Q Q~C %NG A NEW CONCEPT IN
*too
the people who brought you
14 0 R
40 WEST PIKE ST. - DOWNTOWN PONTIAC.
(248)253°1300
The best just got better%
Detroit's award-winni
arned i an
t;ii
, i-,: -
outst
4'
._
pest, cieep-
,_,;'- - ' '-r7,
dish Or
ocirWileach pie.
It's noi wgnd
9r P"
izz
" by Detroit
•
Monthly, "liest-Reun
it' ,e`kcityty Metro
Times, arid novv5 set rs for "e"xpellierit food" by the
Zagat Survey, NY!
PizzaPapaltsm
The best pizza in Detroit.
Greektown
553 Monroe, Detroit
Dine-in, Cocktails
313 961-8020
Harbortown
Farmington
3420 E. Jefferson, Detroit
Carryout, Delivery
313 259-7272
E• YAW)
32740 Northwestern Hwy.
Carryout, Delivery
248 932-2288
BA
THE
PLACEE
I ()R
RIBS
Family Restaurant
OPEN 7 DAYS-11 a.m. to 12 Mid.
SLAB FOR 211 , 1 - BROASTED or BBQ CHICKEN
$2 OFF
Includes: 2 Potatoes, 2 Slaws & 2 Garlic Breads al
• / Coupon Per Order • Eke In or Cany-Out • Expires 11-1-97 JN III
$2 OFF'
Includes: Potatoes, Slaw & Garlic Bread
• 1 Coupon Per Or
• Line In or Cary-Out • Fires 11-1-97 JN
ORCHARD LAKE RD. SOUTH OF 14 • Farm. Hills •
851-7000
LUNCH SPECIALS
STARTING AT $495
Homemade Soups Daily
0/17
1997
L18
•
4.:
14:00MIFIELP:' HILLS
Amor
Their chemical mix lubes the strong,
outline on the city, who's gonna
rancidly effective script by director Jim
know?") who never ceases to be quite
Kouf. I believed in their collapsing
human, in his best film work so far, as
partnership more than I did the
ripely rotted as the corrupt cops found
bustling poses of L.A. Confidential, and
in the films of Sidney Lumet.
for all its rough and generic qualities,
Divinci is a cocky screw-up, the
Gang Related makes Oliver Stone's U-
kind of macho improviser who trods
Turn seem even more like spoiled ham.
up a wet slope by tossing banana peels
Shakur is Rodriguez, the junior partner
in front of himself, then admires his
who has gone along with Divinci
skill right before his head hits the
(Belushi) in killing drug thugs and
mud. Belushi gets some raw humor
framing murder suspects, while
taking drug money that fuels
their gambling debts and little
dreams (Divinci wants a fishing
boat). It's virtually quaint to see
Shakur, who had criminal con-
nections and rose from the
gang/drug/rap world (and paid
with his life for it last year), as
the relative innocent, a guilty
guy flushing down the toilet
because he's loyally bonded to
the ruthless Divinci.
Rodriguez begins to wobble
seriously after they kill a drug
pusher who is really a DEA
agent, then must sweat fast to
find a patsy for the murder
charge. After some harsh come-
dy, hustling wrong prospects,
they settle on a derelict boozer,
Joe. He is such a messy wreck
that viewers are startled to find
that the fine actor playing him,
right in the gutter, is Dennis
Quaid.
James Belushi with Lela Rochon in Gang
The DEA rides the case
Related
hard, and David Paymer turns
up as a defense lawyer, making
things worse for the frantic partners.
from this. But mostly we feel the grim
Then the real duke of fate arrives:
weight of everything coming down,
thunder-voiced James Earl Jones as a
the slump of a dud life caving in total-
star attorney employed by runaway
ly. It's ace acting of a real creep.
Joe's rich family. And the partners' star
Credibility is strained when the
"witness,' a stripper well-acted by Lela
partners lose their temper and start
Rochon, starts flaking into perjury
spouting incriminating thoughts in
and panic.
the police station — is everyone
Had he lived, Shakur might have
around them deaf? But, until their lit-
become quite a fine actor. He had
tle band of brothers shuts down,
keen intuitions, sure camera com-
Divinci and Rodriguez make some
mand. And in his exit roles he got
potently cheap music. Rated R.
good company: Tim Roth in
* *
Gridlocklel and Belushi in this. As a
— Reviewed by David Elliott
man who finally welcomes death, and
at one point hoists a cynical toast to
drugs, Shakur is movingly doomed,
and this is just partially due to our
knowing he was gunned down last
year in a vicious drive-by.
Still, the film is owned by Kouf —
the dialogue is fiercely fanged — and
Belushi. After a long struggle, Belushi
has come out of the long shadow cast
by his late brother, John, as Divinci, a
scum of expedience ("One more chalk
C