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Show 'Pacific Heigh ts ' is OK thriller By KURT HILLS Rating - 3 Here are some general characteristics of a thriller. Suspense. We must not know what will happen next. Confusion. We don't really know what is happening now, as we watch. they will default on their loan. They rent one of the spaces to an older couple, and the other place is taken by Michael Keaton. Yes, taken. Keaton flashes so much money at Modine that the young landlord throws his renting policies out the window and agrees to take Keaton as a tenant without application or references, provided money appears in Modine 's checking check-ing account as promised. The next day, Melanie Griffith finds Keaton moving into the place, and he blithely lies to her, saying Modine gave him permission to do so. The first lie, among many. Keaton's character is enigmatic, to be sure. He does construction work in his room at all hours of the day, he won ' t an s wer the door, he changes the locks on his apartment, and worst of all, he doesn't pay any rent. When Modine tries to force Keaton out by shutting off the gas and power, Keaton calls the police and Modine discovers that possession posses-sion is indeed nine-tenths of the law the police threaten Modine with a harassment charge. And so we see how Keaton's con man character operateshe makes life terrible for the landlord until they throw up their hands and sell the place dirt cheap, and then Keaton buys it. Or he sues it away from them, whatever his fancy. Unfortunately, we don't care what happens to Griffith and Modine. Griffith is slowly awakening awaken-ing to find herself a victim, but Modine is callous and violent, not exactly sympathetic. When Keaton finally shoots Modine, Griffith wakes up and goes to great lengths to ruin the con man's life. Unfortunately, while her methods are interesting they are not convincing. convinc-ing. The movie makers want Griffith to appear a heroine, who snatches victory from Keaton's jaws, but Griffith's character is so slow-moving, so just-about-to-fall-asleep, that the rhythm of the action never picks us up and carries us to the conclusion. "Pacific Heights" was a good idea that never jelled. Michael Keaton is wonderfully nasty, but the single excellent performance in the movie does not save it from mediocrity. E Excellent $5.50 first-run ticket price. This is the type of movie viewers prefer Hollywood to make, and movie-goers should reward film-makers by paying full admission price. EGood Drivc-in or discount movie house licket price. Not a bad movie, but not really worth full admission price. Fair Multi-Plcx dollar shows. A movie to watch if there are no good ball games on TV, or if your air conditioner is broken. EBad Wait for the video. Make Hollywood sweat out the profit margin and they may turnout higher quality material. PT!!n ReallyBad TV'sMovic-rllSS1 TV'sMovic-rllSS1 I of-lhc-Week. Real Life bJmmmmd "Tubers" arc traditionally known as "Turkeys." These arc for couch potatoes or indiscriminate narcolcpts. Watch it when it hits the tube, if you dare. pTjTleel Life J mmLm t b Tension. We know that something is going to happen, and since we don't know what it is, we become nervous, and tense up, and T squeeze our armrails and bury our fingernails in our companion's knees. Plot. A story we are involved with, which we care to see resolved Characters. Good guys and bad guys who interest us. So, how does "Pacific Heights" do on this admittedly sketchy and incomplete list? Ahem, try "1.5." Not very suspenseful, not very tense, not a great story, not wonderful wonder-ful characters. Dang confusing. Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine are a young couple who buy a big house, planning to convert the lower floors into apartments. They take out a loan and work hard to fix the place up, even though their financial adviser warns them that if one person misses a payment, |