The Original Valley Girl The Original Valley Girl
Bette Midler got her first starring role in the movies in 1979, playing the lead in The Rose, a thinly disguised biopic about Janis Joplin.
Feb 3, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
As Maine Goes, So Goes… As Maine Goes, So Goes…
Frederick Wiseman's latest film, Belfast, Maine, is having its New York premiere in the best possible setting, as the opening feature in a full retrospective of his work.
Jan 27, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Ungood Fellas Ungood Fellas
The last decade of the twentieth century was not a happy one for the Mafia.
Jan 20, 2000 / Books & the Arts / George De Stefano
Rain Man Rain Man
In his novel A Flag for Sunrise, Robert Stone invents this old American saying: "Mickey Mouse will see you dead." I have spent many profitable hours mulling over that coinage; an...
Jan 20, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
‘The Last Uprising’ ‘The Last Uprising’
At the time of writing, Carl Bromley had just returned from a pilgrimage to Truffaut's grave in Paris.
Jan 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Carl Bromley
Rescuer Down Under Rescuer Down Under
I would call Holy Smoke a drawing-room comedy if the film showed a drawing room, a comedy of manners if its characters had any.
Jan 13, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Y2K: The Prequel Y2K: The Prequel
Our New Year's number is a mother goose with three eggs tucked behind. It could be a sign of cryptic rhymes and unhatched possibilities--or maybe of silliness, tailed by a lot of...
Jan 6, 2000 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Lord High Executioners Lord High Executioners
He looks like a pear that's going bad. Tall, corpulent and much the worse for gravity, W.S.
Dec 15, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
‘Rock’ in a Hard Place ‘Rock’ in a Hard Place
Not since Charlton Heston painted the Sistine Chapel has there been so epic a film about arts patronage as Cradle Will Rock. Heston, you will recall, had to cope only with the Va...
Dec 9, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Back to Beginnings Back to Beginnings
Cheick Oumar Sissoko, who lives and works in Mali, has looked around and noticed that his fellow filmmakers in sub-Saharan Africa are few--"and due to our financial need (great w...
Dec 2, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans