32 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, May 16, 1986 THINK FUN IN THE SUN! MORT AT THE MOVIES 30% OFF SAMSONITE FURNITURE Samsonite" MORT ZIEVE Alda's 'Sweet Liberty': A No-Oomph Vehicle REPLACEMENT COVERS AVAILABLE 20% OFF FURNITURE • .7; :"4.`*" / • Dine out . . at home for cool, comfortable outside dining enjoy Samsonite Furniture's Body Glove with contoured chairs that fit your body like a glove, and spacious dining table. • Strong. welded tubular steel frames • Rust-resistant Samson-Gard" frame finish • Super-Tuffl, 5 PC. GROUP 55 - TABLE NO HANDS! Lean back and relax. Lie flat for siesta or suntan. Sit up to sip a cold one. NoHands, the self-adjusting chaise . from the Samsonite Body Gloves collection. • Strong, welded, tubular steel frames • Rust-resistant Samson-Garde frame finish Take an additional 5% OFF LOVESEAT with this coupon Reg. $281.75 30% OFF $197.22 additional 5% $187.35 28857 orchard lake rd. farmington hills, mi. 48018 Michelle Pfeiffer and Alan Alda in "Sweet Liberty." 553-3250 _ Always the right gift... • 0 '4‘ e'A.c (f ti7;2 eftWOOd All 108 Tel-Twelve Mall • 12 Mile & Telegraph, Southfield • Daily 10-9, Sun 12-5 • 354-9060 FOR FINE FURNITURE & ACCESSORIES ALWAYS 20% OFF COMPLIMENTARY GIFT WRAPPING Here comes Alan Alda in Sweet Liberty (rated: PG). There hasn't been such good clean sex in films since Doris Day. Actually, Alda is, in some ways, a male 1980s version of Doris Day. He's attrac- tive, wholesome, charming, and so nice. In this film, Alda pulls off what few, other than he and Woody Al- len, are able to do in Hollywood these days. Alda is the writer, di- rector and star of the vehicle. I use the word "vehicle" ad- visedly, for that ultimately is what the film is — a vehicle to display Alda's screen personna. Now that's not all bad, for Alda has one of the most appealing sc- reen incarnations around today. And he displays it with great suc- cess in this latest effort. Sweet Liberty is an extremely slick, pat, highly commercial romantic comedy. It's filled with good humor, from beginning to end, and there's absolutely noth- ing in it to trouble your mind. Maybe that's what vaguely trou- bles me. To me, and countless others, Alda represents the quin- tessential "good guy." He stands for what's right. With his success and clout, Alda could make just about any movie he wanted to make. I. wish he had elected to give this movie a little more depth and reality. The opportunity was there to say something meaning- ful about the emptiness and vul- garity of so much of today's films. But Alda doesn't do it. The story is quite simple. Alda plays a college professor who has written a best-selling historical novel about the Revolutionary War. Hollywood has bought the rights to the book and is turning it into a film which is being made in the small college town where Alda teaches. The plot conflict is between Alda, who is trying to keep the authenticity of his book intact in the film, and the film's director, who is out merely to make a commercial success. Sweet Liberty ends up trying to have it both ways, for while Alda gently shticks Hollywood for its pandering ways, he makes this film a conventional sitcom. Maybe I shouldn't have started with my dissatisfactions because I did find the movie enjoyable from beginning to end. It's crafted with great commercial skill, it moves along briskly, and has lots of laughs. But it's slight. There isn't much meat and after it's all over, not much stays with you. My guess is that it will be a great audience success, and there's every reason for that, too. The situation is interesting and the characters are attractive. Alda is good, as he always is. Perhaps the character is getting a little predictable, but most of the great performers turn out that way, like Jack Benny, for example. Part of the reason we love them is that we know the personality so well. We wait and watch to see how they will deal with each new situation, given the faults and foibles that are so familiar to us. Michael Caine is absolutely marvelous as the leading man in the film within the film. It's one of his best roles. In my opinion, he steals the show. He's got just the right combination of flam- boyance, eccentricity and mis- cheviousness. We must credit Alda, for part of this comes from the writing and direction. Michelle Pfeiffer is terrific as the leading lady of the film that's being made. She comes closest to giving us a genuine characteriza- tion, showing us what a real actor is really like. We see how dedi- cated she is to her art, how tough and single-minded she can be, how she can fight like a tigress, and how she can transform her- self into a delicate, ethereal, gen- teel lady of American Revolution. The character Pfeiffer plays, as written and as she creates it, brings to the film the quality I wished permeated the entire enterprise. Lillian Gish has a strong sup- porting role. In her incredible eighth decade of film acting, Gish still has the power to project a unique, memorable character. I wish Alda hadn't pictured her in such a weird fashion in her opening scene. With the extreme close-up and the streaming white hair she looked scary, like one of