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Show The Newspaper Thursday, March 26, 1981 Pan --tfg 9 , - ...join the family! 'inn (in to i? 'A Heel WoirM h-m : . 1 ek Brough . V-.':- '. " .-. flff' "V. -:..::.-.. ' i mi mmummUMTIM IfffF Ml H .1 llll lull I H lull IT -4 C li 'rl f , i Cm n in.ru r iii.i f 'niri Jack Nicholson's illicit passion for Jessica Lanc will coinpcl (hem to murder in the hold motion picture "The Postman Always Rings Twice." - Murder plot gets new life in "Postman Always Rings Twice" , i .; Alassie ' Recommended' Good Double feature material Time-Killer For masochists only The Postman Always Rings Twice Bob Rafelson's movie joins that short list of remakes that are better than the originals. The first version of the James Cain novella dates back to 1945, and starred John Garfield and Lana Turner, and made no sense at all as it seemed to lurch from one melodramatic crisis to another, telling the archetypal tale of the lover's 111U1 Uti yivsi. First Frank Chambers the drifter gets a job at middle-aged middle-aged Nick's roadside eatery and falls for Nick's younger wife Cora. Then the couple scheme to cold-cock Nick in his bath, but they bungle the attempt, and a groggy but grateful Nick thinks they have saved him from an accidental death. Then their second attempt clubbing him to death on a cross-country trip succeeds. suc-ceeds. But then they push the car off the road to make it look like an accident and Frank accidentally goes over with it! Then, with the lovers separated and Frank in the hospital, a suspicious, crafty D.A. tricks the two into turning on each other, and only the machinations of their defense counselor save them at a murder trial. Then a private detective tries to blackmail them, and gets beaten to a proper pulp by Frank. And, with that crisis barely over, Frank then discovers that Cora has found out about the other women he spent time with when she had to leave town.... From one "and then" to another. And yet in the Garfield-Turner version, we never knew what these two lovers were really like, what they were struggling for, or what was holding them back. The second "Postman" has the same plot I outlined above, but thanks to director Bob Rafelson, and stars Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange, we understand more what is happening to Frank and Cora. The picture clearly clear-ly shows two people driven ' by animal passion which leads them to murder. . The irony is' that"the same passion gives way to love. The film's early scenes all animalistic grappling turn to gentle warmth at picture's end. Craving becomes affection. affec-tion. Unfortunately, they have murdered, maimed and lied to achieve their redemption. When Cora tells Frank that she wants to have his child, she has only come to that realization because of Nick's demand for a child. And so, in the sequence immediately following, they kill Nick. The current "Postman" has an advantage over its censored predecessor. It can go to greater lengths to depict the seamy violence of Frank and Cora's first encounters, en-counters, especially when Frank's attack on Cora in her kitchen sweeps aside bread dough and cooking pans for a brief session of flour-smeared rutting. If the movie was a coloring book, color their love black and blue. Violence is a near-fatal aphrodisiac for these two. When they kill Nick, and start battering each other to simulate auto injuries, they suddenly find themselves turned on by the beatings, and soon they are writhing in the grass, within yards of their victim. Violence and sex are insanely linked. Much of the movie is a struggle between these darker impulses, which arise to handle a threat like the detective, and their growing desire to realize something akin to love. By movie's end, they "succeeded," they're married, mar-ried, and they look disarm-ingly disarm-ingly like any crazy domestic domes-tic couple. Then comes the fatal twist that crushes their dream. I don't need to constantly make comparisons with the 1945 "Postman to make the new version look good, but the contrasts are interesting, especially between Lana Turner, the pouter-pigeon sex goddess of the 1940s, and Jessica Lange. Even the way we first see each of them as Cora is strikingly different. In 1945, the camera focussed on Turner's feet, then glided up to her head, as if she were the Statue of Liberty. In 1981, Lange simply appears in Nick's kitchen, looking like something the bed threw up. You have to probe past the unkempt hair and grimy dress to spot the quietly consumptive look of hunger on her face. How, I wonder, can Jessica Jes-sica Lange be giving such a good performance, after movies like "King Kong" and "All That Jazz," where she was scarcely more than a hole in the screen. Her best moments thus far were opposite Richard Benjamin in "How to Beat the High Cost of Living." This suggests that she is capable of rising to the occasion with a strong male co-star (which the second Kong wasn't, let's face it). But they don't come any stronger than Jack Nicholson Nichol-son and it is to Lange's immense credit that she portrays a character w ho. in some respects, is even more interesting than Nicholson. (He is no slouch either, and ably portrays Frank Chamber's Cham-ber's mixture of wariness, vulnerability, and two-bit cunning.) Together, they're a much more compelling duo than those lumpen lovers, Robert De Niro and Cathy Moriarty, from "Raging Bull." The film's supporting cast is a mixture of flaws and virtues. Nick Papadakis should be somewhat appealing, appeal-ing, to make us understand why Cora got married to him in the first place. John Colicos is bad casting in the part; he has, for too long, been playing truculent villains. vil-lains. Michael Lerner is good as the defense counsel Katz, which makes up for the weird twist in the plot which suddenly makps him the film's .hero for. about. 15 minute itn the middle of the picture, and focuses '?n tfle lovers the rest of the time. John P. Ryan is excellent as the private dick whose blackmail attempt leaves him beaten and bawling, and Angelica Huston projects the right brand of kinky sexuality sexual-ity as Frank's one-time fling. Of all the people behind the scenes who sustained the look and sound of the film, key credit should go to Rafelson, screen writer David Mamet, and photographer photo-grapher Sven Nykvist (though I think many of Raffelson's scenes.lake more time than they need to make (heir point). Nykvist's brilliantly-shot opening scene-total scene-total blackness which gradually gra-dually brightens over a California highway is a metaphor for Frank's spiritual spiri-tual progress. And Rafelson effectively depicts a world that consists of little more than roadside stops and highways in between peopled with transients. His version of "The Postman Post-man Always Rings Twice" is an excellent, if flawed, resurrection of that old film noir chestnut. 'Cuckoo's Nest' coming to Silver Wheel Theatre The Kimball Art Center-Park Center-Park City Players production produc-tion of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is scheduled for 10 performances at Park City's Silver Wheel Theatre during April. This run marks the first time a Park City Players production has played entirely in the 400-seat 400-seat theatre on Main Street. According to Director Don Gomes, "The Silver Wheel is the only real theatre for live drama in Park City. For the first time, we have the opportunity to audition, rehearse re-hearse and put on the production in one setting. This allows us to make substantial technical improvements im-provements with the performance. perfor-mance. I'm particularly grateful to the owners, Silver Mill of Park City, for letting us use the space." Tickets are now on sale at $3.50 for Kimball Art Center , members and $5 for non-members. non-members. Group rates are available for 10 or more, The show will run Thursday, April 9, through Saturday, April li; Thursday, April 16, through Saturday. April 18; and Thursday, April 23, through Sunday, April 26. Show time is 8 p.m. For ticket information and reservations, call 649-8882. Sunday not T&mm mmm ; Sunday Reserve your copy at: The ivfain Street Deli, 525 Main Street; The Village Store, Park City Resort; 7-11, 1500 Park Avenue; Alpha Beta, 1800 Park Avenue. For "Doorbell Service" call 649-4545 leave message. to f fnfnbcr begin April 3rd at Jfin J Bluegrass at its best Thursday, April 9th . . OGDEN with the Shupe Family Fiddlers & the Oquirrah Ridge Drifters, 8 pm Ogden High School Friday, April 10th.. SALT LAKE with the Peewee Pickers, Bittercreek, & the Sunshine Cloggers, 8 pm Highland High School f inL-Q. Adults $4.00 IlCKetS. Children $3.00 Family of Four $12.00 Tickets available at all ZCMI stores, Intermountain Banjo and Music in Salt Lake and Don and Ollie's Music in Ogden. ' t Storewide SALE 25 to 5096 OFF Women's and children's cloth March 26th - March 29th I1U13UUV 1U tJUIIUtUiif ..t. 1 ONLY 531 Main St., Park City 649 61 12 Open daily 1 Ct222T Restaurant Seafood Beef Oyster Bar Set Sail For Park City's Finest Restaurant SERVING DINNER NIGHTLY FROM 5:00 At the Resort 649-7778 mo. ' .it s i 1 h I t |