37 - Wednesday, April 4, 1990 - North Shore News a i saad : ies : | Keep kids bes . 7 busy PAGE 423 A CRAZED doctor in a crumpled white overcoat hovers over an uncovered brain of a still-living child, the top of his skull removed like a lid of a tin can. The rumpled surgeon, smoking all the while, attaches electrodes to the thick, gooey plasma. This scene is grotesque and shocking but not atypical of the made-in-Vancouver film, Terminal City Ricochet. The scene is unique, however, in that North Van- couver’s Peter Breck plays two characters simultaneously. ‘I have two scenes with myself. Not too many people realize that,” says the veteran actor, who also plays the lead role of the demented mayor/ presidential candidate Ross Glimore. At first it seems odd that Breck would play a character who takes such delicious pleasure in the hor- rors of unnecessary surgery. This, after all, is the same performer who starred in a Benji film. Then again Breck's credits have also included The Crawling Hand, a low budget tale of a dismembered hand at large in a small town which kills off the local residents in a reign of terror, and Sam Fuller’s infamous Shock Cor- ridor. Bizarre and B-grade seem to be recurring themes in the films of Breck’s career, and Termina! City Ricochet is 110 exception. “*Termina!l City Ricochet is an attempt at the bizarre,’’ he says, pulling out a computerized ciga- rette monitor and clocking in the cigarette he is about to light up (Breck is trying to quit smoking). “It’s a bizarre commentary on heads of states and how they try to control the world.”’ By EVELYN JACOB News Reporter Breck frankly admits that Ter- minal City Ricochet, which features ex-Dead Kennedy lead singer Jello Biafra and the music of D.O.A., NoMeansNo and Art Bergmann, is not an artistic film. “Unless you consider the bizarre artistic.” Vancouver producer John Con- ti’s$2.8 million film sells itself as a biting social satire that explores TV hysteria, the war on drugs, and the ecological and social horrors of the modern world. Terminal City is a place where TV sets, meat and raw sewage fall out of the sky. Breck’s character Glimore is a psychopath TY talkshow host- turned-tabloid politician who uses the power of television to sell his version of unreality to a bewildered population for persona} gain. He is part Jimmy Swaggart, part Ronald Reagan, part Martin Downey Jr. and part 'S0s B-shlock villain. **He’s an ego-maniac, power- hungry, selfish, petulant individu- al,’? says Breck, who in real life still resembles the black-gloved Nick Barkley of the TV western series the Big Valley. Breck, whose last silver screen appearance was five years ago in the Sword and the Sorcerer, at first agreed to do only a cameo role in Terminal City Ricochet. “1 don’t get involved in films because I don’t have time,’’ he ex- Pe PEMA EO VIELE NEWS photo Cindy Goodman PETER BECK stars as the lunatic mayor Rass Glimore in the Vancouver-made film, Terminal City Ricochet, held over at the Capitol Six Theatre. plains. (Breck has his own acting schooi, The Breck Academy of the Performing Arts). ‘I agreed to do acameo role because Conti said he would use my students. But then he said ‘you’re doing the lead.’ Quite frankly I didn't want the lead, but ! kept my promise and Conti kept his."’ Breck dismisses the notion that he was hired for the role to give ’ \ e've moved, so please join us in our grand opening celebration of our newest and most beautiful location. This weekend only. 1441 Bellevue Ave. West Vancouver the film greater box office appeal. “I’ve been out of the public eye for some time,’’ he says, adding that his ‘‘Reaganistic’? physical quality was a more likely reason. Overall Terminal City Ricochet was a good experience, says Breck, because it got exposure and expe- rience for his students, although it was at times trying working with punk rockers who had little or no acting experience. See Breck Page 38 | Big or Small ... Short or Tall ... $1.99 does it all! Pay only $1.99 per inch in width (any length!) Order carly to prevent delays — offer expires June 30/90 1877. Marine Drive, North ‘Parking in rear”