Reviews

It is next to impossible to turn a 800 page novel into a consumable movie without losing some of what made the novel brilliant in the first place (which this one is). The novel is about growing up in South Carolina and about the love of three siblings for each other. The novel takes its name from what the sister calls one of the brothers: The Prince Of Tides. But, Luke Wingo, the title character is seldom seen in this mediocre adaptation. Ms. Streisand decided to make it a love story about her character and Lukes brother Tom. She missed the entire point, and screwed up a good story that would have better been left as a mini-series because of its length and depth. (She needs to watch LONESOME DOVE or ROOTS or CENNTENIAL to see that you can make masterpeices on tv, especially if you have a huge text to work from).

However, Nolte is perfectly cast, and plays the part of a downtrodden southern everyman very well. The few childhood flashback scenes that they do film are done very well. Too bad Babs didn't realize this was the meat of the novel. Oh well, at least she didn't sing.

The pinnacle of British silliness at the movies for an entire decade: The mythical 60's. Mike Meyers could only dream of capturing this time and place with as much fun and style. British entertainment royalty by the truck load including half the Beatles, a decent chunck of Monty Python, Christopher Lee in a cape, and the late great Peter Sellers! Who could ask for more? Well there is always Roman Polanski as an innocent being picked up in a bar by a transvestite (who's identity revelation is the my favorite bit). And of course, who can forget Raquel Welch in her prime, and in a leather mini nothing with a whip. All of this in the context of the movie's namesake--The Love Boat cruise from hell. You will never again think of farm manure without recalling this movie's finale! Check it out.

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Texas is a large dysfunctional family. From an ethnic standpoint, its three largest food groups are Black, White, and Mexican. John Sayles weaves a generations old murder mystery around three families that represent the groups above. Each of these families has a desire to connect to adjacent generations, but it is often a long arduous process filled with things you might be better off not knowing. Young Sherrif Deeds leads a life haunted by the greatness his community thrust upon his late father who was also the Sherrif of the same county. Along the way we meet Kris Kristofferson as an evil spirit that haunts families of all walks of life, even from his 40 year old grave. We also see a person who can't connect to her family in any way at all: Deed's ex-wife. Instead, she wallows in the National Religion of Texas: Football. Being a fan is the closest to family she can deal with. As the central mystery of the movie unviels itself, all three of the families learn something about themselves, and their neighbors, and how good the whole idea of family, and Texas can be.

Sayles flawlessly slides back and forth from the 90's to the 50's with brilliant editing. The Sherrif and the mayor sitting in the Mexican Restaurant and talking about the mystery has a great segue way as one of them reaches for a tortilla. The camera zooms in on the hand and tortilla, and then it zooms out as the taco is lifted out of the basket. The same restaurant is now as it was 40 years earlier, and we pick up on the story the mayor was telling the sherrif in the 90's.

My only complaint with the film is a small one in the dialogue. After the young female soldier fails a drug test and is called before her commanding officer (Joe Morton in a stand out job), she says "back when I was coming up on 5th street in Houston." I am sure the line was meant to be "coming up in the 5th ward," which is a predominantly black neighborhoods, where as 5th street is mostly Mexican American. This is mildly important as the young soldier is supposed to be from a hellish ghetto back groud.

Anyway, I think it is the best Texas movie ever (I am a 6th generation Texan, so I have a bit of a clue). It gets a slight nod over "Giant," "Last Picture Show," and "Lonesome Dove."