Word: lid
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...military payloads. Mission 51-C is the first such flight; dozens more are scheduled in coming months and years. The aim of the new rules, declared General Abel, is to "deny our adversaries"-i.e., the Soviets-information about the shuttle launch and its payload. The effort to keep the lid on promptly provoked a rush of news leaks and reignited the simmering debate between the press and the Pentagon about the limits of secrecy...
What follows is a predictably heroic attempt by Stuart--the educated, urbanized outsider--to save the town from itself. He suspects that a toxic substance is causing the townspeople to repress the emotional mechanism designed to curb passions, literally lifting the lid off the id. His discoveries come--unsurprisingly--too late. The film's closing minutes play like a spinoff of The Stepford Wives...
Feminists, says the author, have belatedly recognized that their resentment against a male-dominated society is sometimes misdirected against their sons. For some mothers a male child can become a symbol of male oppression. One concerned activist has put a lid on the more rabid rhetoric when her son is around, explaining, "How can he not grow up to be hostile toward women if they always seem so hostile...
...would not agree to such guidelines, leaving Ferraro aides pondering the impasse. Ferraro echoed a common complaint among politicians, that campaign-plane reporters live in a hothouse atmosphere and tend to focus on gaffes more than a candidate's main points. Said Ferraro: "I do not want the lid lifted off this plane. I can't spend the entire campaign trip explaining silly, off-the-cuff remarks...
...plot, though, is only the lid of this Pandora's toy chest. Inside, the alert viewer will find humor, imagination and a little Oriental mysticism. (Buckaroo's slogan, "No matter where you go, there you are," could serve as a fortune-cookie credo for the no-problem '80s.) There is also a passel of sharp performances. The presence of such actors as Christopher Lloyd (Zenned-out on an inner voice that must sound like Daffy Duck's), Ellen Barkin (with her bruised features and street-angel smile) and Jeff Goldblum (heartthrob of the Mensa sorority) clues...