20 ~ Wednesday, August 26, 1992 - North Shore News

Fine performances can’t disguise film’s flaws

Tim Beli
FILM REVIEW

Unforgiven ** ¥2 (Warner Bros.)
Rated 14 years (at the
Esplanade, Capital, Richmond
Centre, Station Square, Eagle
Ridge, Guildford and
Willowbreok Cinemas)

t’s 1880 in Big Whisky,

Wyoming. A tiny town

‘that’s just teeming with
testosterone. Yes, it’s hor-
mones, hormones on the
range where men were men
and women were bought.

Until one day, a prostitute snig-
gered at a customer's shortcom-
ings. In response, and aided by 2
partner, tie slashed her face.

To add insult to injury, Sheriff
“Little Bill" Daggett (Gene
Hackman) let the cowpoke and his
sidekick off with a fine (five ponies
come spring, paid to the pimp).

The other ladies of the night,
however, aren't so forgiving, They
post 2 $1,000 bounty tor some
six-gun justice.

Now, if you're a dirt-poor
widower Jike Will Munny iClint
Eastwood), that reward sure smells
sweeter than the pigs you're
struggling to raise. And with two
young ‘uns in need of a future, it’s
time for some mighty heavy pon-
dering.

Not surprisingly, Will saddles up
his ornery nag and rounds up old
partner Ned Logan (Morgan
Freeman) (even though they
haven't played hired gun in over
10 years).

Hightailing it up north, they join
up with the ‘Schofield Kid"
VYamiz Woolvett), a hot-headed
johnny-gun- lately who can’t wait
to do some real killing.

Clint Eastwood's latest may
sound like a simple shoot’em-up,
but there's no clean-cut good, bad

6 ugly,
Sheriff at just wants to
Pu MPINEO 50 B

A antique f

build his house, drink cottee on
the porch and watch the sun set.
(So he says, but he’s a mean one
— handier with a bullwhip than
with a hammer.)

Clint’s character wrestles with
his own true-killer nature, guilt-
plagued and haunted by his past.

Richard Harris as English Bob is
an assassin with elan, a royalist
supreme with his own travelling
biographer to perpetuate the myth
in dime novels.

But is it Clint’s much ballyhooed
Masterpiece? Fine performances
and moody phatography don’t
disguise the flaws — repetitious
sequences, stumbling logic and

too Janquid a pace.

And besides, just what kind of
town is only populated by depu-
ties and prostitutes?

Twenty-One **% (RCA/
Columbia Home Video) Ratet R

Lanky Patsy Kensit (Mel Gibson’s

waterlogged lover in Lethal

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iS PHD

Weapon 2j catries this movie
about a lusty young woman's cir-
cuitous search for independence
and her unorthodox path to get
there,

Articulate if somewhat crude,
she talks directly to the camera to
explain why she had an affair with
a married man, lived with a junkie
(excellently played by Patrick
Ryecart) and married a bloke as a
favor.

Alter a light start and raising all

CANON
'E 40

This 8mm camcorder
features an 8-1 ae
#@ power zoom lens
f§ and character :

p generator.

thase intriguing possibilities, the
end fizzles out as if either their
imagination or their cash flow
stopped.

Hf you pick this up expectin
some cheap thrifts Bs the hot ‘n Ay
heavy ads hint at, be prepared | for
more talk than action. Still, at least
i's intelligent, occasionally witty
talk,

Showtime Hotlines
Famous Players
Cineplex Odeon.

"PRINTS

Prepaid Photofinishing
_Service, 24 Exposures

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