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p12 weekender march 1 1986 weekender efcgmt cburoy disag ft rovwkm plrae cah 2946468 en the color purple another spielberg hit by ian bailey markville the color purple since it was released in december a lot of people have been seeing the col or red over steven spielbergs adaptation of alice walkers novel the color purple those who loved the book essentially the story of 40 years in the life of a black woman in south ern us have condemned spiel bergs abbreviation of the novel black men in america have attacked the film for presenting a stereotype of them as oppressive brutes in their relationships with black women even spielbergs professional colleagues in the academy of mo tion picture arts and sciences took a kick at his work on the film by nominating it for 11 oscars in cluding best picture however they didnt nominate spielberg forbest director in a bizarre snub that makes as much sense as praising a good novel for its char acters style and editing but ignoring its writer the pleasures and problems with the color purple are repre- sentative of everything that spiel berg is as a filmmaker his rich exhuberant cinematic style which has been a strong feature of such films as the indiana jones epics jaws and close encounters of the third kind often seems at odds with the story that screen writer menno meyjes is adapting from walkers novel that story spans 40 years in a small georgia town a large slice out of the life of a woman celie whoopi goldberg who is oppressed by two men the first is her father who in turn fathers her two children and then sells her to the second male figure her husband albert dan ny glover from witness through decades of beatings and abuse by albert and the dra mas played out in a number of characters around her celie is sustained only by letters she writes to god the promise that she will someday be reunited with her missing children and her sis ter and an intense relationship with her husbands mistress a blues singer named shug avery margaret avery this is a grim tale whose mo ments of hope and humor arise not from cinematic technique but from the characters who are play ed to perfection by the flawless cast although this is celies story and although she is portrayed with detail by goldberg my bet for the best actress oscar although one has to wonder about the value of an award from an organization that would slight spielberg like this the color purple is also about the lives of a number of characters around her all of whom are played vividly aside from the objections about the way that men are portrayed here after all that perspective exists in the novel that serves as the basis of this film the most striking pecularity in the movie is the way spielberg seems to over dress the essential drama with his skilled cinematic style granted the way he cleverly cuts his scenes together and sweeps his camera over the ac tion adds a light flowing touch to the engrossing morass of a plot but combined with the rich photography of cinematographer allen et daviau andthe lush musical score by quincy jones who initiated the project and served as one of the films four producers it gives the film a warm hypnotic grandeur thats misplaced when warmth and appeal are provided by the humanity of the characters however this flaw only arises when you look closely at the film if you havent read the book and therefore have nothing to com pare spielbergs work to youll likely enjoy the film for its ex huberant spirit humor and emo tion spielberg who seems to have retreated to more producing than directing in recent years with whoopi goldberg stars as celie who rises above years of mistreat ment sustained by a close bond with her absent sister and awakened by a lusty blues singer with a thirst for life in the stephen spielberg film the color purple the film is currently showing at markville cinema such results as gremlins back to the future young sherlock holmes and the forthcoming tom hanks comedy the money pit proves here that hes a master with the film medium though one cant help but hope that he will find future projects more suited to a flamboyance he seems unable to tone down pg markville down and out in beverly hills the lives of a neurotic be verly hills family are disrupted with amusing results when they take in a bum who tries to drown himself in their pool good per formances by richard dreyfuss and bette midler in this amusing and adroit satire by paul mazurs- ky the director of moscow on the hudson aa coarse language the jewel of the nile a flat and tedious sequel to the per ky 1984 adventure romancing the stone that has little going for it except the charisma of stars kathleen turner and michael douglaspgswearing 101 dalmatians a rerelease of walt disneys 1961 animated film about two dalmatians who try to save their pups from certain death weekend afternoon matinees only f youngblood a highly melod ramatic film about an aspiring junior hockey player rob lowe who comes to the dubious conclu sion that his athletic skills are useless in the game unless he can learn to fight as well slick sick entertainment redeemed along the way by some good perform ances particularly lowe as the taciturn player markhams steve thomas now a member of the toronto maple leafs has a small part in the movie aa thornhill square fix so how does a film special effects expert get even with gov ernment agents who set him up and try to kill him why he just uses special effects gadgets to fight back thats the plot and point of this engaging thriller whose only real failing is that its never quite as tricky as you might expect it to be at least it features a good performance from austra lian actor bryan brown as the slightly crazy technician pg murphys romance a sub dued comedic drama thats as soft sweet and unfulfilling as a mouthful of marshmallows the fact that its watchable comes from the serviceable perform ances of stars sally field as a plucky divorcee lance kerwin as her shiftless husband and espe cially james garner who has been nominated for a best actor oscar as a smalltown eccentric who falls in love with field the problem is that the filmmakers have smoothed out the rough edges on all the characters at least the worldweary easygoing garner adds a welcome touch of cynicism to this gooey brew aa out of africa robert red- ford plays denys finch hatton a british hunter in kenya in 1914 who fell in love with karen blixen meryl streep a danish woman who managed a coffee plantation for 20 years and later wrote about africa under the pseudonym of isak dinesen this majestic epic from director sydney tootsie pollack moves slowly at times but its an intriguing drama where length means depth instead of tedium pg sketch uses stouffville as backdrop martin short left had coworkers and onlookers in hysterics back on labor day when he filmed part of his first comedy special at mussclmans lake here the performer hams it up in fine jerry lewis fashion with wife and costar nancy dolman child actor keram malickisanchcz and gord hamilton of the 21st cen tury centre glcndale beach the program airs on the cbc television network thursday march 13 at 9 pm chris shanahan by chris shanahan staff reporter television viewers can be sure that one upcoming cbc comedy special wont be short on laughs canadian humorist martin short brings his collection of crazy characters to the screen in a special thats to be broadcast thurs day march 13 at 9 pm and whitchurchstouffville residents will probably recognize some of the scenery in a sketch entitled tender fella the oscarwinning movie tender mercies was one of shorts targets when he filmed at musselmans lake back on sept 2 of 1985 his production crew transformed the old sun valley store into a texas motel and gas bar for that labor day shoot also included in the skit is jim irving a former stouffville tribune reporter who has appeared in a variety of film projects the comedy special is shorts first but the veteran of both the sctv and saturday night live television shows is obviously at home on the small screen in part of the martin short comedy special hes supported by past tv colleagues john candy eugene levy dave thomas and christopher guest a production spokesman said the program was influenced in part by sctv saturday night live and even the david letterman show its already been aired on a pay television service in the united states short is no stranger to stouffville and uxbridge having fre quently worked in the area during his second city days