Then NARC started to be shown around town to some Hollywood A-list types and began picking up heat. Tom Cruise saw it last spring sometime and talked Paramount Pictures into releasing it. William Freidkin (the husband of Paramount honcho Sherry Lansing), Dustin Hoffman, and Warren Beatty all saw and liked it. Harrison Ford liked it so much he decided to pair with Carnahan on a hardball flick called A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, which starts shooting in February.

All this was pointed out by a recent N.Y. TIMES article, which began by repeating the old joke about agent #1 asking agent #2 what he thinks of a new script that just came in, and agent #2 saying he doesn't know what to say because he hasn't yet spoken to anyone else who's read it. In tracking the growing popularity and support of NARC among the Hollywood elite, the TIMES piece was essentially an illustration of this pack mentality.

Don't get me wrong. NARC is a strong, gripping, hard-hitting noir. But it would hardly be the recipient of a year-end, potential Oscar nomination campaign by Paramount Pictures if Cruise hadn't gotten behind it like he did. Thank fortune for Carnahan we all have a DNA-enforced tendency to show obeisance before power.

Chicago Downshift

I knew it would happen sooner or later, but not this soon.

Following last week's advance showing of Rob Marshall's CHICAGO (Miramax, 12.27), I'm picking up indications of a certain backlash reaction. Nothing too sour -- just a few mezzo-mezzo, lower-energy responses to this big-screen version of Bob Fosse's stage musical. This in comparison to the near-euphoric reactions I passed along on October 7th ago after speaking to some long-lead journos who'd been given an early look-see.

The first wave was joyful (one guy who'd seen a recent stage revival of CHICAGO said he "really liked it" and called it "a lot of fun to watch," and a Manhattan editor said she found it "incredibly enjoyable"), but this second wave is more in the vein of "It's all right" or "It's not that great."

This harkens back to a graph from my 10.7 piece which read, in part, "The tone of the film, according to all descriptions, is glossily, unregenerately cynical. Two viewers I spoke to were pretty much delighted with this; one less so. The dissenter, who otherwise admires CHICAGO in most respects, observes that the film 'has no heart.' If this last reaction gets around, CHICAGO could be in for some difficulties."

C'mon, Arnon...

As a prelude to today's Most Wanted DVD's box I'm passing along some news I'm hearing about the Criterion Collection and two distinctive Robert De Niro films -- The King of Comedy ('82, d: Martin Scorsese) and Once Upon a Time in America ('84, d: Sergio Leone). Criterion, widely respected for its distinguished DVD presentations of first-rate titles, wants to get to work on a pair of special-edition DVD's of Comedy and America that would boast first-rate transfers and all kinds of bells and whistles.

But there's a problem in the form of producer Arnon Milchan, who apparently owns the negatives and most of the paper on these films. Milchan, I'm told, is refusing to sell the DVD rights to Criterion despite their having made a very handsome offer. There's also the prestige payoff down the road of having these excellent films remastered and memorialized by a company that knows how. "There's virtually no downside to Milchan letting this happen," a source contends. "His position doesn't make any sense."

Milchan's distribution chief Roy Matalon says New Regency "currently [has] existing long-term deals in place with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. that will [result in] these studios releasing these two titles on DVD shortly. While we're appreciative of Criterion's excellence in producing quality DVD's, we're extremely satisfied with the quality and distribution [of DVD's] from these two prestigious studios."

Please keep those DVD suggestions coming. I'm updating a master list of all the proposed titles as I go along; I'll try to include it as a link starting next week. "Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Double Life of Véronique, which I believe Miramax now owns (Paramount released it on VHS a few years ago, but I've heard the rights reverted to Mira max this summer). I just read that Kieslowski's other masterpieces, the Three Colors trilogy, will be out next March on DVD, so hopefully Véronique will follow." -- Michael A. Weintraub , Stockholm, Sweden "I've been waiting and waiting for a DVD of Robert Altman's masterpiece Short Cuts. I would love to hear a full-length commentary from Altman about the process of taking Raymond Carver's fantastic stories and adapting them to film. I need this DVD...now!" -- Joe Brogan "A big, beautiful, special edition DVD of Arthur Penn's Little Big Man. Let's get a commentary track from Penn, for sure! And Dustin would be swell too." -- Drew Kerr "The Awful Truth ('37, d: Leo McCarey, w/ Grant, Dunne, Bellamy); Bringing Up Baby ('38, d: Howard Hawks, w/ Grant, Hepburn, Ruggles); Croupier (d: Mike Hodges -- Some kind of British/Canadian DVD has reportedly been available for over a year, but what about a U.S. special edition with commentary, etc.?); Hobson's Choice ('53, d: David Lean, w/ Laughton, Mills, Brenda de Banzie); Laura ('44, d: Otto Preminger, w/ Andrews, Tierney, Webb, Price); Letter From an Unknown Woman ('48, d: Max Ophuls, W/ Fontaine, Jourdan, Christians); Persona ('66, d: Ingmar Bergman, w/ Ullman, Andersson) -- Michael Adams, South Orange, NJ "I saw your call for a DVD of King of Kings but how about more films by the great Nicholas Ray? In a Lonely Place, Bigger Than Life, and Johnny Guitar for starters. -- John Noll "How about Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1967)? As far as I know, this classic title is a hassle to find even on VHS. (There's a copy for sale on Amazon.com, but it's used and the seller is asking asking $100!). No other film is more currently pertinent to current U.S. foreign policy, which makes it more of a tragedy how few people have the opportunity to see it. -- Pete Mackenzie, graduate student at Columbia, NYC. "Arthur Penn's The Chase ('66), written by Lillian Hellman from a book by Horton Foote w/ Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford (a.k.a., "Bubber"), Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, E. G. Marshall, and Martha Hyer, among others. I'm envisioning a two-disc set, containing both the theatrical release and Penn's original cut, restoring scenes and putting the rest in Penn's prefer red order. I believe that Columbia still owns the film. "And The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes -- one of my favorite Wilder films and one of his most underrated. Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely are one of the better Holmes-Watson pairings, and the Wilder-Izzy Diamond script is a cunning, clever homage to the Holmes legend. MGM may be planning a disc of it at some point, but what we'd really like is for the company to restore the film by finding the deleted footage and releasing it as Wilder planned, as a longish roadshow picture." -- D.K. Holm " Scarecrow ('73, d: Jerry Schatzberg, w/ Pacino and Hackman); Jean Luc Godard's Weekend ('68); John Boorman's Point Blank ('67, w/ Marvin, Dickinson, Vernon, Wynn); Robert Altman's California Split ('73, w/ Gould, Segal); To Live and Die in L.A. ('85, d: William Friedkin, w/ Petersen, Pankow); Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut ('72, w/ Marvin, Hackman, Tompkins, Spacek); Les Blank's Burden of Dreams ('82, about making of Fitzcarraldo); Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia ('74, d: Sam Peckinpah, w/ Oates, Webber, Young, Vega).-- Rob Grace, W.R.D. Entertainment, Inc. Postscript: Steven R. Silver informs that MGM Home Video released a Zulu DVD last month. It's one of the company's bare bones (no extras except a trailer), low-cost series of 50's and 60's action films including titles such as The Vikings, Cast a Giant Shadow, Khartoum and The Devil's Brigade.

Winona Wrap-Up

I've been listening to the sounds of social resentment on radio talk shows since Winona Ryder's guilty verdict was announced late Wednesday morning. All these blue-collar types with slight vocal impediments are complaining that she won't be donning an orange jumpsuit (the prosecutors aren't looking for prison time) because she's famous, etc. It's hard to argue this. Everybody knows the dice is loaded.

A post-production vet says she knows "people who send their kids to school with [Ryder's attorney Mark] Geragos, and the gossip is that he was more concerned about all the publicity surrounding the messy drug stuff" -- i.e., Winona's alleged possession of this and that. "Plus he didn't make any real money on Susan Whitewater and Nonnie has deep pockets."

I spoke to an agent friend who believes if Ryder hadn't been busted "she might have ended up like River Pheonix. Now she'll do her penance and get clean and probably wind up with a really good part in an indie film next year or the one after, and she'll win an award for it and people will cheer her on. She'll be back on top in two or three years, if not sooner."

Like I said Wednesday, Ryder will probably wind up with probation and maybe agreeing to some therapy. She could've gotten the same deal if she'd just admitted everything to start with and asked for the court's understanding.

What was this trial about besides arrogance (Ryder's, perhaps, but almost certainly that of her attorney, Mark Geragos) and media coverage? To think that a bright, seasoned attorney looked at the damning evidence in this case and said to his also-bright client, "Hey, we can beat this."

This columnist was in the Beverly Hills courtroom, pen and paper in hand, when the female clerk read the verdict Wednesday morning at 11:46 am. And I can tell you that jurist and producer Peter Guber is extremely relieved that it's over.

When Judge Elden Fox informed the twelve jurors and three alternates their service as jurors on this case had been completed, Guber looked at the ceiling (i.e., in the general direction of our Heavenly Father) and silently mouthed what looked to me like the words, "Thank God." (Or "Thank heavens" or "Thank fortune" or "praise Allah"...definitely something along those lines.)

This suggested to me Guber had been through a rough ride during jury deliberations, which lasted only about 5 and 1/2 hours over two days. A lot can happen in that time period. Think of all the heavy stuff that went down between Henry Fonda and all those guys in TWELVE ANGRY MEN (1957), which runs only 96 minutes with credits.

Let me take a wild guess here and interpret Guber's "thank God" as an indication that he might have tried to inhabit the spirit of Henry Fonda in that 1957 Sidney Lumet film (his character was an architect called Davis) when the Ryder jury began their discussions, but he wasn't persuasive enough and it didn't work out and the Lee J. Cobb or Ed Begley figures wound up winning the day.

The other interpretation is that Guber didn't want to be on the jury in the first place because he didn't want to deal with the repercussions of finding Ryder guilty, blah, blah. But if that were true, why did he fib to the judge by saying when he ran Sony there was a company that produced one of her films. A Los Angeles Times reporter quoted him earlier as saying he'd "only made three films with [her]," or words to that effect.

When and if the TV movie about this ridiculous episode gets made, Guber should definitely be a major character. He's the conflicted everyman, the bright but concerned observer who could serve as the audience surrogate. A good screenwriter could wring a lot of emotion out of his character because of the not-good -enough-to-be Henry-Fonda element. (No one is Henry Fonda, of course. If we're truly honest with ourselves we'd admit we're either Jack Warden or Robert Webber.) I see Guber being played by either Mandy Patinkin or maybe Albert Brooks.

Who would play Winona? I'm clueless. Please send in your suggestions. Geragos is an oily-looking guy who wore a slight smirk on his face and walked with a gut-first swagger as he entered the courtroom. Something tells me Sean Penn might be the best choice to play him, but I'm open to suggestions on this one also.

Ryder was sitting alone at the defense side of the crescent-shaped table in courtroom, with three or four rows of journalists staring at her and taking notes. She knew we were all studying her for the slightest trace of anxiety, fear or lethargy...but she was cool and collected and handled herself like a pro. She looked sad but fetching; the look of vulnerability she wore underneath the correctness of her facial expression got to me. I believe in cutting all gifted artists some slack, and she's included.

I've always liked and admired Ryder's performances. I loved the delirious sexual intensity she brought to her part as one of Daniel Day Lewis's accusers in THE CRUCIBLE. It convinced me she understands what madness is -- to be possessed by something other than her own person.

And The Nominations Are...

"How about Rose McGowan as Winona Ryder? She's kind of an edgier version of Winona, plus she's in a TV show, anyway, if the Winona trial drama is made for television.

"I think Gary Oldman would be okay to play Geragos. He can use the same make-up from THE CONTENDER, maybe comb the hair differently. He's a good chameleon and always does great work, but I don't think many people like him, so it's a fair pick. I think Mandy Patinkin is perfect for Guber, but I bet it's offered to Charlie Sheen instead." -- Kathyrn Garcha

"There's only one young lass who could possibly play Winona, and that is the woman I like to call Winona 2K -- Thora Birch. Birch seems to be exuding the same type of dark angst that we often saw from Winona in her earlier film roles, back when she actually made good movies." -- D.M. Barrett

"My vote goes to George Hamilton as Guber, Fisher Stevens as the lawyer, with Harvey Fierstein as Winona. The film should be directed by John Waters (who could also play Judge Fox), with usual usuals (Mink Stole, Patty Hearst, Rikki Lake...a picture of Divine over the court room as the President, etc) as the jury." -- Harlan (last name withheld)

Wells to Harlan: C'mon...be serious!

"Maggie Gyllenhaal." -- Angela Johnson, Focus Features

"I can see Rose McGowan playing Ryder. Of course, she would make her sassy when walking out of the dressing room and telling the guard, 'I'm sorry, but it's research for a movie role.' That would distract him and his story would become plausible: she could be telling him anything and he would nod, totally stunned!" -- Luis M. Cabrera, Puebla, Mexico

"Winona's lawyers should have told everyone that their client had gone nuts based on bad medication and didn't know what she was doing. The director who told Winona to go on a shoplifting spree was the ghost of Jean Genet. Now that Winona's a felon, she has a reason to avoid meeting Suge Knight." -- Joe Corey

"To play Winona in WINONA: LIFTING IN BEVERLY HILLS, how about her little sister from MERMAIDS, Christina Ricci? And maybe Tim Allen as Peter Guber?" -- Bob Shaw, Silicon Valley

Object d'Art

If someone were to take this ridiculously cheesy shot of a scene from FRIDA and blow it up and mount it on the walls of a respectable art gallery, it would sell for $10,000. The artistic mark of distinction is that slightly out-of-focus balcony railing off to the lower left. That and those tiny bits of plaster stuck to the breasts, and the general graininess.

It might be even better if someone were to paint the photo as photo-realism. I just know it's got an interesting "off" quality.

For those who haven't seen FRIDA, this is snapped just as Frida Kahlo (Salma's Hayek) has been freed from a plaster body cast she's had to wear for several months, the result of a ghastly accident on a Mexico City bus. Lowlife rutting beast that I am, it's one of the things about FRIDA I can't shake from my memory. It's not a bad film, and at times is a pretty good one. But the only likely recipient of a year-end award or Oscar nomination will be Alfred Molina, who's excellent as Ms. Kahlo's famed artist husband Diego Rivera, an unregenerate hound.

Tape in Hand

A word of apology to Jonathan Doyle, webmaster of an excellent Jonathan Demme website called Storefront Demme. It was Doyle who alerted me last week to the 1990 SIGHT & SOUND article about Demme's longer, director's cut version of SWING SHIFT, which I wrote about and excerpted in Wednesday's column.

And thanks also to L.A. WEEKLY contributor and film fanatic Paul Cullum for loaning me a beat-up VHS of Demme's cut. My plan is to rent the DVD of the studio version (i.e., the one Hawn and Sylbert had re-written and re-cut) and then watch Demme's version right after this.

Grimy Greasy

"While I generally agree with your thesis about dirty, scuzzy couples not attracting viewers to films, what about Warren Beatty's REDS? I don't know how it did at the box office, but it couldn't have done that poorly. But I know many people who, like me, believe the reunion scene at the train station with a filthy Beatty and disheveled Diane Keaton to be one of the most romantic scenes in the history of movies. To judge by the looks of them, they both must have absolutely reeked." -- Richard Huffman

Wells to Huffman: If you're really in love the unpleasantries of the body don't seem to matter much. If the emotional current is way up in a love scene, my theory doesn't apply.

"I just watched the utterly abysmal THE MUSKETEER, and I was bothered by the griminess of D'Artagnan. He looked more like Grizzly Adams than a romantic musketeer. If someone is going to make a movie that bad, they might as well try to make the actors look sexy so the movie has SOMETHING going for it. -- Shannon Rhoades

"I was thinking about LIFE STINKS with Mel Brooks & Leslie Ann Warren when I was reading your comments. Two homeless people making out...no wonder it bombed." -- Ron Kay

"An interesting nascent theory on the appeal of, to put it delicately, gritty reality in film and its lack of appeal to the moviegoing public. While in general I tend to appreciate a more realistic feel to the period film -- e.g., the sweaty closeness of QUEEN MARGOT, the cluttered, unsan itary look of the streets and some clothing in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE -- I believe you have a valid theory regarding the contemporary audience. With the general public accustomed to a more hygenic environment it may be that the filmmaker must make a conscious decision -- and a very serious one at that -- as to how much realism must be sacrificed to ensure that the story is not diminished by distractions." -- Frederick J. Chiaventone, author of MOON OF BITTER COLD.

Martin

"You asked why Gil Cates dumped Martin for Goldberg last year. Cates didn't produce last year's show -- Laura Ziskin did, so it wasn't up to Cates. Secondly, Martin was otherwise engaged, opening a play elsewhere during that time, so even if Ziskin had offered him the job he'd have refused it (which may have even happened). With Cates back and Ziskin gone, it's no surprise Gil went straight to his first choice, the superior Martin." -- Zach Ralston

Mondo Bondo

"Loved your article on the Bond malaise. These films have been boring for at least 20 years now. There hasn't hasn't been an interesting villain since the Jaws character. Not to mention the DOA plots, rudimentary directing, and rote fireballs.

"The saddest part about being a moviegoer today is trying to grapple with the fact that Hollywood filmmakers regard mainstream audiences as brain-dead sheep. Story -- who cares? Acting - don't be subtle! Innovation -- if it's not a special effect, who needs it? Movies are little more than comfort food for this generation of moviegoers. I'll have a macaroni and cheese with a Pepsi. Can you supersize that?" -- Derrold Purifoy

"I'll tell you a big problem with the Bond films -- Pierce Brosnan. He's completely uninteresting as Bond. Timothy Dalton never should have been dropped, because he had an edge that neither Roger Moore nor Brosnan have. Which is why I can't wait for Clive Owen to take over the role, as is rumored. He's totally cool, and has the sort of cold-blooded style Bond needs." -- Lewis Beale,

Role Playing

I forgot to run a 'Role Playing' feature on Wednesday and last Frdiay's winner is old news, so let's start fresh. Today's cast: Fernando Rey, Bibi Andersson, Vittorio Gassman, David Langton, Nina van Pallandt, Brigitte Fossey, Paul Newman.

What's That Line?

Hunter Tremayne was first to identify Wednesday's dialogue. It's from BOUND (1996), written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski. The bad guy speaking is Joe Pantoliano.

Three uniformed men -- two older, one younger -- have just walked into a tavern in a major U.S. city and are speaking with the bartender. One of the older guys (#2) is African-American. Older guy #1 orders three brewski's. (Warning: No script, transcript or DVD available - I've seen this scene maybe fifteen times in my life and know it cold, but all memory is faulty.)

Bartender: (Unfriendly, glaring) Let's see some I.D.
Older Guy #1: What for?
Bartender: (Gesturing toward younger patron) 'Cause this kid ain't old enough!
Older Guy #1: (disappointed, pleading) C'mon, pal...?
Bartender: Look, [term referring to branch of service], the law says I have to serve this one... (gesturing at older guy #2).
Older Guy #2: I'll tell you what you can do, Mr. Citizen Bartender. You can take them beers and ram 'em up your ass sideways. Can you dig it?

Bartender immediately reaches under the bar.

Older Guy #1: (to bartender) Whoa, there, Sunshine. We're goin', so you can take your hand off that horse cock you've got stashed under the bar.
Bartender: How do you know I ain't got somethin' with a little more bark to it?
Older Guy #1: (Addressing his two friends) Ho, ho, ho! This redneck's talkin' about firearms! (Back to bartender, quickly) Well, I know you ain't got nothin' but wood under there, my man, 'cause I happened to be in here one night when a certain sailor got it laid up the side of his fuckin' head! Whaddaya think about that, redneck?
Bartender: (starting to get scared) Boss would...have my job if he knew I served somebody under age.
Older Guy #1: I'm gonna kick your ass around the block for drill, man!
Bartender: You try anything I'll call the shore patrol.
Older Guy #1: (A little whimper of rage as he pulls out pistol, slams it on the bar) I am the motherfucking shore patrol, motherfucker! I am the motherfucking shore patrol! (gestures to younger guy) Give this man a beer!
Younger Guy: Hey, I don't wanna beer...
Older Guy #1: (turns to this guy, grabs him by coat jacket) You're gonna have a fuckin' beer!