Word: briley
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...close to being an authentic martyr as any revolution can claim: charismatic preacher of nonviolent resistance, champion of racial equality, steely victim of state sadism. He died in the arms of his torturers ten years ago. There is surely a film here, but Attenborough and Screenwriter John Briley can't find it. The men who made Gandhi turn their Steve Biko (Denzel Washington, from TV's St. Elsewhere) into a saintly apparition; he is first seen swathed in blinding sunlight and last seen shimmering in the memory of his friend Donald Woods (Kevin Kline), a white newspaper editor. Biko...
DIED. Linwood Briley, 30, convicted murderer condemned for killing a disc jockey in Richmond, and implicated in ten other vicious Richmond-area gang killings in 1979; by electrocution; in Richmond. Last May Briley masterminded the largest death-row breakout in history when, with his brother James, 28, and four other convicted murderers, he dressed as a guard and drove an official van out of the maximum-security prison in Mecklenburg, Va., and was not captured until 19 days later in Philadelphia...
...which appeared almost certain to sweep many of the top prizes just a few months ago, managed, by contrast, to crawl away with only four minor trophies. Gandhi took most of the awards E. T. was expected to get, including Best Director (Richard Attenborough), Best Original Screenplay (John Briley), Best Cinematography (Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor) and Best Film Editing (John Bloom). All in all, the 3-hr. 5-min. epic won eight prizes, more than any other film since Cabaret, which snatched eight...
GANDHI is technically a fine film. Attenborough's direction is solid, despite some lapses in John Briley's generally adequate script. Attenborough gets good performances out of his star-heavy cast, which includes John Gielgud, Martin Sheen, Trevor Howard, and Jan Charleson. But Candace Bergen as Katherine Bourke White is a beautifully leaden exception and the actors occasionally get stuck in tight spots. Sheen, for instance as a New York Times reporter who follows Gandhi both in South Africa and India and reminisces wistfully about his early meetings with the Mahatma, has to say, "We were a bit like college...
GANDHI Directed by Richard Attenborough; Screenplay by John Briley...