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Page 14 DTH Omnibus
Thursday September 28, 1989
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55
Teaching
Kirk's son
For the most part, Michael
Douglas earned his "bad" good
guy image on the right side of
the law, both in TV and movies.
For four years he co-starred with
Karl Maiden as a cop in the 70s hit
TV series The Streets of San Fran
cisco, a role that earned him three
Emmy nominations.
It was his acting on the big screen, v
however, that created Douglas' repu
tation as a major contemporary ac
tor. Among his movie credits are
Coma, A Chorus Line and Wall Street,
for which he won an Academy
Award.
But Douglas quickly proved he
was as influential behind the scenes
as he is on. In 1975, he co-produced
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,
the only film since It Happened One
Nigjht in 1934 to win the five major
Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best
Actress, Best Director and Best
Screenplay.
Since then, the shrewd business
man has produced and acted in such
varied films as The China Syndrome
(nominated for four academy
awards), Romancing the Stone, Jewel
of the Nile and his latest, Black Rain,
which he made in association with
producers Stanley R. JafFe and Sherry
Lansing. Their relationship began
in 1987 when Douglas acted in Jaffe
and Lansing's biggest hit, Fatal At
traction. It was he who approached
the,n about producing Black Rain.
After all this success, it is ironic
to consider how close Douglas came
to not acting at all. His mother,
actress Diana Douglas Darrid, said
Ill
Michael Douglas something about noodles:
does good
in an interview with Life magazine
last year that "there was a certain
awe of Kirk that made Michael avoid
acting until he was 23." Douglas
father is movie actor Kirk Douglas
and his brother Joel is a film pro
ducer. Douglas is getting more recogni
tion for his work now than ever
before, but is modest enough not to
attribute his success just to himself.
He sees his most recent parts, Dan
Gallagher in Fatal Attraction and
Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, as
plum roles, and claims the success
of the films had much to do with
their relevance to today's society.
"Fatal Attraction and Wall Street
basically deal with the key moral
issues of our time: lust and greed,"
he said in Rolling Stone.
Of Block Rain, Douglas has said,
"The screenplay offered me an op
portunity to make an exciting ac
tion film." His next film will reu
nite him with good friends Kath
leen Turner and Danny DeVito in
The War of the Roses, set for a Christ
mas release. -
Unsurprisingly, Douglas is ex
tremely happy with his resume, and
in particular the praise of the last
few years.
"You have to admit it's a pretty
magical, wonderful career. That's
why the confirmation I'm getting
now as an actor makes this a pretty
damned special time."
i ft J i g li
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New York cop Nick Conklin gets a lesson in Japanese table manners from Ken
Blade running with the Yakuza
Black Rain
Michael Douglas, Ken Takakura,
Kate Capshaw, Andy Garcia
directed by Ridley Scott
Varsity
call for times
OOO 12
British director Ridley Scott is
a former art student, so it
makes sense that his films
should be chiefly remembered for their
look (Blade Runner and Someone to
Watch Over Me being cases in point).'
Block Rain does little more than fol
low this rule.
Michael Douglas plays Nick
Conklin, a discontented New York
detective suspected by the Internal
Affairs Division of pocketing seized
cash. He's desperate for a successful
case of his own that might clear his
name. Nick's chance comes when he
witnesses a brutal murder by a Japa
nese in a Manhattan restaurant.
Nick catches the killer, but his
triumph is squashed by the Japanese
embassy, which demands that the
murderer be returned to Japan. Nick
and his sidekick Charlie (Andy Gar
cia of The LntOMchobles fame) are
assigned to deliver the captive.
On arrival in Osaka, Japan, the
prisoner escapes, and Nick and Char
lie quickly learn that they only know
half the story. The man they have
unknowingly set free is Sato, a vi
cious young terrorist who is waging
war with the Japanese Mafia to fur-
,:, !1 INI EM A
Richard Smith
ther his own demonic ambitions.
Unwilling to return to the States and
face failure, Nick and Charlie attempt
to team up with the Osaka police
force to recapture Sato.
They are suddenly illiterate strang
ers in a different world. The Japa
nese code of honor, followed rigidly
by the police, could not be more
removed from the style of a New
York homicide detective.
Nick, after all, is just a scuzzball
with nothing to lose. He's used to
playing by his own rules. This in it
self is not the freshest of plotltnes
even the film's poster is reminiscent
of a Stallone movie ("I'm the solu
tion to your problem," Douglas
intones, Cobra-like) but Black Rain
is not about a comic-book one-man
army, or at least tries not to be. The
best part of the film, and its prin
ciple interest throughout, is how these
men come to terms with their baf
fling environment.
It's a fascinating conflict of style.
The Osakan officer assigned to look
after the two Americans, Masahiro
(Ken Takakura), is a particularly strict
observer of regulations. He does not
understand the American way. Cer
tainly, Nick's head-butting approach
is brutish. When Masahiro says,
"America is only good for two things:
music and movies," we are forced to
agree with his perspective, if not his
choice of praiseworthy artforms.
::W::-?-::X
Takakura
It's suitable material with which
Scott can do his stuff. The Japan of
Block Rain is not all paddy fields and
sushi. Osaka is shown to be a sleek,
modern city, a place where violence
erupts at the drop of a hat (or in this
case, a coat and the rev of a motor
bike). With its gleaming black malls,
this could be the Los Angeles of Blade
Runner, or the interior of the Alien
spacecraft. It's a perfect world in
which the lithe, lethal Sato can per
form. As bad guys go, he's wicked.
What the kid can't do with a knife is
not worth knowing. This is blade
running of a different sort.
Unfortunately for Scott, whose
reputation is somewhat at stake with
this $30 million movie, Block Rain
does not have the stamina to stay on
track. Its plot of counterfeiting and
double-crossing gets silly as it runs
its course. Co-stars Garcia and Kate
Capshaw (who plays an expatriate
waitress) are little more than plot
devices. Douglas, who helped pro
duce the film, is looking chubby (too
many congratulatory lunches last year,
one suspects) but puts on a good show,
even when he has to do his Rambo
bit. (He's no match for his Japanese
partner, Takakura, who emerges as
the undoubted star. You're convinced
at story's close that the experience
has changed his character)
But even when the thrills run out
and interest wanes, Black Rain dazzles
with Scott's visual flair. If only some
one would give him a stronger script,
he'd be able to deliver a film of greater
substance. For now, however, this will
have to suffice. And I can live with
that.