Word: screens
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Dennis Feldman's script labors almost as hard to get Murphy to Tibet (where he must seek the abducted "Prince of Light") as it does to place him in conflict with Beelzebub's legions. But it makes little of the comic possibilities in the star's new screen situation. And Director Michael Ritchie, who can be a wonderfully cockeyed social commentator (Smile, The Survivors, Fletch), seems almost as lost as Murphy when he is back of the beyond. They are both men who need to plant their feet firmly in contemporary American reality if they are to deliver their punches...
...What went wrong? Is it that the intimate conversations, the teasings of Southern- gothic catastrophes, the colloquial bitchery ("She was known all over Copiah County as cheap Christmas trash"), the climactic conciliations -- all of which seemed fresh, if not downright impudent onstage -- play smug and stilted on the big screen? Or has something precious been lost? When does a faithful, almost literal adaptation turn into a genteel lynching of its source...
...REAGAN AWARE of the offensive capabilities of SDI? If so, is he hiding his motives behind the smoke screen of a "peace shield," or is he simply naive about how future leaders might apply the technology? According to English, Reagan and his Administration are well-informed as to the attack capabilites of Star Wars...
...tragic fall of the protagonist, the audience can hope to achieve not only an understanding of the ephemeral nature of man's fortune, but also a sense of well-being based on the fact that, whatever their problems, they are not suffering like the poor schmuck on the screen...
...Happy Hacker recommends printing out rough drafts and then making written changes on them. Writing is a process that constantly improves itself. Every time a draft is revised, the overall paper is improved. Simply modifying on the computer screen is not the same as having a printed copy to work with--at least not for a true literary hacker who knows the importance of physically (i.e., with a pen) altering draft after draft. A literary hacker, of course, should be distinguished from a literary hack: a person who happily churns out one-draft wonders...