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mile Marilyn: Jerry O'Connell, Gabriel Olds and Jason Priestley in the comedy Calendar Gi
Harrison Ford
on the run
by Vince Smith
Collegian Staff
Yes, that's right. The much
hyped movie remake of the
classic 1960 s David Janssen
TV series. Is it worth the
hype? The answer is
positively yes!! If you're a fan
of the series, you'll love the
movie version.
For those totally unfamiliar
with the story of The Fugitive,
Richard Kimball (Harrison
Ford) is falsely accused of
murdering his wife (Sela
Ward). His defense is that on
the night of the murder he
fought with an one-armed man
that had broken into his house.
It is this one-armed man that
he believes killed his wife.
Kimball is tried, convicted,
and sentenced to death. On his
way to the "death house,"
Kimball escapes. The rest of
the movie entails a series of
narrow, and nearly fatal,
escape:: as Kimball tries to
prove nis innocence and evade
me pursuit of the obsessive
U.S. Marshall Gerard (Tommy
Lee Jones), who is determined
to bring him in.
In addition to edge-of-the-seat
action and suspense, The
Fugitive has some excellent
acting. Harrison Ford more
than portrays David Janssen's
original Kimball. He perfects
switching back and forth from
feeling his pain for his wife's
death and doggedly trying to
prove his innocence. Tommy
Lee Jones as Gerard is
GREAT, combining salty wit
with stone-faced determination.
The Fugitive does differ from
the series in one important
aspect. Instead of the one
armed man being the sole "bad
guy," we find a conspiracy
behind the murder of Kimball's
wife. Still, this tends to make
an interesting picture. As for
the ending--does Kimball get to
stop running? That's a
cliffhanger you'll have to find
in the theater.
Tha 'rnizoMo4lsnr 5 trick
Reservoir Dogs, starring
Harvey Reim', Tim Roth,
Steve Buscemi, Lawrence
Tierney, Michael Madsen, and
Chris Penn. 1992. Miramax
Films. Directed by Quentin
Tarantino. Rated "R" for
violence. Available on video.
In Reservoir Dogs, first-time
director Tarantino takes a
different approach to the
standard cops-and-robbers film.
The audience sees only the
crime scene and the events
leading up to it in a series of
flashbacks during the aftermath
of the failed robbery. The
characters are introduced and
built during these "mental
movies."
The opening scene sets the
tone for the entire film. A gut
shot robber, screaming and
covered with blood, lies in the
back seat of Harvey ICeitel's car
as they speed to the rendezvous
point. The film then flashes
back to show us the formation
of the unlikely gang of thieves
in an almost humorous light.
A breakfast meeting, where the
topics range from the meanings
of Madonna's lyrics to the
avoidance of tipping, is
particularly amusing. Shifting
by Doug Moore
Collegian Staff
Calendar Girl
by Tom Keefe
Collegian Staff
The year is 1962. Roy
Darpinian (Jason Priestly),
Scott Foreman (Jerry
O'Connell), and Ned Bluer
(Gabriel Olds) decide to go to
Hollywood to find their
calendar girl, Marilyn Monroe.
They plan to stand at the foot
of Monroe's driveway until
she agrees to go on a date with
them. What ensues is the plot
of the new movie Calendar
Girl.
Roy, Scott, and Ned
became friends when they meet
at a Howdy Doody look-a-like
contest at age eight. At age
twelve, they are introduced to
Marilyn Monroe through her
nude calendar, and instantly fall
in love.
When they turn eighteen,
Roy decides that they must
make their dreams come true
and ask Marilyn out on a date.
So, Roy "borrows" his father's
convertible, takes out an
unapproved loan from his
employers, the Gallo Brothers,
and the boys take off to
Hollywood!
When the Gallo brothers
find out that Roy stole their
money, they follow the teens
to the home of Roy's Uncle
Harvey (Joe Pantoliano). Roy,
Scott, and Ned manage to elude
the Gallo Brothers but now
must face their ulimate
challenge ....how to get to go
back to the present, there is a
series of encounters between
the failed crooks, culminating
with the arrival of Mr. White
(Michael Madsen) and his
hostage, a rookie police officer.
This is the point in the film
where things start to get a bit
squeamish. While torturing the
police officer for information
regarding a police informant in
the gang. Madsen cuts off the
officer's ear with a straight
razor while dancing and singing
to the 70s hit "Stuck in the
Middle with You," and then
telling jokes to the severed ear.
The audience realizes around
this time that Madsen is a
psychopath and that he is the
reason the diamond theft turned
into a bloodbath.
The film does take a surprise
turn when it is found that there
is indeed an informant, but
revealing any more information
would make renting the film
pointless (arid a bit anti
climactic).
Throughout the film, Harvey
Keitel is nothing short of
brilliant. His portrayal of the
lifetime criminal is excellent.
Much like his on-the-edge-of
sanity policeman in The Bad
Lieutenant, his sense of
bottled-up rage brings his
talent to the forefront. There
Thursday, September 23, 1993
on a date with Marilyn?
Do they ask her out?
Only those who go to the
movie will know. .
Although Jason Priestly
stars as Roy in the movie,
don't expect Roy to be a clone
of his 90210 character Brandon
Walsh. If you thought Jason
could only be Brandon Walsh,
you were wrong....very wrong.
Roy is a very different
character, and Priestly shows
his polished acting ability in
the portrayal.
Co-star Gabriel Olds
commented, "[Jason] may have
a hard time being tamed back
into Brandon Walsh after all
this."
Calendar Girl was written
by Paul W. Shapiro, who also
wrote Outrageous Fortune. It
was directed by John Whitesell,
and produced by Debbie Robins
and Gary Marsh. The movie
includes music from David
Sanborn, Ray Charles, Neil
Sedaka, and Chubbie Checker
(who also makes an
appearanace in the movie).
The crew also includes big
shots Penny Marshall and
Elliot Abbot, who worked on
A League of Their Own and
Big.
Them aren't many serious
parts to Calender Girl, and you
don't have to think about
anything to enjoy it. You can
just sit back and laugh and
laugh and laugh and...
are several long, drawn-out
verbal battles between Keitel
and Madsen regarding who is to
blame for the failure of the
robbery, and in each, Keitel
shows the acting skill that has
made him sought after in the
film world today. Tim Roth
and Chris Penn also turn in
good performances as the dying
crook and the son of the mob
boss (Lawrence Tierney),
respectively.
As Tarantino's directing and
writing debut, Reservoir Dogs
is an entertaining film that
thumbs its nose at the "Art
Film" that has become so
commonplace today from
young American directors.
Although the film is extremely
violent, it does not offend so
much as surprise and shock
you. One could rent any of the
recent Stallone films and
surpass the amount of dead
bodies in Reservoir Dogs
during the first five to ten
minutes.
I would heartily
recommend Reservoir Dogs
for an, evening of
entertainment. Due to the
violence, it is not suitable for
kids, and the "razor-to-the-ear"
trick should not be tried at
home.