‘Yentl’ — even better at home

Press, 12 November 1985, Page 20

‘Yentl’ — even better at home

By

GRAHAM PARKER

and AVENE FLANNERY

YENTL Barbra Streisand, Mandy Patinkin, Amy Irving Warner 133 min PG 1983 (Stereo) This musical drama just has to be one of the most rewarding experiences of the year. Directing the film herself, from a script she co-wrote, Streisand is superb in all areas. Based on a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, the story is one of a young Jewish woman living in Eastern Europe in 1904. Denied the right to enter the world of religious study because of her sex, she disguises herself as a man with intriguing consequences. Yentl, posing as Anshel, falls in love with a fellow student, Avigdor (Patinkin). Avigdor is in love with Haddass (Amy Irving) who, in turn, falls in love with Anshel and the theme of bi-sexual possibilities is beautifully handled. The acting is sensitive and convincing, the score deserves the Oscar it won and the whole production gels to perfection. The quality is very good and the intimacy of the small screen adds depth to a movie which will linger in the memory. THE END Burt Reynolds, Dorn Deluise, Sally Field Warner 96min M 1978

A moment please while we wipe the last of. the tears of mirth away — this farce really is the End and well worth searching out. When salesman Sonny Lawson (Reynolds) finds out that he is dying he decides to be very brave and tell no-one, but soon changes his mind. He pays “last visits” to all his loved ones and his ex-wife before deciding to end it all. When his attempt at suicide is thwarted, he ends in a sanitorium where he pals up with Maron, a paranoid schizophrenic played to achingly funny perfection by Dom Deluise. Maron gives Sonny all the help and encouragement possible (with hilarious results) before Sonny makes his dying confessions to a young priest (Bobby Benson).

There are also some delightful cameo performances along the way in this well paced rendering of a clever script from Jerry Benson. It is a very good example of black comedy at its best, with witty oneliners delivered with flair and controlled direction by Reynolds. MISUNDERSTOOD Gene Hackman, Henry Thomas, Rip Torn k-Tel SOmin G 1983 Written, cast and designed for the younger audience, this funny adventure

story is proving a durable favourite which children seem to go back to time and again.

A group of young riders find some walkie-talkie radios which a very inept gang of bank-robbers need for their next job, so the chase is really on. That, basically, is the whole story, but the stunts and humour are well done and there is nothing in. the film for parents to be concerned about — a refreshing change in itself.