Television Review: TALES OF THE CITY (1993, Alastair Reid)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 360 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Laura Linney (ABSOLUTE POWER, MYSTIC RIVER, THE TRUMAN SHOW), Olympia Dukakis (MOONSTRUCK, DEATH WISH, SISTERS), Donald Moffat (THE THING, ALAMO BAY), Chloe Webb (SID AND NANCY, GHOSTBUSTERS II, TWINS), Marcus D'Amico (SUPERMAN II, 'Hand Job' in FULL METAL JACKET), Billy Campbell (THE ROCKETEER, Coppola's DRACULA), Thomas Gibson (EYES WIDE SHUT, 'Greg' on DHARMA & GREG), Paul Gross (MEN WITH BROOMS, COLD COMFORT), Barbara Garrick (THE ICE STORM, THE FIRM, DOTTIE GETS SPANKED), Rod Steiger (DUCK YOU SUCKER, John Flynn's THE SERGEANT, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT), Robert Downey Sr., County Joe McDonald (of Country Joe and the Fish), Parker Posey, Paul Bartel, Ian McKellen, Mary Kay Place, Karen Black, Michael Jeter (TRUE CRIME, JURASSIC PARK III), Stanley DeSantis (THE AVIATOR, BOOGIE NIGHTS), Marissa Ribisi, Janeane Garofelo, and many others. Based on the book by Armistead Maupin. Cinematography by Walt Lloyd (KAFKA; SEX, LIES, & VIDEOTAPE; PUMP UP THE VOLUME, TO SLEEP WITH ANGER).
Best one-liner: "Come on, and try not looking like Tricia Nixon reviewing the troops."

"We don't have people like her in Cleveland." –"Too bad for Cleveland!"
Capturing 1970's San Francisco with genuine loving care and paying no heed to the social mores of standard network broadcasting, TALES OF THE CITY arrived on the scene in 1993 to critical praise and a fair amount of controversy (it was funded by Channel 4 and televised in the U.S. on PBS). I've watched it many times over, and I'm unsure if a series has ever quite so wonderfully, wistfully, and mystically captured the experience of moving to a big city and spreading your wings. TALES OF THE CITY is life in transition–

Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney) comes all the way from Ohio to emerge from her chrysalis: she becomes an independent young woman of her own construction- adapting and absorbing, but never mimicking, never losing her sense of self (or her housecoat that looks like a mattress cover!):

Note housecoat.

Mona Ramsey (Chloe Webb, in an electrifying performance) has lived in San Francisco long enough to traverse her life with complete confidence and quaalude-tempered charm, but recently she's been thirsting for something more, maybe even that house in Pacific Heights…or perhaps she’d settle for a few dear friends:

Webb and Marcus D'Amico's Michael Tolliver polish off some Chinese takeout.


Edgar Halcyon (the lovably gruff Donald Moffat) finds himself nearing death.

Years of inhibitions have calcified like a disease, and he yearns for one final last (or is it the first?) affair de coeur before he's just a heap of moldering dust.

These characters (and many more- from Thomas Gibson's leering scamp:

to Marcus D'Amico's cheerful Florida boy to Billy Campbell's earnest gynecologist:

to Paul Gross' self-possessed waiter to Barbara Garrick's meandering high society wife in crisis to Stanley De Santis' awkward loner) all find themselves affected, in one way or another, by the epicenter of it all: Miss Anna Madrigal of 28 Barbary Lane (played with tranquil aplomb by the devoted, maternal Olympia Dukakis).

With all of these beings (and even the era itself) in transition, Madrigal becomes their guardian, their friend, and their icon- representing the human ability to break free of one's self-imposed limitations and redefine oneself, to build a community. There’s a spiritual element to it all, with Madrigal’s parable of lost Atlantis and her desire to congregate like-minded individuals, but there’s a profound goofiness as well, from Parker Posey’s Snoopy-obsessed party girl:

to Karen Black as herself (at a fat farm!) to Paul Bartel & Ian McKellen as the height of snobbery:

The height of snobbery and loving it.

to Mary Kay Place’s ludicrous roundtable.


The work explodes with these juxtapositions- profundity and disco; tourist hotspots and dubious holes-in-the-wall; dance competitions and suicide hotlines; epochal, life-changing events and casual conversations struck up at the supermaket; serious, kitchen-sink drama and an atmosphere that occasionally smacks of VERTIGO fused with ALICE IN WONDERLAND – and, as such, it's a true portrait of the city and a tribute to those irresistable souls who inhabit it…

-Sean Gill

Junta Juleil's Summer '10 Movie Series
1. HELL IN THE PACIFIC (1968, John Boorman)
2. KUFFS (1992, Bruce A. Evans)
3. THE OUTFIT (1973, John Flynn)

4. FOR Y'UR HEIGHT ONLY (1981, Eddie Nicart)

5. A*P*E (1976, Paul Leder)

6. BLIND FURY (1989, Philip Noyce)
7. HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951, John Farrow)
8. HIGH SCHOOL U.S.A. (1983, Rod Amateau)
9. DR. JEKYLL AND MS. HYDE (1995, David Price)
10. MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997, Clint Eastwood)
11. 1990: BRONX WARRIORS (1982, Enzo G. Castellari)
12. FALLING DOWN (1993, Joel Schumacher)
13. TOURIST TRAP (1979, David Schmoeller)
14. THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1973, Richard Lester)
15. BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986, John Carpenter)
16. TOP GUN (1986, Tony Scott)
17. 48 HRS. (1982, Walter Hill)
18. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (2003, Robert Rodriguez)
19. TALES OF THE CITY (1993, Alastair Reid)
20. ...

Film Review: THE WANDERERS (1979, Philip Kaufman)

Stars: 5 of 5.
Running Time: 117 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Karen Allen, Olympia Dukakis, Linda Manz (DAYS OF HEAVEN, GUMMO), Val Avery (FACES, THE ANDERSON TAPES, SHARKY'S MACHINE), Erland van Lidth (Dynamo in THE RUNNING MAN and Fatty in ALONE IN THE DARK), Ken Wahl (FORT APACHE THE BRONX), Ken Foree (the lead black cop in the original DAWN OF THE DEAD).
Tag-lines: "It's 1963. Meet The Wanderers... They were the hottest guys in town."
Best one-liner(s): "It's a shame to see kids beatin' each other's brains out, especially when there's no financial advantage."

THE WANDERERS is quite an achievement. It continually combines disparate elements and moods with an epic, exquisitely flowing narrative: it's a gang movie, it's a coming-of-age drama, it's a sentimental comedy, and it's a serious art film.

It owes most of its success to Philip Kaufman's direction and adaptation (the screenplay was co-written with his wife, Rose). Like Oliver Stone, all of Kaufman's films deal with pivotal historical moments in one way or another, but he chooses to focus on the emotional and mystical ramifications of these events: Eastern European turmoil in THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, an intimate look at the Marquis de Sade in QUILLS, the human face of the space program in THE RIGHT STUFF, post-Civil War frustration in THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES (which he adapted), or the hamfisted, lopsided-grinned righteousness the specter of Nazi evil inspires in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (which he co-wrote). THE WANDERERS gets billed as sort of a 1960's-set WARRIORS, lulls you into complacency as an AMERICAN GRAFFITI-esque nostalgia comedy/drama, leaps headfirst into actual gang brutality, and ultimately ends with a reflective air of melancholy. As awesome as they are, the film's not about the endless, red-haired legions of murderous Irish toughs named 'The Ducky Boys.'

It's not about the fantastic, comprehensive soundtrack featuring music from 'The Shirelles,' 'The Four Seasons,' 'The Surfaris,' and a slew of others. It's not about the Baldies, the Wongs, gang brawls, football games, strip poker, or fishing for babes. It's about a mistake made by our hero before the the opening credits even roll, an error that cements his status in a culture of stagnancy, anchoring him to a world in decline, condemning him only to be a spectator and not a participant in the exciting and tumultuous youth movement of the 60's that is just beginning to raise its free-spirited head at the film's close. Five sobering stars.

-Sean Gill