille August ("Smilla's
Sense of Snow") directs; Rafael
Yglesias ("Fearless") scripts; former
Sony head Peter Guber produces
with Adam Platnick and
ToddBlack. (Columbia, 5/1)
Exploitlps: Sony, releasesoaked
in February and facing
two other classic-tale adaptations
in that month, moved this from its
original 2/27 frame. The other big
one, UA's "The Man in the Iron
Mask," also moved, but it still
precedes this in release, bowing
3/13. The UA film has the star
edge with "Titanic's" Leonardo
DiCaprio, but the stage musical
version has made "Les Mis" more
of a household name, and there's
almost two months of separation.
The Proposition
This drama, aka "Tempting
Fate" and "Shakespeare's Sister,"
tells the story of a feminist writer
("12 Monkeys'" Madeleine
Stowe) who with her husband
(William Hurt) consults a priest
("Hamlet's" Kenneth Branagh)
about marital troubles. Romantic
complications ensue. BIythe
Danner and Neil Patrick Harris
co-star. Lesli Linka Clatter ("Now
and Then") directs; Rick Ramage
scripts; Ted Field, Scott Kroopf
and Diane Nabatoff produce for
Interscope. (Gramercy, 5/1 exp
wide after 3/27 ltd bow)
Exploitlps: More controversy^:
Grievances could come from the
)

April, 1998 15
Catholic groups that contested TV's "Nothing
Sacred," given this film's priest/wife Imbroglio.
Held several times from its original
fall '97 date, "The Proposition" now faces less
tough art-house competition but a much
greater number of mainstream titles. To maximize
turnout, emphasize the Branagh name.
Sliding Doors
Gwyneth Paltrow ("Emma") stars in this contemporary
love story about Helen, a young
woman whose destiny is changed by the sliding
doors of a London subway train. From that
moment, the film bisects to tell the two parallel
stories of what happens if Helen makes the train
and if she doesn't. John Hannah (also in "Resurrection
Man"), John Lynch ("Nothing Personal")
and Jeanne Tripplehom ("Til There
Was You") co-star. Longtime set decorator
Peter Howitt directs and scripts; Sydney Pollack
produces for his Mirage with William Horberg
and Philippa Braithwaite. (Miramax, 5/1 exp
top 40 markets, 5/8 nati after 4/24 NY/LA bow)
Exploitips: Held from Thanksgiving and
Valentine's Day debuts, "Sliding Doors" now
slides into May looking to use good coastal
notices to win middle-market audiences. Still,
given the tale's slightly complex narrative,
"Sliding Doors " might be opened less by mainstream
auds than by art-housers, which would
make this a battle between the popularity of
Paltrow and of Branagh (see "The Proposition,
"above). If true, expect males to trend one
way, females the other. Our reviewer (March
'98 issue) gave this R-rater (for some sexuality
and language) three stars, saying "both
storylines are compelling and engaging" and
the film boasts "a pleasing balance ofcomedy
and drama" that "appeals to both the romantic
heart and the philosophical mind. "
Lawn Dogs
In this Southern-set drama, an unlikely
friendship develops between a 1 0-year-old girl
(young stage actress Mischa Bartor) and a 21-
year-old working-class man ("Box of
Moonlight's" Sam Rockwell) who mows lawns
in her affluent Kentucky suburb. Kathleen
Quinlan and Christopher McDonald co-star as
the girl's parents. John Duigan ("Sirens") directs;
Southern poet/playwright Naomi
Duncan Kenworthy ("Four
Wallace scripts;
Weddings and a Funeral") produces. (Strand,
5/1 LA after 4/24 NY/Chi/Bos/SF/Sea bow)
Exploitips: The sell here is the Duigan
name, which has a solid following among
specialized auds. One might wonder about
the salability ofa Southern drama centered on
a 1 0-year-old girl, but Trimark's "Eve's
Bayou " proved that it can work; good notices
from the 4/24 how would also help.
Deep Impact
MAYS
In this sci-fi thriller, a comet ison a collision
course with Earth. Among those of the human
race on the endangered list are Tea Leoni
("Flirting With Disaster"), Elijah Wood ("The
Ice Storm"), Mary McCormack ("Private
Parts"), Ron Eldard ("Sleepers") and Jon
Favreau ("Swi ngers"), along with vets Vanessa
Redgrave, Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman,
Maximilian Schell and James Cromwell. Mimi
GODZILLA (MAY 20)
In this ail-American production that reprises the post-World War II Japaneseborn
tales of a monster roused from the deep by atomic explosion, Matthew
Broderick (the WWII fissioner "Infinity"), Hank Azaria ("The Birdcage"), Jean
Reno ("Mission: Impossible"), Michael Lerner, Maria Pitillo and Vicki lewis star
in this story about the pairing of a nuclear scientist on the trail of the rampaging
Godzilla and an insurance investigator who's assessing the creature's damage
tally. Roland Emmerich ("ID4," "Stargate") directs the action/thriller, and he
scripts with constant partner Dean Devlin, who also produces. (TriStar, 5/20)
Exploitips: As distribution head Jeff Blake so rightly put it last year when asked
why the studio had announced the Memorial Day date so far in advance: "We
thought we could sit wherever we wanted." In counterprogramming efforts. Fox
has shunted "Bulworth" to this weekend, and TriStar itself, in a less risky
maneuver, goes limited with "The Opposite of Sex. " But the real question is not
opening weekend, which when it's over should have devastated exhibitors' trash
bins with the empty buckets left behind by the gazillions among the popcorn
crowd; the question is the biq boy's staying power. However much they borrowed
from previous sci-fi epics, Stargate" and "ID4" were originals; this is remake
territory, great for pre-opening marketing ease but not for heavy repeat business.
Like "IDA," "Godzilla" has fnat salable red-white-&-blue patriotic-fervor factor
going for it, with the monster thrashing not Tokyo but Manhattan.
Leder ("The Peacemaker") directs; Bruce Joel budgets— big. "Deep Impact" goes the castof-hundreds
route, while "Armageddon" goes
Rubin ("My Life"), Michael Tolkin ("The
Player") and John Wells (also "The Peacemaker")
script, reportedly with inspiration much-praised work with DreamWorks' un-
the star route with Bruce Willis. Given Leder's
from the '50s film "When Worlds Collide" derperforming debut, "The Peacemaker, " expect
this to take a humane and serious— i.e.,
and the Arthur C. Clarke book "The Hammer
of God":the seasoned Richard D. Zanuckand bi-gender— route, while its competitor,
helmed by Michael Bay ("The Rock," "Bad
Boys"), is likely to be a testosteroner.
Twilight
Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene
Hackman and Stockard Channing ("The First
Wives Club") star in this contemporary detective
story set in Los Angeles. Reese
Witherspoon ("Fear"), Giancarlo Esposito
("Fresh") and exhibitor favorite James Garner
co-star. Newman reteams here with his
"Nobody's Fool" success d'estime creators:
writer/director Robert Benton (who co-scripts
David Brown produce; Steven Spielberg and with Richard Russo) and producers Arlene
Joan Bradshaw exec produce for Paramount Donovan and Scott Rudin, who's on a winning
streak for his studio. (Paramount, 5/6)
(which has domestic) and DreamWorks
(which has foreign). (Paramount, 5/8)
Exploitips: "Twilight"— previously "The
Exploitips: Like the two volcano films of last Magic Hour" and slated for a holiday and then
year, which brought neither Universal nor Fox a couple of late-winter debuts— fias "wellmade"
stamped on it, given the talents before
a lava flow of coin, "Deep Impact" and the
upcoming "Armageddon" (which Buena Vista and behind the camera. This could also trend
has for the July 4th weekend) have similar toward more mature audiences, given
storylines— planetary collision — and similar Newman's (and Benton's) established reputa-

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"
"
—
band members decide to overcome their personal
dilYerences and rejoin to play a benefit
concert. In the process, they discover that one
can never go home again. Hugh Dillon
("Dance Me Outside"), Galium Keith Rennie
("Double Happiness") and Bernie Coulson
("The Accused") star. Bruce McDonald
("Roadkill," "Highway 61") directs; Noel S.
Baker scripts; ex-location manager Christine
Haebler and Brian Dennis ("Dance Me Outside")
produce. (Rolling Thunder/Miramax, 5/13)
Exploitips: Our 3 1/2-star Seattle fest review
(Oct. '97), contrasting tliis with McDonald's
earlier "joyfully innocent and inspired pop-culture
sprees, " says this has "some of the same
drive" but is "a tough, harsh analysis of rock
celebrity [that] also seems to be McDonald's
wistful examination of what the pleasures of
moviemaking mean to him. Despite structural
flaws.. .and narrative weaknesses, 'Hard Core
Logo' puts real spit in the fire.
Gadjo Dilo
Tony Gatlif ("Mondo") directs, scripts and
produces this drama about a young Parisian gent
who hears a tape of a Gypsy singer and sets
himself the task of finding the person behind the
voice. Romain Duris, Rona Hartner and Isidor
Sherban star. (Lion's Gate, 5/1 5 NY/LA)
Exploitips: Like last year's "Mondo" from
Shadow, this is likely to draw a quite specialized
audience not put off by the title. Highlighting
the tale's romance and mystery will
help draw that demo.
Insomnia
In this Norwegian-language thriller, two
detectives arrive in the land's far north after a
teenaged girl is murdered in an especially
grotesque manner. Stellan Skarsgard stars.
Erik Skjoldbjaerg directs. (First Run, 5/1 5)
Exploitips: Like "Gadjo Dilo," "Insomnia"
is likely to be most palatable to those long
familiar with the insides ofart-houses. Thanks
to his appearances in "Good Will Hunting"
and "Amistad, " Stellan Skarsgard is a promotable
name that could widen the draw a bit.
MAY 22
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The (in)famous post-hippie era cult classic
penned by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson,
which tells the story of a desert road trip
taken under the influence of substantial
amounts of pharmaceuticals and alcohol, finally
comes to the bigscreen with Johnny Depp
("Donnie Brasco") as the fearless reporter.
Benicio Del Toro ("Excess Baggage") and Christina
RIcci (also in this weekend's "The Opposite
of Sex") co-star. Terry Gilliam ("12 Monkeys")
directs, and he scripts with Tony Grisoni ("The
Island on Bird Street"); Steve Nemeth, Laila
Nabuisi and Patrick Cassavetti produce for
Rhino Films. (Universal, 5/22)
Exploitips: As for any entry this weekend
or next, the key battleline here will be drawn
at the foot of "Godzilla. " Although it can 't be
said that helmer Gilliam is substantially more
mainstream in sensibility than this project's
original director, "Sid and Nancy's"Alex Cox,
he does have a mainstream hit credit of sorts
with the Willis-starring "12 Monkeys" to attract
audiences. Billed as a comedy, however
of the black variety, "Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas" provides a genre alternative to those
uninterested in big scaly monsters.
Bulwortli
A wealthy U.S. senator (Warren Beatty) is
tired of life and so sees no reason to avoid a
hitthat'sbeen planned by a friend—until, that
is, the senator meets a beautiful African-
American woman ("B.A.P.s'" Halle Berry).
Paul Sorvino, Oliver Piatt, Jack Warden and
Don Cheadle co-star. Warren Beatty also directs,
co-scripts (with "The Lemon Sisters'"
Jeremy Pikser) and produces. (Fox, 5/22)
Exploitips: Fox depicts the story thus: "He
mustfrantically seek out the only one who can
call off the killer in a hair-raising comic
chase." So expect something more akin to
"Heaven Can Wait" than to "Reds. " Which,
from a boxoffice standpoint, is all to the better.
As an erstwhile comedy, "Bulworth" like
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" provides a
light-hearted alternative to "Godzilla, " in an
even more mainstream manner.
Tlie Opposite of Sex
A coming-of-age girl (Christina Ricci, also
in this weekend's "Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas") runs away to see her gay brother, but
familial complications arise there too when
she becomes involved with his boyfriend. Lisa
Kudrow ("Romy and Michele's High School
Reunion"), Martin Donovan ("The Portrait of a
Lady"), Johnny Galecki ("Suicide Kings") and
Exploitips: This Village Roadshow pro-
MAY 29
Broadway Damage
"Roseanne") star.
Village Art. (Jour de Fete Films, 5/29)
Land Girls
MAY UNDATED
Tarzan & the Lost City
duction is
(March made her first
legitimizing rotten movies. "
Lyie Lovett ("Ready to Wear") co-star in this
comedy. Don Roos, who wrote "Boys on the
Side," scripts and makes his directorial debut;
David Kirkpatrick ("The Evening Star") and
Michael Besman produce. (TriStar, 5/22 ltd)
Exploitips: Roos has a history of quality
work, so one might expect that this bow could
generate a number of positive reviews that
would help sell "The Opposite of Sex" when
it goes wider. As with "Boys on the Side,
expect this to be a youthful distaff drawer,
which means its key direct opening-date competition
will be with...
In this drama, writer/director David Leland
("Wish You Were Here"), adapting Angela
Hunt's novel, tells the story of three young and
adventuresome British women who during
World War II serve their country by working
the fields of farmers off f ighti ng the Axis. As the
city girls learn the ways of the land, they form
a bond that changes their lives forever. Anna
Friel ("Rogue Trader"), Rachel Weisz ("Swept
From the Sea") and Catherine McCormack
("Dangerous Beauty") star. Simon Relph ("Camilla")
produces. (Gramercy, 5/22 NY/LA)
Exploitips: Arriving with a Sundance
wodd premiere-selection imprimatur, "Land
Girls" could be an attractive commodity for
specialized audiences, who might be more
willing to go for a distaff-driven storyline and
period setting. Given that likely type ofmoviegoer,
a bookstore tie-in could pay benefits—
although one might note that our
Sundance critic, in a 1 l/2-star review (April
'98 issue) of "Land Girls, " noted that being
"based on a novel... is a classic argument for
Mr. Jealousy
In this comedy by filmmaker Noah
Baumbach, Eric Stoltz (Baumbach's "Kicking
and Screaming") plays an intellectual named
Lester who, whenever romance blossoms, is
overcome with a jealousy—thanks to an incident
that occurred when he was a teenager
that eventually proves the romance's
undoing. When he meets a lively brunette
("CopLand's" Annabella Sciorra), the pattern
begins to repeat when Lester joins a therapy
group to see what her ex-boyfriend (Chris
Eigeman, also from "Kicking and Screaming"),
a best-selling author, was like. Joel
Castleberg (another "Kicking and Screaming"
creditee) produces. (Lion's Gate, 5/29)
Exploitips: For those who saw the fall 1 995
Trimark release "Kicking and Screaming" and
have become Baumbach fans (all five of
them), "Mr. Jealousy" might come close to
filling the bill. Our Toronto reviewer (April '98
issue), one of the five, gave this a three-star
blessing, saying it "stumbles a bit"— primarily
in the central boy/gid relationship— "but still
offers much of his wise, witty banter" and
calling Baumbach "a true original. " The cast
also comes in for substantial praise, including
Carlos jacott, Marianne jean-Baptiste ("Secrets
& Lies"), and Bridget Fonda.
In this upbeat romantic comedy directed
and written by newcomer Victor Mignatti,
three young friends—a struggling actor, an
aspiring musical comedy writer and a
wannabe novelist— in search of achievement
find that nothing goes as planned, but that
there's always another chance. Michael
Shawn Lewis, Aaron Williams ("The Four
Corners of Nowhere") and Mara Hobel (TV's
David Topel produces for
Exploitips: Another new indie distributor
makes its bow with this "valentine to New
York City. " One can expect that the twentyand
perhaps thirtysomething crowd will be
the likeliest at the boxoffice, so play up the
youth-pursuing-success angle.
In yet another cinematic incarnation, the
Edgar Rice Burroughs character leaves civilization
behind to return to Africa to save
his homeland. Casper Van Dien ("Starship
Troopers") plays the famed jungle man,
and Jane March ("Color of Night") will limn
Jane. Carl Schenkel ("Knight Moves") directs.
See the photo on P. 14. (Warner
Bros., May undated; could go 4/24)
likely to be more sexy, at least,
than last year's "George of the jungle."
splash with MCM's
NC-U "The Lover.") Casper Van Dien's
"Starship Troopers" credit is a high-profile
recent one, even if the film didn't quite
perform to hopes, and so that and the Tarzan
name are the elements to highlight.

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20 BOXOFUCE
"
I
Resurrection Man
A piece of the action: A contemporary killing-minded
gang decides to imitate the style
of 1930's gangs. Stuart Townsend, James
Nesbitt, Brenda Fricker, Geraldine O'Rawe
("Circle of Friends"), Sean McCinley ("Michael
Collins") and John Hannah (also in
"Sliding Doors") star. Marc Evans ("House of
America") directs. (Gramercy, May undated)
Exploitips: Cang-themed films of any type
have been underperforming for several years,
the exception being "The Usual Suspects."
The cast here, however, seems to be a promisingly
good one, if not of marquee status.
The Kingdom II
The tales from the Copenhagen hospital
affected by supernatural occurrences begun
with "The Kingdom," which October also released,
continue with this sequel. Ernst-Hugo
laregard and Kirsten Rolffes return as the stars.
Lars Von Trier, who did the acclaimed "Breaking
the Waves" in the meantime, directs, and
he scripts with Niels Vorsel, who also partnered
on those duties for "The Kingdom";
VibekeWindelov and SvendAbrahamsen produce.
(October Films, May undated)
Exploitips: Our four-star review (Aug. '95
issue) of the five-hour original— which had
aired as a TV miniseries in Scandinavia—
praised the horror/comedy as "fast-moving
and highly involving," sporting "creepy atmospherics"
and being "more than a little deranged."
Expect more of the same, except
with shot-for-feature quality.
Without Limits
This real-life drama recounts the story of
Steve Prefontaine, a track sensation in the late
'60s and early '70s whose life was cut short
by a 1 975 car accident. Billy Crudup stars as
"Pre" (the project's original title); Donald
Sutherland and Monica Potter co-star. Oscar
winner RobertTowne directs and scripts; Tom
Cruise and Paula Wagner produce for Cruise/
Wagner Productions. See our Feb. '97 Sneak
Preview. (Warner Bros., goes wide May undated
after a 4/1 7 ltd bow)
Exploitips: The PG-13 rating will allow
multiple age groups to attend. Will they want
given a similar Buena Vista project that
to,
didn't win audiences last year? Our four-star
review (March '98 issue) cites the film's poignancy
and its "great job of capturing the
essence of Pre and the excitement of the
races," calling it "a vibrant, realistic account
of the life of a remarkable young man." It's
that kind of critical response that could buoy
the May expansion.
The Arrival Agenda
Aka "The Second Arrival," this sci-fi sequel
to the decently performing Charlie Sheen
starrer "The Arrival" of two springs ago has
Patrick Muldoon ("Starship Troopers") and
)ane Sibbett ("It Takes Two") faking over the
leads in a further story about aliens intent on
making Earth their own. Kevin Tenny directs.
(Live, May undated; could go April)
Exploitips: As this and its sequel to "The
Substitute" intimates. Live appears to be solidifying
its coming schedule with known
product among the original titles. Expect that
presell quantity to pull fans of the first "Arrival"
and genre devotees generally, if with
the usual sequel dropoff
TwentyFourSeven
Bob Hoskins, Danny Nussbaum and )ames
Hooten star in this Thatcher-era dramatic tale
that centers on a middle-aged man who is
trying to resurrect a dormant boxing club in
a poor and crowded British suburb. Shane
Meadows directs, and he scripts with Paul
Eraser; Imogen West produces. (October,
May undated; could go April)
Exploitips: Our 2 1/2-star Toronto fest review
(April '98 issue) says this is "an impressive
debut feature from a talented young Brit,
Shane Meadows, even if the film fails to live
up to its ambitions. " It's rated R for language,
violence and some drug content.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Richard E. Grant and Helena Bonham Carter
star in this adaptation of the 1 936 George
Orwell novel that tells the story of an advertising
copywriter who, aspiring to be a poet,
leaves behind the security of money to pursue
his dream, supported by his level-headed
sweetheart. Robert Bierman ("Vampire's
Kiss") directs; Alan Olater scripts; Peter Shaw
("Taffin") produces. (First Look, May undated)
Exploitips: Our Toronto fest review (April
'98) accorded this four stars, calling Crant^
"wonderfully inventive" and the film "witty"
and "wistful. " That Bonham Carter plays "a
relatively modern working woman [whose
character is] much less neurotic than some of
the Merchant-Ivory roles that the actress has
assumed" means that contemporary distaff
auds could find this a pleasing period piece.
The Disenchanted
This French-language drama stars highprofile
Gallic actress Judith Godreche ("The
Man in the Iron Mask," "Beaumarchais, the
Scoundrel," "Ridicule") along with Therese
Leotard, Ivan Desny, Malcon Conrath and
Marcel Bozonnet. Benoitjacquot (Strand's "A
Single Girl") directs. (First Run, May undated)
Exploitips: As always, foreign-language
films target a very specialized group, but the
French type is always the easiest sell stateside.
Genealogies of a Crime
Also a French-language drama, "Ceneaologies
d'un Crime" stars Catherine Deneuve
in two roles in this suspenser: a lawyer
investigating a psychoanalyst's murder, and
the psychoanalyst herself. Michel Piccoli also
stars. Raoul Ruiz directs, and he scripts with
Pascal Bonitzer; Paulo Branco produces for
Gemini Films. (Strand, May undated)
Exploitips: The director won a Silver Bear
at the Berlin fest for lifetime achievement. Our
fest review (July '97 issue) gave this just two
stars, however, saying the film has "all the
suspense of a game of Clue" but does sport
"sly digs at psychoanalysis.
De|a Vu
This love story tells the tale of an engaged
American woman ("Last Summer in the
Hamptons'" Vidoria Foyt) who, while on
business in Jerusalem, begins a journey to
return a jewel to its long-lost owner that takes
her through France and England. Stephen
Dillane ("Welcome to Sarajevo"), Vanessa
Redgrave and Aviva Marks co-star. Henry
Jaglom directs, and he scripts with wife Foyt;
John Goldstone ("The Wind in the Willows")
produces for Rainbow/Revere Entertainment.
(Rainbow, early May; goes natl. in summer)
Exploitips: Although this is said to have
more of a standard narrative structure than
jaglom's recent films ("Babyfever," "Eating"),
"Deja Vu" could be another of those love
it/hate it jaglom films that divide audiences.
The range of settings and the greater narrative
might open jaglom's latest to larger auds.
Dog Run
Brian Marc, Craig DuPlessis and Lisa
Ristorucci star in this story about New Orleans
street kids who escape the Big Easy
when their boss gives them heroin to be delivered
to Manhattan—where they find themselves
stranded. D. Ze'ev Gilad directs; star
Brian Marc and D. Ze'ev Gilad script; Jeffrey
Feldman, Brian Marc and D. Ze'ev Gilad
produce. (Arrow, May undated)
Exploitips: Our Toronto fest review (]uly
'97 issue) gave this 2 1/2 stars, saying the film
"is an authentic-looking movie, a warts-andall
depiction of the squatters, drug addicts and
homeless kids fending for themselves" but
that "D. Ze'ev Gilad is on shakier ground
when he tries to dramatize the situation, " with
the film becoming more contrived.
Charlie Hoboken
In this comedy, a young man willing to do
anything to be a success and impress his father
exits the family insurance business to become
a hitman. Austin Pendleton (from the current
stage version of "The Diary of Anne Frank"),
Ken Garito ("School Ties") and Broadway
actress Tovah Feldshuh star. Thomas
Mazziotti ("Undertow" and "The Beep") directs
and scripts; Linda Crean produces.
(Northern Arts, May; could go early June)
Exploitips: This sale will be easiest in New
York, where its performers are known from
local stage appearances.
Under the Skin
Samantha Morton ("This Is the Sea") and
Claire Rushbrook ("Spice World") star in this
tale of two sisters who've long fought each other
for their mother's love who now face a life
change when their mother dies. Ana Risueno
Kate Ogborn
co-stars. Carine Adier directs;
exec utive produces. (Arrow, May undated)
Exploitips: Even as "Charlie Hoboken"
might interest twentysomething males trying
to make their way in life, "Under the Skin"
might draw a similarly aged distaff crowd.
Still Breathing
A Texas street performer ("George of the
Jungle's" Brendan Eraser) and an L.A. con
artist ("Little City's" Joanna Going) fall into,
out of, and into (again) unlikely love. Ann
Magnuson, Lou Rawls and Michael McKean
co-star. James F. Robinson directs and
scripts, and he produces with Marshall Persinger.
(October, May undated)

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Response
No. 10

Exploitips: This film's Seattle-fest appearance
won best-actor kudos for Fraser. In a 1
1/2-star review (Oct. 1 997 issue), however,
our Seattle critic called this film— held from
several earlier '98 dates— "an unwanted
suitor striving to make us like it, " citing a lack
of sparks between the two players and
Robinson's quirky direction and plodding
pacing. Still, for couples looking for a date
movie, "Still Breathing" is a clear choice.
LATE MOVIE MOVES.
Species 2
The creature-feature supermodel is back for
more, as Natasha Henstridge returns as the
alien/human hybridSil. Peter MedakC'Romeo
Is Bleeding") helms; Chris Brancato ("Hood-
"um") scripts; Frank Mancuso Jr. ("Species")
produces. See photo, P. 26. (MCM, 4/10)
Warner Bros. 75tli Anniversary
The studio takes a selection of its classic
films on the road to celebrate its 75th anniversary
of making movies. Included among the
list: "The Exorcist." (Warner, 4/3 ltd)
Clocl(watcliers
Toni Collette, Parker Posey and Lisa
Kudrow star in a drama about temporary office
workers. Jill Sprecher directs, and she
scripts with Karen Sprecher. Gina Resnick
produces for Coldcrest. (Artistic License,
April undated)
Day at the Beacli
Nick Veronis directs, scripts and stars in
this story about a young man and his pals who
accidentally kill someone while shooting a
micro-budget movie. (Arrow, April undated)
Cliaracter
This Dutch-language drama set in 1920s
Rotterdam is based on the classic Dutch novel
by F. Bordewijk and is an Oscar nominee for
best foreign film. Its story: An aspiring lawyer
arrested for mu rder turns out to be the victi m's
illegitimate son. Fedja Van Hueit stars. Mike
van Diem directs. (Sony Classics, 3/27)
Frozen
This Chinese-language film tells the story
of a depressed performance artist who goes
too far. Jia Hongshen stars. Wu Ming directs,
and scripts with Pang Ming; Xu Wei and Shu
Kei produce. (Intl. Film Circuit, 3/20)
Fireworl(S
lakcslii Kitano stars in (and directs and
scripts) this Japanese-language action/drama
about a detective who decides to settle a score
on the law's far side. (Milestone, March)
Stephen King's The Night Flier
In this vampire tale, two tabloid journalists
(Miguel Ferrer and Julie Entwisle) on a murder
trail find themselves up to their teeth in trouble.
Mark Pavia directs, and he adapts a Stephen
King story; Richard P. Rubinstein and
Mitchell Galin produce. (New Line, 2/6)
22 BoxomcK
Response No. 103

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Response No. 473

'tA
n/wriL-i.ii'-L'
SUMMER HEAT
A Pictorial Overview of the Movies of Summer '98
Compiled by Kim Williamson
BUENA VISTA
opens with the parody "Jane
Austen 's Mafia!" on 6/12,
followed by the animated
"Mulan" (far right) on 6/19.
Looking to rule Independence
Day is "Armageddon" (bottom),
opening 7/1, and a "Mighty
Joe Young" (center) remake
arrives 7/22. August has
comedy of the Bill Murray
variety ("Rushmore") . An
adventure ofthe rom/com
type, "6 Days, 7 Nights," with
Harrison Ford, now goes 6/12;
and "Eaters ofthe Dead" is TBA.

COLUMBIA/
TRISTAR
gets ajump on the season with
the 5/20 bow of "Godzilla."
Sony 's other best blockbuster
chance comes from "The Mask
ofZorro" (see our cover story)
on 7/17. But youth drama "The
Party" on 6/5, Latin-themed
"Dance With Me" (undated;
right), tots' tale "Madeline"
and a "Gloria" remake
(summer/fall) hold promise.
«!. ^ft
r>REAIViWbRKS
ncGs
DREAMWORKS
SKG
has chosen to
go heavy into July,
with Joe Dante's
live-action/an imated
"Small Soldiers" on
7/10 and, in the
fledgling studio 's
biggest release yet,
the World War II
drama "Saving
Private Ryan" (left),
directed by Steven
Spielberg and starring
Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore
and ShoWest honoree
Matt Damon. The story
ofAllied troops'
desperate search
for a missing soldier,
the film arrives 7/24.
A two-studio
production, "Saving
Private Ryan" is
being handled
internationally
by Paramount.

^£.
D/ivz-^r-r-Ti"!
"
v#°^V
MGM/UA,
still rebuilding its
release larder, has
just moved its big title,
the sci-fi sequel "Species 2"
(left), to April 10. But left
to fill the Lion's slate
this summer are daredevil
comedy "Be the Man"
(undated; formerly
titled "Super Dave")
and the 8/21 thriller
"Disturbing Behavior.
^ISTS
NEW LINE,
despite some success in
previous summers, has only
two offerings: rights drama
"American History X"
(above), opening in key
cities in June, and the
Wesley Snipes vampire tale
"Blade" (right), biting
into theatres on 8/14.

NOT ALL DIGITAL SOUND
SYSTEMS ARE EQUAL
"What separates SDDS from any other digital format is
the spread of sound, especially music, giving a sense of
scope and richness that no other format can match."
BARRY SONNENFELD
Director
MEN IN BLACK
Biggest Picture of 1
997
Hear the difference
fpMi Digital
Sony Dynamic
Sound.
. a *

28 BoxomcE
"
"
PARAMOUNT
faces offsummer auds with
Nicolas Cage in detective
thriller "Snake Eyes" (below)
on 6/19, preceded a week earlier
by a different kind ofJim
Carrey in "The Truman Show"
(right) . Thanks to the studio's
shared deal with Icon, it has
Mel Gibson in 8/7's "Payback"
(far right). And the latest
"Saturday Night Live" TV
spinoff boogies in 8/21:
"A Night at the Roxbury.
PolyGram
FILMED ENTERTAINMENT
POLYGRAM
remains in ramp-up mode but still takes a turn
this summer with "What Dreams May Come,
date to be set. The Vincent Ward-helmedfilm
stars Robin Williams opposite Annabella
Sciorra and Cuba Gooding Jr. in a romantic
drama about a man who dies hut whose spirit
can V bear to leave behind the love of his life.

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If you are considering buying a CP45 at the suggested price of $4200, you need to see what
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The MOD VI has full octave EQ on 5 channels, including bass and HF boost, while the CP45
uses abbreviated EQ. Our heavy Vli inch steel chassis provides extra shielding over their 5V4
inch aluminum chassis. There is a whole lot more shown in our Free color literature. It has
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Circle Surround TM
The patented "Circle Surround" digital signal processing matrix
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New matching STEREOCHECK booth monitor model MN600. This low
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30 BoxoFncE
20TH CENTURY FOX
turns to its Fox TV network sibling for primary inspiration for its 6/19 sci-fiflick
"The X-Files Movie" (below). A movie that could speak to various demos arrives 6/26 in a
"Doctor Dolittle" remake (bottom right), starring Eddie Murphy in the Rex Harrison role.
Fox hopes to see moviegoers exhale with eagerness for the 7/10 release "How Stella
Got Her Groove Back" (bottom left). The romantic comedy "Something About Mary"
will be discerned 7/1 7, and the studio closes what it hopes will be another magical summer
with the Drew Barrymore/Anjelica Huston starrer "Cinderella," bowing 8/7.

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Response No. 342
H A HaiT^^^^ffitional Comp

WARNER BROS.
has adopted an interesting
approach: one big film in June
(6/26's "The Avengers,"
bottom), one bigfilm in July
(7/10's "Lethal Weapon 4,"
below left), and two nontentpole
movies for
August : the thriller
"A Perfect Murder"
(below right) on 8/7 (tent.)
and "The Fugitive" parody
"Wrongfully Accused"
(right) on 8/14.
32 BoxoFnce

imi
UNIVERSAL
takes a one-per approach
for the three hot months.
The studio opens in June
with sci-fi thriller "Virus"
(below), follows that in
July with the Elmore
Leonard adaptation
"Out of Sight" (right),
andfinishes on 8/7 with
the sports parody
"BASEketball"
INDEPENDENT FARE OFFERINGS...
jE
MIRAMAX
looks like daddy
Disney used to look:
about one film per
weekend. The
Mouse House 's
art-house wing even
takes a titlefrom the
Disney slate: 6/12 's
romantic drama
"Firelight" (left).
Also on tap: drama
"Spanish Fly," 6/5;
Iranian drama
"Children of
Heaven," 6/26;
gangster thriller
"Doberman," 7/10;
disco-era "54"
(right), 7/1 7; family
memoir "My Life So
Far," also on 7/17;
Japanese supersmash
"Princess
Mononoke, " 7/31;
gambling drama
"Rounders" on
8/14; and Master P
theatre piece "I Got
the Hookup," 8/28.
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"
THE OTHER
INDEPENDENTS
Miramax didn 't invent the modern summer
strategy for independents; that can
more properly be traced back to thenyoung
Fine Line's brave summer 1990
bow of Whit Stillman 's "Metropolitan,
an indie hit; the approach was
cemented by Fine Line's success with
Stillman 's "Barcelona"four Augusts
later. But Miramax certainly has
co-opted and expanded the summer
tack, as its schedule on page 34 shows.
But there are other indies out there this
summer, as this alpha list by distributor
indicates. Artificial Eye has the appropriately
titled "A Summer's Tale,"
undated; ShowEast attendees are likely
to remember this favorablyfrom the
indie-day screening at thefall
convention. Fine Line, with new head
Mark Ordesky aboard, opens with the
Telluride hit "Passion in the Desert"
(aka "Simoom") in June (could move to
May); John Waters' "Pecker" brings
the Baltimorefilmmaker's off-kilter
vision to screens in June; and Kenneth
Branagh stars in disease drama
"The Theory of Flight" in July.
First Look 's solo entry is July 's
documentary "Marcello Mastroianni—
/ Remember. " Fox Searchlight, which
took everything in with "The Full
Monty" last August, has Balzac adapter
"Cousin Bette" in June, romlcom
"Polish Wedding" in July and comingof-ager
"Slums of Beverly Hills" in
August Like Fox Searchlight, Gramercy
also has adopted a one-per strategy,
with legal romlcom "What Rats Won 't
Do" in June, couples comedy "Friends
and Neighbors" in July and murder tale
"Clay Pigeons" targeting August.
Newly renamed Lion 's Gate (formerly
CFP) brings drama "Buffalo 66" in
from Sundance (June or August), and il
hopes "Dream for an Insomniac" will
be an eye-opener in July. Live has
picked up two titles for the summer
stretch: June's "Strangeland" and
July's "24 Hour Woman."
Universal subsidiary October Films goes
sexy with porn tale "Orgazmo" in June
and August comedy "The Naked Man. "
Sony Classics frontloads its summer,
with "Henry Fool" on 6/17, period piece
"The Governess" on 6/26, French street
romance "Marie Bale des Anges" on
7/3 and Sundance buy "Whatever" on
7/10. Chinese gay tale "East Palace,
West Palace" lands from the 1997 AFM
this July via Strand, which also could
have Marcello Mastroianni-starrer
"Voyage to the Beginning of the World"
and "First Love, ImsI Rites. " Ijost
but not least, Trimark puts on a
"Carnival of Souls " in August. HAIR TODAY: "Cousin Bene. " GONE lOUAY: Utrands "Voyage to the Beginning of the World
36 BoxoFHce

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WIRED WORLD: Siteseeing _........_
Spaced Out: New Line's "Lost in Space" Weiisite
Has Stellar Contents, GraplliCS by Christine James
Line's ofiRcial website for "Lost in
going to come across something that tells you
New
Space" won't be found at www.
lostinsjjace.com, as one might expect As
so often happens when companies apply for
addresses on the Internet, the name was already
taken. "Believe it or not, it's a special effects
company in London," says Gordon Paddison,
New Line's manager of interactive marketing.
Though New Line could have fought for its
proprietary right to the name, time was of the
essence, and the company was happy with the
equally recognizable URL that's been opted for,
www.dangerwillrobinson.com. "But the thing
that's so funny is I've seen a couple of reviews
reviewing [the special effects company's site] as
a website for the film. They didn't bother to read
the fact that it says it's a special effects company.
[One outlet wrote], 'There isn't anything that
talks about the movie!' It's like, "That's right!"
Promotional alliances with several demographically
compatible companies and publications,
along with the power of the buzz among
netsurfers, should soon rectify the identity crisis.
Paddison's creatioa which takes Net users aboard
tile Robinson family's spacecraft, is a destination
site of "universal" proportions, filled with interesting
information, fantastic graphics, behindthe-scenes
features, fiin activities and contests
(one offers the chance to go to Space Camp).
In creating the site, Paddison has placed a
strong emphasis on making the experience exciting
and easy to access for every level ofcomputer
user, from neophyte to expert. One can enter
the site through the low-tech html route, or
through the Shockwave option, which requires
the increasingly popular animation software (a
free download, to which the "Lost in Space"
site is linked). "I told all my designers when
we started doing the [development] that most of
all, I want something for people who want to do
no work," says Paddison. "The last thing I want
to get as a user is something with a broken picture
saying 'You want to get the plug-in?' It's like,
"No, I want to leave! And I'm not going to come
back!" I want people to be able to chocKe. If they
find it interesting enough to spend their time to
click and get the download, then that's great."
The site is engaging and impressive, both
aesthetically and content-wise, with or without
the Shockwave plug-in. As Paddison puts it,
"You need nothing to do everything on this
site. Your mother's way on AOL in Nowhereland,
the look and feel is identical. There's still
rollovers, popovers," he says, referring to different
types of onscreen animation.
'The concept of the home page," explaias
Paddison, "is the Robinson family looking out of
the windscreen of the Jupiter 2. You come in and
you see what the Robinsons see, so that you're
part of the family, and-you're lost in space. But
then anywhere you go on the interface, you're
38 BoxoFncE
"It's about understanding
who your target is, and a
proper way to give them
an experience that's
enjoyable, while at the
same time getting across
a message that hopefully
says ^Please spend $7 at
your local theatre. '"
something." (As you move your mouse, information
appears telling you what each item is
that your pointer touches.) "My whole concept
is that this is last place you will be lost."
The page looks out into a galaxy filled with
multi-colored planets—each of which contains
its own online adventure. There's Science
Planet, Create Your Own Planet the Harmony
Planet Penny's Worid, and Dr. Smith's Evil
Asteroid. "The idea is to have these individual
planets reflect the themes of the [movie's]
characters. So most of the planets reflect the
job and moral code of the individual people on
the ship. We have Penny's World, for instance;
that's Penny Robinson's planet. Penny's World
is
teenage angst. I'm working on deals with
teen magazines [in which they'd provide articles
like] The 'Lost in Space' Love (Juiz:
Together Forever or Should Your Boyfriend
Get Lost in Space? The Create Your Own
Planet is based on Judy, because she's a science
officer. The theme of that planet is to create an
environment where the Robinsons can survive
while they're lost in space. Or not, to appeal to
the young demo— you can freeze them to death."
The Harmonic Planet is, according to the
page's text, "a planetoid that orbits a stable neutron
star" that emits radio signals. 'These are
actual space sounds that we have taken from
radio telescopes," says Paddison. "It enables you
to detect where the signal's from, what the star
source is. And then it takes you to a mixer and
you can mix space sounds into a rhythm box."
Additionally, there are all the features
netsurfers have come to expect from a movie
website: interviews with the stars and
filmmakers, stills fiom the movie, soundbites
and trailers. Paddison says the site will also
have the some of the film's storyboards posted
with the corresponding pages from the script
and the finished film elements. 'There's so
much information you could go silly from it.
And that's the great thing about the web. You
have no restrictions. [You don't have to worry]
"Ooh, well, paper costs [this much]." The web
is just time and energy and passion."
Paddison does the interactive mariceting for all
ofNew Line's properties, but that dtiesn't always
mean a full-blown website. "Sometimes there
are other ways to skin it," he says. "Like 1 can do
a promotion on Yahoo! or something. There are
many different ways to service the property. If
you're doing "Grumpy Old Men," it may not
be best to put up a cool website. There may be
a better thing you can do in the Seniors area
on AOL. It's about understanding who your
tai^et is, and a proper way to give them an
experience that's enjoyable, while at the same
time getting across a mes,sage that hopefully
.says 'Please spend $7 at your local theatre."'^B

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Response No. 1 1

Sneak Preview -^-^— i
"
CONFIDENCE MAN
Playwright/Moviemaker David Mamet
Locks Up ''The Spanish Prisoner''
by Ray Greene
DARK MAN: Says David Mamet of his "The Spanish Prisoner,"
"It's all in what you see and what you don 't see.
David
Mamet speaks like he
writes. Terse. Reflective.
Economical. He chooses
his words carefully, moving
through language like a foot soldier
picking his way through a
minefield. He never stammers,
rarely hesitates. Having made his
point, he goes silent. He won't
waste words, and he doesn't expect
others to waste them either.
Great dialogue. It's what he's
known for. Tight as a telegraph
wire, alive with little staccato outbursts
of eloquence and hesitation.
Talk rich and varietal,
grandiose and slangy, an aria of
rhythmic prose that plays like
blank verse but somehow manages
to retain the contours of
common speech.
He's written 22 plays. Six collections
ofessays. Two novels. He
has 14 producal screen credits
—
five for films he directed him.self.
There are discards. Like all "Alist"
screenwriters, he's done work
he loved, then watched it languish
for patently absurd reasons. Case
in point: "Lolita," eroticist Adrian
Lyne's adaptation of Vladimir
Nabokov's notorioas but lyrical
novel about a besotted child molester.
A book so beautifully written,
about a subject so squalid.
"I was hired by Adrian Lyne to
write a draft of 'Lolita,'" he says.
"Indeed, there are very few people
who weren 't hired by Adrian Lyne
to write a draft of ' LoUta. ' I was real
proud of it, and 1 handed it in and
didn't hear anything from anybody
for weeks. So I was talking to [the
film's producer] Dick Zanuck. 1
said,
'Whatsamatter? You didn't
like the script?' He said, 'You made
him look like a pedophile!'"
Mamet laughs. Arid. Mirthless.
He doesn't even bother to supply
the real-life kicker: "Lolita" at
press time had yet to find a domestic
distributor.
No one wanted to touch a
movie about f)edophilia.
"What I usually tell people if I
haven't worked with them before
is, 'You should understand my
deal. It's that we're gonna agree
on the basic outline of the movie,
you're gonna pay me a lot of
money, I'm going to give you a
work of which I'm very, very
proud indeed. And you're gonna
hate it.' There have been some
exceptions, but that's usually
been the process."
If
that sounds frustrating, the
rewards Mamet has reaped
have been bountiful. A 1984
Pulitzer prize for drama for
"Glengarry Glen Ross." An
Oscar nomination for the script to
last year's presidential buriesque,
"Wag the Dog." A boatload of
Hollyw«)d money—$1.5 million
per script by some accounts.
"Mamet." wrote New Yorker
critic John Lahr in a comment
calculated to send Neil Simon
around the bend, "is the only
major American playwright ever
to succeed as a screenwriter."
"Film is just an outline," he
says. "That to me is all it is. You
have to get the outline correct. Be
able to tell the story of the movie
to yourself in 15 lines. Such that if
you take one out it doesn't make
sense, and if you add one it's redundant.
And each one is interesting
and makes you ask the
question, 'Geez, I wonder what
happens next?' If you can do that,
you can basically go out and shoot
the f—^king movie. A play ts telling
the story through dialogue.
"The audience is the same," he
adds, "but the form differs. So the
question is: How does the audience
perceive this form? Because
the form is nothing other than an
expression ofthe way in which the
audience perceives."
Like
Hitchcock, Mamet is a
theoretician of audience response.
So it makes sense
that he not only writes for film but
directs films as well. Particularly
the pictures he usually chooses to
do: blunt, quirky, shot on a shoestring—and
utterly of a piece with
the biting, existential comedy that
informs his plays.
"The Spanish Prisoner" is his
latest effort in this line, and it barkens
back to "House ofGames," his
first. Like "Games," "Prisonei^' is
about surface appearances and the
art of the con, delivered in this
instance via a "man on the run"
plotline about a convoluted
smoke-and-mirrors scheme to
swindle a brilliant invention away
ftom the man who created it. "The
genesis, the whole idea is a confidence
game which is played 'off
the wall,'" he says, "which means
with little or no f)rops, as opposed
to the confidence game that you
see in 'The Sting,' which is called
'the Big Store"— you have many,
many props and many, many extras.
If you look at the confidence
tricks played in 'The Spanish Prisoner,'
it's all in what you see and
what you don't see."
Duplicity. It's a classic Mamet
fixation. Genre is another, particularly
when it comes to the screen.
"House of Games" (1987) pit a
con artist against a psychiatrist for
a film that critics have called
"Hitchcockian"—a classification
that Mamet disputes. "Things
Change" (1988) was a nuevoscrewball
update of Capra's
"Lady for a Day," with Don
Ameche assuming the May Robson
role. "Homicide" ( 1 99 1 ) used
the police procedural for a treatise
on the loss of cultural identity as
seen through the eyes of an assimilated
Jew. Only 1994's "Oleanna"—Mamet's
controversial
rumination on sexual harassment
in which a man was the victim
—
steered clear of an identifiable
genre "type." Which makes sen.se,
because it's his only film that's
adapted from one of his plays.
And "The Spanish Prisoner"?
According to Mamet, it's "very,
very consciously an attempt to
understand the Hitchcockian
mode." He adds, "But there are all
different kinds of thrillers.
'House of Games' is to me a. film
noir thriller, which is very, very
different from this—this is a light
thriller But I always loved them,
the light thrillers, Stanley Donen
and Hitchcock. And also Jacques
Toumeur and Clouzot, those kind
of darker movies."
Donen. Hitchcock. Toumeur.
Clouzot. Fast company, even for
a five-time
director of notable
talent. Then again, Mamet's situation
is historically unique. His
currency in two art forms continues
to climb. Yet. as a director,
he's still working with production
budgets that wouldn't pay
for a half-day of shooting on a
film like 'Titanic."
He says it's by choice.
"Mike Hausman was my mentor
in moviemaking. He produced
my first three films. And he said
that the deep dark secret of
filmmaking is that any film can be
made for any budget. That's the
way I was brought up in movies.
I believe it's true. With those movies
that I made, 1 don't know what
I'd do with $40 million instead of
$4 million. I'm sure that, were I
given $4() million, Icould find out.
"But that probably wouldn't
make it a better movie."
"The Spanish Prisoner. " Starring
Campbell Scott. Rebecca
Pidgeon and Steve Martin Directed
and written hy David
Mamet. Produced by Jean
Doumanian. A Sony Cla-isics release.
Thriller. Opens 4/3 NY^A.
40 BOXOFHCE

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Response No, 99

Cover
UNMASKING "ZORRO"
Zorro:
It's a name with a long cinematic history. Douglas Fairbanks originated the bigscreen version with his 1920s silent efforts (see our Big
Picture, page 226), and in all, by film director Martin Campbell's count, 30-some Zorros have slashed their way across the silver and small
screens. (Including, says Campbell, a Zoretta, plus a 1975 Italian/French production that starred Alain Delon.)
This summer, TriStar brings movie audiences a new blade in "The Mask of Zorro," an Amblin production opening July 17. The romantic
adventure film, sets in the mid- 1 SOOs in Mexican California, puts Antonio Banderas behind the mask—as it does ShoWest actor of the year
Anthony Hopkins, playing the original Zorro who schools the young bandit in the ways of sword and cape. In the identity intrigue, Welsh-bom
Catherine Zeta-Jones ("The Phantom") plays Elena, a passionate young woman who unknown to herself was bom the daughter of the first Zorro.
On the following pages, key participants discuss their efforts in their own words, including director Campbell ("GoldenEye"), producer David
Foster ("The River Wild") and costumer Graciela Mazon. Banderas opens our tale, describing the man behind the mask....H
42 BUXOFFICE

April, 1998 43
ANTONIO
BANDERAS:
THE
SECOND
MASK
our story, we have two Zorros—that's the
Inbig difference in this movie. One of them,
the real one, Don Diego de la Vega, has
been 25, 30 years in jail. He lost his wife that
time ago, and his daughter—his daughter has
been raised by his mortal enemy.
Now he finds this pitiful face that is me, who
lost his brother—killed by the institutional
power of the time there in the land. This [Alejandro
Murieta] is going to be trained by him.
and he is going to become a gentleman, become
a beautiful "Zorro" man.
There's an initiation process that we're
going to see all through the movie, which is
pretty interesting—the fact that the Zorro in
our movie is much more a concept, really, than
a personality. [It's a] concept that represents
freedom, which represents responsibility, the
center of oneself coolness.
So the man behind the mask, in this case me,
is just a man learning. It's almost a melding.
not so much the act of putting the mask
It's
on and going out there. He tried before, but
he's not completely trained yet, and that
upsets my master.
[Alejandro] has to understand
that, through taking the mask and putting
on the mask, that represents responsibility, and
he's trying to fulfill the dreams of many other
people who need somebody. He's basically a
savior. So that's what the mask means: The
mask means kind ofa weight on your shoulders,
and you've got to be cool to wear that mask.
That mask is not given to anybody, but only
to somebody who has the specific training and
has everything put together—it's somebody
very down to earth. And at the beginning of
the movie he is not: he's like a child. He
doesn't have the matureness to portray the
character, to go ahead. He thinks that that's
kind of a circus performance—and he's completely
wrong. And then there's a moment in
the movie in which he's going to realize what
is the way, and he's going to follow that path,
and that path is going to take him to be the
hero that everybody knows—that elegant,
Spanish Hollywood hero created in the '20s,
which we've seen so many times in other
versions of the movie.
In a way, he does [experience his own salvation].
Revenge doesn't take you anywhere;
justice does. That dichotomy is what he's fighting
inside himself. The anger that he feels at
the beginning when his brother is killed is
taking him through nothing but bad things and
ruining his own life. So basically he exchanges
those two concepts—revenge for justice. And
that is the interior goal he has to reach. Once
he understands that, the whole process is faster.
My character is an orphan, and in some way
he assumes that [first Zorro as a fatherfigure] . Yet
it's not only that. There is a paternal side to the
relationship, but it's also a friendship. It's the
study of two men alone, isolated from the real
world, that are trying to put on the right track
different events that happened in
their lives for
different reasons. But they help each other. It's
kind of tender when you see the two men and
they are no longer swordfighting, and that's the
point of it—they live together in this secret cave
and they have to share everything, and it's kind
of sweet to see that relationship.... They become
absolutely bonded. Though they aigue a lot!
[also] a love story, and what makes the
It's
story interesting is the fact that I don't
know that this woman, Elena, is actually
the daughter of my master. And she doesn't
know that either—she's going to discover that
in the middle of the story.
I am portraying different characters, and she
falls in love with all of them in a way; she
doesn't know that it's the same person. So she
gets the feeling, the soul of this character
through different personalities, and with differing
attitudes—one of them is trying to pretend
being a gentleman coming from Spain,
another one is a thief with a strange mask that's
not even the mask of Zorro, the next one is the
real Zorro, and there is another one who's a guy
who's pretending to be a monk confessing her.
And she feels attracted by all of these four
characters, and then she discovers that they
are the same guy. You have very different
levels all through the relationship. I think
that's what makes the movie more complex.
It gives us also the possibility of playing
comedy, because there are a lot of confiisions
in that—until we find who we are.
H

44 BOXUFFICK
I
ANTHONY
HOPKINS:
THE
ORIGINAL
learn my lines and show up and do it. ldon"t
analyze it. I read the script, I learn the stuff,
and hope that it will work. I don't examine
it. The technical things I had to learn: fencing,
and riding, and the bullwhip. That's it, really.
I honed them down and practiced them—
tried to make them look efficient and good. So
I became accomplished in using a bullwhip, in
marksmanship with the bullwhip. And sword
fencing. I had a very good sword teacher. Bob
Anderson [who played Darth Vader in the '70s
and worked with Errol Flynn decades before],
and a great stunt coordinator And a wonderful
director in Martin Campbell. You know, I trust
the director to do it. I've been doing this a long
time now, so I put all my trust in the director
I'm an actor. There's no mystery to it. I just
learn my stuff and, if I'm playing Nixon I play
Nixon, and if I'm playing Zorro I play Zorro.
It was an adventure—it was a change from
playing Nixon and from playing those
[starchy] guys Uke in "The Remains of the
Day." I was offered the Bond film and I was
offered the Zorro film, both at the same time,
and I was in the middle of filming an actiontype
movie ["The Edge"] in Canada, so it was
a question of choice. And I chose "Zorro,"
because it was a big, flashy, good script, and
I really liked it, and I thought it would be a lot
of fun to do.... "Well, why not—have a go at
it! And if I'm bad and I don't come up to it,
then they can fire me, that's all." So that's how
I look at all my work. I don't take it seriously
now—I don't take anything that seriously.
You know, I have a lot of fun doing what I do,
and I don't agonize about it.
I became an actor some years ago, 40-odd
years ago, because I thought, "Well, it's better
than workinc for a livinc."
H
I
GRACIELA MAZON: THE LOOK OF ZORRO
That period in California was so rich —
there were so many cultures, and I
wanted to have all of these textures. Like
[the scene in which] Antonio is dressed as a
iioble, and then we have Anthony Hopkins,
who is dressed as his servant. So I wanted to
give Anthony the traditional chinaco style.
For Zorro, I wanted to keep earth textures at
the beginning.... [After his training] he has an
outfit that is the traditional black that Zorro
wears, but with this California style. I
wanted the same style, but in black, with this
fringe on the edge that makes him become
like part of the space in which he moves, all
of this floating in space.
And then to have the mask covering his face
and just leaving the eyes, to make the outline
for this mystery that is his face.B

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—
see him pretending to be an aristocrat, pretending
to be a don. And then I see him in the Zorro
get-up. So 1 see this man in many different
disguises, but I sense an attraction to each one.
With my father, at one point Tony Hopkins
and I have a very intimate scene in a stable, and
it's a wonderful scene in that he knows that I'm
his daughter. I'm aware that something is
going on, and it could even be borderlining on
a sexual thing. There's some attraction there
with him, and I think it was a wonderful thing
that Martin Campbell has put into this story
which was the ideal of the Zorro and the mask
and hiding behind the mask.
In fact, the three main characters, and even
the fourth, who is [former governor] Montero,
the baddie, who I think is my father; We all are
hiding, and trying to find something beyond
the mask. Antonio has got a revenge, of his
brother being killed by this Captain Love, this
animal kind of guy. And Tony Hopkins has
been betrayed bigtime—^his daughter has been
stolen. And he has a passion for the truth and
wanting people to know the truth. And me, I'm
caught up in the middle and I fall in love with
this man, but I don't know who he is and I want
to find out what's behind that mask. And then
I have to find out my real roots. So [Campbell]
made an analogy, which is very symbolic, of
people hiding behind masks, of secrets behind
masks. Which is really a subplot—it wasn't on
the page, but we created that in our working
process. And I think it's really interesting.
I
grew up in a small community outside
Swansea, a small city in the south of Wales
in the U.K. I went to the same school from
the age of 5 until I left, with the same teachers,
in a big house. It was a very, very small town.
I was passionate about the theatre. I was
lucky to be bom in the same hometown as
Dylan Thomas, so there was a Dylan Thomas
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES:
WOMAN IN EXPRESS
I
am actually the blood of Zorro. [Elena is]
the daughter of Anthony Hopkins' character,
and I do not know that. So I am taken
to Spain and brought up in aristocracy and
believe that I am from my [false] father's
blood. But in fact I'm fiery; I have an earthiness
to me, amongst all the regal attitude that I've
been taught. There's a fieriness to my character,
and she's a very rooted woman: She fights,
she swordfights, she rides horses like a man, in
the man's way of riding.
So in that way there's lots more to the
characterization than, you know, just sitting
atop a horse and looking pretty. Which is
great—because she's not the damsel in distress.
She's a woman who will go out there
and do as much as any man to get what she
wants. So that was nice for me, because I
wasn'tjust waiting for either one of the Zorros
to come and fetch me and save me.
Antonio's
character and I
are very attracted
to each other, becau.se we're
very similar in character. We have a
very sexy swordfight in one of our encounters.
And with Tony Hopkins' character I feel
that there's some connection to this older
man, but I am unaware until way later in the
movie that he is actually my father.
[The young Zorro j metamorphoses
throughout the whole movie. Every time !
encounter Antonio, he's a different character. I
first meet him as a bandit. The second time I
meet him as the don, the bandit being the
don—he has the kind of flippant buoyancy and
decadence that the old Zorro had in the time. I
theau^ group that I always belonged to. And I
was in amateur dramatics, and I started studying
dance when I was four years old.
You obviously take half of yourself into
[any role], but the great thing to me [about
"The Mask of Zorro"] was that I was doing a
Spanish accent. So it's a completely different
sound, and the body language is completely
different, for me. I have quite a very strong
Welsh accent, so when I saw Martin's first cut
it was really interesting that the Spanish accent
[interrupting herself]—I mean, I'm from
a very basic background, from a workingclass
family. I'm not part of the British aristocracy
in any way. We're very close, a big
Irish-CatholicAVclsh family.
People used to ask. Why did you start
studying d;ince al the age of four— it sounds
like your parents pushed you into this. But the
actual fact is, in the local Catholic church
around the comer from my house, there was
a lady who still teaches dancing there, actually,
and who's now a lifelong friend of mine.
And I was so hyperactive as a child that that
was the easiest way for me to exert myself in
.some way, so that I would al least sleep at
night. I have a quiet side to me, but I also have
a frenetic energy that's unbelievable. H
46 BOXOFFICE

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Response No. 155

MARTIN
CAMPBELL:
THE TWO
ZORROS
In
theory, it shouldn't work: Banderas is
Spanish and Hopkins is Welsh. But, given
the story structure of the movie, it worked
incredibly well. The story is simply like a
Merlin and Arthur relationship—about the
older Zorro who's getting on in years, who
trains this wild bandit, this wild young man, to
take over the mantle. To be Zorro, as it were.
The relationships, which work very well in
the movie, are dictated to a certain extent by
the story. Because the mechanics of it dovetail
beautifijUy into allowing the conflict of the
characters, it's a perfect structure for making
the relationships work.
And Tony being the classical actor that he
is, and Banderas of course also comes from the
stage in Spain—I mean, he did a lot of the
National Theatre in Madrid—all I can tell you
is that sometimes you get lucky with the chemistry
between two actors.
They're both perfectly suited to their roles,
both got on extremely well, and the dynamics
between them both—you know, this young,
fiery bandit who thinks with his heart rather
than his head, and this very classic, noble
Hopkins character, who has all the Zorro philosophy—are
both ends of the spectrum.
I tried to base it in terms of its [style] more
on the Fairbanks, on the silent movie, than
I ever did on the Tyrone Power and the
subsequent versions of the story. If you look
at those old silent movies with Fairbanks,
he's absolutely marvelous. Even though
they're silent, he captures the spirit and the
humor of Zorro much more than any of the
subsequent versions, h
—
DAVID
FOSTER:
ON THE
PRODUCTION
had a historian with us during tlie
Wewhole preproduction phase—that's a
long time. What we've done is mix
fact with fiction, but to keep the fact accurate
and the period accurate we had this historian,
Diego Sandoval, who's a Mexican historian.
What he did was put in the historical weapons,
swords, uniforms—make sure soldiers
were dressed the way Spanish soldiers were
dressed in that period. The film covers 1 820 to
1 840, so the story spans 20 years. Which is why
we have two Zorros. It starts out with Anthony
Hopkins as Zorro, and he's thrown in prison.
After 20 years in prison, when he comes out
he's in his late 40s, and he realizes he can no
longer be Zorro. So he trains this young man.
The entire film was produced and shot in
Mexico. The reason was that we wanted
accurate and real places. We rented from
owners of haciendas that have been in their
families for 200 and 300 years, in towns
you've probably never heard of.
For this picture, the camera was able to tum
.360 degrees in any direction and you wouldn't
see telephone poles, you wouldn't see satellite
dishes— you could look as far as the eye could
see in any direction and it looked like it would
have 2(X), 3(X) years ago.
I remember talking with Antonio before the
sh(xit, when he was home in Marbella. about
when he would be arriving and so on. And
Antonio siiid. "David. I'm kx)king out my window.
The sky is blue, the water is beautiful
why don't we shoot it in Sp;iin? And I said.
"Becau.se it doesn't look like Mexico."
Hi
48 BOXOFFICE

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Exhibition Profile
KERASOTES' KINGDOM
Kerasotes' New ShowPlace 16 Is Designed With
Customer Convenience As Its Top Priority
by Bridget Byrne
WINDOW TO THE WORLD: The ShowPlace 16's glass facade lets passersby see what they're missing.
The
Kerasotes family has been in the
movie theatre business since 1909, when
Gus Kerasotes opened a nickelodeon in
Springfield, 111. Today, Kerasotes Theatres,
Inc., the nation's 16th largest chain, is run by
Gus' grandsons: Tony, 49, president and CEO,
and Dean, 47, executive vice president and
COO.
speaking from their Springfield headquarters,
the two brothers discuss the strategy behind
their recent addition of 100 new screens
to the operation. Kerasotes Theatres currently
has 448 screens in 95 sites, and by the end of
1 998 this total should have risen to 524 screens
in 101 locations.
Tony and Dean focus on their prototype
multiplex—which they've named the Show-
Place 16—that opened in Rockford, III. on November
21, and in Coon Rapids. Minn., on
December 19. Both theatres are identical. They
were created by design consultants LI Technologies
and architects Abend Singleton Asso-
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52 BOXOFFICK
.
—
Dean describes the lobby itself as "a dynamic
environment" with two 10-foot-highLJ
Technologies' LIVE WALL screens, utilizing
digital imagery to constantly play previews
and ads. The Pepsi ads seem particularly popular
with kids. But fortunately for their parents,
Kerasotes Theatres (which it says is the only
chain in the Midwest to do so) has a free refill
policy on all sizes of soft drinks, popcorn
and Arctic Blast frozen drinks.
auditorium entrances are vis-
fh)m the lobby. "As
Allible theatres
have grown into laiger and
larger megaplexes, there are more and
more corridors for people to go down.
We've eliminated that, because we
think it is unattractive and confusing
for customers. In this theatre, the moment
someone buys a ticket they can
look up and see their entry," says Dean
"Even when we are running peak business
as with 'Titanic' the flow [of traffic]
is smooth," emphasizes Tony.
The response to the Minnesota
ShowPlace 1 6, the largest theatre in the
Twin Cities area, has been fantastic and
has brought many customers back to
the movies. "It really wows them. If
you haven't been to a theatre for five
years or more this can really knock
your socks off," says Dean.
Each auditorium has high-back, stadiumstyle
seating with cupholder armrests that Uft.
There is 44-inch spacing between rows, which
is four inches more than the industry standard.
All the theatres are equipped with Dolby Digital
and DTS sound systems and feature wallto-wall,
floor-to-ceiling curved screens.
Special care has been taken with the interior
wall design and construction to provide the
best possible sound and eliminate all exterior
noise. Along with the stadium seating there is
some floor seating for those who prefer it, but
it is set far back from the screen.
Bi
oth brothers have worked in the family
business since they were in high school,
so they have first-hand experience of
ushering, ticket selling and managerial problems.
Dean left the business for a while to
pursue doctorate studies in psychology, but he
returned when their late father's health was
failing and he had to decide whether to "get
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—
Q&A:
THEATRE
DESIGN'S NEW
DIMENSION
EDIFICE, INC.
EDIFICE, INC.
EDIFICE, INC.
EDIFICE, INC.
NOW SHOWING
AT OVER
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600
DESIGN/ BUILD
GENERAL CONTRACTORS
Merriam,
Kan.-based /./
Technologies designed and supervised
construction of ttie Kerasotes ShowPlace 16s in
Rockford, III., and Coon Rapids, ^4inn. Company president
Larry lacobson is former senior vice president of design, development
and facilities at AMC Theatres. His partner, Debi Weaver, was
rtational accounts manager for National Screen Service, facobson
gives BOXOFFICE some insight into his newest creation.
BOXOFFICE: How do you begin to design a movie theatre?
JACOBSON: I like to start with the spaces in an auditorium and
look at the seating configuration and how it relates to the screen as
opposed to building a box, an auditorium, and then saying, 'Okay,
now what size picture can we get in here?' Every seat in the house,
particularly in a stadium-seating environment, should be great viewing.
There really shouldn't he a l^ad seat in the house.
BOXOFFICE: What unique features does the ShowPlace 16 offer?
JACOBSON: It's a v-shaped building. And the lobby is at— if there's
an apex in a v— it's at the apex. It has a huge curved front. It's something
of a unique curvature. The ceiling height of the glass is 53 feet and it
forms the bottom of the 'v'. It allows people from the outside of the
building to see what's going on inside. You can see [the theatre's
interior] from the parking lot and from the highways. You can see the
people enjoying themselves, the activity inside the lobby, the LIVE
WALLS (1 0-foot-high large-image video entertainment systems) and
the concession operation. And, at a specific point in front of the
theatre, you can actually see down the corridors.
BOXOFFICE: How do you handle queuing in the theatre?
JACOBSON: You'll seldom see a line at the concession stand at
the 1 6-plex l^ecause there are so many stations 130] . And the fact that
you can see down those corridors allows you to see the satel I ite stands
also. So when you walk in and look there should be a place (or you
to go without having to wait in a concession line.
The calculations to determine the number of stations are based
upon transaction times, the number of [x-ople that might enter the
theatre at a given time and the estimated walk-in [jeriod.
BOXOFFICE: What are the acoustics like in the ShowPlace 16?
JACOBSON: The acoustical environment in the auditoriLims is
superior to anything that has been built that I'm aware of. You don't
get the flutter echo. A lot of times when you sit in a movie, you hear]
I
people say, 'What did he say? What did he say?' Often people blame
that on the sound system or the audio track and too often it's the
acoustical environment. The walls here have a difteivnt angular
configuration so it eliminates the flutter etho on the space. Sound
doesn't bounce off one sidewall ont(j the other .mmI I\x k, so you don't
hear the same sound two or thrt>e times. Iliai-- \\h\ vou have a
problem und("rstanding, because consonanl^arcM'iN shml ,ind when
you hear those two (jrlhrn' limes |)u-il\ '.won sou c ,in't ni.ikcnul any
of tlie words. The walls |at the bhow I'lace I bl mv designed lo totally
eliminate the flutter echo. Plus, the dividing walls are built so that you
don't get any sound transmission from one auditorium to another.
BOXOFFICE: Are you working on any new Kerasotes theatres?
JACOBSON: There are two more < >f the 1 (i-plexes under constnjction;
one is in South Bend, Ind and the other is in Invergrove Heights.
That's a suburb of Minnea(X)lis. They are both based on the Rockford
[ShowPlace 16) model. I'm actually looking at a 12-ple\ tor them
also. It will be another prototype.
Lisa Osbome
THEATRE SPECIALISTS
704-332-0900
been said before to Hollywood:
Don't jam ttx) many film releases
into June and July. I don't think
anyone can serve the customer
well if we jain too much into one
window of opportunity,"
says
Dean. At his end of the business,
he believes in keeping the diwrs
ofopportunity open in all seasons,
whatever the weather. IH
54 BOXOFFICE
Response No. 243

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INDEPENDENT EXHIBITION SHOWCASE
SHOWBOATAHOY
The Showboat of Lyons Brings Movies to Lake Geneva
by Bridget Byrne
ALL ABOARD THE SHOWBOAT: The theatre's nautical theme pays homage to its near lakeside location.
Afew years back, before it was realized
how the phenomenon of Tiger Woods
would bring the nation flocking to the
golf links,
Steve Felperin and Buck Kolkmeyer
formed a limited liability company to
acquire a nine-hole golf course and driving
range. Business off the tees had been poor, so
they got the 33 acres "dirt cheap" and cleared
the land for development.
Today that location, chosen after a careful
study of the area surrounding
Lake Geneva,
Wis., is the site of The
Showboat ofLyons, a sixplex
theatre. This venue
will have sideline amu.sements,
including a batting
cage, in place this summer
In
1999, a drive-in
with space for 360 cars
will be added—and, with
a nice touch of irony, perhaps
even a miniature
———^—
golf course. Lyoas is located
two miles north of
downtown I.ake Geneva, a traditional summer
resort for residents of Milwaukee and Chicago.
"h's a terrific movie market. We think it was
underscreencd because of its resort personality.
We think it bodes well for what we're trying
56 BoxoniCE
ii^We knewfrom
the get'go that
we wanted to build
an entertainment
center^ not
just a theatre."
to do," Felperin told The Reel News, the
monthly publication of the National Association
of Theatre Owners of Wisconsin and
Upper Michigan back in July 1997 just after
The Showboat opened.
Says Felperin today, "We knew ftom the
get-go that we wanted to built an entertainment
center, not just a theatre." Felperin, executive
vice president of Theatre Service Network,
Inc. (TSN), stresses that he believes in "competing
against ourselves"
for the public's entertainment
dollar "The theatre
is the straw that stirs the
drink, but the theatre is
also the hub of something
much more," he says, referring
to the availability
of the site for everything
from teleconferencing to
Super Bowl and prizefight
parties to his ultimate aspiration
of hosting an international
film festival.
His company's concept
(see sidebar, p. 58) has as its core focus helping
small towns and independent theatres get onto
"a level playing field with the big boys." either
by offering TSN's know-how on a consulting
basis or through forming piirtnerships with
people who want to bring
movies back to the heart of
their communities.
The
Showboat epitomizes
the company's
philosophy; consUucted
from the ground up, it's a
unique concept designed to
fulfill a specific need in a particular
location.
The name and design of
The Showboat were rooted in
the desire for "something nautical,"
acknowledging the
theatre's proximity to the
"messing about in boats"
pleasures of Lake Geneva.
This riverboat nostalgia is reflected
in the faux smokestacked
prow of the theatre, its
wharf town architecture, the
wheel motif on its marquee
and the tum-of-the-century
oak and burgundy interior, created by
KoUcmeyer's wife Kim, who owns an interior
design company. 'The name also denotes
iSKMirii
MOVIE MENU: Showboafs offerings
are clearly posted.

Coming Soon
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Design
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ResDOnse No 299
V3/S3J'IJJ
y

'show'ing, 'show'casing, 'show'ing something
off," says Felperin, clearly aware that he's
in show business.
"The entertainment should begin the moment
the customers walk in
the door, not just when they
sit down in the auditorium,"
he adds. "In fact, they
should start feeUng good
about the whole experience
in the parking lot."
The
Showboat theatre
is equipped with
Dolby Digital and
DTS sound and has both
stadium and traditional
seating. The stadium structure
gives the majority ol
the audience the seating
they favor, but with seveninch
risers instead of 14-
inch because family and
older patrons find them
more accommodating.
And the traditional seating
is comfortably distanced
from the screen.
Half of the seats are loungers
that tilt back but don't
rock. Also, all the auditoriums have curved
screens and seats with cupholders, which,
Kolkmeyer says, "are the best thing that ever
happened to the business."
Customer service is a top priority. "You have
to make people feel welcome. They like to see
auditoriums monitored by an usher," saysTSN
president Kolkmeyer, passing out some of the
TASTY MORSELS: This ship's galley selis tiaditional movie concessions.
advice he provides to his growing client list.
"We leave the doors open between showings
when the floors are being cleaned so that customers
know what's happening."
The food and drink provided by The Showboat
are traditional take-out fare, but both TSN
executives stressed the "awesome" quality of
the pizza. (Felperin, who seems to be particularly
fond of food metaphors,
even describes TSN as a "soup
to nuts" business.)
B
esides the restaurant,
which is open for lunch
and dinner, the concession
stands, and the food and
beverage seating in the theatre
lobby, there are also two birthday
party rooms, which can
seat 1 8 people and have proved
very popular. Each child attending
a Showboat party receives
a small bucket of
popcorn and a ticket for the
movie, which is shown just before
or after the festivities.
For adults, a sports lounge
with a wine and beer license is
planned for the upstairs mezzanine.
There is also an arcade
in the lobby that's outfitted
with games for all ages.
All the Showboat attractions
are interlinked—movie
tickets can be bought at the concession stands
and in the restaurant as well as at two separate
ticket stations. "Every station is a boxoffice
unto itself," says Felperin. They al.so display
TSN: FROM BASICS TO BUILD-OUT
Steve Felperin and Buck Kolkmeyer
started Theatre Service Network, Inc.
( ShoWest booth #2501 ) in 199 1 with the
goal of helping "to make dreams of owning
theatres a reality for newcomers to our business,"
or more matter-of-faclly "to provide a
single source of film indusuy services that
would benefit independent theatre owners."
Describing their teaming as "very idealist
and driven," Felperin says that their dreams
have grown bigger as the company has grown
bigger "We've created something we believe
is a true triple feature—film buying, theatre
management, and industry support information
services."
Now 44, the longtime friends first met in
Minneapolis in 1975. Felperin. originally
from the Washington, D.C. area, was a distributor
for Buena Vista; Kolkmeyer. from Cincinnati,
worked in atKcrtising and promotion
for Plitt Theatres.
They kept in touch over the years until the
time seemed ripe to start their own business.
In 1991, they began buying and booking lor
one client, who had just five screens. Now
they have more than 4(x;rdte the drive-ins,
and ShoPro, Inc., the consulting entity headed
by Kolkmeyer, which is the direct investor in
The Showboat of Lyons theatre.
Sight & Sound now leases two prominent
Chicago-area drive-ins. It was Sight &
Sound's relationship with [Xirtners in West
Bend, Wis. who were unhappy with the p

acks of"Boxoflfice Buddy Cards" that provide
patrons, particularly parents, with information
about a movie's subject matter. They also train
staff members in how to answer common customer
questions.
Both
Felperin and Kolkmeyer exude enthusiasm
for their work. It doesn't hurt
that, speaking from TSN headquarters
in Yorkville, III, the two entrepreneurs are
coming off a successful holiday season buoyed
by the repeat business of "Titanic."
"I've never been more excited. It's been a
great season. The movies are getting much
'Tve never been more
excited. It's been a
great season. The
movies are getting
much better."
better," says Kolkmeyer, who, in chorus with
his partner Felperin, points out that the public
respxjnds when quality product is served up in
a well-conceived and attractive environment
like The Showboat.
And they're not Lyons about that.
H|
DRIVE-INS: AN AIR OF SUCCESS
Felf)erin and Kolkmeyer are staunch believers
in drive-ins. They already successfully
run two in the Chicago
subuit)s, one of which ha.s been going for 25
years, the other nearly 50. But the one they
plan for The Showboat will be brand-new.
"The drive-in business is very gc»d. Not
just for nostalgic reasons but because realistically
in modem times it is a very inexpensive
way to have a family outing in a casual relaxed
manner," says Felperin.
Drive-ins are often not built due to the high
cost of land, but the price was good for the 33
acres on which the Showboat facility now
stands, and 10 acres remain to accommodate
the drive-in and its auxiliary attractions.
The new drive-in, projected to be open by
the summer of 1999, will have space for 360
vehicles. The FM stereo sound transmission
will provide excellent sound, the one great
improvement in the drive-in experience that
will otherwise retain all the long understood
benefits for families and loving couples seeking
an intimate
night at the movies.
In addition to the blacktop area, the drive-in
will have a lawn on which patrons can set out
their own chairs, blankets and FM radios and
have a picnic. The TSN executives believe
that
families and couples vacationing outdoors
like to retain that feeling in the evenings.
"They are paying good money. They
don't want to stay inside. We provide an
economical way to maintain that vacation
feel," says Felperin. Although he's aware that
darker pictures — "Batman," for example—
don't play so well on a 100-fbot outdoor
screen, he says that audiences never seem to
complain about anything being hard to see.
What he does hear is gratitude, particularly
from parents of newborns and young children
who feel comfortable taking them to a drivein
where their fussing and crying won't disturb
other patrons. For children not content to
sit still all the time, The Showboat will p«T>
vide a playground for soccer and fnsbee
throwing, along with batting cages and, possibly,
that miniature golf course.
The drive-in will screen two movies for the
price of one, and children aged 1 1 and under
will be able to enter free of charge. Most
movies will be rated G, PG or PG-13. If a
movie is R-rated, it will be presented as the
second feature, when younger kids will probably
have fallen asleep in the back of the car.
Waitresses will bring food and beverages
to the cars, but patrons will also be able to eat
and drink while still watching the drive-in
screen from the complex's up.stairs lounge
and patio where tables are equipped with
radio transmitters.
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60 BOXOFFICE
Response No. 461

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62 BOXOFFICE
SPECIAL REPORT: Public Service
MOVIE CHARITIES
Variety Clubs of the U.S., Boys & Girls Clubs of America and
the Will Rogers Memorial Fund All Benefit From Star Support
by Bridget Byrne
Thepearly gates ofheaven swing openfor a tattooed biker sporting the Variety
Clubs ofthe U.S. gold heart pin, while the self-important "suit" is barred...
Denzel Washington holds up a Boys and Girls Clubs ofAmerica membership
card, suggesting that if you put one in a child's hand it wUl keep that hand away
from a gun, a needle or a knife...
And coming, courtesy of Walt Disney Studios, in timefor Memorial Day, will
be a similar attention-gettingfew seconds for the Will Rogers Memorial Fund
and Institute...
Public
Service Announcements (PSAs),
screened in theatres around the nation,
reach out to the public in the hope of
attracting the dollar donations that are the lifeblood
of long-established charities like
these—charities that in an increasingly competitive
arena are being revitalized by imaginative
marketing campaigns, utilizing the
know-how, hands-on help and sometimes
even the faces of showbiz veterans.
On a rainy January evening. Variety Club
supporters gathered in the Darry 1 Zanuck Theatre
on the 20th Century Fox lot in Century
City to hear Gold Heart Campaign chairperson
Maureen Arthur-Ruben ask, "Where's your
heart?," witness the unveiling of the rainbow
design for this year's pin and preview the trailer
"Gates," slated to run in theatres through February
in conjunction with the club's annual
National Theatre Program.
The under-one-minute spot was created by
Chicago's DDB Needham company, produced
pro bono by Screenvision Cinema Network
in conjunction with Palomar Pictures,
and directed by Breck Eisner, Disney chief
Michael Eisner's son, who has several topnotch
commercials to his credit, including the
Budweiser "Powersurge" spot that aired during
the 1997 Super Bowl, as well as a PSA for
Camp Ronald McDonald.
"It was fun to do. Something you really
believe in gives more satisfaction than some-
GOLOEN HEARTED: Carolyn Woods: Maureen Arthur-Ruben (chairperson of Variety Club's Golden
Heart Pin Campaign): Mr. Blackwell: Irene Graft (actress/friend of Variety Club): Jody Reynolds
(Variety Club's national fundraising chairperson).
BOY TO MAN: Denzel Wasnmgion is a lifetime
supporter of Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
thing that isjust commercial," said 27-year-old
Eisner as he joined such gold heart wearers as
U.S. fundraising chair Jody Reynolds for a
reception in the Fox commissary following the
screening of the trailer
Instead of something somber, the idea was
"to make 'em laugh" using a cast featuring
rising star Steve Hytner, known as the annoying
character Bania on "Seinfeld" and now as
the sarcastic office worker John Delaney on the
new sitcom "Working," along with actors Greg
Besnak and Earl B. Schuman, as well as several
youngsters who have benefited from the
Variety Club Children's Charities.
"We think it [turned] out to be a super piece
of promotional work.. .a fresh, humorous idea
that we hope will stand out above all other
charity promotions," said Dennis Fogarty,
president ofScreenvision, which raised money
to make the trailer at benefit galas it hosted in
New York, San Francisco and Chicago to
showcase the winning campaigns from the
Cannes International Advertising Festival.
Also contributing to the production of
"Gates," which was shot last November in Los
Angeles, was Digital Domain (the special effects
group that worked on 'Titanic"): Nomad
editing; Elias Music; E-Film; and Franklinmedia,
which did the sound mixing. Eastman

i .i
April, 1998 63
Who says there's nothing
good at the movies?
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LIFE AFTER DEATH: Will Rogers lives on
through the work of his Institute.
Kodak donated 625,000 feet of film and CH
processed it. Warner Bros, created the in-theatre
materials and the Ford Motor Company
donated a 1 998 Lincoln Navigator as the grand
prize to be awarded at this year's ShoWest in
Las Vegas to the winner of the draw of theatre
managers who sold more than 2,000 gold
hearts.
With the support of50 national, regional and
local exhibition companies, the Gold Heart
Campaign mns in more than 1,100 theatres.
The previous gold heart trailer, also produced
by Screenvision and starring Clint Eastwood,
Joan Collins and Luke Perry, played on more
than 6,000 screens, representing 120 milhon
audience impressions. This year's outreach
will be on a similar scale; one-and-a-half million
pins are available for sale at S2 each.
The "Wear Your Heart On Your Sleeve And
Show You Care" pin, which changes design
every year, was fu^t launched in Great Britain
in 1991 and has swiftly become the Variety
Clubs' most successful fundraising tool, having
generated more than $45 million worldwide.
Wearers of the pin have included the late
Princess Diana, who on Valentine's Day in
1997 wore one on the lapel of her suit when she
joined Variety Club fundraisers, including
Marsha Rae Ratcliff, who created the pin, to
visit London's Great Ormond Street Hospital
for Sick Children. Other heart wearers include
Bond men Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan,
models Helena Christiansen and Rachel
Hunter and stars as diverse as Charlton Heston,
Little Richard, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Madonna, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn
and Jim Carrey.
Variety Club's showbiz connection is almost
literally inborn. On Christmas Eve in
1928, a baby was abandoned in the Sheridan
Theatre in Pittsburgh with a note attached: "I
have heard of the goodness of showpeople and
I
hope you will take care of my baby." An
organization called Variety Club was formed
to adopt the child, who members named Catherine
Variety Sheridan. Since then, the concept
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has burgeoned into 50 chapters in 1 1 countries
and raised more than $750 miUion to help more
than 500 different agencies and projects supporting
hungry, homeless or sick children.
An
even older charity is the Boys and
Girls Clubs of America, which began
in 1890 when the fu^t club, called the
Dashaway Club, was established in Hartford,
Conn. Now there are 1 ,850 clubs serving some
2.6 million youths. The group is growing rapidly:
1,000 new clubs
have opened since 1987.
And, most significantly,
its name was changed in
1990 to include "girls"
and reflect the clubs' outreach
to all young people.
In 1990, Evan McElroy
rejoined the Boys & Girls
Clubs of America, with
which he had worked in
the late '70s, as its vice
president of marketing
and communications.
"We felt we needed to
make some fairly
dramatic
moves to reflect the
dramatic changes we
were undergoing," says HANGING OUT:
McEboy, speaking from
the organization's headquarters in Atlanta.
Aware of the impact that a showbiz name can
have, he searched among the clubs' alumni and
found several well-known faces. He discovered
that Denzel Washington had not only
belonged to aclub in Mt. Vemon, N.Y., but had
also worked as a club counselor. Ameeting was
set up between McElroy and Washington by a
board member in South CaroUna who had
grown up in the club with Washington.
McElroy says, "We talked seriously about the
need for a spokesperson and Denzel agreed.
"Denzel is perfect for us because he beUeves
in the clubs, having grown up in one, and so
he speaks from the heart," says McElroy, who
has made two PSAs with the Oscar-winning
star of "Glory."
"He's more interested in being an actor than
a movie star. Also he's very family focused,
he's wholesome and sincere. You can't make
fliat stuff up. With him it's genuine."
The first PSA, produced in 1993, reunited
Washington with his mentor Billy Thomas and
outlined Washington's history with the clubs.
But the new ad is, at Washington's suggestion,
a littie more hard-edged, reflecting the dangers
on the streets and the ugly temptations in life
that the clubs try to help children to avoid.
Additionally, Washington, always in demand
on screen (Warner Bros' "Fallen" was
released in January, Disney's "He Got Game"
will be out in May, and earlier this year he was
shooting 20lh Century Fox's "Martial Law"
with "Glory" director Ed Zwick), spends time
visiting the clubs, attending the organization's
national conference and giving issue-related
media interviews.
Initially, the ads played only on TV, with
clubs securing time from their local TV stations.
But this second campaign has a broader
outreach. The new spot is being included on
the front of the "Courage Under Fire" video
and it's also running in many local theatres.
"Before, that would have been too expensive
for us to develop, but now it costs us only 10
such as the Carmike Cinemas and the
bucks a reel to make a 35mm print, and [circuits]
Magic Johnson Theatres have been particularly
co-operative in running the spot," says
McElroy.
Besides Washington's direct involvement
: Denzel Washington with other Boys and Giris Club kids. Photo Credit: an Alexander
as national spokesperson, many other stars
who have known first-hand the benefits of the
clubs take time to help. McElroy mentions
actor Danny Glover, singer Neil Diamond and
"Star Trek" veteran Leonard Nimoy as well as
country singer Rhett Akins, who cut a radio
PSAfor the clubs tied to his hit "Don't Get Me
Started." The clubs also benefit from The Bonnie
Raitt/Fender Music Education Program,
which provides guitar lessons for club members.
McElroy hopes to get other celebrities,
such as Robin Williams and Jennifer Lopez,
involved to expand awareness of all the programs
that the clubs offer Topics include education,
the environment, health, the arts,
careers, gang prevention, leadership development,
athletics, and alcohol, drug and pregnancy
prevention.
Will Rogers Memorial Fund and In-
is also undergoing major
Thestitute changes
and a renewed commitment to its goal
of helping everyone live a healthy life. Last
year, after being based in New York for 60
years, the fund relocated to Los Angeles to
strengthen ties to the studios and exhibitors that
are its major supporters.
Will Rogers died in a plane crash in 1935.
The following year, industry colleagues established
a fund in his name to provide vaudevillians
with TB with the best care at no cost and
to conduct research into pulmonary diseases
for everyone's benefit. Although Rogers himself
did not suffer from TB, the disease was so
prevalent at the time that it was coasidered the
most worthwhile cause.
During the pa.st decade, the Will Rogers
Fund has raised more than $14 million for
medical research and health education and the
In.stitute has created more than 100 PSAs on
health topics that have been distributed to theatres,
TV, radio and the print media.
Each year, more than 2,500 people from the
entertainment industry attend health screenings
organized by the Will Rogers Memorial
Fund to check their cholesterol, blood pressure
and glucose levels. The fund is affiliated with
four research
hospitals—^New York Hospital/Comell
Medical Center, Burke Rehabilitation
Hospital in White Plains, N.Y, and the
UCLA and USC Medical Centers in Los Angeles—serving
the 25
million people in the
U.S. with lung disorders.
The fund's newly
elected
officers—chairman
Wayne Lewellen,
president of distribution
for Paramount Pictures"
Motion Picture Group,
and president Eric
Lomis. senior vice president
and general sales
manager of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's
distribution
company— are
kicking off this year's
major fundraising campaign
on Memorial Day
weekend.
"Last year when we
were relocating we didn't do audience collection,
but it's been our primary source of donation
and we are doing it again this year," says
Lomis, referring to the tradition of literally
passing the hat, or at least the collection jar, to
movie audiences.
This year, audiences will be tai^eted by
region so that regular patrons will not feel
burdened by the usher passing the hat again
and again. The campaign will be divided into
four regions: the east, midwest, south and west.
Involving exhibitors through its audience
collection campaign, the organization has benefited
from a major commitment from the
movie industry. Current members include
Charles Goldwater, president and CEO of
Mann Theatres, elected secretary; Steve
Rapaport, executive vice president/sales operations
for Paramount, elected treasurer; and
executive officers Michael Pade, executive
vice president of film at United ArtisLs Theatres,
and Bruce Snyder, president of domestic
distribution for 20th Century Fox.
Although the exact content of the Will Rogers
trailer, which Phil Barlow, president of
distribution for Disney, is preparing, is not yet
finalized, Lomis reports that TriStar/Sony's
"Godzilla" will be one of the movies to which
the trailer will be attached. He also hopes that
it will play with 20th Century Fox's "The
X-Files Movie."
"Will Rogers was about helping people and
we are proud to continue that legacy," says
Lomis, who believes that, if Rogers could
proffer advice from inside the pearly gates of
heaven, he would simply say: "Go do it. Talk
to everyone you can. Get it together on the right
track aiiid hopefully then you'll raise a lot of
money and help a lot of people, because that's
what it's all about."
WM

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Response
No. 1
American International Concession Products, Corp. 20 Dubon Court, Farnningdale, NY 1 1 735
(516) 420* 1 868 Fox (51 6) 420*4042

66 BoxomcE
SPECIAL REPORT: Law
RISKY BUSINESS
A Risk Management Primerfor
Theatre Owners and Employees
by Vincent R. Fontana and William Ricigliano
Movie
theatres and many otho- public
facilities that must nsgulate traffic flow
of patrons
within their premises are
exposed to occasional accidents and, unfortunately,
litigation. But instituting certain proceduiBs
can help avoid and/or significantly mitigate
potential exposure to lawsuits and litigation costs.
Most actions commenced against theatres
involve slips and falls caused by transient conditions.
Spills of soda or butter, strewn candy
or popcorn, and even general debris appear and
remain momentarily but can result in a patron
sustaining an accident and suffering injury.
To establish a cause of action for negligence
in these situations, the plaintiff must prove that
the theatre owner, or its employees, agents or
servants, created the alleged condition. In instances
in which the claimed dangerous condition
is of a precipitous nature, this burden is
extremely difficult for the plaintiff to meet. But
there is another method for a plaintiff to establish
negligence. Most states permit a plaintiff
to demonstrate that the theatre owner had notice
of a condition and failed to remedy it,
thereby imputing negligence to that owner.
Notice can be established by demonstrating
that the defendant had (a) actual or express
notice or (b) constructive or implied notice.
Actual/Express Notice
There is no mystery to the concept of actual
notice. Actual notice means what it says; that
is, that the presence of a condition was actually
communicated to the defendant directly or to
one of its employees. The plaintiff can prove
this element by providing a witness who
claims to have advised the defendant of the
existence of the condition. Actual notice can
also be verified ifthe plaintiff was the one who
informed the defendant of the problem.
During discovery, the plaintiff will usually
demand documents that could reveal that other
patrons complained about a certain condition,
or that the condition was a recurring one that
the defendant was fully familiar with. Again,
this is a difTicult burden to establish when the
defect is of a transient character. By its nature,
such a condition will come and go, seldom
proving to be a recurrent one.
Similarly, it is rare for the plaintiff to actually
complain to the employees about a condition
before suffering an injury. La>gic dictates that.
if the plaintiff had the wherewithal to observe
a condition and inform management about it,
then it would be unlikely for the plaintiff to
confront the condition again and sustain an
injury. Thus, in most cases involving the presence
of a temporary defect, the plaintiff is
relegated to a claim of constmctive notice.
Constructive/Implied Notice
Constructive notice will arise when the
plaintiff establishes that the defendant knew or
should have known of the existence of adefect
and failed to remedy it. In New York, for
example, to estabUsh constructive notice the
plaintiff must prove that the condition was
"visible and apparent" and existed for a sufficient
length of time prior to the accident to
permit the defendant's employees to discover
and remedy it. What is critical when deciding
the existence of constmctive notice is time.
Establishing the time element can be
achieved in a number of ways. Often, constmctive
notice can be inferred based on the
characteristics of the defect itself For example,
a liquid substance that is streaked or dirty
or contains footprints could imply that the
condition has existed for a significant length
of time. Similarly, the consistency of the substance
could provide a clue as to the amount
of time it remained on the floor. Sticky liquid
or squashed candy implies that the condition
has been present for a while.
Institution of Procedures
With the concept of notice in mind, theatre
owners should adopt one or all of the following
procedures to significantly curtail accidents
and their ensuing litigation.
• Maintaining Regular Cleaning Practice.
It goes without saying that the first step to
avoiding litigation is to prevent or decrease
accidents in the first place. This is most
effectively accomplished by maintaining a
strict cleaning schedule of all areas of the
theatre. Individual theatres should be
cleaned and checked between shows, and
inspection of the theatres, lobbies and
restrooms should be conducted on a regular
basis, preferably every half-hour to an hour.
Many theatres hire outside companies to
thoroughly clean during non-business hours
and then employ ushers to maintain the
theatre during working hours. Adopting this
regimen is useful for two reasons. First, it
demonstrates that the theatre is dedicated to
cleaning on a daily basis, several times a day.
Second, it prevents a plaintiff from establishing
overall uncleanliness of the theatre
as a contributing factor to the accident.
If an outside company is hired, a contract
should be entered into, under which the contractor
agrees to indemnify the theatre for any
accidents that arise as a result of the company's
negligent cleaning. The contract should also
require the cleaning company to procure iasurance
on behalfof the theatre that would provide
coverage should an accident occur. PoUcy manuals
should be created that set forth the duties
ofthe ushers for cleaning during business hours.
Training sessions should be scheduled to
familiarize ushers in the proper methods and
tools used during regular cleaning. Developing
a system in the event that a spill or substance
is observed is also important. For
example, if liquid is noted, sawdust or some
other absorptive material should be placed on
the floor and a sign indicating "wet floor"
should be erected to prevent patrons from
wandering into potentially dangerous areas.
• Record-Keeping/Maintenance of Logs.
Record-keeping and maintenance of cleaning
logs go hand in hand with thorough cleaning and
inspeaion procedures. A practice that we have
found to be successful is the creation of a checklist,
signed by a manager after the theatre is
cleaned. The log should include the names and
number of ushers cleaning, verify that the theatre
was inspected by a manager for any wayward
spills or garbage, and most importantly indicate
the time that the cleaning was completed. Separate
logs should be kept for cleaning and maintenance
of the restrooms, concession areas, lobbies
and even the exterior stairs and forking ansas if
the particular theatre participates in snow removal
and salting during winter months.
Logs are invaluable in confimiing that an
individual theatre has been cleaned; but,
more importantly, the records document the
time that the area was cleaned and inspected.
The importance of this information is evident
in the following example:
A theatre is cleaned and in.spected by a
manager at 1 p.m., and the procedure is recorded.
Subsequently, a patron slips on pop-

;
Roof
com butter and falls at 1:10 p.m. Without the
log entry, the plaintiff can argue that the presence
of butter existed on the floor for hours. A
clever defense attomey through the use of the
log can rebut the plaintiff's anticipated claim
ofconstructive notice. This is accomphshed by
arguing that the theatre's employees could not
possibly have discovered the spill's presence
and remedied the condition during the very
short 10-minute interval between the time the
theatre was cleaned and inspected (and no
butter was found) and the time that the
plaintiff's accident occurred.
Thus, effective nscording of the cleaning procedure
significandy reduces the amount of time
that the plaintiflFcan claim a defect existed. Without
this element of time on their side, the
plaintiffs claim of constmctive notice withers
away, and in many cases so does the entire action.
9 Designating Witnessesfor Depositions. A
tool for the early dismissal of cases prior to trial
is the deposition testimony ofthe theatre manager
or another representative familiar with the cleaning
procedures and record-keeping of the theatre.
Thorough preparation and training of these
witnesses will greatly assist defense counsel in
securing a dismissal of slip-and-fall actions.
Each theatre should designate one or two
managers or other employees to appear for
depositions. These employees should be able
to adequately describe the methods adopted
and used by the theatre in a way that is clear.
A witness trained in the nuances of depositions
can avoid the pitfalls of careless and often
harmful testimony.
Furthermore, should the
case proceed to trial, the theatre's attomey will
be comfortable knowing that a representative
fully cognizant of both the theatre's pohcies
and the intricacies of the legal system will
represent the voice of the movie theatre.
• Proper Completion and Filing ofAccident
Reports. Accident reports must be maintained
in order to document an occurrence in the event
that litigation arises. The incident report should
include whether the individual sought or refused
medical attention, and it should list the
names of any witnesses who can potentially be
interviewed or deposed to provide further information
regarding the incident. Any preliminary
investigation should be included as well.
The manager on duty should be trained in the
method to correctly complete the accident report.
Any attempts by the employees of the theatre
to contact the plaintifffollowing an accident
should also be fully documented in a report.
No employee should make any statement to an
injured patron at the time of the incident.
• Scheduling of Meetings With Attorneys/
Risk Managers. Employees of the theatre
should attend regular meetings or fomms conducted
by their defense counsel to better understand
the state of the law and why certain
procedures are necessary.
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Frequent meetings
will also provide a forum for the employees to
ask questions regarding appropriate action to
be followed in certain situations.
Other areas of the law, such as patron or
employment discrimination, product liabihty
and the Liability of the theatre for assault and
battery, can also be addressed at these meetings.
Then, when incidents do arise,
theatre
employees will be armed with the appropriate
m
knowledge ofthe law forming the basis oftheir
conduct. In essence, such meetings will mold
employees into a team of quasi-risk managers.
Conclusion
The saying goes that an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure. This could not be
more true when attempting to prevent accidents
in a heavily trafficked open forum such
as a movie theatre. With the ever-increasing
number of multiplexes and megaplexes, accidents
and injuries—and thus lawsuits—^will
continue to grow. However, by adopting and
following the procedures outlined above and
informing employees of the rationale and legal
implications behind the procedures, theatre
owners will go a long way toward avoiding
accidents and helping to Umit their exposure in
the event that Utigation does ensue.
MM
Vincent R. Fontana is a partner in the New
York law firm of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz,
Edelman & Dicker, LLP. He was chair of the
American Bar Association's Governmental
Law Committee of the Torts & Insurance
Practice Section and is the author of "Municipal
Liability: Law & Practice, "published by
John Wiley & Sons. Mr Fontana attended
Fordham University Law School, where he
was a member of the law review. He is a
frequent lecturer on employment,
constitutional
law and general liability issues.
William
Ricigliano is an associate at Wilson,
Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker andspecializes
in the defense of commercial and
residential landowners in various actions.
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Response No. 496 April, 1998 67

—
—
Tribute
SPECO GOES GOLD
Celebrating 50 Years of Supplying
the Exhibition Industry
by Kim Williamson
Ahalf-century ago, in March 1948, a
little company called Drive-In Theatre
Manufacturing Co. was incorporated
by founder George P. Heller. As its name implied,
the firm handled the product needs ofthe
many ozoners that had cropped up around the
country and were finding happy audiences in
the wide-open days of postwar America.
Back those 50 years, Drive-In Manufacturing
supplied the speakers, junction boxes,
lighting, car counters, in-car heaters, automated
ticketing machines and a variety of
other products required by the folks who ran
those wonderful theatres under the sky. Of
course, those skies shrank, so to speak, as the
cost of land grew as the American populace
continued its move from urbania out to the
rural areas that drive-ins had called home.
Little by little, as the decades passed, the ozoner
hole increased and the number of drive-ins
went into a steady decline.
Today, as our latest Giants of Exhibition
survey (January 1998 issue) revealed, only 20
of the top 50 stateside circuits retain any drivein
operations—^and most of those have less
than a handful. (In fact, only two chains
Cineplex Odeon, with 10, and Century Thea-
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^M"
YESTERDAYS:
(ABOVE) On a
ShoWest trade floor of
the early 1980s (which
not only was still inside
the hotel but. man. look
at the elbow room!),
George Higginbotham,
Gene Higginbotham
andJacque Dhooge
(left to right) man the
SPECO booth.
(LEFT) In our western
edition dated F^. 19,
1973 (which contained
our annual specialcontents
look at
drive-in operations),
tfie company that would
become SPECO
advertised the product
of the day: An RCAdesigned
drive-in
speaker that featured
an automatic sound
cutoff when the unit
was replaced on the
junctKin box.
tres, with an industry-high dozen, have ozone
holdings numbering in two figures.)
But Drive-In Manufacturing was changing
with the times. In 1954, it began work on
electronic test equipment and changed its
name to Drr-MCO--a moniker derived from
the initials of Drive-In Theatre Manufacturing
Co. Further adapting to the indusOy's new
all-hardtop, all-the-time era, on December 1,
1983—with the Kansas City, Kan.-ba.sed concern
by then mn by president George W.
Higginbotham, founder Heller's nephew
the company became Systems & Products
Engineering Co., better known simply as
SPECO. Making that announcement 15 years
ago, SPECO noted in a news release, "We have
changed our name to reflect more accurately
our activities and product line. Over the years,
we have concentrated our reseiuth and development
program into the general theatre
equipment field, and today over 70 percent of
our sales are to indoor theatres. We chose this
name because our pnxiuct line signifies a systeras
approach to theatre needs and because we
are continually introducing new products.
68 BoxorncE
i

I ue9
company in 1974 had developed its
Thefirst platter system. The LP-270 "has
been on the market for 24 years now,"
Higginbotham says. "Many of our first manufactured
LP-270s are, believe it or not, still in
operation. From time to time, we receive a unit
for overhaul with a serial number below 500.
We give it new rollers, motors and a general
check-up—and back it goes into the field."
Cl,AUDK a PiBHBt
M ^
OltVtL.t.E O G01.I1
GLassFOPm GLassForm GtassForm GiassForm
Genuine
GLassForm*
fiberglass trash receptacles
and bench seating
»
Drlv»-In ThMtrs Mfg. Co.,
704 North 6th 3tra*t
Ksna** CitT. Kan*aa 66101
iC«nt
Mr. P. W. Eallhaclc
W* taka plaasurs In ancloaing harawlth omcial notlca of
lloHanca In the Orvllla C. Halla applicatlgn Tor Canadia
patent on 'CIBC'JUTIlia HEATER* , fllad Itacanbar 19, 1963,
SariaJ No. 891,661.
allowad » Kar 11,
iv«;), ana coac tn. rin.i utiv.m..nt ibb mim. . paid Into
tha Canadian Patant Ofric. not lat.r than Mova^.r 11, 1965.
U. ara ancloalng haraulth our atatasMnt In tha amount of 445.00
to cover tha final fea and tba Canadian aaaoclatea' ehargaa for
handling tha laauanca of tha pat.nt.
durable
easy to maintain
custom colors and shapes
interior & exterior use
solid/granite/sandform finishes In
k
If you .111 aand ua your chock for that aiKiunt, wa will forward
>an. to th. propar a thorltiaa ao that th. p.tant will
laaua without d.lay. Wa ahould r.c.1.. thla f.a at . ..rly
dat. ao th.t w. .; forward aana to tha Canadian Patant Offlca
In aufflBiant ttaa.
aincoraly youra,
PlSBSDm AKS COLD
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: The company wins a
1965 Canadian patent for a circulating heater.
Now owned by George and his two brothers,
Ed and Gene (who serve as company vice
presidents), SPECO is "probably the smallest
and least known in the industry" of all the
outfits in its industry sector, George Higginbotham
says. Perhaps his midwestem
modesty is showing in that statement, however,
as SPECO in the 1990s has successfully
established not only a domestic but also an
international footprint. "We now have equipment
in more than 40 countries worldwide,"
he notes, a growth powered by that progressive
business philosophy (which calls for "at least
one new product every year") that's still inherent
in its name. SPECO can also call on some
"young blood" in its expansion toward the new
century,
with next-generation Jaren Higginbotham
aboard as a vice president.
Rather than wait for business for SPECO
catalog offerings—or even design ideas for
the products of 2001—to come to them,
SPECO has an active outreach program for its
customers in the exhibition community. "We
do this by working closely with field engineers
and technicians from many theatre
chains, seeking input on the latest industry
problems," George Higginbotham says.
SPECO's newest product is the LP-453,
described by Higginbotham as "a truly digital
system that requires absolutely no adjustments
in the field. I guess you could say it's plug and
play." Other items in its product lines include
a film cleaner, a headwrap failsafe ("handy
with the new mylar film," Higginbotham
notes), a wide variety of roller assemblies
("more than you can shake a stick at—we'll
put your film anywhere you want it to go"),
sound heads, dimmer systems and cue sensors
— "to name a few," Higginbotham concludes
proudly. Even midwestem modesty
goes only so far.
Mi
call
1-800-995-8322
or fax: 1-630-761-8859
GLassFOpm GiassForm GLassForm GiassForm
Response No. 62
come see us at
SHOWEST '98
for a preview
= INDUSTRIES. «VC. ^^
Booths 1712 & 1713
of our conning attractions
direct
step lighting
in-direct
our new L.E.D. step and
aisle lighting systems
2002-A So. Grand Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92705
phone 714-662-4860
fax 714-641-0944
Response No. 106
April, 1998 69

Technology
SOUND NICHE
SMART Theatre Systems Makes its Mark By
Focusing on Analog Audio Systems
SMART
Theatre Systems, a small company
from Atlanta, Ga., is holding its
own in the highly competitive cinema
sound market, even though that market is dominated
by the three digital players—Dolby, Digital
Theater Systems (DTS) and Sony (SDDS).
SMART thrives because its founder and
CEO Norm Schneider focused primarily on
analog soundtrack audio systems (ignored by
the bigger players in their rush to digital), and
grew SMART over the past 20 years into a
business that does everything in-house:
designing, engineering, manufacturing, even
cabinet making. This on-site capability enables
SMART to respond to the market
quickly and economically.
Schneider can also recognize talent, naming
Vincent Luciani president of the company in
March 1 997. Luciani is an engineer with management
expertise, an alumnus of both
SMART and Panasonic, and a former musician
with a deep love of music. While Schneider
focuses on international business,
marketing and sales campaigns, Luciani handles
domestic sales and runs the home factory's
manufacturing and engineering facilities.
Luciani says he considers motion pictures
to be America's greatest and most unique product—a
product that needs good sound. Schneider
echoes that sentiment, saying "We truly
believe that 80 percent of the presentation is
sound, and the other 80 percent is picture. It's
[synergy]. When you put the two elements
together, the impact they have on the mind is
much bigger than the sum ofthe two." Theatres
know this too, and advertise their Dolby, DTS
or SDDS systems to gain a competitive edge
in the market. But having the latest digital
soundtrack is no guarantee that the theau« has
decent cinema sound equipment. And many
smaller theatres cannot afford to be digitally
equipped, so they must rely on the analog
soundtrack.
What is the difference between analog and
digital
soundtracks? Los Angeles-based recording
engineer Mark DeCew explains, 'Traditionally,
the soundtrack for a .15mm film has
been recorded optically as a variable area a
variable density track on the side of the film.
It's an optical effect and it's analog because
by Karen Achenbach
you can actually see the waveform. When you
show the movie, light is projected through the
film onto a little photo cell which reads the
optical soundtrack and sends the information
to a processor." In contrast, says DeCew, "Both
Dolby Digital and SDDS put the digital data
Vincent Luciani
Norm Sclineider
''We truly believe
that 80 percent of
the presentation is
sound, and the
other 80 percent
is picture, ''
on the film itself [in the form of] little dots.. .and
the readers on the projectors read the digital
data coming off the film.
With DTS, the sound is on a separate CD-
ROM. There is a reader on the projector that
syncs up the CD with the time code that's on
the edge of the film."
The three digital processes are licen.sed, incompatible
with each other, and competitive.
To play movies in Dolby, SDDS or DTS,
theatres must buy a liceased decoder for that
particular digital system. Only the biggest theatres
have all three decoders. But all film prints
have an analog, optical stereo soundtrack (also
called the default track). This is the track one
hears in theatres without digital equipment and
is the backup if the digital technology fails.
The soundtrack information, once decoded,
is sent to a cinema processor which routes the
signal throughout the theatre: to pre-amps,
amps, speakers and crossovers. Analog optical
stereo soundtracks only produce four channels
of sound: left, center, right and surround. But
digital soundtracks produce six channels of
sound for a smoother surround.
But SMART'S new MOD VI Cinema Stereo
Processor with its patented Circle Surround
DSP (digital signal processing) matrix
translates the four channels of an optical track
into six channels of surround sound, making
the optical track sound very much like digital.
"Making the optical track sound better
makes the digital track sound better," says Los
Angeles-based sound mixer Kurt Kassulke,
"because the people in the theatre won't notice
if there is a problem with the digital O^ck and
it
pops back over to the optical track. There
won't be a horrible drop in level with everything
squashing to the middle and the speaker
surrounds suddenly becoming a single thing
behind you."
Developing a company like SMART was
a natural progression for Schneider He
explains, "My father and I owned some
little theau^s around Atlanta, in the suburbs.
I'd take my son out there on the weekends and
we'd watch the movies for free. I'd go up to
the projection booth and look at the equipment
and wonder, 'Why doesn't somebody make
something that does this?' 1 didn't know that
20 years later, I'd be the one to do it.
"Having a background in professional
sound and in broadcast and recording [I saw]
techniques that were used in those industries
that weren't used in cinema [I saw] what was
possible and where there was a possible need.
And I started SMART."
Schneider remembers when "Star Wars"
came out in 1978, coinciding with the big
release of Dolby stereo: "At thai time Dolby
only made a few processors and you couldn't
get them; they were back-ordered for 1$
70 Bmxoffice

RosDonse No. 289 A »..:! loott n^
weeks. So I built one. 'Star Wars' ran in our
theatre for over six months in stereo; everybody
else was running it mono. We packed the
place for six months.
"While I was developing that processor,
which was a collection of all the components
necessary to make a stereo, I thought ofanother
idea, a much easier way to do it. And through
SMART, we put out a simple processor that
was one-tenth the price of the Dolby model at
that time. Theirs [cost] $4,000; ours was $400.
And it worked pretty dam good. A lot of
'^The best input we
get is from the
field, from the
technicians. ^'
independents bought ours
because they
couldn't afford Dolby. Back in those days,
$4,000 was a lot of money."
Cinema processors are just part of
smart's product line. "Now," says Luciani,
"With 120 different products, we can provide
equipment for a THX house right down to an
inexpensive front-surround house. And with
the DSP technology used in the MOD VI, for
what people used to pay for a front surround
system they can almost buy a fuU six-channel
system that has channel separation that is very
close to a digital soundtrack."
As a young musician, Luciani recognized
that a successful career in rock and roll depended
more on luck than talent, yet he knew
his career would have a musical bent. Before
college, he worked full time, performed in
bands, and bought studio equipment. He was
surprised when a friend, then studying electrical
engineering, showed him how to plot the
frequency response ofan amplifier. "I had been
looking at frequency responses of amplifiers
and speakers and microphones while building
my recording studio and doing it all from the
user end," Luciani recalls. "I was floored. I
said, 'This is what I want to do. This is how I
want to be close to music. I'll design audio
equipment.'"
After studying audio engineering at North
Carolina State and Georgia Tech, Luciani
joined SMART. He says, "At SMART, we do
all of the electrical and mechanical engineering
and industrial design work in house. I was
doing absolutely everything, so the experience
that I gained there was incredible."
Although financial considerations forced
Luciani to leave SMART for Panasonic's car
audio division, he continued designing for
SMART during after-work hours. By the time
he left Panasonic, Luciani had honed his management
and leadership skills, with 40 people
working under him in two offices.
When Schneider decided to grow his business
into Russia, East Germany and other parts
of Eastern Europe, Luciani returned to
SMART as president. Luciani credits Schneider
with "an incredible insight into what is
needed in a projection booth. Norm talks to a
lot of people and puts two and two together
very quickly" to respond to the market. "The
best input we get is from the field, from the
technicians," says Schneider.
New SMART products include booth automation
systems as well as products developed
for Eastern European countries that rely on live
translators talking over the soundtrack. The
Transhngual lowers the center, or dialog, channel
each time a translator talks over the picture.
'^Ninety percent of
theatres are not
digital, and that's
our market, '^
But most of the company's business is stUl
in manufacturing analog processors. Schneider
says, "Analog's going to be around for a
long time. "When you look at sales of the
digital [processors]—^and there is a war going
on—Dolby claims 1 2,000, DTS claims 1 2,000
and Sony's up to around 5,000 worldwide. So
there are 30,000 [digital] installations worldwide.
Well, in the world there are over 300,000
theatres...that means 90 percent of theatres are
not digital, and that's our market."
^H
WALLACE THEATER CORPORATION
THEATER /AANACEMENT
IN
PARADISE!
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(Bi-lingual skills a plus)
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If You Are a Skilled Theater Manager and Are Looking For a Lifestyle Change,
Our Company Is Right For You!
Please Contact:
Brett Havlik
Wallace Theater Corporation
3375 Koapaka Street, Suite 345
Honolulu, Hawaii 96819
(808) 836-6055 • FAX (808) 836-6077

1998 Blue Ribbon Poll Results
//
TITANIC SAILS TO VICTORY;
''BATMAN'' A DYNAMIC DUD
Titanic"
lived up to its name with gargantuan
boxoffice grosses ($337 million
domestically and counting),
enormous praise from critics worldwide, and
a humongous number of Oscar nominations—
1 4, to be exact (making it the first film
in 47 years to tie with 1950's "All About Eve"
for the most nominations). The epic romance/drama
set aboard the doomed ship
topped both the Most Popular and Best Film
categories in Boxoffice's 1998 Blue Ribbon
poll, with 406 points and 346 points, respectively.
Fortunately, there were several overlaps in
these categories this year, indicating that
many of the highest grossers were also some
of the most artistically successful films of
1 997. Among the films that not only made a
lot of money but also left audiences impressed,
moved or invigorated are "Men In
Black" (number two with 306 points in the
Most Popular category and number nine with
45 points in the Best Film category); "Air
Force One" (number three with 1 1 5 points/
number five with 75 points); "My Best
Friend's Wedding" (number six with 80
points/number 10 with 42 points); "Face/Off"
(number nine with 42 points/tied at number
nine with "Men In Black" with 45 points); and
"The Full Monty" (number 10 with 38
points/number seven with 48 points).
Hearteningly, this year, none of the films
voted Most Popular appear on the Worst list.
"The Lost World," "Liar Liar," "Scream 2" and
"George of the Jungle" (fourth, fifth, seventh
and eighth, respectively) may not have received
the same degree of critical acclaim as
the other Most Popular titles, but were still
satisfying in their own right.
Not
so satisfying were a few highprofile
titles that turned out to be
major disappointments. Topping
the list was "Batman & Robin," which, despite
a domestic gross of $107 million, was
maligned by critics and the public alike for
its style-over-substance approach to
moviemaking. The much anticipated
"Speed 2," touted as "'Speed' on a boat,"
sprung too many leaks to keep afloat,
thereby inciting Boxoffice readers to name
it the second worst film of 1997 with 75
points. The epic "The Postman" was regarded
by many as an epic bore; Kevin
Costner found 70 Worst Film points in his
mailbag, earning third place. Boxoffice readers
were also not charmed by the snake flick
"Anaconda," despite its surprisingly good
Most Popular Film

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Anxil ioo« Tt
YOUR TAKE: BOXOFFICE Readers'
Comments on the Year in Film
This was an exceptional year for movies
and performances. Best actor: Jack Nicholson.
Best Actress: Helen Hunt. Best Supporting
Actor: Robin Williams. Best Supporting
Actress: Gloria Stuart. "Titanic" and "L.A.
Confidential"— best movies of the year.
Kevin Costner needs acting lessons. John
Speranza, Framingham, Mass.
Best season ever— lots of good product.
Butler Felts, Barco Drive-ln, Lamar, Mo.
Sometimes the most
popular movie, in this
case, "Scream 2," is also
the worst movie. "Titanic"
is by far the best
movie of the year.
Jaime Paar, Marcus Theatres,
LaCrosse, Wis.
"Flubber" was without
a doubt the worst
movie I've seen in years.
As good as "Titanic" is,
"Face/Off" and "L.A. Confidential" are the
best and most original movies of the year.
— Jeff Nyahay, Queen Cinema, Eunice, La.
For Worst Film, I undecided on
whether to put down the most disappointing
films, like "Speed 2," or those that were just
bad, like "RocketMan." James West, Maico
Theatres, Rogers, Ark.
Remember when movies that were hits did
business for more than three weeks before
petering out? Thank-you, megaplexes. Peter
Oddo, South Bay Cinemas, W. Babylon, N. Y.
This year had a lot of movies that I would
have paid to see at least once, but very few
that I wanted to see a second time, even for
free. Dale Haag, Cooper Theatre, Hays, Kan.
"Titanic"—the best of everything a movie
should have. Bonita Moody, Regal Cinemas,
Hixson, Tenn.
"Titanic" is the "Forrest Gump" of 1997.
"The Postman" is the "Waterworld" of
1997. Lindsey Hearn, Cinemark USA,
Somerdale, S.J.
1 ) "L.A. Confidential" was head and shoulders
above the rest. 2) A really bad year for
foreign language films. Where has all the
quality gone? Wendeslaus Schuiz, Star
Theatre, Bay St. Louis, Miss.
"MouseHunt" really has heart. "The Edge"
was underpromoted—fantastic picture!
Dennis Fraker, Empire Theatres, Wofford
Heights, Calif.
"Cone Fishin'"—shoulda! "Jackal" and
"For Richer or Poorer"—why did these fine
actors choose these boring roles? Please do
not allow Tom Arnold to make any more
movies. "Fairy Tale"—a gem, lost to the
world by poor distribution. Rusty Murphy,
The MET Cinemas, Oakhurst, Calif.
Horror has made a stunning comeback
the "Scream" series and "I Know What You
Did Last Summer" have brought back the fun
of seeing scary movies. Phil Herman, Falcon
Theatres, New York, N. Y.
''Titanic" is the
'Torrest Gump" of
1997/'The Postman'
is the "Waterworld'
ofl997.
Miramax had an excellent 1 997 with films
like "Good Will Hunting," "Jackie Brown,"
"CopLand" and "Brassed Off." David
Bettencourt, General Cinema, Lincoln. R.I.
With major releases more frequently securing
the lion's share of their total tally on
opening week, what's left on subsequent
dates for the single screen operator? The
escalating screen and print counts have combined
to shorten runs. Donald C. Brown Jr.,
Diamond State Drive-ln,
Felton, Del.
"Titanic" is brilliant;
I've seen it four times— it
should win all the awards
in the world! Tonia
Wilkerson, United Artists,
Albuquerque, S.M.
"Gattaca"—UGH!
What a stupid film!
"Ulee's Gold"—Ho hum,
this is like watching paint
dry and just as exciting. YAWN. Debby
Brehm, Douglas Theatre Co., Lincoln, Neb.
"Titanic" is the greatest movie made since
"Ben-Hur" and "Gone With the Wind." It
should do very well at the Oscars. Patty
Gentry, Silver Screen Cinema, Virginia
Beach, Va.
Why James Spader and Holly Hunter
agreed to make "Crash" is a mystery to me!
— Jodi Thornton, General Cinema,
Kalamazoo, Mich.
We are sick of all the unnecessary four-letter
words in films, and obvious paid-by-tobacco-companies
smoking scenes. R.A.
Norris, Norris Booking, Jacksonville, Fla.
"Pet" dislikes: Trailers
and posters with dates on
them. Too many R-rated
movies last year. "Pet"
likes: New film stock and
more good films being released
throughout the
year. Malcolm Neal,
Kiva and Ritz Theatres,
Las Vegas, N.M. and
Thomaston, Ga.
"Titanic" should win
Best Picture and Cameron should win for Best
Director hands down! Jason Black, Carmike,
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
First time in a long time that it was difficult
to narrow down to five best films— it was a
remarkable season! Never in recent history
has there been such an array of talent in new
films. Rand Thornsley, Film Gallery, Anchorage,
Alaska
Joan Cusack and Minnie Driver had
boundless talent in "Crosse Pointe Blank."
Alexis Cooley, Memphis, Tenn.
Don't expect the new year or
This year we've seen the biggest blockbusters
ever.
years ahead to get any lower in intensity. The
future will be abundant with marvels and
fascination. Lance Olson, Green Bay, Wis.
After seeing "Titanic,
A great year at the movies! I won't soon
forget the unemployment line in "The Full
Monty," Africans discovering the Bible in
"Amistad," the brilliant visuals of "The Fifth
Element," the wild action of "Face/Off" and
the biggest laughs of the year in "Austin
Powers." Thomas Newsom, Act III Theatres,
Portland, Ore.
"The Postman" is the year's most underrated
film. "Titanic" is the year's most overrated.
It's also too bad that such fine films as
"Love! Valour! Compassion!" and "In the
Company of Men" went so unnoticed by the
public. Of course, they also gave "George of
the Jungle" $100 million+. Ryan Tramont,
Eastern Federal Corp., Port Orange, Fla.
Ifelt sofantastic.
I almost wanted
to be on the Titanic
that night!
Campaigns for "Scream 2" and "Titanic"
are perfect examples of how to do it.
Tom
S. Graff., Kings D/l Theatre, Armona, Calif.
Hollywood studios are flooding the market.
They should play fewer movies and push them
more. Jae Justus, REI Cinemas, Easley, S.C.
I'm very irritated at most of the "better
films" being released just before Dec. 31.
Let's buy Hollywood a brain and the Academy
a memory. Matthew Johnson,
Carmike's Sierra III, West Des Moines, Iowa
What a shame to tarnish a wonderful
movie like "Titanic" with totally unnecessary
nudity and immature profanity. Gary
Strange, Campbellsville Twin Cinema,
Campbellsville, Ky.
Epic blockbuster destined to become a
classic! After seeing "Titanic," I felt so fantastic.
I almost wanted to be on the Titanic that
night! Now, this is how a movie should make
you feel Dennis Walters, Sparta, Mich.
!
Summer boxoffice
blockbusters proved
most popular, butquality-wise,
they were disappointing
(as usual it
seems). The December
movies, however,
were much better.
Hengameh Modaressi,
Oak Grove Cinemas,
Portland, Ore.
"The Postman" was
unfairly maligned by critics—despite an
overdrawn villain, its "messiah-hero" is just
right as he rejuvenates families and communities
to believe in themselves again. We
need more films with hope-filled messages
like this! Ken Meeban, Gonzaga High
School— Film Teacher, Washington, D.C.
"The Rainmaker" was a great movie full of
good acting and director Francis Coppola did
a good job making this Grisham novel into a
blockbuster movie. Marilyn Anderson,
B&B Theatres, Harrisonville, Mo.
A lot of terrific actors doing first-rate work
in truly weak or awful films. Maybe more
m
actors should start writing and directing for
themselves. Chris Bolton, Act III Theatres,
Eugene, Ore.

)
Boxoffice Magazine
presents
NovieFbne's Moviegoer Activity Report
Vear End Edition - 1997
MovieFone" (777-FILM^) and its sister service, MovieLink® Online, are now the single largest source oj movie showtime information in the country,
providing information to over 69 million moviegoers each year Tlie following infomuttion represents the most requested theatres and exhibitors on MovieFone.
Top 10 Exhibitors & Theatres
Most Requested ExhibKors
Ranit ExIiiMtor Total ReqiwsU
1 United Artists 10,356,922
2 Cineplex Odeon 9,068,341
3 Sony 8,707,397
4 AMC 8,481,991
5 General Cinema 4,998,924
6 Century 3,322,424
7 Cinemarit 2,478,100
8 Mann 2,067,687
9 National Amusements 2,029,971
10 Regal 1,775,543
Nost Requested Theatres
Rank Naiftet Theatre
1 NY Sony Lincoln Square
2 LA AMC Century 14
3 BO Sony Cheri
4 NY Sony Orpheum
5 NY CO Chelsea Cinemas
6 PH UA Riverview
7 NY Sony Village 7
8 NY 19th St. East
9 BO Sony Assembly Square
10 PH UA Cheltenham
Total Re(|iiests
963,967
498,527
452,893
440,028
417,323
392,563
382,183
374,886
365,921
353.303
Total
Requests
New York
17,625,677
Los Angeles
8,936,135
7,341,503
San Francisco
4,900,845
MTamI
Rank
2
3
1
2
3
\
2
Most Requested Theatres Per Screen
Total
Theatre (•'' screens) Requests
Sony Aster Plaza (1
1 07,899
CO Chelsea West (2) 1 74,725
Sony Lincoln Square (13) 963,967
Pacific Cinerama Dome (1) 77,556
Mann National (1) 65,365
Mann Village, Bruin & Regent (2) 129,667
AMC Highland Pk Village (4)
GCC Northpark (2) 47,194
AMC Forum (6) 136,741
UA Coronet (1) 80,237
96,51'8"
Century Cinema 21 (1) 60,051
BIm Regency (1) 59,812
Regal Miami LakesTTCJ 228,392
4,288,139
Regal Kendall (9)
„UA Movies at the Falls (12)
200,859
235,028
Philadelphia
4,214,517
UA Samenc (4)
Cinemagic 3 at Penn (3)
262,970
1 52,506
UA Cheltenham (8) 353,303
Boston 1 Sony Janus (1) 38,803
3,524,945 2 NA Circle Cinema (7) 266,645
^^^^{^BcSony Nickelodeon (5) 161 ,682
Phoenix 1 Harl< Cine Capri (l) 80,451
3,253,730 2 Century Glendale D-l (9) 219,115
3 UA Christown Mall (6) 1 15,104
Chicago 1 Village North (1) 28,160"
3,1 1 8,567 2 CO McClurg Court (3) 81 ,080
^^^^^^tSony Webster Place (8) 1 88,577
Toronto 1 Famous Egiinton (1) 56,856
2,631,654 2 Famous Uptown (3) 93.816
3 Famous Marksville (4) 117,133
Houston 1 CO River Oaks Plaza (12) 186,655
^IHBhBCC Point Nasa (6) 67,831
2,293,391 2 CO Spectrum (9) 119.869
San Diego 1 Mann CinemH 21 (1) 20,774
1,855,371 2 Pacific Grossmont Trolley (8) 68.193
3 UA Morton Plaza (14) 1 14.920
Top 3 Actively* Requested Theatres:
'Caller apaciii Il 1if..illy
"'!'!
'I III,
iffK AMC Tlmlrn, Inc.
Aaai MutniMtM
am OUiwiMt TtlMliM
Oain*a CvnM CifwnM. Inc
C«fWY C»*u>YTrwl/i
CO
Dksn
Finwui
GCC
Otfwal
Ctn»pl«( Odeon Cofp
OcMnion ThutrM
Famous Pliy*rt
Qsntrst Cinsms Thsatrts
Osntm ThMtrss
Total
Requests
Kansas'
1,452,882
Seattle
1,446,202
1,300,033
Denver
1,197,287
Minneapolis
1,134,969
Cleveland
939,692
Las Vegas
833,697
San Antonio
831,084
Nashville
733,536
Washington, DC
665,708
Sacrainento
653,954
Detroit
579,926
CO Worldwide
New York. NY
HaA
Rank
Theatre (^ screens)
"1 Dksn Glenwood (4)
Dksn Westglen (12)
ill ipIC Oak Park Plaza (6)
1 Landml< Neptune (1)
2 CO Cinerama (1)
Total
Requests
76,261
166,328
71,281
21,180
17,061
3 CO Northgate (1)
15,645
"
"T"""" 'Da Tara (4) ^47703
2 AMC Galleria (8)
Carmike Exchange (3)
1 UA Continental (6)
2 Mann Cherry Creek (8)
2 Landmk Uptown (1)
CO Westwind Plaza (3)
1 GCC Ridgo Park Squnre (8)
2 Regal Severance Movies (8)
3 General Soiithgato (3)
48.647
15,956
53,158
65,299
3 UA Cooper 5 - Aurora (5) 39,375
-\ -l^rrinCTFTSuBuffiarnWoaaiTr
9,595
22,888
82,577
79,006
25,000
Century Las Vegas 6 D-l (6) 57,858
UA Showcase (8) 71 ,284
CentuiyCinedome(12) 95,655
Act III Rolling Oaks (6) 53,875
Act III Galaxy (14) 119.479
Act III Bandera (6) 48,773
Carmike Springfield (1) 12.616
Carmike Lions Head (5) 37,989
nike Hickory (8)
COUptowiMD 24,921
CO Cinema (1) 12,376
CO Embassy (1) 10,608
Century Century 21 (2) 21.149
Century Sacramento D-l (6) 48.530
Century Complex (12) 96.067
AMC Soutliland (4) 17.014
StarTaytor(IO) 42,500
Star Uncdn Park (8) 31.763
Sony Lincoln Sq.
New York, NY
Hftrkins TheslfM
Landmk LvKtmark Thtatrt Corp.
Mann MannThaatras
MamMN Mann MinnaapoUs
NA National Amusamants
iSLiaK
A
UA Sheepshead Bay
Sheepshead Bay. NY
PMtfic
nasal
Sony
Star
UA
Pacific Thaauaa
RsgalCirwmai
SonyThaairea
Loata-Sttir Thaaltas
UnHad Arti«tt Thaatre Omiit

70th ANNUAL ACADEMY
AWARDS BALLOT
Which stars and films will close the seventh decade of
Oscar history? Mark your ballot, then tune in to
ABC Television on Monday, March 23 to find out!
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN
A SUPPORTING ROLE
Kim Basinger in "L.A. Confidential" (Warner Bros.)
Joan Cusack in "In & Out" (Paramount)
G Minnie Driver in "Good Will Hunting" (Miramax)
Julianne Moore in "Boogie Nights" (New Line)
Gloria Stuart in 'Titanic" (Paramount/20th Century Fox)
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN
DIRECTING
Q James Cameron, 'Titanic" (Paramount/20th Century Fox)
Peter Cattaneo, "The Full Monty" (Fox Searchlight)
G Atom Egoyan, "The Sweet Hereafter^' (Fine Line)
Curtis Hanson, "L.A. Confidential" (Warner Bros.)
U Gus Van Sant, "Good Will Hunting" (Miramax)
BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Robert Relime and
Oscar-winner Geena Davis announced ttie nominees for ttie VOtfi Annual
Academy Awards at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN
A LEADING ROLE
Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting" (Miramax)
Robert DuvaU in "The Apostle" (October)
Peter Fonda in "Ulee's Gold" (Orion)
Dustin Hoffman in "Wag the Dog" (New Line)
Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets" (TriStar)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN
A LEADING ROLE
Helena Bonham Carter in "The Wings of the Dove" (Miramax)
Julie Christie in "Afterglow" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Judi Dench in "Mrs. Brown" (Miramax)
Helen Hunt in "As Good As It Gets" (TriStar)
Kate Winslet in 'Titanic" (Paramount/20th Century Fox)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN
A SUPPORTING ROLE
"As Good As It Gets" (TriStar)
"The Full Monty" (Fox Searchlight)
"Good Will Hunting" (Miramax)
"L.A. Confidential" (Warner Bros.)
'Titanic" (Paramount/20th Century Fox)
BEST SCREENPLAY WRITTEN
DIRECTLY FOR THE SCREEN
Q "As Good As It Gets" by Maik Andms and James L. Brooks (TriStar)
"Boogie Nights" by Paul Thomas Anderson (New Line)
"Deconstructing Harry" by Woody Allen (Fine Line)
"The Full Monty" by Simon Beaufoy (Fox Searchlight)
"Good Will Hunting" by Ben Affleck & Matt Damon (Miramax)
BEST SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL
PREVIOUSLY PRODUCED OR PUBLISHED
"Donnie Brasco" by Paul Attanasio (TriStar)
"L.A. Confidential" by Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson (Warner)
"The Sweet Hereafter" by Atom Egoyan (Fine Line)
"Wag the Dog" by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet (New Line)
Q "The Wings of the Dove" by Hossein Amini (Miramax)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
f
Robert Forster in "Jackie Brown" (Miramax)
Anthony Hopkins in "Amistad" (DreamWorks)
Greg Kinnear in "As Good As It Gets" (TriStar)
Burt Reynolds in "Boogie Nights" (New Line)
Robin Williams in "Good Will Hunting" (Miramax)
"Beyond Silence" (Germany)
"Character" (The Netherlands)
G "Four Days in Septembei^' (Brazil)
"Secrets of the Heart" (Spain)
'The Thief (Russia)
Aoril. 1998 75

na
D^A«^/\pfl7i^-i7
70 YEARS
i
*---J««i-!ftj^v^. Mt-^*.

Sconces
Picture
Motion
"
p
OF OSCAR
P
1 973: At the 46tli Awards, host David Niven quipped of the infamous
'Streaker, " "To think that the only laugh that man will ever get in his life
is by stripping off his clothes and showing his shortcomings.
1 980: Robert De Niro proudly hoists his Oscar which he won for his
portrayal of boxer Jake Lal^otta in "Raging Bull, " at the 53rd Awards.
and
Arts
of
ny

SHOWEST EXTRA: Special-Format Films
VIRTUAL VEGAS
Vegas Shows What Motion Simulators and
Virtual Reality Can Do For a Theatre

cz; CID LJ 1^ T" CZ> C~) \A/^ rsj
HAVE YDO SEEN ll?
National Cinema Network
l-BflO-SCRffNwww.irNinc.CDii]
Response No. 482

80 BOXOKFKE
first motion simulator, the "Magic Motion Machine,"
was installed in the Excalibur Hotel &
Casino. The hotel now has two 45-seat theatres
that play Showscan movies up to eight times
per day. The Luxor Hotel has a motion simulator
ride called "In Search of the Obelisk,"
produced by Douglas Trumbull using IMAX
Ridefilm simulators. The film is shown in a
special format, Vistavision, at 48 frames per
second (fps).
READY TO ROLL: The Sahara Hotel/Casino has 24 Indy cars that "race"
around a virtual replica of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
This experience comes complete with a preshow
briefing that explains how an architectural
team found the remains of an ancient
civibzation buried under the hotel. Guests then
proceed to a simulator bay where they are literally
hooked up into a thrilling, action-chase adventure
in which they gallivant among mystaious subterranean
cities.
At the Sahara Hotel & Casino along the
Strip, interactive ride simulators offer the complete
virtual reality experience of driving an
Indianapolis 500 stock car on a simulated race
track. Designed by Burbank, Calif.-based Illusion,
Inc., the attraction features 24 Indy cars
at three-quarter scale. Each car is mounted on
a fully interactive motion platform facing a 20
foot,
1 30-degree-wrap-around projection
screen that displays a virtual repUca of the Las
Vegas Motor Speedway raceway via three
overlap)ping Electrahome video projectors. As
drivers start their engines, the cars respond in
kind and begin creating the motion effects of
speeding, turning and breaking. Each car reacts
to its driver's control, die other cars in the
race and textural differences between the
paved raceway and the gravel shoulders. The
experience la.sts for 30 minutes and iiKludes a
post-show review of the race.
Caesars
Palace, famous for its Roman
villa look and Festival Fountain Show,
now offers the "Race for AUantis" ride
in a new section of its Forum Shops. "Race for
Atlanti.s" is the first IMAX motion simulator
ride encapsulated in an 80-foot dome theatre.
Visitors attend a pre-show that is seen in
HDTV and are then "transported" to AUantis
to participate in an exhilarating chariot race
through the legendary kingdom. As part of the
experience, visitors wcara liquid-crystal headset
that creates the ride's three-dimeasional
imagery.
Moving fix)m ancient Atiantis to the near
future, the Las Vegas Hilton reaches into the
realm of starships and space stations with "The
Star Trek Experience." Costing $70 million,
the 65,000-square-foot attraction offers a Star
Trek museum (featuring memorabilia from
various TV programs and movies) and a
teleporting experience that sends guests to a
shuttle bay where tiiey embark on a 3 1/2-
minute space trip (via four 27-passenger motion
simulators),
Fin
is
's Showcase,
which ends
when
they dock at the
"Deep Space Nine"
space station.
Disembarking
guests
are able to dine at
the local Cardassian
restaurant or try
their luck at the
SpaceQuest Casino
(which involves a
quick trip to an orbiting
Hilton hotel).
The casino's "windows
into space"
reveal
spectacular
views of the earth
and moon, a variety
of custom space vehicles and sister ship the
SpaceQuest 2. The constantiy changing scenes
out of the window transform this highly themed
casino into a total virtual environment.
The large windows and their projected views
are created using three Hughes JVC 360 video
projectors
and a
rear-screen visual
display measuring
22 feet wide
by 80 feet long.
linally, there
The
right across from
the MGM Grand,
with its world-famous
Coca-Cola
bottle attached to
the front of the
building. The
bottle is actuall)
an elevator leading
to Coca-
Cola's interactive
museum, 'The Worid ofCoca-Cola." The museum
includes a Storytelling Theatre created
by Dana Atchley, a renowned digital storyteller,
and reflects Coca-Cola's history.
This interactive format has potential for Uieatre
owners who are looking to supplement
Uieir existing presentations to movie patrons.
Each show starts with a Coca-Cola lyric
logo; then die lights dim and a live storyteller
appears. The audience sees the show on a nine
foot by 1 2 foot projection screen. Each show
is a complete program; it begins with a fastpaced
narrative piece, then goes to a "Pop-
Quiz" and is followed by a "Fun Fact." The
storyteller inuxxluces each of the three stories,
works the pop quizzes and interacts with the
audience. The storyteller can choose ftt)m
seven indejDendent programs, each comprising
a 1 0-minute show with a two-minute audience
turnaround. These are all original shows; no
two are tiie same.
s exhibitors experience these attractions,
they may wonder how profitable
A-'
Lthey can be. A 16-seat installation of
Iwerks" Turbo Ride theatre would occupy
1,100 square feet with a 14-foot ceiling. It
offers an hourly capacity of 1 60- 1 80 guests
and a recommended ticket price of $4. Its
estimated retum on investment is one-and-ahalf
to two years.
For comparison, check out Toronto's
SIMEX Virtual Voyages ride. It's a 12-seat
system that covers 1 ,500 square feet and offers
an hourly capacity of 96 guests. A "Virtual
Voyages" show consists of a three-part story
with a ride preparation briefing, a pre-show,
and then the ride itself The recommended
ticket price varies with the length of the program
but is in the $4 to $6 range. A retum on
investment is expected within two years, with
a rate of retum at 40 percent. Both Iwerks and
SIMEX have installed ride sims in several
FECs internationally. Iwerks is expected to
have a Reactor system (a touring, portable
Turbo Ride) located outdoors at ShowEast.
Landmark Entertainment Group has produced
a ride simulator film about James Bond
entitied "License to Thrill" that will be compatible
with just about every ride sim projection
format. The experience will include a
LOTS OF BOTTLE: The Showcase contains Coca-Cola's interactive museum,
accessible via the Coke-bottle elevator.
pre-show and allow guests to follow Bond on
one of his adventures.
A smart theatre operator could soon offer
film paux)ns a double bill with a movie and a
compatible film ride in an adjoining theau^.
This would not work for every movie but
certainly has potential for action/adventure
and science-fiction genres.
Movie theatres will always show films; they
did so in the I92()s in movie palaces and do so
today in megaplexes. However, as times
change, so will exhibitors' idciis alx)ut entertainment.
There will always be movies, but the
movie theatre's entertainment presence will
evolve as its managers reinvent the evening out
for its patrons.
HI

t^
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF THE GLOBAL MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY SHOWEST 1998
BARRYREARDON
ShoWester of the Year Award Winner
Our Special ShoWest '98 Coverage Includes:
INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS • PRIZE GIVEAWAY^
TRADE SHOW BOOTH LIST & FLOOR PLAN?

Response No. 35
Ol^ssic 0£I.j:>s
HBSSi'.":!-* »»*»BSS I*!-
'Ftxx& dnin
processor measures up to
the sound quality,
performance specifications,
and features of the THX
approved CSP 1200
Panastereo.
None!
Go to a cinema that owns
one, and hear ttie difference
yourself

1
6
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Kim Williamson
MANAGING EDITOR
Christine James
SENIOR EDITOR
Lisa Osborne
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Linda Andrade
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
John Allen
Glenn Berggren
1998 ShoWest Intro:
A Special Supplement
PUBLISHER
Robert L. DIetmeier (773)338-7007
BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE, April 1998:
The 1998 ShoWest Intro
NATIONAL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Robert M. Vale (213)465-1186
ADVERTISING CONSULTANT
Morris Schlozman (816)942-5877
WEST COAST ADVERTISING REP.
Gwen Campbell (310) 792-901
BUSINESS MANAGER
Dan Johnson (773)338-7007
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
Chuck Taylor (312) 922-9326
FOUNDER
Ben Shiyen
OFFICES
Editorial and Pubiishing Headquarters:
6640 Sunset Blvd., Suite 100, Hollywood, CA
90028-7159. (213) 465-1186. Fax: (213) 465-
5049. E-mail: boxoffice@earthlink.net
Corporate: Mailing Address: P.O. Box 25485,
Chicago, IL 60625. (773) 338-7007
SW-4
SW-6
SW-8
SW-10
SW-12
SW-14
SW-1
FEATURES
Welcoming Remarks by ShoWest's President
by Daniel Wheatcroft, President, ShoWest
Guess What's "In!"
by William F. Kartozian, President, NATO
Just Having Fun
by Mary Ann Grasso, Vice President and
Executive Director, NATO
Epic Films Demand Epic Presentation
by Dan Taylor, President, ITEA
It's All About PEOPLE!
by Norman R. Chester, President, NAC
COVER: ShoWester Awardee Barry Reardon
by Christine James
Schedule of Events for ShoWest 1 998
^Tfie
Audit
Bureau
Circulation Inquiries:
BOXOFFICE Data Center
725 S. Wells St., 4th Floor
Chicago, I
L 60607
(312)922-9326
Fax:(312)922-7209
SW-1 a BOXOFFICE ShoWest 1 998 Prize Giveaways
SW-20 Trade Show Floor Plan: Pavilion 1
SW-22 Trade Show Floor Plan: Pavilion 2
SW-24 Trade Show Booth List: Pavilion 1
SW-36 Trade Show Booth List: Pavilion 2
SW-40
Special Report: Sound by John F. Allen
P^.
For our online coverage
of the happenings
at ShoWest '98, hit the
BOXOFFICE ONLINE
website at
www.boxoffice.com
SW-46 Special Report: Sight by Glenn Berggren
SW-48 BOXOFFICE Annual Faxback Survey
SW-49 BOXOFFICE Buyers Directory Questionnaire
SW-50 The Big Picture: Remembering NATO at 60
The 1998 ShoWest Intro
SW-3

SW>4
BoxomcE
ShoWest '98
What a Difference!
by Daniel Wheatcroft
President
ShoWest
What
a difference a few years can
make! At 24, ShoWest is so much
more than just a forum for the motion
picture industry to display its upcoming product.
The premier worldwide exhibition event,
ShoWest continues to evolve to mirror the
changes in the motion picture community and
serve the needs of its vast constituency of
exhibitors, distributors, producers, directors,
studio executives and stars, all directly responsible
for the magic on theatre screens throughout
the world.
Today, ShoWest is a Convention, ShoWest
is a Trade Show, Sho-
West is Independent
Film Screenings and,
of course, ShoWest is
the ShoWest Awards!
As it brings Old and
New Hollywood together
for one week in
March, the entertainment
and business
worlds turn their gaze
to Las Vegas to find
out which companies,
which celebrities and
what products will be
the ones to watch during
1998's heated boxoffice competition.
ShoWest remains the place where the studios
launch their upcoming slates; where suppliers
unveil the very latest in new technology
at the adjacent Trade Show; where the industry
presents seminars and workshops designed to
enhance the business end of our show business;
and where, this year, the indejjendent
marketplace provides a "first look" at independent
films with mass-market crossover appeal.
What to watch for at ShoWest 1998...
• ShoWest' s adjacent Trade Fair will be 25
percent larger than last year's, with well over
The Industry Convention
NATO k NATO OF
Presented by
200 booths featuring vendors and allied industries
from companies worldwide. Trade Fair
hours will be increased to easily accommodate
all convention registrants.
• For the first time, the ShoWest ShowCase
will present "An Evening of Independent
Film" on Monday, March 9. Open to all delegates,
these screenings of full-length features
will be selected by an exhibitor committee not
just for artistic merit but also for audience
appeal and boxoffice potential. A betweenscreenings
reception is the perfect place for
delegates to meet the movers and shakers behind
the emergent independent
film companies
of today.
• Every delegate
will have a reserved
seat for all events, eliminating
the need to
trade vouchers for tickets.
Reserved seating
assignments will be in
your convention packet
at check-in.
• This year, Sho-
California/Nevada West inaugurates its
"Ambassador Program."
Members of the
exhibition community have volunteered to be
special "ambassadors" and will be easily identifiable
and available throughout the convention
to provide help wherever needed.
This year, ShoWest has expanded to involve
more studios than ever before, has made major
increases in the Trade Floor area, and at the
same time has made some major strides in
comfort and accessibility to make the experience
as rewarding and enjoyable as possible.
We'll be seeing you throughout the convention
again this year—and we'll look for you
on Thursday at the ShoWest Awards! HI

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requires triamplification to optimize the
performance of each section.
BIAMPLIFIED THREE-WAY
Our smaller three-way systems require only
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mid/high-frequency section where an
The
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AW THREE-WAY LOUDSPEAKERS
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RETROFIT
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replace existing two-way loudspeakers without
requiring new crossovers and amplifiers.
Excellent results can be achieved using a
500 Hz low/mid crossover while optimal
performance requires only reconfiguring
Cinema soundtrack technology has changed dramatically
in the last decade. But loudspeakers haven't. Until now.
Eastern Acoustic Works - the world leader in professional three-way loudspeaker
systems - offers a complete line of three-way loudspeakers specifically engineered to
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Img
With EAW three-way loudspeakers highs sound crisp and smooth, lows sound tight
t punchy, and voices sound clear and natural.
Simply putting another driver into a two-way system does not create a true threeway
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loudspeaker system.
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Visit our website (www.eaw.com)
to find out about our full range
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total system that works in the real world, not just in a lab.
This is why all EAW three-way loudspeakers use cone drivers for their midrange
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tel--+44 1494 539090 fax-+44 1494 539091

ShoWest '98
Guess What's "In!"
by William F. Kartozian
President
National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
What's
"in"? Would I
sound like some
wishful, disingenuous NATO president
if I told you that American teens
thought going to the movies was more "in"
than the Internet? More "in" than having a
boyfriend or girlfriend? More "in" than going
to college? More "in," even, than shopping?
Well, guess what?
"Going to the movies" didn't just make the
"in" list.
It handily topped it.
The Dec. 22, 1997 edition of the most
widely read daily in America, USA Today,
says that, of more than 2,000 teens surveyed,
a whopping 91 percent
place "going to the
movies" right at the top
of the "in" column. By
comparison, only 85
percent put "shopping"
in the "in" category.
"Dating" also garnered
only 85 percent, as did
"going to the beach."
"Having a boyfriend/
girlfriend" managed
just 86 percent.
Yikes!
Kids may flee the
beaches for fear of melanoma—or
each other for fear of a host of other
maladies—but the movies remain the red-hot
(not to mention affordably priced) ticket.
The fact that teens are so adamant about
movies being "in" is clearly good news—because,
as any ticket-taker will tell you, teens
are hardly an insignificant demographic in the
cinema business. According to the Motion
The Industry Convention,
NATO & NATO OF
Presented by
Picture Association of America, 12- to 20-
year-olds bought 27 percent of all movie tickets
sold in 1996, even though they make up
only 15 percent of the population.
And here" s the better news. A 1 5-year cycle
of declining teen ranks ended in 1991. The
teen population is now "accelerating at twice
the rate of the rest of us," according to Janet
Weeks, who authored the USA Today piece.
By 2010, she points out, the number of teens
will crest at
U.S. history!
California/Nevada
30.8 million, the most teens in
That's a larger crest than that
generated by the "baby boomers" when they
became teenagers.
So, obviously, it's
good to be "in" with
this in-crowd!
Kudos to the smart
folks who saw it coming—the
ones who
prowled the events,
seminars and trade
shows of past Sho-
Wests (still the Super
Bowl of cinema conventions!)
looking for
extra-tempting concession
items, hot facility
upgrades, and
other teen-friendly implements and ideas.
Clearly, there is a market—a growing market—for
what cinema owners are .selling. The
only trick now is to make sure they buy it from
you instead of the next guy!
And that, of course, is why we're here in Las
Vegas.
Happy hunting!
Hi
SW-6
BOXOFOCE

When it
We're a tough act
to follow!
Beaver
comes to innovative confection sales,
m, * ... I
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Dispenses product to patrons
without staffing requirements
Eliminates costly sampling .
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ShoWest '98
Just Having Fun
by Mary Ann Grasso
Vice President and Executive Director
National Association of Tlieatre Owners (NATO)
I
think we all agree that being in the movie
theatre business is fun. It is great to bring
audiences and movies together in a great
environment. We are all here this week to learn
how to do a betterjob of it; to learn what' s new,
what's hot and what's not in movie theatres
today. But it is important to remember in all
the excitement of new equipment and new
techniques that what we are really about is
having fun—helping people find a little entertainment
and a good time.
The Movie Business.
I really can't think of another business that
speaks to so many different people in the same
way. Think about it: Kids like movies. Their
parents and grandparents like movies. Their
friends and neighbors like movies. People in
Burbank, Bangkok, New York and London
like movies. Now, we might not all
same movies, but "the
movies" and going to
the show are universally
viewed as something
fun to do.
This has been true
from their inception.
Can you imagine waiting
in line and paying
good money just to see
26 feet of film (without
soundtrack, special effects
or big-name stars)
that showed a train
pulling out of a station?
In
1896, people
like the
did just that—and they came back time and
again, fascinated by this medium that took familiar
things in life and projected them, larger than
life, in moving images on the screen.
Thus was bom a medium to which all people
could relate. Books require that you know how
to read and have a certain amount of imagination
to visualize what is occurring within the
pages. A ticket to a play is often more expensive
than the average Joe can afford, and the
theatre offers a different world than does a
movie. In a play, the stage is a set—sometimes
bare. With live theatre, everything is the same
The Industry Convention,,
NATO & NATO OF
Presented by
size as in real life (or, if you are in the cheap
seats, smaller than life). It's engaging, but not
the experience that you have when in a movie
theatre. Even a video that shows the same picture
cannot duplicate the experience one has when
seeing that same film in a movie theatre.
And just what is that experience? It is images,
larger than Ufe, projected on a screen, teUing
stories with which we are familiar, employing
places, images, costumes and settings we recognize.
The stories are not different fi-om those
mounted by other media; they are the same tales
from history or experiences shared that are the
storyteller's stock-in-trade. What is different,
however, is the larger-than-life screen, the darkened
auditorium, the magnificent sound that
wraps around the audience. And it is that experience
that can occur only in the movie theatre.
A good movie is like a good friend. You
laugh together, you cry
together, and you can
even get a little scared
together. No wonder
everyone likes to go to
Qlifornia/Nevada
the movies. And they
like going to the movies.
As one pundit
noted, "I'm not telling
my wife—after a week
of her being home with
the kids—that we're
spending Friday night
at home watching a
video on television.
No, we're going to the
movies. We're going out to have some fun."
This year's theme for the 1998 Rose Parade
was "Having Fun." It was no accident that
three floats (all award winners) used going to
the movie theatre as their choice to illustrate a
good time. Going to the movies is fun!
So. this week, when we are all tired from the
walking and the meetings and the just plain
excitement of the convention, remember how
much fun it is going to be back home, bringing
that same pleasure to your wonderful theatres,
to an audience that appreciates the experience
,
you have given them.
I
SW-8
BOXOFFICE
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ShoWest '98
Epic Films Demand Epic Presentation
by Dan Taylor
President
International Theatre Equipment Association (ITEA)
The
most expensive movie ever made is on
course to become the highest-grossing
movie ever seen in theatres. The phenomenon
ofTitanic" is a masterpiece of filmmalcing
that has won the hearts of audiences worldwide.
Every dollar that James Cameron spent in a
combination of state-of-the-art visual effects and
digital sound seamlessly creates the illusion in
today's theatres of the R.M.S. Titanic's epic
voyage. Woven around a universally appeaUng
love story and plausibly juxtaposed between
today and 1912, the film has struck a chord with
audiences everywhere. Perfectly cast and wellacted
with complete authenticity in its costumes
and props and a musical score that truly becomes
the film's emotional portrait, this epic movie
deserves to sweep the Oscars.
Equally important to the production magic
of "Titanic" is its state-of-the-art presentation
in motion picture theatres.
Only in this environment
can the total
illusion of being there
transfer from the film
to the audience, placing
them among the
passengers sailing on
Titanic as the ship goes
down. Cameron's utilization
of the anamorphic
2.35 Cinema-
Scope screen and 5.1
digital sound in all
three digital formats
has given "Titanic" the
best chance to succeed through proper presentation.
But, without care in the design, construction
and fixturing that exhibitors are
putting into their new theatres, the beauty and
realism of this film would be lost, and its
grosses would be far less. It costs a little more
to do it right, but "Titanic" clearly demonstrates
the relationship between epic filmmaking
and epic presentation. For theatre owners,
return on investment in superior presentafion
is obvious as many people come back to experience
these kinds of films several times.
Our industry has always had the best potential
to transport people to other times and
places through the combined spectacle of the
bigscreen and big sound in the motion picture
theatre. But, for decades, many exhibitors
chose to squander this natural advantage by
trying to save a few dollars on theatre equip-
The Industry Convention
NATO & NATO OF
Presented by
ment costs. In the '90s, however, the power of
the bigscreen and of quality presentation has
been rediscovered, and theatre attendance records
continue to be broken. A new standard
for movie exhibition has been formed in the
public's mind, and word is spreading that the
price of admission to the movie theatre is well
worth today's higher ticket.
FTEA represents companies that design, manufacture
and distribute motion picture presentation
technologies that highlight new filmmaking
advances. ITEA's members are proud to be a
large part of the magic, as these technologies and
advances in filmmaking go hand in hand; without
the proper amount of hght through a steady
picmre and high-quality lens on the proper
aspect ratio screen with the proper digital sound
presentation and showmanship, the audience
will not experience the magic in the film.
Although audiences
California/Nevada
prefer the many advancements
of modern
megaplexes such as
stadium seating, theatres
built in the 1980s
and early '90s can upgrade
their presentation
quality to offer the
latest advancements in
digital sound and picture
technology. These
enhancements often
make the difference in
whether an older theatre
survives alongside
today's megaplex palaces. Already we are seeing
a falloff in attendance at theatres that are
not keeping pace with presentation quality.
As Wall Street becomes more involved in
our industry, I ask the financial community to
examine closely what propelled us to the point
of becojning an attractive acquisition. It is the
added investment in presentation quality combined
with advancements in filmmaking that
create a level of entertainment that the motion
picture theatre can uniquely provide.
"Titanic" represents an epitome of today's
filmmaking art. Experiencing this and other
epic films on the bigscreen in digital sound is
inspiring the public to go out to theatres
record numbers. This is the advantage that
exhibitors have. Upgrade your sight and sound
presentation to epic quality—and build for
tomorrow's blockbusters.
Hi
in
SW-10
BOXOFHCE

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ShoWest '98
It's All About PEOPLE!
As
by Norman R. Chesler
President
National Association of Concessionaires (NAC)
we gather for ShoWest to celebrate the
best in exhibition, equipment and concessions,
it is natural to reflect on the state of
our industry—how it is faring in the global
scheme of things.
It's evident that the industry is rapidly changing.
The building boom, creating megaplexes with
numerous screens and state-of-the-art equipment,
is transforming the way we do business.
The leaps in technology and the sophistication
of the equipment that is used, however, cannot
overshadow our most important resource: our
people. The best equipment and technology don't
mean anything if your staff doesn't make the
moviegoing experience a fun and special event.
From the ticket-seller to the ticket-taker, the concessions
worker to the usher, the manager to the
janitor, people are the most important part of our
business; they can make or break the best and
worst of films. For most of the moviegoing public,
they are the company.
Because they are our representatives, we need
to know how to use these valuable resources to
the greatest advantage. The way that we treat our
employees—the training they receive, the messages
they are given about service, quality and
consideration—must reflect the way that we want
them to treat our customers. They must be given
the best tools (the state-of-the-art equipment,
etc.), but the human element is even more vital.
NAC has and continues to have a strong commitment
to education and training that help to
professionalize our industry. It's our number one
goal, and one that we work hard to accomplish
each and every year. This year is no different.
In fact, we'll be starting this year's commitment
at ShoWest. Nestle USA, Nestle Ice Cream
and Sunmark have partnered with NAC to present
a ShoWest business session Wednesday
morning on human resource issues. The session
will deal with the challenges in managing Generation
X employees and how they differ from
previous generations; tips on hiring the right
person and setting the proper expectations; and
practical tips and ideas on motivating your employees
to do their best for the customer. Every
theatre operator, supplier and equipment manufacturer
faces personnel issues like those to be
presented in this session. I invite all ShoWest
attendees to this valuable session.
But we don't stop there. On the heels of Sho-
West, the NAC Regional Seminar Series will
take place beginning at the end of March. The
Series features nine one-day seminars across
North America in a three-week period. This
year's seminar is "Service First: How to Keep
'Em Coming Back" by Joan Fox of Eagle Inspiration
and Training. This year's locations are Los
Angeles; Portland, Ore.; Calgary, Alberta; Houston;
St.
Louis; Minneapolis; Memphis; Cincinnati;
and Boston. At a cost of $45, it is an
extremely reasonable way to train employees and
network with others in the industry.
The Series focuses on customer service, an
issue that affects every business, whether you are
an operator or a supplier. The seminar will ex
plore the various aspects of customer service
focusing on the ways that employees can provid
the best possible experience for the customer,
with team-building exercises and practical skills
for dealing with angry customers.
An ongoing and vital part of our educatioi
commitment is our Concession Manager Certification
Program. This highly regarded, concentrated
and comprehensive 3 I/2-day course on
concessions management provides the tools to
manage effectively and boost the bottom line.
For more than 10 years, this program has
served as the basis for concessions management
in all
types of venues. More than 500 industry
professionals count the programs as one reason
for their success. Past students have seen increases
in per capitas after completing the course.
The course is taught at various locations by
NAC Director of Education Shelley Feldman, a
past president of the association with an extensive
food-service career. The Concession Manager
Certification Program is also the basis for courses
in the curriculum of the School of Hospitality
Management at Florida International University
in Miami, taught by Feldman, and at the School
of Human Sciences, Department of Nutrition and
Food Science, at Auburn University in Alabama.
Lastly, our long-standing relationship with the
National Association of Theatre Owners has
brought about a new NAC/NATO Concession
Training Seminar, debuting this year. This oneday
seminar on concessions management will
include components of the Concession Manager
Certification Program. The prototype was taught
at this past fall's Rocky Mountain 5-State Theatre
Convention and was very well received.
So our commitment to education and training
is rock-solid and growing. Making sure our most
valuable resource—our people—have the best
tools, resources and training available will not
only increase our bottom line but strengthen our
companies. Join us in that commitment.
I
SW

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Response No. 472

Cover
WARNER 'S
WINNER
1998 ShoWester of the Year Barry Reardon Talks About
20 Years With Warner Bros, by Christine James
I
SPECIAL REPORT
Warner Bros, president of distribution Barry Reardon is the first non-extiibitor
to receive the ShoWester award.
Hre's the nicest man in the building,"
exclaims a Warner Bros, secuiity guard
>as he directs Boxojtice to president of
distribution Barry Reardon's office. "He's a
great guy," he adds with enthusiastic sincerity.
The executives at ShoWest obviously have a
similarly high opinion of Reardon, having
named him the 1 998 Robert W. Selig ShoWester
of the Year. This selection is particularly
noteworthy as it makes Reardon the first nonexhibitor
to receive the prestigious award,
which is presented to an individual who has
demonstrated a career-long dedication to the
exhibition industry and its causes.
"This is the first time that exhibition's top
tribute will go to someone other than an exhibitor,"
says ShoWest president Daniel Wheatcroft.
"We're honored to present this award to
Barry, an executive who is one of the genuine
modem pioneers in our industry."
As it
turns out, this particular pioneer got
into the motion picture industry "almost by
mistake." Says Reardon, "I was working for
Litton Industries, a big conglomerate in the
'50s and the '60s. Still a big company. At that
time they had three big divisions: They had
shipbuilding, they had electronics, and basiness
equipment. I
had gotten my MBA and I
SW-14
BoxoFncE

was out of graduate school, and I was working
for Litton, and I met [Gulf + Western chairman]
Charles Bluhdom in '67, and he was in
the process of buying Paramount. I met him
on an airplane going between New York and
California. 1 sat next to him, and he asked me
what 1 did, and I told him. And he said, 'Gee,
you know, 1 might have a job for somebody like
you in a few months, because I'm in the process
oftrying to buy Paramount Pictures.' And he did.
And he called me up about six months later,
and I went in and went to work for Paramount.
And I've been in the business ever since."
Reardon was with Paramount from 1967 to
1975. From 1975 to 1978, he became an exhibitor,
taking a position with General Cinema
as executive vice president of marketing and
film buying. "It gave me a very good perspiective
of both sides of the business," Reardon
notes. "If I had just worked in distribution my
whole Ufe, I might not be so aware of some of
the things that happen on a theatre level."
Reardon then went back to distribution,
moving to Warner Bros, in 1978. "I've been
here 20 years. So it's a long run," he muses.
"Usually in this business your tenure isn't too
long in these types ofjobs." Reardon says that
since joining Wamer, he's been content to stay
in one place. "I've never even looked around
to go anyplace, to tell you the truth, in all these
years. It's the atmosphere—it's a wonderful
place to work. It's challenging, and I love the
business, and if you're happy and you're challenged
every day, I think you stay."
Some of the challenges Reardon has been
rising to are those of his own devising, with the
intent of making major improvements in both
the exhibition and distribution industries. Most
notable in that respect has been his work in
developing the extended length reel.
"The ELR principle had been around, but it
was kind of sitting there in limbo, so to speak.
And about five years ago I thought, "This is
something that really should be done, and we
should get going with it.' And so I kind of
became a champion of it, and moved it to the
forefront, and pushed it through its problems
and got it produced."
Now it's the de facto standard for Wamer:
"Basically all our releases that we put out,
we're using the extended length reels. It's
being used in I'd say almost 90 percent of aU
the film that we put out. New Line's starting to
use it now, and I assume that the other studios
eventually will start to use it too."
The process, according to Reardon, benefits
both exhibitors and distributors. "NATO
did a big study about four or five years ago
on this [which concluded that the ELR]
saves about 20-25 minutes for each movie
that the operator has to set up in the booth,
between set-up and breakdown. And that has
benefits for [distributors] also, because just
one sphce puts the whole movie together,
whereas now it takes at least five or six
splices to put that movie together. So if you
have an operator who might miss putting the
splice together right, you won't have a blank
come in between a reel or something like that.
That won't happen. You get a much better
quality picture as a rule, because there's only
one splice on the reel, and it's pretty tough to
mess that up."
It is primarily for this contribution to the
exhibition industry that Reardon has been
named 1998's ShoWester of the Year. He'll
receive his award at Bally 's Hotel in Las Vegas
on Tuesday, March 10. "I'm very reluctant to
accept these kinds of awards," he says. "But I
"/ love the business.
Ifyou 're happy and
you're challenged
every day, you stay.
"
was very honored with this, and having been a
real backer of ShoWest all these years, I
thought, 'Yes, I will do this particular one.' It's
very nice of them to do it, that's a sure bet."
In addition to celebrating his ShoWest win,
Reardon and his colleagues are gearing up
to commemorate Wamer Bros.' 75th anniversary
in grand style. "We're mnning a big retrospective
of all the best Wamer movies from
each decade in theatres starting in early April.
Then we also have a Bugs Bunny 75th Anniversary
Film Festival coming out that's going
to be playing all over the country. And we
have a book that we're putting out that will
incorporate all the 4,000 titles that we have in
our library. We've been working on a lot of
things for this. The 75th anniversary is going
to be a very exciting year for Wamer Bros."
Capping off the celebration, on Christmas
Day, 1998, Wamer will reissue a restored
version of "The Wizard of Oz." "We're cleaning
up the old picture and making a brand-new
soundtrack, a Dolby soundtrack. And we also
found six minutes of footage of the Scarecrow
dancing that they didn't put in the original
because they didn't have time. It wiD really be
spectacular."
Reardon is also excited about Warner's upcoming
slate. "'QuestforCamelot,' 'The Avengers,'
'Lethal Weapon 4,' 'Negotiator' and 'A
Perfect Murder' will be the big summer movies.
They all have great breakout potential. And
then in the fall we'll have another whole group
of movies I think have really great potential."
He believes 1998 will be a banner year for
Wamer, acknowledging that "1997 was an
off-year for us. It's Uke being in a championship
fight or a Super Bowl. It's gratifying to
come out to be the winner If you're not one or
two, you're really disappointed. At least I am,
anyway. You really want to be on top. I think
that's what it's all about."
^H
The 1998 ShoWest Intro
SW-15

SHOWEST 1998 HIGHLIGHTS
Bally's Las Vegas Hotel • March 9-12, 1998
Monday, March 9
• Panels on the state ofglobal exhibition
• International delegate luncheon hosted by Buena Vista International; International
Exhibitor of the Year and International Boxoffice Achievement - Producer awards
m Afternoon international delegate reception hosted by Columbia TriStar International
• The first-ever "ShoWest ShowCase: An Evening ofIndependent Film"— screenings of
four indie features chosen by an exhibitor committee for their crossover and boxoffice
potential, with a reception hosted by a dozen indie distributors
Tuesday, March 10
• Breakfast and screen-lighting presentation hosted by Kodak
• State-of-the-industry addresses by NATO president William F. Kartozian and
MPAA chair Jack Valenti; In-Theatre Marketing and Customer Service honors
awarded, along with the ShoWester of the Year Award to
Warner Bros, theatrical distribution president Barry Reardon
m Midday luncheon and product reel hosted by Sony Pictures
• The ShoWest Trade Show, expanded to two pavilions and with extended
floor hours, opens at 2 p.m. and runs to 6:30 p.m.
• Evening off- site event hosted by DreamWorks with
product reel, dinner and GameWorks activities
• Dessert party with music entertainment sponsored by ACNielsen EDI
Wednesday, March 11
• Breakfast hosted by Nestle, with the NAC and Nestle offering
a human resources seminar; Bert Nathan Memorial Award presented
• Seminar on consolidation and merger activity in the exhibition industry
• Trade show running from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Midday luncheon and product reel hosted by New Line
• Afternoon workshops, including one on stadium seating conversions
• Evening dance party hosted by Pepsi-Cola
• Sneak preview: a major studio release
Thursday, March 12
• Breakfast hosted by Reynolds & Reynolds, with awarding
of the B. V. Sturdivant and Ida Schreiber honors
• Exhibitor relations open house at 10 a.m.
• Trade show running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Midday luncheon and product reel hosted by Miramax
• Capping the convention, the ShoWest Awards
• Following the ShoWest Awards, the closing banquet, hosted by Coca-Cola
SW-16
Boxoffice

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You learn what it takes to make a real profit. How to ensure a better
on your investment. Decrease transaction times. Reduce waste
at the same time, increase beverage sales. All without cannibalizing
other food sales. In other words, you become an expert in the conces-
I
sion industry. And that's exactly the knowledge that Ricos offers you.
Ricos offers concession products just the way
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Ricos offers a wide variety of products and packaging sizes to ensure
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Call the company that created concession nachos
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We'd like to talk with you about some of our other popular and profitable
items such as butter topping, jalapeiio peppers, and salsa. We'd also
Uke to give you a free analysis of your popcorn to ensure you are getting
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M Cos
Originators of Concession Nachos.
licos Products Co., Inc. 621 South Flores, San Antonio, TX 78204 Phone: 210-222-1415 Fax: 210-226-6453 Email: awatts@ricos.com Web Site: www.ricos.com
Response No. 49

1
SPECIAL REPORT: ShoWest 1998
WIN STATE-OF-THE-ART
THEATRE EQUIPMENT
Thousands of Dollars Worth of Prizes to be
Given Away at the BOXOFFICE booth at ShoWest
If
FREE DRAWING
you'd like to take home one of
these great prizes, try your luck at
the BOXOFFICE booth (#406) on
the ShoWest trade show floor. All you
have to do is drop off one of your business
cards at our booth with the name
of your hotel and your room number on
the back. There will be a prize drawing
on each day of the show.
You need not be present to win. However,
if we are unable to reach you by
the close of the show, an alternate prizewinner
may be selected. While you
don't need to be a BOXOFFICE subscriber
to enter these contests, you
must be a theatrical exhibition professional.
Only one entry per person is
permitted. As you can only win once,
previous years' winners are ineligible.
ShoWest
Day One to Three
Bonus Prize:
SONY SODS
VEST & TIE
DRAWINGS WILL BE HELD ATTHE BOXOFFICE BOOTH (#406) AT5:00 P.M.
ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AND AT 12:00 P.M. ON THURSDAY.
This
stylish trio (left to right: Sony's Terry Prince, Gemma Richardson &
Scott Johnson) is modeling the latest in Sony theatre wear—a navy blue
cotton cardigan vest teamed with a matching silk SDDS tie. One vest and
tie set will be given away every day at the BOXOFFICE booth.
ShoWest
Day One: Tuesday, March 10
Prize: SMART 2180 CINEMA
SURROUND LOUDSPEAKERS
DRAWING WILL BE HELD AT THE BOXOFFICE BOOTH (#406) AT 5:00 P.M.
i
Apair of SMART Theatre Systems' model 2 1 80 cinema surround loudspeakers
are waiting for today's lucky winner. This loudspeaker system I
is manufactured exclusively for SMART Theatre Systems by Wharfdale
in the United Kingdom. Wharfdale has been a pioneer in speaker design since
the 1950s and is world-famous for its quality and unique designs.
The 2 1 80 features dual tweeters, one on the front of the cabinet and the other
on the side. This produces a much wider sound coverage pattern to fill the room
with full-range sound. These speakers are also suitable for home theatre or hi-fi
stereo applications.
Specs: These speakers have a 60Wpower capability. Prize value: $400.
SW-18
BoxomcE

1
'^
Day
ShoWest
Two: Wednesday, March 1
Prize: QSC MX 1500a AMPLIFIER
DRAWING WILL BE HELD AT THE BOXGFFICE BOOTH
(#406) AT 5:00 P.M.
Today's
winner will
receive a model MX 1500a
amplifier from QSC Audio. More than just a power
amplifier manufacturer, QSC Audio is a systems
supplier offering a wide range of advanced sound system
alternatives. MXa amps are a great upgrade path for
the high power requirements of digital audio and, at 350
watts of power per channel, the 1500a is the most popular
of the series. THX-approved and suitable for screen
channel, surround and subwoofer applications, the MX
1500a will fill your theatre with incredible sound.
Specs: MX 1500a stereo amplifier; 400W @ 8 ohms,
600W@4 ohms;fan cooling 2 sp. IkHz, 0.1% THD. Prize value: $1,125.
ShoWest
Day Three:
Thursday, March 12
GRAND PRIZE:
COMPLETE
DTS SOUND SYSTEM
DRAWING HELD AT THE BOXOFFICE BOOTH
(#406) AT 12:00 P.M.
just a few years, digital sound has transformed the acous-
environment in movie theatres. The lush orchestrations
Intic
of Hollywood scores, the bone-crunching effects of exhilarating
action films, and even the tender conversations of two
people in love, all can now be rendered with a clarity so real,
the audience feels like it's actually there.
Audiences can hear the sound exacdy as the moviemaker and
sound designer intended, because the DTS system delivers an
exact copy of the studio master recordings. The DTS system is
a proven attraction for all moviegoers, especially for the more
discriminating members of your audience—the connoisseurs
•who want the very best in their theatre presentations.
Operation of the DTS system is automatic, fail-safe and
compatible with all existing cinema processors. Because DTS
prints have a conventional stereo-optical track as well as DTS
timecode, a single inventory of prints works for all theatres.
Installation and operation are simple and foolproof: in the
event of a rare technical problem, DTS automatically defaults
to the stereo-optical track.
Don't let the digital revolution leave you behind. Stop by
the BOXOFFICE booth at ShoWest and enter for your chance
to win a free DTS system today.
Specs: 6 channel configuration. Frequency response: L,
C, R, LS, RS: 20Hz to 20kHz; sub: 20 Hz to 80 Hz. Holds
three CD-ROMS for up to five hours play time. 96dB dynamic
range, all channels. Prize value: $6,350.
See you on the
Trade Show Floor!
The 1998 ShoWest Intro
SW-19

SH0WEST1998
TRADE SHOW FLOOR PLAN: PAVILION 1
South End:
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2101 2102 2103 2104
=,=rYTYV
SHOW
ENTRY REGISTRATION
ENTRANCE
MAW
SHOW
ENTRY
fm-200
COME VISIT WITH BOXOFFICE
AT BOOTH #406!
SHOW
ENTRY
JVTYV=
2118 2119!
406
109
108
107
DOUBLE j
FHBQHT
DOORS :

"Dolby" and the double ^D" symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
Now you can read analog only or
analog and Dolby Digital® Sound Tracks
in your sound head with
Visible Red LED Sound Readers
^-^^
W^
Reverse Scan sound readers employing the visible
red LED's and special photocells developed by Dolby
Laboratories read analog only or analog and Dolby
Digital* Sound Tracks in your sound head.
Component
Engineering
ShoWest Booth No. 2136-37
• Sound Readers • Automation Systems • Cue Detectors • Sound System Monitor Amplifiers
• Non-Sync Distribution Systems • Accessories for all of the above
Response No. 150
4237 24th Avenue -Vest Seattle, Washington 98199-1214
Phone: (206) 28431 71 Fax: (206) 286-4462 www.componentengineering.com

SHOWEST 1 998
TRADE SHOW FLOOR PLAN: PAVILION 2
=oro
ro
ENTRANCE
vr» \i
s

No Wastei
Less Mess
•
No Clean Up
'••'s;-j^»
.r:
Easy Storage
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Premium Quality
Portion Control .
CfrfllLI
M]
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p^^*si/
fTJi!^
j^^f products T^steBetter.^ Because Tlieyflrj gg,^
The difference is our Premium Quality ingredients
t No. 483
For more info:
l-800-FUNf)CHO
(1-800-386-2246)
Visit Our Website:
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ShoWest
Booth 103

61
SH0WEST1998
BOOTH LIST
PAVILION 1
31
8
5
111
A
2-POP 104
171 Pier Ave., #240, Santa Monica, CA 90405
310-822-9980 or fax 31 0-888-804
AAUI-TDS (Theatron) 905
P.O. 80x4142
Seal Beach, CA 90740
562-434-1627 or fax 562-434-9948
AASC-TDS (Theatron) 906
P.O. Box 4 142, Seai Beact), CA 90740
805-375-8408 or fax 805-499-8206
AASI-TDS (Tlieatron) 904
P.O. Box 70575. Reno, NV 71647
562-434-9947 or fax 702-825-7724
ADAMS & BROOKS 209
1915 S. Hoover St., Los Angeles, CA 90007
213-749-3226 or fax 2 13-746-76 14
Candy: P-Nuttles, Cup-O-Gold, more.
AMERICAN CINEMA EQUIP. 1703
P.O. Box 2594, Portland, OR 97209
503-226-2737 or fax 503-525- 1 966
Point of sale boxofflce ticketing.
AMERICAN DESK 1617-1618/1701-1702
P.O. Box 6129, Temple, TX 76503
800-433-3142 or fax 254-773-7370
Fixed theatre seating, rockers and
loungers.
AMERICAN INTL. CONCESSION 1003-1005
20 Dubon Ct, Farmingdale, NY 11 735- 1008
516-420-1868or fax 516-420-4042
Sour Patch Kids, Bon Bons Ice Cream,
syrups.
AMERICAN LICORICE CO. 703
P.O. Box 826, Union City, CA 94587
510-487-5500 orfax 510-487-2517
Licorice, multiple varieties.
AMPAC THEATRE CLEANING SERVICES
....2128A
P.O. Box 421, Monterey. CA 93942
408-372-3728 or fax 408-373-3490
Janitorial services, screen/carpet
cleaning.
APPAREL VENDING COMPANY 1616
P.O. Box 7735. Newarl(. DE 19714
302-292-0674 or fax 302-292-0595
ASSIGNED SEATING 1706
102 N. California Ave., Industry, CA 91744
626-333-4464 or fax 626-96B-531
ATLAS SPECIALTY LIGHTING 1903
7304 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, FL 33604
813-238-6481 or fax 813-238-6656
Xenon lamps, projection lamps.
BAGCRAFT CORP. 804
3900 W. 43rd St., Chicago, IL 60632
773-254-8000 or fax 773-254-8204
Stand-up popcorn bags. Honeycomb Foil bags
for theatre concessions.
BANNER CANDY MFG. CORP. 713
700 Liberty Ave., Brooklyn, NY 1 1208
800-551-0251 orfax 510-551-7758
Candy-coated and chocolala-covarad
products.
BASS INDUSTRIES INC 2221-2224
380 N.e. 67th St., Miami, FL 33138
305-751-2716 or fax 305-756-6165
Marquees, illuminated theatre signage.
BGWSYSTEMS 208
13130 S. Yukon Ave., Hawthorne, CA 90250
31 0-973-8090 or fax 31 0-676-671
Amplifiers, sub-woofers, computers.
BIG SKY INDUSTRIES. 1610-1611/1708-1709
259 Center St., Phillipsburg, NJ 08865
908-454-6344 or fax 908-454-6373
BILMAR FOODS/BALL PARK 704
428SpringwoodDr., Roselle, IL 60172
630-980-1443 or fax 630-980-144
BOSTON LIGHT & SOUND 1516-1518
290 N. Beacon St., Boston, MA 02135-1990
617-787-3131 or fax 61 7-787-4257
Projection and sound equipment, service and
installation.
BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE 406
6640 Sunset Blvd. Suite 100, Hollywood, CA 90028
21 3-465-1 186 or fax 21 3-465-5049
The business magazine of the global motion
picture industry. Info on upcoming films,
theatres, new products.
BOYD COFFEE CO 2203
P.O. Box20547, Portland, OR 97294
503-666-4545 or fax 503-669-2223
Gourmet coffees and brewing equipment.
BRACH/BROCK CONFECTION 1117-1118
4120 Jersey Pike, Chattanoga, TN 37421
423-510-7224 or fax 423-893-4454
Turnkey loose candy program.
BREJTFUS ENTERPRISES 2107-2108
410 S. Madison Dr, #1, Tempo. AZ 85281
602-731 -9899 or fax 602-731 -9469
Acoustic panels, artistic sound panels.
C. CRETORS&CO. 2111-2113
3243 N. California Ave., Chicago, IL 60618
773-588-1690 orfax 773-588-2171
Popcorn poppers, supplies, accessories.
C.R.LAURENCE 1915
P.O. Box 58923, Los Angeles, CA 90058-0923
800-42 1-61 44 or fax 800-262-3299
Manufacture bullet-resistant windows, etc.
CALIF. SEATING i REPAIR. 2135
12455 Branford St., Unit2, Arleta. CA91331
81 8-890-SEAT or fax 805-581 -0226
New and used chairs, reupholsterles, seat
covers.
CAMATIC SEATING
213aA
93 Lewis Rd., Wanlima Sth., Vic 3152,
AUSTRALIA
61-3-9887-0522 or fax 61 -3-9887-001
CARGILL FOODS 1913-1914
P.O. Box 5693/Lake Office, Minneapolis,
MN 55440
6 12- 742-2937 or fax 6 12-742-5503
PopWise popping and topping oil.
CASSARINO/Clnema Services 1615
407 Old County Rd.. Belmont, CA 94002
650-595-5496 or fax 650-595-5 197
CELESTIAL PRODUCTS 1809
14009 DinardAve., Santa Fe Springs,
CA 0670-4922
562-802-88 11 or fax 562-802-2882
Decorative and aisle lighting products.
CHRISTIE INC. 310-312/407-409
10550 Camden Dr, Cypress, CA 90630
714-236-8610 orfax 714-229-3185
Projectors, Xenon consoles, rewinds, bulbs.
CINE TRANSFORMER 2241
Av. Chapultepec #444-201
Col. Roma. Sinaloa, C.P. 06700, MEXICO
525-5-330- 730 or fax 525 5 330 73
CINEMA CONCEPTS 2211
2030 Powers Ferry Rd., Atlanta, GA 30339
770-956-7460 or fax 770-956-8358
Custom and generic pre-show trailers, slides.
CINEMA FILM SYSTEMS.... 1010-1012/1 107-1109
791 N. BensenAve., #E. Upland, CA 91786
909-931 -931 8 or fax 909-949-881
Projection accessories.
CINEMACOUSTICS 2006-2007
23679 Calabasas Rd., #518, Calabasas, CA 91302
818-225-8030 orfax 818-225-8029
CINEMECCANICA USING. 2103-2104
8753 Lion St., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
909-48 1 -5842 or fax 909-48 1-5845
Projectors, lamphouses, sound rectifiers.
COASTERS, INC. 2218-2219
1207 Bridgeway, Ste. 1, Sausalito, CA 94965
4 1 5-332-5555 or fax 4 1 5-332-50 1
Theatre seat renovation.
COCA-COLA CO. Center court at entry
P.O. Drawer 1734, Atlanta, GA 30301
404-676-5375 or fax 404-676-3605
Coke Classic, Diet Coke, Sprite, Hi-C, more.
COLGATE PALMOLIVE 1314-1315
191 E. Hanover Ave., Morristown, NJ07962-1905
973-631-9000 or fax 973-292-602
Ajax, Palmolive, Murphy's Oil, more.
COMPONENT ENGINEERING C0....2136-2137
4237 24th Avenue W.. Seattle, WA 98199
206-284-9171 or fax 206-286-4462
Sound head conversions: SR'D Digital Sound.
Cue detectors, more.
CRESTAUDIO 2202
100 Eisenhower Dr, Paramus, NJ07652
20 1 -909-8700 or fax 20 1 -909-8744
Professional power amplifiers, mixing
consoles, digital control systems.
CY YOUNG INC. 2127
#711 E. 14th Ave., N. KansasCity, M064116
816-474-1776 or fax 816-474-1900
Cupholders. child boosters, patron trays,
seat renovations.
DATA DISPLAY USA 2231-2232
990 S. Second St., Ronkonkoma, NY 1 1779
516-981-8384 or fax 51 6-981 -8225
DAVID TYSON LIGHTING 2235
P.O. Box 1932. Callahan. FL 3201
800-385-3148 or fax 800-385-3149
GE supplier for theatres.
DECOUSTICS CINE-LINE T 16
65 Disco Rd. Elobicoke. Onl. M9W 1M2. CANADA
4 16-675-3983 or fax 4 16-675-5546
"Matallo" Bound absorption materials.
SW-24
BoxoFiiCE

Tonight, It's A Movie And A Play.
Nothing goes better with a good movie than popcorn... and playing to win a high quality plush
toy from a "Premier" skill crane machine by Mission Crane. This classy machine, with its
all-black Lexan surface and "movie premier" neon graphics, will look fabulous in your theater
lobby.
Thousands of upscale locations have discovered our profitable, easy, and no cost "turn
key" program. Let your customers enjoy the play. And you pop the check we send you each
month into your account. Please call Glenn Kassel for all the details.
(888) 660-72S "^
m^

Gig
1
"
PAVILION 1
BOOTH LIST
DIGITAL THEATER SYS. ...1310-1313/1406-1409
5171 Clareton Dr.. Agoura Hills, CA 91301
818-706-3525 or fax 818-706- 1868
DTS digital sound systems for movie theatres.
DIPPINDOTS 306
5102 Charter Oak Dr., Paducha, KY42001
502-443-8994 or fax 502-443-8997
DOLBY LABORATORIES 211-213/307-309
100 PotreroAve.. Sari Francisco, CA 94103
415-558-0200 or fax 415-863-1373
Dolby processors, noise reduction.
DR. PEPPER/SEVEN-UP 109-110
P.O. Box 665086. Dallas. TX 75265
214-360-7780orfax 214-360-71 15
Dr. Pepper, Diet Or. Pepper beverages, syrups.
DURAFORM 102
1435 S. Santa Fe Ave., Compton, CA 90221
310-761 -1640 or fax 310-761-1646
Fiberglass trash receptacles and benches.
DURKAN PATTERNED CARPET 114-115
405 Virgil Dr.. Dalton, GA 30720
706-278-7037 or fax 706-226-0360
Custom commercial carpet.
EIMSINC. 1704-1705
12206 148th Ave.. K.P.N. .
Harbor, WA 98329
253-884-5802 or fax 253-884-5803
EASTERN ACOUSTICS (EAW) 1416-1417
One Main Si. Whitinsville, M/4 01588
508-234-6 1 58 or fax 508-234-825
EISENBERG SAUSAGE CO 1015
3531 N. ElstonAve., Chicago, IL 60618
3 12-588-2882 or fax 3 12-588-0810
Gourmet pure-beef franks.
FASHION SEAUSHANE UNIF. 191 1-1912
P.O. Box 4002, Seminole, FL 33775
813-397-961 1 or fax 81 3-393-0238
FAST-AD INC 2234
220-224 S. Centre St., Santa Ana. CA 92703
714-835-9353 or fax 714-835-4805
Letters for theatre marquees and accessories.
FEDERAL SIGN COMPANY 501
13346 1st Avenue N.E.. Seattle, WA 98125
206-361-6600 (ext.222) or fax 206-361 -6500
FIBREOPTICS 518
309 S. Cloverdale St., Ste. D-2, Seattle, WA 98108
800-777-5958 or fax 206-762-3503
Custom fiberoptic signs and displays.
FIGUERAS INTL. SEATING 2012-2015
Crta. Parets A Bigues, km 77, Llica de Munt,
Barcelona 08186, SPAIN
34-3-844-5050 or fax 34-3-841-6437
FILMACK STUDIOS 305
1327 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL 60605
3 12-427-3395 or fax 3 12-427-4866
Custom 35mm motion picture film trailers, slides.
FLAVOR WEAR 1415
28425 S. Cole Grade Rd., Valley Center, CA 92082
760- 749-1 332 or fax 760- 749-6164
Manufacturer of high-quality uniforms,
including new Showbiz line.
FUNacho 103
2165 Central Pkwy., Cincinnati, OH 45214
800-386-2246 or fax 51 3-352-5 122
G&S ACOUSTICS 2240
5901 Elizabeth Ave.. St Louis, MO63110-1992
314-781-1422 or fax 314-781-3836
Fabric covered acoustical wall panels.
GEMINI INC 2212
103 Mensing Way. Cannon Falls. MN 55009
800-538-8377 or fax 800-42 1-1256
Marquees, plastic letters, metal letters, tracks.
GERMAN ALMOND ROASTERS 1215
10550 Bexley Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33428
561 -451 -3693 or fax 561 -451 -2475
GLASSFORM 2213
6350 Nancy Ridge Dr., Ste. 101, San Diego,
CA 92121
800-995-8322 or fax 630-761 -8859
Fiberglass trash receptacles and planters.
GODIVA/BREWED A WAKEN 1502-1503
245 E. 63rd Si, Ste. 1410, New York, NY 10021
2 12-674-3724 or fax 2 12-980-3537
Gourmet coffees and premium chocolates.
GOLD MEDAL PRODUCTS CO.
617-618/701-702
10700 h/ledallion Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45241
513-769-7676 or fax 513-769-8500
Snack bar equipment and supplies.
GOLDBERG BROTHERS INC.
8000 E. 40th Ave., Denver, CO 80217
303-32 1-1 099 or fax 303-388-0749
Projection booth supplies.
2108A
GREAT WESTERN PRODUCTS 1718
30290 U.S. Hwy. 72, Hollywood, AL 35752
800-239-2143 or fax 205-574-21 16
Popcorn and nacho supplies, toppings.
HARIBO OF AMERICA INC. 2008
1825 Woodlawn Dr., #204. Baltimore. MD 21207
4 10-265-8890 or fax 4 10-265-8898
Haribo Gold Bears, "the original gummy bears.
WEAR
Presents:
Show w.^.
Fashion Accessories
II
It s getting
New Washable Vests
MEN'S & WOMENS
• Ties
• Bows
• Cummerbunds
• Scrunchies
• Aprons
• Headwear
in the box office!
Thermal Stock For ^/Theatre Systems:
• ICON
• OMNITERM
http://www.flavorwear.com
Call or Fax for FREE
Brochure & Swatch
1-800-647-8372
FAX (760) 749-6164
flavorwr@ix.netcom.com
28425 S. Cole Grade Rd.
Valley Center, CA 92082

LkLLLLLkLLLLLLLLLLLL L k L L L
\ THEATER EQUIPMENT /
4>
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PROJECTOR HEADS-35MM-
USED
CENTURY C 70.6mm Lens Holder
CENTURY C 101.6mm Lens Holder
CENTURY SA
SIMPLEX 35 Late Model
BALLANTYNE PRO-35
SOUNDHEADS-35MM-USED
CENTURY R-3A-R-3
SIMPLEX 5-STAR
SIMPLEX SH-1000
SIMPLEX SH- 1020
MOTIOGRAPH SH-7500
-PROJECTORS AND SOUNDHEADS SOLD OMfWrfH COMPLETE BOOTH-
PROJECTION SYSTEMS-USED
CINEMECCANICA V-4
CINEMECCANICA V-8
CINEMECCANICA V-9
NORELCO FP-20
35/70MM PROJECTORS-
USED
CENTURY JJ-2
CINEMECCANICA V-8
KINOTONE DP-75
NORELCO AA-Il TODD-AO
CINEVISION
CORPORATION
brings you one of
the largest
selections of new,
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theater equipment
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With 26 years of
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installations and
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All
rebuilt
equipment sales arc
backed by a full
one-year warranty.
Trade-ins of your
surplus equipment
are accepted.
XENON LAMPHOUSES-USED
CHRISTIE 500 Watt
CHRISTIE 1000 Watt
CHRISTIE 2000 Watt
CINEMECCANICA ZENITH
ORC 1000 Built-in Power Supply
ORC 1600 W/Separate Supply
ORC 4000
STRONG X- 16
STRONG SUPER LUMEX
XETRON XH-2000
-THE ABOVE LAMPHOUSES INCLUDE POWER SUPPLIES-
XENON CONSOLES-USED
CHRISTIE CH-IO $ 2,250.00
CHRISTIE CH-20 2,495.00
CHRISTIE CH-40 3,995.00
PLATTER SYSTEMS-USED
ORC CP-302 3-DECK

Iwerks Entertainment" Presents:
. LINEAR-LOOP. FILM PROJECTION SYSTEMS .
1 »

1
7
PAVILION 1
BOOTH LIST
JARCO INDUSTRIES 1717
P.O. Box 159. 98 Park Ave., Babylon,
NY 11702-0159
516-422-9000 or fax 516-422-9005
JBL PROFESSIONAL 21 19-2122
8500 Balboa Blvd., Northridge, CA 91329
818-894-8850 or fax 81 8-830- 1220
JOHN MORRELL & CO. 108
5415 Via Donte. Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
310-577-2000 or fax 310-577-2100
JUST BORN INC. 1812-1813
1300 Stefko Blvd., Bethlehem, PA 18017
800-445-5787 or fax 800-543-498
Hot Tamales and Mike S Ike fruit candies.
KELMAR SYSTEMS INC. 1204
284 Broadway, Huntington Station, NY 11746
516-421-1230 or fax 516-421-1274
Automation systems, projector upgrades.
KINETICS NOISE CONTROL 1501
6300 Irelan Place, Dublin. OH 4301
6 14-889-0480 or fax 614-889-0540
Acoustical wall artd ceiling finishes.
KINETRONICS CORP. 1405
1778 fvlain St, Sarasota, FL 34236
941-951 -2432 or fax 94 1 -955-5992
KLOPPENBERG & CO. 1716
2627 W. Oxford Ave., Englewood. CO 801 10
303-761-1615 or fax 303-789- 1 74
KNEISLEY ELECTRIC CO 207
P.O. Box 4692, Toledo, OH 43610
419-241-1219 or fax 41 9-241-9920
Lamphouses, power supplies and consoles.
KRAFT FOODS/OSCAR MAYER 903
185 Technology Way, Irvine. CA 92685
714-453-3547 or fax 714-453-3754
LANCER CORP. 2207
1 125 N. Ivleadow Pkwy. #116, Roswell, GA 30076
800-729- 1 750 or fax 770-4 75-8646
Post-mix drink systems and accessories.
LAVI INDUSTRIES 303
27810 Ave. Hopkins, Valencia, CA 91355
800-624-6225 or fax 805-257-4938
Public guidance, crowd control stanchions.
LA WRENCE METAL PRODUCTS 2128
P.O. Box 400-M, 260 Spur Drive S., Bay Shore,
NY 11 706
51 6-666-0300 or fax 51 6-666-0336
Portable posts, ropes, railing, turnstiles, gates.
LEHIGH ELECTRIC PRODUCTS 2126
6265 Hamilton Blvd., Allentown, PA 18106
610-395-3386 or fax 61 0-395-7735
Dimming systems for theatres.
LEN-D ENTERPRISES INC. 916
P.O. Box 556, Wheatley Hts., NY 11798
516-242-7241 or fax 516-243-4723
Splicing tape, splicers, port glass
& projection lenses.
LIGHTING & ELECTRONIC DESIGN 2205-2206
190 Sierra Ct. Unit C-6. Palmdale. CA 93550-7607
805-575-2225 or fax 800-700-5483
Aisle lights, decorative lighting, chandeliers.
UNDSEY-FAIRBANKS INC. 1414
1670 /^laywood Ave.. Upland, CA 91784
909-982-0467 or fax 909-982-7036
Dimmers.
LOU ANA FOODS/VENTURA 2220
P.O. Box 591, Opelousas, LA 70571
318-948-6561 or fax 318-942-3773
Popping and buttery topping oils.
LUCASFILM/THX 1917-1918/2001-2002
P.O. Box 10327, San Rafael. CA 94912
415-492-3900 or fax 4 15-492-3973
THX audio.
M&M/MARS 111-112
800 High St. Hackettstown, NJ 07840
908-852-1000 or fax 908-850-2734
M&Ms, Snickers, Milky Way,
3 Musketeers, Twix.
MARBLE COMPANY, THE 616
P.O. Box 160030, Nashville, TN 37216
800-759-5905 or fax 615-227-7008
Booth supplies, automations,
dimmers, sound.
MARCEL DESROCHERS/M.D.L 2138
1440 Raoul-Charrette, Joliette, Quebec J6E8S7,
CANADA
514-755-3795 or fax 514-755-3122
Cinema screens.
MARK IV CINEMA (EVI AUDIO) ....214-217
600 Cecil St, Buchanan, IVII 49107
616-695-6831 or fax 6 16-695- 1304
Motion picture loudspeakers and amplifiers.
MARS 1104-1106
335 IVIadison Ave., 27th Floor. New York,
NY 10017
212-450-8140orfax212-450-8001
MAUICUP/DIV. OFLETICA 1206
52585 Dequindre Rd., Rochester, Ml 48307
248-652-0557 or fax 248-608-2028
MBI PRODUCTS CO 2005
5309 Hamilton Ave., Cleveland. OH44114
21 6-431 -6400 or fax 21 6-431 -9000
MEDIA TECH SOURCE INC.
1510-1513/1606-1609
10501 Florida Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55438
612-829-0161 orfax612-829-0166
MELDED FABRICS 1905
14106 Arbor PI., Cerritos, CA 90703
888-MELDEDS or fax 562-802-3227
METROPOLITAN CONCESSIONS 404-405
16639 Gale Ave., City of Industry. CA 91745
626-330- 1414 or fax 626-369-6406
Snack bar equipment and supplies.
MISSION CRANE SERVICE 2241
1641 S. SunkistSt, Anaheim, CA 92806
888-660-7253 or fax 714-634-8603
MOBILIARIO 1317-1318/1401-1402
Calle del Sol #3 Col./San Rafael de Champa,
Naucalpan de Juarez, Edo de Mexico 53660,
MEXICO
525-300-0620 or fax 525-300-2136
MODULAR HARDWARE 1418
8190 N. Brookshire Ct./BX 35398, Tucson,
AZ 85740
602- 744-4424 or fax 800-533-7942
Toilet partitions, washroom.
MORRISON FARMS POPCORN 1303
RR#1-Box50A, Cleanvater, NE68726
402-887-5335 or fax 402-887-4709
Popcorn, popping oil, equipment, supplies.
Every Seat In The House
Is A Great Seat With
The
CinemaSeat TM
The CinemaSeat is
a lightweight
durable booster seat
made
especially for young movie goers. It
provides a secure seat for small
children by holding down the spring
loaded theater seat.
Velcro safety
strips hold the seat firmly in place
ensuring the safety of the child.
The CinemaSeat covers the
theater seat upholstery, keeping
shoes from tearing and soiling the
material. The lip on the edge of the
seat holds
spills away
from the
fabric. This
safe and
sturdy
"booster
seat" is a
must for
-r, r^. ^
The CinemaSeat is
every « ^ . , •
, _ .. offered separately or in
theater. Lall
^^.^ convenient package,
^°°^V- The System 36
• Use as a concessions holder
• Lightweight, self-nesting
• Available in four colors
• Easy to clean
SEE US AT SHOWEST BOOTH #2003
Smart Products, Inc.
LEADERS IN CHILD SAFETY"
2330 Toomey Avenue
Charlotte. NC 28203
Order Information
l-8((0-343-3635 or l-7(l4-347-(M»87
FAX: 1-704-377-4247
e-mail: nKflTiext'aol.tom
« \v\v. Mnart-proclutts.toni
Response No. 488
The 1998 ShoWest Intro
SW-29

SCREiH fRAMt
International Cinema Equipment Co. is pleased to announce tnat it has introduced
a new line Steel Pre-fabricated Motion Picture Screen Frames. This new line of Frames
is the latest addition to a growing list of products manufactured by
the company for the Motion Picture & Theatre Industry. For prices,
technical information and a free brochure call your theatre
equipment dealer or, write, fax or e-mail us today.
Quick delivery time is our speciality.
Other fine products we manufacture or distribute:
WestarATAP/k14
Automatic
Projectors
M.T.E. Studio Equipment
1
Westar 35 &
35/70 mm Projectors
Lens, Screen, Lamp and
Aspect Ratio Calculators
Westar HDMC
Projection Lenses
ooo
'Ca.'
Process & Special
Venue Projection

WE'VE GOT IT ALL!
Total Cinema Development
We offer total planning, development and operations consultation
to open a cinema anywhere in the world
^ International Cinema Equipment Company is pleased to
announce that our products and services now include
total cinema development, planning, supply, installation
^• _ and operations consultation. Our organization and staff
has been expanded to include a variety of resources.
These include:
• architectural consulting
• design conceptualization
'projection
• concession and snack bar design
^^~^^ • seating layouts • sight line design
^
• projection, acoustical consultation and design
• operations training and management
We have a unique program. It could provide full
consulting services for your project included with
your purchase. Thus, at no additional cost to you or
your client, you will get the very best advice on your
project. This will minimize your risk and exposure
and insure that your return on investment is a healthy
one indeed.
Let the professionals at International show you how
easy it is to build, equip and operate
j
a modern Multi
) Cinema Complex. Call us today!
international cinema equipment company, inc.
100 N. E. 39lh Street, Miami. FL 33137 U.S.A. / Phone: (305) 573-7339 / Fax: (305) 573-8101
Response No 4

1
"
PAVILION 1
BOOTH LIST
UOVIEAD CORP. 2227-2228
3500 N. Andrews Ave.. Pompano Beach, FL 33065
800-329-4989 or fax 954-784-0700
Supply ad sticks, title art, concession mylars &
translites.
MOVIEFONE 1113-1114
335 Madison Ave., 27th Floor, New York,
NY 10017
212-450-8000 or fax 2 12-450-800
Call-in movie information service,
advance ticket sales.
MPO VIDEOTRONICS 1816
1 167 Lawrence Dr., Newbury Park, CA 91320
805-499-8513 or fax 805-499-8206
MULTIFOODS SPECIALTY 1505-1506
P.O. Box 173774. Denver, CO 8021 7-3774
303-338-6369 or fax 303-338-6370
Full-line concession supply
distribution company.
MULTIMEDIA 2239
3300 Monier Circle. Ste. 150. Rancho Cordova,
CA 95742
916-852-4220orfax916-852-8325
MULTIPLEX CO. INC. 1514-1515
250 Old Ballwin Rd., Ballwin, MO 63021
314-256-7777 or fax 314-527-4313
Beverage dispensing equipment.
MUNTERS DRY COOL 1205
16900 Jordan Rd, Selma, IN 78154
210-651-5018orfax210-651-9085
MVEINC. 304
2 Appletree Sq. #100/801 1 34th Avenue S.,
Bloominglon. MN 55425
800-247-4446 or fax 612-853-9661
Bulk C02 systems for beverage carbonation.
N.A.C. 615
35 E. WackerDr.. »1816, Chicago, IL 60601
3 12-236-3858 or fax 3 12-236- 7809
Trade association for concession industry.
NATIONAL CINEMA SERVICE 1904
P.O. Box 10799. New Orleans. LA 70181
504- 734-0707 or fax 504- 734-0700
Theatre projection and sound service, parts
and booth supplies.
NATIONAL TICKET CO.
80S
P.O. Box 547 Shamokin. PA 17872
71 7-672-2900 or fax 71 7-672-2999
Tickets for admission systems, coupon books.
NATO 2125
4605 Lankershim Blvd., Ste. 340, North
Hollywood CA 91602
8 18-506- 1778 or fax 8 1 8-506-0269
National trade association for
ttteatre owners.
NCS CORP. 813-815
14499 N. Dale MabryHwy.. Ste. 201, Tampa.
FL 33618
813-962-2772 or lax 813-962-3402
Technical equipment, concession stands.
NESTLE DAIRY 614
30003 Bainbhdge Rd., Solon. OH 44 139
440-349-5757 or fax 440-498-7892
Bon Bona Ice cream nuggets, mors.
NESTLE USA 611-813
BOON. Brand Blvd., Glendale. CA 91203
909-36 1-0755 or lax 909-361-0755
Suppllas, confection.
NEUMADE PRODUCTS/XETRON 1210-1212
30-40 Pecks in.. Newtown, CT 06470
203-270- 1100 or fax 203-270-7776
Professional motion picture equipment.
NOVAR CONTROLS CORP. 1906-1907
24 Brown St.. Barberton, OH 44203
330-745-0074 or fax 330-745-7401
Computerized heating/refridgeration modules,
controllers.
ODELL'S 914-915
P.O. Box 11336. Reno, NV 89510
800-635-0436 or fax 702-323-6532
Popcorn topping, ODELL 'S brand canola oil
for popping.
ODYSSEY PRODUCTS INC. 2236-2237
5845 Oakbrook Pkwy. "G". Norcross, GA 30093
770-825-0243 or fax 770-825-0245
Infrared assistive equipment for theatres,
support services and more.
OMNITERMDATA TECHNOLOGY
1217-1218/1301-1302
2785 SkymarkAve.. #1 1. Mississauga,
Ont. L4W4Y3. CANADA
905-629-4757 or fax 905-629-8590
Automated ticketing, concessions, teleticket,
ATM, more.
ORC LIGHTING PRODUCTS 707-708
1300 Optical Dr., Azusa, CA 91702
626-815-3100 or fax 626-815-3074
OSRAM/SYLVANIA 106-107
lOOEndicottSt.. Danvers. MA 01923
978-777- 1900 or fax 978-750-2630
Osram Xenon lamps.
PACER/CATS 711-712/807-808
8800 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 600, Los Angeles,
CA 90069
31 0-360-6035 or fax 31 0-360-0405
Computer boxoffice, concession, ticketing,
accessories.
PACIFIC CONCESSIONS 2216
1250 Bayhill Dr #301, San Bruno. CA 94066
650-871-871 1 or fax 650-871 -7480
Financing for remodeling, construction, etc.
PACKAGING CONCEPTS 2139
4971 FylerAve., SI. Louis. MO 63139
314-481-1 155or fax 314-481-6567
Leak-proof popcorn bags.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES 1613-1614
5555 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. CA 90038
213-956-4836 or fax 21 3-862- 1 054
Motion picture distributor.
PEAVEY/CINEMACOUSTICS 2006-2007
208 Rutherford Dr. Danville. CA 94526
818-225-8030 or fax 8 18-225-8029
Digitally-based cinema sound equip., speakers.
PELICAN PRODUCTIONS 117
1953 Lakeshore Dr. Muskegon. Ml 49441
616-722-3012 or fax 616-722-3124
Producers of "Lobby Previews.
PEPSI-COLA 910-913/1006-1009
One Pepsi Way. Somers. NY 10589-0904
914-767-7814 orfax914-767-1195
Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew.
PERMUGHT TECHNOLOGY 1814-1815
420 W. 6th St.. Tustin. CA 92780
7 14-508-0729 or fax 714-508-0920
LED Isle llglitlng.
PIKE PRODUCTIONS INC 1 13
1 1 Clarke St./Box 300, Newport. Rl 02840
401-846-8890 or fax 401-847-0070
Custom policy & announcement trailers.
PLOTKIN GROUP 2204
5963 La Place Court/Airport Plaza. #104,
Carlsbad. CA 92008
800-877-5685 or fax 760-603-8570
Employee testing and training.
PNC WEST/KINETICS 1710-1711
835 W. Fairway Dr #2, Chandler. AZ 85224
602-91 7-1 999 or fax 602-91 7-1 899
PPR ENTERPRISES 1714-1715
1523-L W. Struck Ave., Orange. CA 92867
714-771-7863orfax 714-771-3277
Design, installation cabinets for theatres.
PRACTICAL AUTOMATION 1504
45 WoodmontRd. Milford. CT 06460
203-882-5640 or fax 203-882-5648
Specialty & custom printer hardware and
software.
PREFERRED POPCORN CO.
1203 10th Rd.. Chapman. NE 68827
308-986-2461 or fax 308-986-2626
2015A
PROCTOR & GAMBLE CO 1413
4839 Riverton Dr. Orlando. FL 32817
407-384-86 1 6 or fax 407-384-0216
Concession Stands, acoustical, THX Bafflettes.
PROCTOR COMPANIES 317-318/401-402
10497 Centennial Rd.. Littleton. CO 80127
303-973-8989 or fax 303-973-8884
PROMOTION IN MOTION CO. 1201-1203
P.O. Box 558. Closter. NJ 07624-0558
201-784-5800 or fax 201 -784-1010
Candy: Care bears, Lemonheads, Red Hots.
PROMOTIONAL MGMT. 2140-2141
5700 Broadmoor. Ste. 912. Mission. KS 66202
91 3-831 -7644 or fax 91 3-831 -7577
PROTOCOL 2238
1370Mendota Heights Rd.. Mendota Heights,
MN 55120
800-227-5336 or fax 612-454-9542
aSC AUDIO PRODUCTS 203-204
1675 MacArthurBlvd., Costa Mesa. CA 92626
714-754-61 75 or fax 714-754-6174
Professional, THX approved power amplifiers.
QUINETTE GALLA Y INTL 2129-2132
15. rue de la Nouvelle France. Montreuil,
Cedex 93108, FRANCE
33 1 -4988-6333 or fax 331 -4858-2286
Seating for cinemas, theatres and auditoriums.
RADIANT ENTERTAINMENT
1410-1412/1507-1509
1000 Holcomb Woods Pkvry. #330. Roswell.
GA 30076
770-5 18- 7976 or fax 770-587-0484
RDS DATA GROUP
1817-1818/1901-1902
101 Donly Drive S.. Simcoe. Ont. N3Y4L5.
CANADA
888-RDS-DA TA or lax 5 19-428-944 1
Theatre ticketing and concession 8yst0m*.
RICOS PRODUCTS 403
621 S. Flores. San Antonio. TX 78204
210-226-4 167 or fax 210-227-0907
The originators of concession nachos.
SW-32
BoxofTlCE

* OATCfJT Dcumur. "
MSU
JIGHTL
%^nn STEP iic«rj
'
PATENT PENDING
ViMl (AREA) 1/Ch]7
mmsf ^^mamF wm
25 Years of Theatre Lighfiug Leadership!
Superior Produ

PAVILION 1
BOOTH LIST
ROUNDUP FOOD EQUIPMENT 1014
1025 W. National Ave.. Addison, IL 60101
800-253-2991 or fax 630-543-0359
Grills, pizza stations, concession equipment.
SCHNEIDER OPTICS 313
285 OserAve., Hauppauge, NY 11788
516-761 -5000 or fax 51 6-761 -5090
Custom projection lenses.
SCHULTDESIGN 418-601/417-602
318 Cedar. Pleasant Hill. MO 64080
800- 783-8998 or fax 816-540-4 790
Theatre display cases, letters, signage.
SEATING CONCEPTS
1016-1018/1 101-1103
4901-600 Morena Blvd., San Diego,
CA 921 17-3429
61 9-581 -571 5 or fax 61 9-581 -5725
Standard and custom seating.
SERVER PRODUCTS 1115-1116
P.O. Box 530. Menomonee Falls. Wl 53052
414-251-7100orfax 414-251-2688
Popcorn, nacho & grill equipment.
SMART DEVICES INC. 314-316
5945 Peactitree Corners East, Norcross. GA 30071
770-449-6698 or fax 770-449-6728
Stereo processors, cinema sound components.
SMART PRODUCTS INC. 2003
2330 ToomeyAve., Ctiarlotte, NC 28203
800-343-3635 or fax 704-377-4247
SMITHGROUP COMMUNICATIONS 105
614 S. W. 1 1th Ave., #405, Portland, OR 97205
503-224-1905 or fax 503-224-5548
State-of-the-art custom logo and policy trailers.
SONY CINEMA PRODUCTS
716-718/801-803
10202 W. Washington Blvd.. Culver City. CA 90232
310-244-5777 or fax 31 0-244-2024
Sony digital playback readers and processors.
SOUNDFOLD INTL 1013
P.O. Box 292125, Kettering, OH 45429
937-293-2671 or fax 937-293-9542
Acoustical wall covering, speaker brackets.
SOUTHFIELD/JG CLARK CO 2214-2215
1171 W. CenterSt.. l\Aarion, OH43302
800-274-4882 or fax 800-538-2594
Paper products, popcorn boxes, carry-out trays.
SPECO (SYSTEMS PRODUCTS)
2208-2210
709 N. Sixth St., Kansas City, MO 66101
913-321-3978 or fax 913-321 -7439
STAGE ACCOMPANY USA INC 1908-1909
7004 Louise Terrace, Bay Ridge, NY 1 1209
800-955-7474 or fax 800-955-9564
Complete sound systems.
STAR MANUFACTURING INTL 715
P.O. Box 430129. St. Louis. MO 63143
800-264-7827 or fax 800-264-6666
Hot dog cookers, popcorn/nacho equipment.
STEIN INDUSTRIES 1308-1309
22 Sprague Ave., Amityville, NY 11701
5 1 6- 789-2222 or fax 51 6- 789-8888
Display cases, concession stands, boxoffices,
popcorn and nacho warmers.
Fast&
Easy Ticketing
Comprehensive
Reporting
Concession
Sales & Inventory
Great Support
and Service
STRONG INTL 810-812/907-909
4350 McKinley St.. Omaha. NE 681 12
402-453-4444 or fax 402-453-7238
Projection, Xenon, slide projection
systems.
SUMMITFOODS 817-818/901-902
P.O. Box 141, Dedham, MA 02027
6 1 7-830-020 1 or fax 6 1 7-830-0205
Klondike movie bites, Naya water, more.
T.K. ARCHITECTS 1213-1214
106 W. 1 1th. Ste. 1900. Kansas City. MO 64105
816-842- 7552 or fax 8 1 6-842- 1 302
Design and planning for new theatres.
TASTE OF NATURE 101
400 S. Beverly Dr. #214. Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310-276-2927 or fax 310-278-9509
Healthy snacks supplier, plastic displays.
TDS OF NEVADA (THEATRON) 904-906
P.O. Box 71647, Reno, NV 89570
702-825-3275 or fax 702-827-9009
A DIVISION OF NICHE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, INC
Maintaining an average response time
ofless than 5 minutes for the fifth year in a row.
870 MERCURY DRIVE S.E.
LAWRENCEVILLE GA 30045
TEL 770 682 5485 FAX 770 682 8397
Call for a brochure and quote 800 552 0313
INTERNET WWW.M0VIE-INF0.COM/TICKETPR0
flatponM No. 240
TECO 816
1 122 Industrial Dr.. Matthews, NC 28105
704-84 7-4455 or fax 704-845- 1 709
Platters, film clamps, film retainers, splicers.
TEMPO INDUSTRIES INC 1712-1713
2002-A S Grand Ave., Santa Ana. CA 92705
714-662-4860 or fax 714-641-0944
Aisle lighting, wall graphics, more.
THEATRE SERVICE CORP. 21 15-2117
P.O. Box 835932 Richardson. TX 75080
972-690-0615 or fax 972-699-7355
Screen cleaning process. Chemicals, draperies.
THEATRE S VIDEO PRODUCTS 2102
921 N.E. 79th St.. Miami. FL 33612
305- 754-91 36 or fax 305- 759-0863
THEATRON DATA SYSTEMS 904-906
P.O. Box 4 142, Seal Beach. CA 90740
562-434-9947 or fax 562-434-9948
Theatre computer systems and software.
SW-34
BOXOFFICE

PAVILION 1
BOOTH LIST
1
2
WILLMING REAMS ANIMATION
NEWfcr 1998!
TICKETPRO/OPriMUM CINEMA 2217
870 Mercury Drive S.E., Lawrencevilte, GA 30245
770-682-5485 or fax 770-682-8397
Computer software for entertainment industry.
TIVOU INDUSTRIES 1306-1307
1513 E. St. Gertrude PI., Santa Aria. CA 92705
714-957-6101 or fax 714-957-1501
Specialty lighting products.
TOOTSIE ROLL INDUSTRIES 1316
7401 S. Cicero Ave., Chicago, IL 60629
773-838-3400 or fax 773-838-3569
Tootsie Rolls, Mason Dots, Junior Mints.
TRANS LUX CORP. 2010-2011
1 10 Ricfiards Ave., Norwalk. CT 06854
203-853-4321 or fax 203-855-8636
Indoor/outdoor programmable signs.
CD
:30 WitlenWurhPoY\cy Trailer
^TwW^i^i P»^H^# $119.95/pp
UIE CUSTOmiZE vou R TRAILERS Vj^D 171^
TRICORP AMUSEMENTS 1803
5 Veronica Ave., Somerset, NJ 08873
732-846-7767 or fax 732-846-0622
Available in
English & Spanish!
ULTRA-STEREO LABS 917-918/1001-1002
181 BonettiDr, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
805-549-0161 or fax 805-549-01 63
Stereo decoding equipment, booth monitors,
hearing impaired systems.
$39.95/pp
ULTRATECHINC 1612
P.O. Box 436, Homestead. PA 15120
4 12-469-8324 or fax 4 12-469-935
Full line theatre supply & service.
VENNERS COMPUTER SVC. 1810-1811
249 Upper 3rd St., Witangate W.,
Central Milton Keynes MK9 WS, ENGLAND
44-1 908-350-550 or fax 44-1 908-350-551
:15 Now Starring Feature Presentation Trailer
8 TRACK DIGITAL SURROUND SOUND
VOGEL POPCORN CO 714
2301 Washington St., Hamburg, IA 51640
800-831 -581 8 or fax 712-382-1357
Grower, processor and distributor of popcorn.
Qui' Bestt^elier - New &: Imi)rove(i for 1998 Lights! CaiverWAcfmr^mW!yTmmiW'
WAGNER ZIP-CHANGE 2109
3100 Hirsch St., Melrose Park, IL 60160
800-323-0744 or fax 800-243-4924
Marquee letters, backgrounds, accessories,
custom colors/styles.
WEA VER POPCORN 205-206
130 E. Main St.. Van Buren, IN 46991
800-227-61 59 or fax 765-934-4052
Bulk popcorn. Portion Pak popcorn.
WELDON, WILLIAMS & LICK INC 2101
P.O. Box 168, Ft. Smith, AR 72902
800-242-4995 or fax 50 1-783- 7050
Tickets, computer forms, passes.
WESNIC/HINES 1605
6000 Bowdendale, Jacksonville, FL 32216
904-733-8444 or fax 904-733-3736
Furniture for theatres including chairs,
benches, planters, etc.
ASK aDout our
Uldeo Monitor Program
lust $391
Willming Reams Animation, Inc.
210-342-2141 Fax 210-342-1523
http://www. WRanimS. com
Call 1-800-972-6468
Response No. 46
WILLMING REAMS ANIMATION 1801-1802
325 E. Ramsey Rd., San Antonio, TX 78216
210-342-2141 orfax210-342-1523
Policy trailers, concessions, computer and
character animation.
WINPAK 1216
85 Laird Dr, Toronto, Ont. M4G 3X8, CANADA
41 6-421 -1700 or fax 41 6-421 -7957
WYANDOT INC. 1403-1404
135 Wyandot Ave., Marion. OH 43302
740-383-4031 or fax 740-382-5584
Corn chips, popcorn, nachos.
FOR MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY
Muscular Dystrophy Association
(800)572-1717
Wonder Woman Is a
trademarV of DC Comics.
Used with permission.
Copyrighl © 1 994 DC Comics
The 1998 ShoWest Intro
SW-35

SH0WEST1998
PAVILION 2 BOOTH LIST
1
9
ACCESSCASH ATM SOLUTION 3103
4105 N. Lexington, Ste. 305,
Arden Hills, MN 55126
6 12-490-0413 or fax 6 12-490-0545
ACORTO .2711-2712
1287 120th N.E., Bellevue, WA 98005
425-453-2800 or fax 425-453-2167
ADVERTISING ON THE MOVE 2500
53535 N. Federal Hwy., Ste. 304,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
954-493-8440 or fax 954-493-8604
AMERICAN AMUSEMENT MACHINE 2912
450 E. Higgins Rd., K201,
Elk Grove. IL 60007
847-290-9088 or fax 847-290-9121
BANK OFAMERICA 3613
1925 W. John Carpenter Frwy.,
Irving. TX 75063
972-444-61 14 or fax 972-444-5260
BEAVER (MACHINE-O-MATIC) 2511-2512
1341 Kerrisdale Blvd., Newmarket,
Ont. L3Y 7V1, CANADA
905-836-4700 or fax 905-836-4737
BEHR BROWERS ARCHITECTS 2602
340 N. Westlake Blvd., #250,
Westlake Village,CA 91362
805-496-1101 or fax 805-494-1 421
BIRTCHER CONSTRUCTION 2807-2808
18008 Sky Park Circle, #200,
Irvine. CA 92614
714-475-5600 or fax 714-475-5610
BULLOCK SMITH & PARTNERS 2502
306 W. Depot Ave., Ste. 201.
Knoxville, IN 37917
423-546-5772 or fax 423-546-0495
CARDLOGIX 2605
16 Hughes, Ste. 100.
Inline, CA 92618
71 4-380-1 312 or fax 714-380-1428
CAWLEY COMPANY 2901
1544 N. 8th St, Manitowoc, Wl 54221
800-822-9539 or fax 920-682-5520
CHINA MIST TEA COMPANY 2704
7435 E. Tierra Buena Ln.,
Scottsdale. AZ 85260
602-998-8807 or fax 602-596-08 1
CINTECH CORP. 3609
4705 95th St N.,
St. Petersburg, FL 33708
813-398-7332 or fax 81 3-398-97088
CUSTOM COLOR CORP.
300 W. 19th Terrace.
Kansas City, f^O 64108
816-474-3200 or fax 81 6-842-1 498
270S
DIMENSIONAL INNOVA TIONS 2811-2812
1508 E. 9th St, Kansas City, MO 64106
816-221-2011 or fax816-221-0390
ECl TICKETING SYSTEMS 2505
1 153 Inspiration Ln.. Escondido. CA 92025
760-480- 1 002 or fax 760-480-6830
EVERBRITEINC 3606
2265 Roswell Rd.. Ste. 100.
Marietta, GA 30062
770-977-4846 or lax 770-977-5033
FANTASY ENTERTAINMENT 3101
63 Range Rd, Windham. NH 03087
603-894- 1234 or fax 603-894-4547
FOLZ VENDING COMPANY 2601
3401 Lawson Blvd.. Oceanside. NY 1 1572
516-678-6005 or fax 516-678-3644
FRY GUY INC. 3514
14425 N. 79th St. Ste. C,
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
602-905- 1272 or fax 602-905-9429
GLASSPEC 2906
18735 S. W. 104th Ave., Miami, FL 33157
305-255-8444 or fax 305-232-8246
GLOBE TICKETS LABEL 25rO
3435 Empire Blvd. S. W., Atlanta, GA 30354
404-762-971 1 or fax 404-762-701
Is YOUR AUDIENCE GETTING
THE BIG PICTURE. . .
Or are they sitting in your competitor's seats?
Stadium seating is the hot ticket for
today's moviegoers, a must-have for the
"big screen" movie experience. Now
Stadium Seating Erectors, a joint venture
of Birtcher Construction Services and
Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall,
offers existing theatres a chance to protect
their marketshare and compete against new
multiplexes featuring stadium seating.
Stadium Seating Erectors' patented
stadium seating retrofitting system features;
Installation in just seven to ten days
per screen.
Two to three screens retrofitted at a
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SW-36
BOXOFFICE
Response No. 187

i
PAVILION 2
BOOTH LIST
HAAGEN-DAZS CO 2902
17043 E. Green Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 91745
626-964-5797 or fax 818-965-3889
HUNT-WESSON INC. 3001-3002
1645 W. Valencia Dr. MS 6520.
Fullerton. CA 92833
800-633-01 12orfax 714-578-6505
ICE BLOCK/STRA TE BLOCK
9730 S. 700E..Ste. 101,
Sandy. UT 84070
801 -523-2480 or fax 801 -523-0616
2S03
JANI SOURCE 2907
370 Wabasha St. W., 4th Floor,
St. Paul. MN 55102
612-293-2359 or fax 612-225-3298
KILGORE CHEMICAL CO 3501-3502
P.O. Box 160421.
Clearfield. UT84016
80 1 -4 79-9809 or fax 80 1 -4 79- 7534
KLIPSCH PROFESSIONAL 2603
P.O. Box 688,
Hope, AZ 71802-0688
870-722-51 30 or fax 870-722-51 92
BOXOFFICE BOOTH: All hands were on deck In 1997. and we'll be back in Booth #406
In Pavilion 1 again this year. Make sure to stop by to say hello.
KOTOBUKI CORP. 2803-2804
1-22-5 Hamamatu-cho, MInato-ku,
Tokyo 105-0013, JAPAN
81 -3-5401 -5090 or fax 81 -3-5401 -5091
"Best concession trailer we've ever seen!"
"It really produces!"
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Call... .
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The Newport Company .
with the Hollywood Connection
m
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See US ^t . PHONE (401) 846-8890 -FAX (401) 847-0070
SMOWEST BOOTH .113 .
J PO Box 300 ~ Newport, Rhode Island 02840 USA
Response No. 145 The 1998 ShoWest Intro SW-37

1
57
PAVILION 2 BOOTH LIST
LASERTAINMENT 3106
1901 OakcrestAve., Ste. 1,
Roseville.MN 55113
6 12-633-8000 or fax 6 12-633-8083
LIB/BOYD WALLCOVERINGS 3509-3510
1453 E. Palomares. Ste. B.
Laveme, CA91750
909-596-0987 or fax 909-596-059
LIFT DISCPLAY 3612
115 River Rd.,
Edgewater, NJ 07020
800-543-8269 or fax 201-945-9548
LOWELL MANUFACTURING 2706
100 Integrant Dr.,
Pacific, MO 63069
3 14-257-3400 or fax 314-257-6606
LOWELL PRODUCTS 2611-2612
3825 124m St N.E.,
Marysville, WA98217
425-743-2993 orfax425-743-4828
LUTRON ELECTRONICS 3012
7200SuterRd.
Coopersburg, PA 18036
610-282-3800 or fax 6 10-282-6437
MAGIC GUMBALL INT'L 2604
9310 Masor) Ave.,
Cfiatsworm,CA 91311
818-716-1888 or fax818-341-4234
MESBUR S SMITH ARCHITECTS 2608
148 Kenwood Ave., Toronto,
Ont. M6C2S3, CANADA
416-656-5751 or fax 41 6-656-561
MHB DESIGN GROUP 2708-2709
985 Parchment S.E.,
Grand Rapids, Ml 49546
616-942- 1870 or fax 61 6-942-2057
MILLER & KREISEL SOUND CO 2707
10391JeffersonBlvd.,
Culver City, CA 90232
310-204-2854 or fax 31 0-202-8782
MILLIKEN CARPET 2701-2702
201 Lul

.
PAVILION 2 BOOTH LIST
SPACE AGE BRANDS 3003
1030 Worthington St.,
Springfield, MA 011 09
4 13-747-3872 or fax 413-737-3248
SUNSHINE WIRE 2609-2610
4255 N. W. 128tf) St.,
Miami. FL 33054
305-687-9473 or fax 305-685-5489
SWEET LIBERTY CANDY CO 2506
874 Long Island Ave.,
Deer Park, NY 11 729
5 1 6-243-6 lOOorfax 516-586-8921
TOUCH CONTROLS INC. 3601-3602
4167Avenida de la Plata. BIdg. 108,
Oceanside. CA 92056
760-631-791 1 or fax 760-631-7910
TRIMOTION DESIGN 2905
lOSOLivornaRd.,
Alamo. CA 94507
31 0-449-91 44 or fax 31 0-449-9145
TROY SOUND WALL 2805-2806
3420 S. Malt Ave..
Commerce, CA 90040
2 13-838-3676 or fax 213-838-3686
2d INTERACTIVE INC. 3008
186 South St.. Boston. MA 021 11
617-574-8800
or fax 61 7-574-7326
ULTRAZONE/Ultimate Adv 3512
2880 E. Flamingo Rd., Ste. E,
Las Vegas, NV 89121
702-734-3617 or fax 702-734-3618
UNIFORMS TO YOU 3505
5600 W. 73rd St.,
Cfiicago, IL 60638
800-864-3676 or fax 800-864-3888
UNIVERSAL CINEMA SVCS 3610-3611
1205 Corporate Dr. E.,
Arlington, TX 76006
817-633-2180
or fax 81 7-633-21 90
USAXMINSTER 3007
1856 Artistry in.,
Greenville, MS 38702
601-332-1581/817-294-3729
or fax 601-332-1594
VAN MELLE INC. 2910
One Van Melle Ln.,
ErIanger.KY 41018
606-283- 1234 or fax 606-283-1316
VILLA LIGHTING 2909
1218 S. Vandeventer,
St. Louis, MO 631 10
800-325-0963 or fax 31 4-531 -8720
VISA U.S.A 3608
P.O. Box 8999
San Francisco, CA 94128
650-432-2914 or fax 650-432-2910
WETZEL'S PRETZELS 3004
65 N. Raymond Ave.. Ste. 310,
Pasadena, CA 91 103
626-432-6900 or fax 626-432-6904
WHISPER WALLS 3605
10957 E. BettianyDr, Aurora, CO 80014
303-671-6696 or fax 303-671-0606
WING ENTERPRISES 3006
1325 W. Industrial Circle,
Springville, UT 84663
800-453-1 192 or fax 801 -489-3685
WINTERS CO. 3511
P.O. Box 15283, Lenexa, KS 66285
913-599-2825
ZENITH SPECIALTY BAG CO 2911
1 7625 E. Railroad St.,
Industry, CA 91748
626-912-2481 or fax 626-81 0-51 36
iWM2^\9^
See you on the
Trade Show Floor!
Ot;^
!

SW-40
BOXOFFICE
SHOWEST EXTRA: Sound
REMEMBERING
THE ARIZONA
by John F. Allen
Remaking a Memorial
to the American Sailors
Who Served on the USS Arizona
are few dates in American history
There
as vividly remembered as December
7, 1941. In his address to the U.S.
Congress the next day. President Franklin
Roosevelt prophetically proclaimed it as "a
date which will live in infamy." It was the
date that Japan attacked the United States'
era of the battleship was all but past; it was the
beginning of the age of the aircraft carrier. The
350 planes of the Japanese Navy, launched
from a task force of six carriers and a large
group of escort ships 230 miles north of Oahu,
were about to prove it. After successfully traveling
undetected across 4,000 miles of the
entrapment. Then, a few minutes after 8 a.m.,
one of five armor-piercing bombs dropped
from an incredible 9,500 feet struck the Arizona
between gun turrets one and two, igniting
the forward ammunition magazine. To all
those who heard it, the sound of the explosion
was unforgettable. The shock wave was so
fleet in Pearl Harbor and triggered America's
entry into the Second World War.
The backbone of the fleet was the gtxxip of
battleships named after the states in the Union.
The USS Arizona was one of them. Described
as a small city gone to sea, she sported 1 4-inch
guas that could fire a shell 20 miles. But the
Pacific Ocean, they delivered a devastating
blow to the United States.
The battleship Utah was sunk with 58 lives
lost. The Oklahoma capsized, trapping hundreds
on board; 429 died. Some of those who
died on the Oklahoma actually survived for
weeks but could not be rescued from their
powerful that it was felt even by the Japanese
pilots flying the bombers two miles overheati
The ship sank upright in minutes, taking will
it the lives of 1,177 officers and sailors. I
bumed for three days.
Of all the ships damaged or sunk on tha
Sunday moming, all were refloated and re

—
paired except the Utah, Oklahoma and Arizona.
In order to keep her from being a hazard
to navigation, the Utah was dragged away
ik)m the channel toward the shore of Ford
Island in the center of Pearl Harbor, where she
rests today. After a three-year effort, the Oklahoma
was aimed upright at the rate of one
degree per day, refloated and towed toward the
mainland for repair; unfortunately, she sank in
a strong Pacific storm during the voyage.
The Arizona was a total loss. Its superstmcture
was removed, and the great .ship was left
where she lay as the memorial and tomb for
her crewmen. To this day, oil can be seen on
the surface still leaking firom the hull (see photo
on page SW-40).
In 1950, it was decided that the American
flag would again fly over the Arizona. However,
by 1956, it was determined that it was
no longer safe to perform the daily ceremony
aboard the remains of the ship, so a campaign
was launched to raise the funds to
build a permanent memorial for the Arizona.
Funds were raised both publicly and privately.
Congressional and state support was
obtained, and other fund-raising activities
(including a benefit performance by Elvis
Presley) raised $64,(X)0.
Architect Alfred Pries was selected to provide
a solution to the highly sensitive issue of
the memorial's design. Indeed, this sensitivity
continues to this day regarding virtually every
aspect of the memorial and the USS Arizona.
More letters to Congress and the National Park
Service are received concerning this site than
for any other in America
The memorial was completed at a cost of
$532,000 and was formally dedicated on May
30, 1%2. 1 remember watching these ceremonies
on television and seeing the feelings they
inspired in my parents, both of whom had
served during the war. The memorial was constructed
over, but not on, the ship itself It
stands 1 84 feet long and 36 feet wide, narrowing
in the center to 27 feet. Visitors are transported
to and from the ship by launches
provided by the U.S. Navy.
As more and more visitors
came as the
decades past, it became apparent that many did
not fiiUy appreciate the historical significance
of die memorial. Some hardly knew it was a
cemetery or much about the 1941 attack. In
1980, a visitor center including two 150-seat
theatres was added. Operated by the National
Park Service, the memorial and visitor center
have become an important landmark. With
more than 1.5 million visitors each year, it
remains one of the most visited and sensitive
sites operated by the Park Service, and it has
become the most visited destination in Hawaii.
The Navy produced the original documentary
film. It was to be shown to visitors just
prior to their boarding the launches that would
cany diem to the ship itself. This original film
used both actual footage of the attack as well
as a fair amount of "Hollywood" footage from
a 1943 propaganda film entitled "December
7th." Over the years, many objections were
voiced concerning the original film; some
thought it didn't properly prepare visitors for
the fact that they were visiting a national cemetery
or the significance of Pearl Harbor and
TO OUR READERS...
We've recently received a number of inquiries
from industry professionals working in the sound,
sight and other fields, wondering whether
BOXOFFICE accepted contributed articles.
As exhibition's fonim for the exchange of ideas,
BOXOFFICE wil 1 always consider such contributions.
If you have an article idea, kindly contact Kim Williamson
at 2 1 3-465- 1 1 86 to discuss your prtiposal.
Of course, the contentof such an article is editorial,
not advertising—but the ground rules are simple. The
subject must be of useful interest to our readers, and
the content mu.st be purely informational, not pronK)-
tional . (That is. there can be no reference to a particular
company's products, services or projects.)
A piece written by Sean Lohan, then of NFS, for
our April 1 997 ShoWest issue is an excellent example.
"Booth 101" is a handy guide for all projectionists.
So put on your thinking caps. We here at
BOXOFFICE—magazine staff and fellow readeiv—
look forward to your fsofessional input.
The Editor
[Note: Vie piece on tlie pages you are mm- reading,
"Remembering tite Arizona, " might he called "the exception
thiitpimes tfie nile. " It's "informational. " fnot
primarily in the sense that it lielps professionak working
in the exliihition industry know lunv to peifonn specie
day-to-dayjobsbetter;thearticle'sthrustismoreattuned
to shoeing lunv teamwork and a dedication to doing
one 's best work can pay dividendsfor all.
Yet a snot "ptvmotianal, " in that—altliough it makes
specific n^erence to ^products ofa lumber cfcompanies—itspm.'xncefieieisiruendedspecrfkvllytocommend
tltose botit inside and otaade air industry wlr> toiled to
make the Peaii Harbor site an even better memorialto the
servicemen who diedon ite USSArizona.
Altlmtgh of course BOXOFFICE itself takes no
position on arty particular product, we liere can only
second the hiunaite spirit of all those involved who
made this Pearl project come to fruition.]
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SW-41

that it was, as one called it, "a product of the
cold war mind set." As time went on, more was
learned about the events leading up to and
including the 194 1 attack, and it was found that
the film contained inaccuracies.
When I viewed the film, I was personally
uncomfortable with the sense I had that it
sometimes seemed like an advertisement for
the Navy. In any event, in 1990 it was decided
to replace the film. The hope was to have the
new film completed in 1991, in time for the
50th anniversary of the attack.
When one recalls the controversy surrounding
the Smithsonian Institution's plans for an
exhibit of the bomber Enola Gay, it is easy to
understand how producing a film about Pearl
Harbor would be a daunting task. The American
Film Studies Center in New York and
producer Lance Bird were chosen. About the
importance of the film. Bird has said, 'The
most impwrtant thing about this film was that
it prepare people for the emotional experience
of being at Pearl Harbor.. .because people
sometimes literally show up there with coolers
ofbeer thinking they are going to a Disneyland
kind of exp)erience."
One of the first decisions made was that the
new film was to contain only authentic footage
and photographs. No "staged" or special effects
would be included. Because of the sensitivities
involved, said Bird, "we are all doing a
very difficult thing. We are making a major
motion picture to be shown at the most controversial
site the National Park Service manages."
Museum curator Bob Chenoweth,
assisted by historian Daniel Martinez, was
charged with drafting the initial storyline as
well as acting as liaison with the film company.
"It's a place where nearly
1,200 people lost
their lives in an instant," Chenoweth told an
interviewer "There should be a certain amount
of respect and reverence and reflection. ..when
people go out there."
As the project progressed, an increasing
number of groups and individuals, both on a
national as well as a local level, became involved
in oversight capacities. Differing views
of how the story should be told emerged. One
of the most basic differences was between the
approach of the Park Service and the memorial
staff (some of whom are Pearl Harbor survivors),
who felt that the film should be a narrative
that told the story in terms of a larger
historical perspective, and the approach of the
film company as well as some military/veteran
advisors, who thought a more personal approach
that told the story through personal
exp)eriences was more appropriate. In the end,
the narrative approach was chosen. But further
challenges remained throughout the production.
The final script was revised 27 times over
a period of one year.
When it came time to do the soundtrack,
a search was begun to locate authentic recordings
of the planes and ships seen or
heard in the film. Many of these came from
the National Archives. Original newsreel
soundtracks would be used whenever possible.
Original music would be written and
scored. An array of sound effects for things
like water hoses seen in the background was
recorded, edited and assembled.
Finally, the critical choice of a narrator had
to be made. There were, of course, some obvious
possibilities: Walter Cronkite, Robert
Mitchum, Richard Widmark. In fact, Mitchum
was the first choice. When it turned out that he
was not available, producer Bird began thinking
of a woman's voice— perhaps the wife of
a Navy survivor. Ultimately, Bird thought of
actress Stockard Channing. He noted that "her
voice carries a deep, lilting quality that conveys
a sense of historical inevitability and
sadness about Pearl Harbor and the ensuing
course of the war." Channing accepted. She
then began a thorough study of the history and
events surrounding the attack. She wanted to
express as best she could the significance and
emotion of the film.
The soundtrack was mixed in two formats,
Dolby SR optical as well as discrete six-channel
sound including subwoofers and stereo
surrounds. The premiere ofthe final 23-minute
film, which runs without credits, took place on
December 2, 1992 and was received with generally
laudatory reviews. Many were impressed
with the producer's success in, as one
observer expressed it, "meeting the stated goal
of navigating between the poles of 'Japanbashing'
and 'justification'."
The overall cost of the film proved to be
so high, however, that the hopes of refitting
the theatres and presenting the film with the
discrete six-channel soundtrack would have
to wait for another time as well as additional
fund-raising. National Park Service senior
producer Tom Kleiman opened the film
using the m.atrixed optical soundtrack with
SW-42
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Response No. 117 Response No 40

I
I
I
I Extends
I 2
the original sound systems and put the sixtrack
print master in a vault.
During the years that followed, I was doing
many installations in Hawaii for Consolidated
Amusements. I began to hear about the theatres
at the Arizona Memorial. Because Consolidated
was contracted to maintain the equipment
there, I expressed my interest in
providing the new sound systems that were
desired by the Park Service. Indeed.
Consolidated's projection and sound director,
Wesley Inouye, had written to the Park Service
recommending that they install two of our
largest HPS-4000 sound systems.
Around this time, Kleiman and Park Service
technical director Eric Epstein began to evaluate
speaker systems for use in all Park Service
theatres. They felt their theatres had a poor
reputation for sound and that they had to do
something about it. They asked about 20
speaker companies to submit samples. Salesmen
were not allowed. Thanks to
ConsoUdated's recommendation, I was also
asked to send a sample; that the HPS speaker
was selected is not so much for a mark of
professional pride as it is one of patriotic pride.
The first National Park Service installation
we did was its new visitor center in Salem,
Mass. Widely known as the location of witch
trials in the 17th century, Salem and its surrounding
Essex County environs were once
one ofthe most important shipping, leather and
textile centers in the world. A new three-projector
film (similar to Cinerama) oudining this
history was being produced. I was given the
assignment to design and build the sound system
for the new theatre, and through the intercession
of fate it led me back to the Arizona.
When the new Salem theatre opened with
its new film, Kleiman and Epstein were on
hand. It was a great success for all concerned.
During dinner one night, Tom began talking
about the theatres at Pearl Harbor. He told me
that he had come to Salem with hopes of
hearing a sound system of the quality he had
envisioned for their most important theatres in
Hawaii, and that he had found what he was
looking for I said that with the obvious importance
of the memorial to the country, and because
of the personal feelings it evokes in so
many, including members of my own family,
I would be honored to be allowed to contribute.
The first thing I needed to do was visit the
theatres during my next trip to Hawaii. I discovered
that not only did the speakers need
replacement, but so did the entire chain of
electronics for the sound systems as well as the
equipment needed for the foreign-language
and hearing-impaired listeners. To avoid any
last-minute surprises, I also asked for a copy
of the six-channel print master.
Because these prints are run every half-hour,
every day, year after year, it was my intention
to use DTS as the main soundtrack format.
DTS uses CD-ROMs to store the soundtrack,
making that system the most durable
soundtrack medium in the history of motion
picture sound; it is ideal for special venues,
because there is no digital soundtrack on the
film that could be subject to wear or damage.
We sent the original magnetic print master
to DTS to be transferred to a disc. When I was
finally able to play it on my reference system
at General Cinema's Framingham, Mass. facility,
I noticed several problems with the
sound that would need to be fixed. For openers,
the overall level was soft. In addition, the treble
balance was slightly dull. Worst of aD, there
were several moments when the narration was
drowned out by the sounds of aircraft and
explosions. But what was also apparent to me
was that it was an otherwise excellent mix. The
thought of redoing such a mix at this point was
almost scary. Even if all the elements could be
found, it was unlikely a new mix could be done
that would be faithful to the original. And the
cost would be substantial.
Fortunately, in having a discrete six-channel
master, I had another option. I decided to
rerecord (i.e., copy) the print master, making
only the corrections needed to the tone and
overall balance of the six channels. The original
intent of the mixers was to create a sound
throughout most of the film that is best described
as a "documentary" style—somewhat
subdued in contrast to Stockard Channing's
narration. The main exception to this was the
moment of the explosion of the Arizona itself,
which had chanced to be captured on film.
This silent footage had been only recently
discovered, just prior to the making of this
film. The sound for the explosion was intended
to be powerful but not necessarily
excessively loud. It turns out that the actual
explosion was indeed not noted for its loudness
but rather for its enormous concussion.
It seemed obvious that this was the intent of
the mix—and that it fell short of its goal. In
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A refurbisliment ' In house newsletter
DALLAS. TEXAS ^ (214)692-7555
Response No. 468
addition to remastering the film. I wanted to
see if I could fulfill what I believed was the
intent of the producei-s with regard to this most
pivotal point of the entire film.
I suggested a $ 1 60,000 budget for the sound
systems, installation, remastering as well as a
new answer print and new theatre prints.
Within two years, the funds (some private)
were raised and the process began.
As with many of our installations, my reference
theatre at Framingham has the distinction
of being suitable for mixing. Indeed, I had
recently enlisted the cooperation of Sony Pictures
Studios as well as Sony Cinema Products
to produce a live demonstration of film mixing
right in this theatre. Both General Cinema's
new "Candy-Band" trailer and the digital version
of my HPS^OOO trailer had been mixed in
this theatre. Mixing in a theatre like this is made
practical by the use of very compact Tascam
DA-88 eight-channel digital cassette recorders.
By using three of these as source machines and
a fourth for recording, one has a miniature
24-track rerecording facility. After borrowing a
32-channel mixing console and a few other
things, I had all I needed to do the job.
The one complication was to find the effects
required to fill out the sound of the main explosion.
I selected the bass tracks of some special
low-frequency sound effects as well as explosions
and then mixed them together with the
existing tracks to add the necessary power.
To this point, I was completely unaware
of the intense oversight the producers of this
film had undergone throughout every stage.
The Park Service had decided to allow me
to do the re-mastering without any supervision.
This is something that I now reaUze
was very unusual. Actually, it would have
been helpful if someone could have been
available to advise me as to the intent of the
mixers and producers, rather than having to
essentially rely on my instincts.
Fortunately, though, I was able to enlist the
help of the Framingham theatre's assistant
manager, Jennifer Putzbach, who had majored
in audio recording. She provided me with a
valuable second set of ears and proved most
helpful. The new master was finished in one
night. Not only were the level and tone issues
corrected, the missing Unes were now easily
heard and understood, some for the first time.
One thing a mixer gets to do is hear the same
thing over and over again. Any less-than-satisfactory
sequences or performances by an
actor or a narrator quickly become tiresome. In
listening to this film, I began to appreciate how
really excellent Channing's work is. In listening
to her reading of the script, I agreed with
so many others who have complimented her
flawless reading and inflection. Her work in
this fihti is truly extraordinary.
Once finished, the new six-channel print master
was sent to Bill Hunter and Jim Fulmis at DTS
for a new disc. This allowed inc to review the
soundtrack without actually making a print. All
was well, and we headed for Hawaii. In addition
to technical support paivided by Consolidated's
Scott Bosch and Alan Sakaidiu the installation
was carried out by the local National Park Service
staflF at the Arizona Memorial. Ray Eselu, Peter
SW-44
BOXOFFICE

Abang, Merry Petrossian, Betty Polb and projectionist
Daniel Warner along with Eric Epstein
did a superb job under a tight schedule
made more difficult by the need to keep at least
one theatre operating at all times. Park superintendent
Kathy Billings ensured we had everything
we needed to stay on schedule.
Both of the theatres were equipped with our
flagship XL class HPS-4{XX) sound systems.
The screen speakers were our new 545-4 fourway
systems. The subwoofers were our
equally new 545-W units. The surround
speakers were our SR-70 three-way units,
each located with the use of our Allen Surround
Array formulas. These were all driven
by Dolby CP-500 processors, two DTS players
per system (the second unit for foreign
languages) and four BGW GTB-HPS power
amplifiers, equipped with special two-stage
input gain controls for optimizing the signalto-noise
ratios of every channel.
Sadly, Tom Kleiman did not live to hear his
dream for the new film fully completed. He
passed away a few months before we were able
to finish the installations. He knew, however,
that we were in the final stages and that it would
finally come to pass as he had envisioned.
Begun in 1990, the new film "How Shall We
Remember Them?' is now presented to more
than 1 .5 million visitors from around the world
every year in the way it was intended. Comments
about the new soundtrack and new sound systems
have been unanimous in their praise. For
myself, the most gratifying of these came fk)m
Arizona Memorial historian Daniel Martinez,
when he told me that 1 had indeed succeeded in
delivering the soundtrack they had hoped to
produce but never really heard until now.
Park officials confirm that the effect this
film has on those who see and hear it has been
enhanced by the new quality and clarity of the
sound. When thinking about presentation, it's
significant to note the importance of quality
sound, whether it be a 23-minute documentary
or a two-hour feature.
Over a half-century since it occurred, the
events ofthat day at Peari Haitor are still remembered
with profound emotion, reflection and sadness.
As the end of the film nears, audiences see
both American and Japanese moumers visiting
tiie Arizona Memorial. We are told that "people
ftom all over the worid honor young men they
never knew, whose hves were taken from them
MiDecember?, 1941."
^H
(As I expressed to them before in person, I
owe great thanks to Tom Kleiman and Eric
Epsteinfor their trust as well asfor this oncein-a-lifetime
opportunity. My thanks also go to
historian
Daniel Martinez and author Dr.
Geoffrey Whitefor their valuable help in preparing
this article.)
© 1 998 John F. Allen. All Rights Reserved.
John F. Allen is thefounder andpresident of
High Performance Stereo in Newton, Mass.
He is also the inventor of the HPS-4000 cinema
sound system and in 1984 was thefirst to
bring digital sound to the cinema.
Century
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is growing and we plan to double our size over the next
few years.
We offer very competitive wages and benefits and a
quick "fast-track" program that can put you in charge of
your own multiplex in fourteen weeks or less. Are ready for
that kind of challenge and commitment? Are you already a
movie exhibition executive? We may have room for you as
we expand.
Human Resources representatives from our main
office will be in Las Vegas throughout the ShoWest
convention. Call our office at 4 1 5 448 8403 before OR
during ShoWest to contact us and schedule an appointment
where we can meet, hopefully in the Las Vegas area during
the convention. Remember to pack your resume!
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In
POV: PERSPECTIVES
BOXOFFICE's Forum for the Industry
America, essentially all people who can
afford to buy a movie ticket have excellent
vision.
Maybe they wear glasses or contacts,
but they rarely are vision impaired. But
tiiey might be screen-impaired.
Lovers of the art of literature surely prefer
not to read in a dim room, and curators abhor
the idea of displaying fine art in a dim museum.
So why does the exhibition industry so often
display movie art on a dim screen?
The question of screen light involves two
factors: ethics and eye physiology. The former
element might seem surprising, but it's hard to
imagine an argument that would justify management
of major movie theatres allowing the
paying public to view movies on dim screens.
After all, all of their customers have essentially
the same eyes and so can see the "dark" problem.
There's a simple test: Let the eyes choose.
We can look to other viewing situations for
guidance. When one is reading a newspaper or
book in "good" reading light, for example,
what is the hght level on the white part of the
page compared to the screen light at the movies,
as determined by tests with a professional
light meter? In a "good light" reading scenario
(i.e., that provided by a 200-watt bulb), the
light reflected from the white part of the page
is between 25 and 50 foot-lamberts. For a
"fail" light (a 100-watt bulb), it's from 12 to
25 foot-lamberts; in low light (a 50-watt bulb),
it's about 6 to 10 foot-lambeits.
Or what about the television experience?
When one watches the tube at home, at least
when asing a laige-screen unit made since 1 990,
the white areas of the screen also have a light
value. Testing on a three-year-old, 27-inch Sony,
with all picture settings at nominal, generates
fixjm 50 to 1 00 foot-lamberts in small white areas
(e.g.. white shirt collan>, white clouds, usw). This
is better than a good reading light.
In each of these light situations, the white
areas are the baseline that compare to colors.
LET
THERE BE
LIGHT
by Glenn Berggren
shadows and dark areas that create the TV
images or printed pages one sees. Readers with
foot-lambert light meters are urged to try their
own tests; the high numbers that result are
likely to be, so to speak, eye-opening.
(jiven the way visual physiology works, the
human eye is not "dark adapted" in reading or
watching TV as they often are at the movies. To
see somewhat betterand avoid eyestrain, a person
will naturally seek similar light values. If a book
has small type, say in footnote material, a reader
will hold the book closer to the light for a brighter
moment to read it The eye adjusts well for too
much light, but it loses color sensitivity in the
"dark-adapted" movie situation. Moviegoers
will experience this as dimness.
Both picture and sound have benefitted
since 1985, first fi-om vastiy improved sevenelement
lenses, second from vastly improved
film emulsions (and the recent change to polyester
stock), and third from the introduction of
digital sound. It is perhaps ironic that, when
one considers the physical senses, the human
eye does a magnificent job of adjusting to
medium or very bright light levels; the human
ear adjusts almost none to increases in sound
level. So the public is now complaining (as
reported by TAP documentation) about "too
loud sound, and too little light." When there is
too much light, the eye adjusts, but too much
sound causes the ear to hurt and with long
exposure can easily damage the ear. It appears
that the movie industry is overdoing the wrong
factor; it should shift some of the "overkill"
from the sound level to the picture's light level.
Since early movie days, a nominal lightlevel
relationship has existed between studio
screening rooms and public movie theatres; if
at that light
level the film looks good to the
producer or director, then it goes to the theatres.
Since the introduction of reliable foot-lambert
meters (an event that engendered an award
from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences) in the mid-1950s, that foot-lambert
number has been set at 1 6. For 44 years, this is
the number used by nearly all screening rooms
and is described in SMPTE standard #1 96. As
of 1 %0, that center-nominal had an acceptable
range fixjm 1 to 20 foot-lamberts. The 1 was
raised to 12 in 1970, after a study that showed
that colors and contrast suffered noticeably
below the 10-12 zone. In 1995. the 20 was
changed to 22, so the acceptable range of 10 to
20 has now become 1 2 to 22.
Other changes have also occurred, primarily
with light at the sides of screens. The 35-yearold
standards permitted a 50 percent distribution
(or 5-10-5 as an acceptable minimum),
which in 1970 was raised to 10-12-10. In
standard # 1 96. it was changed from 50 percent
up to a range of 75 to 90 percent. Testing was
further changed in an additional document,
RP-98. to include seat/reading locations in
several places in the auditorium (e.g., ends of
the middle row) and on the screen to include
not only the center and sides but a total of nine
points, so that a full
puWic sees can be tested.
description of what the
If it were not for the 1950s' standards, which
relied on older, inaccurate meters, the center
would now be forgotten, and a whole range of
test points would be reviewed. The studio
approach now is to obtain a "very uniform"
screen light, perhaps equal to or better than 1
in the center. 15 at the sides and 14 in comers.
If these resuhs were mathematically combined,
irom perhaps 45 screen points
6
(nine
across and five high), then the average of that
studio concept might easily be 15.5 foot-lamberts
for the entire screen, while the #196
minimum of 10-12-10 might mathematically
combine to less than 10 when employing the
45-point method. The tme engineering approach
to this would be to set the sum/average
for the whole screen at 1 5, so that to pass this
"theoretical" new standard the four comers
would be set first at 14+, the sides at 15+ and
the center at no more than 22 foot-lamberts.
There are studio and lab screening rooms
that can easily do this, as can AMC Theatres
in its concave-screen installations. Thousands
of ticket buyers saw "Titanic" with exactiy
such uniform screen light at the AMC Ontario
Mills 30, as measurements showed this past
December, even though the large screens
ranged from 1 8 by 42 feet to 24 by 55 feet.
[Note: The author is involved in concavescreen
design and specification work.— Ed.j
With the advancement in xenon lainphouse
designs and the introduction of "large-backwindow"
lenses, uniform screen light should
be easy. But screen design remains a problem.
A low-gain (1.1 gain) flat screen works acceptably,
and a medium-gain ( 1 .5) shallow curved
screen works too—if the lens focal lengths are
long. (For example, 95mm for 'Scope and
65mm for 1 .85.) But short focal lengths create
dark areas at top and bottom, even though the
center-to-left-to-right looks good. A ct>ncave
screen also provides unifomi reflection for the
entire screen, even if the gain rises as high as
2.0 or 2.2. and even 3.0 with 3-D uses.
Meanwhile, one of the ixld anomalies of the
past three years has been the arri val of "j umbo"
SW-46
BOXOFFICE

screens and their low light. By early 1994, the
idea of a large screen was found to be about 22
by 50 feet, such as the screen image at the
Academy's Goldwyn Theatre, the Television
Academy theatre or the Directors Guild theatre.
Each has a shallow curve to the screen and
they are all almost the exact same size (screen
image of 1,100 square feet or so). The jumbo
screens of the 1994-98 era have ranged from
23 by 55 feet to 3 1 by 74 feet, with screen areas
running fk)m 1,250 to 2,300 square feet. Of
course, the xenon wattage must rise with the
area, or the light will be low. If 1,100 square
feet is properly illuminated with 4,000 to 4,500
xenon watts, then the 1 ,250 screen needs 5,000
watts and the 2,300 needs 9,400.
Of course, with the Academy screen being
a 1 .5 gain curved screen, another aid might be
to raise the gain, and also move to a concave
screen. Oddly, many exhibitors have chosen
much higher screen gains (often 1 .7 to 2.0) and
yet installed^fl/, which causes a serious center
hotspot and dark areas all around the perimeter.
That is like buying a race car and attempting
to run it on cheap kerosene: The flat high-gain
screen only "buys" potential headaches for the
audience due to the center hotspot and surrounding
areas at one-half or less of the required
Ught level. If the center were at 14
foot-lamberts, the perimeter (sides, top and
bottom) would probably be at 5 to 7 or less.
An moviegoing observer in the industry (but
not a technician) recently said, "When I saw
'The Lost World,' there was one scene shot
from a helicopter that was so dark I could not
see what happened. I had to go to a competitive
cinema to see the scene." It seems obvious that
this shouldn't be so, but many in exhibition
apparendy feel they are justified in providing
halfthe required Ughtforsuchmajorfilms. The
TAP information indicates that, after adjustments,
the average foot-lambert level is about
11; a 1997 Disney survey of 1,000 cinemas
without adjustments found an average close to
8 foot-lamberts. If that is the average, then the
exhibition industry apparently is providing a
range of4 to 1 8 foot-lamberts, with a few more
below 8 than above 8. Light always seems to
be on the low side, while sound always seems
to be on the high side.
The actual cost per hour for lighting a large
screen of 22 by 50 feet is not that much — perhaps
$ 1 per hour for a good performance bulb,
which doesn't seem like too much. When the
public is paying up to $6 and even $10 per
ticket, and larger auditoriums typically can
hold 350 to 5(X) moviegoers, the xenon costs
are just a tiny fraction of a percent of the total
ticket take for a given auditorium. Our European
exhibition counterparts must abide by
mandatory performance standards; if, for example,
the light level is half normal, the cinema
is padlocked. Perhaps the American
studios should become involved in enforcement;
on a voluntary basis, exhibition isn't
getting the job done. And surely exhibition
doesn't want to be seen as cheating!
MM
Glenn Berggren is a senior partner with
Claremont, Calif.-based SigmaDesign Group,
a consultancy whose expertisefocuses on specializedfacility
venuesforfilm and video.
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Response No. 58
A NOTE TO OUR READERS: Our "POV: Perspectives" section is
designed to provide professionals wori

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BUYERS DIRECTORY
QUESTIONNAIRE
AS ANOTHER BUYERS DIRECTORY ISSUE APPROACHES...
This year, the 1999 BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE BUYERS DIRECTORY, the most complete reference information
source of its Idnd in the motion picture business, will be published in our July issue. (Our Buyers Directory
previously appeared each year in our September issue.)
Because literally thousands of industry professionals rely on the BOXOFFICE Buyers Directory to do the
business of film exhibition and distribution all through the year, we want to mal(e sure that all eligible
companies are correctly included.
Kindly take a few moments to look up your entry in our most recent Buyers Directory, which was published
in our September 1997 issue. If there are any changes that need to be made, photocopy the page(s) in question
and attach the updated information on a separate sheet.
If you don't have your September 1997 issue handy, or if your company is not listed, then please complete
the form below and submit it to us. Feel free to attach additional sheets so that you can include your full
corporate roster and list of branch offices.
As hundreds of companies have found in the past, a listing in the BOXOFFICE Buyers Directory—a listing
that is absolutely free— is essential in the busy world of the motion picture business. So please take the
necessary few moments to make sure you are properly represented in its pages.
We here at BOXOFFICE look forward to hearing from you!
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The 1998 ShoWest Intro
SW-49

The lOis IPicture
the eve of ShoWest '98, we thought we'd take a look back
Onat one of the past NATO conventions—specifically, that
held October 28 - November 3, 1 984, in Washington, D.C.,
in honor of the organization's Diamond Jubilee celebrating 60
years of service to the motion picture industry.
That year, the convention's term of endearment for Debra
Winger was female Star of the Year; Wmger is shown below
receiving her award from then NATO chairman Richard Orear.
Plainly visible to receive his male Star of the Year honor was
ghostbuster Bill Murray. And neophyte studio TriStar Pictures
kicked up its heels at the convention with the stars of the Cannon
production "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo."
Yes, it was a different era; two of the gathering's big events were
sponsored by the now-vanished-from-the-landscape distributors
Embassy Pictures and New World Pictures. But some things were
quite similar to the way things are today. NATO president-elect
Richard A. Fox told the fall 1984 gathering, "A lot has changed
over these 60 years [of NATO], but not the basic aim of the people
in our industry. The issues may change, but the objective remains:
unifying and strengthening our voice."
SW-SO
BoxomcE

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From Out of the Spiritus Mundi Comes...
BoxoFFlCE's ELEVENTH ANNUAL
MISCELLANEOUS FILM AWARDS!
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. I
"The Seven Year Itch in Tibet." Globetrotting
adventurer and zen convert
Brad Pitt finds himself uncontrollably
drawn to the Buddhist philosophies
and ruminative personality of Tibet's
Dalai Lama, only to discover the real
source of his attraction: that one of the
spiritual leader's past lives was as
Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe.
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. II
"Funny Face/Off." Thanks to a
bizarre surgical procedure of the nottoo-distant
future, the sociopathic
Nick Cage exchanges places with
Audrey Hepburn for an experiment
in terror: a revival of "My Fair Lady."
John Travolta, in the revamped
Henry Higgins role, teaches Cage
how to boogie a la "Grease" and
"Saturday Night Fever," and the
CageATravolta duet on "I've Crown
Accustomed to Her Face" goes on
to become the top-grossing Travolta
pop song since "Let Her in"
back in Travolta's "Welcome Back,
Kotter" days.
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. ill
"Fast, Cheap and Out of Control,"
starring Christian Slater and Robert
Downey Jr. Think about it.
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. IV
"In & Out of the Company of Men."
Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck are two
woman-hating computer executives
who make a deaf girl's life a living hell
until they stop to analyze their hatred
of women, and decide it's really a
sublimation of their unarticulated love
for EACH OTHER!
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. V
"Anesthesia." In which a major
studio attempts to create an entire
animation division from the ground
up and then spends millions of dollars
to make a movie that looks. ..JUST
LIKE IT WAS MADE AT DISNEY!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. VI
"187 Dalmatians." This sequel to the
popular Disney animation/live-action
success story takes its numerical
assignation from the police term for a
homicide. See, this time, the twist is
that Cruella wins.
Movies We'd Like
To See, Pt. VII
"Con Air Bud." A
planeload of psychotic,
hoop-shooting dogs
crashes in Las Vegas,
wreaking havoc on the
populace. Nick Cage
saves the day, this time
by pairing with "Double
Team" star Dennis
Rodman, who distracts
the canine court jockeys
by covering himself
with day-glo body paint
so that Cage can steal
their basketball.
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. VIII
"An American Werewolf in Paris,
Texas." In this Dimension Films sequel
to the Wim Wenders classic, Harry
Dean Stanton again tries to put his
relationship with Nastassja Kinski back
together after years of separation. But
there's a complication: She thinks it's a
sequel to "Cat People!"
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. IX
"Beverly Hills CopLand." Eddie Murphy
borrows two comeback strategies
to resurrect '80s fixture Axel Foley by
fattening him up (a la "The Nutty
Professor") and giving him a speech
impediment (a la Sly Stallone in
"CopLand.") Cameos from a dozen of
indie film's brightest stars (all of
whom, in a novel twist, are played
by Parker Posey) fail to make this one
a breakout hit.
Movies We'd Like to See, Pt. X
"Batman & Robin Wright." In which
Sean Penn appears as an arch-villain
even though he hasn't been cast as
one, with the immortal words: "Hey
Clooney! That's my wife you're
kissin'l"
Most Apt Title, Pt. I
"Excess Baggage," the film that just
might have sent "Clueless" star Alicia
Silverstone's entire career packing.
Most Apt Title, Pt. II
"187." This Sam Jackson-starring political
melodrama took its name from the
police blotter designation for a homicide.
In theatres, it was dead on arrival.
Most Apt Title, Pt. Ill
"The Man Who Knew Too Little." Bill
Murray, who starred in this espionagethemed
comedy, went on television
and foolhardily announced he would
return the money of anyone who
didn't like his movie. Fortunately for
his bank balance, you had to actually
see the flick to qualify for the refund,
which means at most he was at risk
for around $75.
Most Apt Title, Pt. IV
"Out to Sea." Jack Lemmon and Walter
Matthau, who have evolved into an honest-to-God
comedy team in their dotage
ever since it became apparent to them
that they now add up to the equivalent
of one star, went to the well once too often
with this non-"Grumpy Old Men" comedy
about cruisebound dancing masters.
Most Apt Title, Pt. V
"nowhere." Enfant terrible Gregg
Araki, whose increasingly vile and
extreme output has marked one of the
more disappointing career trajectories
of the 1990s, bottomed out with this
one, which grossed just $100,000.
April, 1998 133

The Adam Smith Invisible Hand Award
Named for the most famous of capitalism's great philosophical
apologists, this one goes out to the makers of
the James Bond epic "Tomorrow Never Dies," which
reconfigured 007's formerly five-star tastes for the
conspicuous consumption of goods provided by any
company willing to pony up the dough for a product
placement. Our favorite Bondian movie moment: vodka
connoisseur Bond chug-a-lugging a bottle of Smirnoff's
Red Label, the sort of $7-a-bottle nightcap fraternity
brothers wouldn't be caught dead force-feeding to
pledges in the trunk of a Ford Escort. What's next?
A Bond adventure in which Spectre supervillain Blofeld
corners the market on Chicken McNuggets
Most Apt Title, Pt. VI
"The Pest," the too-annoying-forwords
John Leguizamo comedy that
took the career momentum this
talented Latino actor was generating
and blew it straight to hell.
The "Send in the Clones" Award
To the scene in "Alien Resurrection" in
which Sigourney Weaver's revived
Ripley comes across a roomful of
mutated monstrosities, each of which
represents a botched attempt to bring
her back from the dead. In the context,
this seemed like a metaphor for all the
energy lavished on needless sequels
like the film itself in the misguided
hope of creating a follow-up that can
withstand comparison to the original.
Honorable mentions: "The Lost
World" and "Cattaca," two more films
in which DNA spelled "drama."
The "Sink or Swim"
Award
To "Titanic," "Speed
2," "Out to Sea," and
"Deep Rising."
The Air Sickness
Award
To "Turbulence,"
"Con Air," "Air Force
One" and "The Edge."
The Speak Softly and
Carry a Big Stick
Award
To Mark Wahlberg in
"Boogie Nights." Was
that a prosthetic
make-up job he was
packing, or is he just
happy to see us?
The Sealed With a
Kiss Award
To "Kiss Me, Guido,"
"Kiss or Kill," "Kiss the
Girls," and "Kissed."
The Sealed With a
Curse Award
To Woody Allen in
"Deconstructing
Harry."
The Spit and Polish
Award
To Leonardo DiCaprio
and Kate Winslet, for
the unique courtship
ritual they indulged in
on the deck of the
Titanic.
The TV or Not TV
Award
To David Duchovny,
for the megalomania-
seems it
cally titled "Playing God." It
would take a miracle to get audiences
to accept Duchovny in a context that
doesn't include "The X-Files."
The Out Cold Award
To the Warner "Batman" franchise,
which derailed itself with "Batman &
Robin," the feeblest entry from a major
theatrical franchise since mid-Roger
Moore era Bond numbers like "Octopussy."
Director Joel Schumacher,
who performed admirably on "Batman
Forever" when Tim Burton was still
involved with the series in a producing
capacity, stumbled badly going it solo.
Despite contractual ties to the project,
if Schumacher's still yelling "action!"
on the next "Batman" feature, it may
be more a tribute to his ability to take
good meetings than a vote of studio
confidence in his filmmaking.
The "Possession Is Nine-Tenths
of the Law" Award
To our favorite punctuation mark, the
apostrophe. It used to be you had to
be the author of a five-star literary
classic to get the possessive form of
your name into a title (i.e. "Bram
Stoker's Dracula"). Now any schmuck
with a bestseller makes the grade, as
witness "John Grisham's The Rainmaker."
Our favorite example of the
degeneration of this trend: "Def Jam's
How to Be a Player," which awarded
billing within the name of the movie
to, of all things, a record company.
The John Travolta Comeback of the
Year Award (Female)
To Julia Roberts, at last able to silence
the naysayers who were beginning to
wonder if "Pretty Woman" was a fluke
by headlining the wickedly funny
critical hit and boxoffice blockbuster
"My Best Friend's Wedding."
The John Travolta Comeback of the
Year Award (Male)
To Burt Reynolds, who finally made
the transition from fading '70s action
kingpin to accomplished character
actor with his assured and delicate
portrayal of a porno director in the
sleeper hit "Boogie Nights."
The John Travolta Comeback of the
Year Award (Honorable Mention)
To Sony Pictures Entertainment, which
at last managed to put the disastrous,
money-hemorrhaging Peter Guber/Jon
Peters era behind it with a recordshattering
year, led by the runaway
success of "Men In Black."
The Dead Letter Award
To Kevin Costner, director/producer/star
of "The Postman." Costner's latest "Mad
Max" inspired epic made his neardebacle
"Waterworld" look good by
comparison, but something tells us that
wasn't the point. Audiences emphatically
marked this one "return to sender."
The Red Badge of Courage
Goes to all the bigtime studio
executives who discovered their spines
when the repressive Chinese government
attempted to browbeat them into
suppressing "Red Corner," "Seven
Years in Tibet" and "Kundun." Okay,
so the movies weren't that good, and
industry observers claimed that the
"suits" had no choice but to come
down on the side of artists' rights if
they ever hoped to work with name
talent again. That doesn't change the
fact that the right line was drawn at the
right time; as the saying goes, if a
donkey flies, you don't blame him for
not staying up in the air for very long.
134 BoxoFncE

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The Unconventional Wisdom Award
To the opening weekend face-off between
"Tomorrow Never Dies" and
"Titanic," which put to rest forever the
idea that if a sought-after two-hour
movie opens against a sought-after
three-hour movie, the two-hour movie
ability to
will gross more thanks to its
get in extra screenings on opening
weekend. This has become less and
less true in the era of the megaplex,
where starting times can be staggered
by bicycling prints from screen to
screen within a single complex, as
"Titanic" did when it shot down 007
for the number one spot. But the old
saw did give apologists for Kevin
Costner's failed three-hour opus "The
Postman" a handy excuse to fall back
on. As if f/?af was the problem...
tr> -tVit next epijoAe of 'tK George Cloone^
^1:\ep\7t5 to revi\e hii -FftA '\nj movie c^ree.r-
The David Caruso "Don't Quit Your Day lob" Trophy _
To George Clooney, star of twin disappointments "Batman & Robin" ana anc
"The Peacemaker," and an actor who has continuously demonstrated excellent
common sense by sticking with "ER."
The Bum Rap Award
To "Gridlock'd" and "Gang Related,"
two films that, as morbid as it
sounds, were expected to benefit
mightily from the gangland-style Las
Vegas execution of rapper Tupac
Shakur, who starred in both. After
almost a decade of relentless and
increasingly irresponsible films fetishizing
the "gangsta" lifestyle, the African-
American audience base appears at
last to have had enough.
The Don Simpson Memorial Award
To longtime Simpson producing partner
Jerry Bruckheimer. The S and B team
were known for making noisy, crowdpleasing
but brain-dead action fare, from
"Top Gun" and "Beverly Hills Cop" in
the 1980s to "Bad Boys" and "The
Rock" in the 1990s. Simpson's first solo
outing was "Con Air," a film so seamlessly
of a piece with S and B output that
it
raised the question, "What exactly did
Don Simpson do, anyhow?"
The "I Was a Teenage
Frankenstein" Award
To one of the year's biggest developments,
the return of the teen-themed
horror movie, a genre that has slumbered
for most of the 1 990s. "Scream"
set things in motion, and the success
of both "Scream 2" and "I Know What
You Did Last Summer" sanctified this
as an honest-to-goodness trend.
The 1997 Jerry Lewis Pratfall Medallion
To Rowan Atkinson's "Bean," an overseas
blockbuster that racked up over
$100 million in foreign receipts before
opening in the U.S. to far more tepid
response. Like Dino's spastic ex-comedy
partner, they loved him in France.
What we want to know is: Does the
success of this one make all the European
exhibitors who cleaned up on it
"Bean" counters? (Insert rimshot here.)
The Nobel Prize for Genetic Engineering
Goes to Uma Thurman and Ethan
Hawke, stars of the failed sci-fi spectacular
"Gattaca," which revolved
around a future in which all chromosomal
exchanges occur only under
stVict and draconian governmental
supervision. Apparently, Thurman
and Hawke weren't too impressed
with the theme of the movie they
were working on. Their conceivedon-location
first child is expected
some time in early 1 998.
The Straight to Hell/The Devil Made
Me Do It Award
Is split down the middle between
Al Pacino as a giddily overacting
Lucifer in the otherwise uninspired
"The Devil's Advocate," and Billy
Crystal, the Lord of Darkness who
fulfilled Mia Farrow's deepest wish by
welcoming Woody Allen to Hell in
"Deconstructing Harry."
The King of Kongs Award
To Hong Kong action ace John Woo
for his surprisingly rapid arc in moving
into the front rank of American action
directors since transplanting to the
U.S. in 1993. Though "Hard Target,"
his Jean-Claude Van Damme-starring
American debut, marked the
beginning of Van Damme's fall from
marquee grace, Woo's follow-ups,
"Broken Arrow" and "Face/Off,"
have been global blockbusters. Alone
among the many Hong Kong
expatriates who have relocated to the
U.S., Woo has managed the not
inconsiderable feat of blending H.K.'s
torqued-up but improvisational
production aesthetic with tightly
controlled American shooting
schedules and state-of-the-art American
special effects.
The Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear
to Tread Award
To Tsui Hark, another ace Hong Kong
director, whose achievements as a
producer and filmmaker in his home
country may have even surpassed
Woo's. Hark also made his major studio
debut with a Van Damme potboiler, the
leaden "Double Team." But, unlike
Woo, he then announced his intentions
to make anofher action flick starring
the commercially atrophying Muscles
from Brussels, causing Hark's hardcore
fans in the U.S. to respond with a
resounding "What th'?" Oh well.
At least Hark didn't say he'd be
making another movie with Dennis
Rodman...
The Beverly Hills Cop-Out Award
To Eddie Murphy, snatching defeat
from the jaws of victory by following
up 1 996's smash "The Nutty Professor"
remake with "Metro," a lame attempt
to revive his old Axel Foley
persona from "Beverly Hills Cop."

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1.18 Rf)\f)Knn'
The Hello Dalai Award
Lama, that is. This one goes to "Seven
Years in Tibet" and "Kundun," two
movies that rode the American
public's supposed fascination with
zen Buddhism straight to boxoffice
oblivion. In their next lives, these two
adventures in faddish showbusiness
spiritualism hope to come back as
episodes of "Touched by an Angel."
Honorable mention: To "Red Corner."
Okay, sure, it was about the Chinese
mainland's fascistic legal system. But
it did star The Dalai Lama's good
buddy Richard Gere. Close enough.
tf^hWhile at -Hie to>iiiniiii'iHi"'"ii""" "Wii inwi»}im»^
The Benjamin Franklin
"For Want of a Nail" Award
To "Titanic" auteur James Cameron.
Cameron the director lavished thousands
of behind-the-scenes man-hours
on his epic, all in the name of absolute
accuracy. Architectural drawings were
hauled out of mothballs, photos and
sketches scrutinized, and Cameron
even took a camera crew out to the
wreckage site on a Russian icebreaker
in order to see and photograph the
sunken vessel at first hand. The result: a
90-percent-of-scale physical recreation
of the Titanic that historians praised as
almost unfathomably precise. But Cameron
the screenwriter was having none
of that seamless perfection stuff. He had
the Leonardo DiCaprio character talk
Kate Winslet out of committing suicide
by telling her a little story about his icefishing
experiences on a manmade lake
that hadn't even been created when the
Titanic set sail and sank. The result: A
universal cry of "Gotcha!" from a public
that nevertheless couldn't get
enough of the movie itself.
The Man of a Thousand
Faces Award
To Bruce Willis in "The Jackal" and
Val Kilmer in "The Saint," playing
masters of disguise who somehow
always ended up looking like the
famous actors nestled beneath
putty noses and hairpieces.
The "No Guts No Glory" Award
To Tommy Lee Jones, for swimming
around in the digestive tract of a giant
interstellar insect in the climax of
1997's boxoffice champ, "Men In
Black."
The 1998 Roach Motel
Goes to "Men in
Black," "Mimic" and
"Starship Troopers."
Films about bugs.
Giant bugs. Shot in
loving close-up. A CGI
expert who worked on
"Troopers" told
Boxoffice this trend
was the result of the
state of computer effects,
which have an
easier time rendering
the insect exo-skeletons
than they do creating
believable human
flesh. Well and good,
but if the technology
doesn't improve soon,
we know what we're
giving Hollywood for
Christmas: a jumbo-
- sized can of Raid.
t
The Boxoffice Man
of the Year Award
To James Cameron, for taking the
kind of high-wire risks most
filmmakers wouldn't even consider
to get "Titanic" to the screen, and
then, despite mounting negative
press and a Hollywood community
convinced it was witnessing the
biggest example of directorial
hubris since Michael Cimino's
"Heaven's Gate," pulling off one
of the most successful movies of
all time.
The Boxoffice Schmuck
of the Year Award
Also goes to James Cameron. Because
given the rampaging inflationary
spiral of current production costs,
probably the only thing the follow-theleader
types who run the studios
needed less than a $275 million
boxoffice disaster was a $275 million
feature that turned out to be a smash.
Completion bond companies of
America, start your engines!
The Nostradamus Award,
or Prophecy for Profits
Goes to "Wag the Dog," Barry
Levinson's Strangelovian political satire
about the attempts by a presidential
administration to deflect public
attention from an adulterous scandal
by starting up a nice quiet war. When
Fine Line first started previewing this
one, the film seemed strangely
dated—a movie preoccupied with
political perceptions dating back to
Reagan-era shenanigans in Grenada
and the Pentagon's handling of
1990's Gulf War. Halfway through
the film's run, Monica Lewinsky and
a possible bombing campaign in Iraq
were competing for column inches on
the nation's front pages, with Saddam
Hussein claiming he was being used
as a PR diversionary tactic. Which
raises the Nixonian question: What
did the filmmakers know, and when
did they know it?
The "Weird Science" Award
To Julianne Moore as a dinosaur
specialist in "The Lost World: Jurassic
Park." Covered in baby dinosaur
blood, she's actually surprised when
a pair of rampaging T-Rexes show up
in the middle of the night and
mistakes her scent for that of their
captured offspring. Just where did you
get that degree, doctor? The Home
Shopping Network, perhaps?
The "Sleeper" of the Year
Was "Austin Powers, International
Man of Mystery"— literally and figuratively.
A surprise hit in a summer
devoid of a decent blockbuster
comedy, "Powers" also had the distinction
of being a sleeper about a
"sleeper": a cryogenically frozen
superspy psychologically trapped in
the mod zaniness of '60s swinging
London. Shagedelic, baby!
The "Just One Hitch" Award
To "Breakdown," perhaps the year's
smartest thriller, which relied on plot
twists and a nightmarish, almost "Twilight
Zone" setup for its shock effects
rather than modern studio standbys
like multiple explosions. This story of
car trouble in the desert followed by a
woman disappearing as if she'd never
been there was one the Master of
Suspense could have been proud of.
The Big Mac Attack
We launch against "Home Alone 3,"
for continuing a comedy franchise
past the point of its adolescent star's
ability to participate in the proceedings.
Macaulay Culkin had to be the
only one pleased with the way this
one played out.

Aoril. 1998 139
The Long Day's Journey Into Night
Award
To Stanley Kubrick, director of "Eye's
Wide Shut," the Cruise/Kidman costarrer
that's been shooting in England
since approximately the time of the
Crusades. Only a director of Kubrick's
stature could have gotten away with
tying up Cruise, one of the most valuable
commodities in moviedom, for
the lengthy and open-ended shooting
schedule of this arduous project.
Watching the art vs. commerce skirmishing
between Kubrick and "Eyes'"
studio backers over getting the movie
done has been one of the most
fascinating "behind the scenes"
dramas of '97/'98.
The Muhammad Ali "Golden Clove"
Goes to "Jackie Brown" director
Quentin Tarantino, for punching out a
producer in an L.A. eatery and then
bragging to Entertainment Weekly
about "bitch-slapping" the poor
schmuck. Any celebration of
Tarantino's TKO was premature, however:
By year's end, the producer in
question had filed a $5 million
lawsuit, alleging he had been unable
to work since Tarantino publicly
humiliated him.
The "Pay No Attention to the Man
Behind the Curtain" Award
To Miramax co-chair Bob Weinstein. As
the voice of Miramax Films, brother
Harvey gets most of the press attention.
But, while such high profile Miramax
art-house acquisitions as Harvey's
Sundance-purchased "The House of
Yes" sank in the market, it was Bob's
start-up exploitation division Dimension
Films that was the company's big
moneymaker in both 1996 and 1997,
thanks to the massive success of both
entries in the "Scream" horror franchise.
The Rush Limbaugh's My Hero Award
To Jack Nicholson, perfectly incorrect
as a curmudgeonly bigot in "As Good
As It Gets." Honorable mention:
Nicholson crony Warren Beatty for the
trailer alone to "Bulworth."
The Ad Hoc Award
To October Films, which promoted
their offbeat David Lynch opus "Lost
Highway" by prominently featuring
the Siskel and Ebert verdict of "Two
Thumbs Down" in its print campaign,
and then running a tagline reading
"Two more great reasons to see 'Lost
Highway!'" Nobody went anyway, but
at least October went down swinging.
Movies We Hope We Never Have to See
"George of the Jungle 2 Jungle." Two
insipid Disney comedies about
displaced jungle boys for the price of one!
Moving Violations of the Year
The BoxoFFicE highway patrol cites
"U-Turn" and "Speed 2" for reckless
endangerment of hapless exhibitors nationwide.
Whether or not there were any
fatalities when these two crashed and
burned at the boxoffice remains to be
seen, but possible names on the critical
list include "U-Turn" director Oliver
Stone and star Sean Penn, along with
"Speed 2" director Jan De Bont. Stone's
license for David Lynchian editorial discontinuity
and showy close-ups has now
officially been suspended, while De
Bont, who was riding high after last
year's "Twister," shall be remembered as
the man who passed up the surefire
"Godzilla" to make "Speed 2."
The Festering Boyle Award
To Danny Boyle, whose "too hip for
the room" follow-up to 'Trainspotting,"
the self-consciously quirky "A Life Less
Ordinary," seemed obnoxiously affected
at the level of the trailer alone.
We'd like to tell you how the movie
was, but we didn't see it either.
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SPECIAL REPORT: ShoWest Award Winners
BEST IN CLASS
ShoWest Honors This Year's Superstars
Compiled by Lisa Osborne
SHOWESTER OF THE YEAR
Bi arry Rear-
.don, president
of
motion picture distribution
for Warner
Bros., has been
named the Robert
W. Selig ShoWester
of the Year. This is
the first time that the
award has been
given to a non-exhibitor.
Reardon has been president of Warner
Bros. Distributing Corp. since 1980. Under
his leadership, Warner Bros, has produced
more movies which grossed over $100 million
and has had the largest market share more
often than any other motion picture production/distribution
company, reports ShoWest.
Reardon was also instrumental in introducing
the 6,000-foot extended-length film reels to
the industry.
Over the span of his career, Reardon has
served as executive vice president and general
sales manager at Warner Bros.; senior
vice president for General Cinema Corp.;
and vice president for Paramount Pictures.
He is
a member of the Motion Picture
Pioneers, Variety Club of Southern California,
Will Rogers Institute, Academy of Motion
Picture Arts & Sciences and the Holy
Cross Club of Southern California.
The ShoWester of the Year Award honors
an individual who has demonstrated
throughout his or her career a dedication to
the exhibition industry and its causes.
B.V. STURDIVANT AWARD
Ioan
Allen,
winner of the
1998 B.V.
Sturdivant Award,
is vice president of
Dolby Laboratories
and director of motion
picture engineering
for the
Society of Motion
Picture & Television
Engineers
(SMPTE). Allen joined Dolby Laboratories
in 1969 and played a large part in the development
of the Dolby Stereo film program.
A fellow of the SMPTE, Audio Engineering
Society and British Kinematographic
Sound & Television Society, he is also pastpresident
of the International Theatre
Equipment Associafion and an adjunct professor
at The University of Southern California
School of Cinema—Television.
Allen was the 1 985 recipient of the Samuel
L. Warner Award for contribufions to
motion picture sound. He also received scientific
and engineering awards from the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in 1979 and 1987, and an Oscar in
1989.
The Sturdivant award honors individuals
for their extraordinary service to and on
behalf of the exhibition industry.
IDA SCHREIBER AWARD
Belinda V.
J u d so n
winner of
this year's Ida
Schreiber Award, is
executive director of
the National Association
of Theatre
Owners (NATO) of
Ohio, which on January
] became Mid-
States NATO,
comprising NATO of Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee
and West Virginia.
Judson handles all the association's administrative
duties including managing
the annual convention and numerous
board meetings. She also administers the
Workers' Compensation Program for
NATO members and testifies at legislative
hearings on industry-related issues.
In addition to serving on the NATO board
of directors, she chairs the regional units
task force.
Jud.son is also a director of The Ohio
Society for Association Executives, acting
as annual convention chair in 1996 and
co-chair in 1998.
Prior to joining NATO of Ohio, Judson
owned and operated local movie theatres
for five years.
BERT NATHAN
MEMORIAL AWARD
The 1998
Bert Nathan
Memorial
Award is
presented to Wally
Helton, vice president
of concession
operations at Mann
Theatres, in recognition
of his efforts
to promote professionalism
within
the concessions industry.
Helton began his career in the exhibition
industry in 1965 as an usher at Central
States Theatre Corporation's World Theatre
in Kearney, Neb. Less than two years
later,
the company made him manager of
the Kearney Drive-In Theatre; he was just
1 6 years old. Helton worked as a projectionist
at both theatres while at college.
October 1974, he joined AMC as a
In
manager trainee at the Buckingham 4 Theatres
in Aurora, Colo. In March 1976, he
was promoted to manager of his first AMC
theatre—the Fashion Square 4 Theatres in
La Habre, Calif During 1978, his territory
broadened to that of district manager, first
of southern California and later of ColoradoAVyoming.
When Helton took over
AMC's ColoradoAVyoming district it contained
five theatres, but by 1985 that total
had risen to 14 theatres. Meanwhile, Helton
was serving on the board of the ColoradoAVyoming
NATO as vice president
(1982-84) and president (1985).
Helton began focusing on the concessions
side of the business in 1986 when he
became director of concessions and ancillary
revenues for AMC's west division. In
this position, he was responsible for both
concession operations and the newly created
fast-food operations.
In January 1996, he joined Mann Theatres
as executive director of concession operations
and by the end of the year, he was
promoted to vice president of concession
operations. Continuing his association ties,
he became regional vice president for the
National Association of Concessionaires'
(NAC's) southwest region and chairman of
144 BOXOi'TICE

—
its member benefits/internet committee in
June 1997. This award is named after Bert
Nathan, a past president of NAC.
SHOWEST CUSTOMER
SERVICE AWARD
Bi.
ob Lochhead,
manager
of Pa-
Theatres'
cific
Beach Cities Cinema,
will receive
ShoWest's Customer
Service
Award for his
"Restroom Attendants—
At Your
Service" program.
The idea of having attendants and amenities
like flowers and candy in the Beach
Cities restrooms developed because of the
difficulty of maintaining Pacific Theatres'
cleanliness standards at the large 16-plex
during peak business times. Initially,
Lochhead hired an outside company to
manage the restrooms during peak times
(from Friday at 3 p.m. through Sunday evening),
but a survey of Pacific Theatres'
guests indicated that they didn't like the
attendants because they solicited inappropriately
for tips.
Lochhead decided that his own employees
could do a better job because of their
training not only in cleanliness standards
but also in customer service. He now has
employees assigned continuously to each
restroom during the peak weekend times
who clean and stock them and also provide
information as requested by guests. The
feedback from customer surveys has been
very positive—there have been no complaints
about either cleanliness or service.
In addition, if tips are offered, they are
donated to The Wonder of Reading, a nonprofit
organization founded by Christopher
Forman, CEO of Pacific Theatres. The Wonder
of Reading refurbishes public elementary
school libraries in the Los Angeles School
District and establishes reading tutoring programs
at each of the targeted schools.
Lochhead has worked for Pacific Theatres
for 15 years, starting out as a cashier in its
Eagle Rock Theatre in Glendale, Calif. He has
been the manager of Beach Cities since it
opened in November 1996. Prior to joining
Beach Cities, he managed Pacific TTieatres
Hastings in Pasadena, Calif, for eight years.
IN-THEATRE
MARKETING AWARDS
ShoWest's
four In-Theatre Marketing
Awards will be presented
to AMC's Samantha Smoot, Pat
White, Lisa Kennedy, Jim Bearce and
Melissa Day (large theatres); SoCal
Cinema's Tammy Rozanski (medium
theatres); Canad Cinemas' Jennifer Lynn
Collins and Sharon Pillsbury (small theatres);
and Entertainment Golden Village's
Gerald Dibbayawan, Teerachai Triwongwaranat
and Ittiphol Lokutarapho (international
theatres).
The AMC team was recognized for its
plan to open 74 screens in three megaplexes
on the same day. SoCal Cinema netted its
award with its "Herculean Carnival" promotion.
Canad Cinemas achieved recognition
with its "Summer of Heroes," also
themed to Buena Vista' s "Hercules." Entertainment
Golden Village's winning promotion
program was entitled "My Best
Friend's Wedding at EGV Cinema."
These marketing awards are intended to
recognize the importance of grassroots marketing
in building audiences. The judging
criteria include: originality, ingenuity and
creativity; promotion execution; embellishment
of national promotion materials (if
applicable); use of community resources;
and results (including increases in attendance
and boxoffice grosses).
INTERNATIONAL
EXHIBITOR OF THE YEAR
ShoWest's
1998 International Exhibitor
of the Year Award is being
shared by two worthy recipients
John Crawford, executive chairman and
CEO of Village Roadshow International,
and Millard L. Ochs, president of Warner
Bros. International Theatres. Crawford was
bom in Bolton, England, in 1950 and emigrated
to Australia in 1968. He assumed
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1015 5th Avenue North * Nashville, TN 37219
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FAX 615-248-2725 or 888-891-0554
Response No. 1 70
April, 1998 145

esponsibility for
the group's cinema
exhibition program
in 1988, firstly in
Australia and subsequently
internationally.
In 1990,
he set up the
Village's first overseas
office, in Singapore,
and as
in.in.igiiig director of the Village and
Golden Harvest partnership for Asia,
known as Golden Village, he developed
multiplex circuits throughout Asia. This international
expansion now spans 16 countries
and includes major joint ventures with
the Warner group in the U.K., Germany,
Italy and Taiwan. Late in 1996, Crawford
established the Village Roadshow Ltd. corporate
exhibition headquarters in London,
where he now resides with his family.
Ochs (above) learned the exhibition business
from the ground up as his father's
apprentice. He started out as an usher and
later became a projectionist, concession
manager and a cinema manager. After graduating
from the University of Akron, he
became city manager for RKO Stanley
Warner Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio, followed
by district manager for AMC covering
Arizona and Southern California.
AMC transferred Ochs to England in
1985 where he began developing multiplexes
in Milton Keynes. During the next
three years, AMC opened eight locations in
England and then sold their interest to the
Universal/Paramount Studio joint venture.
United Cinema International (UCI).
Ochs worked for UCI establishing multiplexes
in England, Germany and Spain until
June 1993, when he joined Warner Bros.
International Theatres as its executive vice
president. When Salah Hassanein retired in
July 1994, Ochs became president of
Warner Bros. International Theatres.
During the following 20 months, Ochs
worked closely with Ira Stiegler, vice president
of architecture and planning, to create
the Looney Tune themed lobby concept,
said to be the world's first active lobby
experience. Warner Bros, currently operates
74 multiplex cinemas and 654 screens
in eight countries—the result of many successful
joint- venture partnerships.
ACTOR OF THE YEAR
A
146 BoxoFncE
nthony
Hopkins,
nominated
for an Academy
Award as Best Supporting
Actor for his
perl'ormance as President
John Quincy
Adams in Steven
Spielberg's
"Amistad", is
ShoWest's 1998
Actor of the Year.
Dreamwork's "Amistad," which also
stars Djimon Hounsou, Matthew
McConaughey and Morgan Freeman, recounts
the story of a revolt aboard the slave
ship Amistad. The film has also received
Oscar nominations for Original Dramatic
Score (John Williams), Cinematography
(Janusz Kaminski) and Costumes (Ruth
Carter).
Hopkins' next appearance will be as the
elder Zorro in "The Mask of Zorro," starring
Antonio Banderas as Zorro Jr. He also has
starring roles in "Ishmael" (working title) and
"Meet Joe Black," opposite Brad Pitt.
Hopkins has won an Academy Award for
Best Actor for his portrayal of Dr. Hannibal
Lecter in the Best Picture-winner "The Silence
of the Lambs." He has two other
Oscar nominations for Best Actor to his
credit: one for "The Remains of the Day"
and the other for "Nixon."
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
M"ot onlyhas
Helen
Hunt been
nominated for a
Best Actress Oscar
for her performance
as singlemother
Carol
Connelly in "As
Good As It Gets,"
but she has also been
named ShoWest's
Actress ol (tie » car. Hunt has already won
a Golden Globe for her role in "As Good As
It Gets" and has been nominated for a
Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award.
Hunt has a talent for winning awards; her
television role as Jamie Buchman on "Mad
About You" has won her two Emmys, four
Golden Globes, a SAG Award and three Q
Awards.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
OF THE YEAR
Joan Allen is
the winner of
the 1998
ShoWest Supporting
Actress of the
Year Award. She
hit the bigscreen in
two major roles
during 1997, starring
as Eve Archer,
John Travolta's
wife in "Face Off,"
and as Elena Hood, Kevin Kline's wife in
"The Ice Storm."
Her next appearance will be in the comedy
"Pleasantville," in which she stars with
Jeff Daniels and William H. Macy as a
picture-perfect '50s sitcom family. The
movie was scripted by two-time Academy
Award nominee Gary Ross,
makes his directorial debut.
who also
Allen has received two Academy Award
nominations: the first for Best Actress as
Pat Nixon in Oliver Stone's "Nixon," and
the second as Elizabeth Proctor in the film
adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible,"
in which she starred opposite Daniel
Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder.
SCREENWRITER
OF THE YEAR
Ron
Bass, who penned and produced
"My Best Friend's Wedding," is
being crowned Screenwriter of the
Year by ShoWest organizers. A prolific
screenwriter, Bass has five movies due for
release in 1998— "What Dreams May
Come," "How Stella Got her Groove
Back," "Die Hard 4," "Good Night Moon"
and "Snow Falling on Cedars." He's producing
the latter movie him.self.
Bass won an Academy Award for Best
Screenplay for his work on "Rain Man"; it
was also nominated for a Golden Globe.
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Barry Levinson,
director
of "Wag
the Dog," is this
year's recipient of
the ShoWest Director
of the Year
Award.
"Wag the Dog,"
which stars Dustin
Hoffman, Robert
DeNiro and Anne
Heche, has been nominated for two Academy
Awards—one for Hoffman as Best
Actor and the other for Hilary Henkin and
David Mamet for Best Screenplay. Levinson
himself was nominated for a Golden
Bear Award for the movie.
Levinson also produced and directed
"Sphere," the science-fiction film based on
a book by Michael Crichton, which stars
Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone and Samuel
L. Jackson.
He is currently producing "Home Fries"
and acting as executive producer on "The
Incredible
Mr. Limpet," both due for release
this year.
Levinson has five Academy Award nominations
and an Oscar to his credit. He won
his Oscar as Best Director for "Rain Man."
His other Oscar nominations were for Best
Director and Best Picture for "Bugsy" and
Best Screenplay for "Avalon," "Diner" and
"And Justice for All."
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
Walter
F. Parkes and Laurie Mac-
Donald, co-heads of Dream-
Works Pictures, the motion
picture division of DreamWorks SKG,
share ShoWest's Producer of the Year honors.
The pair often work closely together,
acting as executive producers on "The
Continued on page 163

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T-r-r-rn
50 TH
Anniversary
1998 marks 50 years of dedicated service
The employees ofSPECO would like to thank all of
our loyal customers for their support during the
last 50 years.
Thanks to yoUy what started out as a small service
company has now grown into a large engineering
company with products in over 40 countries.
SPECO has seen and adapted to the changes in the
theatre industry during the last 50 years and we
look forward to taking care of everyone during the
next 50 years of theatre evolution.
709 N. 6th St. • Kansas City, Kansas 66101 USA
Phone: (913) 321-3978 • Fkx: (913) 321-7439
1-800-633-5913
in the United States

Sony Pictures Entertainment
Congratulates
Anthony Hopkins
1998 SHOWEST
ACTOR Of The YEAR
SONY
PICTURES"
^^
Lighting Up Screens Around The World'"

SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT
CONGRATULATES
1998'S SHOWEST
PRODUCERS OF THE YEAR
LAURIE MACDONALD
AND
WALTER F.
PARKES
SONY
PICTURES"
Lighting Up Screens Around The World'

Sony Pictures Entertainment
Congratulates
BARRY LEVINSON
1998 SHOWEST
Director Of The Year
SONY
PICTURES"
Lighting Up Screens Around The World'

SONY Pictures entertainment
Congratulates
Jerry Bruckheimer
1998 SHOWEST
International box Office
achievement Award
SONY
pictures-
Lighting Up Screens Around The World"
m

sony pictures entertainment
congratulates
The following 1998
ShoWest Award Winners
lOAN Allen
Supporting actress Of The Year
Matt Damon
Male Star of tomorrow
Minnie Driver
Female Star of Tomorrow
Burt Reynolds
supporting actor of The year
SONY
PICTURES-
Lighting Up Screens Around The World'

Warner Brds.
Congratulates
All The
Natd/ShdWest
Award
Winners
For 1 998

Industry Awards
Robert W. Selig ShdWester
Df The Year
BARRY REARDDN
B.V.
Sturdivant Award
lOAN ALLEN
Ida Schreiber Award
BELINDA JUDSDN
Customer Service Award
BOB LDCHHEAD
Bert Nathan Memorial Award
WALLY HELTON
International Box Office Achievement
JERRY BRUCKHEIMER
International Exhibitors Of The Year
MILLARD DCHS JOHN CRAWFORD
Star Awards
Actress Of The Year
HELEN HUNT
ACTOR OF The Year
ANTHONY HOPKINS
Producers Of The Year
WALTER PARKES LAURIE MacDONALD
Director Of The Year
BARRY LEVINSON
Supporting Actress Of The Year
JOAN ALLEN
upporting Actor Of The Year
BURT REYNOLDS
Screenwriter Of The Year
RON BASS
Male Star Of Tomorrow
MATT DAMON
Female Star Of Tomorrow
MINNIE DRIVER
Humanitarian Of The Year
SUSAN SARANDON
International Star Of The Year
JULIA ROBERTS
ei998 Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved

!
Lyongrattuiiations
Robert W. Sefig SfioWester oftfie Year - Bavrij RearcfoH
B.V Sturdivant Award- loan AffcH
Ida Sckreikr Award- Befinda JudsOH
Bert Nathan MemorialAward- Waffu HeftOH
SfioWest Customer Service Award- Bov LochflCad
IntemationafMi^itoroftfieYearAward-MiffardOcflS'^'Jofin Crawfovd
Actor oftfie Year -AntflOnij HopHinS
Actress oftfie Year - Helen HUHt
Producer oftfie Year - Waftev F.
Favkes s^ Luurle MacDonafd
Director oftfie Year - Bavrtj LevinSOH
Suffortin^ Actress oftfie Year - foUYl Alien
Screenwriter of tfie Year - Ron BdSS
Male Star of Tomorrow - Matt Damon
Femafe Star of Tomorrow - Minnie Driver
Humanitarian oftfie Year-Susan SaranOOn
Internationaf Star oftfie Year - Jufia Roberts
IntemationafBoxoffice Achievement -Jerrij Bruckheimer
PaptI, Papsl-Cota and ttw PapsI Glolw ars raglslered tradamaflu ol Papsi Co
,
Inc.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES
CONGRATULATES THE 1998 SHOWEST
INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS
BARRY REARDON
SHOWESTER OF THE YEAR
JERRY BRUCKHEIMER
INTERNATIONAL BOXOFFICE ACHIEVEMENT
lOAN ALLEN
B.V. STURDIVANT AWARD
BELINDA JUDSON
IDA SCHREIBER AWARD
JOHN CRAWFORD
MILLARD OCHS
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS OF THE YEAR
WALLY HELTON
BERT NATHAN MEMORIAL AWARD

Regal Cinemas is proud to congratulate
Susan Sarandon
Humanitarian of the Year
Julia Roberts
International Star of the Year
Anthony Hopkins
Actor of the Year
Helen Hunt
Actress of the Year
Joan Allen
Supporting Actress of the Year
Barry Levinson
Director of the Year
Ron Bass
Screenwriter of the Year
Walter Parkes & Laurie MacDonald
Producers of the Year
Matt Damon
Male Star of Tomorrow
Minnie Driver
Female Star of Tomorrow
Barry Reardon
Robert W. Selig ShoWester of the Year
loan Allen
B.V. Sturdivant Award
Belinda Judson
Ida Schreiber Award
Wally Helton
Bert Nathan Memorial Award
Bob Lochhead
Customer Service Award
tlEGAL
CINEMAS^
www.regalcinciTias.com

UNIVERSAL PICTURES
We Proudly Congratulate
The ShoWest Award Winners
HELEN HUNT
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
ANTHONY HOPKINS
ACTOR OF THE YEAR
WALTER F. PARKES and
LAURIE MacDONALD
PRODUCERS OF THE YEAR
BARRY LEVINSON
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
JOAN ALLEN
SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
BURT REYNOLDS
SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
RON BASS
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
MATT DAMON
MALE STAR OF TOMORROW
MINNIE DRIVER
FEMALE STAR OF TOMORROW
SUSAN SARANDON
HUMANITARIAN AWARD
JULIA ROBERTS
INTERNATIONAL STAR OF THE YEAR
S> UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Congratulations to the 1998
ShoWest Award Recipients:
BARRY REARDON
Robert W. Selig NATO/ShoWester of the Year
ANTHONY HOPKINS
Actor of the Year
HELEN HUNT
Actress of the Year
BURT REYNOLDS
Supporting Actor of the Year
JOAN ALLEN
Supporting Actress of the Year
BARRY LEVINSON
Director of the Year
WALTER PARKES
LAURIE MACDONALD
Producers of the Year
RON BASS
Screenwriter of the Year
MATT DAMON
Male Star of Tomorrow
MINNIE DRIVER
Female Star of Tomorrow
JULIA ROBERTS
International Star of the Year
SUSAN SARANDON
Humanitarian of the Year
©1998 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX. A1,L RIGHTS RESERXTD.

!
Belinda Judson
Ida Schreiber Award
Walter Parkes
Producer of the Year
Barry Reardon
ShoWfester of the Year
Laurie MacDonald
Producer of the Year
loan Allen
B.V Sturdivant Award
W^lly Helton
Bert Nathan Memorial Award
Susan Sarandon
Humanitarian Award
Congratulations
Helen Hunt
Actress of the Year
Anthony Hopkins
Actor of the Year
Joan Allen
Supporting Actress of the Year
mm
Julia Roberts
International Star of the Year
j^^^^ Damon
Male Star of Tomorrow^
Ron Bass
Screenwriter of the Year
^
Minnie Driver
Female Star of Tomorrow
Barry Levinson
Director of the Year
'4
a
SONY THEATRES
JOHNSON IHEATRESI

Ts]l GRAND ALL] '\NCE
WARNER
VILLAGE
CINEMAS
jVJjJJ'j/d i. C;£:1j$
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VILLAGE
ROADSHOW INTERNATIONAL
John A. Crawford
Ex«cutiv« OMrfmMm fit CEO
VMag* RowlslHwr bitttnuitiomil
TWO OOIVJ^^NIES
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National Amusements
Barry Reardon
Belinda Judson
loan Allen
^TURDIVANT A\
Wally Helton
Bob Lockhead
Minnie Driver
FEMALE STAR OF TOMORROW
Matt Damon
MALE STAR OF
Julia Roberts
INTERNATIONAL STAR OF THE
NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS • 200 ELM STREET, DEDHAM, MA 02026

CCNeRATlLATICN$
DACCy CEACD€N
Robert W. Selig $^cWester cf tlie Tear
l€AN ALLEN
B.V. Sturdivart xl>varcl
Fyoiic Your TrietuU
STEVE MARCUS BRUCE OLSON MIKE KOMINSKY

C I N E P L E X
D
E
e Salutes Barry Reardon
/
1998 Robert W. Selig
ShoWester of the Year
Cmefnar^fh

Congratulations To The
1998 ShoWest Honorees
Barry Reardon, ShoWester of the Year
Belinda Judson, Ida Schreiber Award
loan Allen, B.V Sturdivant Award
From Your Friends At
TRI-STATE THEATRE SERVICE, INC.
'^^'2^'1feNTUc^^^ "^^S^
''I
I»
"""" DUERSON THEATRES, INC.
George Kerasotes Corporation
Wishes to Congratulate
ShoWester of the Year
BARRY REARDON
B.V. Sturdivant Award
lOAN ALLEN
Ida Schreiber Award
BELINDA JUDSON
Bert Nathan Memorial Award
WALLY HELTON

Congratuktions
K
Harhins
Theatres
•»
Wally Helton
<
Congratulates
1998 BERT NATHAN
MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER
\
from your friends
at
Ricas
4
BARRY REARDON
ShoVJester of the Xear
Ricos Products Co., Inc.
621 South Flores • San Antonio, TX 78204
Phone: (210) 222-1415 • Fax (210) 226-6453
Email: awatts@ricos.com • Web Site: www.ricos.com
/
\
Entertaimng Arizona since 1933
1^^ l>A(IFI(
THEATRES
7^ Afoi/[e Expe/iimce^
C0N(3UATULATES
BAI^I^y I^EAI^DON
SHOWESTEP OF THE YEAI?
ON THIS WELL-DESEI^VED HONOI^
AND HIS MANY VEAI^S
OE (ONTPIBUTIONS
TO THE EILM INDUSTI^V
Barry Reardon
Showester of the Year
lOAN Allen
B.V. Sturdivant Award
Belinda JuDsoN
Ida Schreiber Award
Wally Helton
Bert Nathan Memorial Award
Tammy Rozanski
In-Theatre Marketing Award
Grand Prize Winner

Congratulations!
to the 1998 ShoWest honorees
Barry Reardon
ShoWester ofthe Year
Millard Ochs and John Crawford
International Exhibitors of the Year
loan Allen
B.V. Sturdivant Award
Belinda Judson
Ida Schreiber Award
Bob Lochhead
Customer Service Award
Wally Helton
Bert Nathan Memorial Award
Jerry Bruckheimer
International Boxoffice Achievement
Julia Roberts
International Star ofthe Year
Anthony Hopkins
Actor ofthe Year
Helen Hunt
Actress ofthe Year
Matt Damon
Male Star of Tomorrow
Minnie Driver
Female Star of Tomorrow
Burt Reynolds
Supporting Actor ofthe Year
Joan Allen
Supporting Actress ofthe Year
Susan Sarandon
Humanitarian Award
Barry Levinson
Director ofthe Year
Ron Bass
Screenwriter ofthe Year
Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald
Producers ofthe Year
AMC's Samantha Smoot, Pat White,
Lisa Kennedy, Jim Bearce and
Melissa Day (large theatres);
SoCal Cinemas' Tammy
Rozanski (medium theatres);
Canad Cinemas' Jennifer Lynn Collins
and Sharon Pillsbury (small theatres);
Golden Village's Gerald Dibbayawan,
Teerachai Triwongwaranat and Ittiphol
Lokutarapho (international theatres)
In-Theatre Marketing Awards
From Your Friends At
WE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF THE
GLOBAL MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY
KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN USE

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We'll enter the names of all respondents in a drawing for three
sets of our limited edition BOXOFFICE cover posters, which have
included Tom Cruise for "Mission: Impossible," Pierce Brosnan
for "GoldenEye," Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith for "Men In
Black," Patrick Stewart for "Star Trek: First Contact" and now Antonio
Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones for "The Mask of Zorro."
Five-Step Instructions: 1. Under Your Opinions, tell us your take
on two current topics in the exhibition industry. 2. In the Your
Evaluations section, fill in the circles that most approximate your
feelings about particular editorial departments appearing in this issue.
3. Tell us the editorial value to you of the Feature Articles found
in the April 1998 BOXOFFICE. 4. Print or type your contact
information. 5. Fax the form to us at 213-465-5049. Three winners
of the BOXOFFICE posters will be notified by May 1, 1998.
1 : Your Opinions on Industry Topics:
Is
a theatre's architectural design o key elemerit in
drowing customers to the venue, and v^/hy or why not?
Do you believe that special-format offerings (largeformat
films, ridefllms and virtual reality technology) will
become common (and successful) ancillary revenue
streams at multi- and megaplexes?
3: Our Feature Articles:
Were the following features valuable to you?
Yes
No
Summer Heat: Film Previews

s
Cotttinueil from page 146
Mask of Zorro," "Amistad," "Trigger Effect"
and "Twister." They co-produced
"Men in Black" and while Parkes produced
"The Peacemaker," MacDonald was his executive
producer.
"The Mask of Zorro," which stars Sean
Connery and Antonio Banderas as Zorro the
Elder and Younger, respectively, is due for
release on July 24.
HUMANITARIAN
OF THE YEAR
Susan Sarandon
is being
honored by
ShoWest as its
1998 Humanitarian
of the Year.
Sarandon has
three movie due for
release this year:
"Twilight," in which
she stars opposite
Newman and
Paul
Gene Hackman, "Illuminata" and "Good
Night Moon."
An accomplished performer, Sarandon
won her Best Actress Oscar in 1996 for her
role as Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man
Walking." It also won her a SAG Award.
She received four previous Oscar nominations,
for "The Client" (1994), "Lorenzo's
Oil" ( 1 992), "Thelma & Louise" ( 1 99 1 ) and
"Atlantic City" (1980).
INTERNATIONAL
STAR OF THE YEAR
Julia Roberts,
star of
the 1997
worldwide hit film
"My Best Friend's
Wedding," is the
first woman to receive
the International
Star of the
Year Award from
—
ShoWest.
Roberts' movies
"Pretty Woman," "Steel Magnolias,"
"Flatliners," "Sleeping With The Enemy,"
"Something to Talk
"The Pelican Brief,"
About" and "Mystic Pizza"—have collectively
earned almost two billion dollars
worldwide. She received Academy Award
nominations for her performances in "Steel
Magnolias" and "Pretty Woman."
Roberts has just finished filming "Good
Night Moon," directed by Christopher Columbus
and co-starring Susan Sarandon and
Ed Harris.
INTERNATIONAL
BOXOFFICE ACHIEVEMENT
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is being
honored by ShoWest for the second
year in a row. This year he receives
he International Boxoffice Achievement
Award, whereas
last year his movie
^^^^
"The Rock" was
j^ffl^^ voted Favorite
pBv^Hj^ Movie of the Year.
1 , ^^r Bruckheimer
produced the
worldwide
boxoffice hit "Con
Air" and with his
former partner, the
late Don Simpson, the movies "The Rock,"
"Flashdance," "Beverly Hills Cop," "Top
Gun," "Days of Thunder," "Bad Boys,"
"Dangerous Minds" and "Crimson Tide."
Jerry Bruckheimer Films' next release
will be "Armageddon," starring Bruce Willis,
Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton and
Liv Tyler. This projects reteams Bruckheimer
with Michael Bay, director of "Bad
Boys" and "The Rock." "Armageddon" is
scheduled for U.S. release on July 1.
Bruckheimer is currently in production
on the thriller "Enemy of the State," starring
Will Smith, Gene Hackman and Jon Voight.
It is being directed by Tony Scott. Smith
plays an attorney who finds his reputation
destroyed and his life threatened after he
accidentally becomes the target of a secret
government agency.
Jerry Bruckheimer Films has several projects
under development including "Rogue
Warrior," the story of a Navy S.E.A.L.
based on the best-seller by Dick Marcinko;
"Witness to the Truth," describing the life
of FBI agent Paul Lindsay, to be written by
Academy-Award-winner Robert Towne;
and "Apaches," based on the Lorenzo Carcaterra
novel about four police officers on
disability pensions who join forces to break
a kidnapping ring.
MALE STAR OF TOMORROW
att Damon
is
Mihaving
an incredible year.
Not only is he
being honored as
ShoWest's Male
Star of Tomorrow,
but he's awaiting
the outcome of
two Oscar nominations
for his
movie "Good Will Hunting."
Damon co-wrote Miramax's "Good Will
Hunting" with his friend Ben Affleck, who
also stars in the film. Damon's Oscar nominations
are for Best Actor and Best Screenplay
Written Directly for the Screen. He has
already won a Golden Globe with Affleck
for the movie's screenplay.
Directed by Gus Van Sant and produced
by Lawrence Bender, the film has Oscar
nominations for Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Supporting Actor and Actress, as well
as Best Film Editing, Dramatic Score and
Song.
"Good Will Hunting" tells the story of a
young math genius who can't live up to his
potential due to problems stemming from
his difficult childhood. It also stars Oscar
nominees Robin Williams and Minnie
Driver.
Damon also won acclaim for playing a
crusading young lawyer in "John Grisham' s
The Rainmaker." Directed by Francis Ford
Coppola, it stars Danny DeVito, Jon Voight
and Claire Danes.
In December 1997, Damon began production
on "Rounders," a movie in which
he portrays a reformed gambler drawn back
into New York's underground poker world,
for director John Dahl.
In March, he rejoins "Chasing Amy" stars
Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams in Kevin
Smith's "Dogma," about a group of outcast
angels. In August, Damon will start work on
the title role in Anthony Minghella's "The
Talented Mr. Ripley." In this movie, he is
hired by the father of his rich playboy friend
to entice the young American back home
from Italy.
Damon will next appear on the big screen
as the lead in Steven Spielberg's "Saving
Private Ryan." This World War II drama
from Dreamworks/Paramount, which also
stars Tom Hanks, is due for release in June.
FEMALE STAR
OF TOMORROW
M
Driver,
who
currently stars with
fellow Oscar-nominees
Matt Damon,
Ben Affleck and
Robin Williams in
"Good Will Hunting,"
is ShoWest's
1998 Female Star
of Tomorrow.
Driver is in line to win a Best Supporting
Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Damon'
girlfriend in "Good Will Hunting." She has
also been nominated for a SAG Award for
the same performance.
Driver has the title role in her next movie,
"The Governess," a love story from Sony
Pictures Classics set in 1840. Written and
directed by Sandra Goldbacher, "The Governess"
recounts the story of a young
woman (Driver) who is forced to hide her
Jewish heritage to secure a job as a governess
after her father is murdered.
The movie is shot on location in England
and Scotland and is slated for an early summer
release.
Driver is also in production on "At
Satchem Farm," starring Nigel Hawthorne
and Rufus Sewell. In addition to starring in
the film. Driver is executive producing the
movie under the Two Drivers banner, the
company she heads with her sister Kate
Driver. "At Satchem Farm" is written and
directed by John Huddles. ^H
April, 1998 163

—
ShoWest 1 998
New Products Guide
A new booth automation system will be
introduced at ShoWest by Panastereo Inc.
The Panalogic microcontroller system is easy
to program in segments so that total reprogramming
is not necessary when the theatre
changes shows. The product features interlock
capability and "Watchdog" status panel
reportingthrough4-wireRS232 interconnect.
This automation can store up to 10 show
programs that are quickly recalled from memory.
The model RC-140 program panel may
be placed in the sound rack or in a console
without interference to sound equipment.
Relay boards are mounted in the lamphouse
console and controlled by digital interface. The
system works from only one film cue, or can be
operated from up to three cues by simple selection
of the operating mode. A slide show can
be easily programmed for pre-show advertising.
Color literature can be obtained at the
Panastereo booth or by calling (770) 449-7723.
Response Number 301.
CInemeccanIca is introducing a xenon
projection console, the CC7040H-USA. The
console includes 1600 through 3000 watt
operation; deepdishelectroformed reflectors;
and a handy component drawer. It accommodates
Cinemeccanica's Victoria line of projectors,
but is also compatible with all U.S.
manufactured projectors. For more information,
contact Cinemeccanica U.S. Inc. at
(909)481-5842.
Response Number 302.
On a smaller scale than the projectors most
theatre owners deal with every day. Digital
Projection is offering a presentation projector
with a Xenon Arc lamp which can show
video or computer images. The Power 5D
can be used to make corporate presentations,
or to project images in your snackbar area for
advertising purposes. If offers brightness up to
5000 ANSI lumens, and can accept up to
three independently configurable inputs,
which can be selected by remote control.
Digital Projection promises film-quality resolution
of projected images. To learn more, call
(770)420-1350.
Response Number 303.
To enable theatre owners to offer more hot
food choices, StarManufacturine International
is offering a new series of humidity
cabinets. The HFD-1 Series are 1
5" x 1
5"
square, so they don't lake up as much space
as Star's larger humidify cabinet series. They
can accommodate pizza, pretzels, hot sandwiches,
bagels and more. Temperature is adjustable,
and there's a forced hot-air system to
keep internal temperature and humidity even.
Different models are equipped with pretzel
racks, pizza racks or shelving.
Response Number 304.
For something different in theatre decoration,
UV/FX Scenic Productions can install
custom dual image blacklight scenery and
murals. Possible treatments include
Starscapes, night scenery and more; the company
will adapt your own designs or offer
theirs. The effects look like painted murals
under natural light,
but under black light reveal
special ultra-violet images. Contact
UV/FX at (31 0)392-681 7.
Response Number 305.
Act One is a game in which players act out
lines from movies and television shows while
their comrades guess the titles. For information,
call Arlene Winnick at WPF Inc., (888)
WPF-TOYS.
Response Number 306.
If you employ folding panel displays in
your lobby or elsewhere, Featherlite Exhibits
offers their new Express Ultra LP line, with the
look of laminate on a portable display. A
variety of fabric colors and laminates are
available for a custom look. Call (800) 229-
5533 for more information.
Response Number 307.
If you use stands for signs in your lobby
or for crowd control outside, Lawrence
Metal Products has introduced their Elite
line of hand-crafted portable sign stands. The
line features
both stands and
easels, some
available in a
choice of brass
or stainless steel
(the others are
polished brass
only). Included
are the Model
EL-1 Easel, the
Model 1332
Sign Stand, the
Model 2000
Portable Direr
fory Boai'
Stand, tilt-
Model 1200
Tilted Frame
Sign Stand and the larger Model 1210 Tilted
Frame Sign Stand. Prices range from $535 to
$1,625.
Also, Lawrence Metal Products has released
its Catalog '98, a 64-page display of its
products for the year. These include traffic
control rails and barriers, lobby accessories,
turnstiles and more. For more information,
contact (51 6) 666-0300.
Response Number 308.
The new Captain's Pop premium hot air
popcorn vending machines from California
Food & Vending offer a couple of new twists
to the theatre popcorn tradition. For one, the
popcorn is air-popped instead of oil-popped
which is sure to appeal to more health-conscious
moviegoers. For another, the machines
are customer-operated; they insert cash and
receive their carton of popcorn automatically,
freeing up your concession staff. Captain's Pop
also offers countertop and slimline versions.
Call (888) VISIT CFV.
Response Number 309.
To make it easier to ship film reels back and
forth, Venmark International is offering a
lightweight film transport box. The Film Tote
is constructed from lightweight, reinforced
corrugated plastic, complete with carrying
handle and clasp. It collapses for easy storage.
and is offered ina variety of colors. A four-reel
box retails for $4.25, and a five-reel box for
$4.75. For more information contact (508)
845-6333.
Response Number 310.
Change posters and signs in seconds with
Lavi's Directrac system. The frames feature
an inner cartridge which slides out easily to
allow you to change the artwork inside. The
cartridge is removable and comes in a variety
of options, including changeable letters, strip
channels and a poster holder. All the cartridges
are interchangeable with each other.
The standard size of the frame is 22" x 28",
and both free-standingand wall-mounted versions
are available. Other sizes are also available.
Contact (800) 624-6225 for details.
Response Number 311,
For nacho profits without the mess, Gehl's
Guernsey Farms Inc. offers nachos and nacho
cheese in a convenient "bag-in-box" format,
eliminating the need for a cheese warmer that
must be cleaned. The cheese is encapsulated
in single-serving foil packages, which are
stored in a heated dispenser and opened as
needed. The cheese is available in Jalapeno
or Sharp Cheddar flavors, to accompany the
individually wrapped packages of nacho chips.
For more information, call (800) 521-2873.
Response Number 312.
164 BOXOFFICE

ShoWest1998
New Products Guide
ODELL'S
Wa Pap^^ -
OMNIPrint has introduced their OPC3000
Series thermal printers. These can be used to
generate print or bar code at speeds up to two
inches per second. The printer can be used to
generate register receipts, and can be programmed
to add a customized logo at the
bottom of each one. They include automatic
paper loading, readable fonts, and a very
compact design. Some customization of the
printers is available. For more information,
call (714) 457-0229.
Response Number 313.
Christie Inc. has introduced its new Christie
Reference Console, designed to provide
greater light distribution and illumination
without damaging film. The machine employs
a 15" metal reflector for maximum
brightness and minimum heat. It also uses a
pressurized plenum cooling system to keep
temperatures low and extend lamp life. Call
(714)236-8610.
Response Number 314.
Ticketpro Systems has designed specialized
software for theatre owners who want to
keep track of ticket sales, concessions, management
and more. The software runs in the
UNIX operating system, and is compatible
with all IBM and IBM-clone computers. The
ticketing system can track tickets sold for each
screen and each film, and can distinguish
between 26 ticket types per show (like adult,
child or student). The concession system allows
cashiers to perform subtotals before final
sale, automatically archives data every night,
and offers a display visible to both the customer
and the cashier. For Information on
these and other Ticketpro software products,
call (800) 552-031 3.
Response Number 315.
Stains on theatre seats and upholstery are
a problem that just won't go away—or will
they? Motsenbocker's Lift Off Is designed to
remove almost anything that can get into
your theatre, including food, beverages,
grease, and ink—even chewing gum. A kit
with three different formulas for different
stains is available as well. Call (61 9) 581 -0222.
Response Number 316.
Although the lamps that most concern theatre
operators are those In the projectors,
auditoriums need lighting before and afterthe
show as well. There to provide It Is Tivoli
Industries' Mondial 50 recessed ceiling lighting.
The Mondial 50 consists of a lightweight
steel housing which Is installed Into the celling.
The housing is only four inches deep, but
the lamphead recesses completely within It.
The lamphead can be moved vertically down
or up along a five-inch path to control light
concentration. Internal fans keep the halogen
lights from overheating. The units are available
In nonreflectlve aluminum, black, white,
polished chrome or gold finishes. To learn
more, call (914) 658-8393.
Response Number 31 7.
Juggling drinks, popcorn and other refreshments
in a theatre seat can be a tricky proposition,
but Molor Products Inc. has the
answer. Their Super Lap-Tray can be offered
for sale at your concession stand right beside
the snacks; the white, molded-plastic tray
includes a cup holder, two recessed areas for
snacks, and even a couple of pockets for
napkins and cutlery. Call (800) 969-6656.
Response Number 318.
Marketing Special ists/PTI offer a number
of formats in which to display your company
logo. Duro-Lenz shows a custom-printed
logo under a clear, thick polyurethane coating,
creating a medallion effect. Texture-Cal
offers embossed stickers showing texture
under a smooth, clear upper layer. A free
brochure including samples of each format Is
available; call (847) 797-9300.
Response Number 319.
Allow your patrons to Web-surf right in
your lobby with Moviesites.com. The company
can custom-design a touch-screen
kiosk for your lobby, which offers Internet
connections to entertainment-related Web
sites to your customers, either free of charge
or coin-operated, as you decide. You can also
offer access to your own Web page from the
unit. The JAMA Company can tell you more
at (805) 946-41 02.
Response Number 320.
RE^L
BUTTER
America's Favorite
Popcorn Topping
4
Prcmiam
100%
CfiNOLfi OIL
* * Now Available -k *
Non-Hydrogenated Popping Oil
No Trans-Fat
SUPUR-KIST
TWO
Buttery Flavored Popcorn Topping
Response No. 73
April, 1998 165

EXHIBITION
BRIEFINGS
LOEWS CINEPLEX ENTERTAINMENT
ANNOUNCES TERMS OF MERGER
Loews Theatre Exhibition Croup, a unit of
Sony Retail Entertainment, and Cineplex
Odeon have announced that the Form S-4
Registration, pertaining to the proposed merger
between Loews and Cineplex to form Loews
Cineplex Entertainment Corp., and the related
and
Proxy Statement have become effective,
have been mailed to shareholders. Upon completion
of the transaction, shareholders of
Cineplex Odeon will become shareholders of
Loews Cineplex, on the basis of 10 Cineplex
Odeon shares for each Loews Cineplex share.
As reported in the December issue of
BoxoFFicE, Loews Cineplex will be headquartered
in New York and led by president and
CEO Lawrence J. Ruisi, who is currently president
of Sony Retail Entertainment, while current
Cineplex president and CEO Allen Karp
will serve as chairman and CEO of Cineplex
Odeon Canada, which will be the Canadian
subsidiary of Loews Cineplex.
Said Ruisi in a prepared statement, "Following
the merger, Loews Cineplex will have
the market presence, financial strength and
management expertise to better compete in the
consolidating theatre exhibition industry. It is
expected that improved cash flow attained
through significant cost savings and operational
efficiencies, together with increased revenues
from new theatre openings and expansions,
will provide increased capital resources and
offer access to a broader range of financing
alternatives, including an anticipated $1 billion
senior credit facility which we are currently
renegotiating. This [will enable] Loews
Cineplex to take full advantage of the attractive
opportunities in the exhibition industry in
North America, and internationally.
"The merger is also good news for the theatre-going
public," he continued. "Both Loews
and Cineplex Odeon bring to this combination
a strong commitment of providing customers
with superior service, convenience, comfort
and the latest technology. Loews Cineplex
will be an industry leader in developing
megaplexes, and will emphasize customerfocused
initiatives including providing stadium
seating, better sight lines, more spacious
lobbies and advanced sound systems."
The merged companies will have 2,700
screens In 450 locations in the U.S. and Canada;
additionally, Loews Cineplex plans to
open 500-550 screens in 30 locations over the
next two years.
LOEKS-STAR TO DOUBLE
SCREEN COUNT
Loeks-Star Theatres has announced an initiative
to more than double its screen count
within two years. The circuit, which currently
has 108 screens in nine locations throughout
Michigan, plans to have 243 screens in 13
Michigan locations by the year 2000. The
new builds will include a 25-plex at Great
SHOWMANDISER PROMOTION OF THE MONTH
Our Shownnandiser "Star" has
done it again! Bill McDaniel,
beloved Showmandiser
personality and promotions manager
for the Star Gratiot Theatre in
Clinton Township, Mich., launched
a "Scream"-ingly successful promotion
for the horror hit "Scream 2."
McDaniel arranged for an employee
to dress up as the movie's bemasked
knife-wielding killer and "murder"
an usher in front of an audience of
500 people. Additionally, ghoulish
games such as "Pin the Knife in the
Heart" and "Shoot the Masked Man"
allowed patrons to do their worst to
a dummy made to look like the
homicidal anti-hero. "Hit him in
the heart and receive a free pop or
popcorn!", proclaimed a flyer promoting
the fiendish festivities.
SHOW US YOUR SHOWMANSHIP!
Mail reproducible photographs and a brief description of
your promotion to: BOXOFFICE, Showmandiser,
6640 Sunset Blvd., Suite 100, Hollywood, CA 90028.
Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Mich., due to
open in February 1999, and a 30-plex at the
Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Mich.,
slated for a summer 1999 bow. Two other
theatres, with a combined screen count of 44
screens, are being planned for the metro Detroit
area. The megaplexes will have multiple
indoor boxoffices, large concession stands,
oversized high-back seats, state-of-the-art
projection equipment and SDDS sound. All
auditoriums will be THX-certified.
Star's growth strategy also calls for several
existing Star theatres to be renovated and
expanded, including a five-screen addition to
the chain's John R 1 0-plex in Madison Heights,
Mich.; a five-screen expansion of the 1 6-screen
Star Gratiot in Clinton Township; a 1 0-screen
addition to the Star Southfield Entertainment
Center in Southfield, Mich.; an eight-screen
addition to the Star Taylor in Taylor, Mich.;
and an eight-screen addition to the Star Rochester
Hills in Rochester Hills, Mich. And all
existing theatres will be converted to stadiumstyle
seating, starting with the Star Taylor.
AMC TO BUY 1,700 SDDS UNITS
AMC Entertainment Inc. has expanded its
agreement with Sony Cinema Products Corp.
with a new commitment to acquire a minimum
of 1,700 Sony Dynamic Digital Sound
(SDDS) playback units, to be installed in all
upcoming AMC builds over the next four
years. To date, 1,850 AMC screens are
equipped with SDDS. AMC is also purchasing
a supply of Sony's large-screen video walls,
monitors, video cassette recorders and security
systems. "Three years ago we recognized
the potential of the SDDS technology, and we
are now very pleased to be delving further into
Sony's vast range ofcutting-edge audio, video
and communication products," says AMC
chairman and CEO Stan Durwood.
LANDMARK, INDEPENDENT FILM
CHANNEL PROMOTE INDIE FARE
The general public seems more receptive
than ever to art-house fare, as reflected by
recent hits like Fox Searchlight's "The Full
Monty," October's "The Apostle," Miramax's
"The Wings of the Dove" and "Mrs. Brown,"
and Fine Line's "The Sweet Hereafter," all of
which are nominated for Academy Awards in
different categories. Last year's Oscars also
gave specialized films their due, with four of
the five films nominated for Best Picture having
been indie films (Miramax's "The English
Patient," Gramercy's "Fargo," October's "Secrets
& Lies" and Fine Line's "Shine"; TriStar's
"Jerry Maguire" was the only nominee from a
major studio, and "The English Patient" was
the winner). To encourage this trend, arthouse
chain Landmark Theatre Corp., which
has 140 screens in 49 locations in 10 states,
has entered into a marketing partnership with
cable TV's Independent Film Channel for a
series of national and local cross-promotional
activities with the intention of increasing
awareness and appreciation of independent
film. "We believe the IFC offers a unique
opportunity to grow the art-house audience
by making independent film available to a
mass television audience," says Bert Manzari,
senior vice president of Landmark.
Indie filmmakers committed to participating
in the project include Robert Altman,
Ang Lee, John Sayles, Steven Soderbergh
and Wim Wenders. Landmark and the IFC
will co-sponsor the "Truer Than Fiction"
Award at the 1998 IFPAVest Spirit Awards,
and Landmark will also be a promotional
partner of IFC's live coverage of the 1998
Cannes Film Festival. Landmark patrons can
enter a sweepstakes to win the chance to
attend these events.
166 BUXOFFICE

. their
—
Anrit. 1W8
1fi7
DAVID TYSON LIGHTING
EXPANDS OPERATIONS
Jacksonville, Fla. -based David Tyson Lighting
(DTL), whose clients include Regal and
Crown, will be expanding its presence in the
entertainment center market. DTL recently
entered this arena by supplying product to
Regal'sFunScape entertainment centers. DTL
will also continue to focus on its core business,
the cinema industry, supplying circuits
with its line of light bulbs, including general
purpose indoor/outdoor lights, slide projector
lamps, elliptical reflectors, low voltage halogen
floods, miniature and fluorescent
lamps and reflector floods.
GCC PATRONS IN THE
MOOD FOR LOVE
In conjunction with General
Cinema's Valentine Gift Certificate
Program, a January/February promotion
recommending movie gift certificates
as Valentine's presents,
GCC asked their patrons to select
five of film's all-time most romantic
pairings from a list of 101 couples,
or write in their own favorites. Kate
Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio received
a "Titanic" response, topping the survey
with 30 percent of the votes. Meg Ryan
and Tom Hanks in "Sleepless in Seattle,"
Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in "Ghost,"
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in "When Harry
Met Sally" and Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger
in "Jerry Maguire" rounded out the top
five. Sixth through tenth place were Humphrey
Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca,"
tying with Julia Roberts and Richard
Gere in "Pretty Woman"; Debra Winger and
Richard Gere in "An Office and a Gentleman";
Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio
in "Romeo and Juliet"; All McGraw and Ryan
O'Neal in "Love Story"; and Patrick Swayze
and Jennifer Gray in "Dirty Dancing." "We
were expecting classic fi Im couples to win the
poll," comments Page Thompson, VP of marketing
for General Cinema. "But it seems
today's moviegoers relate more closely
with contemporary couples." Among the
couples receiving the fewest votes were
"Misery's" Kathy Bates and James Caan; "The
Silence of the Lambs'" Jodie Foster and Anthony
Hopkins; and "Fatal Attraction's"
Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. Favorite
dyfunctional couples included Kim
Basinger and Mickey Rourke in "9 1/2
Weeks" and Elisabeth Shue and Nicolas
Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas."
SHOWMINDER
CONVENTION CALENDAR
Remember to save the following dates:
ShoWest, March 9-12, Bally's, Las Vegas.
Call 310-657-7724...ShowCanada, May 10-14,
Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C. Call 416-969-
7057. ..Cinema Expo, June 1 5-1 9, Amsterdam.
Call 21 2-246-6460. .Australian Movie Convention,
Aug. 18-22, Gold Coast. Call 011-
61 7-33-56-5671 ...NAG Expo, Aug. 25-28,
Radisson Twin, OHando, Fla. Call 312-236-
3858...ShowEast, Oct. 1 9-22, Trump Taj Mahal,
Atlantic City. Call 21 2-246-6460...CineAsia, Dec.
8-10, International Conference Center, Hong
Kong. Call 21 2-246-6460.
Q&A
MOVIEFONE'S
ONLINE
COUNTERPART, MOVIEUNK,
•NETS' MORE CUSTOMERS
MovieLink, the online counterpart to listings service MovieFone, is helping to get
more people to the movies by allowing Internet users to simply point-and-cHck
way to the information they're seeking. MovieLink general manager Matt
Blumberg tells BOXOFFICE how this service nets the Netsurfers.
BOXOFFICE: Describe MovieLink's expansion plans and the growth rate you predict for '98.
BLUMBERG: We're expanding in a bunch of different directions. We will be adding a
tremendous number of screen [listings] this year. Right now we list
about 1 3,000 screens; by May we will list 1 8,000 or 1 9,000 screens.
BOXOFFICE: Are you still in the main 30 cities?
BLUMBERG: Currently, we're in the top 31 or 32. But with the
expansion we're going to do this spring, we'll be in 60, maybe more,
[We will also be expanding] in terms of usage. We currently have
up to three-quarters of a million users every week. We will probably
have in excess of 25 or 30 million users over the course of 1998,
which is terrific growth. It's starting to be a good percentage of
people who are going to the movies.
BOXOFFICE: What do people look for when they access MovieLink?
BLUMBERG: Someone can come in and look for "Titanic" and
find out the five places it's playing near them. They might want to look
by theatre and see everything that is playing at the closest theatre.
They might want to look by star; if they can't remember the name of
the new Adam Sandler movie, they can look up Adam Sandler's
name and find out where his movies are playing. A user session can do all of those things.
BOXOFFICE: Does MovieLink provide any other services?
BLUMBERG: One of the things that we'll start doing sometime in the next few months is
reserved seating. We will start doing that probably in time for the big summer movies and that
will be a very cool feature for the theatres where we're doing reserved seating.
BOXOFFICE: Do you know yet which markets you will be offering it in?
BLUMBERG: Currently, MovieFone is doing reserved seating at three theatres, and we're
rolling it out over the course of the year to a total of 30 to 50 theatres in New York, L.A. and
some other markets as well. It's still in its infancy but I'd expect that by the end of '98 it will be in
[several] places. It makes things much more orderly and calm. No one is stampeding in and saving
eight seats by throwing their coats over them. It's good operationally for the theatre. People have
more time to go and buy concessions because they're not worried about holding all their seats.
BOXOFFICE: What is the NATO/MPAA Parents' Guide?
BLUMBERG: It's a service that's on MovieFone and MovieLink that we jointly created with
the MPAA and NATO [to better explain ratings]. When you [access] it, it lists all the current
movies and a description of why they were given their rating. It says "Phantoms" is rated 'R'
for sci-fi, violence, gore and language. "Spice World" is rated 'PG' for some vulgarity, brief
nudity and language. So it gives parents who come into if the opportunity to find out what they
are sending their kids to. My favorite one from a couple of years ago was "Twister" which was
rated 'PG-1 3' for 'intense depictions of very bad weather.'
BOXOFFICE: Your new service, MovieMail, e-mails subscribers descriptions of some of the
newest releases. How many subscribers do you have at present?
BLUMBERG: MovieMail has started off very strong. We have close to 1 50,000 subscribers
now. In the nine or 1 weeks since the launch, we've run campaigns for seven different movies.
All different genres. We've done "The Jackal," "Flubber," "Tomorrow Never Dies," "As Good
As It Gets," "Mr. Magoo," "Phantoms" and "Star Kid." We're doing a few deals right now with
email services that are going to rapidly increase our subscriber base from 150,000 hopefully
to about half a million.
BOXOFFICE: What can you offer an exhibitor who wants to have a presence on the internet?
BLUMBERG:We create promotional pages on MovieLink to describe the individual theatres.
We do banner campaigns for theatre openings at no charge. When a circuit is opening a new
theatre, we'll put a special bulletin on the home page of MovieLink for everyone who comes
in in that market. We'll build a web site for them—what we call a Private Label MovieLink.
With MovieMail, we have a priority listing system. If we do a campaign for "Star Kid," it's going
to tell you three theatres near you that are playing "Star Kid," though there are probably six
theatres near you that are actually playing "Star Kid." So for exhibitors who are really on-board
and taking advantage of our programs, when it comes down to that whether it's how to pick
the closest three, [they'll get preferential treatment].
This year, we will do MovieMails with exhibitors so, for example, if an exhibitor is running a
special program at a theatre or at a group of theatres in a market, they can use MovieMail to
geographically target people with e-mail messages. We're also going to offer theatre express codes.
Each [participating] theatre gets a three-digit code, and if someone logs onto MovieLink's home
page and enters their favorite theatre's code it will take them right to listings for that theatre.
[MovieLink] is a great match for exhibitors. We are very focused on serving exhibition.
MovieLink is about is sending people to theatres. We certainly have other information to help
people select a movie. But we're very focused on getting people out of the door and to the
movie theatre. Lisa Osborne

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7
6
NATIONAL
NEWS
ELECTRO-CUTION
The theatrical business has outlasted all
comers, such as TV and videocassettes. But
the variety and quality of alternate delivery
systems continues to grow. According to the
latest projections ofthe Consumer Electronics
Manufacturers Association, in 1998 stereo TV
unit sales will reach 11.95 million, up from
1 1 .5 million in 1 997; 950,000 projection TVs
will be sold, a gain over 1997's 925,000;
stereo VCR decks will hit8.3 million units, up
from 7.7 million; 3.6 million satellite systems
will be sold, versus 3 million; and DVD players
will leap to 750,000, more than double
the 350,000 in 1 997, the first year tracked.
OMAHA STAKES
Nebraska-based projection and lighting
equipment outfit Ballantyne of Omaha has
acquired Orlando's Skytracker of Florida, a
seven-year-old searchlights rental agent and
part of Ballantyne's
distributor. The move is
strategy, launched last year, to unify specialty
lighting services under one roof. In 1997, it
acquired Xenotech, a California lighting supplier
for the entertainment and architectural
industries, and SkyTracker of America, a California
searchlights concern. The latest acquisition,
said Ballantyne president and CEO
John P. Wilmers, "provides Ballantyne with a
strategic East Coast marketing hubfrom which
to cross-promote other Ballantyne products,
such as Xenotech Brightlights and Strong follow
spotlights." The company's projection
division counts AMC, Cineplex Odeon and
Regal as clients, and screen-building activity
nationwide and overseas helped power
fourth-quarter net to $2.2 million, up 24 percent,
on revenue of $21.7 million; full-year
earnings rose 53 percent to $7.7 million on
revenue of $70.2 million.
IWERKINGS
Specialty- and ride-film company Iwerks
Entertainment, citing downturns in the Asian
marketplace, has reduced its staff by 1 3 percent
to 131 employees. In a statement, the
Burbank, Calif.-based concern said it would
"focus more heavily on domestic, European
and Latin American markets in an effort to
mitigate the negative effect of weak Asia-
Pacific revenues." Latest quarterly figures
show a loss of $3.5 million, vs. a loss of
$57,000, with second-quarter revenue off 40
percenfto$6 million. .. iwerks isalso the target
of an antitrust action filed by Imax Corp.
subsidiary Ridefilm Corp., claiming Sherman
and Clayton Act violations. Imax itself is the
subject of a previously filed Iwerks suit over
claimed monopwlization of technology and
film product for the giant-screen business,
though that filing hasn't affected its bottom
line: The Toronto-based concern reported
fourth-quarter net up almost 50 percent to
$7.3 million on $54.5 million In revenue.
FONE SURVEY
MovieFone's third annual American Moviegoer
Awards voting was held Feb. 6-26,
with respondents able to vote via MovieFone
andMovieLinkforoutstandingfilm("AsCood
As It Gets," "Good Will Hunting," "Men In
Black," "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "Titanic")
and for outstanding director, actor and
actress— and for "outstanding line in a
movie." Nominations for the last category
were "Get off my plane!" ("Air Force One"),
"You make me want to be a better man" ("As
Good As It Gets"), "You're shaggidelic,
baby!" ("Austin Powers: International Man of
Mystery"), "Do you like apples? I got her
number. How do you like them apples?"
("Good Will Hunting") and "You jump, I
jump, remember?" ("Titanic"). Nominations
were based on results of a MovieLink poll in
January. Look for winners in our May issue.
MAXYMIR
Along with acquiring U.S. rights from
Lions Gate Films to the comedy "Jerry and
Tom," written by Rick Cleveland, Miramax
has signed Cleveland to a multipicture
deal...!^ever one to miss a hook, Miramax
on the eve of "Four Days in September's"
late January release publicized the visa turndown
for Brazilian congressman Fernando
Gabeira by U.S. ambassador Melvin
Levitsky. Gabeira, a Green Party official,
participated in the kidnap event and wrote
the autobiographical book on which the
Bruno Barreto film is loosely based.
INDIES 1, ASIA
According to a recent KPMG Peat
Marwick survey of 1 20 AFMA member companies,
the independent film companies saw
income in 1997 rise 11 percent to $1.8
billion. Theatrical sales, which rose 13 percent,
accounted for $565 million ofthe tally,
with the European cinema market growing
31 percent to $324 million. Due to the economic
troubles that began brewing in Asia in
1997, theatrical revenue from the Asia/Pacific
market fell 1 1 percent to $1 56 million.
DIS QUIZ: PASSING
As DIS hit all-time highs on the New York
Stock Exchange on a strong quarterly earnings
report as February opened with a positive
outlook on future product, analysts forecast
Walt Disney Co. shares could rise about 1
percent higher by mid-year 1999. Disney
rejwrted an 1 8 percent rise in first-quarter net,
with earnings of $755 million ($1 .12/share)
versus $641 million (95 cents/share) for the
previous first quarter. While theme park profits
were growing 2 1 percent and broadcasting
profit rose 8 percent, the c:reative content
division—with "Flubber," "Scream 2" and
"Hercules" as key factors—rose just 5 percent.
..Meanwhile, Richmond, Calif.-based
Pixar Corp.—which is making "Toy Story 2,"
now to be a theatrica I release dat(?d for Christmas
1 999—exix^rienced a 1 2 [x-rcent drop in
annual income to $22.2 million, although
revenue rose I percent to $35.2 million.
QUIGLEY ALL OVER
HOLLYWOOD REPORT
In a bit of serendipity. Matt Damon and
Minnie Driver—ShoWest's stars of tomorrow—are
also the newest stars of tomorrow
in the 65th annual moneymaking stars poll
conducted by Quigley Publishing, of Motion
Picture Almanac fame. The main list of top 10
moneymakers ia headed by Harrison Ford,
Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith
and Tom Cruise, the only top-five repeater.
ON THE MOVE
JBL Professional has named Chuck Goodsell
director of cinema marketing. Goodsell was a
UATC division manager and AMC assistant
division manager.. .Ex-EuroDisney senior project
engineer Bruce Harrigan isvp/infrastructure
engineering and construction for Playa Capital,
contractor for DreamWorks' future home.
UNI BOONY
Universal Studios' second-quarter earnings
rose 33 percent to $199 million, with
its filmed entertainment division seeing
cash flow up 74 percent to $113 million
and revenue up 7 percent to $1 .07 billion.
Key line items, however, were not theatrical:
video sales of "The Lost World : Jurassic
Park" and full ownership of cabler USA
Networks. In discussing the numbers recently,
studio parent Seagram's CEO Edgar
Bronfman Jr. also said a "re-engineering
program" in the works in 1997 at the film
group had identified ways to decrease overhead
by $150 million. Seagram overall reported
lower numbers, with earnings
falling 83 percent to $28 million due to a
downturn in Seagram's Asian-market beverage
operations. ..Also, Seagram sold another
15 million Time Warner shares
valued at $965.6 million ($64.375/sh.), decreasing
its TW stake to 2 percent.
TIME ON ITS SIDE
Backing the recent uptick in its depressed
stock price, Time Warner reported a fourthquarter
profit of $135 million, vs. an $18
million loss. For the 1997 fiscal year, cash
flow stood at $5.3 billion, an increase of 1
percent, and net loss was $73 million (vs.
$448 million). Underperforniing sectors,
however, were music and film, the latter of
which experienced a poor year in 1 997 with
the likes of "Batman & Robin" and "Mad
City." Domestical theatrical accounted for
just seven percent of company revenue.
Former TBS holdings New Line and Castle
Rock, shellshocked in 1 996, grew cash flow
to $99 million, a gain of about 200 percent.
..Time Warner and investor partner
Boston Ventures have agreed to sell their
respective 49 percent and 5 1 percent stakes
in their Six Flags theme park group for $1 .9
billion (cash and debt) to Premier Parks.
NEWS CROP
AIiIiouhIi iis international take from "Titanic"
has yet to sail into harbor. News
Corp. reported second-quarter earnings

—
rose 9 percent to $395 million on revenue
of $3.53 billion, a gain of 14 percent. Although
its revenue rose 1 1 percent to $1 .04
billion, the Fox Filmed Entertainment division
saw earnings fall 29 percent to $60
million, in part due to no blockbuster to rival
results from the year-ago period's "Independence
Day." Analysts expect the "Titanic"
windfall to be that blockbuster, though, for
the Aussie company's second half—with
chairman Rupert Murdoch telling the Street
that News Corp. expects to a minimum profit
of $100 million on the unsinkable project,
although that includes such other windows
as pay and video. Good news for News
Corp., which footed most of the bill for the
$200+ million production, but it's also good
news for exhibitors: Murdoch projects that
film rentals on "Titanic" will be in the 48
percent-49 percent range, numbers indicative
of the film's staying power in theatres.
MOONSTONE SHINE
Prestige Entertainment is the new domestic
distribution label of Moonstone Entertainment,
which backed Alan Rudolph's
"Afterglow," a Sony Classics pickup. Turnkey
distribution outfit Legacy will handle
Prestige's theatrical bookings, the first of
which was the February release "The Only
Thrill," directed by Peter Masterson ("The
Trip to Bountiful") and reteaming "Baby
Boom's" Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard.
Moonstone's "Digging to China," Timothy
Hutton's directing debut, was at Sundance.
MUTUAL FEELING
Producers Gary Levinsohn and Mark
Gordon's Mutual Film Co. ("The Relic,"
"Hard Rain") has extended its first-look pact
with Paramount through 2001 . First called
Cloud Nine Entertainment, Mutual—in
which Germany's Tele-Munchen, Britain's
BBC, Japan's Toho-Towa/Marubeni and
France's UGC-Ph are partnered first
1
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THEATRE SCREEN FRAMES OF ALL TYPES
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signed with the studio in 1 996 but last fall
announced a $350 million co-financing
package with Universal. Upcoming Mutual
titles include Universal's "Virus" and
"Black Dog," Paramount's "A Simple Plan"
and DreamWorks' "Paulie; A Parrot's Tale."
Features:
• UL.CSA Approved
• 1/3 Horsepower
• Low Voltage Control
JUST DUCKY
Steven Brill, best known for "The Mighty
Ducks" tales, has agreed to a two-picture
writing/directing deal with Screenland Pictures
(the Ash Shah/Ada Del Deo-managed
production company that's making "Supernova"
for United Artists). Dramedy "FHigh
Roller" tells the story of a young chef with
a gambling problem; comedy "Late Last
Night" follows a disgruntled young husband
on a night on the town.
• Chain Driven
• Optional Set-Up Control Box
Response No. 85
ROBERT L. POTTS ENTERPRISES
Over 25 Years
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DEAL DOINGS
Daniel Raskov, who co-founded indie
house IRS Media, is back in business with
Golden Gate Entertainment, a Berkeley,
Calif.-based production and finance company.
Golden Gate plans to make three to
four pictures annually, with budgets ranging
between $3 million and $15 million...
DEEDLINGS: Jim Herzfeld (Buena Vista's
"Meet the Deedles") has signed a $2 million
He Film Handling Equipment
Platter Systems
Self-Programming and
201 E. Sangamon, Ste. 110
Rantoul, IL 61866
217-893-0443
Film-Feed Fail-Safe Available
Rte. 1, Box 1343
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Response No. 171
April, 1998 169

1
N

Aoril, 1998 171
INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Canadian News Notes by Shiomo Schwartzberg
LEAD STORY: BEHAVIOUR TARGETS 18-35 DEMO
It's changed its name—from Malofilm to Behaviour Distribution—and
also its mandate, according to its senior vice president and managing
director Andy Myers. "Behaviour has installed a brand-new management
team and has successfully completed its refinancing," Myers told
BoxoFFicE. "Behaviour will be placing emphasis on branding itself and, in
so doing, primarily catering to the 1 8- to 35-year-old market." That means
releasing such films as David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner," the Tim
Roth movie "Deceiver" and Yves Simoneau's "Free Mary." Myers compares
Behaviour's youthful shift to such companies as Disney or Miramax,
who have an identifiable brand of film. "Behaviour intends to do likewise."
Myers also announced that Deepa Mehta's "Fire," a Behaviour film that
has grossed C$200,000 (US$128,000), has now been declared officially
Canadian; it was originally deemed to have been lacking the necessary
"points" a film needs, based on cast, crew and other elements. (The movie
had no Canadian leads and was set in New Delhi.) "It was an arduous
process. Needless to say, we are thrilled."
FILMS ON RED SKY'S HORIZON
Newly formed Vancouver-based company Red Sky Entertainment
has announced its first slate of releases, which include award
winners as well as lesser-known films. Among Red Sky's releases
will be Takeshi Kitano' s "Fireworks (Hana-Bi)," winner of the best
film award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival, and the Belgian film
"La Promesse," which was voted the best foreign-language film by
the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Other Red Sky releases
will be Quebec director Andre Forcier's "La Comtesse de Baton
Rouge"; the children's film "Big and Hairy"; the Argentinean film
"Autumn Sun"; "American Perfekt"; and two British movies,
"Preaching to the Perverted" and "The Big Swap." Other Red Sky
pick-ups: the Turkish tllm "Hamam"; Bob Swaim's "The Climb";
"Topless Women Talk About Their Lives"; "Marcello
Mastroianni: I Remember, Yes, I Remember"; and "Suzaku," the
Camera D'Or winner at last year's Cannes film festival. Tony
Cianciotta, president of Red Sky, feels the slate is a promising one.
"I think that the films selected so far are interesting films," he told
BoxoFFiCE. "All of these films are worth the $8 and two hours in
the theatre." Cianciotta admits that some of the more obscure
films such as "Suzaku" and "Hamam" will perform "modestly,"
but he feels that others such as "Hana-Bi" and "Big and Hairy"
should do "very well."
Is Red Sky taking a risk entering the competitive Canadian
marketplace? Says Cianciotta, "If I think about what's happening
in the industry at large, [I would] never do anything." And although
Red Sky is bucking the traditional trend of distributors having their
head offices in Toronto or Montreal by locating in Vancouver,
Cianciotta isn't worried. "We are here for the sake of representing
Western filmmakers, whom we will be attached with soon. With
today's technology we can be based anywhere, so why not Vancouver?
With one phone call you can cover all of Canada. It's not
much of a problem; the mechanics are easy. Basically this is a good
start for us, for the next few months. Then we'll see what happens."
TORONTO'S NEWEST FESTS, CINEFRANCO AND
SPROCKETS, OFFER SPECIALTY FARE
Toronto is getting two more film festivals to join the many
festivals already taking place throughout the year in the city.
Cinefranco will spotlight 13 French and Quebec films, in English-subtitled
versions, for four days in late February. Among
the titles on tap are "Karmina," the award-winning Quebec
vampire movie, and popular but little seen French films such as
"Marius and Jeanette," "Pour Rire" and
"Clandestins." That choice of distinctly nonart-house
fare was deliberate, says executive
director and founder of Cinefranco Marcelle
Lean. Lean, who says the festival came about
as "a citizen's initiative," feels that the current
venues where French cinema is mostly seen in
Toronto—the Toronto International Film Festival
and the Cinematheque Ontario—don't
entirely satisfy the palate. "The Toronto film
festival selection is good but I feel it's too
intellectual. And the Cinematheque is mostly
packages of auteur films and retrospectives."
Cinefranco offers "good comedy" and "is
more accessible." Lean says she feels Toronto is
ready for an annual French film festival. "Toronto
has grown and become a cosmopolitan,
sophisticated city." Lean, who has served as
chair of the Ontario Film Review Board, was
recently appointed chair of the Ontario Film
Development Corporation, which facilitates
filming in the city and, before government funding freezes, funded
local productions as well.
Following on the heels of Cinefranco is Sprockets, the children's
film festival, organized by the Toronto International Film Festival
and which will be unveiled in April. A school portion, for kids
aged eight to 14, and a public portion, for four- to eight-yearolds,
will be shown, as well as eight full-length features, rated
for appropriate ages.
QUEBEC DENIES ALLIANCE DISTRIBUTION CONTROL
The Quebec provincial government has denied Alliance's bid to
retain distribution control in the province, after the company lost
its license when it was determined that its head office was no longer
in Quebec. (See Northern Exposure, February 1998). The company
will now have to distribute its films—as it has done since Christmas—through
a local Quebec distributor. No one from Alliance
was available for comment.
ASTRAL EXEC HARVEY GREENBERG PASSES AWAY
Harvey Greenberg, a corporate vice president and director of
Astral Communications Inc., one of the largest Canadian communication
companies, has passed away at the age of 61 in
Montreal, Quebec.
Astral was until a few years ago one of the most active Canadian
film distributors; recently, the company has gotten back into distribution
under the name Motion International, which is run by
Greenberg' s nephew, Stephen.
Greenberg' s death follows that of brother Harold Greenberg,
who died in 1996. Two brothers, Sidney and Ian, remain from the
four who founded the company, which dates back to the early
'60s when it began as a photo retail chain. Astral currently owns
pay specialty services, such as the premiere movie channel The
Movie Network, as well as technical services, including video
cassette distribution.
'
DO YOU HAVE AN EXHIBITION-RELATED NEWS
ITEM ABOUT THE CANADIAN MARKET?
CONTACT SHLOMO SCHWARTZBERG IN CARE OF
OUR CANADIAN NEWS BUREAU AT: 416-638-6402„
OR FAX: 416-324-8668 |

177 Rr> vni-fir-r
INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
EUROVIEWS
European News Notes by Kim Williamson
UIP REUP: RIP?
BRUSSELS—United International Pictures' 1 993 five-year renewal
request for exemption from the European Union's competition
rules is finally drawing action by the European
Commission, although not—at least yet—to UIP's favor. A
preliminary Statement of Objections by the EC says the threepartner
arrangement among MGM, Paramount and Universal
carries the "potential for restrictive effect." UIP's first request
for exemption was made in 1982 but not granted until 1989.
UIP had until the end of March to reply. ..Doing business as
usual, UIP has bought U.K. rights to the Film Consortium's
debut slate, including "Hideous Kinky" with Kate Winslet and
"The Lost Son" with Daniel Auteuil. The Film Consortium,
which eventually will self-handle, originally was partnered
with Carlton Film Distributors, which exited the U.K. last fall.
FRENCH KISS FOR WARNER
PARIS—City of Lights-based entertainment giant Canal Plus
and Hollywood s Warner Bros, have signed a five-year co-financing
agreement that could generate 25 films with average budgets
of $40 million. The joint venture will be headed by prominent
Eroducer Steven D. Reuther, former head of Paramount-based
)ouglas/Reuther Prods, and before that production president at
Warner-based New Regency. The first film to appear under the
Canal PlusAVamer arrangement will be "Message in a Bottle,"
starring Kevin Costner and produced by his Tig Prods, and Denise
Di Novi's Di Novi Pictures. The move represents the latest step
overseas for Warner, which recently signed a five-year co-production/distribution
pact with Australia's Village Roadshow (see our
Feb. '98 issue Pacific Overtures) involving at least 20 pictures.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
LONDON—How well is British filmmaking of the independent
variety doing? Cinema Completions International, one of
America's key completion bond outfits (which insure independent
productions), now has an office at Pinewood. CCI follows competitors
Film Finances and International Film Guarantors into the
market. Although not as large as Film Finances, the four-year-old
CCI is parented by U.S. insurance giants CNA and Aon.
WARNER VILLAGE HEFTS PORT
LONDON—Portsmouth, England, will gain a new 14-screen
multiplex when Warner Village Cinemas, the joint venture between
Warner Bros. International Theatres and Village Roadshow International,
opens the 3,000-seat site in March 2()00. The theatre will
be part of a 33-acre retail/entertainment/hotel/casino waterfront
developmen undertaken by Gunwharf Quays owners Berkeley
Group and Lordland Holdings. Warner Village expects to spend 10
million pounds (US$16.4 million) on the project.
ALLSTER'DUP
LONDON—South Africa has come to America, with the entry
of "Palja.s" as the first-ever South African film to contend for a
foreign-language Oscar. But it's also coming to Europe, in the form
of South Africa exhibition leader Ster-Kinekor, whose Ster-Kinekor
Europe wing ha.s set another 1 3 sites in its previously announced
$150 million, 30-plex push into Europe. Of the 20 total sites confirmed,
nine are in Poland (including new sites in Katowice,
Szczecin and Warsaw), five in the U.K. and Ireland (with a new 2- 1
or I4-screener now to bow in Cardiff, Wales, in fall 1999, and a
second plex for Dublin), three in Greece, two in Hungary and
one in the Czech Republic. More than half ($80.5 million) of
Ster-Kinekor's investment will go to its Isles push; it is
joint-venturing in Greece with local chain Digital Multiplex.
POLY HAS ITS CRACKERS
HILVERSUM—Dutch entertainment giant
Polygram,
having undergone two years of restructuring, reported
pleasing year-end results: revenue up 17 percent to 11.1
billion guilders (USS5.46 billion) and profit up 1 1 percent
to 1.2 billion guilders (US$591 million). The music wing
showed solid results across the board, but the film group,
despite a net gain of 16 percent to $833,000, inked a loss
of $53.4 million, primarily due to startup costs associated
with the stateside launch of its distribution arm and the
$225 milhon buy of CDR's library.
MERGER SCANDI-MANIA
OSLO—Even as chain gangs Regal. United Artists Theatre
Circuit and Act III on the one hand, and Loews/Sony and Cineplex
Odeon on the other, are set to merge stateside, Norway's Shibsted
and Danish/Swedish concern Sandrews-Metronome are looking to
become one. In the wake of a previously announced move by Buena
Vista International (whose new BVI Finland launched in February
made "A Summer by the
with "Starship Troopers" and locally
River") and Columbia-Egmont to create a pan-Nordic operation,
the new Sandrews-Metronome, to be run by Sandrews president
Clas Olofsson, would handle distribution and exhibition outlets in
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
HANOI SCANDI
COPENHAGEN—^Taking a name that would have given a
galore of smiles to Goldfinger and Bond, Pussy Power—a new
subsidiary of Danish film and TV company Zentropa—will make
erotic films directed by respected homeland helmers. although they
might choose a nom de plume (maybe Mr. Power?). Much-lauded
filmmaker Lars von Trier ("The Kingdom") and producers Peter
Aalbaek Jensen, lb Tardini and Vibeke Windeloev own Zentropa;
one-time porn actress and current Zentropa executive Lene
Boerglum will run the XXX subsidiary.
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL "LIFE"
ROME—A iragicomic change of pace from pratfall filmmaker
Robert Benigni, Life Is Beautiful, ' is nominated for six best
Nastri d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) honors, including film, stoiy.
script, actor (Benigni) and supporting actor (Giustino Durano). At
the 53rd annual event, which is set for March 28 and in which the
country's movie journalists award Italy's oldest film honors.
Benigni's Worid War Il-set film (which had grossed $36 million
within the first month after its Christmas period release) will face
the most competition for most wins from the work of another
comedian, Roberta Torre's Mafia musical, "Tano da Morire,"
another six-nomination entry, although in only one category
(story) does it directly compete with "Life Is Beautiful."
00 YOU HAVE AN EXHIBITION OR DISTRIBUTION
NEWS ITEM CONCERNING THE EUROPEAN MARKET?
CONTACT BOXOFFICE IN HOLLYWOOD AT
213-465-1186, OR FAX 213-465-5049, OR
E-MAIL US AT boxoffice@earthlmk.net.

ADril. 1998 173
CHEQUE-Y GORI
ROME—Italian producer/distributor/
exhibitor giant Cecchi Gori has reportedly
landed about 530 billion lira (US$294 million)
in financing via seven-year securities
placed by Merrill Lynch and backed by part
of its film library. Moneys will be used to
support broadcast wing TMC, which might
have lost up to 1 00 billion lira in the last two
years, and to back new production and distribution
agreements with U.S. majors;
Finmavi, the holding company for Cecchi
Gori's movie-related activities, recently reported
a 5.7 billion lira loss (US$27.7 million)
on revenue of 324 billion lira.
"TITANIC" RISING
PRAGUE—Czech ticket prices floated
upward when "Titanic" bowed in February,
priced at 120 crowns (US$3.40). A year
ago, "Evita" introduced the 100-crown
(US$2.90) ticket to Prague moviegoers.
Stub charges rose 30 percent in 1997; capital
houses average 80 to 90 crowns per
ticket, versus 50 outside. ..The story was the
same in Poland, where the James Cameron
film opened on 55 screens charging up to
20 zlotys (US$5.75). Average Warsaw
ticket prices are 10 zlotys, with a top of 12.
ON THE MOVE
RETURN OF THE NATIVE: Spanish
film sales pro Kevin Williams—who
headed sales at Sogepag Intl. from its birth
in 1992 until last year, when he established
Madrid-based Kevin Williams Associates—has
signed a consultancy pact with
Sogepaq under which he will handle all
sales of the company's new and catalog
product...RAY AWEIGH: Ray Smith, former
head of UCl's European operations,
has exited to become managing director of
Aussie concern Hoyts' European arm.
EUROBRIEFS...
EU SAYS PU: The European Union has
made a formal complaint against Canada,
claiming that country's poUcy breaks freetrade
rules of the World Trade Organization
in its refusal to allow Netherlands-based Polygram
to distribute its films up north. Except
for films in which a non-Canadian distributor
has all or most rights, movies in Canada must
be handled by local companies. The policy,
however, grandfathers Hollywood studios
doing business locally before the import policy
was estabUshed back in 1988...POLY
WANTS: Following its launch of a Down
Under distribution operation last year, Polygram
was set to open its Italian distribution
operation March 1 . PFE Italia will be run by
Filippo Roviglioni, a longtime distribution
manager for Cecchi Gori, Buena Vista Ind.,
Italia and UIP Italia...SPAIN, PLAIN: Continuing
an Iberian Strategy discussed with
BOXOFFICE back in July 1994, AMC has
set another megaplex for Madrid. It's not
alone, as French exhibitor UGC recently
opened there, and city government has allocated
$7 million to help multiplex singlescreeners.
Auds for local productions are up;
latest winner is Alejandro Amenabar's
"Abre Los Ojos" ("Open Your Eyes"),
which in its first month of release grossed
815 pesetas (US$5.3 million) from 1.5 million
patrons, aided by an 87-screen opening
and a second-weekend screen count of 127.
1997: THE YEAR THAT WAS
we reported in recent EuroViews, exhibitors in a number of European
Ascountries did well in 1997, both in overall ticket numbers and in
admissions for locally made product. Mostly healthy numbers continue
to come in. Below, we provide a further roundup of last year's happy results.
EUOK
LONDON—The European Audiovisual Observatory reports that 1997 was
the best year for Europe's exhibition business in more than a decade. According
to the group's data, the 1 5 EU nations generated 742 million ticket sales,
an increase of almost six percent over the previous year's figure. Spain and
Germany (see our March 1 998 issue EuroViews) led the way with double-digit
increases; the United Kingdom and Italy saw gains of about 4.4 percent.
THE REIGN IN DANE
COPENHAGEN—The Danish Film Institute reports an estimated 2.3 million
to 2.4 million admissions to locally made films at Denmark moviehouses in
1997, about 22 percent of the total ticket sales of 10.2 million to 10.3 million.
Overall, that's a third season of growth for the exhibition industry, which in
1 996 sold 9.9 million tickets ancfin 1 995 sold 8 million tickets.
M
VITAL ITAL
ROME—The latest figures from national authors rights group SIAE shows
that, for Italy's nine-month 1996-97 season, ticket sales (in part due to 500
screens opening in 1 997) grew 8 percent to 859 billion lire (US$505 million),
with most of the growth due not to price hikes but to real audience growth,
as admissions rose 6 percent to 92 million. Italian-made productions drew
24.7 percent of all ticketbuyers, up 1 3.8 percent over 1995-96 figures.. .However,
1997 figures of national producers group ANICA show a production
slump, with 87 (vs. 1996's 99) films being completed and submitted for
ratings. Local-production spending also fell to 338 billion lire (US$198 million),
the first time in a decade the number has been below US$200 million.
ROOTIN' TEUTON II
BERLIN—To go with our figures last month, here are further German
numbers, from the Berlin-based federal subsidy board Film Foerderungs
Anstalt: German-film market share was 17.3 percent, vs. 1996's 16.2 percent
and 1995's 9.4 percent; total boxoffice was a record DM1.47 billion
(US$816 million), a rise of 1 1 .75 percent; admissions stood at 143 million,
the second-best result in the past three decades, aided by screen count
growth to 4,284 (from 4, 070). ..Meanwhile, apparently equally happy with
moviema/c/ng, German investors reportedly had oversubscribed by at least
DM20 million a DM80 million Sony Pictures Entertainment off-balance
sheet fund established by Commerzbank's CFB Commerz Fonds.
GALLICS GAULED
PARIS— France's exhibition association FNCF reports that admissions^
numbering 148 million, grew 8.5 percent in 1997. Two factors figuring into
the rise were the growth in moviehouses—the market added 200 screens
during the year-—and the popularity of English-language (if mostly non-
Hollywood) fare like "Bean" (which drew three million patrons in 1997) and
"The Full Monty" (2.2 million). Although American studio offerings, which
held steady with a 60 percent share, remained untouched by the growing
popularity of European films (which drew 9 percent of all crowds), Gallic
entries' share fell six percentage points to 31 percent. Will the roll continue?
French TV regulator Conseil de I'Audiovisuel has approved a Canal Plus/film
trade groups BLIC and I'ARP agreement to allow non-blockbuster films to
show on TV during Friday prime-time hours; previous exhibitor-friendly rules
blacked out Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
HUNGARY FOR THOSE GOOD THINGS, BABY
BUDAPEST—With the multiplex era having reached Hungary to help power
ticket sales, 1 997 boxoffice in the country reached the 5 billion forints (US$243
million) mark, versus 2.95 billion forints in 1 996, and admissions hit 7.6 million,
a gain of 2.6 million over 1 996 numbers. Tickets in Budapest average 420 forints
(US$2.10) and outside the capital 250 forints; Intercom, 70 percent owned by
former Cinergi head Andy Vajna, controls 55 percent of the country's distribution
and is opening a second multiplex, a 12-screener, in Budapest in September.
(Intercom is also partnered with Village Roadshow in a capital multiplex.)
I

174 BOXOFFICK
INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
PACIFIC OVERTURES
Notes From the Pacific Rim by Kim Williamson
"*»—««««»»'^-'W-
SHOCK AT SHOCHIKU
»«
•
-*^ "
TOKYO—Tom Okuyama, president and CEO of Shochiku since 1991 and
recent CineAsia lifetime achievement honoree, and senior managing director
Kazuyoshi Okuyama (his 43-year-oid son), producer of Miramax's coming
"Sonatine" and Cannes Palme d'Or honoree "The Eel," have been dismissed
from their posts by the company's board of directors. A damaging effect on
the bottom line of the entertainment giant (Japan's largest) and tneir "monopolistic"
control and "reckless" corporate decision-making were the cited
reasons. Despite that second cause, the grandson of the co-founder of the
104-year-old Shochiku has been promoted to president from his executive
vice presidency; in his first official act, Nobuyosni Ohtani said the Okuyamas
could not be left "unattended" because tney "made frequent personnel
changes and rampant investments that resulted in sluggish earnings in the film
division." In 1997, Shochiku took in 3.4 billion yen (US$27 million) in film
earnings, down 30 percent over what were considered poor results in 1 996.
(Meanwhile, "Princess Mononoke"-powered competitor Toho rang in a company
and country record 19.3 billion yen [US$154 million] in film revenue,
an 81 percent climb, and the other major, Toei, saw its take rise 68 percent
to 8 billion yen [US$64 million].) In the 1990s, Shochiku also added satellite
TV, theme parks, foreign co-production and arthouse filmmaking (the last
likeliest to be subject to axing) to its corporate agenda; along with overseeing
Shochiku Multiplex Theatres, the country's second-largest circuit, the elder
Okuyama, 74, was responsible for the Shochiku Cinemark Theatres joint
venture with Cinemark, in which the Japanese company made a 3 billion yen
(US$24 million) investment. As reported in our July 1997 article, the first
multiplex of SCT—the seven-screen MOVIX Rokko—opened in March 1997
in Kobe. Effects of the corporate tumult on SCT's plans to build 100 screens
in Japan by the year 2000 are not yet known, according to participants.
MALAYS NETTING TICKET SALES
KUALA LUMPUR—NETcard Corp.
has launched on onUne movie ticketing service
at Golden Screen Cinemas' Klang Valley
multiplexes in Malaysia. Under the
initial NETicket program in place at
Bangsar, Cheras Leisure, Klang Parade and
Kajang, 20 prime seats are reserved for sale
to NETcard patrons up to three days in
advance. Golden Screen is a 60/40 partnership
between merged circuits Cathay Cinemas
and Golden Communications (owned
by Hong Kong-based Golden Harvest) and
property developer Pedis Plantations.
SPEED 3
SYDNEY—Fox Studios Australia hopes
to sf)eed development of the entertainment
area near its Syaney studio via a 50/50 joint
venture with property management and
construction concern Lend Lease Development.
As noted in our Feb. 1998 issue's
Pacific Overtures, the complex—set to
open in late 1999—will include a Hoyts
16-screener, restaurants and retail stores.
DISNEY DOWN UNDER
SYDNEY—Buena Vista International,
which since 1993 had partnered with Village
Roadshow for distribution, next January will
go solo in the Australian and New Zealand
markets, with offices in Melbourne and Auckland.
Disney product represented about 30
percent of Roadshow Distributors' annual
lineup, but its recent major agreement with
Warner Bros. (Feb. '98 issue) could help fill
the gap. Roadshow also handles New Line
and Mandalay titles and indie pickups.
PACIFIC RIMSHOTS...
Bemie Goldmann, former senior vice
president of production for Disney's Hollywood
Pictures label, has been named president
of production for Village Roadshow
Pictures, which has a 20+ picture co-financing/
distribution deal with Warner Bros. (Feb.
issue). ..AMC's multiplex entry into the closeted
Japanese market passed first grade: In
1997, its first full calendar year, the Canal
City 13 in Fukuoka sold almost 1 .4 million
tickets for 2 billion yen (US$16 million).
DO YOU HAVE AN EXHIBITION OR DISTRIBUTION NEWS ITEM
CONCERNING THE AUSTRALIAN OR ASIAN MARKETS?
CONTACT BOXOFFICE IN HOLLYWOOD AT 213-465-1186, OR
FAX 213-465-5049, OR E-MAIL US AT boxofflce@earthllnk.net.
iSlMBieiBg g"'
S^Si
n 1
A GRAND
CONFLUENCE
On the Intersection of Storytellers
from East and West
by Jack Valenti, chairman and
chief executive officer, MPAA
When
I
CineAsia '97 address
incredible travels
700 years ago to
faraway places
with strangesounding
names,
in a part of the
hardly
was much younger, I
read a book in which a latterday
Herodotus recounts his
world
known to the inhabitants
of
Western Europe.
Marco Polo, a Venetian-born
tradesman, was this traveler's name.
His book was, without argument, one
of the most important and influential
books ever written. He penetrated a
thick veil blocking the view from
West to East. He described cultures
far older than any in Europe. He
illuminated the lands of China, Thailand,
Japan, Java, Vietnam, Sri Lanka,
Tibet, India and Burma. And in Europeans
he kindled a vast curiosity mingled
with excitement. Christopher
Columbus was so fascinated by
Marco Polo that he was roused to sail
the unmapped ocean seas to find another
route to those mysterious and
alluring civilizations described by the
Italian adventurer.
Legend insists that Marco Polo
brought back knowledge of gunpowder
and pasta, the former the inciter
of so much violence, and the latter of
so much pleasure. But if he did nothing
else he revealed a central truth
that endures to this day. Marco Polo
confirmed that the world was populated
by different creeds, languages,
landscapes and religious opinions,
and that no longer could any country,
any culture, any combination of
societies certify itself as the fountainhead
of all knowledge and wisdom.

I
—
.
come
II
And so I come before you today, the
grandson of Italian immigrants to the
United States, wistfully claiming kinship
with the Great Traveler. And why
not? I come here today to reinforce
what my "kinsman from Venice" disclosed,
that Asia in the last years of the
13th century was the seedbed of durable
religions and great cultures
from which has sprung peoples of
creative energy and vision in the beginning
years of the 21 st century.
I have been privileged to spend the
past 30 years in one of life's most beguiling
environments: the movie/telefvision
industry. Marco Polo's revelations
about now countries and cultures
connect one to the other are
linked to the grammar and ambiance
of the film world, seven centuries later.
truly believe that creative storytelling,
which is what we do in films and television,
is the same throughout the
world. Storytelling is the recounting of
the human condition, the reciting of
the old verities of love and romance,
duty, honor, pity, pride, compassion,
sacrifice, laughter, as well as duplicity,
vengeance, conflict, and finally resolution.
All those emotions are created
on film by Asians, Europeans, Latin
Americans, Africans, and those of us in
the Northern Hemisphere, because we
are all storytellers. In our own way,
each of us reflects the peculiarities and
the particulars of the culture that has
shaped our aims and from which we
have absorbed our values.
You in Asia are riding a rising curve
into the future. Yes, there may be temporary
turndowns and setbacks, some
occurring even as we meet, but the
velocity of Asian ingenuity and energy
will not be baffled or turned bacK.
Most especially, the great transformation
in Asia over the past decade or so
was not the result ot force of arms or
mere coincidence. It was, simply, the
product of hard work, relentless commitment,
total focus on the future, and
creative imagination carried to the
highest point to which it can aspire.
Wnich is why no temporary lacerations
will for long affect or diminish
Asia's ambitions and Asia's destiny.
Which is why I bring you today the
movie message I have carried to other
parts of this globe: cooperation and
collaboration; to join together in creative
and investment adventures. That
lis the banner under which we can all
'gather, secure in the knowledge it is
the right way to mutual success in the
kinetic world of film and television.
The movie theatre helps define our
future. Attractive, comfortable, stateof-the-art
theatres with large screens
tand digital sound entice customers
lout of their homes. Wherever the theatre
population enlarges, the cinema
years will be cheerful.
• Japan currently has 1,828 movie
screens, with predictions of 2,200
within the next five years.
• Australia had 900 screens five
years ago. Today, that number is
1,200, almost all of which are in
multiplexes. In the next five years,
Australia's count is aimed at 1 ,850.
• Singapore has gone from 60
screens five years ago to 1 42, and they
are all running at full house capacity.
• Korea today has 630 screens, with
predictions of 700 or more in 2000.
• Taiwan is populated by 595
screens, with forecasts of 750 in the
next five years.
• Malaysia now has 360 screens,
expected to double to 650 by 2001
• Thailand had 400 screens just a
couple of years ago. It is now up to
500, and another 200 are planned for
the next several years.
It is my hope tnat we can join with
partners throughout Asia, and especially
in China, investing in the building
of modern cinema auditoriums, to
accommodate the growing number of
Asian citizens who are eager to attend
theatres that are capable of delivering
an epic viewing experience they cannot
duplicate in their homes.
Let me speak frankly. We in America
believe that freedom of filmmakers
to tell their stories as they choose to
tell them and freedom of access to
each other's territory are the mystic
linkage that produces thriving, busy,
prospering cinema industries. Yes, it is
true that some movies cause others to
be dismayed or annoyed. That is true
in my own country as it may be in
yours. Americans don't all agree on
individual American films. Nonetheless,
we in America do not choose to
impose our views on others if their
choices are different from ours. But I
do not for one moment believe any
movie can disrupt or collapse a culture
richly fertilized by several thousand
years of historical glory. What is
best is not to let a few specific films
interrupt the long-range beneficial interests
of all of us.
You may ask, "What is our aim?" It
is to cooperate with you, collaborate
with you, to join together in creative
and investment adventures in cinema
and television. That is the banner
under which we can all gather, and in
that partnership we can leap higher
than either of us thought possible.
Anything less is to unite in delusion,
which is neither heroic nor useful.
Never forget that the allure of movies
and television to peoples of all nations
is fueled by a spacious human
need. People work hard, raise their
families, obey their nation's laws and
participate in their communities. But
they also want to be entertained, to be
engaged and enthralled by the magic
of storytelling. Whether in a theatre or
enticed by home television, most people
find it exciting to be transported to
places they have never known, to hear
and watch what makes them laugh or
cry or be held insuspense. Asians have
in front of them a grand visual table set
with choices they never had before.
The numbers are quite amazing. TV
homes in Asia will rise to a half-billion
by the year 2000. Cable will be operating
in 1 20 million homes by 2000. Satelnte-to-home
delivery of programs has
reached more than 60 million homes.
Moreover, we at the MPA are eager
to combine with our compatriots in
Asia to combat piracy, the wanton theft
of intellectual property belonging to
Asian creators as well as Americans.
Piracy is a deadly cancer squirming inside
the belly of the movie business.
This thievery affects local industries just
as much if not more than the LJ.S. creative
producers. Pirates are no respecters
ot nationality or culture. Pirates are
very obliging. They steal from everyone.
That is why, deep in the southwest
Pacific, from Australia and New Zealand
north to the mainland and islands
of Asia, to the very heart of the Asian
land mass, the American industry is
working in intimate partnership with
more than a dozen Asian countries to
make piracy a high-risk, low-reward
enterprise. Each day we have to be vigilant
because like virtue we are every
day besieged. Which is why we can
never sleep or hesitate, else Asians and
Americans will bear witness to the slow
undoing of our audiovisual world.
tell you, and
On behalf of the MPA, I
those who will somehow learn of
all
these words today, that we are ready
to merge our efforts with others in
every part of this world so that we can
mingle expertise and resources. I have
clear that the war on piracy is
made it
the number one priority of the MPA. I
have clanged the piracy alarm bell
within my own organization. I have
told them ! want to hear the human
equivalentof a sonic boom, urging my
associates to go to the firewall, stretching
themselves at the highest velocity
to the outer limits of human capacity.
We have no choice. Adequate effort is
not enough. We have to do better.
I come here as one who is an admirer
of the Asian spirit, which has
lifted the quality of life in this part of
the world. I here as one who
prizes the growing reservoir of talented
Asian actors, directors, writers,
producers and craftsmen whose work
prospers and magnifies. I come here
as one who passionately bel ieves that,
no matter how different our cultures
and backgrounds, we are bound by
common desires and inspirations. I
come here as one who is most attached
to that which joins us rather
than that which divides us.
So it all comes full circle. The world
in the 21 St century is now being introduced
to what Marco Polo was
amazed to discover in the 1 3th. It is
here in Asia that a grand confluence
is taking place, the intersection of storytellers
from West and East._We will
all be the better for it.
April, 1998 175

176 (R-22) BuxoFFiCE
—
Do,
Married
REVIEWS
April 1998
DAY AND DATE: April 10
WITHOUT LIMITS ••••
Starring Billy Criidiip, Donald SutherlandandMonica
Potter. Directed by Robert
Towne. Producedby Tom Cruise andPaula
Wagner. Written by Robert TowneandKenny
Moore. A Warner release. Drama. Rated
PG-13 for brief sexual material and brief
strong language. Running time: 117 min.
Steve Pretontaine (portrayed here
by "Inventing the Abbotts'" Billy
Crudup) was one of those rare individuals
who has a profound effect on the
lives of everyone around him. The
gutsy long-distance runner had it ail:
charm, good looks, women and every
American record between 2,000 and
10,000 meters. Tragically, Pre died in
a car crash in 1975 at age 24. At his
death, he was the most popular track
athlete in the world.
"Without Limits" looks at the
behind the athlete and poignantly portrays
Pre's relationships with the two people
who meant the most to him—his
coach Bill Bowerman ("Fallen's" Donald
Sutherland) and his girlfriend Mary
Marckx ("Con Air's" Monica Potter). This
movie does a great job of capturing the
essence of Pre and the excitement of the
races on which he left his indelible mark.
Pre did nothing by half measures; he gave
every race his all. Extremely self-confident
and a touch egotistical. Pre makes a
powerful role model. Co-written by
Kenny Moore, a champion runner and
one of Pre's closest friends, and produced
with the cooperation of both Bowerman
and Marckx, "Without Limits" is a vibrant,
realistic account of the life of a
remarkable young man. Lisa Osborne
Billy Crudup races to victory as Steve Prefontaine in Warner's "Without Limits."
•*••• OUTSTANDING
•••• VERY GOOD
••• GOOD
•• FAIR
• POOR
(no stars) BOMB
SUNDANCE
(beginning on page R-23)
Beautopia, Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss,
Buffalo 66, The Castle, Classified X, Conceiving
Ada, Dead Man's Curve, Decline of
Western Civilization III, The Farm: Angola
USA, Frat House, Girls' Night, How to Mal

I
SUNDANCE REVIEWS
WIDE-EYED IN WONDERLAND
Romance is Up, Documentaries are Down
at Sundance '98 by Ray Greene
seems that every year is a transitional
Itone for the Sundance Film Festival.
Procedurally, the growing pains that
were still so apparent only a year ago appear
to have been put behind America 's premiere
showcase for independent films. Thanks to
a drastic reimagining offestival geography,
the '98 event was well run from top to
bottom, and while festgoers who waited till
the last minute to buy their ticket packages
could still be heard grumbling about being
shut out ofthe most sought after screenings,
the consensus was that, for the first time in
years, a bit ofpatience and a small amount
ofadvance work made itpossibleforanyone
in attendance to take in a solid sampling of
the characteristically vast slate.
In contrast to the blood and thunder
that typified festival selections in the aftermath
of the Quentin Tarantino phenomenon
a few years back, this year's
Sundance put a kinder, gentler face on
indie product. Romantic comedies were
"in, " as Miramax Films ' acquisition of
writer-director Brad Anderson's "Next
Stop Wonderland" for a headline-making
$6 million made clear early in the
game. Though variable in quality, the
presence in and out of competition of
such titles as "Once We Were Strangers, ''
"Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss," "The
Misadventures of Margaret." "How to
Make the Cruelest Month, " "Relax... It 's
Just Sex" and "Girl's Night" demonstrated
that filmmakers from across the
indie spectrum are findingfertile ground
for story material in matters of the heart.
The documentary selections— usually
a reliable haven of solid, politically committed
and offbeat product— were somewhat
weaker than usual in '98. The
Sundance preference for what one attending
documentarian called the "meine-me"
approach to the genre was
represented in force; first person narration
appeared in both appropriate ("Frat
House") and inappropriate ("Beautopia")
contexts. But navel gazing was the
least oftheproblems within the documentary
category, which too often showcased
shallow, celebrity driven puff pieces
("Wild Man Blues," "Lou Reed: Rock
and Roll Heart," "Beautopia") or staid,
leftist message movies ("The Farm,"
"Out ofthe Past")— films which played it
safe and offered little in the way of enlightenment
for any viewer who didn 't
already worship the personalities profiled,
or believe in the causes taken up.
Those who like to use Sundance as a
barometerfor negative trends in the indie
marketplace could focus on some of the
more expensive purchase prices doled out
for movies like "Wonderland" and the
pleasant Australian comedy "The Castle,
" which also sold to Miramax for approximately
$6 million. Miramax, as
usual, bestrode Sundance like an indie
Colossus, although it was left to less established
companies like Triinark (which
picked up the Dramatic Competition winner
"Slam" for $2.5 million) and Live
Entertainment (which spent $1 million
for Darren Aronofsky 's "Pi, " arguably
Billy Brown (Gallo), a newly released
ex-con, has pulled off the loopy if impressthe
most daring narrative on offer) to acquire
the edgier and more risk-takingfare.
Byfestival's end, the real question was
whether the focus of the Sundance Film
Festival can remain on the presentation
of undiscovered talent. The bigger indie
film companies have woken up to the
massive publicity opportunity represented
by the enormous amount ofpress
coverage Sundance generates, and the
result was a dramatic increase in the number
of high profile "premieres" of already
acquired films and in-house productions
presented by companies like Miramax,
October and Sony Pictures Classics.
If Sundance's organizers wish to engage
in somepost-festival soul searching,
they may want to ask themselves how
much longer this tendency can be allowed
to proceed unchecked before the Sundance
Film Festival becomes a more elite
and narrowly focused bastard stepchild to
the American Film Market Wliile that may
not be an entirely bad thing to be, it does
veer away considerablyfrom the Sundance
mission statement, which is to celebrate
voices that might otherwise go unheard.
But given the Sundance Film Festival's
impressive track record when it comes to
identifying and solving the majorproblems
that accrue to any enterprise caught up in
what can only be described as explosive
growth, it would take a truly pathological
doomsayer to feel anything but optimism
about the future of this unique and vital
exercise in the promotion and recognition
ofAmerican independentfilm.
BUFFALO '66 ^••1/2
Starring Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci
and Ben Gazzara. Directed by Vincent
Gallo. Written by Vincent Gallo and Alison
Bagnall. Produced by Chris Hanley. A
Lion 's Gate release. Drama. Not yet rated.
Running time: IlOmin. Sundance screening
category: Dramatic Competition.
Opens 6/19.
John Cassevetes is one of those
filmmakers who looks a lot easier to imitate
than he actually is. Take, for example, his
son Nick's romantic comedy "She's So
Lovely" from just last year. Working from
a screenplay authored by his father, utilizing
a stellar cast of name actors clearly
dedicated to the cause of resurrecting the
hardcore, semi-improvised, fascinatingly
raw style of prime Cassavetes' dramedies like
"Husbands," "Faces" and "Shadows,"
Cassavetes the Younger came up with...
bupkus. Zilch. Nada. A talented cast, stammering
their lines in a lame attempt to make
it sound Uke they'd just thought up the words
themselves. As if tfiat was all there was to it.
It isn't, of course. The bane of "She's So
Lovely" was that you could almost hear the
offscreen ringing of cell phones and the
distant roar of private jets calling its slumming
superstar ensemble away to the more
lucrative paydays awaiting them as soon as
they'd gotten their little act of homage out
of the way. What the best of John
Cassavetes' films demanded of their casts
was something that's all too exceptional in
the current high stakes production environment:
absolute and uncompromised commitment,
which translated onscreen into a
world that felt uncommonly real.
Thankfully, it's a concept actor Vincent
Gallo utterly understands. While his writing/directing
debut "Buffalo '66" isn't necessarily
at the level of the very best of the
filmmaker whose movies so clearly inspired
it, Gallo does a handsome job of
creating a world and a set of characters that
feel wholly authentic, and that in itself is a
rare enough treat.
ive stunt of convincing his family he's been
out of town with his beloved wife Wendy
for the last five years. Not that the eyes of
Mom (Anjelica Huston) and Dad
(Cassavetes stalwart Ben Gazzara) are that
hard to pull the wool over; it's clear from
the moment we meet them that Billy is
barely an accessory to their noisy, TV-saturated
working class lives.
Still, Billy has appearances to keep up,
which is why he kidnaps Layla (Christina
Ricci) to play-act the role of his non-existent
wife. Unfortunately for him, some undisclosed
wound in Layla' s psyche causes
her to fall for Billy almost immediately, and
once the charade is over, she's a lot harder
to get rid of than he anticipated. It's an
important complication, because Billy has
big plans: He's out to assassinate the former
Buffalo Bills football player whose endzone
fumble caused him to lose ten grand
to a mob loanshark—the event which put
him behind bars.
It's almost amazing how many of the
same strengths and weaknesses of a mid-
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range Cassavetes movie are on display in
"Buffalo '66." As Billy, Gallo is fascinatingly
motor-mouthed, though a bit hectoring
at times—like many of Cassavetes'
protagonists. Ricci's Layla, while beautifully
depicted by this increasingly assured
young actress, remains a bit cryptic in her
motivations — just as many of the women in
Cassavetes' films did. There's even a sudden
swivel into unrepentant sentimentalism
at the end of the film, which was a side of
Cassavetes' creative process that loomed
large, though it often went unremarked.
Gallo' s film is no mere act of channeling
the departed spirit of an indie film giant,
however. Visually and editorially deft and
sometimes more than that, acute in its use
of real locations and dialogue that matches
the rhythms of common speech, and attuned
to the strange dynamics at work in the lives
of a whole class of people who are usually
banished from American movie screens in
favor of a fetishized version of the upper
middle class, "Buffalo '66" offers a radical
departure from much of what's currently
bemg made both in and out of the indie
scene. If Gallo' s handiwork occasionally
seems overly reminiscent of one of improvisational
cinema's grand masters, that
alone is a major achievement. As the long
string of failures mounted in Casssavetes'
name has demonstrated, to walk in the footsteps
of a giant takes a director with a pretty
expansive stride. Ray Greene
ORGAZMO ••^•1/2
Starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone and
Dian Bachar. Written and directed by Trey
Parker. Produced by Fran Kuzui, Matt
Stone and Jason McHugh. An October
release. Comedy. Rated NC- 17. Running
time: 95 min. Sundance screening category:
Park City at Midnight. Opens in
June.
Long on attitude and surprisingly sincere
in its sentimentality, "Orgazmo" offers up
a winning example of a dying movie art
form: the cheekily offensive "midnight
movie" comedy, mounted with flair, style
and panache. By definition a film not for
every taste, "Orgazmo" nonetheless has a
decent shot at breakout success, thanks to
the indie muscle of October Films and an
accident of association and timing: the fact
that writer-director-star Trey Parker ("Cannibal:
The Musical") has gone on since
completing "Orgazmo" to create "South
Park," cable TV's animated sensation of
1997 and '98.
The in-your-face sensibility of "South
Park" is recognizably at work in some of
"Orgazmo' s" more extreme moments, but
Parker is sharp enough to realize that, for
his movie to work, a crucial amount of
sympathy has to be maintained for his protagonist.
The intentionally implausible
storyline has a kind of post-modem Capraesque
quality to it, with L. A. -based Morman
missionary Joe Young (Parker)
recruited into the pornography racket
thanks to his unlikely skills as a kickboxer.
It seems an unscrupulous porno mogul is
mounting a Batman-like superhero opus en-
178 (R-24) BoxoFFiCE
titled "Orgazmo," and finds himself in need
of a patsy with Young's fighting skills.
Persuaded by the fact that he won't be required
to film his own penetration shots and
by the chance at a payday large enough to
enable him to marry his chaste fiancee
(Dian Bachar), Joe reluctantly agrees to
take on a star part under the stage name Joe
Hung, eventually blossoming before our
eyes into an idealistic superhero, ready to
do battle against a jaded age.
The fish-out-of-water dynamic stays
fresh thanks to Parker's inspired ability to
maintain an unerring sense of innocence in
stylized and squalid surroundings. Unlike
most contemporary comedies, "Orgazmo"
lets the jokes speak for themselves, with
Parker, Bachar and Matt Stone as
Orgazmo' s Robin-like sidekick pulling off
performances that are simultaneously a sendup
of squarejawed movie heroism and a celebration
of the very Middle American value
system the movie itself seeks to undermine.
Like many a class clown before him,
Parker's facile wit and hyperactive joke
mechanism mask a genuine yearning for the
verj^ normalcy his own temperament denies
to him. Unlikely as it souncls, "Orgazmo" is
a comedy with a sincere streak of affection
for everything it sends up, a Mad Magazine
movie parody with a surprisingly large
amount of heart. Ray Greene
LAND GIRLS ^1/2
Starring Catherine McCormack, Rachel
Weisz and Anna Friel. Written and
directed by David Leland. Produced by
Simon Relph. A Gramercy release.
Drama. Not yet rated. Running time: 115
min. Sundance screening category: Premiere.
Opens 4124.
Dear British Film Industry:
I recently attended an advance festival
screening of "Land Girls," an expensively
mounted, exquisitely photographed period
film about three women who are sort of
British WACs during WWII. There's this
food shortage going on because of the evil
Jerrys, and so the WACS are sent out to till
the soil of Merry England and learn life
lessons about love and milking cows and
things like that. I could tell I was supposed
to get all choked up a whole bunch of times,
because this tinkly piano music kept playing
on the soundtrack— you know, the kind
of stuff they use during commercials for
long distance companies and feminine hygiene
products and other icky but necessary
goods and services? Anyway, I was watching
this movie, and I realized I had this...
problem. So I thought I'd write to you,
because I was sure you'd know what I
should do.
See, the thing of it is, I'm an American.
A "Yank," as you so picturesquely call us.
We speak the same language, only your
version of it is a lot prettier to listen to.
which is appropriate, since it is called English.
What I've noticed about your movies
IS that a lot of times they're... well... boring.
Pompous, even. Particulariy the ones with
historical themes, which seem to be something
like two out of three of the movies you
people make over there, or at least of the
ones you export.
Don't get me wrong. I can understand
how a country like England would be hung
up on historical dramas. After all, 60 years
ago, there was still a British Empire, wasn't
there? "Rule Britannia" and Rudyard Kipling
and all that. England was still a superpower,
and that must be a pretty hard thing
to have to try to get over. Who can really
blame British filmmakers, and the government
agencies that often subsidize their
work, for wanting to dwell on such a glorious
past?
Over here in America, though, our glorious
past consists of throwing you people out
on your ear over two centuries ago, and then
coming to your rescue every time it looked
like you were going to be invaded by Germany.
We think differently, even if we do
speak the same language. And "Land
(jirls," beautiful photography, tinkly piano
music and all, reminded me of just how
wide the separation is between the kind of
stuff you people like to put up on movie
screens, and the things we people over here
like to see.
What's with that leading man, anyway?
He's an outdoor type, and I guess we're
supposed to think he's some kind of great
lover or something, seeing as he manages
to bag all three of the female leads by the
end of the movie. Shouldn't this guy have
a muscle or two at least, and maybe a hairline
that starts within nine inches of his
eyebrows? In America, our great outdoorsman
all have rippling torsos and thick, luxuriant
follicles adorning their scalps, which
is the reason the crawls at the end of American
movies often contain "Personal
Trainer" credits, and why Beverly Hills is
the hair transplant capital of the western
world. We go for virility in the States, and
I have to tell you. a guy like the male star of
"Land Girls" wouldn't manage to bag three
of our women in his whole life, let alone in
just under two hours of screen time.
Then there's this fixation with "class"
you people are so hung-up about, particularly
class as demonstrated by dialect. I
mean, okay, here are these three British
soldier girls, and they get sent to some
farmhouse where everybody speaks like
they were born on a cliff in northern Wales.
The girls were supposedly selected at random
by the British civil service or something,
but they've actually been put together
by some clever screenwriter as mismatched
"types" for comedic effect. How do we
know that they're mismatched types assembled
for comedic effect? Because their accents
don't match.
Hardy har har.
My biggest complaint, though, is about
this whole "stiff upper lip" thing you people
are so into. "The Engli.sh Patient' was probably
the best example ever of what I'm
talking about (I know. I know, the producer
was an American, but you could tell he
wishe.'i he was British). Here's a guy who's
crazy in love with a woman, and she's crazy
in love with him. She's married, which is a
nasty complication, only it's to Colin Firth,
who could certainly use a few sit-ups, so her
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marriage doesn't count. They spend 10 percent
of their time being in love with each
other, and something like 90 percent of their
time feeling guilty about it. and when they
finally decide they should throw caution to
the wind and be together, a bunch of melodramatic
plot twists crop up which leave
her dead and him covered in burns so that
he looks like Boris Karloff in "The
Mummy."
Well, what's up with that? I mean, think
about it for a second. Just what is this movie
trying to say? That passion is evil? That
those stays and buttons your British costume
designers are so fond of sewing onto
all those heaving bodices are actually stop
signals and "don't walk" signs? Things end
so tragically for people who fall in love in
British period films. It's a wonder you people
have managed to reproduce at all.
If you've seen "Land Girls," you know
why I'm bringing this up. About two thirds
of the way into the movie, one of the leading
ladies (the one with the least affected dialect,
which I guess means she's the one
we're supposed to care about) suddenly
falls in love with the flabby outdoorsmen,
and all hell breaks loose. Her frigid fiance
(who she never loved anyway) gets shot
down by the Germans just when she's about
to break things off He's lost both legs. He's
lying in a hospital that's shot like a Chinese
funhouse, and he's a cripple. With typically
British sangfroid he tells her he'll understand
if she wants to break it off She decides
to stay with him, ruining two lives:
hers, and that of the flabby outdoorsman.
And the whole thing is presented as if we're
supposed to admire her for making such a
noble choice.
I felt like I was watching a movie from
Mars.
I know living through WWII must have
been hell on your country, what with all
those nightly air-raids and such. I know,
too, that you people didn't build and lose an
Empire without a lot of sacrifice. In America,
we're much too addicted to instant gratification,
and our movies tend to take cheap,
easy shortcuts to happy endings as a reflection
of that. But I still can't figure out why
virtually every time you people make a
movie that isn't about working class junkies
or male strippers it turns out to be a dour
lesson on why duty is more important than
following your heart.
So the personal problem I'd like you to
help me solve is this: I can't stand British
period movies, and I'm still trying to figure
out why.
Something to do with growing up in a
Democracy, I guess.
Yours truly.
Snoozing at Sundance
And P.S.: I know what your thinking.
There's a flaw in my analysis. "Land Girls"
is based on a novel, which is a classic argument
for legitimizing rotten movies. Well,
something else you should know about
Americans is that we're too busy watching
television and holding down second jobs to
read novels. So don't kid yourself that it
matters. Ray Greene
WILD MAN BLUES (no stars)
Featuring Woody Allen and Soon Yi Previn.
Directed by Paddy Breathnach. Written
by Conor McPherson. Produced by Robert
Walpole. Documentary. A Fine Line release.
Rated PGfor brief language. Running time:
104 min. Sundance screening category: Documentary
Competition. Opens 4/17.
Even the worst documentary usually has
something to recommend it—some small
moment of truth or glory or thwarted
illumination. But "Wild Man Blues," Oscarwinning
documentarian Barbara Kopple's
enervated study of comic auteur and amateur
clarinettist Woody Allen's 1997 musical
tour of Europe, is that rarest of rarities:
an utterly worthless two hours in the dark.
Kopple, whose "American Dream" and
"Harlan County, U.S.A" were justly hailed
as modem masterpieces of social realism,
deserves a fare amount of the blame for
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what's wrong here. Showing no discernible
flair for biographical portraiture, her approach
appears to have been to point a
camera or two at Woody and his paramour
Soon Yi Previn, under the erroneous assumption
that everything they do or say is
inherently fascinating.
It just ain't so, as "Wild Man Blues"
demonstrates in almost existential detail.
We get Soon Yi's discourse on the rubbery
texture of a Spanish omelette. We get five
long minutes of Soon Yi trying to figure out
why there's no hot water in her Italian bathroom.
We get a "fly on the wall" view of
obscenely lush five star European hotel
rooms, which Woody dutifully if dispiritedly
mocks for the camera, as if he weren't the
guy who chose to stay in them in the first
place. For our thrilling climax,
we fly back to New York to meet
Woody's parents, and discover
that his 96-year-old father is enfeebled
to the point of senility,
and that when it comes to Soon
Yi, his mom would have preferred
that old comedic standby,
the "nice Jewish girl."
It's all punctuated by Woody's
neuroses and hypochondria,
which are less charming without
the punchlines. And oh yes:
There's a surplus of positively
interminable footage of Woody's
concert appearances fronting a
Dixieland jazz band which, to put
it charitably, wouldn't sound out
of place at Disneyland's Country
Bear Jamboree.
The two-pronged hidden agenda
here is obvious: 1 ) To make a few
bucks in Europe, where two hours of
Woody scratching his stomach would probably
pack moviehouses; and 2) To let an
American public which has rejected Allen's
recent movies get the behind-the-scenes
peek it's been craving, in the hope that the
actual details of the notorious Allen-Previn
coupling will prove so mundane that the
artist will be forgiven his trespasses and
allowed to move on. But the rigorousness
with which the general air of tedium is
maintained suggests there's more going on
here than meets the eye, though Kopple,
who sold her services to Allen s longtime
producer Jean Doumanian, never gets near
enough to her subject to suggest what that
subtext mi^ht be.
Perhaps if Terry Zwigoff, maker of the
brilliant biographical documentary "Crumb"
and the original director of "Wild Man Blues"
before Doumanian axed him, had been kept
on and given the kind of free hand he had in
chronicling the life and times of underground
comics artist Robert Crumb, a more fascinating
portrait might have emerged. But as
ZwigofTs firing from "Wild Man Blues"
illustrated, the first responsibility of commissioned
art isn't to tell the Uoith about its subject
but to satisfy its pockctb

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The focus in "Slam" is on redemption, and
the vehicle for salvation is the spoken word.
When Saul Williams as Joshua arrives in
the cell block, a moment of near despair
becomes a soaring poetic highlight, as
Joshua and a rapper m the cell next door
engage in a free-form verbal duet that solidifies
their mutual commitment to survive. A
black female poet (Sonja Moore) who
teaches a jailhouse self-expression class
helps channel Joshua's verbal energy toward
self-analysis, and offers him a glimpse
ofabetter life. But years ofhard time stretch
before him, and "Slam" ends on an intentionally
ambiguous note, leaving the audience
to decide for itself if Joshua will be
willing to sacrifice a few years of physical
freedom for the opportunity to permanently
liberate his mind.
Thanks to Williams' unerring performance,
the issue itself is never really in
doubt. Along with Moore and Vibe Magazine
contributor Bonz Malone in the critical
role of a prison gang leader, Williams is a
towering new screen presence—an actor of
such range and kinetic energy that his future,
like "Slam's," seems utterly assured.
All the more surprising given the fact that
Levin is a white director, and therefore almost
certain to draw fire from that segment
of the politically correct contingent who
cling to the notion that only filmmakers of
suitable pigmentation are entitled to tell
stories centered around African American
life. It's an argument Levin should prove
more than a match for, since every frame of
his movie gives it the lie.
Reportedly shot for around a budget of
approximately $1 million, "Slam" made
tradepaper headlines when it was snatched
up by Trimark Pictures for a $2.5 million
purchase price. Handled correctly by that
increasingly ambitious indie distribution
house, "Slam" might just end up being remembered
as one of 1998's biggest indie
film bargains. Ray Greene
BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN
KISS ••••1/2
Starring Sean P. Hayes, BradRowe and
Richard Ganoung. Written and directed
by Tommy O'Haver. Produced by David
Moseley. A Trimark release. Comedy. Not
yet rated. Running time: 89 min. Anamorphic.
Sundance screening category: Dramatic
Competition.
Given the ubiquity of gay themes at Sundance
this year (even "straight" romantic
comedies invariably featured gay sidekick
characters), the fact that the unofficial victor
in the romantic comedy sweepstakes
was "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss"
seems more than appropriate. A giddy, delightful
and heartfelt tribute to the wayward
impulses of the heart, "Billy" deserves
plaudits for its high level of wit, stylistic
ambition, and ability to focus on gay relationships
with such an acute and humanely
observed sense of detail that a narrow and
frequently ghettoized genre takes on a universal
feel. Acquiring distributor Trimark
has something unique on its hands with this
one: perhaps the first gay-themed romance
ever created that can make general audiences
stand up and cheer.
Billy (Sean P. Hayes) is an aspiring photographer
on a quest for love in celebritymad
L.A. About to set to work on a series
of homoerotic tribute photos based on great
Hollywood screen kisses, he meets Gabriel
(Brad Rowe), a sexually confused coffee
house waiter whom he engages as a model.
Before long, Billy's mentoring friendship
becomes an infatuation, but it's complicated
by his respect for Gabriel's struggle
to identify his true sexuality, coupled with
a morbid fear that his interest, as it has so
often in the past, will go unreciprocated.
Writer/director Tommy O' Haver's command
of filmmaking is the most impressive
facet of "Billy's' manifold pleasures.
Though shot on a shoestring. Haver has had
both the chutzpah to photograph "Billy"
with the David Lean-ish aspect ratio of
anamorphic cinemascope and the talent to
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pull his stunt off. Carefully controlled primary
color schemes and that wide, wide
image give "Billy" the feel of an old '60sera
Rock Hudson/Doris Day sex comedy, a
standard for humor which O' Haver' s giddy
comedic sensibility frequently surpasses.
But the heart of "Billy's Hollywood
Screen Kiss" is in its characterizations, and
on that level, O' Haver bears favorable comparison
to prime Woody Allen. Hayes'
beautifully modulated performance as Billy
strikes just the right note of good-humored
hang-dog anguish, while despite his distracting
physical similarities to Brad Pitt,
Rowe is touchingly effective and utterly
believable as the object of Billy ' s misplaced
affections.
With "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss,"
the fertile and prolific gay cinema renaissance
of the ' 90s shows every sign of having
come of age. Even the kind of person who
avoids gay product as being too "inside"
will find a great deal to love about "Billy's
Hollywood Screen Kiss." Ray Greene
THE CASTLE *•••
Starring Michael Caton, Anne Tenney
and Stephen Curry. Directed by Rob Sitch.
Written by Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy,
Tom Gleisner and Santo Cilauro. Produced
by Debra Choate. A Miramax release.
Comedy. Not yet rated. Running
time: 82 min. Sundance screening category:
World Cinema.
A goofily enjoyable low budget comedy
from down under, "The Castle" was the
source of a great deal of notoriety when it
was acquired by Miramax Films for some
$6 million during this year' s Sundance Film
Festival. That level of financial attention
would have attracted notice under any circumstances,
particularly given "The
Castle' s" rumored $ 1 9,000 production cost.
But the big irony behind the big price tag
was the fact that "The Castle," which was
already a major sleeper success story in its
home country of Australia, had been on the
market for months and had reportedly been
passed over by every major American indie
distributor on the grounds that its milieu
was just too provincial.
According to Miramax chief Harvey
Weinstein, it was the audience reaction to this
heartwarming oddity that convinced him to
reconsider. And it's easy to see how a sly,
offbeat film like "The Castle" would have
gotten a rousing reception at Sundance, particularly
given the general trend of most comedies
screened at the festival to be heavily
laden with irony and/or romantic anguish.
Irony is the last thing on 'The Casde's"
mind. The story of a closely-knit if idiosyncratic
blue-collar Australian family and their
struggle to keep their home from being devourai
by an airport expansion, "The Castle"
gets a lot of comedic mileage out of the exaggerated
foibles of the Aussie working class.
Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton) is a
tow-truck driver who lives for his family.
He's an enthusia.stic booster for his wife's
folk art pottery proclivities, and he celebrates
every meal she makes with a prose
poem to the joys of her cm)king. His love of
his home life is reflected in the fact that he's
constantly coming up with half-finished expansion
plans for the Kerrigan house, which
he calls "the Castle." When the airport next
door attempts to drive out every homeowner
in the neighborhood to make way for
a new runway, Darryl, whose naive belief
in the justice of his cause is absolute,
mounts an oddball legal campaign to preserve
his way of life.
It's instructive to compare "The Castle"
to a similarly constructed American counterpart
like either of "The Brady Bunch"
movies. Where the "Brady" features get
most of their humor from sarcasm and format
jokes directed against the dreaded fashions
and customs of the 1970s, "The Castle"
envelops its fictional family in a loving if
knowing embrace. The simple-minded
Kerrigans may be fools to their creators, but
they are holy fools—repositories of values
and priorities which the film both endorses
and celebrates. And the flawless comedic
performances of the entire cast—most of
which, along with "The Castle's" writers
and director Rob Sitch, are veterans of a
popular Australian comedy show called
"Frontline"— go a long way toward making
the viewer forget about production values
and photography that are at times just a little
too ragged.
Though Miramax definitely has a marketing
challenge on its hands, "The Castle"
will be a worthwhile discovery for fans of
offbeat humor. The cruelty that perhaps too
often informs American attempts at levity
has been banished from "The Castle." Beneath
this film's perfectly modulated deadpan
delivery beats a sincere and affectionate
heart. Ray Greene
I
WENT DOWN •••
Starring Brendan Gleeson, Peter Mc-
Donald and Peter Caffrey. Directed by
Paddy Breathnach. Written by Conor Mc-
Pherson. Produced by Robert Walpole. A
TSG release. Comedy. Not yet rated. Running
time: 107 min. Sundance screening
category: World Cinema.
Shaggy, good-natured and easy to enjoy,
"I Went Down" is a winning Irish miniature
in the caper comedy mode. Though nothing
much ever seems to be at stake, several wry
performances and an unhurried, expansive
tone make director Paddy Breathnach' s lark
of a movie a pleasant—if ethnically specific—
good time.
Git (Peter McDonald) is fresh out of jail
when he runs afoul of petty mobster Tom
French (Tony Doyle). His penance is to
team with a taciturn hardcore criminal
known as Bunny (Brendan Gleeson) for a
mission impossible: to snatch a garrulous
French associate named Grogan (Peter
Caffrey) out of enemy hands.
The road is the journey in "I Went
Down," with the predictable growing bond
of mutual respect gradually rolling in and
enveloping McDonald and Gleeson like a
fine Irish mist. But these are two eminently
likeable performers, and Caffrey, in a
wicked parody of the Irish gift for gab as
Grogan, makes for an enjoyable third.
Though many an indie filmmaker is
drawn to (and runs afoul oO the Big Artistic
Statement, not every movie has to swing for
the fences. In its modest way, "I Went
Down" is clearly a film that is everything
its makers wanted it to be. Think of it as the
cinematic equivalent of a pleasant night in
an Irish pub: a few laughs, a tall tale or two,
and an entertaining way to pass a little
time. Ray Greene
JERRY AND TOM irir 1/2
Starring Joe Mantegna, Sam Rockwell
and Charles Durning. Directed by Saul
Rubinek. Written by Rick Cleveland. Produced
by Michael Paseornek, Elinor Reid,
Vivienne Leebosh and Saul Rubinek.
Comedy/Drama. Not yet rated. A Lion 's
Gate release. Running time: 105 min.
Sundance screening category: Dramatic
Competition.
Better than average for its type but still
way too familiar, actor Saul Rubinek's directing
debut "Jerry and Tom" is yet another
example of the "petty criminals sitting
around talking about nothing" genre which
was so prevalent on the indie scene just a
few short years ago. Though it created a bit
of a stir at this year's Sundance Festival, it's
difficult to imagine that there are enough
people left who aren't sick of "Pulp Fiction"
to stimulate much public interest in this one.
Tom (Joe Mantegna) is a sweet-tempered
hitman, with Jerry (Sam Rockwell) as his
protege. Using a flashback/flashforward
structure that is as showy as it is unilluminating,
Rubinek charts the predictable
twists and turns in their relationship, with
Tom's enthusiasm for his profession softening
over time as Jerry's blossoms into a
full blown psychopathology.
This story has been done before, and
recently, as Rubinek seems to acknowledge
by casting Peter Riegart in a small but significant
cameo. Riegart had the Mantegna
part in the virtually identical "Cold
Blooded," which premiered at Sundance
just three short years ago.
What saves "Jerry and Tom" from complete
catastrophe is Rubinek and cinematographer
Paul Sarossy's surehanded
camerawork, and some excellent performances—likely
attributable to the fact that
Rubinek is quite a fine actor himself. The ever
reliable Mantegna excels himself as Tom,
delivering a quiet, introspective and utterly
believable rendering of encroaching middleaged
despair. As Jeiry, Sam Rockwell is a bit
more mannered, but Charles Duming is a
strong second lead as a curmudgeonly oldtime
mobster, and by and large, the entire
ensemble blends together effectively.
An amazing amount of care has been
lavished on Wellsian transitions that move
uninterruptedly from scene to scene, but
"Jerry and Tom" still ends up seeming a
little too small a story for the bigscreen. Of
the requisite outrageous humor, perhaps it's
enough to point out that the two big running
jokes concern mob hits on Elvis and JFK. If
that isn't a sure sign of an enterprise that's
mostly running on empty, nothing is. Ray
Greene

SUNDANCE REVIEWS
NEXT STOP WONDERLAND
•••
Starring Hope Davis, Alan Gelfant and
Holland Taylor. Directed by Brad Anderson.
Written by Brad Anderson and Lyn
Vaus. Produced by Mitchell B. Bobbins. A
Miramax release. Comedy. Not yet rated.
Running time: 104 min. Sundance screening
category: Dramatic Competition.
Romantic comedies were the next big
thing at Sundance this year, and "Next Stop
Wonderland" was probably the biggest of
them all, if not quite the best (that honor
goes to "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss,"
also reviewed in this section).
You want big? We're talking biddingwar
big. We're talking Miramax-chief-Harvey-Weinstein-laying-out-a-cool-six-milof-Disney's-dough-for-world-rights
big.
And there was big talk about this one, too,
as when Harvey W. justified what some
claimed was an overzealous purchase by
saying of Miramax's relationship with
"Next Stop Wonderland's" writer-directoreditor,
"We're not just buying a movie, we're
going into the Brad Anderson business."
Kind of gives you the willies, doesn't it?
It sure sent chills up and down the spines of
the thousands of wannabe filmmakers who
clogged the snowbound streets of Park City
for this year's festival, many of whom
wound up standing in line in 20 degree
temperatures for a glimpse of the breakout
feature from indie film's latest wunderkind.
Overheard in front of a Park City screening
room was one blue-faced, runny-nosed film
hopeful who spoke for his entire generation
when he said that he'd freeze to death to see
"Next Stop Wonderland." because, unquote:
"I just have to see what six million
dollars looks like." Ah, youthful idealism.
The pertinent question is whether or not
"Next Stop Wonderland" can live up to a
build-up like that. The answer, of course, is,
"What film could?" We're talking about a
low-budget production, folks. A glorified
home movie, featuring a starless cast that
runs the gamut from the ideal (female lead
Hope Davis) to the so-so (male lead Alan
Gelfant) to the "Gee, I thought he was dead"
(stand-up comic Robert Klein, who plays
the villain, for cryin' out loud).
Indie films are, by their nature, films for
which allowances should be made. So, allowing
for the fact that Miramax may never
get its money out of this one, and for the
additional fact that Brad Anderson doesn't
seem like the kind of director who's ready
for anything like the level of hype he received
at the fest, "Next Stop Wonderland"
is still an enjoyable and accomplished bit of
business—a "chick flick," as the
chowderheads who go to nothing but action
movies like to call anything with a bit of
sentiment to it, and one that at times stands
at or near the level of some of the best recent
examples of the form.
The structural stunt to "Next Stop Wonderland"
is that it's a romantic comedy in
which the audience knows right away that
the two protagonists are made for each
other, but it doesn't know if they'll ever get
together, because they haven't met yet.
Both Erin Castleton (Davis) and Alan
Montiero (Gelfant) are failures at love, and
getting close to throwing in the towel. Erin
so desperate, her nosey mom buys her a
is
personal ad as a subtle hint she should get
out more—a gift Erin resents bitterly, until
curiosity gets the best of her, and she begins
accessing her voicemail and going out on
blind dates. Alan, meanwhile, lives for his
job at the Boston Aquarium, which is jeoi>
ardized by an overly complex and somewhat
contrived subplot involving his
father's gambling debts and a mob request
that Alan "hit" the aquarium's star attraction,
a blowfish named Puff.
A series of near-misses that almost but
don't quite bring Erin and Alan together are
what follows, which is why Anderson may
have decided to put his editing credit on the
same title card as his credit for directing (as
in "Directed and Edited by Brad Anderson").
Cross-cutting is what "Next Stop
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Response No. 239
April, 1998 (R-29) 183

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SUNDANCE REVIEWS
Wonderland" is all about—thai, and the
little electric charge people who are
"made for each other" seem to get every
time they come within a hundredyards of
each other in modern romantic comedies.
Will Erin and Alan get together? Would
Harvey Weinstein pay $6 million bucks
for a tragedy?
Cheerful, accomplished and straightforwardly
commercial, "Next Stop Wonderland"
is basically the second best version of
"Sleepless in Seattle" ever made—and
that's not a criticism. "Sleepless" was
splendid, and it grossed well over $100
million at the boxoffice, or approximately
17 times what Miramax paid to go into the
Brad Anderson business. That makes the
margin of error on "Next Stop Wonderland"
pretty reasonable by almost any standard.
So get out your handkerchiefs and cross
your fingers. If Harvey Weinstein knows
something this reviewer doesn't, a star, or
at least a runaway boxoffice success, may
have just been bom. Ray Greene
BEAUTOPIA • 1/2
Directed, written and produced by
Kalharina Otto. A Fox Lorber release.
Documentary. Running time: 103 min.
Sundance screening category: Documentary
competition.
The shallowness of the world of high
fashion is reflected in Katharina Otto's
callow documentary "Beautopia," rather
than critiqued by it. Aspiring to be a sort
of "Hoop Dreams" for wannabe supermodels,
this well-capitalized exercise
spans the globe to track a few seemingly
critical weeks in the lives of four young
beauties, each of whom is convinced that
she just may be the next Kate Moss or
Cindy Crawford. Otto's moralistic and
egotistical first-person narration would
have us believe that her purpose is simply
to document what she assumes will be the
meteoric rise of a new generation of
bright young stars. But merciful heavens!
Dashed dreams and inconclusive job
leads seem to be the lot of these variously
innocent and ambitious lovelies. Or, as
Otto says late in the game without a trace
of irony, "We were beginning to think
that our supermodel fantasy wasn't everything
it was cracked up to be."
Neither is this movie, which skims along
the sheer and prettified surface of a demonstrably
empty professional calling without
so much as acknowledging such larger issues
as the sexism inherent in paying
women millions of dollars for how they
look in a dress. A series of remarkably
uninteresting interviews with such household
names as Elle Macpherson, Claudia
Schiffer and Naomi Campbell emphasize
the lack of a critical perspective; can Otto
seriously believe that anyone is willing to
take Campbell's complaints about not having
enough time off from her obscenely
well-paid and jet-setting dayjob without a
very large grain of salt?
A cameo-appearance by lively, neurotic
designer Issac Mizrahi, the focus of Douglas
Keevc's similarly-themed but vastly superior
1995 documentary "Unzipped,"
serves as a telling reminder of
"Beautopia's" shortcomings. Where
Keeve' s film managed to both celebrate and
condemn the insanity of Mizrahi's calling,
"Beautopia" settles for a pretense of serious
analysis that is ultimately not even skin
deep. Ray Greene
CLASSIFIED X ••^
Starring Melvin Van Peebles. Directed
by Mark Daniels. Written by Melvin Van
Peebles. Produced by Yves Jeanneau and
Christine Le Goff. No distributor set. Documentary.
Running time: 52 min. Sundance
screening category: American
Spectrum.
More a personal essay than a documentary
per se, Melin Van Peebles' "Classified
X" is an intriguing and at times horrifying
look at cinematic portrayals of African
Americans, from the early days of silent
film to the Gibson and Glover pairings of
the "Lethal Weapon" franchise. A coolly
smoldering rage pervades this intricately
researched documentary, with legendary
black filmmaker Van Peebles ("Sweet
Sweetback's Baddasssss Song") acting
equally as narrator, editorialist and his own
biographer.
The diarist approach pays dividends
thanks to Van Peebles' willingness to delve
into his reactions not only as a seminal
black filmmaker but as an African American
audience member who has spent a large
part of his life at the movies. Van Peebles
comes across as a kind of Spartacus figure—an
average citizen unfairly and inaccurately
relegated to an inferior social
standing who grows to embody the righteous
anger of an entire people. Despite the
justifiable criticisms "Classified X" levels
at a century of Hollywood stereotyping.
Van Peebles' career, which forms a sort of
recurring subplot to the historical process
depicted, offers a backhanded validation of
the power of moviemaking: Where Spartacus
had to equip an army to launch his
revolution. Van Peebles was able to get
things started by simply giving them a
voice.
How desperately that voice was needed
is demonstrated in virtually every frame
of the carefully selected archival footage
Van Peebles incorporates into "Classified
X"—footage which not only
demonstrates the overt racist underpinnings
of pre-Civil Rights era American
moviemaking but of the more supposedly
enlightened cinema of the '60s, '70s, '80s
and '90s. Though marred somewhat by a
too-brief running time which occasionally
forces Van Peebles to breeze through
a point where more analysis seems required,
"Classified X" is essential viewing
for anyone with eyes, ears and a shred
ofawareness about Hollywood's dubious
record on issues of race and class. For a
challenging, stimulating and provocative
expose of the hidden racial subtexts that
continue to mar American movie output,
"Classified X" marks the spot. Ray
Greene
CONCEIVING ADA ^^1/2
Starring Tilda Swinton, Francesco
Faridany, Karen Black and Timothy
Leary. Directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson.
Written by Lynn Hershman Leeson
and Eileen Jones. Produced by Henry S.
Rosenthal and Lynn Hershamn Leeson.
No distributor set. Sci-Fi/Drama. Not yet
rated. Running time: 85 min. Sundance
screening category: American Spectrum.
Structurally and thematically reminiscent
of Sally Potter's "Orlando," "Conceiving
Ada" is an ambitious if flawed attempt
to use the visual possibilities of interactive
computer technologies as the jumping off
point for a dual narrative involving an obsessive
compulsive computer whiz (Francesca
Faridany) and her spiritual
progenitor, Victorian-era mathematical
hobbyist Lady Ada Lovelace (Tilda Swinton).
Using scientific mumbo jumbo so implausible
It couldn't pass muster in a B
science fiction movie of the '50s, writer/director
Lynn Hershman Leeson proposes a
scenario in which Faridany" s Emmy uses
her desktop PC as a kind of electronic Ouija
Board in order to observe and ultimately
make contact with Ada, an early and largely
unacknowledged pioneer of the computer
sciences, whose struggle to have her ideas
accepted within the patriarchal scientific
community of the 18()0s has become a significant
touchstone for Feminist historians.
The leap of faith "Conceiving Ada" asks
of the viewer is a large one, but it's worth
it, if fitfully. Swinton's stunning, highstrung
performance as Ada anchors the
film, lending a depth and resonance the
framing narrative largely lacks. With her
bird-like, pallid, vaguely neurotic beauty,
Swinton perfectly captures the predicament
of the entrapped visionary; she seems to be
both of her historic moment and a woman
whose large, piercing eyes are always on the
verge of seeing beyond it.
Leeson deserves credit for utilizing the
computer-generated production values of
CD-ROM and gaming technologies as a
clever low-budget strategy for mounting a
period film. The CGl-rendered interiors of
"Conceiving Ada" actually work to the
film's advantage, serving as a constant visual
reminder of Ada's technical fixations,
as well as a sly acknowledgement of the
film's science fiction underpinnings. At
times, Leeson' s desaturated and moody imagery
borders on the poetic—no mean
achievement, considering how jaded to the
wonders of computer landscapes most
human eyeballs have become.
But the big flaw, in addition to all the
jargon and flapdoodle about how time is
just a database awaiting the right hacker,
stems from Leeson's cavalier willingness to
bend and twist plausibility in the service of
what seems like a preconceived metaphoric
schematic. The generational parallelism
she sets up between Faridany 's overworked
1990's compugeek and Swinton's travails
may have looked good on paper, but it fails
to resonate, primarily because Emmy,
though well-acted by Faridany, is nakedly
little
more than a storytelling device. The
184 (R-30) Boxoffice

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SUNDANCE REVIEWS
film's denouement, a more benign variation
on that old Julie Christie cybershocker
"Demon Seed," satisfies Leeson's overt desire
to create a matriarchal ordering principal
for history, but sacrifices logic to
ideology in the process. While Leeson's is
clearly a talent to take note of, in raw storytelling
terms, her "Conceiving Ada" too
often just refuses to compute. Ray
Greene
THE MISADVENTURES OF
MARGARET ^
Starring Parker Posey, Jeremy Northern
and Elizabeth McGovern. Written and
directed by Brian Sheet. Produced by Ian
Benson. No distributor set. Comedy. Not
yet rated. Running time: 100 min. Sundance
screening category: Premiere.
What a difference a year makes. In 1997,
Parker Posey was the unquestioned queen
of the Sundance prom. With several movies
on display and a handful of wide-ranging
and noteworthy performances, Posey came
to Utah a reliable second tier indie actress
and left town a feature film fixture.
Cut to 1998, where Posey's one appearance
on a Sundance screen came out of
competition in the much-hyped "The Misadventures
of Margaret." Attempting to
capitalize on Posey's increased stature from
last year's fest, the makers of "Margaret"
did an excellent job generating advance
buzz: This was a film everybody had to see,
until people actually started to see it.
That's when things started to go wrong.
It turns out that, far from being the Posey
triumph advertised, "The Misadventures of
Margaret" is the kind of head-scratchingly
bad feature film that gives prefabricated
Disney kiddie comedies a good name. Concerning
the implausible romantic dalliances
of Margaret Nathan (a woman who is either
a historian or a novelist, it's the kind of a
movie where it's hard to tell), "Margaret"
is a sort of crash course in botched coverage
and ham-fisted dialogue, a movie that aspires
to be uninspired lighthearted fluff and
then falls short of even that slight standard.
Margaret's relationship troubles begin
when she receives a National Book Award,
an honor she faces with less fortitude than
Jimmy Cagney used to show going to the
chair. Under the spell of a sexy 1 8th century
journal she's either translating or adapting
(there's that historian/novelist conundrum
again) she leaves her doting, too good to be
true husband (Jeremy Northern) with but a
single objective: to sleep with the first man
who'll have her.
It's difficult to say what Posey should
have done with an unlikable character
whose arch dialogue sounds like the sort of
thing Neil Simon might write after suffering
an embolism. In a hundred minutes of conversation-laden
running time, not a single
line of "Margaret" rings true. Alone among
a rather too large cast, only the Richard
Burtonish Northern and the underused Elizabeth
McGovern as Margaret's no-talent
playwright sister manage to sound even
remotely like human beings, mostly because
they have the good sense to throw
almost everything they say away.
There are signs that the editing of "Margaret"
may have been rushed to meet the
festival deadline. A few scenes end so
abruptly that the viewer is left confused not
only about geography but about the precise
nature of what's going on. But no amount
of additional cutting could have rescued
such a botch of a movie. The flaws here are
so ingrained that "Margaret" would have to
be cut down to the length of a 20-minute short
to even aspire to the level of watchable.
A pity for Parker Posey, who really is
an extremely gifted performer, that the
site of last year's triumph should become
the setting for this year's abject failure.
She leaves Sundance 1998 with her talent
intact, but with one of General Patton's
favorite dictums ringing in her ear: Sic
transit gloria mundi, sic transit gloria
mundi, sic transit gloria mundi... ("All
glory is fleeting"). Eliot Forbes
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April, 1998 (R-31) 185

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SUNDANCE REVIEWS
LOU REED: ROCK AND ROLL
HEART irir
Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.
Produced by Timothy Greenfield-
Sanders and Karen Bernstein. No
distributor set. Documentary. Running
time: 85 min. Sundance screening category:
Documentary Competition.
As part of PBS's ongoing American Masters
series, "Lou Reed: Rock and Roll
Heart" represents the same strengths and
weaknesses that characterize most AM productions.
The interviews and archival materials
are flawlessly if unimaginatively
presented; the topic carefully and appropriately
selected; the access grantee! by the
subject seemingly unlimited. Yet somehow,
the whole adds up to far less than the
sum of its parts. A controversial firebrand
and notoriously difficult American popular
artist. Reed is presented here in a defanged
and overly discrete manner which, while
suitable for mainstream public consumption,
never gets anywhere near illuminating
the darker aspects of his character, let alone
the demons that writhe to life inside his art.
A portion of the problem stems from the
incredibly vast and prolific nature of Reed's
creative achievement. As founder and primary
voice of proto-punk '60s musical unit
The Velvet Underground, Reed broke new
and difficult ground in a musical era celebrated
for its thematic sophistication. As the
West Coast and British hippie factions were
filling the airwaves with paeans to peace,
love and flowers, the Velvets sang of the
illicit pleasures of heroin addiction and sadomasochistic
sexplay, which Reed and his
brilliant collaborator John Cale set to minimalist
atonal arrangements worthy of a
latter-day John Cage.
As house band to Andy Warhol's chaotic
New York Factory crowd, the Velvets were
preaching a gospel they themselves lived
with nightly; their scene had a body count,
and Reed's songs were both tender and
unstinting in chronicling the cost. Though
they never sold more than a handful of
records in their time, their incalculable influence
on the generations of pop bands that
came after them became instantly apparent
when the idealistic hedonism of the '60s
gave way to the long, debauched and cynical
hangover of the '70s, '80s and '90s. The
Velvets fiddled, and just a few short years
after they broke up, the entire rock music
scene started to bum.
By that point. Reed had already moved
on, assuming a variety of personae as a solo
artist with a chameleon-like intensity
matched only by David Bowie among his
contemporaries. Reed's dedication to experimentation
made his solo output both
fascinating and hit or miss, but the best of
his work withstands favorable comparison
to the Velvets, which is a very high standard
of achievement indeed.
That Reed lived as intensely as he created
is demonstrated by his often bitter rivalries
with such co-creators as Cale and Bowie,
and by his open and very public experimentation
with bisexual lifestyles and the hardest
of hard drugs. "Rock and Roll Heart"
186 (R-32) BoxoFTiCE
avoids all but the most timorous allusions
to the nastier aspects of Reed's personal
odyssey, refusing to delineate the obvious
and all-important linkage between the way
he's chosen to live and the things he's chosen
to write and sing about.
That "Rock and Roll Heart" still manages
to remain intermittently fascinating is a tribute
to the enduring nature of Reed's
achievement—a legacy powerful enough to
withstand a closer and more critical analysis
than the one director Timothy Greenfield-
Sanders is willing to pursue. Reed's music
offers up a far more scabrous and honest
analysis of his personality and vision than
"Rock and Roll Heart" even aspires to. In
the final analysis, Greenfield-Sanders' documentary
is mostly a lengthy testament to
missed opportunity. Ray Greene
THE FARM: ANGOLA USA ^1/2
Produced and directed by Liz Garbus
and Jonathan Stack. No distributor set.
Documentary. Running time: 107 min.
Sundance screening category: Documentary
Competition.
The only possible logic behind the fact
that "The Farm: Angola, USA" split the
Sundance documentary prize with the far
superior "Frat House" is that, in this case,
the Sundance documentary jurists were putting
their seal of approval on a cause, rather
than a movie. Passed off as a daring inside
expose of one of America's most notorious
prisons, "The Farm" is a film that scratches an
interesting surface, but so timidly as to leave
the viewer frustrated, and wishing for more.
Six prisoners in various stages of what will
amount for most of them to a life sentence
behind bars are tracked over the course of a
pivotal year. After decades of incarceration,
old-timers Bones and Bishop are both on the
verge of very different forms of release:
Bishop because of the parole he's been
awarded for his evangelical commitment to
helping other inmates find God, Bones owing
to the inoperable cancer that' s consuming him
before our eyes. For John, a convicted murderer
in his early 30s, the outcome is less
certain; in the midst of mounting an appeal
for clemency related to his vicious crimes,
he faces long odds and death by lethal injection
if his legal maneuvers fail.
Vincent and Ashahti are both coming up
for parole, and would have reason for optimism
in a different social climate. For
George, who has just commenced the first
yearof a life sentence, simply adjusting to the
likelihood that he may never spend another
hour in the outside world is struggle enough.
There are a handful of shining moments in
this otherwise overlong film. Bishop's biblethumping
fervor as he preaches to a roomfull
of bom again prisoners is a highlight, and an
extraordinary parole hearing, in which an
inmate's carefully prepared and reasonable
brief is hurriedly dismissed as soon as he
leaves the room, is such an appalling example
of mbber stamp judgement inat it plays like
political pornography. But moments of insight
are few and far between in "The Farm,"
which too often settles for a banal, public
service announcement viewpoint, ana even
occasionally leaves significant details dangling.
While the hopelessness chronicled in
"The Farm" makes the film noteworthy as a
piece of propaganda, the unfortunate truth of
the matter is that filmmakers Liz Garbus and
Jonathan Stack have taken moviegoers on a
joumey that stops well short of its announced
destination. Case dismissed. Ray Greene
DEAD MAN'S CURVE irir
Starring Matthew Lillard, Michael Vartan
and Randall Batinkoff. Written and
directed by Dan Rosen. Produced by Ted
Schipper, Michael Amato and Jeremy
Lew. No distributor set. Black Comedy.
Not yet rated. Running time: 90 min. Sundance
screening category: American
Spectrum.
A good idea gone awry, screenwriter Dan
Rosen's directing debut "Dead Man's
Curve" suffers from the same problems that
weighed down his script for Stacy Title's
1996 satire "The Last Supper": as black
comedies go, it's dark enough, but is it
actually funny?
The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding
"no," and more's the pity, since Rosen's
premise is little short of brilliant. Building
his plot around a little-known fact of life at
certain American colleges, Rosen's protagonists
are two college students ("Scream"
villain Matthew Lillard and newcomer Michael
Vartan) who decide to murder their
roommate when they discover that if they
make it look like a suicide, their school will
award them an automatic 4.0 for the semester.
A wicked attack on collegiate ambition
seems to be promised by a set-up like that,
but in "Dead Man's Curve." that promise
goes largely unfulfilled. Rosen settles for
tired plot twists and a sort of pseudo-Hitchcockian
tone revolving around the Leopold
and Loeb-like relationship between two
characters whose motives are so squalid
their ultimate fate is difficult to care about.
Matters aren't helped much by Lillard'
mannered, showy and utterly unconvincing
performance, which dominates every scene
he appears in. If there is a more brazen and
inauthentic young actor at work on the current
movie scene, he or she is blessedly
under-utilized compared to Lillard, whose
shrill screen debut in 1995's "Hackers" set
some kind of low water mark for the entire
decade—a nadir he seems to be dedicated
to outdoing here.
What's best about "Dead Man's Curve"
is its well chosen soundtrack, which has the
good sense to include underrated alternative
diva Aimee Mann's lovely "You Could
Make a Killing" as a kind of unofficial
anthem. Otherwi.se, there's nothing going
on here that wasn't explored with a lot more
resonance and attitude in Michael
Lehman's similariy-themed satire of teenage
suicide "Heathers" way back in 1989.
Interestingly enough, Rosen used the occasion
of a Sundance Film Festival press
conference to testily proclaim that, despite
the obvious parallels, "Heathers" is one
movie he's never seen. Based on the available
evidence, perhaps it's one he should
have. Ray Greene

—
SUNDANCE REVIEWS
THE DECLINE OF WESTERN
CIVILIZATION, PART III ^^^^1/2
Directed by Penelope Spheeris. Produced
by Scott Wilder. No distributor set.
Documentary. Running time: 89 min.
Sundance screening category: Documentary
Competition.
In a startling and moving departure from
her two previous attempts to chronicle the
impact and influence of the '70s punk rock
scene, Penelope Spheeris moves away from
her focus on the band aesthetic of
"Decline's" first two installments to dwell
on the lost and homeless Hollywood waifs
who make up the dwindling audience of
L.A.'s contemporary punk scene.
In a sense, "Decline III" plays like an act
of contrition. An older but wiser Spheeris,
now safely ensconced in the major Hollywood
directing career which "Decline I"
and "11" helped to launch, returns to the site
of her original creative breakthrough to find
the same naive and anachronistic politics at
work within an anarchistic audience of underaged
hedonists growing up way too fast.
The majority of the kids whose downward
trajectory she traces here weren't even bom
when "Decline I" went into production in
1979—an irony Spheeris is at pains to point
out. Their attraction to a music that is now
of marginal social and commercial importance
suits their tragic, outsider status: Rejected
by abusive parents and hounded by
the LAPD. these often surprisingly intelligent
and vivacious teenagers cling to punk
and each other like the lonely survivors of
a shipwreck, huddled around a single, inadequate
and leaky life raft.
The genius of Spheeris' achievement is
that she manages to celebrate the liberating
power of a dying musical form on its own
terms as the one space where these disenfranchised
children are empowered and set
free. The existential decadence Spheeris
previously revelled in has evaporated, replaced
by a surprisingly acute sense of
moral outrage; where "Decline I" and "11"
used punk as a sardonic barometer for a
society depicted as being on the verge of
imminent collapse, "Decline III" suggests
that a so-called civilization willing to condemn
its most innocent members to the short,
brutal and debauched hves she chronicles
may not be worthy of surviving, after all.
This haunted and important work is the
last thing one would have expected from a
director whose most recent efforts include
such bigscreen comedies as "The Little
Rascals and "The Beverly Hillbillies:" an
unapologetic lamentation, coupled with a
ferocious and idealistic call to arms. No
longer preoccupied with coming across as
hip, Spheeris contents herself with a film
that settles for being nakedly humane. Paradoxically
in our shell-shocked era, that just
might be the most revolutionary stance of
all. Ray Greene
2 by 4 •••1/2
Starring Jimmy Smallhorne, Chris
O 'Neil and Bradley Fitts. Directed by Jimmy
Smallhorne. Written by Jimmy Smallhorne,
Terry McGoffand Fergus Tighe. Produced
by John Hall and Virginia BMdle. No distribution
set. Drama. Not yet rated. Running
time: 90 min. Sundance screening category:
Dramatic Competition.
Dubliner Jimmy Smallhorne' s scabrous
autobiographical first feature marked one
of the more impressive debuts to emerge
from this year's Sundance film festival. An
inside look at contemporary New York's
Irish immigrant community, "2 by 4" is a
film about trauma, sublimation and the dark
by-ways that can swirl around a buried past.
Smallhorne is Johnny, a young Irish construction
foreman employed on a New York
building site by his roguish Uncle Trump
(Chris O'Neil). In many ways, his life is a
latter day fulfillment of the American
Dream: steady work, an American
girlfriend he deeply loves, and the friendship
and respect of the Irish immigrants
who work for him.
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Response No. 51
April, 1998 (R-33) 187

—
s
—
SUNDANCE REVIEWS
But something isn't right with Johnny.
He's plagued by nightmares—half-remembered
flashes of something terrible in his
past, which leave him sweaty and shaken.
Drawn to a subculture of sexual ambiguity,
drug abuse and thuggish violence, Johnny
begins to deteriorate rapidly, as blocked
memories of an abusive childhood try to
force their way out.
Smallhome's stated aim with "2 by 4"
was to depict the Irish American community
as it really is, rather than in terms of the
likable stereotypes most outsiders believe
in. His portrait, which comes directly from
his own experiences, has the authority of
lived experience, coupled with an impressive
if still developing willingness to experiment
with staging and visual effects.
Though made an ocean away from the
country of Smallhome's birth, "2 by 4" is
of a piece with the very best films to come
out of Ireland during the recent production
renaissance there. Specific without being
provincial, concerned and engaged without
getting preachy about it, this is a specialized
movie in the best sense—one that elevates
one man' s predicament to the level of something
far more universal. With "2 by 4,"
Jimmy Smallhome has constructed a film
that will stand. Ray Greene
GIRLS' NIGHT ^1/2
Starring Julie Walters, Brenda Blethyn
and Kris Kristofferson. Directed by Nick
Hurran. Written by Kay Mellor. Produced
by Bill Boyes. No distributor set. Comedy/drama.
Not yet rated. Running time:
106 min. Sundance screening category:
World Cinema.
Proudly displayed in the Sundance
Festival's World Cinema showcase as an
example of contemporary British filmmaking,
the insipid "Girls' Night" offers a compendium
of cliches which even the
outstanding performances of two gifted actresses
are unable to redeem. Brenda
Blethyn stars as the allegorically named
Dawn, a little ray of sunshine who shimmers
passively in the grey environs of a blue
collar British assembly line. Her firebrand
sister-in-law Jackie (Julie Walters) is everything
Dawn wishes she could be: a free
spirit sexually and a self-possessed woman
who stands up for herself on the job. When
Dawn hits it Dig at the local Bingo parlor,
she splits her winnings with Jackie against
her husband's wishes, enabling Jackie to
bail out of a loveless and violent marriage.
With our heroines awash in cash, the stage
is set for Big Adventure, but there's a complication:
Dawn, who has a cancer history,
has suffered from blurred vision lately, and
for some inexplicable reason, her hands are
beginning to shake...
Anyone who watches television can most
likely connect the dots from there, which is
unsurprising, given the fact that "Girls'
Night was co-financed by American cable
TV giant Showtime. The "lottery jackpot"
scenario has been a cliche since Rene Clair
invented it for the French classic "Le Million"
back in 1931, and terminal illness as
a device for supposedly earth-shaking revelations
about misplaced priorities is such
an overused TV plot device that its probable
anyone with a strong stomach and access to
a remote control could channel surf for days
without ever losing track of at least one
"deathbed conversion" plotline being
broadcast by somebody somewhere.
Not content to offer two cliches for the
price of one, screenwriter Kay Mellor sets
our distaff English odd couple out on the
road with the whole wide world before them
and ends up in the City of the Inevitable. Do
they go to Paris? Mais non. New York? Are
you kiddin'? Dawn gets to choose, and
there'sjust one place she's always dreamed
of seeing before she dies. It's Las Vegas, of
course, the middle class Mecca of choice for
lazy contemporary screenwriters drawn to
]ulie Walters, Kris Kristofferson and
Brenda Blethyn in "Girls' Night."
its garishness, its shallowness, and the
many opportunities it offers to show feckless
protagonists squealing with delight as
they nab the kind of instantaneous payoffs
that never seem to happen for anyone who'
ever been there, but which are apparently
the only kinds of secjuences gambling tycoons
are willing to give film crews permission
to shoot on America's casino floors.
A small saving grace is provided by Kris
Kristofferson, in a characteristically authoritative
and understated performance as
Walters' American dream lover. But the
pleasures of his cooly authentic presence
are offset by the ridiculous conceit of two
Brits stumbling into an honest to God
American cowboy almost as soon as they
step off the Concorde. Who but a British
scenarist would think to characterize the
U.S. in terms of a sodbusting horse jockey
so far into the dog days of the twentieth
century? Though the gullible may find a
cheap sentimental fix in the feelgood histrionics
of "Girls' Night," even the biggest
Blethyn and Walters fans would be well-advised
to wait out what's sure to be an abbreviated
theatrical run in anticipation of
Showtime' s eventual cablecast. The great
advantage of TV over moviehouses is, after
all, what it's always been: If you don't like
what you see, you can always just turn it
off.— Ray Greene
UNDER HEAVEN ^^1/2
Starring Joely Richardson, Aden Young
and Molly Parker. Directed by Meg Richman.
Screenplay by Meg Richman, based
on the novel "The Wings of the Dove" by
Henry James. Produced by Robin Schorr
and Brian Swardstorm. A Banner release.
Drama. Not yet rated. Running time: 112
min. Sundance screening category: Dramatic
Competition.
Color Meg Richman among the more
unfortunate writer/directors showcased at
Sundance in 1998. She struggles for years
to get her shot at directing, cobbles together
a perfectly acceptable first feature, and then
has the deep misfortune to base it on "The
Wings of the Dove," the 1902 novel by
American laureate Henry James so recently
and effectively adapted for the bigscreen
under its original title, set in its original
period.
"Under Heaven" takes place in modem
times, but that is one of the only substantive
differences between it and its critically-acclaimed
kissing cousin. Like "Wings of the
Dove," "Under Heaven" concerns an ambitious,
impoverished young couple who
hatch a scheme to make themselves millionaires.
Eleanor (Molly Parker), a lonely,
affluent divorcee is dying from cancer when
Cynthia (Joely Richardson) takes a job as
her caregiver. Her ineffectual ex-boyfriend
Buck (Aden Young) moves in, mostly for a
place stay; masquerading as Cynthia's
brother to avoid seeming suspicious, he
hires on as Eleanor's gardener.
The pickings are easy. But Cynthia, who
has spent her whole life trying to escape
from a white trash upbringing, has a better
idea: Aensing Eleanor's loneliness, she tells
Buck to make Eleanor fall for him and then
to propose marriage, so that when Eleanor
dies, all that money will become theirs.
Setting "Wings of the Dove" in modem
dress creates some odd and unintended effects.
A gothic romance in the spirit of "Jane
Eyre" or "Wuthering Heights," the original
novel deals in hyped-up emotions and
melodramatic declarations of undying love
which are totally unsuitable to contemporary
attitudes about relationships.
Richman' s script studiously avoids Jamesian
anachronisms and she has wisely directed
her actors to play against the material
with quietly understated performances,
which helps keep her updated "Dove" in
flight. But the situational mechanics of the
piece still can't help but seem a bit incredible
for a modem love story; after all, how
many wealthy people who aren't total neurotics
live in virtual isolation in the age of
e-mail, the telephone and the fax?
By setting James' scheming and avaricious
young couple down in the late 20th
century, Richman also runs afoul of a series
of movie cliches which didn't even exist
when "Dove" was first published in 1902.
Though meant to play as a sweeping and
tragic romance, "Under Heaven" too often
feels like a film noir without the murder.
And that, almost certainly, could not be
what this ill-starred young ou/fwroriginally
had in mind. Ray Greene
188 (R-34) BoxoFFiCE

—
SUNDANCE REVIEWS
RELAX...irS JUST SEX ^^^
Starring Mitchell Anderson, Jennifer
Tilly, Lori Petty and Cynda Williams.
Written and directed by P.J. Castallaneta.
Produced by Steven J. Wolfe, Megan
O'Neill and Harold Warren. No distributor
set. Comedy. Not yet rated. Running
time: 108 min. Sundance screening category:
American Spectrum.
Yet another gaycentric romantic comedy
presented courtesy of the Sundance Film
Festival, P.J. Castallaneta' s "Relax. ..It's
Just Sex" boasts an impressive cast, some
jjerceptive and witty dialogue, and a tone
that veers from light to dark and back again
with conviction, if not always convincingly.
Vincey (Mitchell Anderson) is a gay
playwright who's a failure at the long term
relationship thing. The tightly knit circle
that is his extended family is a peer group
that looks like America. There's Javi
Rogero (Eddie Garcia), his HIV-positive
gay Latino compadre. and Javi's straight
brother Gus (Timothy Paul Perez). There's
his best friend Tara (Jennifer Tilly), who's
desperate to have a baby by a willing Gus,
though the two of them are having trouble
defining the exact nature of their commitment.
There's African-American Sarina
(Cynda Williams) and Britisher Megan (Serena
Scott Thomas), lesbian longtime companions
on the verge of a bust-up, and
Robin (Lori Petty), the very butch other
woman, waiting in the wings. And then
there's Buzz (T.C. Carson), a gay African-American
artist who Vincey has a
crush on, but who doesn't like him back,
you know, that way.
The "One from Column A, Two from
Column B" casting takes some getting used
to; in his earnestness to make sure no
sexual or racial minority will feel slighted
watching his movie, Castallaneta has assembled
an ensemble that has the same air
of unreality which permeates most
children's television programming. It's as
if Castallaneta brought these undeniably
appealing folks together because he thinks
it'll be good for audiences to see such
harmony across all conceivable lifestyle
differences. And he's right, it is refreshing.
It's just that as a microcosm of Los
Angeles living, it plays a bit like science
fiction at times.
There's an ease and naturalness to the
performances, however, which pulls
things together, if only after awhile. But
just when things are getting cozy,
"Relax. ..It's Just Sex" takes a harsh if
riveting ideological turn, as Vincey and
Javi are the victims of a grimly believable
"fag bashing" from some hetero thugs.
Rescued at the last minute, a distraught
Vincey sodomizes one of the muggers at
knifepoint—an act which so disturbs his
friends, it threatens to drive their community
of opposites apart.
Though primarily gentle and knowing in
tone, "Relax. ..It's Just Sex" is unabashedly
a film with a political axe or two to grind.
Castallaneta extends the welcome mat to
general audiences, but he is unashamedly
down for the cause of gay liberation. The
price of admission to "Relax. ..It's Just Sex"
is to come with a sense of humor, and to
bring along an open mind. Ray Greene
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Response No. 296
Response No. 296
April, 1998 (R-35) 189

190 (R-36) BoxoFncE
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SUNDANCE
ONCE WE WERE
STRANGERS •••1/2
Starring Vincenzo Amato,
Jessica Whitney Gould andAnjalee
Deshpande. Written and
directed by Emanuele Crialese.
Produced by John P. Scholz
and Emanuele Crialese. No
distributor set. Comedy. Not yet
rated. Running time: 96 min.
Sundance screening category:
Dramatic Competition.
When a talented foreign director
makes an English-language
feature set in America,
the hoped for result is a work
and is now a naturalized U.S.
citizen. Apu's dilemma stems
from the f^ct that the time has
come for him to honor a decades-old
family commitment
by participating in an arranged
marriage with a woman (Ajay
Naidu) he hasn't laid eyes on
since he was eight years old.
Culture clash is the subject
that's foremost on Crialese'
mind. Antonio's gentle commitment
to following his heart is
contrasted with the compassionately
depicted big city neurosis
of his American lady love, while
Apu's lovely but provincial and
Response No. 184
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Response No 4
Anjalee Deshpande in "Once We Were Strangers."
that views the familiar with
brand new eyes. Happily, "Once
We Were Strangers, the gentle
and touching new debut from
Italian director Emanuele Crialese,
is just such a film—a bittersweet
story of love, romance
and heartache set within the
modern immigrant communities
of America's most romantic
and legendary big city, New
York.
The dual narrative follows
two young restaurant workers
and their very different quests
for love. Antonio (the delightful
Vincenzo Amato) is a Sicilian
chef who works in an
Italian restaurant, but whose
temperament is that of an artist.
When a pushy male patron
demands that he misprepare a
pasta dish, Antonio patiently
explains why he is incapable of
domg so, losing his job but
falling in love with the man's
date (Jessica Whitney) in the
process.
Antonio's best friend, Apu
(Anjalee Deshpande), came to
the U.S. from India as a child.
traditional new bride serves as a
reminder that, even for the most
naturalized and ambitious emigre,
there are some parts of the
past that neither can nor should
be cut away.
For American moviegoers
accustomed to the jagged editorial
rhythms that characterize
even most independent
U.S. product, the more easygoing
cadence of "Once We
Were Strangers" may come as
a shock. But Crialese' s very
European tendency to stage his
scenes with discretion, and to
let his characters create the
tempo of their own performances
without resorting to
editorial fakery, is just one of
the attributes that makes
"Once We Were Strangers"
such a refreshing experience.
A warm and encompassing
valentine to America as the
"Once We
haven of dreams,
Were Strangers" is a film that
seeks to heal the breaches in an
ethnically riven urban landscape,
and which succeeds on
every front.— Ray Greene

s
—
SUNDANCE
OUT OF THE PAST
•••
Produced and directed by
Jeff Dupre. Written by Michelle
Ferrari. No distributor
set. Documentary. Running
time: 65 min. Sundance
screening category: Documentary
Competition.
Stolid, well-intentioned and
utterly professional in execution,
"Out of the Past" is a welcome
attempt to reclaim several
key figures in the history of
American gay liberation from
the dustbin of history, where
generations of social prejudice
have unfairly consigned them.
Director Jeff Dupre has assembled
a representative sampling
of key figures of the still-incomplete
march toward inclusion
which gays and lesbians
have faced since the earliest
days of American history.
Using period photos and journal
entries read by actors including
Gwyneth Paltrow and
Edward Norton,
"Out of the
Past" focuses on such seminal
but unknown icons of gay
struggle as Michael
Wigglesworth, a Puritan cleric;
lesbian novelist Sarah Orne
Jewett; early 20th century gay
activist Henry Gerber; and African
American Civil Rights luminary
Bayard Rustin.
While each story is a study in
perseverance against legislative
and social bigotry, Rustin'
story exerts a particular fascination.
A key associate of Martin
Luther King and the primary
tactician behind King's famous
March on Washington, Rustin
was considered such a vital part
of King's entourage that his
own speech from the steps of
the Capitol immediately preceded
King's famous "I Have a
Dream" oration. Yet entrenched
as he was in this
century ' s most successful equal
rights movement, Rustin's sexuality
was often humiliatingly
rejected by his activist associates,
including King, who allowed
him to resign from the
movement he had helped
launch and nurture when a rival
civil rights figure threatened to
mount a false campaign claiming
that King and Rustin were
lovers.
The gay rights struggle remains
a difficult one, as Dupre
demonstrates by intercutting
his historical montage sequences
with contemporary
footage chronicling the story of
Kelli Peterson, a 17 year old
resident of Utah whose attempt
to found an association for Gay
students at her high school was
viewed as such a menace by
Utah's state school board that it
temporarily abolished all student
run school organizations
in order to avoid charges of bigotry
. Both gay and straight high
schoolers took to the streets,
and the triumphal outcome of
Peterson ' s actions ends "Out of
the Past" on an upbeat and
hopeful note.
If there is any complaint to
lodge against "Out of the Past,"
it is that it is perhaps a bit too
dry and textbookish. But then
again, that may be precisely the
point. The official heroes of
American history have had
their lives and exploits chronicled
in just such scholarly undertakings
since the invention
of the documentary form. What
"Out of the Past" reminds us of
is the ways that America, despite
its declared belief in tolerance
and equality, has
frequently overlooked and
ghettoized .the immeasurable
social and artistic contributions
of millions of its citizens, based
on sexual taboos and prejudices.
It's a legacy of oppression
which, as this detailed and
quietly passionate movie assures
us, we simply must, and
therefore shall, overcome.
Ray Greene
HOW TO MAKE THE
CRUELEST MONTH
••1/2
Starring Clea Du Vail, Gabriel
Mann and Marianne
Jean-Baptiste. Written and directed
by Kip Koenig. Produced
by Alison Dickey and
Mark Upson. No distributor
Comedy. Not yet rated.
set.
Running time: 100 min. Sundance
screening category:
Dramatic Competition.
"Quirky" is one of the things
audiences expect from independent
film—something off
the beaten path, original,
unique. What this means is that
there's actually a market force
at work which occasionally encourages
ambitious young
filmmaJcers to load up their attempts
at break out indie success
with non-sequitur gags,
idiosyncratic characters, and
wayward plotlines, in the hope
that so many reviewers will
praise the specialness of their
"vision" that they'll be able to
move quickly into making
those big studio numbers they
so obviously aspire to.
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flMponae No. 67
SUNDANCE
Just such a work is "How to
Make the Crudest Month," a
"collegiate angst" romantic
comedy replete with direct address
first person narration, the
obligatory alterna-rock
soundtrack, and enough offbeat
characters to populate a medium-sized
psychiatric ward. A
cross between "Reality Bites,"
'30s screwball comedies like
"You Can't Take It With You,"
and the fair-to-middling Woody
Allen relationship comedy of
your choice, "HTMTCM" revolves
around the romantic misadventures
of mid-twentysomething
Bell Bryant (Clea Du
Vail) as she goes looking for
love in all the wrong places.
Bell is bright, cynical and unconventionally
beautiful, and
she delivers her lines in a worldweary
imitation of Winona
Ryder's "Beetlejuice" monotone,
which is how we know
she's the main character. Leonard
(Gabriel Mann), her braindead
ex-boyfriend, drifts in and
out of her life as an excuse for
some supposedly funny but actually
rather cruel comedic
setpieces, including one in
which Bell makes love with him
in the back seat of a car and then
tries to run him over when he
fails to say he loves her on cue.
The next thing you know, a
naked Leonard is being attended
to by Christina Parks
(Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a
sexually voracious middleaged
black woman who's
about to divorce her obsessed
fisherman husband Manhattan
(Dennis Haysbert) because his
"American Sportsman"-like
cable access TV show matters
to him more than she does.
Manhattan, meanwhile, suspects
some British TV magnates
are trying to assassinate
him to gain control of his program,
so he enlists Leonard's
punked out, just-passed-thestate-bar-exam
roommate for
legal protection. Which leads
to hilarious plot complications
when...
But what's the use? Of course
it's impossible to synopsize—it
doesn't have a story. Where the
plot should be, there's just a series
of comedic riffs, which replicate
according to a bacterial
model, fanning out into the
bloodstream of ^'HTMTCM" in
all directions in a calculated attempt
to show off writer-director
Kip Koenig's supposed
eccentric side.
Give Koenig some credit—
few of his JoKes are actually
funny, particularly the John
Grisham parody asides that find
their way into the Manhattan
Parks subplot. And Clea Du
Vail is clearly a talented young
performer—she'd be terrific if
she weren't saddled with playing
ennui all the time (when will
this whole prefabricated, deadpan
"Generation X" protagonist
thing go away, anyhow)?
All of which is a long-winded
way of saying that "How to
Make the Crudest Month,"
while it isn't exactly worthless,
isn't exactly a movie worth
going out of your way for, either.
As an indie auteur
Koenig's got the "quirky" thing
down pat, but the "vision" thing
largely escapes him. After all, to
have a "vision" doesn't your
movie have to be about something?—^fly
Greene
MISS MONDAY •••1/2
Starring James Hicks, Andrea
Hart and Nick Moran.
Directed by Benson Lee.
Written by Benson Lee, Richard
Morel and Paul Leyden. Produced
by Steve Smith and Benson
Lee. No distributor set.
Drama. Not yet rated. Running
time: 97 min. Sundance screening
category: Dramatic Competition.
For approximately the first
third of its running time, "Miss
Monday" is one of those "uh oh"
experiences familiar to
festivalgoers everywhere.
James Hicks is Roman, a motormouthed
filmmaker wannabe
attempting to write a new script.
Locks shorn to resemble one of
the leads from "Trainspotting,"
apartment decorated with carefully
selected movie posters
which seem to serve no other
purpose but to give our protagonist
an opportunity to do bad
impersonations of Brando and
Eastwood, Hicks rampages
around the screen for a solid half
hour giving an annoying demonstration
of just the kind of
character a novice filmmaker
who doesn't get out much might
gravitate to: the narcissistic film
geek, enamored with his own
cleverness.
We think we've been here before,
but it turns out we haven't.
Because Roman, following the
kind of received wisdom creative
advice film schools specialize
in, decides to research nis
screenplay from life, using a
unique approach: breaking and
entering into the apartment of
just the sort of frigid business
woman his
"Miss Monday"
opus seeks to chronicle.

—
—
SUNDANCE
What he finds is something
totally unexpected—a tragic
and at times horrifying behind
the scenes glimpse of a life of
not-so-quiet psychosexual desperation.
"Miss Monday's"
cold exterior turns out to be a
mask, behind which a lost soul
has been warped by loneliness
into an almost subhuman creature
of despair. The intimate details
of a typical night in her life
are so vividly and believably
rendered that some audience
unable to
members may be
withstand what they see.
As Gloria, the woman in
question, Scottish actress Andrea
Hart gives a harrowing,
career- making performance.
Called upon to enact a series of
uncomfortably theatrical sequences
of self-degradation, including
a binge-purge episode
almost too horrifying to watch,
Hart somehow manages to
maintain audience sympathy
for a woman in utter emotional
torment.
An arduous viewing experience
that ends on a surprisingly
touching grace note. "Miss
Monday" is a classic example
of how a great performance elevates
everything it touches.
It's impossible to say if first
time director Benson Lee is a
talent to watch, or if he was just
lucky enough to catch lighting
in a bottle by casting Ms, Hart.
But either way. "Miss Monday"
offers challenging viewing for
those who can stomach the dark
and despairing trajectory it
traces. Ray Greene
FRAT HOUSE iri^irir
Directed and produced by
Todd Phillips and Andrew
Garland. No distributor set.
Documentary. Running time:
60 min. Sundance screening
category: Documentary Competition.
A chilling and at times hilarious
look at the sadistic, groupthink
mentality of America's
college fraternity system, "Frat
House" takes the documentary
expose format and turns it on its
head, thanks to its co-directors'
willingness to go to any extreme
to get their story on film.
What starts out as a dispassionate
and unflinching look at a
single fraternity's hazing rituals
devolves into a harrowing
personal odyssey for
filmmakers Todd Phillips and
Andrew Gurland when their
unruly subjects (headed by a
crewcut thug with the unlikely
nickname of "Blossom") turn
against them and pull them into
the drama.
Their possessions vandalized
and their lives threatened
in front of their own cameras,
Phillips and Gurland find themselves
in a situation that is
every documentarian's nightmare:
Their access has been cut
off. just as their film reaches its
most critical production phase.
Phillips and Gurland do what
any dedicated documentarian
is supposed to do. They scour
the country for another fraternity
willing to let them capture
the final stages of hazing on
film. But the only frat willing
to admit them into its clandestine
inner sanctum exacts a
high price for access: Phillips
and Gurland will be required to
endure the horrible rituals they
have so far merely chronicled
as fraternity "pledges," and if
both fall by the wayside, their
shooting will be effectively
over.
For obvious reasons, "Frat
House" plays more like a narrative
drama than a standard
documentary. Adrift in a sea of
beer-blasts, fascist rhetoric and
teenage vomit. Phillips and
Gurland pull off some amazing,
at times even brave, footage
from the frontlines of a
macho subculture built on the
concept of incipient and actual
violence.
If "Frat House" has a flaw,
it' s in the whiff of unacknowledged
opportunism which surrounds
the undertaking.
Phillips in particular seems
well aware of the sensationalistic
asf)ects of the project, but his
solemn narration, riddled with
pretensions to Big Meanings
when it isn't preoccupied with
a Dragnet-like recitation ofjust
the facts, ma'am, never hints at
the giddy ambition that informs
his film's every frame.
Though the Sundance jury
prize it split with the vastly inferior
documentary "The
Farm" was a richly (and solely)
deserved accolade, some of the
unsparing honesty the "Frat
House" duo directed at their ostensible
subject matter could
have been rewardingly applied
to the directors themselves.
Given the context. Phillips and
Gurland are literal muckrakers
trying to pass themselves off as
a latter-day Woodward and
Bernstein. The irony is that the
lively and vivid "Frat House" is
exactly the kind of investigative
exercise capable of giving
genuine muckraking a very
good name. Ray Greene
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PALM SPRINGS REVIEWS
I'M CRAZY ABOUT IRIS BLOND
• ••1/2
Starring Carlo Verdone, Claudia Gerini
and Andrea FerreoL Directed by Carlo Verdone.
Written by Carlo Verdone, Francesca
Marciano and Pasquale Plastino. Produced
by Vittorio Cecchi Goriand Rita Ceccfii Gori
A Miramax release. Comedy. Italian, subtitled.
Not yet rated. Running time: 112 min.
Romeo (Carlo Verdone) has a problem.
He's a talented, funny musician, but the
women he dates in his music circles wind
up breaking up with him for better looking
(if mentally slower) guys. He gets dumped
by a current flame in a riotously funny opening
scene, and out of desperation runs to a
brash, blind, tarot-card reader who informs
him that he will soon meet the woman of his
dreams, and her name will be that of a flower.
He soon meets Marguerite, a singer with a
knack for lounge interpretations of Jacques
Brel, during his next gig as pianist on a cruise
ship. Thinking she's the one, they embark on
a wild relationship that spirals downward
from the day they meet, and ends soon after
he meets a beautiful waitress named Iris.
After stumbling upon her again, this time
rehearsing with a church choir, Romeo, desperate
to enter into a relationship with her,
suggests that they perform together, start an
act, and tour the world. She agrees to the
idea, but her desire for a music career outweighs
all else. He misinterprets her interest
m the idea as interest in him. All hell
breaks loose and our boy Romeo is, again,
in fear of losing his predestined true love.
"I'm Crazy About Iris Blonde" is the kind
of wonderful, rousing, non-stop romantic
comedy that has an American pedigree, but
remains a rarity on these shores since Billy
Wilder quit the business. The plot, the actors
and the relationships feel genuine, and the
humor is so universal and gut-bustingthat the
tears in your eyes blur the subtitles. The only
glaring problem with the piece is a messy
Siird act that could use the drastic cutting of
two musical performances, and the elimination
of a scene where Romeo goes on the
road in search of his love. Jon A. Walz
KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR
•••
Starring Til Schweiger and Jan Josef
Liefers. Directed by Thomas Jahn. Written
by Thomas Jahn and Til Schweiger.
Produced by Til Schweiger. A Buena Vista
release. Drama. German, subtitled. Notyet
rated. Running time: 86 min.
Germany's favorite hyphenate, Til
Schweiger, has thrown the key elements
from a handful of recent popular films into
a pot and concocted a stylish and sometimes
touching cinematic stew called "Knocking
on Heaven's Door."
Two Tarantino rip-offs in standard-issue
black suits and standard-issue shiny guns
are enlisted by a mob boss to drive a car
containing a hidden briefcase of cash to a
contact across Germany. On the way to their
destination, the rip-off guys hit a pedestrian,
and showing their hearts of gold, take him
to a nearby hospital.
Meanwhile, two of the hospital's terminal
cancer cases, Martin (Schweiger) and
Rudi (Jan Liefers), are close to giving up on
life and plan an escape from the hospital on
a quest to fulfill one life-long dream each:
One wants to have sex with two women, the
other wants to see the ocean.
Breaking into a car—the one belonging to
the mob boss, of course—they hit the road and
are soon mistaken by the media and law enforcement
for the boss' henchmen as they
blaze towards the ocean on an accidental
crime spree. Finding the money in the trunk
compUcates their mission, but as they reach
the end of the line, they bump up against the
inevitability of their lives. Jon A. Walz
Drama. Not yet rated.
THINGS I NEVER TOLD YOU ^1/2
Starring Lili Taylor, Andrew McCarthy
and Seymour Cassel. Written and directed
by Isabel Coixet. Produced by Eddie Saeta,
Don Medrano and Javier Carbo. A Seventh
Art release.
Running time: 91 min.
Will the tide of independent movies featuring
attractive young ensemble casts in neurotic
crises over the complexities of life ever
cease? "Things I Never Told You" works
overtime attempting to convince its audience
that the glowing sincerity of its characters
alone is enough to mask an otherwise by-thenumbers
plot that aspires to "Singles" or
"Beautiful Girls" but delivers much less.
Lili Taylor and Andrew McCarthy are
good as two lonely souls in a small seaside
city: she, a sales clerk who was suddenly
dumped by her boyfriend; and he, a real
estate agent who moonlights as a crisis hotline
operator. The two meet by chance and
discover, after muddling though Coixet'
painfully dull dialogue, that even love is
powerless against the black emptiness that
can consume the heart. Only after a tragedy
that almost takes one of the character' s lives
does a connection begin between these
two.
Jon A. Walz
CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE
(no stars)
Starring Peter Meissel and Anna
Wetlinska. Written and directed by Jan
Svankmajer. Produced by Jaromir
Kallista. A Zeitgeist release. Drama.
Czech, silent. Notyet rated. Running time:
83 min.
Six residents of Prague begin slowly building
strange objects to help satisfy their sexual
fetishes. One designs an elaborate system of
robotic arms, while another sculpts a large
chicken head, and another compulsively rolls
little pieces of bread into little balls. A man
in a full chicken suit tries to impale his
neighbor's huge rag doll. A women strokes
her pet fish. A man follows a woman and
tries to snip off a piece of her jacket.
This is the extent of notorious Czech
surrealist Jan Svankmajer's new mess of a
film. If you enjoy your movies with acting,
dialogue and a plot. "Conspirators of Pleasure"
is not for you; if you crave sadistic,
pedantic and absolutely incomprehensible
surrealism. Czech it out. Jon A. Walz
KNOWLEDGE OF HEALING iridic
With Dr. Tenzin Choedrak, H.H. Tenzin
Gyatso XVI. Dalai Lama. Directed by
Franz Reichle. Produced by Marcel
Hoehn. An In Pictures release. Documentary.
Swiss-language; subtitled. Not rated.
Running time: 90 min.
Franz Reichle introduces us to the wonders
of Tibetan Medicine in his reverent
documentary, "Knowledge of Healing."
Several doctors who practice and study
eastern and western medical philosophies
are interviewed and share their insight into
the properties of healing with herbs, roots
and minerals. The Dalai Lama herein proposes
a unique thesis that eastern medicine
combined with some aspects of western
medicine might be the most effective
method of medical treatment.
The film is most powerful when it shows
actual patients—including a nun that has
been tortured by the Chinese during a protest—being
treated with ancient, ordained
practices that have been around since the
eleventh century. Many of these patients
were told by western practitioners that there
was nothing that could be done for them.
Unfortunately the film only glimpses at
the miracles that can be achieved using
Tibetan techniques and leaves the viewer
craving more information on this obscure
precept of healing. In doing so, perhaps, the
filmmakers have achieved their goal of
piquing the interest of the public and leaving
them the task of seeking out more detailed
information. Michelle Santilli
BETTY ••
Starring Cheryl Pollak, Holland Taylor
and Ron Perlman. Written and directed by
Richard Murphy. Produced by Stephen
Gregory and Cheryl Pollak. A Legacy release.
Drama. Not yet rated. Running
time: 87 min.
This slow, deliberate character study of a
top female movie star who has a mental breakdown
and flees a $70-million movie in midshoot
to hide in relative anonymity Palm
Springs, Calif., strives for a level of philosophic
depth and humor that in concept may
have been appealing, but in execution suffers
from a lethally slow pace and an inability
to resolve the same emotional issues that
drives the meager storyline to begin with.
Betty (Cheryl Pollak), desperate for an authentic
connection to the kind of "iieal life" she
sees other "real people" leading, attempts to
assuage her compulsive neuroses by trying a
numter of "normal" jobs like pool cleaning,
grocery delivery, and door-to-door miraclecosmetic
sales. Nothing seems to help ease
her pain or addiction, save for a wildly
insane moment when she finds pure joy in
dumping dozens of boxes of Froot Loops
into her rented pool and slowing fishing
them back out with a big pool net.
Writer and director Richard Murphy has
crafted a polished and at times stylish movie
with "Betty." Despite its many narrative
shortcomings, the film has moments of visual
clarity that lend a real understanding of
the madness in Betty's head. Sadly, that's
all the movie has to offer. Jon A. Walz

—
'
'
—
Aoril. 1998 (R-41) 195
PALM SPRINGS REVIEWS
THE ACCOMPANIMENT •••1/2
Starring Shabana Azmi, Zakir Hussain
and Aruna Irani. Directed and written by
Sai Paranjpye. Produced by Mahesh Bhatt
and Amit Khanna. No distributor set.
Drama. Indian-language; subtitled. Not
yet rated. Running time: 152 min.
Beautifully filmed and lovingly told.
'The Accompaniment" explores the ups
and downs and unbreakable bonds between
two sisters in India.
After the death of their parents, Bansi
(Shabana Azmi) and Mansi (Aruna Irani)
must learn to take care of each other. Mansi,
the eldest, finds work as a playback singer
in the film industry. Both women have musical
talent, a gift from their father, but
Mansi has decided that Bansi should instead
marry and have children in order to honor
their father by keeping his name alive. But
Bansi wants to sing as well. Mansi is reluctant
to help her and is not pleased when she
finds success. Bansi is troubled by her problems
with her sister which lead her to a
psychiatrist.
Shabana Azmi plays Bansi with poise
and grace. Writer/director Sai Paranjpye,
rather than drawing the characters as purely
evil or completely good, has created real,
three-dimensional people. She clearly
demonstrates the innate rivalry between the
sisters, not to mention the deep love they
have for each other. This complexity of
character deeply enhances the fine storytelling.
Cinematographer G.S. Bhaskar
beautifully lenses the numerous flashbacks
as well as the present action, creating distinct
moods.
The film does extend its initial focus of
the two sisters to include Bansi's romance
with a modem singer, which detracts from
the heart of the story and makes the film
drag. Nonetheless, "The Accompaniment"
is a wonderful film that should not be
missed. Michelle Santilli
FORGOTTEN LIGHT
•••
Starring Boleslav Polivka, Veronika
Zilkova and Peter Kavan. Directed by Vladimir
Michalek. Written by Milena
Jelinek. Produced by Alice Nemanska and
Jana Tomsova. No distributor set. Drama.
Czech-language; subtitled. Not yet rated.
Running time: 101 min.
Based on a novel from the late '30s, "A
Forgotten Light" is a surprisingly genuine
and affecting meditation on a fictional conflict
between a small Catholic Church and
the Communist politics of Czechoslovakia.
Father Holy of the St. Heruy parish is in
desperate need of a larger, more supportive
congregation, not to mention a new roof on
the church. Bank loans and help from local
businesspeople have been out of the question
for quite some time. The government,
discovering the structural problems at the
church, send inspectors to close it, deeming
it unsafe for children.
After being shunned by the governmental
office charged with the preservation of historic
churches, and even denounced by the
leaders of his own church, he is forced to
re-examine the course of his life. He, like
his country and countrymen, must grapple
with the reality that the church is, perhaps,
outliving its function in society.
To its detriment, the film' s encompassing
focus on the big themes obscures the story
of the equally interesting but more fragile
relationsnips. Holy floats through situations
rather than being proactive in them:
when a person's every belief is challenged,
and his emotional and economic livelihood
is taken away, an almost primal passion is
expected to emerge. Here, Holy's passivity
might be an intentional, while misguided,
effort by the filmmakers to comment on the
Catholic Church as they view it today.
"A Forgotten Light" is satisfying on
many levels, the deepest of which is its
analysis of the role church and religion play
in modem society. (Holy and his town get
some divine intervention, and wind up with
the big, Hollywood-style happy ending.
God bless 'em.) Jon A. Walz
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Response No. 112

——
196 (R-42) BoxoFFiCE
— —
—
PALM SPRINGS REVIEWS
•••^
BAG OF RICE
Starring Masuine Eskandari and
Jairan Abadzade. Directed by Mohammed-Ali
Talebi Far. Written by Hushang
Meradi and Mohammed-Ali Talebi Far.
Produced by Mara Iwata and Uta
Miyamoto. No distributor set. Comedy. Iranian-language;
subtitled. Not yet rated.
Running time: 80 min.
With "Bag of Rice," director Mohammed-Ali
Talebi Far has created a poetic,
appealing and delightful family film that all
will enjoy. Jairan (Jairan Abadzade) is too
young to go to school and sick of staying
home with her mother, cooped up and doing
chores. She is a rambunctious child who
bores easily and wants nothing more than
to play in the park. So when her elderly
neighbor, Mrs. Khanoom (Masume Eskandari),
who is almost blind, needs to go
to the market for a bag of rice, Jairan readily
agrees to help the woman find the way. This
errand may seem elementary but, in the
hands of Jairan and Mrs. Khanoom, it falls
into the realm of "The Incredible Journey."
Several times the pair gets lost but, the kindness
of strangers dways seems to save them.
Abadzade exhibits a remarkable range of
emotion and immediately wins the affection
of the audience. She is extremely engaging
and enjoyable to watch. Eskandari
delivers her lines with such a hilariously dry
bent that she is never overshadowed by the
adorable child. Michelle Santilli
THE DARK SIDE OF VENUS ••
Starring Agniesdca Wagner, Jan Englert
and Pawel Delag. Written and directed
by Radostaw Piwowarski. Produced
by Jerzy Buchwald. No distributor set.
Drama. Polish, subtitled. Not yet rated.
Running time: 95 min.
A young housewife, Eva (Agnieszka
Wagner), is slowly driven to madness when
a mysterious girl admits to having a long,
passionate love affair with Eva's aloof husband.
Trouble is, the young girl might just
be a figment of her imagination.
Nevertheless, Eva finally confronts her
husband, who does not confess or deny the
allegations of an affair, having the effect of
totally bottoming her out. In a very "Fatal
Attraction" moment, Eva claims to have
just served up the barbecued remains of his
favorite cat as a dinner entree. Compelling
moments like this are few in the picture;
most sequences are quiet, simple, and rarely
challenging. Jon A. Walz
PASSAGE •••
Starring Jacek Borkowski and
Malgorzata Kozuchowska. Directed by
Juraj Herz. Written by Christian Rullierand
Juraj Herz. Produced by Jan Bilek, Eve
Vercel, Robert Nador and Patrick Quinet.
No distributor set. Drama. Czech, subtitled.
Not yet rated. Running time: 98 min.
"Passage" is a tremendous celebration of
the power and influence of movies—a dissonant
tribute to Franz Kafka, Fedrico Fellini
and Martin Scorsese's "After Hours." It is
so challenging a work that the director admitted
before the screening that each time
he watches it he, himself^ gets closer to
discovering what it is about.
Midway through a tough commute home
from the office, Michail (Jacek Borkowski)
gives up on the traffic and heads for a
nearby Passage, or shopping mall as we
know them, to purchase an anniversary gift
for his wife. Upon entering, things don't
seem quite right: everyone greets him with
evocative and mysterious gazes, thejewelry
store that agrees to hold his gift while he
shops inexplicably closes early, and the innocent-looking
girl who is selHng roses one
moment and is in the men's bathroom the
next, literally killing a man with her sexual
technique.
Each contact takes him deeper and deeper
into this cavernous lair. Only after stumbling
into the Passage's movie theatre and
seeing several previous scenes of his life
projected up on the screen does the film
finally begin to take shape. As movie cameras
whiz by recording and exaggerating
Michail's movements, and as more and
more of the protagonist's reality is replaced
with sheer fantasy, the film achieves a surreal
sense of wonderment, which finally
crumbles into an ending that is more unsatisfactory
than it is unexpected. Nevertheless,
this is a rare movie where style and
substance meet and dance. Special note
must be taken of the extraordinary
camerawork by Jiri Machane and editing by
Jan Svoboda. Jon A. Walz
HEADLESS CHICKEN ^•^
Starring Nathalie Schmidt, Dominique
Duthuit and Aure Atika. Directed by
Franck Landron. Written by Franck
Landron and Gilles Cahoreau. A Les
Films en Hiverproduction. No distributor
set. Comedy. French-language; subtitled.
Not yet rated. Running time: 90 min.
Franck Landron has created a fun, whimsical
comedy based solely on the idea of an
accidental pregnancy; under his deft hand,
"Headless Chicken" sustains the audience's
full attention. He approaches a touchy subject
boldly and without reserve, exploring
all the emotions that a woman might go
through if in this predicament.
Rebecca (Nathalie Schmidt) got pregnant
at a wild New Year's Eve party, but has
absolutely no idea how it happened. She
and her friends were so drunk that the events
of the evening are quite foggy. The group
of women compile a list of the male party
guests in an attempt to ascertain the culprit;
however, the guys imbibed that night as
well and cannot remember or won't admit
to sleeping with Rebecca. This forces the
women to concoct clever inquisitions and
go to whatever means necessary, including
stripping a guy naked under the guise of art,
in order to find the father. Rebecca goes
through a myriad of emotions, but never
falters in her quest for paternity.
Schmidt as Rebecca obviously relishes
the wackiness of her clothing designer character.
Schmidt is brilliantly runny while still
maintaining the vulnerable humanity of her
character. Michelle Santilli
SCRATCH THE SURFACE ••
With Brooke Shields, Phoebe Cates and
Whitney Houston. Written, directed and
produced by Torn Fitzpatrick. No distributor
set. Documentary. Running time: 71 min.
As a popular teen covergirl in the early
80s, "Scratch the Surface" director Tara
Fitzpatrick must have tremendous insight
into the vague, enigmatic and perhaps misunderstood
business of teen modeling: the
pressures, favoritism, exploitation, modelmg
agency wars, anorexia, and drugs, not
to mention family and school. Unfortunately,
"Scratch the Surface" only does
what its title suggests. It is surprising that a
documentarian with such access and such a
noble agenda—to shatter the notion that
"beauty is skin deep"—could deliver a film
with content that rarely probes deeper than the
skin level. It was, however, interesting to see
the "human" side of several of the more famous
ex-models, especiaUy when reminiscing
about how their lives could have been
different, for better and for worse, had they
never gotten into modelling Jon A. Walz
KILER iririrm
Starring Jan Englert. Directed by
Juliusz Machulski. Written by Piotr
Weresniak. A Canal+IS.F. Zebra/ITI Cinema
production. No distributor set. Dramatic
comedy. Polish-language; subtitled.
Not yet rated. Running time: 104 min.
After another unsolved murder by a celebrated
yet unidentified serial hitman, a
brash, stupid Polish police investigator arrests
a quiet young man named Jurek Kiler
(Jan Englert). Although obviously innocent,
having a name that is pronounced
"killer" instantly dooms him.
Thrown in jail and instantly worshipped
by the inmates, Kiler begins to believe his
new hype, and rather comically takes on the
guise of tough-guy killer. When a rather
large, jealous inmate who steals and eats
Kiler' s dinner suddenly dies on the spot,
Kiler' s stature as a pop culture hero is
born. (The inmate actually died after
swallowing a salt shaker top that Kiler
had accidentally dropped into the food.)
After an escape, a crime boss enlists
Kiler' s services for a heist at the airport.
Confused yet confident, Kiler does his best
to assure the boss that he can take care of
the deal. He does, and turns the tables on
everyone, including the real killer who has
been tracking Kiler the whole time in hopes
of scoring the heist money for himself.
The serial-killer-as-media-darling was
given a quasi-vaudevillian treatment in
Natural Bom Killers," a blank-faced treatment
of the subject that embarrassed itself
each time it attempted humor or farce. Here,
refreshingly, a big wink greets every movement
Kiler makes. The audience cheers for
him to shake off both the mob and the police
at every turn. "Kiler" has a wonderful sense
of pace, but falls flat in the moments when
it promotes plot complexity over humor.
Virtually every behind-the-scenes dealing
between the competing crime figures or the
police stop the storyline dead in its tracks.
But when it works, it kills. Jon A. Walz

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Anril. 1998 ^R-4.^^ 197
PALM SPRINGS REVIEWS
THE BRIDE'S JOURNEY iririric
Starring Sergio Rubini, Giovanna
Mezzogiomo and Carlo Mucari. Directed by
Sergio Rubini Written by Umberto Marino,
Filippo Ascione, Rajfaele Nigro and Sergio
RubinL Produced by Vittorio Cecchi Gori
and Rita Cecchi Goru No distributor set.
Dramatic comedy. Italian-language; subtitled.
Not yet rated. Running time: 104 min.
A young woman (Giovanna Mezzogiomo)
must travel from the confines of a convent
to the town of her future husband, who she
has never met, far across Italy. Along the
way, she confronts for the first time real life
and tragedy, and is forced to grow from
innocent little girl to woman quickly.
She's entrusted to the care of escort Palagamo
(Carlo Mucari). biitiaUy contemptuous
and suspicious of one another, they slowly
begin to form a bond of trust. She, in a hilarious
bit, even helps to teach him to read—
lesson that would change his life. Passionately
drawn to one another by the end. they must
decide whether or not to continue the trip.
A dry eye will never see the ending of this
picture. Filled with outstanding acting, plotting,
photography and dialogue, "A Bride's
Journey" is an absolute winner on all fiDnts.
Rubini proves himself to be just as adept, and
natural in front of the camera as behind it, and
backs himself up with actors and technical
collaborators of equal rank. Jon A. Walz
STONE BRIDGE irir
Starring Tomas Hanak and Roman
Sittova. Directed and produced by Tomas
Vorel. Written by Jaroslav Dusek and
Tomas Vorel. No distributor set. Drama.
Czech-language; subtitled. Not yet rated.
Running time: 98 min.
Tomas (Tomas Hanak) was once a talented
young filmmaker, but changes in politics
have left him, as well as many other
Czech artists, disenfranchised and lost. He
is now a vagabond who roams the city and
sleeps under a bridge at night. His parents
are equally a mess. His artist father finds
solace in the bottle while his mother sells
dwarf figurines in a vain attempt to support
the family financially as well as emotionally.
Meanwhile, his wife is having an affair
with an old school chum, who, when bumping
into him at her apartment, urges him to
start writing again and offers him a job.
Everyone in "Stone Bridge" is lost and
without purpose, not knowing how they fit
into the world since the death of Communism
in Czechoslovakia. Hanak as Tomas
offers some much-needed comic relief
when he occasionally drops by his wife's
place merely to raid the fridge. Unfortunately,
however, the majority of the film
remains quite dark with characters and
a storyline that never achieve focus.
Michelle Santilli
HARD-BOILED EGG ^^
Starring Edoardo Gabbriellini, Matteo
Campus and Malcolm Lunghi. Directed
by Paolo Virzi. Written by Francesco
Bruni, Paolo Virzi and Purio Scarpelli.
Produced by Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Rita
Cecchi Gori. No distributor set. Drama.
Italian-language; subtitled. Not yet rated.
Running time: 101 min.
Piero (Edoardo Gabbriellini) is growing
up in a lower-class neighborhood with his
rather dysfunctional family. His brother is
mentally retarded and likes to kiss everybody
he sees. Piero tries to look after him,
having been forced to take on this responsibility
since his mother died. (His unemployed
father, who brought home his
pregnant girlfriend to live with them immediately
after the mother's death, got himself
promptly thrown in jail.)
Books and studying are the only things in
which Piero finds peace. He proves to be
quite a proficient student and qualifies for
an advanced placement school. There he
makes new friends and learns the perils of
falling in love.
"Hard-Boiled Egg" opens with a quick
pace and comical viewpoint, but director
Paolo Virzi switches tone partway through,
leaving the audience a bit confused. The
film does have fine moments, but tends to
be too drawn out. Michelle Santilli
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Response No. 45
Response No. 441

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TORONTO REVIEWS
MARIE BAIE DBS ANGES ^^1/2
Starring Vahina Giocante, Frederic
Malgras, Amira Casar and David Kilner.
Directed and written by Manuel Pradal.
Produced by Philippe Rousselet. A Sony
Classics release. Drama. French-language;
English subtitles. Rated Rfor violence
including some sexual assaults,
sexuality, language and teen lawlessness.
Running time: 90 min. Opens 7/3.
Usually the last place one would set a
movie about street kids is somewhere like
the French Riviera, with its brightly intoxicating
colors, but this is where Manuel
Pradal places this unusual and doomed love
story about a young thief and his streetwise
girlfriend. Marie (Vahina
Giocante) is a 15-year-old who is
already her own woman, living off
the food, champagne and affections
of U.S. sailors and anyone
who can show her a good time.
Orso (Frederic Malgras) is a petty
thief with hooded eyes who's used
to keeping to himself. When they
meet, his eyes finally open and, for
the first time, she feels something
more than transient desire. But
their attempts at idyllic love come
crashing down when they revert
back to the survival instincts
they've chosen to live by.
In technical terms, this is an
amazingly fluid piece of work,
even though Pradal's script is
so
elliptical that it' s hard to keep track
of the events happening in the
story. Sometimes tne film evokes Jean-Luc
Godard's love of movement (in which
movement itself tells the story), but Pradal
is not yet the confident storyteller who can
pull this off successfully. Giocante is a great
camera subject with hints of the young Bardot,
or Sandrine Bonnaire in "A Nos
Amours," but some part of her is still obscure.
Malgras' brooding isn't too eloquent,
either; he seems remote in ways that don't
always engage the audience. And, by the
time they find each other and fall in love,
their fate doesn't really seem too consequential.
Kevin Courrier
HENRY FOOL irifir
Starring Thomas Jay Ryan, James
Urbaniak and Parker Posey. Directed, written
andproduced by Hal Hartley. Drama. A
Sony Classics release. Rated R for strong
sexuality, violence and language. Running
time: 137 min. Opens 6/17.
Hal Hartley's latest film is a marked departure
for the independent filmmaker; it's
darker, riskier and more ambitious than his
usual fare. "Henry Fool" is the name of a
chainsmoking, dishevelled writer who
enters the life of Simon Grim, a near-catatonic
garbage man who many, including
his family, treat as if he's mentally retarded.
But Henry sees something promising
in Simon and takes the younger man
under his wing. It turns out that there is
more to Simon than meet.s the eye and his
epic poem stirs the type of passions and
reactions that Henry, who can't get his
198 (R-44) BoxoFFiCE
manuscript published, can only dream of
generating.
Hartley is drawing on autobiographical
experiences here, of a talented and original
filmmaker who is often surpassed by lesser
luminaries. But is it Simon or Henry who is
the real genius? That Hartley doesn't spell
that out is one of the film's great strengths.
Ironically, the title character isn't one of
the reasons that the movie is so compelling.
Henry, in fact, is a garrulous bore, who
quickly grows tedious.
That may be what the character is really
all about but it still needs to be rendered
more interestingly on screen. It's the layered
Simon and our identification with
James Urbaniak, Thomas jay Ryan, Nicholas Hope, Parker
and Miho Nikaido in Sony Classics' "Henry Foot.
someone who is consistently underestimated
that gives the film its quiet
power.
Hartley directs in a claustrophobic manner,
depicting Simon's family, including
his foul mouthed but lonely sister (Parker
Posey) who becomes involved with Henry,
in a florid, flamboyant manner, reminiscent
of the dysfunctional family in Trust, his best
film. But the undercurrent of sadness and
defeat that runs through "Henry Fool" is
new. "Henry Fool" does go on too long and
has its pretentious moments, but it's also a
film of great intent from a writer/director
who doesn't want to stand still. Shlomo
Sch'wartzberg
MR. JEALOUSY •••
Starring Eric Stoltz, Anabella Sciorra
and Chris Eigeman. Written and directed
by Noah Baumbach. Produced by Joel
Castleberg. Comedy. A Lion's Gate release.
Running time: 103 min. Opens 5/29.
Noah Baumbach's follow up to his wonderful
first film, "Kicking and Screaming,"
stumbles a bit but still offers much of his
wise, witty banter.
Eric Stoltz stars as Lester, a drifting intellectual
who has a real problem with jealousy,
stemming from an incident when he
was 1 5. So each new girifriend is examined,
as if under a microscope, until Lester destroys
the relationship. When he meets the
vivacious Ramona (Anabella Sciorra), the
pattern seems set, especially when Lester
ends up impersonating his best friend Vince
in order to join a therapy group and get close
to Ramona" s ex-boyfriend, Dashiell (Chris
Eigeman), a best-selling young author.
He may be traversing "Diner" territory
at times, with characters from Woody
Allen's milieu, but Baumbach is a true
original. "Mr. Jealousy" is never glib and,
at its best, its trenchant observations
about relationships ring true. As the jealous
Lester, Stoltz shines, likeable even at
his most machiavellian.
Eigeman, too. is never a stock figure; he
is allowed depths and emotions that a lesser
film might have denied him. Carlos Jacott
as the impersonated Vince, who decides
Posey
that he can benefit from Lester's therapy, is
a real hoot and almost steals the
film. Marianne Jean-Baptiste ("Secrets
& Lies") as Lucretia, Vince's
fiancee, and Bridget Fonda as
Dashiell's shy girlfriend, are also
very fine.
The film's weak link is
Baumbach's depiction of the relationship
between Lester and Ramona.
It's supposed to be a
passionate one but seems stillborn
in the movie. The chemistry between
the two leads is absent and
in its concentration on Lester's
neuroses. Ramona' s personality is
left in the dust.
That imbalance mars "Mr. Jealousy"
but its virtues more than
compensate for its flaws. At a time
when so many young filmmakers
can only reference other movies,
Baumbach's films, pleasingly, come
Shlomo SchwarBjberg
out of real life.
I THINK I DO 1/2
Starring Alexis Arquette,
Christian
Maelen, Lauren Velez, Jamie Harrold,
Marni Nixon and Maddie Carman. Written
and directed by Brian Sloan. Produced
by Robert Miller, Jon Gerrans, Marcus Hu
and Daryl Roth. A Strand Release. Comedy.
Not yet rated. Running time: 94 min.
Opens in May.
Sophomoric doesn't even begin to describe
writer/director Brian Sloan's first
feature, a tedious love story about two college
roommates (Alexis Arquette and
Christian Maelen) who fail to appreciate
their mutual attraction until five years after
graduation. While fancying itself a classic
screwball comedy with trendy sexual
twists, "I Think I Do" presents only the
most awkward encounters between characters
portrayed by actors who hit one false
note after another.
From their communal off-campus apartment
to the unlikely wedding of Carol
(Lauren Velez of "I Like It Like That") and
Matt (Jamie Harrold of "I Shot Andy
Warhol") half a decade later, these self-absorbed
young people become ever more
cloying, as the film spews cliches and cheap
jokes about carnal matters. A New York
University film school alumnus, Sloan apparently
was too enamored of his vapid
cartoon-like creations to provide them with
meaningful human realities. Susan Green
I

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TORONTO REVIEWS
KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING
••••
Starring Richard E. Grant, Helena
Bonham Carter, Harriet Walter and Julian
Wadham. Directed by Robert Bierman.
Written by Alan Olater. Produced by
Peter Shaw. A First Look release. Drama.
Not yet rated. Running time: 100 min.
Opens in May.
Adapted from George Orwell's 1936
novel with the same tongue-twister of a
title, "'Keep the Aspidistra Flying" examines
the class struggle that ensues when an
aspiring poet turns his back on the bourgeois
institutions that keep him, at best, just
one step ahead of abject poverty. Guess
which set of values proves triumphant.
A wonderfully inventive actor who tackled
similar issues in 1989 as the pimplecream
promotional wizard of Bruce
Robinson's "How to Get Ahead in Advertising,"
Richard E. Grant portrays another
wage slave toiling at an even earlier British
version of Madison Avenue. His character,
Gordon Comstock, works at a London
agency in an era—the mid-' 30s— still
marked by worldwide economic depression.
When not reluctantly writing ads for
cleaning products and hair lotions, he scribbles
verses that are then rejected by literary
publications.
Gordon's level-headed sweetheart,
Rosemary (Helena Bonham Carter), is a
graphic artist at the same company. She
does her best to stick with him as he descends
through society's lower depths in an
Helena Bonham Carter and Richard t. urant in
First Look's "Keep the Aspidistra Flying."
effort to find true freedom from the tyranny
of money. After performing in so many
period costume dramas. Carter gets a
chance to play a relatively modem working
woman, and it's a refreshing change. Moreover,
Rosemary is much less neurotic than
some of the Merchant-Ivory roles that the
actress has assumed.
Director Robert Bierman, who gave
"Vampire's Kiss" a harrowing intensity in
1988, skillfully balances the humor and sorrow
of Gordon's predicament, which is a
timeless, universal dilemma. The film's
rich look, even while depicting destitution,
is provided by cinematographer Giles
Nuttgens and art director Phillip Robinson.
Orwell's social commentary presents the
aspidistra as a popular house plant symbolizing
the very respectability that Gordon
loathes. This witty, wistful movie keeps it
not only flying but soaring. Susan Green
A FRIEND OF THE DECEASED
••**
Starring Alexandre Lazarev, Tatiana
Krivitskaia andEvgueniPachin. Directedby
Viatcheslav Krichtofovich. Written by Andrei
Kourkov. Produced by Jacky Ouaknine.
A Sony Classics release. Drama. Ukrainianlanguage;
English subtitles. Not yet rated.
Running time: 100 min. Opens 4/17.
This remarkably assured film from director
Viatcheslav Krichtofovitch ("Adam's
Rib") captures both the moral and political
climate m the Ukraine following the collapse
of the Soviet Union. In this new
world, mafia bosses have replaced commu-
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Response No. 24
April, 1998 (R-45) 199

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TORONTO REVIEWS
nist bureaucrats, and a corrupted form of
capitalism has turned personal loyalties into
what one character calls, "business associates."
Krichtofovitch has weaved together
a subtly smart story about the consequences
of political change that packs little ironies that
keep tweaking the audience on the nose.
Anatoli (Alexandre Lazarev) is a former
translator who feels melancholic for the
way things were. This is due in part to the
fact that his wife is drifting away from him,
and embracing the free-market economy.
When she decides to pack her cellular
phone (which Anatoli handles like a dead
mouse) and shack up with another guy, he
hits rock bottom. A friend tries to persuade
Anatoli to hire an assassin to get rid of her
new beau, but Anatoli is so depressed he
decides to put out the contract on himself
for a few hundred dollars. (The assassins in
Kiev are as cheap as life has become.) But,
after he meets a lively young hooker, Vika
(Tatiana Krivitskaia), who reawakens his
zest for living, he wants to call off the
hitman. But things don't go quite as
planned.
It's obvious that Krichtofovich is critical
of the communist regime of the past, but
he's skeptical about the pseudo-liberalism
that has replaced it. In a way, "A Friend of
the Deceased" says that a lack of freedom
can sometimes create a sense of community,
the kind where being underground
helped people endure the oppression. "A
Friend of the Deceased" is a bittersweet
lament for that lost community. Kevin
Courrier
THE SPANISH PRISONER
••••
Starring Campbell Scott, Steve Martin,
Ben Gazzara, Rebecca Pidgeon, Felicity
Huffman, Ricky Jay. Written and directed
by David Mamet. Produced by J.E.
Beaucaire. A Jean Doumanian production.
A Sony Classics release. Drama. Not
yet rated. Running time: 111 min. Opens
4/17.
It's an interesting combination: The minimalism
of David Mamet and the high anxiety
of Alfred Hitchcock. Although the late
master of suspense made no actual contribution
to "The Spanish Prisoner,' the living
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright clearly
has adopted some of his thriller instincts.
The result is a twisting tale of paranoia, the
most accessible movie Mamet has written
and directed to date.
A naive inventor named Joe (Campbell
Scott) is lured into a web of industrial espionage
by several other characters (Steve
Martin, Ben Gazzara, Felicity Huffman and
Rebecca Pidgeon) who are not what they
seem. The "McGuffin" in this instance, secret
plans for a valuable new process, is
even more obscure that the usual Hichcockian
plot device. TTiis being Mamet, however,
the dialogue periodically has a
stylized ring to it. Martm does a nice turn as
a clever con artist with a knack for manipulating
Joe, a guy who doesn't know too
much about how to catch a thief. Susan
Green
200 (R-46) BuxomcE
JUNK MAIL •••
Starring Robert Skjaerstad, Andrine
Saetherand Per EgilAske. Directed by Pal
Sletaune. Written by Pal Sletaune and
Jonny Halberg. Produced by Dag Nordahl
and Peter Boe. A Lion's Gate release.
Comedy. Norwegian-language; English
subtitles. Running time: 83 min. Opens
4/10.
A sensation in Cannes, perhaps in part
because Norwegian films aren' t expected to
be this blackly comic, "Junk Mail" is a
distant cousin to the films of Finland's Aki
Kaurismaki ("The Match Factory Girl").
It's not as deadpan as his work, but it's as
bleakly funny. Doing a vicious number on
the post office, "Junk Mail" tells the story
of Roy (Robert Skjaerstad), an unshaven
postman who barely bothers to do his job
properly.
He tries to let postal thieves rob him
without trouble, but he ends up in the hospital
after being beaten: The strap of his
mailbag got stuck when he was trying to
give it up. But Roy also has a romantic heart
and in his inimitable way sets his sights on
the deaf Line (Andrine Saether). When she
leaves her keys behind, he copies them and
proceeds to sneak into her house, getting
more than he bargained for in the process.
Although "Junk Mail" deals with serious
matters, one being a brutal crime, its
approach is entirely comedic. Even the
chief villain, Georg (Per Egil Aske), is a
buffoon, albeit a dangerous one. As Roy,
Skjaerstad pretty much steals the show.
His Roy is a likable guy but also completely
crude and classless—a low-rent
Mr. Bean. And the situations he gets into
have some of the warped poetry of
Jacques Tati, though the Frenchman
would never have stooped to Roy's levels
of desperation. Surrounded by rejects
from an early Jim Jarmusch movie, Roy
makes his way through a surprisingly scabrous
Norwegian landscape, the source of
much of the film's dark humor. "Junk
Mail" is slight and short, which however
means it doesn't wear out its welcome.
But at best it's entertaining low comedy,
not as easy to pull off as one might think
and welcome amid the high seriousness
of most film fest offerings. Shlomo
Schwartzberg
THE BIG ONE •••ly?
Starring Michael Moore, Garrison
Keillor, Studs Terkel, Rick Neilson and
Phil Knight. Directed and written by Michael
Moore. Produced by Kathleen
Gylnn. A Miramax release. Documentary.
Rated PG-13 for some strong language.
Running time: 94 min. Opens 4/3.
With the ^raininess of video pumped up
to 35mm, Michael Moore's latest venture in
ambush journalism employs the stalking
methods of "Roger and Me" to tackle corporate
weasels around the country. The
1989 documentary relentlessly pursued the
CEO of General Motors. Although "The
Big One" has more fish to fry, it's a similarly
satirical indictment of late 20th century
capitalism.
Moore received BBC funding to take
along a camera crew on the 1996 promotional
tour for his first book, "Downsize
This: Random Threats From an Unarmed
American." Virtually every stop coincides
with an economically devastating
local turn of events. He hits Illinois just
as the 60-year-old Payday candy plant
lays off its Centralia labor force; when
Johnson Controls announces a move
south, Moore presents the Milwaukee
firm with a check for 80 cents, the anticipated
hourly wage of Mexican workers.
Moore asks Nike CEO Phil Knight why
teenaged girls in Indonesia receive less
than 40 cents an hour to manufacture the
company's products and is told Americans
don't want to make shoes.
In addition to signing books, giving radio
interviews and speaking in college auditoriums,
Moore lampoons the unblinking demeanor
of former presidential candidate
Steve Forbes. "The human eye needs to
blink every 15 or 20 seconds," a doctor
explains, adding that anyone who fails to do
this "is not human." A patchwork-quilt approach
infuses "The Big One" with energy,
but a choppy chronology is not always easy
to follow and might even merit criticism,
considering that Moore came under fire for
allegedly misleading juxtapositions of facts
in "Roger and Me." Also, the new film is
somewhat more self-serving and less wellcrafted
than Moore's deliriously inventive
"TV Nation," his counterculture version of
the "60 Minutes" format that summered on
NBC in 1 994 and on the Fox network a year
later. Susan Green
TWENTYFOURSEVEN irirMl
Starring Bob Hoskins, Danny
Nussbaum andJames Hooten. Directed by
Shane Meadows. Written by Shane Meadows
and Paul Eraser. Produced by Imogen
West. An October release. Drama. Rated R
for language, violence and some drug content.
Running time: 96 min. Opens in
April.
This is an impressive debut feature from
a talented young Brit, Shane Meadows,
even if the film fails to live up to its ambitions.
Set in the Thatcher years, the story
centers on the middle-aged Alan Darcy
(Bob Hoskins), who is trying to resurrect a
dormant boxing club in a poor and crowded
British suburb. When he was a young man,
this club saved his life; the discipline he
learned from it gave him direction. When
he looks out at the lost, frustrated and unemployed
youth around him, he's determined
to give them the same chance he had.
What Darcy doesn't see, but the audience
does, is that the kids he's trying to save have
already had their hopes destroyed.
Hoskins gives a robust and likable performance,
but he's the only actor in the film
with a fieshed-out role to play. Although the
youths are nicely framed (by cinematographer
Ashley Rowe) so that their faces are
memorable, there is not enough differentiation
made between them. Because of this,
the conflicts that erupt in their families
don't show how learning the sport of boxing

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TORONTO
can save them. (Most of the time, it just
seems to provide them with another reason
to beat somebody up.) It's also not clear
enough how Thatcher's policies destroyed
the very idea of a compassionate society;
only the results are witnessed.
"Twentyfourseven" might have numerous
deficiencies, but it's an honest failure
made by a director with some enormous
gifts. There's energy and real filmmaking
skill that's gone into putting this picture
together. But "Twentyfourseven" is one of
those realistic movies that has just a little
bit too much kitchen sink in it, with an
underdeveloped story that pours down the
drain. Kevin Courrier
••^
FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES
Starring Natasha Gregson Wagner and
Giovanni Ribisi. Directed by Jesse Peretz.
Written by David Ryan. Produced by Jeffrey
Levy-Hinte and Amanda Temple. A
Strand release. Drama. Notyet rated. Running
time: 98 min. Opens in April.
In making the transition from bass
player for The Lemonheads to director of
a debut feature, Jesse Peretz chose a proj-
PRESENTING THE FANTASTIC 4
XR171
ANTI-STATIC
non-yellowing
pearlescent surface
I
Natasha Gregson Wagner in Strand's
"First Love, Last Rites."
ect with solid literary credentials. "First
Love, Last Rites" is adapted with lyrical
charm from a short story by Ian McEwan,
the British writer also responsible for the
discomforting "Comfort of Strangers."
Peretz, a veteran of shorts and music videos,
relocates this fragile tale from the English
coast to the Louisiana bayou. Director of
photography Tom Richmond gives the
landscape a ethereal and languorous look to
match the movie's mood. There, a young
couple (Natasha Gregson Wagner and a
convincing Giovanni Ribisi) maintain a
lifestyle of romantic inertia until her sinister,
ne'er-do-well father (Robert John
Burke) lures him into a fruitless eel-fishing
scheme. Wagner, daughter of the late Natalie
Wood, infuses her character with more
neurosis than the script warrants and a
rather thoughtlessly conceived dream sei
quence seems to suggest she might be a
drowning victim. Susan Green

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TORONTO REVIEWS
THE HANGING GARDEN icirir
Starring Chris Leavins, Kerry Fox, Seana
McKenna, Peter McNeill and Troy Veinotte.
Directed and written by Thorn Fitzgerald.
Produced by Louise Garfield, Amie Gelbart
and Thorn Fitzgerald. A Goldwyn release.
Drama. Rated R for strong sexuality, language,
a scene ofa hanging, and some teen
drug use. Running time: 91 min. Won the
Toronto City Awardfor Best Canadian First
Feature and the Air Canada People's
Choice Awardfor Most Popularfilm.
A 25-year-old gay man, Sweet William
(Chris Leavins), comes home to Halifax,
Nova Scx)tia, for the wedding of his sister
Rosemary ("Shallow Grave's" Kerry Fox)
and to face the family he abandoned 10 years
earlier. While he's there, all the family secrets
and wounds around his tormented relationship
with his violent father (Peter McNeill)
and guilt-ridden mother (Seana McKenna)
emerge—literally,in the form of ghosts.
Through these apparitions the audience
comes to understand Sweet William's past
when he was an overweight teenager (played
by Tom Veinotte) and first coming to terms
with his homosexuality. The guilt around
those feelings and the family oppression
forces Sweet William to hang himself in the
garden. And it's that image that serves as a
metaphor for the events in the present.
"The Hanging Garden," a likable first
feature by Canadian director Thom Fitzgerald,
won both the Toronto City Award for
Best Canadian First Feature and the Air
Canada People's Choice Award for Most
Popular film at the Toronto fest. Essentially
a tale about coming to terms with tragedy
and learning how to forgive, it has a colorful
performance by Fox, who spits out obscenities
with rabid glee, and a lovely bit of
acting by Seana McKenna, who wears her
sensuality like a cloak.
But the style of "The Hanging Garden"
works against the magical qualities of its
story. Fitzgerald deliberately gives the film
a realistic look, but it defeats the power of
ghostly presences. Because magic is about
possibilities, not realities, the resolution of
The Hanging Garden" seems like sentimental
wish fulfillment. It's as if the troubled
families of Eugene O'Neill and
Tennessee Williams went on a summer holiday,
came home and got their sanity
back. Kevin Courrier
MOON OVER BROADWAY -ki^-k
Starring Carol Burnett, Philip Bosco,
Ken Luawig, Tom Moore and Rocco
Landesman. Directed by D.A. Pennebaker
and Chris Hegedus. Produced by Wendy
Ettinger and Frazer Pennebaker. An Artistic
IJcense release. Documentary. Not
yet rated. Running time: 100 min.
Until his 1993 Oscar nomination for
"The War Room," D.A. Pennebaker was
probably best known for the 1966 Bob
Dylan tour in "Don't Look Back" and the
delirious rock festival of "Monterey Pop" a
year later. His 45-year career, two decades
of it in professional partnership with wife
Chris Hegedus, is impressive but the
filmmakers tackles less compelling subject
202 (R-48) BoxoFFiCE
matter on "Moon Over Broadway."
The documentary spotlights comedienne
Carol Burnett's return to the stage after 30
years of television celebrity. The show's
director, Tom Moore, engages in a power
struggle with his stars, playwright Ken Ludwig
bemoans what's happening to his
words, producers Elizabeth Williams and
Rocco Landesman fret about opening night
reviews. Pennebaker and Hegedus capture
all the angst, as well Burnett's swings from
clown to diva to trouper. Glimpses of the
actual production, a farce called "Moon
Over Buffalo" that proved to be a hit, might
leave viewers wondering what all the fuss
is about. Susan Green
THE BLOOD ORANGES ^
Starring Charles Dance, Sheryl Lee and
Laila Robins. Directed by Philip Haas. Written
by Philip Haas and Belinda Haas. Produced
by Belinda Haas, Tom Carouso and
Hector Lopez. A Trimark release. Drama.
Not yet rated. Running time: 105 min.
A risible and idiotic movie, "The Blood
Oranges" is a maladroit adaptation of a novel
that should probably never have seen the light
of day, given the ridiculous dialogue that, one
assumes, the scripters Philip Haas (who also
directs) and Belinda Haas (who also produces)
have taken from the book.
Charles Dance and Sheryl Lee play a
1970s sexually liberated couple residing in
a small unnamed European town. They
allow each other extramarital affairs but
their meeting with a pair of travelers, in
town with their children, changes their traditional
patterns. In flashbacks, narrated by
Dance, the audience learns something bad
has happened in the couple's fantasy land.
Haas directs the material with utter seriousness,
but it's difficult not to laugh at the
portentous narration or vapid observations
about freedom and freeing one's sexuality;
their somber manner of delivery further
provokes the giggles. And Dance's comments
about tastmg "the love lunch" (honest!)
or Lee's exhortation to him, "don't be
a husband but a sex singer" are so risible
moviegoers can be forgiven for wondering.
Did we really hear those words?
Alas, "The Blood Oranges" is rife with
that type of faux innuendo and verbiage.
Haas also can't resist driving home, ad
nauseam, that tragedy has befallen someone
in the film by having the screen periodically
fade to blood red. Okay, we get it, Philip!
Not surprisingly, given the context. Dance
and Lee (who imtatingly calls him Babe
throughout) are terrible. So is Colin Lane as
a Scottish photographer who resists Lee's
blandishments. Only Laila Robins, as a
heretofore happily married woman who
starts questioning her marital assumptions,
manages to find some meat in her role. But
she's still acting in a vacuum. Considering
the Haases' track record, with one fine film
("Angels & Insects") and one weak one
("The Music of Chance") to their credit,
it's evident that the pair are only as good as
their source material. With "The Blood Oranges,"
they've chosen disastrously.
SMomo SchwartTjberg
FULL TILT BOOGIE ^^1/2
Starring Robert Rodriguez, George
Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette
Lewis and Harvey Keitel. Directed by
Sarah Kelly. Produced by Rana Joy Glickman.
A Miramax release. Documentary.
Not yet rated. Running time: 101 min.
For all those who consider "From Dusk
Till Dawn" a masterpiece of modem cinema,
"Full Title Boogie" should serve as a
quintessential Quentin Tarantino touchstone.
This uneven documentary by Sarah
Kelly chronicles the 10-week shoot for the
hip horror flick directed by Robert
Rodriguez in unforgiving California desert
locales. "Dusk" screenwriter Tarantino and
co-star George Clooney steal the show with
off-camera antics, at one point spoofing
both the opening sequence of "Saturday
Night Fever" and the unbridled adulation of
young "Pulp Fiction" fans.
Harvey Keitel emerges as the one
sober— perhaps too sober—soul among a
fun-loving cast and crew. When the nonunion
set is threatened with a shutdown,
Kelly takes off on a long, pointless assaultjournalism
stunt at a lATSE convention in
Miami. "They've got the whole union-
Woody Guthrie thing on their side," Tarantino
says, demonstrating a facile grasp of
labor history. Susan Green
LOVE GOD •
Starring Will Keenan, Shannon Burkett
and Yukio Yamamoto. Directed and written
by Frank Grow. Produced by Anthony
Bregman. A Strand release. SF. Unrated.
Running time: 80 min.
A cacophony of lurid imagery, gory special
effects and outre sexuality, "Love God"
treads the fertile ground of all manner of B
movies but not in any witty or entertaining
way. Larue (Will Keenan). a patient with a
compulsive reading disorder, has been discharged
onto New York's mean streets
without any supervision, a victim of overcrowding
in the city's mental hospitals. In
order to handle his ailment, which involves
his destroying each item that he reads,
Larue wears glasses that render him nearly
blind. But he hasn't reckoned with a sexually
voracious giant parasitic worm, a remnant
from the ancient past, and a young girl
who cleans up after crime scenes and develops
an attachment to him, one forbidden by
her compulsively clean mother.
There s rich material here for a scathing
horror satire, a la John McNaughton's "The
Borrower" or Peter Jackson's "Dead/
Alive." But Frank Grow, making his feature
debut, isn't in their league. "Love God"
frankly grows boring quickly and, no matter
how many graphic closeups Grow indulges
in or how many "shocking" ideas he dispenses,
the movie doesn't add up to much.
Even its cheesy effects aren't amusing;
they're just amateurish. "Love God" might
find adherents who will hail it as a bold
statement against medical neglect and exploitation,
but more discerning viewers will
probably decide that the film makes sport
of serious illnesses, such as self-mutilation
and schizophrenia. Shlomo Schwartzberg

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April, 1998 (R-49) 203
TORONTO REVIEWS
METROLAND -A^^^^l/2
Starring Christian Bale, Emily Watson,
Lee Ross and Elsa Zylberstein. Directed by
Philip Saville. Written by Adrian Hodges.
Produced by Andrew BendeL A Blue Horizon
Limited production. No distributor set
Drama. Notyet rated Running time: 99 min.
Who says a mid-life crisis has to wait till
mid-life? For a thirtysomething family man
named Chris (Christian Bale), doubts about
domesticity surface when a footloose
school chum (Lee Ross, a Denis Leary lookalike)
shows up one day in 1977. Tempted
by memories of youth—including that time
in Paris with a passionate French girlfriend
(Elsa Zylberstein)—Chris suddenly feels
alienated from his pleasant married life with
Marion (Emily Watson) in a London suburb.
Director Philip Saville has crafted a delightfully
bittersweet story, based on a 1980
novel by Julian Barnes, that taps into a kind
of universal nostalgia. Scenes from the
swinging '60s, particularly those that evoke
the Beatles' ebullient train ride in "A Hard
Day's Night." give "Metroland" an exhilarating
baby-boomer kick. With Bale ("Little
Women") at his best and Watson
effectively reeling in her mug-for-the-camera
mannerisms from "Breaking the
Waves," this is a thoroughly satisfying little
film with an exquisite Mark Knopfler
score. Susan Green
FACE icir
Starring Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone
and Lena Headey. Directed by Antonia
Bird. Written by Ronan Bennett. Produced
by David M. Thompson and Elinor Day.
Drama. No distributor set. Running time:
105 min.
Director Antonia Bud inexplicably garnered
much praise in 1994 for her fu-st film,
'Triest," an overblown, overemphatic look at
the modem Catholic Church in Britain. She
wasn't much of a director. But "Priest" had
the virtue of its uniqueness; there simply
weren't that many films wilhng to tackle controversial
religious issues. 'Tace," Bird's second
British film (there was a less-thansuccessful
American movie, "Mad Love," in
the middle) can't even claim that it's treading
new ground. The result is a heist drama that
only reminds one of the many better, more
exciting ones that have come before.
Right from the start, when the dully shot
"Face" begins, with a ho-hum robbery of a
bank, it's clear that Bird is in over her head.
Her crime scenes lack the kinetic energy to
make them work. And the story, a falling
out among thieves, is just as flaccid.
She tries to give it import by casting the hot
actor Robert Carlyle ("Trainspotting") as
Ray, a former suident activist who no longer
wants to change the system but merely subvert
it by tuming to activities outside the law.
But that political subtext, complete with flashbacks
of Marxist raUies and Ray's relationship
with a stiU committed revolutionary
(Headey), is laughable. Face isn't making any
grand political statements, merely using
politics as filler. "Face" is really faceless
cinema, forgotten about as soon as the credits
end. Shlomo Schwartzberg
THE WITMAN BOYS •^
Starring Maia Morgenstern, Lajos
Kovacs and Alpar Fogarasi. Directed and
written by Janos Szasz. Produced by
Ferenc Kardos. No distributor set. Drama.
Not yet rated. Running time: 93 min.
This is an example of one of those creepy
psychological horror tales (like Polanski's
"Repulsion") in which your anticipation of
dread outweighs any pleasure you might
have from the suspense. Actually, in "The
Witman Boys," there isn't even a whisper
of suspense. These two dour and repressed
brothers, who become even more gloomy at
the time of their father's death, get a bad
case of Oedipal jealousy when their mother
takes in a lover. At which point you just know
things are going to go from bad to worse.
Janos Szasz' s film is beautifully composed
but the outcome is so clear you don't need
Oedipus' lost eyes to see. Kevin Courrier
MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON...
I
••
Directed, written and produced by Bill
Plympton. Animated. No distributor set.
Not yet rated. Running time: 80 min.
Cult animator Plympton 's second feature
suffers from the same problems that afflicted
his first animated movie, "The
Tune." It's a slight idea unnecessarily expanded
to feature length. In this one,
Plympton sets his sights on the venerable
institution of marriage and on Grant Boyer,
a clean cut hunk with a worried newlywed
wife. It seems that Grant isn't all there but
she can't put her finger on what's wrong
with him. Eventually others, including a
nasty corporate head and a gung ho military
man get involved in the Boyers' troubles
and mayhem, violent and sexual, ensues.
Plympton 's quite talented and "I Married
A Strange Person..." has its share of funny
jokes and situations. But just as often, it
trails off into irrelevancy andpointlessness.
— Shlomo SchwartzJberg
DRIVE, SHE SAID ^1/2
Starring Moira Kelly, Sebastian Spence,
Josh Hamilton andJim Byrnes. Directedand
written by Mina Shum. Producedby Stephen
Hegyes. No distribution set. Comedy/drama.
Not yet rated Running time: 103 min.
Mina Shum's follow-up to her charming
"Double Happiness" tries for some of that
film's breezy comedy and light romance,
but this film has so many different impulses
driving the story that the result is nothing
less than a head-on collision.
Nadine (Moira Kelly) is a bank teller in
a small Canadian town, unhappy in her
five-year relationship with Jonathan (Sebastian
Spence), who is kidnapped by Tass
(Josh Hamilton), a reluctant bank robber.
While they out-run the law, they also both
fall in love. You can actually feel Shum
pulling her punches as if she was uncertain
about how dark she wanted to make this
film. By the end, just about every idea (bad
and good) has canceled itself out, and the
actors look like they desperately need a road
map. So may you. Kevin Courrier
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Response (Mo. 109

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TORONTO REVIEWS
BEST MAN: 'BEST BOY' AND ALL
OF US TWENTY YEARS LATER
*••
Starring Philip Wohl and Frances
Reiss. Produced, written and directed by
Ira Wohl. Documentary. No distributor
set. Running time: 90 min.
With his 1977 Oscar winning documentary
"Best Boy," Ira Wohl won worldwide
plaudits for his study of his mentally retarded
cousin, Philly . But what happened to
the then-50-year-old Philly, his parents and
sister Frances? That question prompted
Wohl, who had left filmmaking for a career
in psychology, to revisit Philly, as the 70-
year-old prepares for his Bar Mitzvah, the
Jewish rite of passage that means you are
now a man.
Sadly, Philly's parents have since died
and he's been placed in a special home.
Happily, Frances is still around and his new
loagmgs are bright and cheery. Philly has
aged remarkably well and remains his optimistic,
pleasant self.
Compared to its predecessor, "Best Man"
is unfocused—we don't see Philly prepare
for his Bar Mitzvah until an hour into the
film—but Wohl's compassionate camera
once again brings out the warmth and genuineness
of Philly's life. It's heart-warming
in the best sense of the word. Shlomo
Schwartzberg
DOING TIME FOR PATSY CLINE
• ••1/2
Starring Matt Day, Miranda Otto and
Richard Roxburgh. Written and directed
by Chris Kennedy. Produced by Chris
Kennedy and John Winter. Drama. No
distributor set. Running time: 95 min.
The amusingly-titled "Doing Time For
Patsy Cline" is a clever tale told with a small
cast of enormous talent. The young and
puppy-eyed Matt Day (from "Love and
Other Catastrophes" and "Kiss or Kill")
plays Ralph, an outback-bred, down-under
country boy who leaves his loving parents
and their dusty farm and heads off with his
guitar for the shining streets of Nashville to
be a country singing star. But before he can
even leave Australia, Ralph meets up with
a vulnerable ne'er-do-well Boyd (Richard
Roxburgh) and his beautiful girlfriend
Patsy (Miranda Otto) and trouble follows.
Soon Boyd and Ralph are in jail. Patsy's
disappeared and Nashville seems like a
dream away.
Described by writer/director/producer
and former dentist Chris Kennedy as a
"Rhinestone Casablanca," this subtle film
unfolds with a unique structure, comic
touches and deep-hearted innocence that
makes it more like "Country-fied Capra."
Day, as the straight-arrow Ralpn, is
quickly emerging into a hot young Australian
star and here, his underlying
sweetness serves him well. Roxburgh
brings edge, charm and truth to his portrayal
of a two-bit perpetually lying shyster,
but it's Miranda Otto who glows
luminescent as the troubled girl with a
heart of gold that brings home the film.
Otto layers what might have been a onedimensional
role with rich heart and
gooey soul; and she performs a startlingly
raw, painfully beautiful version of
Cline's "Crazy."
The pace is
slow but steady, and wellworth
the time. The comedy comes quirky
and dead-pan, with send-ups/homages of
everything from "Casablanca" to the
Beatles. The only thing really lacking in this
funky country love story is more funky
country music. The few songs that actually
grace the soundtrack are good, but not
worth the re-hashing they get throughout
the film in the place of additional material.
Susan Lambert
INSPIRATIONS ••
Directed by Michael Apted. Produced by
Jody Patton and Eileen Gregory. Documentary.
No distributor set. Running time:
100 min.
Fans of Apted 's penetrating and provocative
documentaries, such as "Incident
at Oglala" or "35 Up," won't get
much from "Inspirations," a slick and facile
series of interviews with seven visual
artists. One of his subjects, painter Roy
Lichtenstein, recently died, so "Inspirations"
is somewhat likelier to acquire distribution.
But that portrait of Lichtenstein
is still just skin deep. He and musician
David Bowie are the only really wellknown
subjects of the film; the others are
glass blower Dale Chihuly, dancer Louise
Lecavalier, choreographer Edward Lock
and sculptress Nora Naranjo. The film is
structured as a series of questions that
each artist answers. Musings on inspirations,
work habits and self analysis pour
forth but the short segments are dull.
Apted convinces us of the merits of each
talent he's profiled, but that's about all he
accomplishes in this pedestrian effort.
Shlomo Schwartzberg
LOVER GIRL 1/2
Starring Sandra Bernhard, Tara Subkoff,
Kristy Swanson and Loretta Devine.
Written and directed by Usa Addario and
Joe Syracuse.
Produced by Allison Anders.
A Dream Entertainment/Peninsula
Films production. No distributor set.
Drama. Not yet rated. Running time: 90
min.
With stomach-churning logic, the creative
duo behind "Lover Girl ' apparently
hopes to pass this film off as a coming-ofage
saga because the protagonist is a teenage
girl. Instead, co-directors/writers Lisa
Addario and Joe Syracuse have fashioned a
tasteless paean to pedophilia that shamelessly
hustles for both tears and laughter.
Abandoned by her mother, 16-year-old
Jake (Tara Subkoff) is rejected by an older
sister (Kristy Swanson) but given shelter by
the manager of a sleazy massage parlor
(Sandra Bernhard). Before long, this young
girl—dubbed Candy in honor of her nonstop
sugar addiction—is making big bucks
as an employee in the house of ill repute.
The story is so dishonest that it skirts this
moral issue entirely with a chaste montage
of Candy's work week.
Executive producer Allison Anders (director
of "Gas Food Lodging" and "Grace
of My Heart") must share in the blame.
Susan Green
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI, I
REMEMBER, YES, I REMEMBER
• •1/2
Directed by Anna Maria Tato. Documentary.
No distributor set. Italian with
English subtitles. Running time: 98 min.
The longtime companion of the late and
beloved Italian actor filmed him, in the
twilight of his life, talking, joking and
analyzing his long career, beginning with
his debut on the Italian stage. Fans of
Mastroianni will enjoy his droll opinions
on the various filmmakers he's worked
with, his acting technique or lack thereof,
and his views on Amenca, which he finds
insufferably puritanical. Tato isn't the
most imagmative director and, clearly,
she's willingly letting Mastroianni control
the flow of conversation, which is not
such a bad thing. But however charming
the actor is, the documentary fails to satisfy
since it's so narrowly focused. Only
a few film clips pop up, and others don't
get to offer opinions on the man. Made for
Italian television, it presumes intensive
knowledge on the part of the audience.
Those wanting the full Mastroianni story
will, thus, be disappointed. Shlomo
Schwartzberg
THE INFORMANT •••
Starring Cary Elwes, Anthony Brophy,
Timothy Dalton and Maria Lennon. Directed
by Jim McBride. Written by Nicholas
Meyer. Produced by Leon Falk. A
Showtime film. Drama. Not yet rated.
Running time: 149 min.
This straight-forward melodrama doesn't
have the psychological depths or resonate
the way Jim Sheridan' s "In the Name ofThe
Father" did. But Jim ("The Big Easy")
McBride takes a smart script by Nicholas
Meyer ('The Seven Percent Solution"), ba,sed
on the book "Field of Blood" by Gerald
Seymour, and creates an absorbing portrait
of how family loyalty, in a country like
Ireland, is inseparable from political loyalty.
A former IRA terrorist (Anthony Brophy),
who has spent time in prison, while
visiting his wife (Maria Lennon) and children
in Southern Ireland, gets enticed
against his better instincts to do another job
for his former comrades. When he's captured
and interrogated by the forceful Inspector
Rennie (Timothy Dalton) and a
friendly British army lieutenant (Cary
Elwes), he decides to turn evidence against
the IRA under the naive assumption that, if
he does, he'll be able to preserve his family.
"The Informant" has the courage to show us
that our good intentions sometimes don't
guarantee us shelter from the storm.
Kevin Courrier
204 (R-50) BoxoFHCE

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TORONTO REVIEWS
PARADISE ASHES ••
Starring Cecilia Roth, Hector Alterio
and Leonardo and Leticia Bredice. Directed
by Marcelo Pineyro. Written by
Aida Bortnik and Marcelo Pineyro. Produced
by Marcelo Pavan. Drama. No distributor
set. Spanish with English
subtitles. Running time: 127 min.
From the screenwriter of "An Official
Story" comes a putative thriller set in
today's Argentina as the questionable suicide
of a high level judge (Hector Alterio)
and the murder of a beautiful young woman
(Leticia Bredice) opens a nasty can of worms.
With a flashback structure as the stories
of the judge, girl and the judge's three sons
are probed by a female colleague of the
dead man (Cecilia Roth), "Paradise Ashes"
is a convoluted film with enough storylines
for three such movies. But it's all laid out at
such a breakneck pace and with such
breathless undercurrents that any subtlety
goes by the wayside. The sex is explicit, the
violence jarring and the themes large, but,
unlike such superb examinations of societal
evil like "Illustrious Corpses," little impression
is left. Not surprisingly, this is a Buena
Vista co-production aimed at the Latin
American market, but even in another language.
Hollywood cliches don't stick.
Shlomo Schwartzberg
KEEP COOL ^^1/2
Starring Jiang Wen, Li Baotian and Qu
Ying. Directed by Zhang Yimou. Written
by Shu Ping. Produced by Wang Qipeng.
No stateside distributor set. Drama. Chinese-language;
English subtitles. Not yet
rated. Running time: 95 min.
Zhang Yimou's third film set in presentday
China, "Keep Cool" (which is based on
Shu Ping's novel "The Evening Paper
News") differs from its predecessors in
style, content and look. But it's choppy,
unfocused and, finally, quite disappointmg
coming from this masterful talent.
A stuttering bookseller, Xiao Shuai
(Jiang Wen), pursues his beautiful exgirlfriend.
An Hong (Qu Ying), who wants
nothing further to do with him—especially
now that she has a rich boyfriend. But Xiao
is persistent, even hiring men with loudspeakers
to shout her name so she can come
to the window of her flat and notice him.
His efforts get him nowhere, and then her
boyfriend has him beaten up. That's when
the pesky Lao Zhang (Li Baotian) enters the
scene, angry that Xiao has broken his laptop
and demanding compensation.
"Keep Cool's" first half-hour is stellar: a
funny, fast modem Chinese screwball comedy,
one that seems bent on exposing class
and monetary divisions in today's China.
But Zhang loses control of his story, allowing
"Keep Cool" to degenerate into a long
and progressively dull setpiece revolving
around Xiao's plan to revenge himself on
his attacker.
Zhang has jettisoned his traditional.
stately but powerful style for what can only
be called an Asian MTV look: fast cuts,
repeat shots from different angles and quick
edits. It' s fun at first, because it meshes with
the high comedy early on in the film, but it
wears thin very quickly. Short of Oliver
Stone's "Natural Bom Killers," this type of
direction usually does. The story, too, has
its limitations. Once Qu Ying leaves the
scene, it's up to the male leads to hold our
interest, and the two, especially the annoying
Li, fail to do so. A tacked-on ending,
which sentimentalizes what has come before,
is the final straw. Zhang deserves
praise for not repeating himself, but his
experiment is essentially a failure.
Shlomo Schwartzberg
HANOI—WINTER 1946 ^^1/2
Starring Nguyen Tien Hoi, Nguyen
Quang Hai, Quack Thu Phuong and Le
Thu Thuy. Directed by Dang Nhat Mink.
Written by Dang Bhat Minh and Hoang
Nhuan Cam. Produced by the Vietnam
Feature Film Company. Not distributor
set. Historical drama. Not yet rated. Running
time: 95 min.
The bad news: Characters in "Hanoi
Winter 1946' have little complexity — people
are either pure of spirit or evil—and the
Do Hong Quan score is overly sentimental.
The good news: Relatively restrained acting
and fabulous production values do
much to salvage director Dang Nhat Minh's
epic about the French colonial treachery
that sparked a prolonged war in Indochina.
In particular, cinematographer Vu Van
Tuan brings visual elegance to a film that is
otherwise weighed down by propaganda.
With a softening of such strident political
messages. Dang could emerge as an international
talent to be reckoned with. Although
history doesn't necessarily
contradict this version of events, it's just
plain dull to see Ho Chi Minh (Nguyen Tien
Hoi) portrayed as a saint trying to negotiate
a peaceful solution to the crisis. The pyrotechnics
in some action scenes may be a bit
mdimentary but at least nothing is static
except the dialogue. Susan Green
THE MIRROR i^iririr
Starring Mina Mohammad Khani and
Kazem Mojdehi. Directed and written by
Jafar Panahi. Produced by Jafar Panahi
and Vahid Nikkhah. Drama. No distributor
set. Farsi with English subtitles. Running
time: 95 min.
Avoiding the sophomore curse, Iranian
filmmaker Jafar Panahi follows his fine debut,
'The White Balloon," with an equally accomplished
but less predictable movie about a
little girl's travails in the nasty big city.
At first, we see Mina (Mina Mohammad
Khani) beginning to worry when her mother
doesn't come to pick her up after school. She
decides to make her way home on her own,
only to brush up against her own fears and an
indifferent adult populace which isn't helping
her in her plight. Suddenly the actress in the
film decides she's had enough and quits the
project. But the director decides the movie's
not over yet and films this "real" girl as she
reoims to her home.
Cleverly mixing "Day for Night" with
traditional Iranian neo-realism, "The Mirror"
forces the audience to consider the
nature of artifice and fact and ask which part
of the film is truer and purer? Those are
questions without answers but, cinematically,
the conundrum is highly compelling.—
Shlomo Schwartzberg
MARQUISE •
Starring Sophie Marceau, Thierry
Lhermitte, Lambert Wilson and Bernard
Giraudeau. Directed by Vera Belmont Written
and directed by Vera Belmont and Gerard
Mordillat. Produced by Vera Belmont.
A French/ltalian/Spanish/Swiss co-production.
No distributor set. Historical drama.
Not yet rated Running time: 120 min.
If the overblown "Marquise" is any indication,
the French appetite for elaborately
costumed spectacles has begun to scrape the
bottom of the cinematic barrel. Director/cowriter
Vera Belmont, producer of the
Oscar-nominated "Farinelli" in 1994, set
out to create a heroine who might serve as
a 17th century Marilyn Monroe. Marquise
du Pare (Sophie Marceau of "Braveheart"
fame), an impoverished country girl who
loves to dance and sells her body on the
side, is discovered by Moliere (Bernard
Giraudeau, "Ridicule"). She becomes an
actress in the playwright's troupe, has an
affair with his rival Racine (Lambert Wilson,
"Jefferson in Paris"), and performs for
King Louis XIV (Thierry Lhermitte, "Until
September"). Once the cunningly ambitious
Marquise sleeps her way up the ladder,
like Marilyn she is poised for a fall. The
audience, meanwhile, may be poised to flee
the theater. Historical truths aside, these
folks are a bore. Susan Green
LE SEPTIEME CIEL •••1/2
Starring Sandrine Kiberlain and Vincent
Lindon. Directed by Benoit Jacquot.
Written by Benoit Jacquot and Jerome
Beaujour. Produced by Georges
Benayoun and Philippe Carcassonne.
Drama. No distributor set. French with
English subtitles. Running time: 91 min.
Feted with a retrospective at the Toronto
International Film Festival, Benoit Jacquot'
latest offering is a touching and sensitive look
at a disturbed woman (Sandrine Kiberlain)
who takes up hypnosis in order to unveU her
demons, an act that upsets her loving but
distant husband (Vincent Lindon).
The French have made a specialty of
cinematic domestic dramas but "Le
Septieme Ciel (The Seventh Heaven)"
manages to find something fresh amidst the
familiar situations, without resorting to obvious
existential/alienated musings. This is
a sympathetic take on a troubled marriage
and a couple who mean well but have forgotten
how to communicate. Eschewing
flash and high drama, Jacquot concentrates
on his lead actors, who rivet the screen. His
astute psychological observations and scenarios,
as well as his painting of supporting
characters in a detailed light, ensures that
"Le Septieme Ciel" creates a world that it
difficult to leave. It's a beautifully wrought
movie. Shlomo SchwartzJberg
April, 1998 (R-51) 205

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TORONTO REVIEWS
STONE, SCISSORS, PAPER ir
Starring Juliet Stevenson, Ken Stott, Melanie
Kilburn and Ian Dunn. Directed by
Stephen Whittaker. Written by Richard
Cameron. Produced by Philip Clarke and
Tessa Ross. A Diverse Fiction production/or
BBC Television. No distributor set. Drama.
Not yet rated Running time: 86 min.
From 1991*8 "Truly Madly Deeply" to
"Stone, Scissors, Paper," Juliet Stevenson
seems destined to appear in films with titles
of no more than three adverbs or nouns.
Unlike the pre-"English Patient" Anthony
Minghella project, the new drama—written
by Richard Cameron and directed by Stephen
Whittaker—seems destined for North
American obscurity. Although it earned
BBC Television' s Dennis Potter Film of the
Year Award, the picture never captures the
poignancy of, say, "The Singing Detective"
or "Pennies From Heaven."
Stevenson is a talented actress. She deserves
better than this confusing, relentlessly
dreary story about a depressed
woman who leaves her abusive husband
(John Bowler) and begins an unconsummated
love affair with Redfem (Ken Stott),
a married stonemason. In a bleak village
near Doncaster, their relatively innocent liaison
disrupts the lives of everyone they
know, particularly Redfem' s wife (Melanie
Kilburn). And it's all downhill from there.
Ho, Hum, Yawn. Susan Green
ARTEMISIA ••
Starring Valentina Cervi, Michel
Serrault and Miki Manojlovic. Directed by
Agnes Merlet. Written by Agnes Merlet,
Christine Mille and Patrick Amos. Produced
by Patrice Haddad. Drama.
French-language with English subtitles.
No distributor set. Not yet rated. Running
time: 102 min.
Set during 1610 in Rome, "Artemisia" is
Agnes Merlet' s biopic about Artemisia
Gentileschi, one of the few known female
painters of the Italian Baroque, who is primarily
known today for her painting Judith
Decapitating Holopheme. Little is known
about her life, except that she was the
daughter of the well-known painter Orazio
Gentileschi, and that her father accused fellow
artist Agostino Tassi of raping his
daughter. Very little of the trial's recorded
evictence survives.
Merlet depicts this time in Artemisia's
life as one of both artistic and sexual awakening,
and the resulting film is decidedly
mixed. In Merlet's version, Artemisia
(Valentina Cervi) is denied access to study
painting at male-dominated schools. Her
father Orazio (Michel Serrault) recognizes
her talent, and she eventually becomes the
pupil of Tassi (Miki Manojlovic), a daunting,
profligate man who spends his evenings
indulging in orgies at the local
brothel. Artemisia, who has taken to spying
on Tassi, is at first intrigued and then infatuated
with the artist. He teaches her about
perspective in painting and, unfortunately
for the film, the ways of passion.
On the positive side, the film's portrayal
of the social mores of I Vlh-century Italy are
rendered convincingly, and Merlet gets fine
performances from Serrault and
Manojlovic. But when Merlet ventures into
the bedroom, "Artemisia" becomes a trite
romance with pretty cosnimes. Merlet seems
more concerned about the termination of a
grand love affair rather than the plight of a
ground-breaking woman artist living in repressive
times.
by Craig Vickers
TOUCH ME ^
Starring Amanda Peet, Michael Vartan,
Peter Facinelli. Directed by H. Gordon
Boos. Written by H. Gordon Boos and
Greg H. Sims. Produced by Greg H. Sims
and David Scott Rubin. No distributor
set. Drama. Not yet rated. Running time:
104 min.
It's best not to have expectations that the
director, H. Gordon Boos, who has set a
drama about AIDS within the context of a
heterosexual relationship, has done cuiything
in the way of being daring or controversial.
Quite the contrary. This
squeaky-clean, white bread melodrama
wouldn't look too out of Place on Melrose.
Brigette (Amanda Peet of "She's the
One") is an aerobics instructor, plus a struggling
actor who wants to do Mamet. Adam
(Michael Vartan, of "The Myth of Fingerprints")
is a young stud who operates the
aerobics business, and he wants to do Brigette.
By the time his bright white teeth have
met hers, she finds out that she may have
contracted AIDS from a former lover who
is dying. "Touch Me" is too inept to be truly
offensive, even though it does suggest that
this gal is just too young and pretty to have
been dealt such an inconvenience. And to
lose the part in the Mamet play to boot.
Damn. Kevin Courrier
PRONTO ••
Starring Peter Falk, Glenne Headley and
James LeGros. Directed by Jim McBride.
Written by Michael Butler. Produced by
Dick Berg andAlan Marcil. Comedy/drama.
No distrwutor set. Running time: 139 min.
Yet another Elmore Leonard adaptation,
after "Get Shorty," "Touch" and "Jackie
Brown," "Pronto" reveals the limitations of
that writer's universe.
Peter Falk walks through his part as
Harry Amo, a tough talking but not so
tough Miami bookie who is forced, after
an assassination attempt by mobsters, to
flee to a small Italian town he went
through during World War Two. He's
followed there by an eager beaver U.S.
Marshal (LeGros) whom he once escaped
from while in custody, his loyal girlfriend
(Headley) and an Italian hit man (Sergio
Castellitto). The usual hijinks then ensue.
Unlike "Get Shorty," which coasted on
high octane energy and John Travolta's confident
performance, "Pronto" just sags. Except
for Castellitto and LeGros, who manage
to make something out of their roles, the
actors are boring and so is the story. Even a
better director than the pedesuian McBride
would have been hard pressed to spin gold out
of this dull tale.
REGENERATION irir
Shlomo Schwartzberg
Starring Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby,
Jonny Lee Miller, Tanya Allen. Directed
by Gillies MacKinnon. Written by Allan
Scott, based on the novel by Pat Barker.
Produced by Peter R. Simpson and Allan
Scott. No distributor set. Drama. Not yet
rated. Gala. Running time: 113 min.
This somber drama examines both the
moral underpinnings of war and of psychiatry.
It's certainly ambitious and adult in its
approach, but director Gillies MacKinnon
("Trojan Eddie") finds ways of turning profound
human questions into tired cliches of
guih.
Dr. William Rivers (Jonathan Pryce), a
psychiatrist, is asking troubling questions
about "regenerating" shellshocked soldiers
during World War One, only so they can go
back to battle. His counterpart. Dr. Yealland
(John Neville), with the zeal of a Dr.
Frankenstein, is more than happy to zap
these mute warriors with electric shocks.
The problem with "Regeneration" is that
it sorts out all of the ethical questions for
you by reducing them to something as simple
as, "what horrors the mind of man is
capable of...." Kevin Courrier
4 LITTLE GIRLS irir
Featuring Christopher McNair, Maxine
McNair, Alpha Robertson, Coretta Scott
King, George Wallace, and Reverend Jesse
Jackson. Written and directed by Spike Lee.
Produced by Sam Pollard and Spike Lee.
Documentary. Running time: 102 min.
When four young girls, Addie Mae Collins,
Carol Denise McNair. Carole
Rosamond Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley
were killed in a bomb blast at the Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama,
on September 15, 1963, CBS news
anchor Walter Cronkite called it "the awakening"
of the Civil Rights Movement.
Filmmaker Spike Lee, in his first feature
length documentary, looks back on that
traumatic event by interviewing the surviving
parents, and the key political figures of
the time, plus he introduces archival footage.
But Lee doesn't provide the shape and
focus needed to illuminate the meaning of
this "awakening."
Spike Lee does his best work in the film
with the moving testimonials he gets from
the parents. But "4 Little Girls" doesn't
show us how much things might have
changed today. And he shows no sensitivity
towards George Wallace, the former Governor
of Alabama, whose segregationist
policies at the time laid the seeds for much
of the racial violence. Judging by the hyperbolic
way the Wallace scenes are shot, Lee
seems to be taking advantage of the fact that
he is now old and senile, rather than exploring
the reports that he has since reformed
from his racist roots.
Maybe for Spike Lee, an incendiary director,
fingers getting pointed is more important
than delving deeply into complex
issues. Kevin Courrier

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FESTIVAL REVIEWS
^ MONTREAL
LEVITATION ^1^^1/2
Starring Sarah Paulson, Ernie Hudson,
Jeremy London and Ann Magnuson. Directed
and written by Scott D. Goldstein.
Produced by Shelly Strong and Scott D.
Goldstein. A Tenth Muse production; no
stateside distributor set. Drama. Not yet
rated. Running time: 93 min.
The mystical and the just plain mystifying
inhabit Scott D. Goldstein's third
feature, an ethereal yarn about an orphaned
teenager on a lonely search for
identity. The quest undertaken by Acey
(Sarah Paulson, who portrayed backfrom-the-dead
Merlyn on TV's equally
spectral "American Gothic") is marked
by supernatural flourishes that illustrate
the dreams, frightening memories and
hallucinations haunting her. Ernie Hudson
is a DJ named Downbeat, a plot device
that contributes evocative Delta
blues tunes to the soundtrack. Ann Magnuson
fills the shoes of Acey's adoptive
and biological mothers by adopting a few
pointedly yin-yang distinctions. Jeremy
London ("I'll Fly Away") appears and
disappears, a seemingly phantom lover.
Goldstein ("Walls of Glass" in 1986,
"Ambition" in 1991) establishes intriguing
hocus pocus but leaves some enormous
gaps that undermine an otherwise mesmerizing
portrait of a child who desperately
needs a sense of family. Susan Green
TWILIGHT OF THE ICE NYMPHS
•••
Starring Alice Krige, R.H. Thomson
and Shelley Duvall. Directed by Guy
Maddin. Written by George Tales. Produced
by Richard Findlay. No stateside
distributor set. Fantasy. Not yet rated.
Running time: 91 min.
Guy Maddin, the strange director of
"Archangel" and "Careful," is back with
another excursion into his arcane, weird
world. Peter Glahn (uncredited) has just
been freed from prison and is returning
home to Mandragora, where the sun never
sets. There, his sister (Shelley Duvall) is
raising ostriches on the family farm and
pining after a local doctor (R.H. Thomson),
who is in love with a statue of
Venus. And a woman married to the forest
("Star Trek: First Contact's" Alice Krige)
has set her sights on Peter, who loves
another.
With its artificially colored sets, deliberately
stilted dialogue and silent-movie
conventions, "Twilight of the Ice
Nypmhs" establishes itself as unique
fi'om the get-go. It has generated controversy
because the actor playing Glahn
removed his name from the credits when
his voice was dubbed, but the film is
worth seeing regardless. It might not
stretch Maddin as a filmmaker—he's too
focused on the characters to create a coherent
world for them to inhabit—but it's
fun. Shlomo Schwartzberg
UN AIR SI PUR... irir
Starring Fabrice Luchini, Andre
Dussollier and Edith Scob. Directed by
Yves Angela. Written by Yves Angela and
Jean Cosmos. Produced by Alain Sarde.
No stateside distributor set. Drama.
French-language; English subtitles Not
yet rated. Running time: 114 min.
This slick, empty version of "One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is an offensive
film that actually manages to make violent
death look pretty.
Fabrice Luchini ("Beaumarchais, the
Scoundrel"), a commentator on the action,
is a lonely man who writes letters to himself
and suggests death is around the comer in a
high-class French sanitarium, circa the
Great War. The asylum residents are a
mixed bag; some—such as a bombastic Italian
opera singer—have undetectable ailments
(we never find out what they are);
others, like a choleric bank teller with a
secret, are obvious candidates for the place.
After a murder is committed on the premises,
one death begins to follow another and,
each time someone dies, it becomes more
likely that the police will shut the sanitarium
down. Meanwhile, the carnage of the
war becomes more evident as wounded soldiers
are brought into the rest home during
the dead of night.
Writer/director Yves Angelo could be
trying to create a tragedy punctuated with
wit and irony. But he doesn't really show
much interest in his characters; they exist
merely as vehicles for his pithy observations
on humanity. "Un Air Si Pur..." is as
meretricious as they come. Shlomo
Schwartzberg
WOUND OF LIGHT
^V^
Starring Fernando Guillen, Mercedes
Sampietro, Julia Gutierrez Caba and
Cayetana Guillen. Directed by Jose Luis
Garci. Written by Jose Luis Garci and
Horacio Valcarcel. Produced by Jose Luis
Garci. No stateside distributor set. Drama.
Spanish-language; English subtitles.
Running time: 97 min.
Jose Luis Garci 's deadly serious treatise
on human misery concerns a doctor (Fernando
Guillen) whose atheism seems put to
the test, in Job-like fashion, by a disapproving
God. The Spanish director surrounds this
man, living in a provincial town during the
mid- 1 950s, with problematic women: a bitter
wife, a young and sexy mistress, two inane
housemaids, a daughter who has become a
nun, and the mother superior of her convent.
Cayetana Guillen and Julia Gutierrez
Caba, as the good Catholic sisters, are frequently
called upon to make speeches rather
than act. Stony-faced in the midst of daunting
personal chaos, the physician refuses to
heal himself by forgiving his only child her
choice of a cloistered path in life. This may
sound like the prescription for fabulous
drama but "Wound of Light" is too busy
telegraphing what Garci wants the audience
to feel. Somber music, the protagonist's
perpetually grave demeanor and carefully
composed symbolic tableaux all shout
doom. Susan Green
TO LOVE ••
Starring Miki Sakcd, Atsuro Watabe,
Kyoka Kishida and Keiju Kobayashi. Directed
and written by Kei Kumai. Produced
by Tomozo Yamaguchi. A Nikkatsu
production; no distributor set. Drama. Nat
yet rated. Running time: 113 min.
In his adaptation of a Shusaku Endo
novel, director Kei Kumai (the 1975 Oscarnominated
"Sandakan No. 8") attempts to
drive home messages about selflessness
and his society ' s age-old fear of a degenerative
disease. To borrow a cherished Hollywood
phrase. Western Union would have
been faster. "To Love" meanders at a leisurely
pace while tracing the affair of
Yoshioka (Atsuro Watabe) and Mitsu (Miki
Sakai). He has survived polio earlier in his
young life; she has a suspicious rash on her
forearm that doctors believe to be leprosy,
a misdiagnosis that dispatches her to a remote
sanitorium.
When Mitsu meets elderly people incarcerated
there by the government for most of
their lives, she has a mission. Without a
trace of humor, the sentimental story takes
too much time to get to the point. Watabe is
effective as a lonely soul consumed by cynicism
until Mitsu transforms him with her
joyousness, an attitude that' s f)eppy but eventually
becomes cloying. Susan Green
SANTA BARBARA
DEATH AND THE COMPASS
*••
Starring Peter Boyle and Migu el Sandoval.
Directed and written by Alex Cox.
Produced by Lorenzo O 'Brien and Karl H.
Braun. A Together Bros, release.
Drama/suspense. Unrated. Running time:
143 min.
You've got to admire the audacity of
"Death and the Compass." The work of
Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges is all
but unfilmable, but Alex Cox has tackled
one of his stories anyway. The result is
stylish, sometimes overly so, frustrating
and intriguing. It might not be totally successful,
but this Together Brothers production
leaves viewers with plenty to think
about.
A typically Borgesian tale of conspiracy,
the Kabbala and an oddly philosophical
detective, the film involves a series
of murders that might (or might not) be
motivated by the occult. Unflappable detective
Lonnrot (Peter Boyle) encounters
arch-criminal Red Scarlach ("Jude's"
Christopher Eccleston) and untrustworthy
subordinate Treviranus (Miguel
Sandoval) on a journey through a
surreal, stylized landscape that has much
to suggest a dreamtime version of Borges'
native Argentina. Filmed in harsh, saturated
colors and almost cartoonish in its
presentation, "Death and the Compass" is
a jarring film experience, but an intelligent,
intriguing one as well. Cathy
Thompson-Georges

208 (R-54) BoxoFFiCE
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FESTIVAL REVIEWS
DIARY OF A YOUNG FOOL ^^1/2
Starring Christophe Hemon, Patrick
Aurignac and Daniel Russo. Directed and
written by Patrick Aurignac. Produced by
Banfilm. No stateside distributor set.
Drama. French-language; English subtitles.
Not yet rated. Running time: 83 min.
Troubled youth films have a long and lurid
history, and usually they hinge on some theory
about how the youth came to be troubled.
Whether it's the bad parents of "Rebel Without
a Cause" or the undisciplined hooligans
of "Blackboard Jungle," the heart of a delinquent
tale is The Cause of It AU.
That makes "Diary of a Young Fool"
("Memoires d'un jeune con") something of
an anomaly for, in this French film, the
attractive young hero goes astray for no
particular reason except chance and boredom.
It's breaking with convention is both
admirable and, because the film provides no
answers, finally pointless. Although this is a
welcome change Irom movies that moralize,
at the same time this story finds no reason
to be told. Cathy Thompson-Georges
DO ME A FAVOR •^
Starring Rosanna Arquette and Devon
Gummersall Directed by Sondra Locke.
Written by Tag MendiUo and Timothy Albaugh.
Produced by Andrew Form and Tag
MendiUo. No distributor set. Drama. Notyet
rated. Running time: 148 min.
Here's a favor audiences might request:
Spare them a tired rehash of "Something
Wild," complete with kooky female lead,
uptight male protagonist and Big Violent
Ending. An earnestly intentioned independent
film, "Do Me a Favor" is still tired,
melodramatic and more than a little silly
the type of movie that likes its symbolism
written very large on the assumption that
moviegoers just won't get it otherwise.
An inhibited teen (Devon Gummersall) —
a real sad sack, who carries a notebook full of
obituaries—is coerced into buying beer for
his fiiends. When he runs into a wacky felon
("Gone Fishin' s" Rosanna Arquette) in a convenience
store, the rather contrived stage is set
for a cross-state odyssey with the free-spirited
yet troubled woman. We learn a Terrible Secret
and head into a gory denouement that is
hardly justified by what has gone before. The
film seems amateurish at best; audiences are
likely to find that this is one road trip they're
sorry they took. Cathy Thompson-Georges
JUST WRITE •••
Starring Jeremy Piven and Sherilyn
Fenn. Directed by Andrew Galleruni. Written
by Stan Williamson. Produced by Heath
MclMughlin. A Curb Entertainment production.
No distributor set. Romantic comedy.
Not yet rated Running time: 142 min.
Not everv movie can be a groundbreaking
original; sometimes it's enough to take
a familiar formula and execute it with wit
and charm. "Just Write" is just such a work:
The premi.se is something we've seen a
thousand times before, but the film is so
likable that we don't mind coming along on
the same old ride one more time.
The lovelorn swain in this outing is Harold
(Jeremy Piven of TV's "Ellen"), a Los
Angeles tour-bus driver who loves the
glamour of Hollywood Past. Soon he's also
in love with rising movie star Amanda
Clark (a winning Sherilyn Fenn), whom he
meets in a trendy restaurant where the bartender
is a good friend of Harold's. Unfortunately,
he has given the Amanda the
impression that he is an up-and-coming
screenwriter instead of a tour operator—the
lowest form of life in the eyes of the celebrities
they haunt. Now he finds himself the
sworn enemy of her playboy boyfriend
(Costas Mandylor) and is expected to do a
rewrite on her current script.
Will true love win out? Will a dyed-inthe-wool
movie buff use his love of the
medium and his common sense to produce
a stellar rewrite? Will Amanda be miffed
but forgiving when the truth rears its ugly
head? No one who has seen a romantic
comedy before will need to do much headscratching
over those questions, but it
hardly matters. "Just Write" is blessed with
a good writer itself, in the person of Stan
Williamson; the dialogue is a pleasant mixture
of the sweet and the tart. Piven is quite
funny in a low-key, boy-next-door way, and
audiences can't help but wish Harold well.
— Cathy Thompson-Georges
LUST AND REVENGE •••l/Z
Starring Nicholas Hope, Gosia
Dobrowolska and Claudia Karvan. Directed
by Paul Cox. Written by Paul Cox
and John Clarke. No distributor set. Comedy.
Not yet rated. Running time: 146 min.
Although the title might suggest yet another
tired neo-noir thriller, "Lust and Revenge"
is actually an acute and charming
comedy about love, conflicting desires and
art from maverick Aussie director Paul
Cox. And who'd have thought the highminded
world of civic art patronage would
yield such devious motives, or such fun?
When a minor Australian museum gets
an endowment from a millionaire's daughter
for a new sculpture, everything seems
simple: The heiress, Georgina Oliphant
(Claudia Karvan), gets something to oo and
a chance to help a sculptor friend (Victoria
Eagger); the artist gets some much-needed
money; Georgina' s devious father (Chris
Haywood) gets a tax writeoff; and model
Karl-Heinz (Nicholas Hope) gets paid.
But things complicate themselves, as
they tend to do. Karl-Heinz' s frigid wife
Cecilia (Gosia Dobrowolska) doesn't approve
of his modeling—and she doesn't
even know that he's doing it nude. Caught
up in a New Age guru's teachings, she
wishes her husband would join in. When
Georgina' s father decides that he needs a
bigger writeoff, necessitating a bigger
sculpture, the search for a second model
takes some unexpected turns, especially
when Georgina' s depression medication
proves to have aphrooisiacal side effects.
"Lust and Revenge" is that rarity, a genuinely
funny comeciy. An acerbic script and
strong performances all around keep the
film entertaining in its knowing treatment
of the art world, Sydney society and the
loopier manifestations of New Age spirituality.
Even more impressive, it manages to
give each character his due. In an utterly
appropriate finale, everyone gets what he or
she wants in a most unexpected manner. From
start to finish, "Lust and Revenge" is never
quite what it seems—and that is a very good
thing. Cathy Thompson-Georges
THE RIDDLE
^^^1/2
Starring Pasha Ivanov and Sasha
Melnikova. Directed by Evan Brenner. Written
by Danny Brenner and Evan Brenner.
Produced by Yuri Torokhov. No distributor
set. Drama. Russian-language; English subtitles.
Not yet rated. Running time: 92 min.
"The Riddle" deserves to join the ranks
of the great documents about childhood.
With outstanding performances from its
young actors and an acute sense of the
terrors and pleasures of childhood, this Russian/American
co-production is a film of
remarkable humor and poignancy.
Sasha (Pasha Ivanov) is a motherless boy
raised by a father who, unable to cope,
alternates between love and brutality.
Placed in an orphanage, Sasha finds his
stride and learns the truth about the riddle
of his mother's death. It's a simple story,
but young Ivanov gives an extraordinarily
mature performance, matched by Sasha
Melnikova as a young girl who is the hero's
closest friend and by the boys of the orphanage—some
of whom are actual orphanage
inmates. The film is marked by lovely,
haunting images: inmates of a women's
prison who comfort Sasha, the snow-locked
orphanage, and the revelation of what, finally,
did happen to his mother. A wise and
understated film, neither sentimental nor
prosaic, "The Riddle" will haunt any viewer
long after its light has faded from the
screen. Cathy Thompson-Georges
SHAKESPEARE'S CHILDREN •••
Starring Kate Kline May. Directed by Allie
Light and Irvin Saraf. Written andproduced
by Kale Kline May. A Hot Flash release.
Documentary. Running time: 48 min.
Short and sweet, "Shakespeare's Children"
is a lovely ode to the potential within
youngsters to learn and grow through patient
but forceful encouragement. Much as
they did in their Oscar-winning documentary
"In the Shadow of the Stars," directors
Allie Light and Irvin Saraf delve into the
rigors of the creative process.
Here, a group of students at Malcolm X
Elementary in Berkeley, Calif, are studied as
they prepare a stage production of
Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's
Dream.' guided by the gentle but firmliand
of the school project's founder, Kate Kline
May (who scnpts and produces). Naturally,
the children are cute, but the filmmakers
wisely show the struggle and emotional pain
in their effort.s to overcome personal trials.
Cleverly interspersing its footage with clips
from the cla.ssic 1935 film version of the
Bard's comic fantasy, "Shakespciuv's Children"
is a genuine charmer. Dale Winogura

—
—
—
—
April, 1998 (R-55) 209
FESTIVAL REVIEWS
NEWPORT BEACH
DARKLANDS ^^1/2
Starring Craig Fairbrass, Rowene King,
Jon Finch and Roger Nott. Directed and
written by Julian Richards. Produced by
Paul Brooks. No stateside distributor set.
Drama. Notyet rated. Running time: 91 min.
A story of animal (including hominid)
sacrifice, current-day Druid cultists and
ultra-national sympathizers, this Welsh
entry has a great opening: a what-is-this
whirl of nighttime ritual, percussive music,
and talcumed and tattooed dancers that ends
in a pig bloodletting. When day breaks, the
landscape is revealed: a South Wales steel
town more home to rust and smoke than to
human skin and the happiness it seeks.
What humanity there is, aside from an investigative
journalist, Frazer, veers toward
the dark: a young woman named Rachel
who says her brother was mysteriously
killed; a running-for-reelection pol named
Keller whose stumping is aimed at roiling
listener wrath against present societal practices
and at turning the town back toward
"the old ways"; and a cleric who local heathens
have on the edge of terror.
As the person with whom the audience
will identify, Frazer is a bit too ordinary; in
that he has no goal, his character has the feel
of a TV-level creation common to cable
mysteries—although his ultimate fate is not
only surprising, but queasy-making. The
other characters, given that they are either
killed or revealed to be depraved (or both),
are certain to seem offputting to contemporary
audiences accustomed to cinematic
coddling. (Also, the dialogue's heavy
Welsh brogue will be difficult for American
moviegoers to decipher.)
Writer/director Julian Richards has fashioned
a film that, except for an odd, early
sex scene in which the participants seem
headed toward orgasm even though pants
and panties are still on, purposely pulls no
punches. What it lacks, however, is followthrough:
When "Darklands" closes its
gloomy tale, it does so without meaning. A
Blow without a lesson, the film works best as
a simple ftight night out. Kim Williamson
DRAWING FLIES
^^
Starring Jason Lee, Renee Humphrey,
Jason Mewes and Carmen Lee. Directed
and written by Matt Gissing and Malcolm
Ingram. A View Askew production. No
distributor set. Drama/comedy. Not yet
rated. Running time: 69 min.
The 1990s, unlike the "605, has no counterculture.
Lacking the anti-war, free love,
civil rights and expanded consciousness
movements, young people—here, five Canadians
making pretense as a lost generation
trying to find meaning in British
Columbia—must make do with faux-hip
cultural commentary. ("What are you going
to do about rent?" "Get a job." "No, seriously.")
Only within such a self-pleased,
verging on brain-dead context could the
storyline of "Drawing Flies" work—four
youths find themselves following into the
wilds a fifth who believes he's on a mystic
quest for Bigfoot—but within that severe
delimitation it does.
The microbudget production, shot in
black-and-white with (in and out) ambient
sound, has an appropriately grungy feel and
a tendency toward fine long takes, and the
presence of Jason Lee ("Mallrats") on the
marquee might help make up for an overbearing
and one-note performance he gives
onscreen as Donner, whose heading-toward-catastrophe
this party is. Renee Humphrey,
Jason Mewes, Martin Brooks and
Carmen Lee provide moderately interesting
turns despite a thin script. But the real
"name" involved is Kevin Smith (writer/director
of "Clerks," "Mallrats," "Chasing
Amy"), who executive produces along with
partner Scott Mosier. Kim Williamson
DRIVEN ifir
Starring Tony Todd, Whip Hubley,
Daniel Roebuck and Chad Lowe. Directed
and written by Michael Parodies Shoob.
Produced by Daniel Linck and Colin Williams.
No stateside distributor set. Drama.
Not yet rated. Running time: 103 min.
"Driven" is for those who still long for a
of Cassavetes-style psychodrama fea-
fix
turing Losers Who Have Big Dreams.
Writer/director Michael Paradies Shoob
tells the story of a group of L. A. cab drivers
who bring their frustration, unfulfilled
hopes and Zen magic to their job. Shoob
displays a talent for creating a naturalistic
atmosphere for actors to work in, but he's
saddled with actors with more baggage than
a car trunk could accommodate.
In their roles, Tony Todd ("Candyman")
shouts the loudest because he's the most
frustrated; Daniel Roebuck is the funniest
because bookmakers-in-training always get
the best lines. Chad Lowe plays the dreamer
who frees their petty minds (and whose fate
is obvious). Shoob once worked as a cabbie,
and he seems interested in delineating the
disappointments of people locked into jobs
that don't fulfill them. Yet he defines his
characters rather than let the audience explore
who they are, making "Driven" an
ambitious drive down a one-way street.
Kevin Courrier
IN EXPECTATION ^^^
Starring Zhang Xianmin and Zhong
Ping. Directed by Zhang Ming. Written by
Zhu Wen. Produced by the Beijing Film
Studio. A Beijing East-Earth Cultural Development
production. No distributor set.
Drama. Chinese-language; English subtitles.
Not yet rated. Running time: 99 min.
The Newport Beach fest featured an
Asian cinema sidebar, of 16 films from nine
countries, that proved to be the most compelling
element of the second annual event,
with Vietnam production "Nostalgia for
Countryland" and China' s "In Expectation"
sharing the fest's Asia Award. The latter
work, aka "Rainclouds Over Wushan," is
fashioned with a tripartite narrative that
changes focal characters and locales during
the telling; this, plus a sublimation of
filmmaker intent, gives the proceedings an
aura of inscrutability. Rather than being
offputting, however, like the exoticism of
the settings—a high above the river Jiushizi
Station, a rundown but passing for posh
Xiankelai Hotel—these ingredients draw
moviegoers in with their fascinations.
The story, fractured as it is, first introduces
Mai Qiang, an introverted 30-yearold
signal operator who leads a cloistered
life at an isolated beacon house. His friend,
Ma Bing, thinks Mai needs a woman in his
life. The tale moves to the nearest town,
where the widow Chen Qing works in a
hotel to support her young son; hotel manager
Old Mo wants to change their occasional
assignations into some more
permanent, but she is unwilling. ("Did you
hear somebody calling "Mum'?" she asks
once in one of the film's affecting non
sequiturs.) Offscreen, Mai and Chen meet
by chance; back onscreen, Mai finds himself
accused of raping her. Pulled in by a
no-nonsense policeman, and hardly helped
by the boastfulness of Ma, Mai faces a
sudden relationship with a woman far more
complex than anyone imagines.
Director Zhang Ming keeps his camera
trained tight on the personal despite having
a bounty of gorgeous vistas and piquant
locations to distract him, and Zhu Wen's
screenplay flows like the silent ripples of
the Yangtze waters never far off. Like the
fest's "Staccato Purr of the Exhaust," "In
Expectation" never states a frank conclusion,
but as a work in which symbolism is
as important as character, and even informs
it, the film speaks in a clear voice that could
find receptive ears in Asian-fare aficionados.
Kim Williamson
RAINBOW ••
Starring Willy Lavendahl, Bob Hoskins
and Saul Rubinek. Directed by Bob Hoskins.
Written by Ashley and Robert
Sidaway. Produced by Nicholas Clermont
and Robert Sidaway. Drama. No distributor
set. Running time: 98 min.
With the bar raised high for children's
films in recent years, including such stellar
movies as "Babe" and "A Little Princess,"
"Rainbow," despite an original idea, falls
short of making movie magic.
Set in New York, "Rainbow" follows the
sensitive Mike (Lavendahl), who, spurred
on by his magician grandfather's tall tales
(Hoskins), is always on the lookout for unexplainable
events. When he stumbles
across a rainbow, he has trouble getting
anyone to believe him but proof of his find
is followed calamitously by the theft of
some gold at the end of the rainbow, which
creates chaos.
The middle segment of "Rainbow," as a
cinematographically deracinated, faded
world descends into violence and anarchy,
is genuinely chilling, but the beginning and
end of the film is pap. Hoskins displays Uttle
of the buoyancy and force of his directorial
debut, the fablelike "The Raggedy
Rawney." This rainbow lacks both color
and definition.— Shlomo Schwartzberg

210 (R-56) Boxoffice
FESTIVAL REVIEWS
AFM
SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE
•••1/2
Starring Lara Flynn Boyle, Teri
Hatcher, Joey Slotnick and David
Schwimmer. Directed by David Schwimmer.
Written by Jeff Steinberg. Produced
by Richard Gladstein. A Miramax release.
Comedy. Not yet rated. Running
time: 92 min.
Everyone who laughed or batted an eye
when Miramax signed "Friends" TV star
David Schwimmer to a multi-film producing/directing
deal—even before his feature
acting debut had been released—owes the
Weinstein brothers an apology. Regardless
of what one thinks of Schwimmer' s nebbish
acting style, it's hard to deny the fact that
"Since You've Been Gone" is a cracking
good directorial debut.
As such debuts go, of course, it helps to
start with good material. In the case of Jeff
Steinberg's wise and witty script, the material
isn't just good, it's downright terrific.
Set entirely during one night at a 10-year
high school reunion, "Since You've Been
Gone" focuses on no fewer than a dozen
different individuals, some better off and
others less well off than when they graduated.
It's a volatile mix of egos and insecurities
that makes for some initial rough going
on the part of the participants; but, as the
evening progresses through a series of unpredictable
and often bizarre events, secrets
are revealed, old scores are settled and lives
are forever changed.
Given the setup, Schwimmer and
Steinberg could have taken the easy way out
by exploiting the obvious and playing up
any number of reunion cliches. To their
credit, "Since You've Been Gone" is neither
obvious nor cliched. By turns comic,
tragic and poignant, the film revels in honesty
and vulnerability, presenting even its
most flawed characters non-judgmentally
and, in some cases, sympathetically. When
forced to address more familiar character
models, Steinberg and Schwimmer opt
for archetypes rather than stereotypes.
— Wade Major
BLACK MASK •••
Starring Jet Li, Karen Mok, Francoise
Yip and Lau Ching Wan. Directed by Daniel
Lee. Written by Teddy Chen and Koan
Hui. Produced by Tsui Hark. No distributor
set. Action/SF. English dubbed. Notyet
—
—
rated. Running time: 102 min.
With two-thirds of Hong Kong's major
movie talent having already migrated to Hollywood,
it's astonishing that action StarJet Li,
second only to Jackie Chan in boxoffice fame,
has yet to make the move. This Englishdubbed,
digitally re-recorded version of his
19% overseas hit Black Mask," however,
could be his breakthrough.
A rousing fusion of high-octane action,
apocalyptic science fiction and eye-poppmg
martial arts, "Black Ma.sk" falls into a
peculiar Hong Kong subgenre best characterized
by films like "Saviour of the Soul"
and "The Heroic Trio." Li stars as Tsui, a
biologically engineered super-soldier who
escapes from mainland Chma and assumes
a life in Hong Kong as a mild-mannered
librarian until the rest of the so-called "701
Squad" surfaces in Hong Kong as part of a
concerted effort to take control of the criminal
underworld. Knowing full well that he alone
possesses the abilities and knowledge to foil
his former comrades, Tsui dons the requisite
"black mask" and goes to work protecting
truth, justice and the Chinese way.
Although director Daniel Lee deserves
credit for the film's effective stylization, it
is action director Yuen Woo Ping—himself
a director of such classics as "Tai Chi,"
"Drunken Master" and "Wing Chun"
whose efforts elevate "Black Mask" above
the usual fare. Wade Major
LEGEND OF GOD OF GAMBLERS
•••1/2
Starring Leon Lai and Anita Yuen. Directed,
written and produced by Wong
Jing. A Golden Harvest production. No
distributor set. Action/drama. Not yet
rated. Running time: 102 min.
Sans the charismatic presence of Chow
Yun-Fat, any other filmmaker would have
put the "God of Gamblers" series to rest.
Then again, Wong Jing ("City Hunter,"
"High Risk") isn't just any other filmmaker.
Shamelessly lifting virtually his entire plot
from John Woo's "Once a Thief," Wong's
newest entry in the popular series is a tightly
conceived prequel that not only betters its
predecessors but even improves on the
"Once a Thief formula.
With Leon Lai assuming the role of master
gambler Ko Chun, the new film retraces
Ko's origins as one of three gifted orphans
raised by a powerful crime lord. Years later,
on the eve of what seemed to be certain
triumph, Ko is betrayed and nearly killed by
his adoptive family, only to be rescued by
one-time rivals who nurse him back to
health just in time to exact sweet revenge.
Its plagiarized pedigree notwithstandmg,
"Legend of God of Gamblers" is far and
away Wong's best work ever as a director.
Imaginative, exciting and always surprising.
It also stands as one of a handful of truly
excellent Hong Kong films to emerge since
the island's talent began emigrating to Hollywood.—
Wade Major
—
THE EMPEROR'S SHADOW
••1/2
Starring Jiang Wen, Ge You and Xu
Qing. Directed by Zhou Xiaowen. Written
by Lu Wei. Produced by Tong Gang, Hu
Yuesheng and Cai Huansong. No distributor
set. Drama. Mandarin-language; English
subtitles. Not yet rated. Running
time: 128 min.
The story of China's first emperor,
Ying Zhen^, and his stormy friendship
with musician/composer Gao Jianli receives
an appropriately epic treatment in
"The Emperor's Shadow, ' director Zhou
Xiaowen s follow-up to his popular comedy
"Ermo." Played by veteran actors Jiang
Wen ("Red Sorghum") and Ge You ("To
Live"), respectively. Emperor Ying and
musician Gao first meet as children, only to
renew their relationship decades later during
Ying's bloody campaign to unify
China. But their rapport is a tempestuous
one, with Ying determined at all
costs for Gao to write a new Chinese
anthem, and Gao increasingly disgusted
by Ying's Napoleanic ego. Making matters
worse is Gao s eventual involvement with
Ying' s crippled daughter Xu Qing ("Life on
a String's' Ying Yueyang), who miraculously
finds the ability to walk again after
making love with Gao.
Despite lacking the dramatic weight
and visual splendors that audiences have
come to expect in the works of Zhang
Yimou and Chen Kaige, Zhou's film nevertheless
manages a rougher charm of its
own thanks to compelling performances
by Jiang and Ge. Screenwriter Lu Wei,
designer Cao Jiuping and composer Zhao
Jiping have done better work for Zhang
and Chen, but their contributions here are
still praiseworthy. Wade Major
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA
AND THE WEST •••
Starring Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan, Chan
Kwok Pong and Ziong Xin Xin. Directed
by Sammo Hung. Written by Si Mei Yee,
Sharon Hui and Szeto Cheuk Hon. Produced
by Tsui Hark. No distributor set.
Action. Cantonese- and English-language;
English subtitles. Not yet rated.
Running time: 102 min.
Having nearly exhausted all Hong
Kong-based plot possibilities for the popular
"Once Lipon a Time in China" series,
producer/creator Tsui Hark has wisely
taken the franchise stateside, a move
seemingly intended to do for star Jet Li
what "Rumble in the Bronx" did for
Jackie Chan. The sixth entry in the ongoing
adventures of turn-of-the-century
hero Wong Fei Hong (the same character
portrayed by Jackie Chan in the "Drunken
Master" films) returns Li to the role he
abandoned after "Once Upon a Time in
China 3." Fortunately, Li is graced with a
smarter script this time out as Wong, Aunt
Yee (Rosamund Kwan) and Che (Chan
Kwok-Pong) are forced to brave such
uniquely American rigors as Indians, outlaws,
gunslingers and gamblers on their
way to what will eventually become
known as San Francisco's Chinatown.
Borrowing liberally from a variety of
unorthodox sources, including "Dances
With Wolves" and the Star Trek episode
"The Paradi.se Syndrome," "Once Upon a
Time in China and the West" is something
of an awkward hodge-podge, but
it's a fun hodge-podge that affords director
Sammo Hung ("Dragons Forever")
the chance to do what he does best,
which is stage jaw-dropping action and
fight sequences. A smattering of satirical
barbs and self-referential jokes also make
this by far the series' most comedic
entry.
—
Wade Major

—
—
Anril 100« lft.^1^ ->11
REVIEWS
WELCOME TO WOOP WOOP ^^
Starring Johnathon Schaech, Susie
Porter and Rod Taylor. Directed by Stephan
Elliott. Written by Michael Thomas.
Produced by Finola Dwyer. An MGM release.
Rated R for strong sexuality and
language, and for some drug content.
Running time: 96 min.
Teddy ("That Thing You Do!'s"
Johnathon Schaech) has gotten himself into
a revolting situation, emphasis on "revolting."
Helmer Stephan Elliott's sophomore
effort is just that—sophomoric. employing
relentless gross-out gags in place of
humor. There are a few amusing
moments, characters and ideas, but
Elliott's trademark whimsy doesn't
work when set against such a bleak
backdrop. For the most part, "Woop
Woop" is a great disappointment
from the filmmaker who brought us
1994's brilliantly comic and
warmly touching "The Adventures
of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."
Like "Priscilla," "Woop Woop" is
set in the remote Australian outback.
But the similarities end there.
Teddy, a charming con man on
the run, is kidnapped by Angle
("Paradise Road's" Susie Porter),
an oversexed hitchhiker who drugs
him and drags him off to her home
town of Woop Woop, a primitive
hovel of a village populated by
,-, , , ^, j
Woody Harrelson stars as Harry Barber,
a scrappy ex-journalist on his way home to
the sleepy Florida town of Palmetto after a
two year stint in prison for a crime he didn't
commit. More than just slightly bitter at the
system. Barber seizes the chance to make a
fast buck when Rhea Malroux (Elisabeth
Shue), the young wife of aging tycoon Felix
Malroux (Rolf Hoppe), asks him to participate
in a friendly family scam. Unhappy
with their generous allowances, Rhea and
her step-daughter Odette (Chloe
Sevigny) have concocted a bogus kid-
t.lisabeth Shue and Woody Harrelson in Columbia's "Palmetto."
about 50 twisted, repellant residents and napping plot that requires only one addi
ruled by Angle's intimidating father, the
dictatorial Daddy-0 (Rod Taylor). To add
some variety to the gene pool, every once
in a while some hapless man is nabbed and
forced into husbandry. Daddy-0 mandates
no one can ever leave Woop Woop,
that
under penalty of death. To his credit, Elliott
has successfully created an environment so
vile that it appropriately evokes the direness
of escape. But unfortunately, the audience
will also want to escape, long before the
credits roll. (Those who do sit through the
whole thing, watch for the post-credits
punchline). Christine James
tional person to recover the loot and to
provide an appropriately menacing telephone
voice. For $50,000, it's an offer
Harry can't refuse.
Naturally, things don't go quite as Harry
would like them to, despite some elaborate
precautions on his part. But neither do they
go as quite anyone else expects, with
everyone's mutual and concurrent bungling
adding a refreshing trace of absurdist humor
to the mix.
Unfortunately, on the whole there remains
little to disunguish "Palmetto"
from countless better knockoff noirs, notwithstanding
director Volker
Schlondorff s ("The Tin Drum," "A
Handmaid's Tale") noble efforts at wielding
mood and ambience. Bogged down by
a cumbersome setup from which the film
only partially recovers, "Palmetto" is best
distinguished by fine performances from
Harrelson and Shue who remain engaging
throughout, even when E. Max Frye's
script gives them next to nothing to do.
Gina Gershon, however, seems
painfully miscast as Harry's stalwart
girlfriend, a colorless and minuscule
role ill-suited to her
talents.
Wade Major
LOVE WALKED IN ^1/2
Starring Denis Leary, Aitana
Sanchez-Gijon and Terence
Stamp. Directed and written by
Juan Jose Campanella. Produced
by Ricardo Freixa and
Denis Leary. A Triumph release.
Drama. Rated R for sexuality,
language and some violence.
Running time: 91 min.
An underpowered film noir, this
adaptation of the novel "Ni El Tiro
Del Final" by Jose Pablo
Feinmann never develops the
darkness the genre demands. The
genre elements are trotted out, but they
never cohere into a tale that feels authentic.
In part, that's because the two central romances—between
Jack, a sarcastic piano
player ("Two If By Sea's" Denis Leary),
and his sultry singer/wife Vicky ("A Walk
in the Clouds'" Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), and
between a wealthy older man named Fred
("Bliss"' Terence Stamp) who begins to
desire her—never seem real, only assigned
by the filmmaker.
PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED: MARCH/APRIL/MAY FILMS
PALMETTO ••1/2
Starring Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth
Shue, Gina Gershon, Michael Rapaport,
Chloe Sevigny. Directed by Volker
Schlondorff Written by E. Max Frye. Produced
by Matthias Wendlandt. A Columbia
release. Thriller. Rated Rfor sexuality
and language. Running Time 114 min.
Though not exactly in the same league
with the likes of James Ellroy and Elmore
Leonard, crime novelist James Hadley
Chase nonetheless appears to have a substantial
enough following to merit "Palmetto,"
a marginally successful adaptation of
his quasi-noir novel "Just Another Sucker."
Vaguely reminiscent of at least a dozen
classic noirs, including "The Postman Always
Rings Twice" and "Double Indemnity,"
"Palmetto" is a curiously mixed bag,
a revisionist thriller that veers wildly from
the satirical to the campy, finally overcoming
its initial tediousness with a pair of
familiar, yet effective twists.
The alphabetical list below notes the issue of BOXOFFICE in which our
review of an upcoming Htm appeared, gives its star rating, and
provides newly updated distributor and release date information.
"The Butcher Boy" ••••: Warner, 3/13; see Sept. 1997.
"Chinese Box" ••: Trimark, 4/3; see February 1998.
"Eden" -k-kl/l: Legacy, 3/27; see March 1998.
"Fireworks" ••••1/2: Milestone, 3/20; see March 1998.
"Hard Core Logo" •••1/2: Miramax, 5/8 (NY/LA); see October 1997.
"I Love You, Don't Touch Me" ir-k-kVl: MGM/UA, 4/17 (ltd); see July 1997.
"The Leading Man" •••: Legacy, March, undated; see April 1997.
"Love and Death on Long Island" •••: CFP, 3/6; see Feb. 1998.
"Men With Guns" •••1/2: SPC, 3/6 (ltd); see Feb. 1998.
"Nightwatch" ••: Miramax, 3/20 ; see Oct. 1996.
"Passion in the Desert" •••: Fine Line, 5/15; see February 1998.
"Still Breathing" -kl/l: October, 4/10 (ltd); see Oct. 1997.
"Suicide Kings" •••: Live, 3/13; see Oct. 1997.
"Talk ofAngels" •••: Miramax, 3/6 (NY/LA); see Sept. 1997.
"The Taste of Cherry" ^-klll: Zeitgeist, 3/20; see August 1997.
"The Truce" -k-kl/l: Miramax, 4/24 (NY/LA); see July 1997.
"Two Girls and a Guy" ••: Fox Searchlight, 3/27 (ltd); see March 1998.
"Voyage to the Beginning... " ••1/2: Strand, Aprio, undated; see Sept. 1997.

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REVIEWS
Samuel L. ]ackson, Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman are scientists investigating a mysterious spacecraft submerged underwater in Warner's "Sphere.'
Argentinean writer/director Juan Jose
Campanella ("The Boy Who Cried Bitch")
also never makes this version's stateside
setting work. The honky-tonk in which the
husband and wife play never merits the
this-is-the-place attentions paid it, and the
beach town in which the action plays out
appears to be a boring burg—hardly an
abode to achieve noir. This apathy carries
over into Campanella's characters: Leary's
Jack, who introduces his wife's vocals by
first berating his audience for not matching
his supposed existential wisdom, comes
across as a singularly low-wattage thinker,
with the originality of a sociologist's parrot;
as Vicky, the pristinely beautiful Sanchez-
Gijon is simply too sweet to be smoky; and
Stamp, although again able to perform his
weariness-of-the-world signature, has
nothing else of note to do with his character.
He's a Fred, indeed.
Even a blackmail plot, in which Vicky
will vamp for Fred until there's enough
evidence to frame him for millions lest his
rich wife be told, plays out with the energy
of an afterthought, as in the genre's requisite
death, which occurs when Jack's
scheming private-dick friend (Michael
Badalucco) bumps his car into a trash bin
with sufficient force to, maybe, dent his
bumper. When the camera reveals his
bloody corpse inside the car, one wants to
laugh. Holding this back from "Airplane! '-
like genre spoofage are the players' determined
turns and the writer/director's
determination to show his artsiness by including
a film-within-a-film about a Cain
and Abel brother duo. Although
Campanella succeeds only in making fartsiness,
at least he does it bad enough so that
you don't want to laugh any more. You just
want to leave.
Kim Williamson
SPHERE ^^1/2
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon
Stone, Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by
Barry Levinson. Written by Stephen
Hauser and Paul Attanasio. Produced by
Barry Levinson, Michael Crichton and
Andrew Wald. A Warner release. Science
Fiction. Rated PG-I3for sci-fi action including
some startling images. Running
time: 133 min.
Directed by the gifted Barry Levinson,
featuring a cast of star who can actually act,
"Sphere" is bidding for a cinematic space
closer to the Big Idea territory of "Contact"
than to the popcorn carnage of "The Lost
World." And for the first hour or so of its
run time, it' s both compelling and great fun.
Unfortunately, the film is ultimately derailed
by the fatal flaw at the heart of Michael
Crichton's source novel: the Big Idea,
in this case, just isn't that big.
The set-up is intriguing, to be sure. A
team of diverse scientists, headed by psychologist
Norman (Dustin Hoffman), is dispatched
under hush-hush circumstances to
a deep-sea location. What they're there to
investigate is the wreck of a crashed aircraft-which
went down almost 300 years
ago. The team, which also includes an astrophysicist
(Liev Schreiber), a mathematician
(Samuel L. Jackson) and a biologist
(Sharon Stone), discovers a mysterious,
probably extraterrestrial golden orb in the
space ship, and the scary events begin.
It's hard to fault the filmmaking in
Sphere. Levinson keeps the action moving
at a fast clip; he effectively sets up and
presents the .scare scenes; and he wins
strong performances from the whole cast.
The film also benefits from its eerie deepsea
setting, and some smashing special effects—the
sphere itself is a compelling
object. Unfortunately, the plotline hinges
on a simple-minded and rather silly premise,
one which doesn't live up to the buildup
of the first part of the film. And the final
escape to the surface, which should be nailbiting,
is simply anticlimactic.
"Sphere" is not trashy, or silly, or exploitative;
a lot of talent has been used to good
effect here. But in the final analysis, fine
filmmaking cannot overcome mediocre
material. Cathy Thompson-Georges
BLUES BROTHERS 2000 ••
Starring Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman
and J. Evan Bonifant. Directed by John
Landis. Written by Dan Aykroyd and John
Landis. Produced by Dan Aykroyd, John
Landis and Leslie Belzberg. A Universal
release. Comedy. Rated PG- 13 for exotic
dancing and some language. Running
time: 123 min.
You'd think that now, in the cynical and
harsh late-'90s, that few would have the
guts to attempt a sequel, particularly those
bright enough to do the original. The result
is not as insipid as it could l)e, but, of course,
not nearly as good, as fun or as inspired as the
original.
Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd), upon
being released from prison and discovering
tne news of his orother's death, sets
out to put the band back together. John
Goodman steps well, but is wasted, into
big shoes as the Belushi replacement—
mild-mannered strip-club bartender who
turns funky-man blues singer once he
meets Elwood. Tagging along is orphan
Buster (J. Evan Bonifant), a juvenile delinquent
wannabe. Unfettered by the
ghosts of the original (since he wasn't
even born), Bonifant steals the show
hands down, dancing and acting and tak-
212 (R-58) Boxoi'-FICE

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REVIEWS
ing names. Aykroyd does his best
here and stays true to the spirit of
his character, but he can't go it
alone and, despite their enthusiasm,
everyone else seems just
slightly out of step. Goodman is
trying hard, but with the exception
of a few musical numbers, everything
else falls flat. The
scenes are stoic, static and
would be boring except
they're so truncated as to almost
make no sense. The
rhythm and pace of the
movie is way off, and too
long. The musical numbers
are fun only because of the
all-star, over-the-top plethora
of musical talent involved.
Landis is at a loss
here.
Simon O'Ryan
DESPERATE
MEASURES *ic*M2
Starring Michael Keaton,
Andy Garcia, Marcia Gay
Harden, Brian Cox and Joseph
Cross. Directed by Barbet
Schroeder. Written by
David Klass. Produced by Schroeder,
Susan Hoffman, Gary Foster
and Lee Rich. A TriStar release.
Thriller. Rated R for violence and
language. Running time: 100 min.
San Francisco police officer
Frank Connor (Andy Garcia) faces
the greatest challenge of his life: he
must find a bone marrow donor for
his son. Matt (Joseph Cross), before
he dies of leukemia. His prayers
are answered in the form of
Peter McCabe (Michael Keaton)
who turns out to be an exact DNA
match for the boy. The downside?
McCabe is a very bright, homicidal
sociopath who is currently serving
a life sentence in a maximum security
prison. Needless to say,
McCabe manages to turn his 'good
deed' into a bold escape attempt. And as
McCabe' s bone marrow would be useless
- to Matt if he died, Connor must preserve his
life at all costs.
Keaton gives a chilling performance as
the charismatic but cold hearted killer.
Marcia Gay Harden gives a realistic portrayal
as Matt's doctor who will do anything
to protect her patient. And Garcia is
surprisingly convincing as the father who
will risk his own life and that of his
friends to save his son.
"Desperate Measures'" script is intelligently
written: key characters are painted in
fine detail and their relationships are delicately
interwoven. There are just enough
chase scenes and sudden changes in tempo
to keep one perched on the edge of one's
seat. And just when the plot seems to have
reached its climax, it twists round again. It
even examines a philosophical question:
"What' s the value of a human life?" in such
a way that one actually considers the
issue. lAsa Osborne
FLASHBACK: November 8, 1940
What BOXOFFICE said about...
THE MARK OF ZORRO
[TriStar's "The Mask ofZorro," coming out July 24, will
star Antonio Banderas as the Gay Blade, Zorro. Anthony
Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones also star for director
Martin Campbell. (See our cover story, page 42.) The first
film about the heroic, swashbuckling masked avenger was
1920's "The Mark of Zorro," with Douglas Fairbanks Sr.;
following is BOXOFFICE's review of the 1940 version,
which was released by Foxandtoplined Tyrone Power, with
Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gail Soundergaard, Eugene
Pallette and Jay Edward Bromberg.]
The old favorite melodrama of adventure and romance
returns to the screen, modernized only in productional
treatment, which is definitely of prime
grade. All of the pulse-stimulating action of the original
has been retained—and perhaps amplified. Tyrone
Power leaves nothing to be desired as Zorro. He plays
the role expertly and convincingly with a minimum of
heroics and swashbuckling. The same praiseworthy
balance of restraint and tempo marks Rouben
Mamoulian's splendid direction. The general results
add up for an oversized helping of red-blooded entertainment
that will be relished every foot of the way by those who like to have their motion
pictures really move. From any standard of evaluation, only top profits and praise seem to
be in store for the feature in any or all situations.
SELLING ANGLES:
Launch a mystery *'Z" campaign, placing one-sheets around town, imprinted only with
the letter Z. Mask ushers and cashiers and other attendants, with title of picture in white
letters on black masks. Clothe them in Spanish costumes. Tie in with a local department
store on window displays of Spanish-type furniture. Your lobby can be dressed up with
pottery, sombreros, Spanish shawls and other items. Hold Spanish dance contests, in
costume, in various dance halls.
CATCHLINES:
Zorro...the Dashing Don of California's Most Romantic, Adventurous Era...Terror of
Tyrants by Night—Beau Ideal During the Day....Adored by Women—Idealized by
Men.~Feared by Tyrants...California's Most Colorful Character Lives Again!
DEEP RISING ^^^1/2
Starring Treat Williams, Famke
Janssen, Kevin J. O'Connor, Derrick
O'Connor and Anthony Heald. Written
and directed by Stephen Sommers. Produced
by Laurence Mark and John
Baldecchi. A Buena Vista release.
Thriller. Rated R for sci-fi violence and
gore. Running time: 105 min.
"Deep Rising" is a typical disaster movie
on board a ship except that the heroes are
more concerned about being eaten alive by
sea monsters (that look like a cross between
an octopus and Audrey II from "Little Shop
of Horrors") than drowning.
A luxury liner sets sail on its maiden voyage
with much pomp and circumstance and a full
complement of wealthy passengers. But by
the time mercenary John J. Finnegan (Treat
WilUams) and his mechanic Pantucci (Kevin
J. O'Connor) stumble across the disabled
craft, most of the passengers have been reduced
to piles of blood, bones and goo. The
survivors the ship's captain (Derrick
O'Connor), its owner Canton (Anthony
Heald), and a jewel thief named Trillian
(Famke Janssen)— give sketchy details of
the 'creatures' that decimated the ship's
crew—but all is soon revealed.
Excellent special effects help maintain
the pace and tension in what could have
been a rather bland, formula movie. Scenes
where one of the creatures crumples metal
walls like tinfoil and dissolves the flesh off
a victim are particularly graphic. Unfortunately,
the great effects can't fully compensate
for the predictable plot.
Finnegan, Pantucci and Trillian are flawed
but likable characters, and all three actors
give solid performances. Janssen does a good
job of playing the cheeky but resourceful
female lead. It's always reassuring to see a
woman holding her own in a crisis. Happily,
the days when women are portrayed shrieking
in a comer at the first sign of danger
seem to be over. Lisa Osborne

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REVIEWS
Elton John gets smooched by the Spice Girls in Columbia's "Spice World
SPICE WORLD ^^1/2
Starring The Spice Girls, Richard E.
Grant, Alan Camming, George Wendt,
Mark McKinney, Richard O'Brien and
Roger Moore. Directed by Bob Spiers.
Written by Kim Fuller. Produced by Uri
Fruchtmann and Barnaby Thompson. A
Columbia release. Comedy. Rated PG for
some vulgarity, briefnudity and language.
Running time: 91 min.
"Spice World" just goes to show that
Spice is meant as a light seasoning, not a
main course. This comic look at the hectic
world of pop phenomenon The Spice Girls
(Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Emma
Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri
Halliwell) gets slogged down in too many
silly, uninteresting sub-plots that go nowhere.
Visually exuberant, the film will
please fans who want to get an eyeful of the
singers' outrageous fashions; lots of excuses
for multiple costume changes are
contrived, including a photo session in
which the girls dress up as '70s pop culture
icons and as each other. A lot of
attention has gone into aesthetics (including
a romper-room of a double-decker
Spice tour bus), but not a lot of energy
seems to have been expended on the
script. Speaking of energy, though the
Spice Girls pack it in pouncls, it comes off
to audiences as loud, obnoxious, false and
wearing. There are a few fun cameos, like
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show's"
Richard O'Brien as a sneaky photographer,
"Absolutely Fabulous'" Jennifer
aaunders as a snobby partygoer and Bob
Geldof as Mel B.'s unwilling fashion victim,
but many of the celebs are wasted in
unimaginative roles thrown in just to up
the star wattage. Even the musical numbers,
which ought to have been the strong
points of the film, are rather dull and seem
awkwardly and obligatorily slotted in.
Striving for the comic sensibility of the
Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night," the Spice
Girls instead achieve a below-average episode
of "The Monkees." Christine
James
214 (R-60) BoxoFncE
KILLING TIME •
Starring Nigel Leach, Craig Fairbrass
and Kendra Torgan. Directed by Bharat
Nalluri. Written by Neil Marshall, Fleur
Costello and Caspar Berry. Produced by
Richard Johns. A Lion's Gate release.
Drama/thriller. Rated R for strong violence
and language, andfor some sexuality.
Running time: 89 min.
A more appropriate title would be "Wasting
Time" for this "contemporary spaghetti
western" set in London. Overly long, even
at 89 minutes, this misshapen, sodden mess
of a movie has very little going for it with
the exception of proving how much better
the Quentin Tarantinos of this world are at
executing this kind of purportedly clever
crime drama.
The plot, contrived to the point of needing
title cards to explain it, involves a cop,
Bryant (Craig Fairbrass), who hires an Italian
hit woman, Maria (Kendra Torgan), to
avenge a colleague's death at the hands of
a cultured but brutal murderer, Reilly
(Nigel Leach). When Maria hits Reilly'
headquarters, she eliminates all of Reilly's
henchmen, but discovers Reilly himself is
out of town until that evening. With time to
kill and speaking no English, Maria now
has to deal with a band of inexperienced and
bumbling low-level criminals that Bryant
has coerced into killing Maria in an effort
to cover up his involvement.
Unfortunately, despite the numerous killings
and some striking cinematography (by
Sam McCurdy), the film is agonizingly
slow and amazingly stupid. The action sequences
are poorly choreographed, the editing
is sloppy and the dialogue scenes are
basic and boring, making the overall effect
completely amateurish. Watching blood
coagulate would be far more exciting than
anything director Bharat Nalluri shows us
here. Nigel Leach and Kendra Torgan stand
out simply because they have the slightest bit
of presence in a cast that can't carry a bucket
of water, much less the stale, static scenes that
extend interminably of people waiting for
something to happen. Simon O'Ryan
HARD RAIN irir
Starring Morgan Freeman, Christian
Slater, Randy Quaid and Minnie Driver.
Directed by Mikael Salomon. Written by
Graham Yost. Produced by Mark Gordon,
Gary Levinsohn and Ian Bryce. A Paramount
release. Action/thriller. Rated Rfor
violence. Running time: 98 min.
"Hard Rain's" action centers around a
broken-down armored car, $3 million, and
the villains who want it (led by "Amistad' s"
Morgan Freeman) bad enough to kill the
person sworn to protect it (Christian Slater).
At the same time, the town in which this
heist is to take place is forced to evacuate
when a deluge of rain brings the water in the
reservoir to a critical level.
This film reunites co-producer Slater
with screenwriter Graham Yost and producer
Mark Gordon, who worked together
on the similarly flawed actioner "Broken
Arrow." Like that film, "Hard Rain" elicits
laughs from disbelief rather than the intended
dramatic tension. "Hard Rain" may
have impressive jet-ski action and speedboats
crashing through windows, but the
film is too busy trying to convince the audience
that this scenario is remotely plausible.
The characters also never seem to get
tired from sloshing around during an relentless
life-or-death chase in knee, to waist, to
neck-deep water. And where did they hide
the never-ending supply of ammunition?
The intensity of the action becomes less
thrilling when all the audience can do is
concentrate on is how many bullets are
being shot from weapons that are never
reloaded, and the fact that people are being
shot at point blank range, falling down, and
quickly recovering. Suspension of disbelief
is, unfortunately, consistently waterlogged.
Dwayne E. Leslie
••
FALLEN
Starring Denzel Washington, John Goodman
andEmheth Davidtz. Directed by Gregory
Hoblit. Written by Nicholas Kazan.
Produced by Cliarles Roven andDawn SteeL
A Warner release. Thriller. Rated Rfor violence
and language. Running time: 122 min.
The demon spirit of an executed serial
killer ("Crash's" Elias Koteas) pursues the
detective who apprehended him (Denzel
Washington) in this muddled, slow-paced
supernatural thriller, whose boxoffice prospects
are much scarier than its disembodied
villain. The interesting premise, in which
the demon can jump from body to body
through a single touch, is sapped of realization
by a lack of thorough explanation of or
exploration into the entity 's history and motivations.
Embeth Davidtz's character, a
woman who becomes a theosophy professor
as a result of her father's death at the
hand of this same creature, is completely
wasted, hardly furthering the plot at all.
None of the protagonists are humanized
enough to elicit our concern for their wellbeing,
and a puzzlingly sporadic narration
takes audiences out of the moment. The
twist ending is a groaner that would raise
several questions if you could be bothered
to ask. Christine fames
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REVIEWS
GONIN (THE FIVE) ^^^1/2
Starring Koichi Sato, Takeshi "Beat"
Kitano and Masahiro Motoki. Directed
and written by Takashi Ishii. Produced by
Kanji Miura, Taketo Niitsu and Katsuhide
Motoki. A Phaedra release. Action/drama.
Japanese language; English subtitles. Unrated.
Running time: 109 min.
A young nightclub owner, Bandai
(Koichi Sato), decides to rob the Yakuza
gang to whom he owes a large debt. He pulls
together four other "misfits" to help him: a
gay clubgoer, an ex-cop, a blonde pimp who
was once part of the gang, and an unstable
ex-businessman (Naoto Takenaka of "Shall
We Dance?"). After the robbery, "Gonin,"
which means "The Five," reveals more about
each of the five as they are tracked by a duo
of gay hit men led by Takeshi "Beat" Kitano.
Beautifully composed, the film's frequent
wide-angle shots of handsome sets in
cool desaturated blues and greens with
some saturated red/orange highlights produce
a look like panels in a neo-noir comic
magazine. Ishii spent close to 25 years as a
manga (comic book) artist, and has here
created a very stylized piece of work. But
though it contains tracking shots and
briskly edited pieces, the film feels still
because its style serves no substance. While
"Gonin" might be stunning aesthetically, its
characters are single drops that never merge
f W
EVEREST •••l/Z
Produced and directed by Greg
MacGillivray, David Breashears and Stephen
Judson. Written by Stephen Judson.
A MacGillivray Freeman production in
association with Arctiirus Motion Pictures.
Documentary. Unrated. Running
time: 40 minutes.
Intrigued by the challenge of filming in
large-scale IMAX format a team of
climbers' ascent up the tallest peak in the
world, Emmy award-winning filmmaker
David Breashears ("Red Flag Over Tibet")
got more than he bargained for. In the
process of filming this historic event in
May 1996, his crew unexpectedly witnessed
the worst tragedy ever to take place
on Mt. Everest: On May 10, 1996, while
the climbers and crew patiently waited at
Camp II for storm conditions to clear, 23
other climbers were caught in a terrifying
white-out that took eight lives, including
those of two experienced leaders, Scott
Fischer and Rob Hall. In its exclusive footage,
"Everest" depicts the events that followed,
including their own dramatic
rescue of survivor Beck Weathers, who
stumbled into their camp suffering from
severe frostbite on his hands and face.
"Everest" shows in its dramaticallyscored,
beautifully-filmed footage the extreme
conditions that prevail on the peak
known as the highest point in the world.
Likewise, it shows just how strong the
human spirit can be in the face of adversity.
Its stars are expedition members Ed
to create something bigger. Though they go
through some motions of revenge, reconciliation
and self-preservation, their efforts are
small, and their scenes together do not accumulate
meaning to their relationships.
Because of this, their struggles go almost
unwitnessed by the audience, leaving us
apathetic. The exception is the blonde pimp
(Kippei Shiina), whose concern for his
girlfriend is planted, built up, and paid off.
He alone tugs a reaction from viewers.
Karen Achenbach
••
FULL SPEED (TOUTE VITESSE)
Starring Elodie Bouchez and Slephane
Rideau. Directed and written by Gael
Morel. Produced by Laurent Benegui. A
Strand release. Drama. Unrated. Running
time: 86 minutes.
A blatant, largely failed attempt to imitate
Andre Techine's gently lyrical "Wild
Reeds," "Full Speed" has little of the artistry
and nuance that Techine brought to his
film. Although there is some subtle sensitivity
and tastefulness in dealing with gay
characters and their sexuality, writer/director
Gael Morel (who acted in Techine's
film) does not know how to take his elliptical,
episodic narrative in any meaningful or
cohesive direction. The relationship between
a straight girl (Elodie Bouchez, another
"Wild Reeds" alumnus) and three gay
SPECIAL FORMATS: IMAX
and Paula Viesturs, Jamling Tenzing
Norgay. Sumiyo Tsuzuki, and Araceli
Segarra, who wagered their lives to make
this film. Shown struggling up icy precipices
and above yawning chasms hundreds
of feet deep, they reveal their
thoughts and feelings about life, death and
the task they have before them.
In the end, three of the climbers made it
to the 29,028' summit (as well as director
Breashears, who previously set a world
record as the first American to scale the
peak twice). As each cUmber is shown
standing on the very top of the mountain,
gazing out over the horizon above the
clouds, we, the spectators, are also privileged
to share the victory and exhilaration
of their climb.
Pat Kramer
MISSION TO MIR iri^Ml
Narrated by August Schellenberg. Directed
by Ivan Galin and James Neihouse.
Narration written by Mathew
Hart and Toni Myers. Produced by Toni
Myers and Graeme Ferguson. An Imax
release. Documentary. Running time: 40
minutes.
Picture yourself gazing at the Earth
from an orbiting vantage point in space
where you can vividly see the blue oceans,
green land masses, and brown mountain
tops. Now picture that sight seen while
floating in a claustrophobically small
space capsule stuffed with gear, where you
enter rooms upside-down, where sleeping
takes place in a zipped suit standing up,
friends tries to achieve a romantic quality
with violent undertones that eventually surface,
but Morel wanders all over the place
without a thematic center or strong stylistic
presence. Dale Winogura
PLANB irif
Starring Jon Cryer. Written and directed
by Gary Leva. Produced by Nancy Joslin
and Lulu Baskins-Leva. A Puny But Loud
release. Comedy. Running time: 102 min.
This sardonic comedy about the disappointments
of being an adult Gen-Xer is
sometimes amusingly bizarre, occasionally
clever but predominantly obvious and often
flat. Different possible sources of angst and
unfulfillment are demonstrated by a diverse
group of friends who seem too fundamentally
dissimilar to ever hang out together in
real life. Over the course of the film, all
parties involved realize that the road
they've chosen is going nowhere and ultimately
they amend their dreams to forge a
new path. The revelations entailed in this
process vary from trite to humorous.
Glimpses of spot-on wit are obfuscated by
sketchily-drawn characters, most of whom
are introduced as fairly unappeaUng, a first
impression that's difficult to overcome. For
this well-intentioned release. Plan B is the
video market, where it has the potential to do
some business. Christine James
and where all movements require extra
coordination. This is life aboard the Russian
Space Station Mir (Russian for
"peace") as seen in the new IMAX film
"Mission to Mir."
This 40-minute documentary combines
dramatic historical footage of former
space missions, both in the U.S. and Russia,
with a close-up look at the latest technology,
filmed by astronauts aboard Mir.
If nothing else, the film is unique in offering
first time footage of the Russian space
mission. The film took 2 1/2 years to
make, comprising four separate space
missions, three trips to Russia and the
dedication of a skilled production crew
to see it through. Highlights include interviews
with Shannon Lucid and Norm
Thagard, the first American astronauts
to live on board Mir, and the amazing
conjoining of the Space Shuttle Atlantis
with Mir, an event which went off perfectly
despite its combined 200 tons of
technology.
As serious as this subject matter is,
given its top secret status of the past by
both superpowers, the filmmakers have
chosen a decidedly modern approach to
the scoring, creating an off-beat, tonguein-cheek
tone that doesn't quite fit with
the mysterious beauty of its subject matter.
The result is that one can't quite
decide if this is a light comedy or a
documentary of historic impact, leaving
viewers to make that choice for themselves.
Pat Kramer

216 (R-62) BoxoniCE
—
—
—
REVIEWS
PHANTOMS ic
Starring Peter O' Toole, Ben Affleck
and Rose McGowan. Directed by Joe
Chappelle. Written by Dean Koontz. Produced
by Joel Soisson and Michael Leahy.
A Miramax release. Horror/thriller. Rated
R for sci-fl violence/gore and language.
Running time: 90 min.
An early entry for the worst movie of the
year, "Phantoms" would be a "Plan 9 From
Outer Space" for Generation X if the acting
wasn't better and the effects as skillful as
audiences have come to expect. Maybe the
story made sense in Dean Koontz' s airport
paperback, but his screen adaptation is incoherent—something
about an ancient evil
rising up from the Earth to decimate humanity.
This polymorphic evildoer begins with
a remote mountain hamlet (wouldn't Manhattan
have been splashier for its debut
massacre?). Modes of death range from decapitation
to marbleizing victims' flesh to
draining the brain out through the skull. The
result is the cinematic version of a smorgasbord:
So many yummy choices that result in
one unsatisfying, squishy mess on the plate.
The first 30 minutes show chilly promise,
when young doctor Jenny (Joanna Going of
"Inventing the Abbotts") returns from picking
up little sister Lisa ("Scream's" Rose
McGowan) at the airport to find tiny Snowfield
a ghost town. They get help from a
young sheriff ("Good Will Hunting's" Ben
Affleck) and his deputy (an amusingly
twitchy Liev Schreiber, last seen in
"Scream 2") and, eventually, Peter
O'Toole's sage big-city tabloid columnist.
At first, the terror is implied, but when the
perpetrator is first revealed as looking like
a mutant butterfly, we enter the Ed Wood
zone. Eventually, the offending creaturething
takes to occupying the bodies of its
victims, requiring the actors to adopt a zombie
gaze and open their mouths wide like
hungry baby birds so the thing can speak
from within.
For some reason, a sterling cast of young
rising stars assembled for this debacle.
Their careers will likely recover, but it's a
cinephile's tragedy to see Peter O'Toole
treading the same kind of mad scientist
territory Vincent Price made a career on.
That's the scariest thing about "Phantoms."—
Melissa Morrison
LIVE FLESH ••*
Starring Liberto Rabal, Francesco Neri,
Javier Bardem and Angelina Molina.
Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar.
Produced by CIBY 2000 and France Cinema
3. An MGM release. Drama. Spanishlanguage;
subtitled. Rated R for strong
sexuality, language and some drug content.
Running time: 101 min.
The ever-flamboyant Pedro Almodovar
begins and ends his newest film with two
untimely Christmas births in Madrid, one
before and one after the grim days of fascism-a
construction which implies that his
hero is akin to Christ, and Franco, by extension,
to Herod. It's an audacious touch, and
as politically outspoken utspol as we've seem
from this auteur. What unfolds in between
Wha
these bookending events, however, is more
melodrama than revelation.
Based on a Ruth Rendell novel, "Live
Flesh" belies its outrageous title to present
a fairly straightfaced tale of betrayal both
sexual and personal. A pointless armed
stand-off over a lovely junkie (Francesca
Neri) leaves young cop David (Javier
Bardem) in a wheelchair, and the hapless
Victor (a luscious Liberto Rabal) in prison
for shooting him. While David becomes a
wheelchair athlete extraordinaire and marries
the reformed junkie Elena, Victor plots
Liberto Rabal in Goldwyn's "Live Flesh.'
revenge. When he emerges from prison,
however, nothing unfolds as simply as he
expects. And David's former partner (Jose
Sancho) and his straying wife Clara (Angela
Molina) muddy the waters so that the
piece's predictable villain becomes its truehearted
hero.
As always, Almodovar has assembled a
talented and gorgeous cast; unusually, for
him, he has found men as interesting as his
women. However, the film lacks the anarchic
weirdness of some of his best, and without the
camp elements it becomes obvious just how
like a telenovela the goings-on are.
There are plenty of reasons to see "Live
Flesh": Almodovar's assured eye for striking
visuals, several sumptuous sex scenes, and a
magnificent performance from Rabal. But
those who expect a film as groundbreaking as
"Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"
or as splendidly perverse as "Matador"
or "Kika" are likely to be disappointed.
Cathy Thompson-Georges
HALF-BAKED ^1/2
Starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer,
Guillermo Diaz and Harland Williams.
Directed by Tamra Davis. Written by Neal
Brennan and Dave Chappelle. Produced
by Robert Simonds. A Universal release.
Comedy. Rated R for pervasive drug content,
language, nudity and sexual material.
Running time: 82 min.
It shouldn't be surprising that "Half-
Baked," about four ira.scible pot-heads,
opens with a flashback, though it happens
to be one of the non-drug-induced variety.
We are introduced to our quarter-bag quartet
as adolescents smoking marijuana, getting
wasted and having hallucinations for
the first time. Pathetically enough, they are
now adults, but are still living together in
the same maturity-stunted state. When
funds allow, the low-incomed underachievers
("The Nutty Professor's" Dave Chappelle,
"Girls Town's" Guillermo Diaz,
"RocketMan's" Harland Williams, and
"Saturday Night Live's" Jim Breuer), indulge
in illicit substances using their fourtubed
ultimate bong (nicknamed Billy
Bong Thornton). But when one, during a
munchie-bloated stupor, unknowingly
feeds junk food to a diabetic NYPD patrol
horse and the horse dies, he's arrested as a
cop killer. The others decide to sell stolen
marijuana from a research lab to raise the
$100,000 bail to save their friend.
This joint venture manages to produce a
few chuckles, but despite the comedic talents
of its topliners, the film's low-brow
humor and cartoonish antics send its
boxoffice potential up in smoke. Just say no
to this one. Dwayne E. Leslie
OFF THE MENU: THE LAST DAYS
OF CHASEN'S ^••^
Directed by Shari Springer Berman and
Robert Pulcini. Produced by Julia Strohm.
An A La Carte Films and Lobo Grande
Pictures production; no distributor set.
Documentary. Not yet rated. Running
time: 90 min.
"Off the Menu: The Last Days of
Chasen's" isn't just about the sad demise of
one of Tinseltown's most celebrated restaurants.
It's also a bittersweet look back at the
Golden Age of Hollywood, which Chasen's
came to symbolize during its seven-decade
existence. This splendid documentary
chronicles the tearful and frantic two weeks
that preceded Chasen's grand exit on April
1, 1995. The husband-and-wife filmmaking
team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert
Pulcini capture with humor and warmth the
various colorful characters and stories connected
to the restaurant's lengthy history.
The bachelor party of the late Jimmy Stewart,
and Elizabeth Taylor's request that
Chasen's famous chili be flown to her in
Rome during the filming of "Cleopatra"
these are some of the anecdotes that are
lovingly shared.
But the film's most memorable figures
aren't the numerous celebrities that are remembered
or interviewed; they are the
many fiercely loyal employees of the eatery.
They make "Off the Menu" a surprisingly
touching and human experience.
Many of these workers had toiled for
Chasen's for 30, 40 and even 50 years.
When some of these mostly older men talk
mournfully about the impending death of
the restaurant, it's as if part of their soul is
about to be taken from them. To irrepressible
head waiter Tommy Gallagher, the restaurant
is like a seductive mistress. His grown
son still seems wounded by the fact that
Gallagher, who often did not return home
from work until 2 a.m., spent far more time at
Cha,sen's than he did with his own family.
Yet "Off the Menu," screened at the fest's
closing night gala, is admirably objective. '

—
F
REVIEWS
It arraigns a myopic profitmargin
mentality of the restaurant
owners, who sold this
valuable part of Hollywood
history to a strip mall developer.
Simultaneously, the film
is an indictment of the trendiness
of Hollywood. Although
it continued until the end to
host lavish post-Oscar parties,
Chasen' s had ceased years ago
to be a fashionable place for
celebrities to be seen. Only
when it was announced that it
was ceasing operations did the
restaurant fully regain its star
appeal, leaving some people
practically begging to be admitted.
The film is both about the
value of tradition and the importance
of change. To their
credit, Berman and Pulcini
aren't afraid to touch on the
racist and elitist attitudes that
sometimes
permeated
Chasen's (and Hollywood's)
male-dominated walls during
its glory days. Nevertheless,
it's nearly impossible not to
feel a sense of sadness as Raymond
Bilbool, the flamboyant
and intense kitchen supervisor,
is captured proudly walking
into the parking lot
shadows after his last night of
work. For Bilbool and some of
his fellow co-workers, life
may never be quite as meaningful
or exciting.— Jon
Matsumoto
COLORS STRAIGHT UP
*•••
Directed by Michele
Ohayon. Produced by Michele
Ohayon and Julia
Schachter. An Echo Pictures
production; no distributor
set. Documentary. Not yet
rated. Running time: 94 min.
The world inhabited by
many young people today is
often frighteningly bleak.
Gang violence, teen pregnancy,
and drug and alcohol
abuse
among minors has
reached a crisis point, particularly
in inner-city communities.
What makes the
documentary "Colors Straight
Up" so valuable is that it
shows that even kids from the
most desperate backgrounds
can live personally and socially
productive lives given
the proper guidance. It's not
only wrong but also immoral
to give up on these kids, director
Michele Ohayon seems to
argue.
Many real-life characters
flow in and out of this film
about Colors United, a remarkable
performing arts organization
for minority
children in the South Central
area of Los Angeles. But none
is more captivating and inspiring
than the group's director,
Phil Simms. Tough but tender
and possessing a charisma befitting
his ample physique, he
helps bring a sense of confidence
and self-respect to the
Latino and African-American
kids who join this after-school
program.
Simms seems to understand
the sometimes chaotic world
they come from and is smart
enough to face the harsh realities
of ghetto life squarely in
the face. That' s why he creates
an intense urban musical for
them called "Watts Side
Story," which allows the
youths the chance to draw
from their own experiences
and feelings about growing up
in drug- and violence-plagued
neighborhoods. Simms is like
a great basketball coach: He
knows how to get his pupils to
overcome personal differences
and ego-related problems
so that the common good
can be achieved.
Ohayon, an Israeli-raised
filmmaker who drew praise
for her documentary "It Was a
Wonderful Life," exhibits a
deft touch in capturing the
personal thoughts and struggles
of the kids in Colors
United. A former gang member
and juvenile delinquent,
Oscar Sierra is now one of the
student leaders of the group.
Cynthia "Queenie" Turner
has a brother in jail and a sister
in drug rehab, yet the teenager
is committed to making her
life a socially productive one.
The most heart-wrenching
story belongs to Stanley
Elam; not only are his two
brothers Crips gang members,
but his mother is a drug addict
living on the streets or downtown
L.A. An interview with
the bedraggled mother, who
rejects any notion that she let
her kids down, is profoundly
sad and disturbing.
An audience favorite also at
the recent San Francisco fest,
"Colors Straight Up" follows
the group through a year of
triumph and hardship. Amazingly,
since it started in 1989,
100 percent of Colors United
students have graduated from
high school and 90 percent
have gone on to college or a
trade school. This is a mustsee
film.
Jon Matsumoto
Genre key: (Ac) Action; (Ad) Adventure; (Ani) Animated; (C) Comedy;
(D) Drama; (Doc) Documentary; (F) Fantasy; (Hor) Horror;
(M) Musical; (My) Mystery; (R) Romance; (Sat) Satire;
(SF) Science Fiction; (Sus) Suspense; (Th) Thriller; (W) Western.
Afterglow K(SC)
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, 2/13,
7
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Stephen King's Night Filer. 2X. R. 99 min,
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(213)956-5000
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Grease (reissue). 3/27. 110 min. John Travolta,
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TM Odd IXiuple I: Trstnln' Light, 4/1 0. Com
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(212)373-7000
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Three Nlnjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain,
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Scope
Billy Crudup. Donald Sutherland. Dir.
Robert Towns Tin Eiorelsl Major League III

I
I
STUDIO FEATURE CHART — APRIL 1998
June
Forthcoming
H« Got Game, 5,1, Dra, SDDS, Hat, Denzel
Wastiington, Ray Allen, Milla Jovovlch,
Dir Spike Lee,
Tin Horse Whisperer. 5/15, Dra/Com. SODS.
SRD, Scope, Robert Redford. Kristin Scott-
Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiesl Scarlett
Johansson, Chris Caper, Dir: Robert Redford,
Jane Austen s Mafia!, 6/12, Com, SDDS Rat.
Jay Mohr. Uoyd Bridges. Otympia Dukakis.
Christina Appiegate, Billy Burke,
Dir Jim Abrahams,
Mulan, 6/1 9, Ani, SDDS, Flal Voices: Ming
Na-Wen, Eddie Murphy, B,D, Wong, Harvey
Fierstein, Pat Morita, George Takei, Dirs: Tony
Bancroft Barry Cook,
Annageddon 7/1 . Act. SDDS. Scope. Bruce Willis. Billy Bob Thornton. Ben Affleck. Dir Michael
Bay. Mighty Joe Young. 7/22. Adv/Dri SDDS. Flat. Bill Paxton, Charize Tlieron, Rade Sertjedzija,
David Palmer, Naveen Andrews, Regina King, Dir Ron Underwood, Rushmore, August Com, Bill
Murray. Olivia Williams. Jason Schwartzman, Brian Cox. Dir West Anderson. 6 Days, 7 Nights.
August RorrVAdv. SDDS. Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Schwimmer Dir Ivan Reitman, Beloved,
Fall, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Dir Jonathan Demme, A Bug's Life, Fall, A Civil Action, Fall,
Dra, FW, John Travolta, Vi/illiam H, Macy, James Gandolfini, Dir: Steve Zaillian, I'll Be Home lor
Christmas, Fall, Enemy olthe State, Holiday, Dir Tony Scott Holy Man, Com, SODS, Scope,
Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Preston, Dir Stephen Herek,
Buena Vista
(818)567-5000
(212)593-8900
The Party. 6/5. SDDS, SR, Eltian Embry,
Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter
Facinelli, Seth Green, Jennifer Love-Hewitt,
Dance With Me (formerty Shut Up and Dance, Just Dance), Rom, Summer Vanessa Williams,
Kns Kristofferson. Chayanne. Joan Plovmght Dir Randa Haines.
Gloria, Summer/Fall. Dra, SDDS, SR, Sharon Stone, Jeremy Northam, Cathy Moriarty. Jeari-Luke
Columbia
Dirs: Harry Elfont. Deborah Kaplan,
Figueroa. George C. Scott Dir: Sidney Lumet.
The Deep End of the Ocean. Fall. Dra. SDDS SR. Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Jonathan
Jackson. Whoopi Goldberg. Dir: Ulu Grosbard.
Eight Millimeter. November. SDDS, SR. Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix. Dir Joel Schumacher.
I Know What You Old Ust Summer 2. November SODS, SR.
(310)244-4000
(212)833-8500
I
Untitleil Agnes Merlet (formerty Artemisia),
5/8 NY,1A, Michel Serraull Mikj Manojlovic,
Dir: Agnes Merlet.
Hani Cere Logo, 5/13. Hugh Dillon.
Heaven. SIS. Martin Donovaa Richard Schifl.
Dir ScoB Reynolds.
Species 2, 6/5. SF, DTS. Natasha Henstridge.
Michael Madsen. Marg HeJgenberger Dir:
Peter Medak.
Spanisti Fly. &5. Daphna Kastner. Martin Donovan.
Fireliglil &12. Dra. R Sophie Marceau. Stephan
Dillane. Kevin Anderson Dir: William NchoJson.
Talk ol Angels. 6'19 NY/LA Dra, PG-13. 97 min.
Dir Nici< Hamm.
Childien of Heaven, 6/26. Mohammad Amir NajL
Dir Majid Majidi.
Super Oave. Summer. Com. Super Dave Osborne. Dir Peter MacOonald. Disturbing Behavior.
a/21. Thr. Dir: David Nutter. Mod Squad. Nov. Tobeytfeguiie. Din Scott Silver One Man's Hero.
Winter. Tom Berenger. Dir
Lance Hool. Ronln. WMer, AcUUv. Robert De Niro. Jean Reno. Dir:
John Frankenheimer. At First Sight. Dra. Val Kilmer. Mita Sorvino, Nathan Lane. Dir Irwin
Winkler. Best Men, Dra Drew Barrymore. Luke Wison. Dir Tamra Davis Breakeis. Com. Anjelica
Huston. Aicia Sih/erstone. Carrie 2. Dir Robert Mandel. Fool on the Hill. Com. Jim Carrey. The
Hanging Garden. Dra Chris Leavins. Kerry Fox Dir Thom Fitzgerald. Human Stew. Killer's Kiss.
Thr/Act Linda Fiorentino. Storehont Hitchcock. Doc. PG-13. Dir Jonathan Demme. Supernova.
SF/Thr. Dir: Joe Nimziki. The Ump. Sylvester Stallone. Dir Frank Oz Watchtower. Dra
Oohetmann. 7/1 0. Tcheky Karyo. Vincent Cassel. Dir Jan Kounen. 54. 7/17. Mike Myers, Neve Campbell,
Salma Hayek. Dir Mart< Christopher My Life So Far. 7/17. Mary Eizabe»i Mastrantorio. Dir Hugh Hudson.
Princess Mononoke. 7,C3l Hayao Miyaiakj Rounders. &14. Mat Damon. Edwartj Norton. John
Turturro. Dm John Dahl. I Got the Hookup. 828 Master P. VeMGoMnlie, V\ 1. Ewan McGregor,
Christian Bale. Dir: Todd Haynes. Detroit 9000, 91 8Alex Rocco, Tin Mk|My, 1030 NY/LA. Sharon
Stone. Gena Rolands. Harry Dean Stanton. Gillian Anderson. My Son the Fanatic. Sept. Dm Pun. Rachel
Griffiths. Stellan Skarsgard. Dir Udayan Prasad. Martha Meet Frank, Oct NY/LA, Monica
Potter, Joseph Fiennes, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Dir Adrian Noble Since You've Been
Gone, DavM Schwimmer, Lara Flynn Boyle, Joey Slotnick Dir Davkj Schv^mmer
MGM/UA
(310)449-3000
(212)708-0300
Miramax
(212)941-3800
(213)951-4200
Blade, 8/14, Thr, 88 min, SDDS, SR, SRD, Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dortf, Kris Knstofferson, Dir
American History X June - key cities, Dra.
SDDS, SR, SRD, Hat, Edward Norton,
Edward Furlong, Fairuza Balk, Avery Brooks.
Dir Tony Kaye,
Stephen Norrington, Rush Hour, Sep, Act/Com, Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Dir Brett Ratner. Frequency,
Oct Dir: Penny Harlin Pleasantvllle, Oct Com, SDDS. Jeff Daniels. Joan Allen, Reese
Witherspoon. William H. Macy. Dir Gary Ross. The Kiss. Nov. Rom/Com. R, SDDS. Danny
OeVito, Holly Hunter Queen Latifah. Dir Richard LaGravenese. Blast from the Past (formerty Looking
for Eve). 1 999. Brendan Eraser. Sissy Spacek, Alicia Silverstone. Dir Hugh Wilson The Corraplor,
1999, Mart

220 BoxonacE
73
7
BOXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart APRIL 1998
MARCH
Capitol
301-564-9700
Autumn Sun (Argentina), Rom/
Dra, 103 min. Norma Aleandro,
Federico Luppi. Dir: Eduardo
Mignogna.
Cinema Village
212-431-5119
Cartoon Noir, Ani, 85 min. 3/6
Filmopolis
310-914-1776
Son of Gascogne (France), Com,
106 min. )ean-Claude Dreyfus,
Cregoire Colin. Dir: Pascal Aubier.
First Run
212-243-0600
Mendel (Norway), Dra, 98 min.
Dir: Alexander Rosier. 3/20 ltd
James Ellroy: Demon Dog of
American Crime Fiction, Doc, 90
min. James Ellroy. Dir: Reinhard
Jud. 3/25
Fox Searchlight
310-369-4402
Two Girls and a Guy, Com, NC-
17 (under appeal). l

9
1
April, 1998 221
BOXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart APRIL 1998
Lion's Gate
Buffalo 66, Dra. Vincent Gallo, Angelica
Huston, Christina Ricci, Ben
Cazzara, Rosanna Arquette, Mickey
Rourke. Dir: Vincent Gallo. 6/1
Live
Strangeland. Elizabeth Pena, Dee
Snider. Dir: John Pipelow.
October
Orgazmo, Com, 95 min. Trey Parker,
Dian Bacher. Dir: Trey Parker.
Sony Classics
Henry Fool. 6/1 7
Governess. Minnie Driver,
Wilkinson. 6/26
JULY
Tom
DreamWorks
Small Soldiers, Act/Adv. Kirsten
Dunst, Gregory Smith. Dir: Joe
Dante. 7/1
Saving Private Ryan, Dra. Tom
Hanks, Ed Burns, Tom Sizemore,
Matt Damon, Jeremy Davies. Dir:
Steven Spielberg. 7/24
Fine Line
Theory of Flight. Kenneth
Branagn, Helena Bonham-Carter.
Dir: Paul Greengrass.
First Look
Marcello Mastroianni—I Remember.
Marcello Mastroianni.
Dir: Anna Maria Tato.
Fox Searchlight
Polish Wedding, Dra, PC-13.
Claire Danes, Gabriel Byrne, Lena
Olin. Dir: Theresa Connelly. 7/3
Gramercy
Friends and Neighoors. Jason
Patric, Ben Stiller, Nastassja
Kinskl. Dir: Neil Labute.
Live
24 Hour Woman. Rosie Perez,
Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Sony Classics
Marie Bale. Dir: Manuel Pradal. 7/3
Strand
East Palace, West Palace, Dra, 90
min. Si Han, Hu Jun. Dir: Zliang Yuan.
AUGUST
Fox Searchlight
slums of Beverly Hins, R. Alan
Arkin, Marisa Tomei. Dir: Tamara
Jenkins.
Gramercy
clay Pigeons. Vi nee Vaughn, Joaquin
Phoenix, Janeane Garofalo.
Dir: David Dobkin.
October
The Naked Man, Com. Michael
Rapaport, Rachael Leigh Cook.
Dir: J. Todd Anderson.
Trimark
Carnival of Souls. Bobbie Phillips,
Larry Miller, Shawnee Smith.
Dir: Adam Grossman.
SEPTEMBER
Gramercy
I Want You, Rom/Dra. Rachel
Weisz, Alessandro Nivola. Dir:
Michael Winterbottom.
Lion's Gate
Gadjo Dilo, Dra, 97 min. Romain
Duris, Rona Hartner, Isidor
Sherban. Dir: Tony Gatlif.
October
Condo Painting, Doc. George
Conde, William S. Burroughs, Allen
Ginsberg. Dir: John McNaughton.
Polygram
What Dreams May Come. Robin
Williams, Annabel la Sciorra, Cuba
Gooding Jr. Dir: Vincent Ward. 9/18
OCTOBER
DreamWorks
Untitled Neil Jordan, Dra/Thr.
Annette Bening, Robert Downey
Jr., Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea.
Dir: Neil Jordan. October (could
go September)
Gramercy
Plunkett and Macleane, Act/Adv.
Robert Carlyle, Liv Tyler, Jonny
Lee Miller. Dir: Jake Scott.
Live
Bumblebee Flies. Elijah Wood.
Dir: Martin Duffy.
Trimark
Michael Almereyda's The
Mummy, R. Alison Elliot, Jared
Harris, Christopher Walken. Dir:
Michael Almereyda. 10/23 ltd
NOVEMBER
Gramercy
The Hi-Lo Country. Woody
Harrelson, Billy Crudup. Dir: Stephen
Frears.
Live
Don't Shoot Til We. Rosanna
Arquette. Dir: Carrie Blank.
DECEMBER
Dreamworks SKG
Forces of Nature. Ben Affleck.
Dir: Bronwen Hughes. 12/18
The Prince of Egypt, Ani. Voices:
Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle
Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Steve Martin,
Martin Short, Danny Glover.
Dirs: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hlckner,
Simon Wells. 12/18
Gramercy
Elizabeth I, Dra. Geoffrey Rush,
Cate Blanchett. Dir: Shekhar Kapur.
Live
Time on Fire. Dir: Rob Morrow.
FORTHCOMING
Arrow
Gospa. Martin Sheen, Michael
York, Morgan Fairchild. Dir:
Jakov Sedlar.
Loose Women. Sherry Ham, Melissa
Errico, Marialisa Costanzo.
Dir: Paul F. Bernard.
Artificial Eye
212-255-1922
Beyond the Clouds (1995,
France/ltaly/Cermany), Dra, 1
3
min. John Malkovich, Sophie Marceau,
Jean Reno, Irene Jacob. Dir:
Michelangelo Antonioni. Spring
A Summer's Tale (1996, France),
Rom/Com, 1 13 min. Melvil Poupaud,
Amanda Langlet, Aurelia
Nolin, Gwenaelle Simon. Dir:
Eric Rohmer. Summer
DreamWorks
After Man.
Antz, Ani. Voices: Woody Allen,
Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone,
Gene Hackman, Jennifer Lopez,
Danny Glover. Dirs: Eric Darnell,
Tim Johnson. 1999
Arkansas.
Chicken Run, Ani. Dir: Nick Park
& Peter Lord. 2000
Keeper.
Neanderthal.
The Newports. Dir: Steven
Spielberg.
Road to El Dorado (formerly El
Dorado: City of Cold), Ani.
Voices: Kevin Kline, Kenneth
Branagh, Rosie Perez, Armand Assante,
Edward James Olmos. Dirs:
Will Finn, David Silverman. 1999
Shrek, Ani. Voices: Eddie Murphy,
John Lithgow, Linda Hunt.
Dirs: Kelly Asbury, Andrew Adamson.
2000
Fine Line
Esmeralda (Mexico) (formerly Esmeralda
Comes by Night), Com.
Maria Rojo. Dir: Jamie Humberto
Hermosillo.
Girl Talk, Dra/Com, R. Troy
Beyer, Randi Ingerman, Page
Brewster. Dir: Troy Beyer.
The Legend of the Pianist on the
Ocean, Dra. Tim Roth. Dir:
Giuseppe Tornatore.
When I Close My Eyes (japan)
(formerly Love Letter, Letters of
Love), Rom/Com, PG, 116 min.
Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa.
Dir: Shunji Iwai.
First Look
The Other Side of Sunday (Norway),
Dra, 104 min. Bjorn Sundquist,
Hildegunn Riise, Maria
Theisen. Dir: Berit Nesheim.
This Is the Sea, Dra. Richard Harris,
Gabriel Byrne, John Lynch.
Fox Searchlight
Hard Men (U.K.), Dra. Vincent
Regan. Dir: J.K. Amalou.
The Impostors (formerly Ship of
Fools), Dra/Com. Tony Shalhoub,
Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini.
Dir: Stanley Tucci. Fall
Gramercy
Dad Savage. Patrick Stewart, Kevin
McKidd. Dir: Betsan Morris-Evans.
Thursday. Thomas Jane, Mickey
Rourke. Dir: Skip Woods.
Greycat
702-737-0670
A Gun for Jennifer, Thr.
Kino
212-629-6880
Who the Hell Is Juliette? (Mexico),
Dc)cu/Dra,91 min. Salma Hayek.
Dir: Carlos Marcovich. Spring
Kit Parker
800-538-5838
Kristin Lavrandsdatter (Norway;
director's cut), Dra, 144 min.
Linus Aaberg, Gisken Armand.
Dir: Liv Ullmann.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Australia;
director's cut reissue), Dra.
Rachel Roberts. Dir: Peter Weir.
Legacy
Little Men, Dra.
Lion's Gate
Empty Mirror, Dra. Norman
Rodway, Joel Grey. Dir: Barry
Hershey. Spring
Live
Pi. Sean Gulette, Mark Margolis.
October
A Soldier's Daughter Never
Cries. Nick Nolle, Barbara
Hershey. Dir: James F. Ivory. Fall
Three Seasons, Dra. Harvey Keitel,
Kathleen Luong. Dir: Tony Bui. Fall
Untitled Todd Solondz, Dra. Ben
Cazzara, Jane Adams, Lara Flynn
Boyle. Dir: Todd Solondz. Fall
Seventh Art
Honey and Ashes, Dra, 85 min.
Dir: Nadia Fares. Late spring
Shadow
Port Djema (France), Adv/Dra, 97
min. Dir: Eric Heumann.
Shooting Gallery
212-243-3042
illtown, Dra, R, 97 min. Michael
Rapaport. Dir: Nick Gomez.
Strand
The Mouse, Dra, 90 min. John
Savage. Dir: Dan Adams.
Tit and the Moon (Spain).
Mathilda May. Dir: Bigas Luna.
Trimark
Blackout. Matthew Modine, Dennis
Hopper. Dir: Abel Ferrara.
Frida. Salma Hayek. Dir: Roberto
Sneider. Fall
Slam. Dir: Marc Levin.

T
1
Boxoffice Magazine
presents
NovieFbne's Noviegoer Activity Report
For the Month of January 1998
MovieFone* (777-FILhf') and its sister service, MovieLink® Online, are now the single largest source ofmovie showtime information in the country,
providing information to over 12 million moviegoers each month. Vw following information represents the most requested theatres and exhibitors on MovieFone.
Top 10 Exhibitors & Theatres
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Most Requested Exhibitors
ExhlbKor
Sony
Cineplex Odeon
United Artists
AMC
General Cinemas
Century
Harkins
Mann
National Amusements
Cinemark
Total Requests
1 ,031 ,689
1,012,514
1,010,274
838,217
521,595
351,080
280,297
266,446
248,283
233,277
Last Month's
Rank
3
2
1
4
5
6
7
9
11
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Market
NY
BO
NY
NY
LA
NY
NY
BO
NY
Ml
Most Requested Tlieatres
Theatre
Sony Lincoln Square
Sony Ctieri
Sony Orpheum
CO Chelsea Cinemas
AMC Century 14
Sony Village 7
Sony 19th St. East
Sony Copley Place
CityCin Village East
Regal Palace 18
Total Requests
136,001
58.752
53,906
51,031
50.612
49,598
46,393
42,672
37,541
35,769
last Month's
Rank
1
7
3
5
2
4
14
22
15
12
Requests
New York
2,107,024
Los Angeles
964,297
Dallas
693,767
San Francisco
522,683
Ptilladelphia
446,702
Phoenix
436,072
"Boston
434,052
Miami
405,614
Chicago
395,930
Toronto
325,070
Houston
199,207
San Oiego
172,267
Rank
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
Theatre (# screens)
Host Requested Theatres Per Screen
Total
Requests
Sony Astor Plaza (1) 26, ,760
Sony New York Twin (2) 31, ,234
COBeekman(l)
14, ,543
Mann Plaza (1)
9, ,868
Mann Festival Westwood (1)7,,639
Mann Vill., Bruin, & Reg. (3) 20, ,374
GCC Northpark (2) 8, 130
UA Town East (6) 20, ,169
AMC Highland Pk. ViH. (4) 10, ,941
Century Presidio (1) 15, 755
Landmk Bridge (1) 15,
Century Cinema 21 (1) 13, 141
UASameric(4) 18, ,905
Bala (3) 12, 173
Cinemagic 3 at Penn (3) 11, 368
Hark Cine Capri (1) 6, 404
Hark Bell Tower (8) 24, 415
Century Glendale D-l (9) 23, 620
Sony Cheri (4)
.Ifc*- X^m^^i*
58, 75?"
NA Circle (7) 34, 363
Sony Copley (11) 42, ,672 •
Regal Kendal! (9) 25, 676
799
GCC Riviera (4) 8,
,671
Regal Miami Lakes (10) 20, 816
CO McClurg Court (3) 15, 668
CO Broadway (1) 5, 117
CO Uncoln Village 7-9 (3) 9, 783
Famous Eglinlon (1) 22, 749
Famous Cenlerpoint (3) 19, 071
Famous Markville (4) 15, 479_
GCC Point Nasa (6) 7,
403"
CO River Oaks Plaza (12) 14. 333
CO Spectrum (9) 10, 468
Mann Cinema 21 (1) 5, 593
Pacific Grossmont Trolley (8) 7, 986
CinStarChula Vista (10) 7, 168
Last Month's
Rank
8
3
11
17
7
1
2
3
1
1
12
2
1
1
2
3
1
2
11
Total
Requests
Seattle
156,212
Minneapolis
153,482
Denver
132,498
Atlanta
131,246
Kansas City
127,844
Nashville
121,757
Washington. DC
99,978
Cleveland
93,737
LasVegas " ""
81,195
San Antonio
78,495
Sacramento
61,943
Detroit
56,403
Top 3 Actively* Requested Theatres: ^ 9,9^^2,';^^^^
•Caller spncilically roqunsind Iheatrn
ISUS^ S5S.
SJR.W:i'»
cxrwMtora Cwn** Cvm** Cmmmi, me.
tUSE
pSdnHnThMtfM
ryThMtrM
FamoiN Ptiytre
(MThMlrM
QCC Qantnl Onwnt T"
. . LiMUryOnamM 0«n«rtf Qf>fal htttrw
iNeW TOlK, NT
Lai
Mann
MamM
MM
Muvtoo
Rank
Theatre (# screens)
Total
Requests
1 Landk Neptune (1) 1,976
2 CONorthgate(l) 1,974
3 Act III Crossroads (8) 14,690
1 MannMN Suburban World (1) 3.414
2 GCC Centennial Lakes (8) 12,177
3 MannMN Grandview (2) 2,799
1 Mann Cherry Creek (8) 9,045
2 UA Cooper 5-Aurora (5) 4,626
3 Mann Northglenn (6) 5,461
1 Let Toco Hills (1) 1,443
2 UA Tara (4) 4,573
3 GCC Perimeter Mall (4) 3,161
1 Dksn Glenwood (4) 7,176
2 AMC Oak Park Plaza (6) 7,377
3 DksnWestglen(12) 14,187
1 Carmike Stones River (6) 8,481
2 Carmike Lion's Head (5) 6,908
3 Watkins-Belcourt (2) 2,577
1 CO Embassy (1) 2,490
2 CO Cinema (1) 2,350
3 CO Outer (2) 2,426
1 GCC Ridge Park Sq, (8) 9,210
2 General Detroit (2) 2,277
3 Strongville (2) 1.817
"f " UA Green Valley (5)
""^ "5.224
2 UA Showcase (8) 6,451
3 Century Las Vegas D-l (6) 4,090
1 Act III Galaxy (14) 12,896
2 Act III Rolling Oaks (6) 5,297
3 Act III Embassy (14) 9,833
1 Century Century 21 (2) 3.181
2 Century Complex (12) 11,444
3 Century Cinedome (9) 7,524
t Star Taylor (10) 6,238
2 Star Lincoln Park (8) 3,593
3 AMC Eastland (2) 631
2. HarkAiizona
Mills
LmmwklJiMl
Corp.
Mann MmnetpoKs
M«(ropotltan ThMtrvs Corp.
Muvtco ThMtrvs
NatKXMl AmitMmantft
Last Month's
Rank
3
4
1
1
6
7
2
1
13
39
12
14
3. Sony Lincoln Squarie
New York, NY
Psdflc
StfT
sUw
Sony
Star
UA
nKHcThcilnv
StfTctrlM
Silver Cinemas
SonyTbealrm
liMO-Sur ThMirM
urateo Artitte Thecl/e CtrcuR
1
2
3
3
1
2
3
2
5
1
5
4
4
1
3
2
1
5
2
1
3
2
3

imiggl^gg^
HOME RELEASE CHART
APRIL1998
HOME VIDEO
RELEASE
DATE

224 BoxoFncE
1
7
AICP 65
American Licorice Co 59
Ampac Theatre Cleaning Services 199
Aura Lighting Products 51
Automatickel/Hurley Screen Corp 169
Birtcher Construction Services
SW-36
CFS/Rentec 49
CPI (Cinema Products Intl.) 145
Caddy Products
SW-38
Christie Inc C-2
Cinema Cleaning Systems 63
Cinema Consultants & Services 203
Cinema Equipment Inc 187
Cinema Equipment Sales of CA 1 83
Cinema Sen/ice Co
SW-44
Cinema Services 192
Cinema Supply Co. Inc 170
Cinemeccanica U.S. Inc 22
Cinevision Corp
SW-27
Component Engineering
SW-21
Cy Young Industries Inc 192
DTS (Digital Theater Systems) 19
DeClercq's Theatrical Specialties 201
Deep Vision 3-D
SW-47
Dolby Laboratories Inc 17
EAW Audio
SW-5
ElMSInc
SW-13
Eastman Kodak Co 1 93
Edifice Inc 54
Equipment, Etc
SW-47
Filmack Studios 179
FlavorWear
SW-26
Funacho
SW-23
Glassform 69
Gold Medal Products Co 11
Great Western Products Co 47
Hadden Theatre Supply Co
SW-42
Haven Technologies 201
Hershey Chocolate U.S.A 21
International Cinema Equipment Co SW-30
Irwin Seating Co 57
Iwerks Entertainment
SW-28
JBL Professional 31
Jani-Source 225
Jarco Industries Inc 1 37
Kinetics Noise Control 67
Kinetronics Corp. USA
SW-43
Kneisley Electric Corp 190
Lavi Industries
SW-1
Lawrence Metal Products 63
M&M Mars 3
SW-7
Machine O'Matic
Manutech
SW-41
Marble Co 189
Maroevich, O'Shea & Coghlan
SW-44
Mars Theatre Management Systems .... 143
McRae Theatre Equipment 203
Mesbur & Smith Architects 195
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
RATES: $1 .00 per word, minimum $25, $15 extra
for box number assignment. Send copy with check
to BoxoFFicE, P.O. Box 25485, Chicago, IL 60625,
at least 60 days pnor to publication.
BOX NUMBER ADS: Reply to ads with box numbers
tiy writing to BoxofFicE, P.O. Box 25485.
Chicago, IL 60625; put ad box number on letter
and in knver-left comer of your envelope.
HELP WANTED
BRENDAN THEATRE CORPORATION has opportunities
available tor qualified General Managers witti multiplex
tliMti* experience We are a last-growing company expandng
in Die Northern California Bay area. If you are an
IndMdiMil wm (Irong leadership and people skills that can
worti m tumwortt environment, please send your resume,
references and salary requirements to: Brendan Tlieatre
ADVERTISER INDEX
Mission Crane Service, Inc
SW-25
Movieworid
SW-44
NCSCorp 147
National Cinema Networi< 79
National Cinema Service Corp 181
National Ticket Co
SW-26
Nick Mulone & Son Inc 169
ORC Lighting Products 41
Odell's 165
Odyssey Products Inc 39
OSRAM SYLVANIA 141
Pacer/Cats 61
Peavey Electronics Corp 33
PepsiCo. Inc
SW-52
Permlight, Inc
SW-33
Pike Productions
SW-37
Pot O'Gold Productions, Inc
SW-45
Potts, Robert L. Enterprises 169
Proctor Companies 60
Promotion in Motion Companies
SW-51
QSC Audio Products C-3
RDS Data Group Inc
SW-39
Ready Theatre Systems
SW-45
Reel Automation 37
Ricos Manufacturing Co
SW-1
SPECO (Sys. & Prod. Eng. Co.) 35, 148
Schult Industries, Inc
SW-9
Sensible Cinema Software 225
Server Products Inc 53
Signature Electronics 139
Smart Products Inc
SW-29
Smart Theatre Systems
29, SW-2
Sony Cinema Products Corp 27
Soundfold International 197
Stein Industries inc C-4
Strong International 8-9
System Operating Solutions 225
TVP Theatre & Video Products
SW-42
Technikote Corp 201
Tempo Industries Inc 69
Texas Theatre Supply 190
Theatre Service & Supply 191
Theatre Service Network Inc 170
Theatre Services Corp 135
Ticketpro Ticketing Systems
SW-34
Tivoli Industries Inc 55
Tootsie Roll Industries Inc 7
USL Inc 45
Ultratech 197
Unique Screen Ad Productions 23
Vogel Popcorn 13
Wagner Zip-Change Inc 185
Wallace Theatre Corp 71
Willming Reams Animation, Inc
SW-35
Wolk, Edw. H. Inc 170
Worrell Sound & Projection 195
Wyandot
SW-43
Corp., Attn: Director Operations, 1985 Willow Pass Rd., Concord,
CA 94520. All replies tield in the strkSest oonlidefice. Visit
us at www.brendantheatres.com
LET THE GOVERNMENT FINANCE your new or existing
small business. Grants/loansto $500, 000. Free recorded message:
(707) 448-0270. (RN7)
MANAGER AND MANAGEMENT TRAINEE positions are
available. We are people-oriented and believe that excellent
customer service and state-o(-the-an technology are the keys
to success in the movie theatre/swap meet industry. We offer
a wide variety of benefits, competitive salaries and opportunities
for professional growth. Join our team as we expand in
Callfomla, Nevada, Arizona. New Mexico. Utah, Texas. Colorado
and beyond. If you are looking for growth and opportunity
and have the enthusiasm and the ability to manage/motivate
people, now is the time to let us hear from you! Theatre/Swap
or other management experience required and some college
helpful. Send your resume and salary requirements to Century
Theatres and Swaps. Attn: Human Resources—Job Code
MGR0897. 1 50 QoWen Gate Ave.. San Francisco. CA 94 1 02.
No faxes or phone calls please.
IMOWEST BASED company aeeks experienced managers
and MSltHnli. We are gro«*ig throughout the midwest and
an seeking kidMdual* «fho ira aUa to rise to the challenges
and are leaders. Possible relocation may be necessary. Send
resume and salary requirements to: Sho-pro. inc., Attn: Director
of Operations. P.O. Box 1 90, Yori

San
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FAX
Cheyenne,
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S.20-$.40
I
!
P.O.
USED PROJECTION EQUIPMENT: Replacement equipment.
single or multi boottis available. Please call if you are purchasing
or selling. CINEMA CONSULTANTS & SERVICES INTER-
NATIONAL INC.. P.O. Box 9672, Pittsburgh. PA 1 5226. Phone
(412) 343-3900. Fax (412) 343-2992.
WILL TRADE: YOUR THEATRE SEATS FOR OUR USED
THEATRE EQUIPMENT. Great condition at great prices. Platters,
projectors, lampjiouses, complete prewired stereo racks
and much, much more. Premier Seating Co. Inc.. 800-955-
SEAT. fax (410) 686-6060. e-mail: pseating© aol.com.
EQUIPMENT WANTED
KETTLE (NEW, USED OR BROKEN) or parts for Manley Vista
Pop model 127 popcorn machine. Naro Cinema, 1507 Colley
Ave.. Norfolk. VA 23517. Phone (757) 625-6275.
PURCHASE OR TRADE: For your used theatre equipment,
concession equipment, theatre seats. Ask about our storage
facilities and our financing program. Premier Seating Co. Inc.,
800-955-SEAT. fax (410) 686-6060, e-mail: pseating@aol.com.
VINTAGE TUBE TYPE AMPS, woofers, drivers, horns, parts,
from Western Electric. Westrex. Altec. Jensen, JBL, EV, Tannoy,
Mcintosh, Marantz. Phone David at (818) 441 -3942. P.O.
Box 80371 . Mahno. CA 91 1 18-8371
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: We will purchase Century projectors
or soundheads, new or old. complete or incomplete, for
cash. Also interested in XL and SH-1000. Call (502) 499-0050.
Fax (502) 499-0052. Hadden Theatre Supply Co.. attn. Louis.
WE WILL BUY OR TRADE for used/new equipment on any
projector/soundhead/platter/lamphouse/console/speakers/le
ns and concession equipment. We can remove or pick up
anywhere in the U.S. or overseas. TANKERSLEY ENTER-
PRISES. P.O. Box 36009. Denver, CO 80227. Phone (303)
716-0884; fax (303) 716-0889.
WE WILL PURCHASE your used theatre equipment. Consignments,
outright purchases, trades, what have you? There is
only one INTERNATIONAL CINEMA EQUIPMENT COM-
PANY at one location in the USA. (305) 573-7339, Fax (305)
573-8101
. Website: http://www.iceco.com.
SOFTWARE
TICKETING SOFTWARE for IBM-PC. Complete software
package designed for independents and small circuits.
Point-Of-Sale ticketing for 1-12 movies with daily and
weekly reporting system. Now in use at over 60 theatre
locations in the U.S. Use your own IBM compatible. We
have inexpensive thermal printers, automated cash drawers
and pole displays. Software from S399. Printers from S499.
Call (615) 790-7797 for free demo or download now on our i
website at senslbleclnenia.com.
|
^__^^_^____^^_^^_^^^^___^^^^ [
THEATRES FOR SALE/LEASE
FOR SALE: Fully equipped twin theatre -t- 13 furnished apartments
located in North Central Wisconsin in Merrill. Theatre/apartment
building is being sold in AS IS condition. Asking
S300.000. For more information call (414) 594-2848. After 5
p.m.. call (920) 339-0040.
FOR SALE OR LEASE. A newly remodeled, neariy turn-key.
single-screen theatre in a growing N. W. community—Chehalis.
[
WA. (360) 748-8595.
LEASE BY OWNER. Automated twin cinema (up and down) In
Paris. Texas. Complete and ready to roll with new air conditioner.
Just purchased good used seats, lamps, rectifiers and
backlighted one-sheet boards. Equipment maintained by pro
technicians. Should be a good discount theatre, however,
out-of-town retired owner not interested in this type of business.
Call Jimmy at (281 ) 855-8862.
LIVE IN GOD'S COUNTRY. Established movie theatre business
in Ely. Minnesota—heart of canoe country. Business
benefitting from expanding tourism industry. Reduced
S130.000. Kangas Realty. (218) 365-3236.
MONEY-MAKER FOR SALE. Three screens, first-run theatre
for sale. 441 rocker seats. Located in Northeast Michigan prime
vacation and recreation area. Great fishing, hunting and crosscountry
skiing. In downtown. Alpena. Ml. In business since
1 986. Modern equipment and building in good condition. Great
starter theatre or solid addition to a theatre chain. Owners wish
to travel. Please respond to Boxoffice Response Number 4737.
DRIVE-IN CONSTRUCTION
DRIVE-IN SCREEN TOWERS Since 1945 Selby Products.
Inc.. P.O. Box 267. Richfield. Ohio 44286 (330) 659-6631.
800-647-6224.
THEATRE SEATING
475 HIGHBACK ROCKERS, 500 pushback seats. Great
condition. 1 50 plastic back self risers. (888) 341 -1835, after
12:00 noon.
"ALL AMERICAN SEATING" by the EXPERTS! Used seats
of quality. Various makes. American Bodifomn and Stellars from
$12.50 to $32.50. Irwins from $12.50 to $30.00. Heywood &
—
Massey rockers from $25.00. Full rebuilding available. New
Hussey chairs from $70.00. All types theatre projection and
sound equipment. New and used. We ship and install all makes.
Try us! We sell no junk! TANKERSLEY ENTERPRISES, P.O.
Box 36009. Denver. CO 80227. Phone (303) 716-0884: fax
(303)716-0889.
ALLSTATE SEATING is a company that is specializing in
refurbishing, complete painting, molded foam, tailor-made seat
covers, installations, removals. Please call for pricing and spare
parts for all types of theatre seating. Boston. MA. Phone (617)
268-2221 , (617) 268-701 1
"BOOSTER B. SAURUS170 Child booster seats. Call Cy
Young Industries Inc. at 800-729-2610.
CHILD BOOSTER SEATS: Molded plastic, large quantity in
stock, multiple colors available, will not deteriorate like txwster
bags. Premier Seating Co. Inc.. 800-955-SEAT. fax (410) 686-
6060. e-mail: pseating@aol.com.
FINALLY, AN ALTERNATIVE TO ON-SITE UPHOLSTERY:
Call us about our new upholstered backs and cushions by mail
program. More cost-efficient than on-site upholsterers, fast
tum-around. quality controlled in our 40,000 sq. ft. state-of-theart
factory. Premier Seating Co. Inc.. 800-955-SEAT, fax (41 0)
686-6060, e-mail: pseating@aol.com.
ON-SITE UPHOLSTERY and replacement covers Parts available
for many chairs. Our "Bakers Dozen" gives you 1 3 covers
for the cost of 12. Nationwide sen/ice. Free samples made up.
Call Complete Industries for pricing. (800) 252-6837.
SEAT AND BACK COVERS: Most fabrics in stock. Molded
cushions. Cy Young Industries Inc., 800-729-2610.
SEAT FOAMS: All makes/all models, fast tum-around. Premier
Seating Co. Inc.. 800-955-SEAT. fax (410) 686-6060, e-mail:
pseating @ aol.com.
SEATS CLEANED on site.
$1.56-$2.36 per seat (coast to
coast). Call (800) 879-231 1 . 24 hours, for brochure and information.
The Carpet Cleaner. P.O. Box 154. Osceola. MO
64776.
THEATRE SEAT AND SACK COVERS: Large in-stock fabric
inventory, fast turn-around, competitive pricing at any quantity.
Premier Seating Co. Inc.. 800-955-SEAT, fax (410) 686-6060,
e-mail: pseating@aol.com.
THEATRE CHAIRS—new & used. $7.50 up. 10.000 used
chairs in stock. Seat covers, all colors, $3.50 and up. Hayes
Equipment (407) 857-681 0.
THEATRE SEAT RECONDITIONING: Total or partial theatre
seat restoration in our 40.000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art factory,
featunng sandblasting, powder-coating, and in-house upholstering.
Restore your seats or purchase from our inventory. Ask
about our in-house financing program. Premier Seating Co.
Inc.. 800-955-SEAT. fax (410) 686-6060. e-mail: pseating@aol.com.
THEATRE SEATS WANTED: Will buy/trade for surplus and
unwanted theatre seats, all makes and models. Premier Seating
Co. Inc.. 800-955-SEAT, fax (410) 686-6060, e-mail: pseating@aol.com.
USED AUDITORIUM CHAIRS: Choose from a large selection
of different makes and models and colors. American Stellars
and Irwin Citations competitively priced, shipped and installed.
ACOUSTIC SOUND PANELS AND CUSTOM WALL DRA-
PERIES available in flameproofed colors and fabrics, artistic or
plain. CINEMA CONSULTANTS & SERVICES INTERNA-
TIONAL. Inc. P.O. Box 9672. Pittsburgh. PA. 15226. Phone
(412) 343-3900. Fax (412) 343-2992.
SERVICES
ACCEPTING A LIMITED NUMBER of theatres for emergency
service in the northern N.J. area. Sound and projection problems
solved with a minimum of down time.
Contact Theatre
Booth Service. Clifton. NJ. Phone (973)471-0121 or fax (973)
779-7914.
ALTEC, JBL, E.V. SPEAKER RECONING: Factory authorized
service, fast turnaround. We stock diaphragms for popular
theatre drivers. Cardinal Sound & Motion Picture Systems Inc.
Dealer inquiries welcome. (301 ) 595-881 1
FILM BOOKING SERVICE now accepting new clients. Currently
serving clients from coast to coast. We have great repoire
and we care about your business. Address: M&N Booking
Service. P.O. Box 20221 , WY 82003. Phone: (307)
634-3980. email: MandN book@aol.com We look fonward to
hearing from you.
FRONT END INSTALLATION with frames, motors and masking
tracks. Call Cy Young Industries Inc. 800-729-2610.
IN-THEATRE DESIGN. Hand-pleated drapes installed. Speakers
and wire mounting. Movie screens installed. Painting and
polymix. Coast-to-coast sen/ice. Call (508) 285-7593. Naffer
Co.. Norton. MA.
MY 50TH YEAR with M.P.M.O.. Local 249. Dallas, TXI! Call
me. "Pinky" Pinkston. to rebuild your Century. Simplex projector
and soundhead. Also, intermittents. Pinkston Sales and
Service, Rt 1 , Box 72H, Sadler, TX 76264. Or call (903)
523-4912.
SOUND/DRAPING FABRICS IN STOCK. All new selection of
fabrics. Installation on brackets available, or sewn in pleated
drapes. Call Cy Young Industries Inc., 800-729-2610.
,
INVENTORY REDUCTION
Ticketing &
Concession
Systems
$4,155
Includes: warranty,
installation, training, one box office point
of sale, two concession points of sale, and
manager's office computer.
With close to 1,000 customers worldwide
SOS is the right choice!
System Operating Solutions, Inc.
Call 800-434-3098
Response No. 430
Graffiti Removal
Response No. 493
Sensible Cinema
Software^
SINGLE TERMINAL
TICKETING SYSTEM
Pentium* Computer System
Ticketing & Report Software
Thermal Ticket Printer
Large Character Pole Display
Automatic Cash Drawer
Case of Thermal Paper
$2399 P'"* freight
www.sensiblecinema.com 61 5-790-7797
No. 135
SOUNDFOLOS & CURTAINS cleaned and fireproofed on site
per hung sq. ft. (coast to coast). Call (800) 879-231 1
Fast • Easy • Safe
Amazing patented,
water-based
formula safely
removes paint from
surfaces: concrete,
brick, stucco, street
signs. Biodegradable.
Send this ad and your
name and address to:
Motsenbocker's
LIFT OFF Offer,
P.O. Box 1094,
Grand Rapids, MN
55745-1094
JanlhSourcB'
Ptol»t*iontl ProdueH
24 hours, for brochure and information. The Carpet Cleaner.
Box 154. Osceola. MO 64776.
ULTRAFLAT. REFLECTORS: Why buy new when you can
have it restored? "Hopeless" cases restored to brightness. Call
your dealer or ULTRAFLAT. 20306 Shemian Way, Winnetka.
CA 91306. (818)884-0184. http://www.ultraflat.com
"WHILE THE THEATRE SLEEPS" On-site reupholstery. Top
fabrics, molded seat cushions and 'State of the Art" Cy Young
cupholders. Call Cy Young Industries Inc., 800-729-2610.
MISCELLANEOUS
1 6 AND 35MM FlLlvl COLLECTIONS: XXX adult, exploitation,
educational, tv shows, etc. Any size collection. Alpha Blue
Archives. P.O. Box 16072. Oakland, CA 94610. Phone/fax
(510)268-0811.
MOVIE POSTERS WANTED: Highest prices paid for lobby
cards. 1 -. 3- and 6-sheets. window cards, banners, glass slides.
Dwight Cleveland. P.O. Box 10922. Chicago, IL 60610-0922.
(312) 525-9152 or fax (312) 525-2969
April, 1998 225

226 BoxomcE
The lEia (Picture
—
Here's
a toast to all the attendees of ShoWest, from the first
Zorro. Douglas Fairbanks. Both starring in it and scripting
the adaptation of the Johnston McCulley novel 'The Curse
of Capistrano," Fairbanks Sr. scored in the 1920 silent, "The Mark
of Zom)," opposite Marguerite de la Motte and Noah Beery. It was
only stage helmer Fred Niblo's third directing exercise on the
bigscreen (after 1918's "The Marriage Ring" and I920's "Sex"),
and it was Fairbanks' first big swashbuckler after almost 30 other
films, but the boxoffice success of the United Artists/Republic
production quickly led both men to more merriment with 1921*8
"The TTiree Musketeers." Niblo then worked with Rudolph
Valentino on Paramount's "Blood and Sand" and, over at MGM,
with Ramon Novarroon Louis B. Mayer's "Ben-Hur," the grandest
of all the silent era's spectacles.
Meanwhile, having found his genre, Fairbanks swashbuckled
his way through the likes of "Robin Hood." "The Thief of
Baghdad," "Don Q Son of Zorro" and "The Black Pirate."
Of the man Fairbanks was. his wife (and fellow founder, with Charlie
Chaplin, of United Artists) Maiy Pickford once said, "In his private
life, Douglas always faced a situation in the only way he knew, by
running away fix)m it." But on the silver screen this "sort of Ariel,"
as AlistairCooke put it, always dared any bit of deiring-do. Agreeing
with his devoted audiences, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences in 1 939 awarded a posthumous Oscar to Fairbanks for "his
unique and outstanding contribution to the intemational development
of the motion picture." On behalf of the worldwide attendees at
ShoWest. then, here's a toa.st kick to l"airb;uiks, not only the original
Zont), but also an original. Kim Williamson

LucasfiJm and THX are tradGmarits of Lucasfilm. Ltd.
The Power BehifxJ The Pictures" is a tradema* of QSC Audio Products, Inc..
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CALL: 516-789-2222 • FAX: 516-789-8888
ResponaeNo. 101