Word: wiring
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...From Wire Dispatches...
Down to the wire, four abreast, in a tight campaign...
...France's parliamentary election campaign came down to the wire, London bookies were offering 6-to-4 odds against a leftist victory. The franc ticked up in the international money markets, a mini-rally stirred the moribund Paris stock exchange, and President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Premier Raymond Barre privately predicted a center-right win-by a narrow margin. But the left still led the center-right parties by about 50% to 46% in the latest polls, and there were plainly still some Frenchmen who were ready to resort to the traditional Gallic suitcase defense...
...Demme provides just enough twists in the plot to sustain suspense despite these superficial characterizations. Like the television show Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Demme uses stereotypes self-consciously, parodying them at the same time that he favors them to enact his story. Demme only occasionally falters on the tight-wire between moderation and excess, when he over-ambitiously turns on the small-town ideology of the American Dream. Stereotyping works well as a comic device; it becomes banal as a harbinger of a serious message. Summarizing Demme's position, Papa Thermodyne, a senile, retired trucker says: "This country promises everything...
...most likely the ambiguous battle won't come down to the wire and won't even be fun to watch, as the Crimson's playoff chances will probably be laid to rest tomorrow night in the Providence-Northeastern clash...