Purple Hearts
Purple Hearts
By Cesare A.X. Syjuco [Video Troll]
Published in: The Manila Times, September 28, 1987
THE pinings of the human heart are not nearly confined to conventional romance, and in no other contemporary medium is this best expressed than in cinema. The great Chaplin essayed the role of the social misfit, touching mature audiences everywhere with his portrayals of the hobo prince battling irony and the right to default. Here are some rentable video titles for general patronage, each outstanding in its own right:
Saving Grace – Pope Leo XIV is emotionally distraught. The affairs of state at the Vatican keep him away from his flock and much like some over-dressed turkey partitioned weeks in advance. When a deaf-mute girl wanders through his security cordon with an urgent plea for a parish priest to be sent to her remote Italian village, Leo decides to go himself, albeit disguised by a beard and shabby clothes.
Although generally classified as a comedy, this is probably one of the best light-hearted situational dramas in recent memory, and makes for outstanding family viewing. Tom Conti stars as Pope Leo.
Long Gone – American men can love baseball more than life itself. William Petersen is Cecil “Stud” Cantrell, a minor league hometown hero doubling as pitcher-manager of the Tampinco Sogies. Dermot Mulroney is Jamie Weeks, teen heartthrob, second baseman, and Cantrell’s young prodigy on and off the playing field. Larry Riley is Joe Louis Brown, a black oakie whose homerun magic gives the Sogies their first-ever crack at a championship pennant. The comraderie and machismo gets them through the long nights in between games – drinking, swearing, whoring, and of course, shooting the proverbial bull. Nice period touches add considerable charm to this 1987 movie set in the mid-50's, which also stars Virginia Madsen and Katy Boyer.
The Boy Who Could Fly – Everyone at school thinks Eric’s a fruitcake, and who can blame them? Struck dumb at an early age by the sudden death of his parents in an airline mishap, he now spends his time simulating flight patterns while perched on a rooftop with his outstretched arms for wings, but pretty Milly thinks there’s more to Eric than meets the eye, and the exhilarating climax to this 1986 contemporary fantasy by Nick Castle eventually proves her right. Stars Lucy Deakins, Jay Underwood, Bonnie Bedelia and Colleen Dewhurst. A family must-see!
On The Edge – The athletics underdog has given us such memorable emotional sagas “The Natural”, “Vision Quest”, “American Anthem”, “The Jericho Mile”, and that classic tearjerker “Ice Castles”. This 1986 film, starring Bruce Dern as a legendary marathon runner staging a dramatic comeback at age 44, ranks along with the best of them. Sober cinematography and a superb soundtrack transcend a predictable storyline and Dern's irrepressible twang for still another rousing finish. The late John Marley also stars in what is probably the last of his many supporting roles on screen.
Time After Time – By Jove, the English can be engaging! And human hearts do beat and break behind that stiff exterior. Mummy’s gone and so is Daddy. But their children – all grown past middle age and barely surviving off the fat of the land and their pensions – are frozen in a time warp, living their days together on the family estate in pretty much the same way as before. Now who should drop in unannounced but their estranged cousin Laida, whose childhood memories of summers spent in the old house include her seduction of dear old Dad? This 1987 BBC production starring Sir John Gielgud is outstanding in sensitivity and sociological insight, and at any rate, often appears too glaringly human to be British. Thank God for small favors!
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Cesare A.X. Syjuco, “Purple Hearts” (page 1 of 1), The Manila Times, September 28, 1987
