THE SILVER SCREEN

Jack's Back: low budget sleeper, tightly plotted murder mystery

by John Runyan

Jack's Back

directed by Rowdy Herrington (now playing at University Cinemas, and other theaters)

Jack's Back is what sounds like a romantic comedy about an amicable divorce, marketed as a slasher film, though it is really tightly plotted murder mystery. Scripted and directed by Rowdy Herrington and produced by Caspian Elwes (two veteran film technicians), Jack's Back could be their big break since word-of-mouth about this interesting low budget sleeper continues to spread.

All I feel safe saying, concerning the plot, is Jack has something to do with identical twins, psychic dreams, hypnosis, a killer with a medical bag, an angry former army medic, a reactionary intern, a stern medical director of a free clinic, a spaced-out medical student. a doctor of psychiatry, a hanging, a knifing, one gory scene of dead prostitute, and the obligatory potential-cum-love interest-nurse (though she's uncommonly smart).

Unfortunately, the film's structure hangs on an exploitation-type story about a series of prostitute murders, and the only halfway substantial woman involved does get to run around in her underwear. Are victimized women what Hollywood needs to market new filmmakers?

Perhaps the subplot about a contemporary murderer recreating Jack the Ripper's crimes exactly as they happened, 100 years to the day, was the gimmick needed to get Jack's Back made. This sensationalistic ploy may mistakenly attract Friday the 13th fans while keeping its "whodunit" audience away. The majority of Jack's running time works hard to de-emphasize these intrusive elements of mass-murders and women victims. This cliche-breaking storyline sets the precedent for Jack never appear ing to be quite (or who) it seems.

Though a thick atmosphere permeates Jack's Back, I was also vaguely disturbed that this dark and claustrophic film seemed so muted. Even extended conversations tended to be subdued slowing down the stream of new twistsand-turns.

A very softspoken James Spader (known for supporting roles in Mannequin, Pretty In Pink, Baby Boom, and Wall Street), in dual roles, perpetuates a fuzzy or unclean mood. Spader smoulders (like a young Christopher Walken) instead of grabbing you by the throat. He

James Spader

is enigmatic enough, however, to make you believe he could be a former mental patient and not the shoe store clerk he claims to be.

Cynthia Gibbs' nurse character ends up being boring next to Spader, and they don't share much in the way of chemistry. A weightlifting intern (Rex Ryon) is much more exciting (even if he doesn't have any love scenes with Spader), but then Ryon's is a physical role without much dialogue.

Dialogue tended to wimp out, but I was taken by surprise by at least a few erratic lines. Unusual comments helped to restore occasional flagging enthusiasm: Spader opens a conversation with Gibb by asking "What kind of pharmaceuticals?" (how romantic!) are kept in the clinic where she works; a pregnant prostitute asks her intended abortionist if he will "take a check?" (VISA, MasterCard?); a police expert includes in his description of the Jack-the-Ripper wannabe that 'Jack' "practices safe sex by using pre-lubricated Trojans."

The serious thriller Jack's Back isn't as perfect a debut film as Coen's black comedy Blood Simple, but for jaded filmgoers, it does offer some very welcome twists. And this is the best usage of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" since Sid and Nancy. Jack's BAck is also the most inventive Jack the Ripper movie since Murder By Decree and Time After Time. The timing for marketing this film is tight with overpowering competition from up 'n' coming summer blockbusters and the deluge of holdovers from the Seattle International Film Festival, but the splitsecond timing evident when the action gets rolling will keep your imagination working overtime.

Several hundred Harley Davidson motorcyclists hooting & hollering

Sylvester Stallone.

by Alan Neff

Rambo III

directed by Peter Macdonald

(at many theaters)

Photo by Dave Friedman

of the screen Sylvester Stallone is back, in what else, Rambo III. His emotional expressions run the gamut from sullen to sullen; the plot has something to do with the good guys rescuing Richard Crenna (Rambo's Green Beret comrade from the Vietnam War) from Russian hoodlums in Afghanistan using enough firepower to bake plenty of cookies. When a thermonuclear missle grazes Stallone, Crenna says, deadpan, "Gee, that was a close one, Rambo."

At an advance promotional and press screening I sat with several hundred Harley Davidson motorcyclists, and they hooted and hollered for Rambo, a.k.a. Rocky, at appropriate moments. Don't they know that in true life their macho hero evaded the Vietnam War draft by migrating to Switzerland for a few years, where he was a calisthenics

That ditzy, muscle-bound masochist instructor?

Midnight and Beyond

Midnight movies. at the Broadway Theater. Friday and Saturday nights. $3 admission.

From Beyond, May 27-28: From director Stuart Gordon and the same demented team that brought you Re-Animator. When the brilliant-but-mad Dr. Pretorious is found headless in his laboratory, a beautiful shrink undertakes to find out just what happened. You know somebody's in trouble when she starts fooling around with his latest invention, the Resonator, designed to excite the pineal gland that large, asparagus-shaped organ in the center of your forehead that allows you to see into the sixth dimension. Well, let's see if yours can take the stimulation!

Strait-Jacket, June 3-4: Just out of prison for axing her faithless husband, Joan Crawford is looking forward to a peaceful reunion with her daughter at home. But their brief tranquility is shattered when someone starts chopping again. Made shortly after Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, this is one of Crawford's campiest and most outrageous features. Bloody good fun.

"Sebastiane."

Sebastiane, June 10-11: The naked truth about a saint? When handsome soldier Sebastiane refuses the advances of his captain, he becomes the target for all kinds of abuse. Director Jarman (Caravaggio) walks a fine line somewhere between art and daring, fetishistic fantasy. The ancient world hasn't shown such Gay abandon since Fellini's Satyricon. Warning: excessive male nudity!

Near Dark, June 17-18: This is one of the most praised and least seen horror films of the past few years. Written by Eric Red (The Hitcher) and directed by Kathyrn Bigelow (The Loveless), Near Dark is part horror-shocker, part road movie, part love story. When an innocent farm boy falls in love with a sexy vampire girl, two things are for sure: their families won't get along and blood will flow! Violent, haunting, and blackly hilarious, this is a must-see for hip horror fans. With music by Tangerine Dream.

Section 2, May 27, 1988

R PLACE

A Seattle Pub

SUNDAY, MAY 29 8PM

Live impersonations of Bette Davis, Mae West, Joan Rivers, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, and many more

Tony Williams (Don Rickles in A Dress) direct from Las Vegas presents the FABULOUS FAKE

All proceeds to benefit The Multiple Sclerosis Society $3

OPEN MONDAY MEMORIAL DAY

SATURDAY, JUNE 11

Dance to the Sounds of RUMORS OF THE BIG WAVE

Don't Forget Lady's Night every Monday at 8pm Free pool Tuesday at 8pm

Make it your place. 706 E. Pike St. 322-8828

HOURS Daily 1 p.m. -2 a.m.

Seattle Ga