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Who says romance is dead?
By MICHAEL THOMPSON
And you thought all the talk about
"Reservoir Dogs" and Quentin
Tarantino was all over. Well, it sort of
isn'tbecause Tarantino has anew hyper-
violent, fun for the whole family film.
True Romance
written by Quentin Tarantino; directed
by Tony Scott; with Christian Slater,
Patricia Arquette, Brad Pitt,
Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper,
Gary Oldman, and Val Kilmer.
Strap your head on for a rollercoaster
ride of a movie that never lets up.
Christian Slater stars as Clarence
Whirley, a cool loser who just happens
to fall upon a callgirl who truly loves
him and a large suitcase full of cocaine.
The stage is set for laughs and blood.
And the movie delivers in so many
ways that you're breathless by the end.
Tarantino's script is above all a ro-
mance. But that hardly stops him from
killing lots of people. And, hey, that can
be kind of romantic can't it? It is for
Alabama (Patricia Arquette) and that's
good enough for me.
"True Romance" doesn'tjust stop at
the romantic level, Tarantino shoots for
it all. The film is rambunctious, ridicu-
lous, riveting, revolting and "so cool."
Tarantino looks at the adolescent
fantasy, the pros and cons of cocaine,
the film industry (and its corruption),
and Elvis. As ridiculous as all of that
sounds, Tarantino brings it all together
in the best action romance in a long
time.
Much like "Reservoir Dogs" the cast
is bloated with talent. Christian Slater
rocks in hisbestrolesince J.D. in "Heath-
ers." Patricia Arquette is totally believ-
able as a girl on the wildest ride of her
life. BradPittcomes acrossasoneof the
cast members from "Slacker" who wan-
dered onto another set that day. Gary
Oldman is better as a drug dealing pimp
than as Dracula. Christopher Walken
punctuates powerfully with words and
other things. Val Kilmer, however, steals
the show as the faceless Elvis. Fortu-
nately none of these egos clash, they are
Tarantino looks at the
adolescent fantasy, the
pros and cons of cocaine,
the film industry (and its
corruption), and Elvis. As
ridiculous as all of that
sounds, Tarantino brings It
all together In the best
action romance In a long
time,
smooth the whole way.
Director Tony Scott ("The Last Boy
Scout") throws in a pile of style, which
fits easily into this film. Couch feathers
snowing down on bullet-ridden corpses
is the most proper image for a film like
this.
Sometimes the constant grays get a
little tedious, but Clarence's bright or
ange sport coatmakes up foreverything
else.
Tarantino isn't out to give the public
a "geriatric" film. He wants to shake
things up. When somebody tries some-
thing new there will always be angry
people. And plenty of people wiltlbe
disturbed by the violence in this film.
But Tarantino never seems one to want
to make people happy. He lets us laugh
and then slams us down.
"True Romance" was the test for
Tarantino. "Reservoir Dogs" was no
case of beginners luck- this guy is a
professional through and through. His
writing is so strong thathe doesn't have
to direct a film for you to feel his pres-
ence. So buy your ticket and experience
something cool.
"TR UE ROMANCE" IS PLAYING
AT SHOWCASE
Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater star in the violent/romance, "True Romance."
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A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain
Robert Olen Butler
Penguin
"A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain" is a Pulitzer Prize-winning
collection of fifteen short stories by Robert Olen Butler. Each story is told through
the voice of Butler's fictional Vietnamese-American narrators, who immigrated
from Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Butler served in Vietnam for a year as a U.S. Army linguist. While there, he
"fell in love with the Vietnamese and Vietnam," he told a New York Tunes
interviewer. Apparently unable to shake that love, Butler now lives in Lake
Charles, La., where many Vietnamese Americans (including Butler's characters)
also reside.
Butler may love the Vietnamese, but his stories patronize them. While trying
to show characters in a positive light, he resorts to a Western stereotype of Asians.
Ironically, one of Butler's characters notes that there are two groups of American
Vietnam veterans, those who see Vietnamese Americans as "sly and dangerous
and unreal," and those who see them as "fascinating and long-suffering and
unreal." Butler unintentionally slips into the latter group, as his characters
illustrate.
One critic has written that Butler's stories "have the delicate and graceful
quality of tropical flowers." Butler's characters also have "delicate" qualities.
From a woman's "delicate loathing" to Ho Chi Minh's "delicate" photo retouch-
ing, Butler's Vietnamese Americans are very delicate people.
Butler's narrators arealso poetic. One, an average housewife, sits in a hotel hot
tub with three white women. When a beautiful Mexican woman enters the tub,
flaunting herself, the narrator notes that the white women's eyes "rose and then
whirled like the steam from the water" in response. Whether bargirl or business-
man, Butler's narrators have an unusual talent for using these startling, haiku-like
figures of speech.
Butler's characters are highly spiritual, as well. Several of Butler's narrators
meet the spirits of dead ancestors and friends. One narrator, on his death-bed, is
visited by his old buddy, Ho Chi Minh. These ghost stories may remind some
readers ofMaxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior," a work which Butler's
echoes in style and content.
Of course, not all Vietnamese Americans are as delicate, poetic and spiritual
as Butler describes them, but one couldeasily get that impression afterreading his
stories. Butler's superior writing ability helps him accomplish this. Because
Butler's stories are told in the first-person "I," his characters seem to tell their own
stories. Moreover, Butler uses vivid details that make his stories deceptively real.
One narrator tries to console his wife, who lies next to him in bed, but his attention
isdivided between her, his itching heel and his buzzing alarm clock. Butleradeptly
makes one forget his stories are fiction.
With his expert writing skills, Butler creates a world almost like our own.
Although his characters are believable, we should remember they are not real.
- Oliver Giancola
The Get Smart Handbook
Joey Green
Collier
"I'm getting complaints from the landlord about the gun battles in the hall, and
the bombs in the lobby, and the knife fights in the elevator."
"Well, when you rent an apartment to a secret agent, you've got to expect those
things."
"But he doesn't know I'm a secret agent"
"Well, how do you explain people attacking you and shooting at you?"
"Well, I told him I work for the Bureau of Internal Revenue."
This exchange between Maxwell Smart and his boss, "the Chief," is one of
many bits of dialogue that entertained viewers of "Get Smart," a late-1960s
television comedy that spoofed super-spies like James Bond. Joey Green's "The
Get Smart Handbook" is a handy guide for those who have been watching the
show "and loving it."
In 1965, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry teamed-up at the behestofDan Melnick,
aproducer. Brooks and Henry developed a show about a globetrotting secret agent
named Maxwell Smart. Smart and his female partner, Agent 99, worked for
Control, a Western spy network that fought Kaos, an evil organization dedicated
to world domination. Smart bumbled constantly, but by using gadgets like his
trademark shoe phone, he always succeeded.
As the authorexplains, "Get Smart" wasn'tjusta goofy comedy: "The show's
simple, two-word title ... exhorted viewers to wise up and see government
espionage for what it really is: an idiotic enterprise glamorized by Hollywood."
The show achieved this with satire.
"Get Smart" also challenged the networks' comedy formulas. Brooks said in
1965 that he "wanted to do a crazy, unreal, comic-strip kind of thing about
something besides a family." The resultwas tooweird forABC, which told Brooks
and Henry to add a dog and a mother. They added a dog (Fang, a lazy coward), but
refused to give Max a mother. ABC rejected the show, and "Get Smart" went to
NBC, where the show remained until its fifth season. "Get Smart" died on CBS
after Max and 99 had twins. The secret agents had become another sitcom family.
"Get Smart" still airs on "Nick at Night."
A y*r fnnnPr Mtitnr of "Nationa La~mpoon" and authorf of "The Unofficial
Concert in April of 1992.During "Some-
body to Love," the microphone is handed
over to the audience; Michael duets
with Lisa Stansfield on "These Are the
Days of Our Lives."
Another bonus for Queen fans is the
last track of the EP, "Dear Friends,"
originally performed by Queen on their
third album, "Sheer Heart Attack." Of
course, not everyone loves Queen's
music, so Michael included three other
tracks which he featured during his
"Cover to Cover" tour in 1991 in which
he only snag other artists's songs.
Arguably the highlight of the EP is
Michael's blend of Seal's hit "Killer"
and Temptations' classic "Papa Was a
Rollin' Stone." The music of "Killer"
runs throughout both songs. Very cool.
The third song is "Calling You," from
which you might have, heard a sound
byte in the background of a television
commercial for AT&T's long distance
services.
This EP is good, but you might want
to check out the recently released, 175-
minute long "Freddie Mercury Tribute
Concert" on video cassette and laser
disc if you're only interested in hearing
Michael's renditions of Queen songs.
The video costs about twice as much as
this 28-minute long CD, but it features
Michael and many other recording art-
ists performing the music of Queen and
their own songs.
- Jim Whitaker
Various Artists
Stephen Sondheim: A
Celebration at Carnegie Hall
RCA Victor
Many a tribute has been paid to
Stephen Sondheimandhis music: "Side
by Side by Sondheim," "'Follies' in
Concert" and the current off-Broadway
revue with Julie Andrews, "Putting it
Together," just to name a few. In "A
Celebration at Carnegie Hall,"
Broadway's greats gathered together to
salute the man who is the greatest musi-
cal theatercomposer/lyricistof our time,
and raise money for Carnegie Hall.
The stars of thisrecording are clearly
the women: Bernadette Peters in the
achingly beautiful "Not A Day Goes
By" (from "Merrily We Roll Along"),
Madeline Kahn's charmingly neurotic
"Not Getting Married Today" ("Com-
pany") and Glenn Close's (yes, Glenn
Close can sing) simple yet honest "Send
in the Clowns" ("A Little Night Mu-
sic"). And Patti LuPone will blow you
away with her powerful "Being Alive"
("Company").
This particular Sondheim tribute is
exciting for its experimentation. Each
performer or groups of performers took
certain liberties with the selections, and
varied the songs from their original
Broadway sounds. For example, jazz
man Billy Stritch does a great mellow
"Anyone Can Whistle" while accom-
panying himself on the piano. Also,
many songs from different shows were
brought together in medleys.
Bill Irwin provides a neat comic
introduction to the show, but the men on
the recording are nothing special. An-
other drawback is the live nature of the
recording - you hear a lot of people
laughing, but you don't know why!
(This is probably RCA Victor's ploy to
get you to buy the video of the show,
which aired on PBS.)
This is a great recording for the
Sondheim buff, but a newcomer to
Sondheim's work might not warm up to
it. If you don't know the songs, you'll
appreciate these discs a lot more after
you listen to the original cast record-
ings. But if you do, you'll be pleasantly
surprised by thenew andexciting rendi-
tions of the songs.
- Melissa Rose Bernardo
Vaious Artists
Dix Improvisations:
Victoriaville 1989
Les Disques Victo
In comparison with American audi-
ences, Canadians have been more sol-
idly supportive of North American
musical experimentations over the last
few decades. "Dix Improvisations"
proves this once again. Recorded live at
See RECORDS, Page 8
Rod Stewart stills plays the role of the crooner even after all these years.
Rod Stewart
Unplugged... And Seated
Warner Brothers
"Unplugged ... And Seated," Rod
Stewart's twenty-third career album in
twenty-four years, is an impressive col-
lection of some of his best material,
along with several songs heard here for
the first time.
Recorded in Los Angeles this Feb-
ruary, the album captures the reunion of
Stewart with his ex-Faces partner, gui-
tarist Ronnie Wood. The album tends to
focus on Stewart's early '70s hits such
as "MaggieMay," "Reason To Believe"
and "The First Cut Is The Deepest," but
these great songs shine today just as
they did when they were originally re-
leased. The album also contains
Stewart's smash hit version of Van
Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately,"
which was first recorded by Stewart on
his 1991 album "Vagabond Heart."
Stewart even breaks out a banjo to-
wards the end of the performance to
play "Mandolin Wind."
Even if you're sick of all of these
MTV "Unplugged" albums, this one is
a must-have; it is the incomparable Rod
Stewart performing some of his best
tunes with a top-notch supporting all-
acoustic band (including violins!).
- Jim Whitaker
George Michael and
Queen with Lisa
Stansfield
Five Live
Hollywood Records
Finally, a live album that wasn't
recordedonMTV's"Unplugged." "Five
Live" is very easy on the ears. No
screaming guitar solos here, just a col-
lection of good songs sung by George
Michael. The artist royalties and record
company net profits from this EP go to
the Mercury Phoenix Trust for the dis-
tribution to AIDS charities worldwide
in memory of Queen's late singer
Freddie Mercury.
Two of the tracks, "Somebody to
Love" and "These Are the Days of Our
Lives," are Queen songs that were per-
formed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute
r --
School Already Getting
You Down? Then It's
Time To Relax At Ashley's!
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