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Show The Newspaper Thursday, February 25, 1982 Page B5 v Hick Itronli 'Making Love A half-and-half success sWIHiBiPBiiPillB Michael Ontkean and Kate Jackson play a young married couple who face up to the husband's long-repressed homosexuality. PRESTIGE HOMES REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PRICE GROUP Park Meadows Plaza Box 701, Park City, Utah 84060 649-857.S A Classic Recommended Good double-feature double-feature material Time-killer For masochists . only y2 Making Love "Making Love" is a good picture because the three stars and director Arthur Hitler seem more concerned with the people involved than with the Big Problem of homosexuality. It is a bad film because the script sets the story in an idealized, world,, and, after a few blow-ups, everyone concerned con-cerned reaches a sensible solution without mussing a hair. Claire (Kate Jackson) and Zack (Michael Ontkean) have had a happy eight-year marriage, based on what seems to be their solid compatibility. They share the same cultural tastes, enjoy each other, and are loving enough to bounce back from marital spats. Zack, however, finds it harder to make physical love to Claire and his "block" is revealed when he falls into an affair with a homosexual, Burt (Harry Hamlin). The movie is able to appreciate the dilemma of all three characters, as they find themselves drifting away from their secure old sexual lifestyles. Claire, despite the platonic love and closeness she has with her husband, feels it is worthless if they can't have the physical passion. Bart enjoys his independent drifting affairs, and is suddenly challenged by Zack to commit himself to one man. And Zack following his homosexual feelings, has to gamble on abandoning his marriage for an affair that may not last. These are decent, likable people, and you want them to work out their difficulties. But there's an elitist overtone over-tone to the story which says the characters are able to work out their problems because they're among the finest people in their society. I shouldn't crib from another critic, but I can't put it better than Roger Ebert, who said that "Making Love" treats the homosexual dilemma the way "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" treated the race problem. In the best of all possible worlds, the problem can be faced and resolved. We're dealing here with the best of all possible people. Zack is a conscientious conscien-tious young general practitioner practi-tioner who, by the end of the picture, is working on cancer research at Sloan-Kettering. Claire is a maverick TV executive and she pushes her boss to program great plays and shows on inter-racial marriage. Both of them love Gilbert and Sullivan and Rupert Brooke. Bart is a respected novelist. It's implied that the sexual-lifestyle problem is especially tragic when it crops up with such well-balanced well-balanced people (You can almost hear a stern announcer saying, "Yes, homosexuality homosexu-ality can strike anytime, anwhere" like it's a telethon tele-thon disease!) The ultimate conclusion is that while these people take some emotional body blows, they can face their feelings and deal with them because they're so civilized, so well-bred, well-bred, so sensitive. But what happens if the problem crops up with those of us yahoos who listen to the Stones and read Irving Wallace? The script, fortunately," spends the early scenes helping us appreciate the characters as people, not just sexual labels. Claire and Zack are shown at an amateur-night contest, which they win by hamming their way through "Pinafore". "Pina-fore". And Bart, undergoing a physical exam in Zack's office, has a funny moment explaining that he doesn't often use drugs. ("Some grass occasionally ... a little coke ... some LSD ...") Director Arthur Hiller brings their casual like-ability like-ability to the audience. Director Hiller also gets three excellent performances perform-ances out of his minor-grade stars. "Making Love" is good if only because it proves Kate Jackson can act. Her range is limited, but she's learning how to play her husky voice like an instrument. In this film, she gets strong effects by pitching pitch-ing it to a sad little whisper. She's not quite as good, though, on the heavy scenes. When she learns about Zack's homosexuality, she takes a whack at his face that is a succinct, memorable memor-able expression of ferocious hurt. But much of her anger doesn't convince me. It's well-played, to be sure. But it doesn't have the quirkiness, the larger-than-life passion that makes her jump from the screen to the audience. And Jackson's inability to do so gives me the impression she will never be a great star. Harry Hamlin takes the character who is probably most alien to us and makes him understandable. And Michael Ontkean carries the picture with a convincing quiet anguish, even though he doesn't have the grandstanding grand-standing acting opportunities opportuni-ties of his costars. (Both Hamlin and Jackson face the camera, "Annie Hall" style, to talk about their relationships.) relation-ships.) "Making Love" doesn't wave the flag for homosexuality, homosexu-ality, but explores the subject sub-ject with compassion and humor. Despite its tendency to go to neat, squared-off solutions, the picture can be called a worthy failure. j Z3 OW (A Park Station 950 Park Avenue For Information on Complimentary Skating Passes Call: 649-7220 649-1922 Skate Rental Available at Park Station |