University Daily Kansan / Thursday, May 4, 1989
Entertainment
Sex-laden film is a 'Scandal'
The Associated Press
In 1989, a rakish young osteopath named Stephen Ward met a lucious teen-ager named Christine Keeler as she pranced half naked in a London nightclub. The union between the sexual Svengali and overripe party girl eventually toppled the British Conservative Party in what headlines around the world screamed as the Profumo Affair.
Michael Caton-Jones' "Scandal" tries to recrue those muddied times for the British in a sex-laden but leaden film that's held together only by John Hurt's strong performance as Stephen Ward.
The story unravels in the electric, carefree early 1960s, a time of Carnaby Street, psychedelic and easy sex — a time like any other time when boys will be boys and girls will be girls. But don't get caught. The movie teases with scenes of naked women and lusting men, but becomes
so tangled in esoteric British characters that one needs a dance card to keep up.
A popular playboy, Ward is regarded as something of a procurer for his wealthy and titled friends. In Christine, he sees a wild but promising young woman, and the playing, could be turned into a lady of grace and sophistication.
He introduces her to his pals — Lord Astor, Peter Rahman — who quickly help keep her in style. She soon attaches the attention of a Soviet naval attaché, Eugene Ivanov, Ward, who thrives on gossip and scandal, is delighted. He's convinced Ivanov is an spy, and sets about to relate all of
Christine's conversations and details of assignations to British Intelligence.
At the same time, she's also taken up with Cabinet Minister John Profumo (Ian McKellen), the secretary of war. He gives her gifts and sends her affectionate notes. Their affair was brief, lasting only a few months.
A year later, Christine angers a drug-dealing former lover who arrives with a gun at the Wimple Mews apartment she shares with Ward and her friend, Mandy Bisee Bridget Ponda, another party girl.
"Scandal!" is really the story of Stephen Ward rather than Christine Keeler or the downfall of Profumo's Conservative Party. It also is the story of a good officer who becomes a member to the dogs. Ultimately, the Profumo scandal itself is far less interesting than Ward, who remains an enigma.
Verdict on 'Criminal Law': Guilty
The Associated Press
Ben Chase is a certified yuppie.
You can tell because he lives in a sterile, high-tech apartment, drives a snazzy car equipped with telephone and chops raw vegetables and cooks them in a wok.
That is the plot of "Criminal Law," which might have been an intriguing study of legal ethics. But despite a
Chase is a criminal lawyer and apparently a good one. At least he was able to win acquittal for a rich young man accused of the atrocious murder of a young woman. The suspect invites Chase to meet him in a public park late at night. Ben encounters not his client but the mutilated and burning corpse of another young woman.
Obviously the client is a serial killer. Now Ben faces a dilemma: Should he again defend the murderer, or should he try, outside the lawyer-client immunity, to get him convicted?
spendlid cast and glossy production, the film seldom rises above the level of a TV crime series.
The script by Mark Kasdan is riddled with holes. The killer's guilt is obvious, yet he is allowed to roam free and menace others. Clues, such as a blowtorch in his room, are overlooked. Some of the lines are clearly intended to scare the lawyer: "Crazy killers are crazy, and she'sonda kill you!"
Nor is "Criminal Law" helped by Martin Campbell's direction. He relies on the loud sound effects and false scares of a slasher movie. There also are such cliches as crosscutting between bouncy sex and the hero's furious attack on a racquet ball court. Even the final shootout is
anticlimactic.
Note: the killer's source of madness appears to be an abbreviation of his mother's profession — she performs abortions. Such misuse of an immense national issue seems irresponsible.
Gary Oldman, impressive as rocker Sid Vicious in "Sid and Nancy," is totally convincing as the Boston lawyer (the film was actually made in Canada). His British background is never apparent.
Kevin Bacon abandons his all-American image and plays the killer with chilling intensity. Tess Harper lends cool intelligence as a police investigator, and Karen Young is devoted as love interest-potential victim.
A Hemdle release, "Criminal Law" was produced by Robert MacLean and Hilyear Heath. Rated R for violence. Running time: 112 minutes.
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