Banner Graphic, Volume 17, Number 295, Greencastle, Putnam County, 17 August 1987 — Page 3

Nose know-how When Martin excuses himself, 'Roxanne' pales

Editor’s Note: Gordon Walters is professor of romance languages at DePauw University, where he teaches a variety of courses in film, including History of Film and Film criticism. He has written on film for “Magil’s Survey of Cinema: Foreign Film,” and is a regular contributor to “Cinema Annual.” Walters’ reviews will appear in the BannerGraphic on a regular basis. By GORDON WALTERS Banner-Graphic Film Critic Steve Martin’s latest nearly one-man-band opus, “Roxanne,” provides pleasant, sometimes even inspried, comedy - but only for awhile. About half-way through the film, the script (and the viewers) become somnolent, and the problem with pacing has to be laid at the door of Martin the writer. It’s not that Martin is not funny in “Roxanne.” To the contrary. But when, as the author of “Roxanne’”s screenplay, he takes himself out of the picture -- literally - his film loses the sources of its vigor. Daryl Hannah, who plays the lovely title character, is left standing around looking soft, starry-eyed and sunripened. Rick Rossovich, another pretty face, plays an illiterate jerk to whom Roxanne is attracted, and neither Hanna nor Rossovich can sustain our interest alone or together. AS THE FILM’S opening credits inform us, “Roxanne” is (very loosely) based on Edmond Rostand’s classic 1897 play, “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Martin is C.D. Bales, the Chief of the Nelson, Wash. Volunteer Fire Department, but he has a lot in common with his legendary French counterpart. C.D. can do almost anything. He is “an encyclopedia,” as one friend says; he is, like Cyrano, an acrobat, a poet and something of a swashbuckler in his own right. Everybody in Nelson (with the exception of a few ruffians) loves and respects C.D., in part

EVENING 7:00 8 ALF CD PRIMENEWS (1 hr.) (33 RIPTIDE O (S) ® SONS OF SCARFACE: THE NEW MAFIA Investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera profiles organized crime ® © DAKTARI O GD ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT O ® CBS NEWS CD KAY O’BRIEN © © KATE & ALLIE © ARTHUR C. CLARKE’S WORLD <0 © JEOPARDY! ® MOVIE “Knight without Armour" (1937, Adventure) Marlene Dietrich. Robert Donat (2 hrs., 30 min ) 60 NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT (2® MY FRIEND FLICKA © TINA TURNER: BREAK EVERY RULE 8® © 700 CLUB (1 hr.) 8® © RIVER JOURNEYS © ABC PILOT CD (3® ROCKFORD FILES 7:05 ® HONEYMOONERS Q 7:30 8 VALERIE Valerie and the boys embark on a disastrous camping trip. (R) <3 (X NEWLYWED GAME O (2® HOLLYWOOD SQUARES © a® MY SISTER SAM © NATURE OF THINGS ® © WHEEL OF FORTUNE SD ON THE STREET © HERE'S BOOMER 7:35 80 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Atlanta Braves at Houston Astros. (Live) 8:00 8 MOVIE ★* "Nate and Hayes” (1983, Adventure) Tommy Lee Jones, Max Phipps. (2 hrs.) CD LARRY KING LIVE (1 hr.) CD WWF PRIME TIME WRESTLING CD ® 700 CLUB (1 hr.) CD MOVIE **y 2 "Hello, Frisco, Hello" (1943, Comedy) Alice Faye, John Payne. (2 hrs.) 0 CD ABC PILOT “Hope Division" A dedicated policeman and his intrepid partner must put aside their respective personal crises while investigating a series of murders. Stars Dorian Harewood and Mimi Kuzyk. q (1 hr.) (D MOVIE "Home Fires” (1987, Drama) 8 (2® KATE A ALLIE Emma considers attending UCLA so that she can be near her father, who Ilves in California. CD MOVIE ** l / 2 “Evita Peron” (1981, Biography) Faye Dunaway, James Farentino. (2 hrs.) © © NEWHART It seems as though everyone, except Michael, has exciting plans for a three-day weekend. (R) q © CHRISTIANS © ® ALF ALF thinks he witnessed a murder at the neighbor’s house. (R) (2® MOVIE “Dancing in the Dark” (1949, Comedy) (1 hr., 32 min.) © MOVIE *★% “Saving Grace” (1986, Comedy) ’PG' (1 hr., 52 min.) ® CB LESTER SUMRALL TEACHING 12® © AMERICAN MASTERS © MOVIE "Lace” (1984, Drama) Bess Armstrong, Brooke Adams. (2 hrs.) 03 © MOVIE ★*’/ 2 "The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal” (1979, Drama) Tom Bosley, Charlotte Rae. (2 hrs.) 8:30 OS® MY SISTER SAM CD SURFER MAGAZINE O © DESIGNING WOMEN One of Suzanne’s ex-husbands reveals personal moments of their marriage in his autobiography. (R) © © VALERIE © AMERICA’S HORSE John Brooks and Dick Morgan visit top quarterhorse trainers who discuss their techniques in preparing horses for events such as cutting, reining and barrel racing. (1 hr.) ® C 0 VOICE FOR CHRIST

Gordon Walters

because he faces even the most awkward situation with confidence and control. Such self-mastery is all the more remarkable in that C D., is, alas, possessed of the most famous of Cyrano’s attribues, a nose of epic proportions. MARTIN GETS THE film rolling with energy and promise, and the opening sequence of “Roxanne” is as good as the film’s humor gets. As he is leaving home one morning, C.D. is accosted by two smartmouths who presume to make fun of the Chief’s prodigious proboscis. After some verbal jousting, C.D. proceeds to out-duel his foes with suitable panache, armed with only a tennis racket, his hands and feet (our hero is also proficient in the martial arts) and, of course, his nose. The first few minutes of the film thus show us where “Roxanne’”s highlights will be found: In Martin’s expertise in physical comedy -- C.D.’s mugging and numerous slapstick pieces and sight gags - and in some delightful word-play. In a brilliant bit, C.D. accepts the challenge of improvising 20 nose jokes in order to humiliate a bully who cheaply insults him. UNFORTUNATELY, C.D.’s horizons are limited only by his belief that he will never know true requited love. Unfortunately too (for us), he falls for Roxanne Kowalski, and it’s the true love intrigue which

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9:00 ® CNN NEWS (1 hr.) O © HAWAII FIVE-0 CD © TO BE ANNOUNCED 8 ® MOVIE *♦ “Lace” (1984, Drama) 8 © NEWHART CI3 ANOTHER CLASSIC SUMMER (1 nr.) © © CAGNEY & LACEY Obstacles which face the hearing-impaired are brought to light when Lacey comes close to shooting a deaf teen-age murder suspect. (R) Q (1 hr.) ® SHOWDOWN AT GOVERNOR'S CAMP African hunting dogs are observed. (1 hr.) G) © MOVIE ★★ "Nate and Hayes” ®) WILLIE NELSON: SWINGIN’ OVER THE RAINBOW Willie Nelson is joined by Ray Benson of "Asleep At The Wheel," Nelson’s quintet "The Rainbow Band” and his renowned “Family Band” for a program of country music and jazzy ’3os and '4os classics. (R) (In Stereo) © NEWS ® © LESEA ALIVE (1 hr.) © @9 ALIVE FROM OFF CENTER 9:10 © WILLIE NELSON: SWINGIN’ OVER THE RAINBOW 9:30 ® © NEW GENERATION 8 © DESIGNING WOMEN One of Suzanne's ex-husbands reveals personal moments of their marriage in his autobiography. (R) ® MOVIE ★* “The Dentist (1932, comedy) W.C. Fields. © INN NEWS © © ALIVE FROM OFF CENTER "Operation X” 9.35 ® DANGER BAY Doc and Jonah go to a remote mountain lake to help a wheelchair-bound environmentalist, q; 10:00 8 8 © © ® NEWS ® MONEYLINE ® FRIDAYS CD © HARDCASTLE AND MCCORMICK ® MOVIE ★* "The Big Steal" (1949, Adventure) Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer. (2 hrs.) CD PAPER CHASE: THE FIRST YEAR O © CAGNEY & LACEY ® SURFING Billabong Pro Classic. From Oahu, Hawaii. (Taped) ® DR. RUTH SHOW Guest: singer Robert Merrill. (1 hr.) ® LIVING TOMORROW

gums up the movie’s works. Roxanne is immediately drawn to the bovine good looks of Chris McConnell (Rossovich), but not to worry. The oafish Chris eventually runs off with his real match, a local barmaid whose ambition is to be a cocktail waitress in Tahoe. Well, we see too much of C.D. writing love letters to Roxanne in Chris’s behalf, too much of Roxanne pining after Chris, too much of Chris and his barmaid lusting after each other, and “Roxanne” nearly comes to a complete halt. Screenwriter Martin seems to have sensed (too late, obviously) that he had gotton off on the wrong track, and he telescopes the conclusion of the film by hurriedly and off-handedly having Roxanne confess her love for C.D. and then by trying to revive the cinematic corpse by hauling C.D. and his firemen off to their first successful mission. IN FACT, NELSON’S klutzy volunteer firemen easily upstage Hannah. Led by Andy (Played by Michael J. Pollard, who, as C.W. Moss in “Bonnie and Clyde,” carried off one of the great character parts of the last 20 years) and Chuck (John Kapelos), the firemen are the hook-and-ladder version of the Keystone Kops. As a group, the volunteers are more adept at starting fires than at extinguishing them, so Bales has his firemen constantly drilling. He tries, for example, to teach them to manipulate fire hose correctly by orchestrating the operation to the strains of “The Blue Danube.” In short, Martin sealed the fate of “Roxanne” by working from Rostand’s play. His theatrical source committed him to a romance between his hero and his heroine, and in turn, Martin and the rest of us get stuck with Daryl Hannah as nothing more than window-dressing. **« “Roxanne” is currently playing at Ashley Square Twin Cinemas in Greencastle.

■J.

® YOU CAN BE A STAR © TWENTIETH CENTURY © MOVIE ** “Psycho III” (1986, Horror) ‘R’ (1 hr., 32 min.) @ TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE ® 03 CHURCH GROWTH © 03 NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT © DIVORCE COURT ffi ® 808 NEWHART 10:05 © ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET 10:15 © BONANZA 10:30 8 BEST OF CARSON From June 1986. David Letterman, singer Julio Iglesias and Judge Joseph Wapner ("People's Court”) with host Johnny Carson. (R) ® SPORTS TONIGHT ® TODAY’S FBI ®SPORTSCENTER © © MASH © BETWEEN THE WARS © MOVIE *♦* “The Great American Cowboy" (1974) ‘G’ (1 hr., 30 min.) © TRAPPER JOHN MD © © THERE’S HOPE © © FRENCH CHEF © NIGHTLINE Q © ® TAXI 11:00 ® NEWSNIGHT (1 hr.) 8 © CARTER COUNTRY ® © BURNS AND ALLEN 8 ® 8 @ © ® NEWS ® MOVIE ★*’/2 “Fletch" (1985, Comedy) PG’ (1 hr., 38 min.) ® SPORTSLOOK ® REGIS PHILBIN SHOW © © SIMON & SIMON © MOVIE "Knight without Armour” (1937, Adventure) Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat. (2 hrs., 30 min.) ® © PTL CLUB (1 hr.) © TRUE CONFESSIONS © ® HOGAN’S HEROES 11:30 8 LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN (R) (In Stereo) (1 hr.) ® EDGE OF NIGHT 8 © HONEYMOONERS ® © BEST OF GROUCHO O ® DIVORCE COURT O © MAGNUM, P.l. ® PBA BOWLING © © BEST OF CARSON 12:10 © ® MOVIE *★ “Wilma” (1977, Biography) Shirley Jo Finney, Cicely Tyson.

"Wilma," the made-for-TV movie about the life of DePauw University women's track coach Wilma Rudolph, will air as the "CBS Late Movie" Monday night. Starring Shirley Jo Finney (left) and Cicely Tyson, the film will begin at 12:10 a.m on WTHI, Channel 10, Terre Haute.

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