The Docior is
one of the best
of summer fare

The Doctor *** 2 (Touchstone) Rated Mature {at the Vancouver

Centre cinema)

O FAR, it’s the summer of professional “‘reckon-

ings.” Sleazy lawyers get shot and now doctors get

cancer to find out what's really “important.” (Scary
trend — what's next, lobotomies for engineers?)

Unlucky in life’s lessons this
time is Dr. Jack MacKee (William
Hurt), a great heart surgeon with
little heart. Still, the doctor does
have a lot of jokes. He uses humor
to distance himself from patients
as well as from wife, Anne
(Christine Lahti) and son (Charlie
Korsmos). When a distraught pa-
tient mentions her husband’s
aversion to her scars, he
wisecracks, “Tell him he’ll have
his own Playboy centrefold, com-
plete with staples.”

Itisn’t that he’s mean spirited,
he just has occasional bad timing.
Jack cares very much about the
operation being a success, but he
doesn’t know how to treat his pa-
tients’ fears and frustrations.

But MackKee’s “jokes’’ are
silenced when an annoying tickle
in his throat turns cancerous and
plants him firmly on the other side
of the bedpan.

Sounds like a tale of ironic
justice, but it isn’t. The well-writ-
ten story never comes across as a
morality lesson about the cold
brutal ‘‘system.” It’s about a
man, confronted by his own mor-
tality, finding time for his family.
(There’s a nice bit when Anne tells
her son to say ‘Hi’ to his dad,
who's standing behind him, and
he instinctively goes to the phone.)

And it’s not only the leads who
are great. Elizabeth Perkins is
superb as the fellaw cancer victim
who offers the emotional support
MacKee can’t find in his wife. Her
scenes are almost as heart-tugging,
but they’re played sincerely.

Tim Beil
FILM REVIEW

Yes, it’s a nose-blower, but as
one of the summer's best films,
you deserve a visit to The Doctor.
Psyche-Out/Wild in the Streets
** (HBO Tapes/Image Laserdisc
Doubi: bill) Unrated

Ah, medicine — ’60s-style in the
groovy double bill of American In-
ternational Pictures’ ode to
hallucinogens.

Susan Strasberg makes a pretty
unconvincing deaf runaway look-
ing for her brother in the Haight-
Ashbury district and finding a
pony-tailed Jack Nicholson. Lots of
peace signs, freak-outs and the
occasional rumble with rednecks.
And it’s produced by Dick Clark.

Dig it.

The second film is a slicker, but
dopier story of a 22-year-old rock
star (Christopher jones) becoming
president and incarcerating
everyone over 30 (including his
shrill mother, Shelly Winters) and
keeping them on a diet of LSD.
Played straight, it comes across as
a self-conscious Twilight Zone re-
ject.

Table Hopping on vacation
- look for its return next
week in North Shore Now

Brunch with a
View

SAVOUR YOUR BRUNCH ON OUR
SPACIOUS PATIO WHILE ENJOYING THE
SWEEPING HARBOUR VIEW

SATURDAYS 11:30AM - 2:30PM
SUNDAYS 10:30AM - 4:00PM

RES TA UR AN T

ABOVE THE
LONSDALE QUAY

RESERVATIONS
986-VIEW

Premium Aged = N

NEW YORK STEAK

Boneless Beef

STRIP LOIN

FO

e Jables ¢ Chairs « Umbrellas

© Cushions ¢ Chaise
Lounges ¢ Groupings

© Indoor/Outdoor Wicker

ew Zea

Wednesday. August 14, 1991 —- North Shore News - 24

STOHE HOURS
DUNBAR & DOLLARTON
Mon-Frn. 9am-Som
Sat. am-7pm, Sun. 9am-6om
DUNDARAVE
WEST VAN.
Mon.-Wed. Sam-7pm
Thur-Fr. Sam-9om
Sat-Sun. 93am-6om
LYNN VALLEY
NORTH VANCOUVER

Mon-Sat. 8am:
Sun. 9am-6om

We’re Moving
Our North Vancouver
Store to Our New
Home & Patio Gallery
in Burnaby

|
Te Vo
neg Chun eaceh Ee.

Distinctive Indoor & Outdoor Furnishings

NORTH VANCOUVER
Marine & Pemberton

984-9567