W U H Movin reviewsW b? If V COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN, Friday, Nov. 6, 1981 Page 3B 'True Confessions' 'Looker': a spy spoof to grab sci-- fi fans, too By Gregory McElwain The moguls perk up. And once the movie gets going, it's comfort- tells no new secrets, Missourian staff writer The sci-- fi audience ! able to sit back, relax, watch and enjoy. There mg Now, the up-and-com- exective says, the are some nice doses of suspense and comedy Imagine movie moguls clad in Brooks Broth- plastic surgeon who perfected the girls is sus- the conclusion is a truly funny sequence that in- ers suits sitting attentively in a plush confer- pected of these heinous crimes, so true to form, tertwines murder and mayhem with television iust some old cliches ence room, listening as an up-and-com-ing exec- he takes matters into his own hands. And for a commercials. utive attempts to sell this premise for a movie : romantic angle, there's a model who's slated to ByJoseDelValle Beautiful models, who've just undergone plas- be the next victim. Finney does his best in a bland role, and Su- Charles Durning is "The Good Sa- san Dey appealing. But Missoorian staff writer maritan" a crooked politician tic surgery to perfect their features down to the is James Coburn and g nal Enough, the moguls protest, dabbing their Leigh Taylor-Youn- are wasted one-di-mensio- with a wrenching cough. He is the millimeter, are being killed. in their With a title like "True Confes- Ah, gorgeous eyes. Make it, Baby, it's a sure winner. roles. The situation is aggravated by church's most generous patron, the the moguls muse, girls add up to of sions" and starring tough guys Rob- big Especially when the writer and director the fact that Cnchton has taken the whole thing man who "arranges" funds and con- bucks at the box office. Michael Cnchton, who previously ming this film is too seriously. ert Duvall and Robert De Niro, tracts for new schools and churches But wait, the up-and-co- executive pleads, you'd expect some pretty juicy stuff. it gets churned out "Coma" and "Westworld." and for his effort is voted Catholic better. This time, he came up with "Looker," star- His choice of elements provided him with the But is not hi-te- there much material for They're being knocked off by a who ch "Layman of the Year." man ring Albert Finney as the plastic surgeon, opportunity to create a campy, spoof of gossip in "True Confessions." On wears dark sunglasses and zaps them with this the seamy side of town, mean- Coburn and Leigh Taylor-Youn-g as the television, advertising and spy films Instead, In fact, nobody really owns up to bizarre gun, right out of Captain Fantastic, James he's come up that ed while, the body of the virgin tramp, villainous couple and Susan Dey as the soon-to-be-murder- with a pleasant diversion that's anything in this film. a young prostitute flashes light which renders them stiff as a stat- only occasionally frightening The rest of the The and pornographic model. tune is the 1940s. film star, has been found in two ue. The guy's boss and his wife want the lovelies time, the audience can easily outguess almost De Niro and Duvall play brothers pieces. eliminated so they can use computer likenesses It's not a great film but it has jiggle. every turn and twist of the plot. Des and Tom Spellacy. Tom is a Los As the murder mystery begins to of them in commercials the pretty droids pos- Unfortunately, Cnchton chose to open the film But for all its faults, it's not a bad waj to Angeles detective, a hot-head- ed unfold, the screenwriters take pains sess a mysterious power to hypnotize viewers with beautiful girls who are as lifeless as soggy spend a rainy Saturday afternoon gumshoe on the order of classic to depict police and church as equal- into buying products. asparagus. Things eventually perk up, though. Grade: B-- movie detectives who pal around ly corrupt. Like the local parish, the with the same people they busted in police are open to payoffs from rack- the old days. eteers organized crime is good for Des is of another order. He is Mon-sign- or business, they rationalize. And Desmond Spellacy, chan- church and the state are part of that cellor of a Roman Catholic arcndio-ces- e business. is L03 'Halloween' in Angeles. Young sequel and with Unfortunately, the care subdued taken in a head for business, he acts as some- casting is spoiled by the film's stock By Mike Weather! ord his camera and editing techniques thing of a hatchet man for the Arch- characters. Missoorian staff writer are now cliches themselves bishop, handling all the dirty work Detective Spellacy and his col- Feature number two doesn't have The shocks in the new film are no for the ers expanding archdiocese. leagues are cops-and-robb- stan- A few years ago, "Halloween" longer a fresh challenge to ail the As a result of the murder of a pros- dards, right down to the holes in the sneaked out of Hollywood like a kill- "tough guys" who show up to laugh, titute, the brothers are thrown soles of their wing-tip- s. Their con- er m the night. It was disguised as spook and suspense for success yell wisecracks and prove to their against one another. versations are ail-b- ut unintelligible, just another quickie exploitation dates it "doesn't scare them a bit " But the beauty of this film is not so their curses slurred through mouths flick but ripped audiences with knife-edge- Carpenter co-wr- ote co-produc- ed much in the plot as in the casting. full of food, cigars and toothpicks. d craftsmanship and re- start carving again. By now it's no This unfortunate nod to realism is and Robert De Niro has played the They are also incompetent bunglers. lentless suspense secret that the killer got away. one of the only plausible plot angles the sequel, but it was Rick Rosenthal who was handed the vengeful, violent hero so often it's It takes little imagination to guess Last Fnday the sequel, "Hallow- "Halloween II" opens with the last m the story The rest of the film is ei- task of pre- hard to imagine him without a scowl what Detective Spellacy discovers een U," opened amidst the ballyhoo few minutes of the first feature, then ther a senes of coincidences or is directing it m the style of its and a .45 caliber gleam in his eye late in the film that one of the Vir- of a national ad campaign. It was picks up the action through the rest shrugged off to the supernatural. decessor. Carpenter should be After films like "Taxi Driver" and gin Tramp's old clients is the met with higher expectations than of that eventful evening. The invading de- pleased with the outcome The film slasher started shock-quotie- "The Deer Hunter," carnage is ex- church's own "Layman of the its predecessor. The killer started out slaughtering fenseless homes Now, Ins favorite offers a high nt and a pected when De Niro is on theticket. Year." Or that the discovery will It didn't deliver. babysitters before closing in on Ja- stomping ground is a hospital, suspi- anger of an ending, and it seems In "True Confessions," however, lead to one of the most interesting It's almost as good. But a success- mie Lee Curtis as a bright girl who ciously understaffed for a busy destined to bring in millions at the De Niro has effectively broken the moments "True Confessions" has to ful sequel has to be better. It must managed to outwit him. Curtis is night And the killer himself creates box office. He probably doesn't even stereotype. He plays .the quiet and offer, the climatic confrontation be- include all the winning elements, around in this one too, and we learn even more skepticism. care that the bruisers ndicule it go pious Monsignor to perfection. tween Duvall and Durning. then beyond to offer something she is a deliberate target rather than In his initial outing, director-screenwrit- er The Biscayne Cinema sold out four Based on the novel by John Grego- In the end, De Niro and a few good ongnaL This one offers little that's a random victim. John Carpenter times this weekend, and if that manv ry Dunne, the screenplay written moments cannot overcome the tired new in either technique or plot But the explanation is hokey and avoided the tired old horror Sim people want to pay three bucks to by Dunne and journalist-noveli-st old cliches or the vagueries that The original was beautiful in its largely unexplored. cliches by creating new ones of his laugh at his movie, the tnck-or-tre- at Joan Didion is a testament to the leave this film too closely resem- simplicity. Worse, Curtis only has about 15 own. But after several dozen npoff s, prank is on them Grade: B-- notion that in a corrupt society, it is bling True Confessions, the pulp A maniac, who butchered his sis- lines of dialogue in the sequel. It the nice guy that finishes last. magazine filled with implications ter when he was a child, escapes may make sense that she's in shock Here, it is Msgr. Spellacy that and innuendos but little substance. from the insane asylum and returns after the attacks, but the waste of takes the fall. Grade: Cplus to his hometown 16 years later to her talent is frustrating.

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