Word: unbeholden
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Unlike the cars turned out by the established manufacturers, the Tucker looked like the vehicle the country had been fighting for, unbeholden to the past in design and loaded with unheard-of engineering features that became standard issue years later. And Tucker himself was the kind of citizen for whom the troops had been making the world safe, the maverick entrepreneur whose capital is mostly pluck and luck, making his way upward in a supposedly open society...
Since 1945 there have been at least 130 conflicts that would qualify as wars, nearly all of them fought on the soil of poor nations with weapons purchased from rich ones. And a cascading supply of sophisticated weapons is an ever growing temptation to terrorist fanatics unbeholden to any rational standard of conduct. When the latest models of shoulder-held, heat-seeking missiles can be bought at any village bazaar, where will it be safe for any plane...
...cause, thus angering some New Rightists. Though Helms has been for years a resourceful Reagan ally, the two men are respectfully wary of each other, nothing like buddies. Indeed, Helms is notable among conservative legislators for making no effort at a showy intimacy with the President. Thus unbeholden, Helms may be pushed by his impatient followers to lead the New Right charge in Congress...
...ambiguous gesture, records the half-formed thought, very well. But Malle and Guare seem more amused than engaged by the piece, and one finally begins to long for a firmer narrative, some truly dramatic conclusions to the scenes. Even so, a fresh spirit is moving in Atlantic City, something unbeholden to other movies. That and the pleasures its performers offer make it catch in the mind, where, one suspects, it may linger a while. -By Richard Schickel