‘Stone,’ ‘Greystoke,’ two solid choices
By J. Dana Haynes
Of The Print
While The Print was on its recent
month-and-a-half hiatus (he grumbled
under his breath), a passel of motion
pictures appeared all over town. The
following is a review of two of them.
“Romancing The Stone”: I went
to this adventure flick expecting a rip-
off of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and,
in fact, the popularity and accessibility
of the cliff-hanger genre is due in large
part to “Raiders.”
However, “Stone” is its own
movie, taking only as much as it needs
to draw an audience and supplying
enough wit and romance to enthrall
anyone. Like “Raiders,” “Stone” is
whiz-bang fast, involves two yanks,
one man and one woman (the man
wears a wide-brimmed fedora, a la In
diana Jones), evil military types and a
quest through barbarous terrain for a
mysterious treasure.
Unlike “Raiders,” this movie is
not a period piece (it takes place in the
present) and keeps tongue pressed
firmly against cheek throughout.
Michael Douglas (“It’s My Turn,”
“Star Chamber”) plays Jack Colton,
an expatriot American prowling
around Colombia awaiting his “short
cuts” in life. Douglas is a fine actor,
handsome enough and charming
enough to carry the swashbuckler role
well. He’s also savvy enough to play
the character differently than Harrison
Ford’s Dr. Jones, about whom com
parisons are inevitable.
However, this is not Douglas’
flick. The story line belongs to
Kathleen Turner (“Body Heat,” “The
Man With Two Brains”) as Joan
Wilder, a timid, lonely and highly suc
cessful author of romance novels.
Turner is thrown into the adven
ture when she receives a treasure map
from her recently murdered brother-in-
law and a phone call from her sister,
who is being held captive by heavies in
Colombia.
THE DUALITY OF MAN—Actor Christopher Lambert as Tarzan,
a.k.a. Lord Greystoke.
Highly improbable? A bit con Westgate and Rose Moyer theaters) is
trived? Sure it is. The movie has its fast and funny. It’s light weight
faults and, rather than covering them material, to be sure, but well worth see
up with special effects, plays upon ing for all that.
them for laughs.
“Greystoke: The Legend of Tar
One of the bad guys is played by zan, Lord of the Apes”: Now there’s a
Danny DeVito (“Terms of Endear title for you!
ment” and my hero, Louey DePalma
“Greystoke” is another adventure
of TV’s “Taxi”). DeVito is marvelous flick, based on Edgar Rice Burrough’s
ly campy and treats the material about famous masterpiece. Note: This is not
as seriously as the audience is supposed your average Tarzan movie. It is
to.
definitely not “Me Tarzan, You
All told, “Romancing The Stone” Jane,” nor is it Ron Ely in his pin
(currently playing at the Southgate, striped, three piece loin cloth looking
like something off the cover of
“Gentlemen’s Quarterly.”
The main character (he is never
called Tarzan in the movie) is played
(as an adult) by Christopher Lambert,
who portrays our hero as a feral
wildchild, living and thinking like the
apes that adopted him.
Those apes, incidentally, are ac
tors in the best costumes (courtesy of
designer Rick Baker) since the pro
logue of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
This is not the movie you may be
expecting. It’s not a thrill-a-minute
adventure, nor does it all take place in
Africa. Half the story is told in
Scotland and London. However, what
it lacks in slam-bang, comic book ac
tion it more than makes up for in top
notch acting and superb writing.
The cast includes Andie Mac-
Dowell as Jane Porter, Tarzan’s (John
Clayton is the character’s real name)
love interest and Ian Holm (“Chariots
of Fire”) as Capitaine Phillippe D’Ar-
not, the Belgian explorer who finds
Clayton in Africa and educates him.
Both MacDowell and Holm give solid
performances and carry their roles
well.
However, the show may belong to
Sir Ralph Richardson, as Clayton’s
grandfather, the Sixth Earl of
Greystoke. This was Richardson’s last
movie. He died a few months ago, rob
bing the stage and screen of a wonder
ful actor. It seems fitting that his last
movie performance is such a powerful
character as the elderly, slightly balmy
Scots gentryman. The role is meaty
(thanks to writers P.H. Vazak and
Michael Austin and director Hugh
Hudson—“Chariots of Fire”), and
Richardson made the most of it.
So see “Greystoke” at the
Southgate, Eastgate or Washington
Square theaters, but don’t go expecting
The Greatest Movie Adventure of All
Time or any such gobbledegook. Go to
see a love story and a study of the
noble-savage duality of human nature.
It’s exciting, yes, but it’s also a good
tale. A rare combination, that.
Donna Grund Slepack
Library hosts controversial art exhibit
By Kristen Tonole
Of The Print
Social change is the subject of the educa
tional art exhibit on display in the Clackamas
Community College library.
Artist Donna Grund Slepack has been in
volved with the theme Art with Social Change
for the past four years, her inspiration being
“things happening in our society,” she said.
“I think it’s possible for art to com
municate verbally as well as visually, and it can
be interpreted into our society,” Slepack said.
Some of her works deal with nuclear war,
human rights and the problems with capitalism.
One particular exhibit consists of photos from a
“political art” event held on May 29, 1981,
called “Yellow Ribbons.” “The idea originated
with the yellow ribbons worn for our
Iranian hostages,” Slepack said, “but we tied
yellow ribbons to symbolize the reclaiming of
human rights victims in our country.” Slepack
is speaking out against police brutality inflicted
on political activists and civil rights leaders, she
said.
Another of her projects was the widely
publicized Portland area “Shadow Project.” In
conjunction with members of Performing Ar
Wednesday, April 18, 1984
tists for Nuclear Disarmament, Slepack helped
'coordinate the “participatory art event” that
took place in Portland on Hiroshima Day,
Aug. 6, 1983.
For the event, ghost-like human forms
were painted with non-permanent paint on the
streets as a way of commemorating the destruc
tion of Hiroshima 38 years ago. “The images
were intended to help the viewer visualize the
consequences of nuclear war and identify per
sonally with victims of atomic catastrophes,”
Slepack said.
On display in the library are pictures of the
event, depicting the figures of humans and
animals lying in the streets.
“I like my art to be portrayed on things
that people encounter everyday,” Slepack said.
She prints some of her messages on such mun
dane items as postcards and calendars. She has
one calendar hanging in the library that does
not mark traditional calendar days, but instead
marks days such as Jan. 3 (People killed in
nuclear reactor accident-1961) and July 6
(Madame Curie discovers radium-1936).
Students who wish to listen to Slepack
speak are welcome to attend a lecture on Wed.,
April 18 from 12-2 p.m. in the library. Her art
will be on display there until the end of April.
hitting THE STREET—The works of controversial artist
Donna Grund Slepack include the “Shadow Project” in
Portland commemorating the anniversary of the Hiroshima,
Japan bombing in World War II.
Photo by Russ McMillen
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