Ciao Amore
Harley hero Mickey Rourke returns to his manipulative sexpot roots
with Wild Orchid, a steamy Rio romance that has been packing Italian
theaters since late December. When the film opens stateside in
April, the climactic love scene between Rourke and Carre Otis will be
abbreviated to ensure an R-rating.
Freedom Freed
Yanked out of theaters when it first was released in South Africa
two years ago, Cry Freedom, Richard Attenborough's film about the
life and death of South African activist Steven Biko — played by
Denzel Washington — will reopen widely there in late April.
Bonfires De Palma
Bruce Willis will play a sleazy tabloid reporter who helps unravel
a big-bucks bond trader's high life (Tom Hanks) in Brian De Palma's
upcoming film of Bonfire of the Vanities.
Reel Reunification
This year's Berlin Film Festival held screenings in both East and
West Berlin for the first time in its 40-year history. Costa-Gavras' Music Box, starring Jessica Lange as an American lawyer
defending her immigrant father who has been accused of war crimes,
took top honors.
Violence Vigilantes
In Born on the Fourth of July a soldier gets shot in the spine and
pitches backward, spraying a fountain of blood from his mouth.
Violent? Nah, ''pro- social,'' says the National Coalition on
Television Violence, a group that makes judgments about violence in
movies and TV shows. So, what if you've had it with positive violence
and are in the mood for a nice ''socially destructive'' film? Tango &
Cash, starring Sly Stallone, and Bloodfist win the group's
disapproval.
Shakespeare Revisited
Richard Dreyfuss and Gary Oldman are teaming up for Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are Dead, playwright Tom Stoppard's stage-to-screen Hamlet mutation now shooting in Yugoslavia.
Traveling Man-tegna
Joe Mantegna (Things Change) is a busy actor these days: He has
gone from the Rome set of the long-awaited Godfather sequel to join
the cast of Woody Allen's new film, already in production in New
York. He will rejoin Francis Ford Coppola when he starts shooting the
mob family saga's Big Apple scenes this spring.
Vicki Vale Does Vegas
Kim Basinger, in her first role since Batman, will play a
love-struck Las Vegas lounge singer (sound familiar?) opposite Red
October's Alec Baldwin in Neil Simon's The Marrying Man. No word yet
if any Pfeifferesque pianacrobatics á la The Fabulous Baker Boys are
planned for the spring shoot.
Movie, I'm Amazed
If you missed Paul McCartney's recent world tour, don't
worry — you'll be able to catch the jowly ex-moptop in action at a
movie theater this fall. In case McCartney's latest material needs Help!, the new, $6 million flick, directed by Richard Lester (A Hard
Day's Night), also features early Beatles concert and newsreel
footage.
