Mail Page

Held 'Ransom'

Rebecca Ascher-Walsh brings up a hot topic in her article on Ransom (#352, Nov. 8): how today's movie trailers give away everything but the kitchen sink. Producer Brian Grazer says, ''I don't care what we give away as long as people go to the theater.'' How would Grazer feel if, when he saw Houdini perform, the magician gave up his best trick as the show opener?
Sean Kevin Leeds
Westminster, Calif.

Someone must have taped Ron Howard's mouth shut and locked him in the cutting room when the decision was made to reveal Ransom's plot twist during the previews. I think the wind was taken out of Ransom's sails because of this marketing decision. How good would The Crying Game have been if we knew that ''she'' was a ''he'' before the movie even started?
Robert Heimler
Vancouver

Producer Brian Grazer says that ''some little peewee in our company got the script and really liked it.'' Perhaps a raise and the purchase of platform shoes for the little peewee is in order.
Frances Leslie
Los Angeles

The Competition

You missed the boat when you wrote ''no woman on television is tougher, smarter, leaner, meaner, grittier, or, well, prettier than Carey Lowell's assistant district attorney ... on Law and Order.'' Sorry, but The X-Files' Gillian Anderson beats Lowell hands down.
Robin Mayhall
Austin, Tex.

'ER'ror

Poor George Clooney. Either he was so upset by the Hard Copy story that he forgot to proofread his letter to Entertainment Tonight, or he does not know the difference between ''your'' and ''you're.'' Perhaps he should be paying more attention to contractions than contracts.
Lynnae I. Waskosky
Minneapolis

Avon Calling

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet may be marketed for younger moviegoers, but I don't see why that makes it a less enjoyable film. Most of my friends would rather die than read Shakespeare, but if Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio's ''curlicue smiles'' draw them into the theater where they can see Shakespeare's literary genius, then so be it.
Carrie Pulliam
Poseyville, Ind.

No Double Entendre

In your video review of Lover's Knot, you describe the movie as ''so schizophrenic it deserves two grades.'' Schizophrenia is a disorder that often causes auditory delusions, hallucinations, and confusion in its victims. It does not manifest itself in split personalities.
Laurie Flynn
Executive Director, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
Arlington, Va.