HITCHCOCK IS GUILTY
Guilty of committing art: that is Dave Kehr’s verdict on the five Alfred Hitchcock films recently rereleased in theaters. In each film, Kehr avers, an artistic metaphor applies: literature in Rope, photography in The Trouble With Harry, music in The Man Who Knew Too Much, and the cinema itself in Vertigo. A provocative view of a still-mysterious filmmaker
JOE DANTE’S GREMLINS
A graduate of the Roger Corman Night School, and now Associated Professor at Spielberg U., director Joe Dante comes of age with his deliciously malicious new horror movie. David Chute previews Gremlins, re-views Dante’s early work, and talks with the young cineaste
MIDSECTION: COMERS
Bang! Bang! Bang! Spring ’84 has spun hit after hit after teenpic hit. So we now focus on a bunch of young comers: the new-boy network of USC cinema graduates from George Lucas to Robert Zemeckis (article by Stephen Farber); Ron Howard, who segued from playing Opie and Richie on sitcom TV to helming the metahit Splash (interview by Todd McCarthy); and the latest generation of comic writers, like John Hughes of Sixteen Candles (by Jack Barth)
DAN MELNICK CUTS LOOSE
Dan Melnick’s life, everyone says, is a work of modern art. Now, for once, he has a picture that is a big hit, too: Footloose. Our David Thomson tailed Melnick on the movie’s opening weekend and got the story
JOURNALS
Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, and a cast of Canadian cut-ups make Ghostbusters, and Graham Yost is there. In Budapest, William Wolf tracks a revolution in Socialist filmmaking
DEMME TALKS!
After swinging off Swing Shift, Jonathan Demme shot some Talking Heads. Michael Sragow approves
PUH-LEASE, ACADEMY
Oscar Night ’84 reaffirmed the verities of mom, patriotism, and Ingmar Bergman. Marcia Pally examines Hollywood’s neo-conservatism, and we report on our experts’ forecasts
BLAME IT ON RIO
…for making Brazilian cinema hard to ignore. Dan Yakir talks with directors Carlos Diegues, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and Hector Babenco about Brazil’s past and promise
PARIS, TEXAS DIARY
A while back, Kit Carson got an SOS from Wim Wenders to help him save a movie. Here’s the inside story
THREE FOR THE SHOW
A trio of festivals: Harlan Kennedy from Berlin, a zoo parade of personal cinema; John Engstrom from Montreal, where Super 8-ers met to midwife an art form; and Jonathan Rosenbaum from the lush avant-garden of Rotterdam
ORBITS: WILLIAM POWELL
In more than 30 years and 85 movies (The Thin Man was his 60th!), William Powell embodied dipsomaniac elegance with a smooth voice and an easy grace. He died in March at 91, and Carrie Rickey pays tribute
TELEVISION: DOCTOR WHO
Since 1963, this British sci-fi series has proved itself a sent-up Star Trek for smart kids and adults. Now it’s a syndicated hit in the U.S. Lloyd Rose limns its tacky virtues
BACK PAGE: Quiz #7
