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Show Pryor is likable in mildly funny 'Millions Morris makes credible cop in 'Code' Video Views Brewster's Millions "Brewster's Millions" first appeared in movies in 1945. The premise was that the hero must spend a million dollars and have nothing to show for it, in order to gain a larger inheritance. The new version accounts for inflation, so Brewster (Richard Pryor), a pitcher for a bush-league baseball team, must throw away $30 million in a month to win $300 million. But he can't give it away and he can't tell anyone else what he's doing. The movie is mild fun, but it could have been made for any star. "Millions" is yet another movie that doesn't let Pryor be Pryor. (Eddie Murphy knows how to tailor his personality to a preconceived story, which is why he's pre-empting Pryor's spot as Major Black Star.) Brewster runs around hiring people for extravagant salaries, picking up the tab for everyone in fancy restaurants and even staging a mayoral campaign on behalf of "None of the Above." His best idea is to buy an immensely valuable stamp and use it to mail a postcard. At the same time, he tries to persuade his lovely accountant (Lonette McKee) that he's not the wasteful lout he seems to be. And meanwhile, two greedy lawyers plot to foil Brewster, so they can control the inheritance. 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 Cusack? The movie is a good actioner, with one distasteful lapse. We briefly meet the mafioso's wife and mother women with cheerless lives spent serving their men and 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. Vision Quest "Vision Quest" is fun, but it still looks like one of those youth movies where they just slapped together the ingredients. First, get the homy teenager's rite of passage; a bashful, talky boy (Matthew Modine) goes bonkers when a sullen, beautiful older woman (Linda Fior-entino) Fior-entino) rooms in his house. Now, let's have the "Rocky" theme, only make it high school wrestling, as a few pictures have tried lately. Modine starves himself down 20 pounds to a different weight division so he can take on the most fearsome competitor in the city. The cast is good, especially " Modine, but you've seen it before. This is a good movie if you don't ' mind seeing it again. j ... Throughout, the pace is episodic . and pell-mell, but it doesn't build up any comic momentum. It touches on a few good ideas Brewster finds how easily people can be bought but doesn't develop them. The movie lightly skips over the interesting characters, like Rick Moranis, appearing as a "mimic" with the little-brat trick of repeating everything people say. There's even a lump of Pryor pathos as Brewster buys his ball team the chance to play the mighty Yankees. Pryor is merely likable, never summoning the crazed flair of his concert films. John Candy has a few good moments as Brewster's buddy. Best of all is Hume Cronyn as Brewster's dead "honky" relative, appearing in a living will. And here's an interesting token of the times: The romantic triangle is between Pryor, black actress McKee, and Stephen Collins as a white, priggish lawyer. 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 compassionate enough to win ove 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 |
