Wag the Dog

100647 / G / US / 1997 / Levinson, Barry / / political satire
Wag the Dog / Häntä heiluttaa koiraa. © New Line Productions. P: Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro, Barry Levinson. D: Barry Levinson. SC: Hilary Henkin, David Mamet - based on the novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart. DP: Robert Richardson. M: Mark Knopfler. CAST: Dustin Hoffman (Stanley Motss), Robert De Niro (Conrad Brean), Anne Heche (Winifred Ames), Woody Harrelson (Sgt. William Schumann), Denis Leary (Fad King), Willie Nelson (Johnny Green). 97’. 1,85. MPAA 35158. R = 17. DIST: Warner Bros. Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 9 March 1998. **** Brilliant political satire about media wizards who can manage any situation when the President’s reputation is at stake. It is 11 days to the election, and the President has been implicated in an intimate encounter with a Girl Scout. The President’s spin doctor (De Niro) hires a major Hollywood producer (Hoffman) to manage an international crisis with Albania where the President has several opportunities to show off. The story is brisk and devilish, and the dialogue is so full of sharp jokes that one has to see the film a few more times to fully enjoy them.

Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah: Straw Dogs (GB 1971). Dustin Hoffman (David Sumner), Susan George (Amy Sumner).

080285 / 18 / GB / 1971 / Peckinpah, Sam / / thriller

Olkikoirat. GB © 1971 ABC Pictures. P: Daniel Melnick. D: Sam Peckinpah. SC: David Goodman - based on the novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon M. Williams [= J. Anderson Black]. DP: John Coquillon. M: Jerry Fielding. CAST: Dustin Hoffman (David Sumner), Susan George (Amy Sumner), David Warner (Henry Niles the village idiot), Del Henney (Charlie Venner), Ken Hutchison (Norman Scutt).

The title comes from Lao-Tse: ”Heaven and Earth are ruthless and treat the countless creatures like straw dogs. The wise man is ruthless and treats people like straw dogs”. The ancient Chinese sacrificed straw dogs instead of living animals.

Filmed on location in the west of England and in Twickenham Film Studios.

Original version 118’. US release version: 113’. TV Nelonen PAL transmission with commercial breaks on Friday, 6 March 1998 (midnight). This was a special in-between cut: subtracting the commercial breaks it would run 115’48” at 24 fps.

Finnish subtitles by Jari Bohm / Pre-Text. Caught on VHS in Helsinki.

*** The Finnish TV premiere of a film which is not available on video because of the Finnish Video Act.

The astromathematician David and his wife Amy seek peace from the turbulence of the U.S. campuses in Amy’s little home village in Cornwall. They soon meet the village idiot and five hellraisers who get dangerous when drunk. The violence escalates – Amy gets raped and the teenager Nadine strangled – and in the final bloodbath the small, peace-loving David has to defend himself. 

”I don’t know my way home”. ”Me neither”. 

This grim tale, no longer scandalous at least in the version transmitted, neither condemns nor glorifies violence as self-defence. Violence is shown as necessary in an extreme situation, but violence is not entertaining: it just depresses and brutalizes everybody who survives.

The film has a Jewish subtext; having had a double Scotch David quips to the priest that Christianity has not been able to put a stop to bloodshed.

Sphere

Barry Levinson: Sphere (US 1998). Dustin Hoffman (Dr. Norman Goodman), Sharon Stone (Beth Halperin), Samuel L. Jackson (Harry Adams).

100640 / 12 / US / 1998 / Levinson, Barry / / science fiction

Sphere / Vieras tulevaisuudesta. © Warner Bros. D: Barry Levinson. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton. DP: Adam Greenberg. ED: Stu Linder. PD: Norman Reynolds. M: Elliot Goldenthal. CAST: Dustin Hoffman (Dr. Norman Goodman), Sharon Stone (Beth Halperin), Samuel L. Jackson (Harry Adams). 133’. Scope. MPAA 35817. Rated PG-13. DIST: Warner Bros. Finland. 35 mm print viewed in Helsinki, VET, Thursday 5 March 1998. *** Intelligent science fiction yarn, one of those following the example of Solaris, as did The Event Horizon and Contact, with better success. The round shape, the time warp and the black hole play a central role in all. They are three variations of the same basic idea. In this one, the unknown and unseen alien has the power to make dreams come true. Barry Levinson is a good actors’ director but not a good action director.

Mad City

100495 / 12 / US / 1997 / Costa-Gavras / / drama

Mad City / Yksinoikeudella. PC: Warner Bros. P: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson. D: Costa-Gavras. SC: Tom Matthews. CAST: John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, Mia Kirshner, Alan Alda, Blythe Danner. 114’. Scope. MPAA 35278. PG-13. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri. DIST: Warner Bros. Finland. Viewed at VET, Helsinki, Wednesday 17 December 1997. *** Viewed at VET after Money Talks, both sharing the premise of mortal danger being exploited as a media attraction. This is a serious contribution in the reliable Costa-Gavras tradition of social issues. The grandfather of all the media films of this type was Billy Wilder’s The Big Carnival (1951). However, Dog Day Afternoon (1975) is the closest prototype to Mad City. It’s a well-known formula, but still a good and valid one, and the screenplay has a lot of wit and good dialogue. Costa-Gavras, then, is to be blamed for the fact that the film is not brilliant but only good enough in spite of the first-rate cast and crew