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Show ' '-3'- ;i:r Henry Silva, a screen villain for nearly 30 years, is headed for a confrontation with yet another hero this time, Chuck Norris in "Code of Silence." 'Gotcha' doesn't garner top honors, but it's likeable by Rick Brough compassionate enough to win over the daughter of the mafioso (Molly Hagen) who becomes a pawn in the war. The star quickly, credibly etches in the character, aided by a lean script and tight direction that doesn't linger on dramatics. The movie keeps Norris busy with car chases, a fight on an El train and several shoot-outs. The action scenes aren't loyal to logic. When nearly a dozen cops close in around a Mafia hit squad, nobody bothers to cover the getaway vehicle. And the cliched plot sometimes asks easy questions: , What is the life expectancy, of the retired-cop friend who shelters a witness for Cusackt.,, V-! The movi is a goo&actioner, with; one distasteful pse.Wvjbiey, meet the mafiosd's" wife and!"" mother women with cheerless;' lives spent serving their men and1 soon after they are machine-gunned in: their home by the Latinos. It's a horrid, sad twist, but the movie only uses it for token tears. k A Classic Recommended Good double feature material Time-killer For masochists only Gotcha ; "Gotcha" is a likable film inhibited by all its formula ingredients. ingre-dients. Anthony Edwards (one of the heroes in "Revenge of the Nerds" and the Californized friend in "Sure Thing") grabs center stage here with assurance as a horny college student on a European trip who hopes he can do something more exciting than snap Polaroids of the Louvre. Then he's picked up by an older woman (Linda Fiorentino) who says she's Czechoslavakian and intro-s intro-s duces him to first, sex, and second, . . espionage, when she persuades him to follow her on a smuggling trip into East Berlin. She's caught, and he is unwittingly used to carry vital information, which means that back in America he's pursued by both , KGB and CIA agents. This movie is made up of segments. One is the romance the young-kid-and-older-woman brand, most recently seen in "Vision Quest" where Fiorentino was also the woman. Here, she contributes a sultry eroticism and some nice tension to spy scenes, though her foreign accent sounds like Natasha from "Rocky and Bullwinkle." Another section is "The Hardy Boys Behind the Iron Curtain." Director Jeff Kanew convincingly sets up the mood of fear and paranoia that Edwards feels in a Communist country. Another section is a light sex comedy with a witty script and cute characters like Edwards' neurotic but lovable parents. The most important gimmick though, is that Edwards is a whiz at "Gotcha" an assassination game on campus (based on the real-life fad that hit some colleges in the early '80s). Naturally, this skill comes in handy when a KGB agent (Klaus Lowitsch) starts chasing the hero around campus. The main achievement achieve-ment of "Gotcha" is that it mixes all this together into a palatable film. Code of Silence Chuck Norris is becoming the poor man's Eastwood, and carries the role with ease in this Chicago police drama. Norris' hero, Detective Eddie Cusack, is caught in the middle of a gang war, after an Italian gangster (Mike Genovese) rips off a drug shipment from a Latin kingpin (Henry Silva, who is underused in the role.) The gangland Code of Silence dictates the two mobs shoot up each other instead of running to the police. But Norris also has to deal with another code where police cover for a boozy over-the-hill cop who tends to shoot innocent bystanders. Cusack is the only one honest enough to point the finger, and must stoically bear the censure of his colleagues. . Norris is also, of course, the tough cop (only one scene shows off his martial-arts skills) and is even Now showing At the Holiday Village Cinemas : Code of Silence Ram bo: First Blood, Part II (Not yet rated.) i A View to Kill ( Not yet rated. ) I |