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Show by Rick Brough A Classic Recommended Good double-feature double-feature material Time-killer For masochists v only J Caboblanco J i What brings you to Caboblanco?" ..."There's a bus going out this afternoon. Be on it." ..."Finally, 'we meet!"... The cliches flow thick and fast in this 1979 rip-off (from the bogart classic, naturally) that has finally crept into theaters. Caboblanco is a Peruvian fishing village in 1948, and the characters mention the name in every other line of dialogue, as if they need to be reminded of the plot. The story echoes "Casablanca," as everyone's every-one's trying to find a Nazi warship which sank somewhere off the coast with a load of stolen treasure. The only man who might know is Charles Bronson as Senor Giff (pronounced like Monsieur Mon-sieur Rick) and he's hassled by a mysterious woman in white (Dominique Sanda), a fugitive Nazi (Jason Ro-bards), Ro-bards), an idealistic British Brit-ish seaman (Simon MacCor-kindale), MacCor-kindale), and a morally ambiguous am-biguous police chief (Fernando (Fer-nando Rey). The movie gets little verve from lively music, and ..... because Director J. Lee Thompson tries to duplicate the sweep and intrigue-laden atmosphere of "Casablanca". "Casablan-ca". But Bronson responds to a bad script by reading his lines as if off cue cards. And the many good actors in the . supporting cast are totally lost at sea. Ultimately, you have to decide if the film is just an obnoxious carbon copy, or enough of a spoof to be fun. (When Sanda has a crying fit, Bronson hands her a blanket to blow her nose!) I opt for the former. 2 A Christmas Story There is genuine charm at the bottom of "Christmas Story," which is based on the childhood reminiscences of humorist Jean Shepherd. But the picture also reeks of Norman Rockwell, Reader's Digest Americana, and narration nar-ration by Shepherd that is cloying and antsy-warm with nostalgia. Shepherd recalls his boyhood boy-hood as "Ralphie" a little boy in mid-1940s Indianapolis Indianapo-lis whose fondest Christmas wish is a Red Ryder Daisy air rifle. (Every time he hints his desire to an adult, the response is the same reproachful comment, "You'llputyoureyeoutl") The movie has a nice feel for the trials of childhood-like childhood-like Mom dishing out a spoonful of mashed potato (which looks like window caulk) and telling you that starving people would be glad to get it. Mother (well-played by Melinda Dil-lon)bundles Dil-lon)bundles little brother Ralphie so tightly in his ' winter clothes that when he falls down, he's immobilized like a turtle. .'"', Ralphie dreams of glory, but must live with the typical kid's fear that his next wrong move will bring destruction from his parents, par-ents, teachers, or the older bullies at school. (His parents par-ents go into hysterics when he blurts out the first two letters of the F word!) Other sections of the movie aren't as funny as they're supposed to be. Darren McGavin tries hard as the Old Man, who supposedly swears like a sailor. (To keep it a family Film, he simply makes Mr. Magoo-like grumblings.) And you're bored by the battle over dad's prized possession a lamp built like a chorus girl's leg. Director Bob Clark (recently (re-cently of Porky's) warms to his topic as the movie goes on. He and Shepherd are at their best picturing one of childhood's crushing moments: mo-ments: Ralphie meets a brusque department-store Santa, on top of an artificial mountain who briefly ho-hos in the kids' faces and throws them down a chute. At times like that, "Christmas Story" is a wonderful hearthside comedy. 1 |