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Show Ete. Christian Romance Novels Nicely Entice By Joe Brown he Washington Post Like its star, Keanu Reeves, “A Walk in the Clouds” is a gorgeous airhead. Makinghisfirst American film, Alfonso Arau, director of “Like Water for Chocolate,” seems determined to prove that they do in- deed make them like that anymore: Morelovelyto look at than the delectable “Chocolate,” “Clouds” is a made-to-order OldFashioned Romantic Melodrama a syrupysigh-a-thon that leaves you with a big sappy grin. it’s Date Movie City —— millions of husbands and boyfriends will undoubtedly benefit from the “KeanuEffect.” Reeves plays American GI Paul Sutton, whoreturns to California from WWII and is heartbroken that his wife hasn't met him at the ship like all the other war brides. Not onlyhas she stood him up, but he wrote her every day (what a dreamboat!), and she never read any of his yearning loveletters. On a businesstrip (he’s a chocolate salesman), Reeves bumps into beautiful stranger ona train and méets heragain on a bus. Victoria (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) is returning home from college in the big city, and she tearfully confesses that she is pregnantby her professor. Her fatherwill kill her! As sweet and soft-hearted as the chocolates he peddles, Reeves gallantly offers to pose as her hus- Above, Victoria Aragon (Aitana Sanchez-Gijor) is saved from revealing herillegitimate pregnancy as Paul Sutton (Keanu Reeves) steps in to pose as her “husband.” Below, Paul finds the family’s grapes and wrath. pia-toned battlefield flashbacks. Maurice Jarre’s soundtrack is uncharacteristically sentimental and excessive. Director Arau once again conjures a cinematic equivalent of con- nished amber light and moody Gijon’s spectacular family vine- overprotective father (Giancarlo Giannini, in an over-the-top performence); the benevolent. knowing mama who winkingly approves (Angelica Aragon); and the adorably crusty patriarch (charismatically hammy Anthony Quinn, pute up huge chunksof scene ry Understandably, this traditional Mexican clanis not so keen on accepting this mystery gringo as a son-in-law. The deal is that Reeves will leave after one night, but with a little amusing emotional bullying by crafty grandpa Quinn, he stays ‘on a bit longer, getting into the wine biz — and falling in love with Sanchez-Gijon. (Duh.) The otherwise levely film is sabotagedbyits silly script — we know that Reeves could never return to his cartoonishly crass wife, which robs the fairy tale of any real tension, and Arau confuses things with nonsensical se- O'Grady — and thus a modest wholesome, patriotic, geewhizzy handsomeall-American guy with a toothy grin, and your chief claims to fame are that you got yourself and your $16 imillion F-16 fighter shot down by Serbs who could actually read the firing instructions cf a ground-to-air missile, and you hadto live on bugs and rainwater for a few days as a consequence; and the most famous draft dodger in the history of conscription invites you to the White Houseto be hailed as the greatest aviator in the world since Jimmy Stewart was a bomber pilot — then you know very well what else you need. You need an agent. And boyish, aw-shucks Capt O'Grady has donejust that. Yes, the new Air Force poster boy has just signed with the Hollywood mega talent agency ICM — think the first American serviceman to appear on @ top-grossing Hollywood client pub- morals. Christians have sex too, butour characters are ones our readers can admire and emulate.” Inspirational romance novels make up about one-third of the Christian fiction best-sellers in the August issue of Bookstore Journal, which is published by the Christian Booksellers Association. Instead of a conflict that revolves around whether the heroine will succumbandfivepage scenes describing how she does, and does, and does, in these novels the tension surrounds a question of faith, or the role that religious beliefs play in a relationship, said Francine Rivers, who has been a best-selling and award-winning authorin both secular and Christian romancefiction. Rivers wrote 13 secular romancesthatsold a totalof three million copies before she was “born again” in 1986. Since then she haswritten only Christian romancefiction. shadow, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezkigives the movie a hand-tinted look. He films the Napavineyard as if it were Heaven, and the kitchen and dining roomscenes have the sensual ra- diance that was so enchanting in “Like Water for Chocolate.” His camera certainly adores Reeves, swooning and mooning overits hero. At times the movie lookslike a live-action pinupcalendar: Here's Keanu in WWII GI uniform, Keanu grinning under a fedora, Keanu rolling around in a tub of grapes, Keanu in pajamas with a razor-part in his hi Keanu putting out a fire with shirt. ... He’s Matinee Idolall the way. Until he opens his mouth to speak, thatis. Reeve's politely wooden detiyery has a certain lunkhead charm, but he’s hilariously anachronistic here. Maybe “A Walk in the Clouds” should have been silent “T look back at that as my Mary Magdalene life,” Rivers, 48, of Windsor, Calif., said of her past as the authorof secular romances. “What is Mary. Magdalene’s witness without all that had happened before? £ came from thatandall of thatis who I am and now I am somebodyelse. Rivers, Janette Oke, and Gilbert Morris are among the most popular Christian romance novelists. Last month, Rivers recently won her second Romance Writ. ers of America award for Best Inspirational Romance, a category in which awards had not been given since the 1980s beeause there were not enough entries. “In the last couple of years, we noticed more and more be; ing published,’ said Janis Reams Hudson, president of ue RomanceWriters of AmeriSatay. in the industry believe that the increase in sales of Christian love stories can be partially traced to a backlash against graphic sex, blue lan« guage, and steamy bookcover clinches that are “de rigueur” in many secular romances. “It turned meoff,” said Shirley Dandridge, a Philadelphiaarea homemakerwho is a member of Heartsong, a Christian romance fiction book club. Dandridge shares the four books she receives each month with her daughters. “My 16-year-old opens the box before I can, and I’m happy, there is something for herto §| readthat I know is safe,” Dandridge said. Barbour & Co., Ine, a Chris= tian merchandising firm in Ohio, discovered the market. for inspirational love stories when it began selling books published by other companies that had decided to drop their Christian romance lines. Barbour purchased the leftovers. “We wereselling out andgetting all kinds of mail” said Stephen Reginald, managing editor at Barbour. After some research, Reginald discovered that the other companies’ decisions to drop their romanceline had more to do with company- wide financial troubles than with the popularity of the books. So Barbour & Co. decid-. ed to start its own line. film. | O’Grady Goes‘Cruising’ Hires Himself an Agent By Michael Kilian Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON — What does today’s heroie U.S. Air Forcepilot need besides a parachute, emergency survival gear, 9 mm sidearm andfirstaid kit? If you’re a heroic U.S. Air Force pilot named Scott Christian lishing company. “We don’t wantto tell Pollyanna stories. We want real people whostruggle with their attraction to another character but decide to maintain their in a series of ravishing scenes — a front the family: the roaringly yard, Reeves andhis “bri Oregon-based the literary merger of fantasy and reality called “magical realism” ily dinner, vineyard workers waving translucent butterfly wings by torchlight to prevent a frost from harming the grapes, a robust harvestritual. Drenching the screen with bur- band and slips a gold-foil ring from a bon-bon onto herfinger. When they arrive at Sanchez- By Kristin Holmes Knight-Ridder Newspapers Tn these paperback tales of dreams and desire, men rarely throb with lust, women seldom melt with passion and bodies are hardly ever intertwined as one. Whenlove turns physical, the characters are usually married. Whenthey're not, there’s hell to pay. It's the latest in religious fiction — the Christian romance novel. In this wholesomeversion of love between a handsome hero anda beautiful heroine, Godis at the apexofthe triangle. Stories of chaste love and passion that remains forbidden until marriage are heating up the Christian best-sellerlists. Theyoffer the adventure, the love, the sweeping historical settings of their secular counterparts with an important difference. “All of the romance, none of the sex,” said Lisa Bergren, managing editor of Palisades, a new istian romance fiction line published by Questar, an isi Fage4 September10,1995 _ _Sunday list since Elvis Presley was drafted. ICM is working on a big book deal for O’Gradyandall sorts of ancillary deals. I can see the movie now. “Bugs Over Bos- nia.’ Richard Gere, veteran of “An Officer and a Gentleman,” is too gray-haired, heavy and rumored-about to play the hero flyer role, but there are others. The only significant injury O'Grady suffered after getting shot down by Serbs was a form of trench foot. Bruce Willis does great trench foot, I'm sure, but no, this role, like all roles, has to go to Tom Cruise. Instead of trench foot, he could have a really serious case of plaque, from not being able to floss there in the Bosnian bush. And, instead of some griz- zled Marine Corpstype,theres. cue helicopter pilot could be Cruise’s wife, Nicole Kidman, or Demi Moore. Tern Arnold, who’s in everything now, could be the evil Serb who comes out looking for the downed Cruise/O’Grady. (Arnold's ex-wife Roseanne could be anevil Serb, too, and mud-wrestle pilot Kidman, the way Kathleen Turner mudwrestled in ‘‘Undercover Blues”). Just a thought — or as they say at Spago, just a concept. Do not misunderstand. I have nothing but the utmosi respect and downright awe for America’s military aviators —male or female. Capt. O'Grady performed ably and is the kind of man we needin our military — as opposed to the kind who make luxury flights from Europe in jumbo cargo jets with their female assistants and pet cats. It wasn't O’Grady’s fault he didn't know there were surface-to-air-missiles down there in Serbland. It was the fault of the French crew of a United Nations AWACS radar plane. (Alexandre, what is zat bleep on ze radar screen?” “Bien sur, Ferdinand, zat can be no bleep Zat must be a fleck of my homard au pommard.”) Latest Cartoon Won't Affect Mickey’Ss Icon Status By Mark Dawidziak Knight-Ridder Newspapers On the Cover... Forgetful Mickey! When Minnie Mouse gives Mickey Mouse the cold shoulder for forgetting an anniversary, he quickly produces a newspaper ad indicating the special date he had planned, in a scene from Walt Disney’s new animated short ‘‘Runaway Brain.” There’s nothing mickey mouse about Mickey Mouse. The diminutive star stands taller than any cartoon characterin history. Yet, in this era of Power Rangers and Animaniacs, some may he once was. Don't lookat “Runaway Brain,” his new cartoon short, as some kind of yardstick of Mickey's popularity. I’ll tell you right now that the presence of “Runaway Brain” is a no-brainer. The cartoon is being slapped on showings of “A Kid in King Arthur’s Court” because this is a Disney release that might need a box-office boost. Look, the marketing brains at Walt Disney Pic- tures didn’t team ‘‘Runaway Brain” with this summer's runawayhit, “Pocahontas.” That's not to say Mickey fans of all ages won't enjoy “Runaway wonder if this mighty mouse has much appeal with the Mighty Brain,” a frantic eight-minute spoofof horrorfilms. The anima- cartoon- drawing standpoint, tors have a blast putting Mickey’s mind into the body of a Franken- Mickeyob steia-like monster. Morphin crowd. Fromstrictly a siy is not the draw Mick jurst on the scene in a series of 1928 cartoo landmark “SteamboatWillie.” The latest cartosnis “ including thé inaway Brain.” - Family Reunion at the Murphy's: Welcometo a Living Hell ByDavid Streitfeld (c) 1995, The Washington Post WASHINGTON — Thelion and the lamb will lie down together before the members of the Murray family reconcile. Three of them are running American Atheists Inc., dedicated to keeping the separation of church and state as vast as possible. The fourth is devoted to restoring prayer in public schools. No joyous family reunions for this clan Madalyn Murray O’Hair won't even talk about her elder son, Wiliiam J. Murray. “I don’t give a damn,” she says, adding, “Thanks for calling” while slamming the phone down. A couple of years ago she commented that “Bill simply got fed up with being poor, and hehas sold out to the highest bidder: religion.” Murray acknowledgesthat “the situation with my mother and my older daughter is kind of unnatural. Usually. time heals these kinds of things. ‘OK, you're a Christian.’ ‘OK, you're anatheist.’ Whatever youare, your familyaccepts it.” It was on Murray's behalf that O’Hairfiled the lawsuit that ended with the 1963 Supreme Court decision removing prayer from public schools. He was 17. The case made his mother not just famousbutnotorious, a situation she has obviously relished. But her son wentinto a brisk decline. Within two years of the ruling, Murray was married, a father, an adulterer, on the lam. His fatherin-law filed a criminal complaint against him for improperly enticing his teen-age daughter. This led to an arrest warrant, which Murray and his mother fought. To avoid charges of assaulting policemen, the family ran away to Mawaii and then to Mexico. Murray hit bottom early and stayed there for a long time. By 1980, he was an alcoholic. One night he had a dream that ended with the arrival of an angel bear. ing a gleaming sword. Thetip of the blade touched an open Bible. The book his family had taken out of public schools proved to be Murray's salvation. Since then, he’s devoted hislife to tr‘ying to undo his mother’s deed. Murrayis a point man for prayer, one of those trying to pave the way for a proposed constitutional amendment on religion that could be intreduced in the House soon Ete. Sunday Ex weekly supplement to The Sait ne Conresrendence may be addressed to: paper Agency Corporation, 138 South Ms Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84111 ManagingEditor: Cynthia M. Cook Editor: Amy K. Stewart Production Supervisor Jaimie I. Martin Prodaction Assistant: Kathleen Doolin Aary opinions expressed in Ble ane thove ofthe ndvidual writers and do nat necessarily reflect the ccitorial views of The Salt Lake Trine To divcontinnedelivery of Bt. or to report delivery problems, plese call 237-2900, formation oa advertising in Fic, please To speak with the Etc editor, please cal 287 Radial Keratotomy (RK) is a surgical rosa designed to correct nearsightedness and astigmatism. Many people havediscovered the benefits of RK, which may reduce or eliminate the need for glasses and contact lenses. Call 585-EYESto schedule Eyesight is a Precious Gift a FREE SCREENINGortoregister Make«n Educated Decision for our weekly educational seminar. |
