RARA-AVIS: Out of Sight and other tangents

BaxDeal@aol.com
Wed, 22 Jul 1998 20:18:01 EDT enjoyed the picture more than the novel, which felt padded to me, and written
as if Dutch was on auto-pilot. while Soderbergh did a fine job directing,
(particularly liked his freeze frames), thought all the actors brought a lot
to the table, including the much maligned George Clooney, and especially
Jennifer Lopez and Don Cheadle. adapter Scott Frank made an interesting
contribution in adding Albert Brooks' character, who is absentee in the book.
also enjoyed Michael Keaton's unbilled cameo reprisal of Ray Nicolette from
Tarantino's Jackie Brown.

the latter film, IMHO, while a bit overindulgent of the actors, is underrated
and quite restrained for Tarantino.

to me, the biggest botch of what seemed a slamdunk Leonard novel is Abel
Ferrara's version of Cat Chaser. one would think as hardboiled a sensibility
as Ferrara would have handled the material a bit more deftly. worth renting
the unrated version however, to see just how courageous a performance the game
Kelly McGillis gave. warning: scene where gangster husband rapes her with a
gun may be difficult for some to watch. most inexplicable is 3rd person voice
over by what sounds like Peter Boyle, who doesn't even appear in the flick.
Ferrara's NC-17 rated Bad Lieutenant and Dangerous Game are much more
representative works and quite audacious.

Anthony Dennison, who some may remember as Crime Story's Ray Luca, holds the
option on James Ellroy's Dick Contino's Blues, and has penned his own
adaptation. Dennison of course is interested in portraying the musician, but
says he'll step aside for the right production. 10 years ago, who'da thought
Dennis Farina would become the bigger star?

John Lau
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