video on the bombing. And Ann Troheel. After attending CU, she's covered Colorado news for over a decade and saw what strength and community can do during the Fort Collins flood of 97. Mitch Jonaker and Ann Troheel, Coloradans covering Colorado, see them together weeknights on 7 News at 10.
Hemingway type who, like, sold out to Hollywood.
She's in the middle of the show for no reason whatsoever. Boom, she pops out and she starts singing, okay? I don't know what, she's doing like an Ethel Merman, oh, I love a parade.
That's Ben Stiller so often in comedies like the current hit There's Something About Mary, who takes on his darkest role to date, a drug addicted writer in Permanent Midnight, a film that works largely because Stiller is so good in his role as Jerry Stahl, a real life character, a TV sitcom writer who told his story of highs and lows in a best selling autobiography.
The movie is a series of flashback scenes told by Stiller in the present day to a woman played by Maria Bello who has picked him up. His dialogue reveals his talent for turning a phrase.
So, you get this agent and then what?
Get a great gig, huge advance, blow all of it on dope and cop a habit the size of Utah.
One of his recollections is of his wife, played by the beautiful Elizabeth Hurley. Their relationship is strictly a business deal until she wants more.
You know, it could really help my green card situation if we lived under the same roof.
You know, I've got this spare bedroom, which I never go into, which you could work in undisturbed all day.
Also entertaining is the always entertaining Janine Garofalo as a talent agent who might want to sign Jerry as a client.
This place used to be on La Brea because I'm driving up La Brea and it's not there anymore and then the guy tells me that it's over here.
Anyway, I'm really sorry we didn't get a chance to get out to eat.
Are you hungry? Because the chef's doing a curbside thing now. You can just pull the car up and he'll run out with an arugula shake or something.
Permanent Midnight is going to succeed or fail, of course, based on Stiller's performance.
He's the movie and I think he's excellent. Obviously, there isn't a whole lot that's new that can be brought to the role of a junkie.
Jerry Stahl is a more intelligent character than the typical movie junkie.
But Stiller expresses his connections to all addicts by demonstrating the powerlessness that overwhelms them in their need for drugs, drawn to them as if to a magnet.
Ben Stiller, in this performance, declares himself, I think, as a major talent.
Oh, I think so, too, and I love all the performances around him, too, as it demonstrates how, with a lot of money and a lot of freedom and no supervision,
because you can get away with anything if you're talented, these people do fall into drugs in Hollywood.
You know, it's a whole genre. There's Julia Phillips' book, You'll Never Have Lunch in This Town Again, and there's Postcards from the Edge, the movie from a few years ago,
and at Telluride, I just saw a movie called I'm Losing You, and they all tell basically the same story.
Too much money, too much freedom, people will let you get away with murder if you deliver.
It's a good film.
It sure is. Next movie, Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil came out in 1958, but only this year has it been finally seen as Welles wanted it to be seen.
Two weeks ago at the Telluride Film Festival and then last week at the Toronto Festival, audiences were shown a version of the film
based on a 58-page memo by Welles, who disapproved of the way that Universal Studios recut his film, making it shorter and adding additional shots.
On its 40th anniversary, the film has been re-edited as Welles wanted it.
Here's a taste of the famous opening shot, which lasts for three minutes and 20 seconds in this new version,
as Welles intended the opening titles no longer obscure the action. They've been moved to the end of the movie.
And the Henry Mancini theme song has been replaced by what Welles wanted, music and sound effects from the city street and from loudspeakers and car radios.
Listen to how the soundtrack establishes the atmosphere here.
That was Charlton Heston as a Mexican drug enforcement official and Janet Lee as his new bride from Philadelphia.
Heston squares off against Orson Welles as the corrupt sheriff on the American side of the border.
Here Welles plays a visit to an old friend, a madam played by Marlena Dietrich.
Touch of Evil is a rich picture visually, as in this scene where the camera doesn't cut as it watches the sheriff and the Mexican official argue over falsified evidence.
If you're like me, you've seen Touch of Evil before and admired it for its visuals, but never been absolutely sure you understood all of the ins and outs of the plot.
This new version has about 50 changes, many of them minor, but together they add up to a more coherent and involving story.
And the film, of course, celebrates Welles' great visual sense as it coils through that corrupt border town where the sheriff has been nursing a private wound for 30 years.
Touch of Evil opens starting this week in revival theaters around the country.
Well, it demands to be seen. You've talked about the visuals. Let's credit the cinematographer Russell Metty, who is considered one of the great ones.
I've talked to some veteran stars over the years and they like being photographed by him.
You're right. The story is a little bit more understandable, a lot more frankly.
You know, I've noticed over the years that people kind of avoid. They don't want to say, well, I didn't understand it.
But they go, oh yeah, that was kind of like, was the kid involved in the original drug ring or was the, you know, and now you can understand it.
But really, in any event, the plot is just a clothesline anyway for these images and performances.
Yeah. And in this case, less is more because it's been simplified.
Coming up next, an assortment of colorful urban dwellers fly in and out of Chicago cab.
This is good.
The ultimate Derek Jeter dream day. First you call a girl. Tell her that you're preparing a perfect candlelight dinner for her.
Tell them to give me the works. Put it on my Discover card. Cash back bonus. The icing on the cake.
Pays to discover. Accepted where you see the Novus song.
Hey, you Morty briskin.
Who's asking?
Had a hard time finding this place.
Dear Mort, you have been accepted to Harvard University and awarded a scholarship. Congratulations on all your accomplishments.
You must respond, however, by May 1978.
Better late than never.
Next time, be absolutely sure. Don't just send it. Send it FedEx.
See you in September.
In hospital pharmacies, they dispense medicines that work fast. For heartburn, that's one-minute maylocks.
It goes to work on stomach acid in one minute. Pepsid A.C. could take over 45 minutes.
Hospital pharmacies rely on maylocks. Shouldn't you?
Count on one-minute maylocks.
We can't make the light.
No. No, we can't.
Why do you drive your cab so slow? You are the slowest cab driver I have ever seen.
Our next movie is Chicago Cab, a play adapted for the screen. It follows a simple format.
We follow a cab driver's interaction with a day full of fairs.
And here's one with a mature woman who engages in sexual innuendo.
Paul Dillon is the cabbie. Laura White, the fair.
I'm a lawyer.
Oh, really? You're the second lawyer I've had today.
Really?
Really. Let's hope you're not too tired.
Excuse me?
More explicit sexual activity involves a couple of young advertising executives.
Laurie Metcalf and Matt Ross.
Hey, what are you doing?
This really isn't any of your business.
Yeah, right.
Of course, not every couple is quite that happy.
Here are Gillian Anderson from The X-Files and Kevin J. O'Connor,
who have just completed their Christmas shopping but are not exactly in the holiday spirit.
You know what? I never even want to see you again.
After we get out of this cab, I want you to go your way,
and I don't ever want to see or smell your big fat ugly ass ever again.
Chicago Cab has a strong cast, as you can see, but what does it add up to?
It's not quite the fractured portrait of America or the human condition that we might want it to be.
I found only about a third of the passengers interesting,
and that's not enough for me to give you the tip to see Chicago Cab.
Oh, I like this movie a lot, Gene.
First of all, I think if all the characters had been equally interesting,
it would have been a little unlikely since occasionally you're going to get a fare
that just sits back there and wants to go somewhere.
But even apart from that, I think the buried theme of this movie is all embodied in the driver,
all Dylan, and it's interesting how his role is written so sparsely.
Everybody in the back seat is talking, and he just kind of reacts and looks at them strangely
and occasionally talks to himself. I like the movie.
You found enough with him. I didn't find enough with him.
I thought it was more the parade of characters.
Okay, we'll be right back after this.
Eleven Academy Awards.
Four Golden Globes.
One amazing offer.
Switch to Sprint and Titanic on videocassette is yours.
Titanic, a timeless tale you're free to watch any time you want.
Switch to the best long distance and we'll give you a certificate for the best movie of the year.
Call 1-800-PINDROP for details.
Hey, you Morty briskin?
Who's asking?
Had a hard time finding this place.
Dear Mort, you have been accepted to Harvard University and awarded a scholarship.
Congratulations on all your accomplishments.
You must respond, however, by May 1978.
Better late than never.
Next time, be absolutely sure. Don't just send it, send it, FedEx.
See you in September.
When you do a show like mine, there are no barriers.
No walls, no boundaries.
Every experience becomes a part of who you are.
The people.
The emotions.
They all leave their imprint.
Not just on you.
But inside of you.
For the best in town, Colorado's watching Channel 7 weekday afternoons.
They have changed the face of television drama.
Pressure's crashing.
Gotta stop the bleeding first.
Clear trauma too.
They have shocked us.
How long do I have?
Nothing is certain.
They have inspired us.
This guy could die any minute, we can't wait.
And this is the landmark television event that started it all.
Oh no, would you look at this?
Have you learned everything you can from him except attitude?
The weekend premiere of ER.
ER premieres Saturday, September 26th on Channel 7.
Now let's take another look at the movies we reviewed on this show.
Two thumbs up for One True Thing, especially for the performances by Renee Zellweger,
Meryl Streep, and we really liked William Hurt.
Two more affectionate thumbs up for The Silliness of Jackie Chan's Rush Hour
and for the edgy comic performance by Chris Tucker.
Two thumbs way up for James Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries.
I think it's one of the year's best films.
Two more thumbs up for Permanent Midnight with Ben Stiller as a writer who
lux into a TV series but has very bad luck with drugs.
Two thumbs up for Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, finally edited in the version
he asked for 40 years ago.
And finally, a split vote on Chicago Cab.
I enjoyed the introspective, convincing performance by Paul Dillon as a man
who eavesdrops on the city's secrets.
Gene, however, found only about a third of the passengers interesting.
The discovery for me, the range of Ben Stiller's talent as revealed in
Permanent Midnight.
And for me, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries.
I think that's really an original and powerful picture.
Remember, you can hear our reviews on the web at Cisco-Ebert.com,
and the site also lists all the stations that carry our show.
Next week we'll have reviews of more new movies, including Ronin,
the thriller starring Robert De Niro and John Reno.
That's next week, and until then, the balcony is closed.