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Show f i by Rick Drough culprits responsible for declining de-clining herds of caribou. He not only finds evidence the wolves are innocent, but something else an enduring endur-ing affinity with them. Director Ballard's first scenes are the most visually stunning, as Tyler seems to be lost in a snowy void. And Ballard can tap a scene for both its funny and terrifying potential (Tyler falling through the ice.) Charles Martin Smith is a much more important contributor con-tributor than just the usual star. He stitches his physical demeanor to a long spoken narration (written partly by himself) in a believable portrait of a prim character who finds the inner resources re-sources he hoped for, and is smart enough to discard the . rule book when it doesn't work. The picture never quite sells its misanthropic tone, as the corruption of Man proceeds at a furious pace. The example here is Rosey, a seat-of-the-pants bush pilot who drops Tyler in the wilderness, and appears months later as a sleek guide tor callous hunters. "Never Cry Wolf" explains the problem better with another character a young poor Indian (Samson Jorah) wants to betray the wolves to hunters out of a grubby yearning for store teeth. The movie survives in the wilderness wilder-ness with its intelligence largely intact. knows best the rough-hewn, rough-hewn, warm people of Cross Creek. But the people in her life don't look like the models for enduring literature. They're stereotypes like the young hillbilly, apprehensive of change, and his shy, pregnant preg-nant wife. And you'd never guess from Steenburgen's performance per-formance that the creek brings her to life, as a person or artist. She acts with a frosty formality though it thaws out toward picture's end, especially for a nice drunk scene. Peter Coyote gives similar results staying stay-ing in a genial groove as Norton Baskin, Marjorie's lover. You only understand what the picture's trying for when you watch Alfre Woodard, as Marjorie's loyal, forthright maid. And the script has an interesting Yearling-style plot about the misfit deer adopted by a swamp girl (Dana Hill) and the hard choice her father (Rip Torn) has to make about the pet. (Hill is all right, but overshadowed over-shadowed by Torn, in a change-of-pace role, as a good-hearted soul with streaks of wildness.) Despite his efforts to make the milieu seductive, Ritt's direction sometimes looks uncomfortable. (In a boring party scene, the camera darts around, like it was itching to leave.) That itch never leaves you in "Cross Creek." Nate and Hays It's promoted like "Butch Cassidy" and styled like "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but "Nate and Hays" is enjoyable on its own terms. Tommy Lee Jones (blithely pretending his Texas accent can't be detected) is high-spirited high-spirited fun as Captain "Bully" Hayes, a buccaneer of the South Seas in the late 19th Century. He forms an unlikely partnership with a priggish reverend (Michael O'Keefe, displaying a rabbity rab-bity charm) when the woman wom-an they both fancy is carried off by slave traders. If the pace ever slows, the plot throws in rampaging natives, street brawls, a neat cliff-hanger with the heroine lowered on a spit over a volcano, and a battle between Bully's wooden ship and an iron German frigate. The two American stars are almost outdone by the English cast. Especially good are Jenny Seagrove's gutsy heroine, and Max Phipps, who is memorable scum as the slavetrader Ben Pease. Director Ferdinand Fairfax captures some spectacular spec-tacular scenery (one of their heroes stranded on a rock surrounded by hundreds of miles of ocean.) "Nate and Hays" is derivative, but not enough to spoil the good times. Never Cry Wolf Although sentimental, Carroll Ballard's movie nicely updates the Walt Disney animal movie tradition. tradi-tion. Charles Martin Smith plays a young biologist named Tyler who volunteers for a Yukon research project to gauge the extent of his inner grit. It's a rude test. He is dumped alone in the snowy wastes with crates full of recording forms and canned food, minus can opener. His first night finds him trying to type a report in a sub-zero blizzard. Tyler's assignment is to prove that wolves are the 4 9 i r a I A Classic I Recommended I Good double-s double-s feature j material Time-killer For masochists I only J Amity ville 3-D The Amityville saga ends with a listless .ghost story. But at least it's a welcome change from the over-. over-. . wrought acting, direction, '""and gore that tended to overwhelm the previous two films. Tony Roberts plays a magazine writer, a specialist special-ist in debunking psychics, tvho buys the Amityville "tiouse to flaunt his levelheadedness. level-headedness. But the familiar spooks soon threaten Roberts and those around him: his estranged es-tranged wife (Tess Harper) who fears for her daughter's safety in the house; the photographer (Candy Clark) i i- who finds demonic images in - her photos; and a psychic researcher (Robert Joy) ; who invades the house with a platoon of assistants. To scare you, we have a 'v. bottomless well in the base--rment and mysterious blasts " of wind. Roberts should 5 . know common sense won't prevail in the house or the script when he's menaced 1; by an animated devil fly. ; ' The plot looks like three or four stories, not well con-l con-l nected, and the actors seem restless. (If you had to spend '- your time thrusting things at the 3-D camera, you would i.be, too!) Under director b Richard Fleischer, the story .' has a decent ghost-story atmosphere, but for every scene with a little ectoplas-- ectoplas-- mic zip, there is another one J- that drags. Fleischer's sav--iing grace is that the story 2 allows him to bring the r house crashing down with a jStfinal, we hope) thud! 01 Vz Cross tYeek It looks as if director Martin Ritt told the actors in "'''Cross Creek" they should "'Iry to play their roles while fe!ihalf asleep. This sincere but .- somnambulistic film doesn't 3'' show why its backwoods life "-would bind its inhabitants, 'ar inspire a good writer. , Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings "3 TMary Steenburgen) moves Ai:io the Florida backwoods of 9iHhe 1920s in search of '"solitude and literary inspira--k'tion. She slaves away for an eternity on a mediocre 3n'othic novel before the ' axiom (right out of Creative 1 Writing 101) bites her. She - should write about what she Hi- |