D: D.S. Everett; with Robbie Benson, Pat Hingle, Claudia Cron, Graham
Greene.
VHS Home Video
I Luv Video, 4631 Airport
With Prefontaine renewing interest in distance running — well, sort of
— the early-Eighties biopic of Olympic champion Billy Mills, Running
Brave, deserves revisiting, if for no other reason than its superiority to
the newer film. Unlike the biopic of Steve Prefontaine — the story of which
amounted to little more than “runner gets famous and, tragically, dies young”
— Running Brave has some real conflict, with the half-Sioux, half-white
Mills (Benson) leaving the impoverished reservation and confronting the
prejudiced, lily-white world of the University of Kansas, while having to deal
with an over-demanding coach (Hingle) who wants to win at all costs. The race
scenes are also superior to Prefontaine, and include an amazingly
accurate recreation of Mills’ stunning last lap in the 1964 Olympic 10,000
meter race (but with one laughably huge flaw — a football field is clearly
visible on the infield, something which one isn’t likely to find in Tokyo!).
This movie is very, very far from being a classic, but it’s still a decent
story, and one of the brighter spots in Benson’s weak career. — Lee Nichols
Love in the Afternoon
D: Billy Wilder; with Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, JohnMcGiver.
VHS Home Video
In a recent Rolling Stone, Cameron Crowe’s film diary reveals that
Jerry Maguire was the former music scribe’s tribute to Billy Wilder and
the famed director’s favorite accomplishment, The Apartment; in fact,
the role of Maguire’s mentor was written for Wilder. Interesting, then, to
discover that Wilder’s 1957 classic, Love in the Afternoon, was an ode
to his favorite director, Ernst Lubitsch. As with other Wilder and
I.A.L. Diamond scripts, this one sparkles with wit and warmth while telling the
story of a sheltered cellist (Hepburn), who lives vicariously through the files
of her father (Chevalier) — a private eye — until she falls in love with one
of his most notorious cases, rogue bachelor Frank Flannagan (Cooper). Forget
that Cooper is miscast in a role he’d done for Lubitsch in Bluebeard’s
Eighth Wife (co-scripted by guess who) — this one is all Hepburn, and, oh,
is she a joy to behold. — Raoul Hernandez
House of Games
D: David Mamet; with Joe Mantegna, Lindsay Crouse. VHS Home Video
“A sucker born every minute, huh?” “And two to take him!” So goes one of the
greatest exchanges between con man (Mantegna) and conned woman (Crouse) in
David Mamet’s decade-old directorial debut. It might be you who ends up the
sucker, though, if you try to predict the outcome of Mamet’s triple-crossed
tale of “dinosaur con men” having their proverbial way with a hapless (and
wealthy) psychotherapist. Mamet’s signature staccato dialogue is nailed to
perfection, especially by Mantegna, in the performance that put him on the map.
No aspect of the film is without a clever touch, from the upbeat-yet-creepy
piano music to the wickedly low lighting to the irony of Mamet casting his then
wife Crouse in the role of a woman obsessed with the confidence game. House
of Games makes a powerful impact; its delicious ending may leave you a
little shaken up, but you’ll inevitably take to heart one of Mantegna’s
principles of conduct: “Don’t trust nobody.” — Christopher
Null
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Martines, Salome, Annie Girardot, Philippe Leotard.
VHS Home Video
Vulcan Video, 609 W. 29th
Don’t pin your hopes on another remake of Victor Hugo’s romantic tale that
centers on Valjean, Javert, Cosette, and Marius; these familiar characters
appear here only as allegorical ghosts. Frenchman Lelouch wrote, produced, and
directed this entirely new 20th-century fable which relies on Hugo’s original
only as its philosophical compass, but not for its plot or characters. Instead,
we have France’s legendary leading man, Jean-Paul Belmondo, rising to the epic
scope of Lelouch’s script as the 1940s Henri Fortins, who imagines himself in
multiple modern identities and as Hugo’s Jean Valjean as well. As the story
hops from Hugo’s original storyline to Lelouch’s World War II to the early
1900s, it is sometimes difficult to keep track , but Lelouch’s devotion to the
triumph of the human spirit cuts through the grab-bag of overlapping plots.
Despite this and some spotty cinematography that gives a “made for TV” feel to
some sequences, Les Miserables’ uplifting finale is well worth the
three-hour investment it takes to get there. — Kayte VanScoy
Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey
Nintendo 64Midway
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Yagr’s pass glides with remarkable precision across the ice toward his
teammate’s flashing stick. Without hesitation, Lemieux sends the black rubber
puck to its proper resting place at the back of the goal. This hockey game is a
visceral and heart-pounding simulation of North America’s fastest growing
sport. Bone-crunching body checks, spectacular no-look passes, and fiery
slapshots make this the best hockey game out there. Up to four people can play
a single game, a full season, or head straight to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. You
can customize everything from the difficulty level to the length of each period
to whether or not players can start fights. It’s the next best thing to seeing
the Ice Bats live! — Kurt Dillard
This article appears in February 21 • 1997 and February 21 • 1997 (Cover).