A montage of summer comedies
FREE BIRTHDAy DINNER
IN PARIS? ALMOST. . .
SI
This summer s comedies include something for every taste,
quality workmanship, good humor, and, dare we say it,
some intelligent thoughts.
Dine free at the Pettygrove House on
your birthday when accompanied by 5
or more guests. Relax outside on Port
land’s most glorious patio or dine inside
in air conditioned comfort.
B Y
EL
E A N O R
M A L I N
ROBOCOP
ake a very high-toned film
director like Paul Verhoeven. Cast
Peter Weller as the 10-year police veteran
who’s shot beyond saving and is put back
together with all the most expensive com
puter parts and titanium armor you can
manufacture. Add a well-written story line
and you can even get by with Nancy Allen
as the female cop who helps Robocop (for
merly “ Murphy” ), in his search for justice
against those who messed him up so badly,
and one who would profit shamelessly
from it.
T
Open for lunch and dinner Tues.-Sat.,
Sunday and Monday private parties only.
Full Course Dinners priced between
$5.95 & $12.95
221-4254
The PETTYGROVE HOUSE, corner of NW 23rd and Pettygrove.
THE RESTAURANT DESIGNED
WITH DESERT HEARTS IN MIND!
RUBYFRUIT CAFE
1616 N.W. MARSHALL
222-7067
OPEN EVERY NIGHT FROM 5 PM ON
&
LIGHT MEALS TO COMPLETE DINNERS • DESSERTS • FULL BAR
RELAX ING • INTI MATE
SLOW DANCING ALL EVENING
fi; ■
-
Cascades
NEW IN PORTLAND
333 N.W. 23rd at Flanders. Portland. 274-2305
Atmosphere: Attractive and pleasant. On the cutting edge of restaurant design.
Service: Staff is friendls and cheerful and seems unusually well scrubbed.
Recommended Dishes: Hardwood smoked salmon, pepper and onion shortcake,
spinach mushroom tart, rock fish in parchment, gnocchi in fresh tomato sauce,
duck breast in blueberry sauce, creams orange cheese cake,
fudgy chocolate torte.
Price Range: Refreshingly inexpensive. Entrees: S6.75-SI3.50
Hours: Breakfast: 7-11 A M.; Lunch: 11:30-2:30 PM.;
Brunch-Sat and Sun: 7 A M -3 PM.; Dinner: 5:30-10:30 PM.; Open Daily
Reservations: Appreciated
Oregonian: May 1^87
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“ C ascades... is one of th e... tastiest new places in the city.
...Presentations are striking. Squash enchiladas. ...th e city
dosen’t possess a better Mexican dish. ...a succulent roast
chicken with 40 garlic cloves; a lasagna stuffed with duck and
wild mushrooms is a rich new treatment o f an old favorite. The
scallops in orange sauce and duck breast in blueberry sauce
speak for themselves. ... A small, carefully selected dessert tray
keeps the quality high throughout...”
Pacific Northwest Magazine: June 1^87
Cascades
333 N W 23rd Portland • 274-2305
Daily breakfast • lunch • dinner
Just Out. 22. August. ll>X7
’
••
The action is fabulous. In a future
Detroit even meaner than the present one,
a massive conglomerate buys out the police
department. They experiment with expen
sive and stupid technological nightmares
to do the dangerous work. A hilarious
scene, widely shown in ads and reviews,
shows ED-II, a massive chicken-like
structure, go berserk and shoot an execu
tive. There’s so much irony at times it’s
almost like a ‘‘Rocky and Bullwinkle”
cartoon, with silly stuff for the kids and
super silly stuff for the even more appre
ciative adults. In one of the funniest comic
asides, inanely cheerful TV news readers
inform us the new satellite station test run
has killed 138 people in Santa Barbara —
including two ex-presidents who had re
tired there. Star Wars eats its maker.
As for Weller, he is perfect as Robocop.
After reconstruction only two inches of
face remains visible, and it’s not the eyes,
but the mouth. I’m here to tell you Weller
did more with that two inches than you
would dream possible. His facial planes
are so constructed as to resemble the sculp
ted, high-set Teutonic hero cheeks and taut
but sensuous lips (the only flesh that usu
ally shows in those plastic man toys). He
moves well in the armor and his voice
sounds wistfully heroic and resonantly
lonely through the electronic reverberation.
In one very funny scene. Robocop
Mirandizes the head thug. A take off on
old cop shows, it was supreme spoof in a
stylish vein.
Verhoeven is one of my favorite direct
ors. and he’s done a wonderful job with
this material. It’s funny, it’s fast, it’s dis
arming. Most of all. it’s intelligent.
One can whiff a sequel in the offing.
With Weller and Allen resplendent in
titanium as the Ken and Barbie of law
enforcement, and Verhoeven as chief of
the comic book mayhem. I’d say I can’t
wait.
WHAT HAVE YOU
LATELY TO STO
SPREAD OF
ROXANNE
faithful modem adaptation of
Cyrano de Bergerac, this film is
funny with decidedly literary, but strang
relevant, overtones. Steve Martin plays
‘ ‘Charlie” or ‘ ‘C. D.” The film opens with
a modem swordfighting scene wherein
Martin vanquishes two ski-pole brandish
ing fellows with an aluminum tennis racket.
Cyrano’s “ company” of men becomes the
Nelson fire department, wherein all the
members know enough not to mention
C .D .’s nose. When the verbal repartee of
the original play is called for, Martin sub
stitutes 20 “ better than” jokes for a simple
“ big nose” comment. One example,
“ Keep that man away from my cocaine.”
Then he surgically punches out his
antagonist. Darryl Hannah is good, or at
least fair, as the fair Roxanne, the astrono
mer who falls for C D. ’s rhetoric and
another guy’s body.
As this silliness proceeds apace, Martin
displays both his excellent skill with phys
ical humor, and an ear for a well-turned
phrase.
Both extremely romantic and funny, but
tender, Roxanne isn’t a spoof at all, but a
loving and literate modernization of a dur
able and engaging comedy, even funnier
this time around.
A
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK
ack Nicholson is already being touted
for Best Actor for his role in this pretty
well-made fantasy comedy. He plays Dar
rell Van Horn, thought by some filmgoers
to be The Devil. He refers to himself as the
“ average homy little devil,” and I think
that’s what he is supposed to be. He shows
up at the unknow ing behest of three single
Eastwick women They meet every Thurs
day night to drink martinis and fantasize
about what they would really like out of
life. One such Thursday night, their
thoughts run on so closely attuned, and
their collective angst is so stimulated that
they cause to happen that Van Horn rushes
to their town, rents the local haunted man
sion. and seduces them summarily. The
women are Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, and
Susan Sarandon — a blonde, a brunette,
and a redhead. Cher plays a bad porno
graphic sculptress; Sarandon plays a
mediocre cellist. Pfeiffer plays a good
breeder. (Or, put them all together, you
spell w-o-m-a-n.) The town suspects the
scandalous goings-on at the mansion, and
there is channeling through Vemonica
Cartwright, as a hilariously disapproving
environmentalist and upholder of the
public decency, in a gem of a small part.
During a later power play between the
women and Van Horn, the ladies consult
his book and use his occult knowledge
against him. Atone point he is humiliated
in front of a hypnotically shocked church
congregation.
The subject matter is played strictly for
laughs, and succeeds. No one, truly no
one. can communicate the idea of lust gone
nuts like Jack Nicholson. I loved his en
thusiasm and effusive abandon. All in all,
this best selling novel makes it to the
screen as a charming, lightweight, suc-
cessful comedy.
•
J