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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 01/31/92 -- Vol. 10, No. 31
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
02/19 LZ: V IS FOR VENDETTTA by Alan Moore and David Lloyd (Dystopic
Graphic Novels)
03/11 LZ: THE FUTUROLOGICAL CONGRESS by Stanislaw Lem (Who defines
reality?)
04/01 THE FINAL DANGEROUS VISIONS by Harlan Ellison (ed.) (Interminable SF)
04/22 LZ: WONDERFUL LIFE by Stephen Jay Gould (Science non-fiction as a
source of ideas)
05/13 LZ: ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER by James Morrow (Books we heard are
very good)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
02/08 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Ginjer
Buchanan (Ace Books editor) (phone 201-933-2724 for
details) (Saturday)
02/15 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
03/30 Hugo Nomination Forms due
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 908-576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Rebecca Schoenfeld HO 2K-430 908-949-6122 homxb!btfsd
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 mtfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. The next Leeperhouse film fest will be different in several
ways. First, it will be on a Sunday afternoon, February 9.
Second, I will not be running the fest. I have never even seen the
films to be shown. The festival name and the equipment are being
borrowed by Dale Skran, who provides us with the following
announcement:
THE MT VOID Page 2
An introduction to Japanese animation:
1. Japanese animation is not for little kids (much of it,
anyway). Expect violence and sex on at least the level of an
American R-rated movie.
2. The "animation" is not up to the best Disney standard. This
means that facial motion, etc. is not always highly
expressive. However, the artwork is to a much higher
standard than typically seen in American animation,
especially as it relates to technology.
3. For some reason I do not understand, all characters,
especially women, are drawn with abnormally large eyes.
4. Characters often appear to be white Europeans even if the
story is set in Japan.
5. Exaggeration of facial expression and emotion is common.
6. Perspective is frequently distorted to enhance an effect or
scene.
Most importantly to the SF fans, while American animation focuses
on "Smurfs" and other silliness, Japanese animators are producing
Cyberpunk and ESPer adventures. One such series shown recently at
WORLDCON is titled "Bubble Gum Crisis." I have recently purchased
the first five episodes of the series, and propose showing them at
the newly renovated Leeperhouse Sunday, February 9th from 1-5 PM.
If the concept of a team of female mercenaries using powered suits
operating in a future Mega-Tokyo, and frequently in opposition to
immense heartless corporations(and splinter groups within them)
against a background of detailed technology, violent military
robots, vampiric androids, ultra-souped up motorcycles, and rock-
n-roll seems interesting, by all means come. I'm not saying this
is a major artistic achievement. I am saying it beats the hell out
of the Smurfs.
REPEAT WARNING: VIOLENCE, BRIEF NUDITY, STRONG LANGUAGE, MORE
VIOLENCE. Will never be seen on network TV, etc. I am emphasizing
this not because I think anything in this series is stomach-
turning, but because "animation" means "for little kids" in the
minds of Americans while in Japan it seems largely directed at
adults. [-dls]
2. The opinions expressed in the above are those of the author,
Mr. Dale Skran, and do not reflect opinions of the MT VOID, me, or
Evelyn, or even do they reflect reality. My impression was that
Smurfs were a European cartoon, but I do not really know. I do
think he sells short animation from the United States, especially
THE MT VOID Page 3
creative geniuses like the Fleischer Brothers (who created, among
other works, the Superman cartoons that strongly influenced
Japanese animation). Windsor McCay also broke new ground. Some of
Disney is also creative. Some nice American animation shows up
each year at the various Tournees. Then, if one is to include
Canadian animation as "American" some very fine animation indeed
comes from Canada. Not that there is not bad animation from
America but Dale's statement seemed a bit harsh. [-mrl]
3. Okay, people, it is time for this country to batten down for a
storm. I usually have to wrap these stories in some creative
writing. This one is funny and scary enough by itself not to need
embroidery. I will just repeat it. National Public Radio was
discussing the new Akira Kurosawa film about the bombing of
Nagasaki. It is one more case where the Japanese see themselves as
the unwilling victims of the Americans in the Second World War.
The Japanese do not teach in their schools very much about the
causes of the war and have no discussion of whether Japan might
have been in the wrong. (Yes, I know there are people who now want
to reinterpret 1930s politics so that it is the United Sates at
fault. There are few events in the 20th Century--good or bad--that
someone will not attribute to some failing of the American people.)
The report on the film cited a study where high school children
across Japan were asked what the first thing was they thought of
when they thought of World War II. Their response, in overwhelming
numbers, was the atom bomb. They have been trained to think of
themselves as victims of the war and they do not know a whole lot
more about the war. Then a group of students at a Lawrence, Kansas
high school were asked for the first thing they think about when
they think of Japan. The overwhelming response was "Tienanmen
Square." If this issue is to be resolved, it had better happen
soon. In another few years, unilateral intellectual disarmament
will have taken its toll and we will not be able to convince
anyone.
4. There have been a couple of entries in the time-travel contest.
We will probably print the entries in the February 14 issue, so
send in any ideas you have before then. [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
All the progress we have made in philosophy, that is,
all that has been made since the Greeks, is the result
of that methodical skepticism which is the first element
of human freedom.
-- Charles S. Peirce
Something Wicked This Way Comes
January 92's Mini-Reviews by Dale L. Skran Jr.
Copyright 1992 Dale L. Skran Jr.
PICKS
_D_o_w_n _t_h_e _B_r_i_g_h_t _W_a_y by Robert Reed
This is the first book I've read by Mr. Reed, and I hope not the
last. I'm sticking my neck out here, but I think this is Hugo Material.
Every time I say a book is "Hugo Material," it seems to be the kiss of
death, as it was for _N_e_v_e_r_n_e_s_s, _C_o_u_r_t_s_h_i_p _R_i_t_e, and _S_c_h_i_s_m_a_t_r_i_x, but,
once more into the breach.
Reed has written an excellent alternate worlds story. A particular
version of humanity discovers that there are alternative worlds, and
that, with appropriate technical means, one can travel between them
along an artifact they call "the bright way." It apparently connects an
infinite number of alternate worlds, with a "right" and a "left" path
being possible. The "Founders" decide to split into two groups and
follow the "way" in an effort to find the "Makers" who created the
"way." That was millions of years ago.
In those millions of years, thousands of alternative Earths have
been explored and incorporated into the vast scheme of the Founders.
But there are dangers unimaginable, and variants on humanity that pose a
threat to even the most advanced technology.
Plausible in both its characters and its technology, _D_o_w_n _t_h_e
_B_r_i_g_h_t _W_a_y is a major work of SF in 1991. Read it, and nominate it for
the Hugo.
_H_e_a_d_s by Greg Bear
Bear has written another winner here. It is such a pleasure to
read an unpadded short novel that _H_e_a_d_s should almost get the Hugo just
for not being an immense tome. Rather than a cast of hundreds, _H_e_a_d_s
has just five characters you'll remember for quite a while. About a
hundred years in the future, a Lunar family corporation is seeking to
achieve absolute zero. An economical family member decides to purchase
a lot of frozen heads, ship them to the moon, and use experimental
equipment to read their memories, while storing them near the rather
cold absolute zero equipment.
As you might imagine, one of those heads came off a rather
significant person, and things start to get interesting. This is not a
vast and sweeping novel. It is a small novel with a few characters.
Nobody saves the world (indeed, the world is never threatened).
Although a lot of the story involves Lunar politics, the story has a
Skran Reviews January 26, 1992 Page 2
good bit of that old fashioned sense of wonder.
I've heard people rave about this book, and others dismiss it as a
slight work. Read it and make up your own mind.
_C_o_n_s_i_d_e_r _P_h_l_e_b_a_s by Iain M. Banks
This may seem very odd, but I am going to give a favorable review
to a book I haven't actually finished reading. I read to page 291, and
then read the background/epilogue in the back. Banks has certainly
written a worthy piece of SF. _C_o_n_s_i_d_e_r _P_h_l_e_b_a_s follows the adventures
of one Bora Horza Gobuchul, a Changer, and an Idiran agent in their
battle against the Culture. The Culture is what humanity becomes in
several thousand years, and the Idirans a race of alien religious
fanatics. Their war, which spans the Galaxy, has much the flavor of the
Cold War--vast in scope, ruthless, fought over difficult to define
ideological differences.
The technology is plausibly realized, although so advanced that
there is little practical difference between this story and some E. E.
Smith space opera. Banks writes somewhat like David Zindell
(_N_e_v_e_r_n_e_s_s), and the book has an ultra-violent, highly gross middle
section much like that in _N_e_v_e_r_n_e_s_s. However, this is not what stopped
me from finishing the book. Ultimately, there is a cold pointlessness
to the story, which, while realistic, discouraged me, much in the same
fashion as some LeCarre books. I expect to return to this point at some
point to finish the story. Recommended to those who like hard science
SF, cyberpunk, or SF War stories, but _C_o_n_s_i_d_e_r _P_h_l_e_b_a_s rises above
simple categorization. The "Culture" and the "Idirans" are worthy
conceptualizations of possible futures, richly detailed and vastly
interesting. I will be looking for more of Bank's novels.
_M_i_d_s_u_m_m_e_r _C_e_n_t_u_r_y by James Blish
It is sometimes supposed by relatively young SF fans that all
really interesting SF has been composed in a post-Gibsonian era. This
is, of course, nonsense, and a look at Blish's _M_i_d_s_u_m_m_e_r _C_e_n_t_u_r_y proves
a welcome antidote. The tale concerns one Dr. John Martel, who falls
into an advanced electronic telescope, and finds himself, eons later,
sharing a computer with something known only as "Qvant." Thus begins a
truly epic struggle for survival. Humanity has risen and fallen three
times, and now molders away while a race of intelligent birds spread
over the world. Little hope remains, and "Qvant" appears demented.
Without a body, without any knowledge of his environment, or of the
available technology, Martel faces an incredible challenge: to free
himself from the computer, find a body, defeat the Birds, and somehow
start humanity on the upward trail again. Originally written in 1972
(apparently), the _M_i_d_s_u_m_m_e_r _C_e_n_t_u_r_y has aged surprisingly well. I'm not
sure who to recommend this to, but I liked it!
Skran Reviews January 26, 1992 Page 3
FOR THE NARROW INTEREST
_D_e_a_d_s_p_a_w_n (_N_e_c_r_o_s_c_o_p_e _V) by Brian Lumley
Lumley has kept my interest through all five huge volumes of this
multi-tiered pastiche of ERB, vampires, ESP, James Bond, splatter-punk,
and Lovecraftian horror. _D_e_a_d_s_p_a_w_n follows the further adventures of
Harry Keogh, the Necroscope, as he struggles to overcome his vampire
enemies before the vampire within him wins out. Promised in the pages
of _W_e_i_r_d _T_a_l_e_s as "armageddon," Volume V is oddly anti-climactic,
although competent and page-turning. The confrontation between Harry
and his son was a bit of let-down for me, as was the Lumley-ese circular
time-warp ending. Recommended for 1) those who read the first four
volumes, and 2) those who like this sort of thing.
_S_t_r_a_t_a by Terry Pratchett
Described on the jacket as a parody of _R_i_n_g_w_o_r_l_d, _S_t_r_a_t_a seems
mis-described as a "parody." True, it does involve a mixed group of
adventurers exploring an artificial world, but it seems more derivative
than a parody. Pratchett has a few new ideas of his own that make the
fairly short novel worth the effort. Recommended to those who liked
_R_i_n_g_w_o_r_l_d, or any sort of off-beat SF adventure.
_W_a_r _W_o_r_l_d _I_I_I: _S_a_u_r_o_n _D_o_m_i_n_a_t_i_o_n created by Jerry Pournelle
Pournelle returns us again to "Haven," an exceptionally tough place
to live inhabited by an odd collection of colonists that the fleeing
Sauron Supermen decided to pick as a hiding place after they lost the
Secession War. This is a formula that has been used before. The "hell
planet" theme gave us Harrison's "Deathworld" trilogy, and the "mixed
combatants" Pournelle's "Janissaries" series.
The stores are acceptable, written by the likes of Harry
Turtledove, Susan Shwartz, John Dalmas, and Phillip Pournelle (now, who
could he be?). One of my complaints about this series is that although
maps are provided, the maps don't seem to mention many of the important
places in the stories, and this makes them almost impossible to use.
The title seems inapt, since the Saurons never seem to establish
anything most would recognize as a "Dominion." Instead, they seem to be
engaged in a planet-sized cat herding exercise, with the cats putting up
a good fight, as cats often do. In fact, it is so obvious that the
Saurons will eventually lose that you start to feel sorry for them.
Actually, lose is perhaps not the right word. Over time, the altered
genes that make the Saurons such great fighters are getting into the
native Haven population, which gets better at fighting back all the time
while the Sauron technology runs down and down. In the end the planet
will "defeat" the Saurons but the Sauron genes will most likely survive,
and even prosper.
Skran Reviews January 26, 1992 Page 4
Overall, this has been an entertaining series, refreshingly free
from moralizing on Pournelle's part. Recommended to fans of SF war
stories, or combat fiction in general. May be too violent for the faint
of heart.
_W_i_l_d _C_a_r_d_s _V_o_l_u_m_e _I_X: _J_o_k_e_r_t_o_w_n _S_h_u_f_f_l_e edited by George R. R. Martin
Definitely only recommended for those who have read Volume I-VIII!
The series seems to be drifting into morbid and grotesque themes with
the arrival of "bloat." I read it, but my interest is declining.
_T_h_e _F_i_r_e _i_n _H_i_s _H_a_n_d_s by Glen Cook
_W_i_t_h _M_e_r_c_y _T_o_w_a_r_d _N_o_n_e by Glen Cook
These early Cook works set some of the background for the "Dread
Empire" series, including how Haroun and Ragnarson got to be such good
buddies. I read them both, and they have the Cook magic--real people
fighting real wars making real mistakes while being manipulated by real
bastards! Not great books, but entertaining. Recommended for Glen Cook
fans, dark fantasy readers, and those who enjoy magical war stories.
_T_h_e _J_e_h_o_v_a_h _C_o_n_t_r_a_c_t by Victor Koman
This fantasy tale has an intriguing premise. Del Ammo, the world's
best Assassin (he was in on the Kennedy job as a young man) is hired by
a certain Reverend Zack, a television evangelist, to kill God. Del
doesn't believe in God, but as Zack says, "You don't have to believe.
Just assassinate him." Of course, Zack isn't quite what he seems, and
neither is anyone else. Unfortunately, the explosive premise is wasted
with trite fantasy ideas and a fairly obvious ending that doesn't
address many fundamental questions about God/god. Interesting, but
don't put it too high on your list.
_G_o _T_e_l_l _t_h_e _S_p_a_r_t_a_n_s by Jerry Pournelle and S. M. Stirling
This novel continues the story of Falkenberg's Legion in the
CoDominium universe. Reading the other stories/novels is essential
before embarking on this one. Unfortunately, we are not spared the
famous Pournellian moralizing here, although "Spartans" is a workman-
like (workperson-like?) effort. The Legion has decided to make Sparta
its home world, but their enemies are fomenting a rebellion using Mao's
Rules of War. Of course, the highly trained Legion inspires the locals,
educates the dual Monarchs, and kicks butt. A sequel is _s_u_r_e to follow-
--a significant character is in enemy hands at the end of the story.
For a while there, it was starting to look like the CoDominium
wasn't just SF--it _w_a_s _b_e_c_o_m_i_n_g _h_i_s_t_o_r_y. I actually saw a State
Department spokesperson _d_e_n_y that US/Soviet codominium existed (a sure
sign that it was just around the corner)! Now that the Soviet Union is
no more, it seems less likely, but it is probably Pournelle's major,
independent contribution to SF. Now if only he could cut down on the
Skran Reviews January 26, 1992 Page 5
moralizing ....
Recommended to Pournelle, Stirling, and SF War fans.
PANS
_D_a_r_k _M_e_s_s_i_a_h by Martin Caidin
A sequel to _T_h_e _M_e_s_s_i_a_h _S_t_o_n_e, a novel based on the premise of a
"magical stone" that allows the holder to control the mind of those who
are physically nearby, _D_a_r_k _M_e_s_s_i_a_h never really takes off, and then
enters the twilight zone with a silly and hackneyed ending. This series
has an intriguing premise--if only Caidin could stick with it, and leave
the aliens out of the story.
Caidin also has too many bimbos with tight sweaters and manly men
with the blue wrists (blue from the martial arts, of course!). What,
you've never heard of such a thing? Gee, neither have I, and I have a
second-degree black belt in Taekwondo. I didn't finish this and I don't
recommend it at all. I'm not sure who even reads this sort of stuff.
_W_o_l_f _a_n_d _I_r_o_n by Gordon R. Dickson
This book has gotten some excellent press, but round about page 137
I started to lose interest. The tale deals with a mathematician who
survives the collapse of civilization, and then befriends a wolf.
Together, they fight their way across North America to safety. This
should be a pulse-pounding adventure, but comes over as lame and
unrealistic. Recommended only to Dickson and post-holocaust
completists.
FREEJACK
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: _J_a_c_k_a_s_s is more like it.
Violent, ugly, stupid, and boring sci-fi chase film,
purported based on Robert Sheckley's _I_m_m_o_r_t_a_l_i_t_y,
_I_n_c., though actually borrowing just an idea or two.
_F_r_e_e_j_a_c_k exemplifies everything that is going wrong
with current big-budget science fiction films.
Rating: low -2 (-4 to +4).
Robert Sheckley, already known for short stories in 1958 when
he published his first novel. _I_m_m_o_r_t_a_l_i_t_y, _I_n_c. had a science
fiction style but was actually a fantasy story based on the idea
that in some cases the soul does survive when a person dies and
that souls can be transplanted to new bodies. In the novel Thomas
Blaine crashes his car on the New Jersey Turnpike late one night in
the year 1958 and finds his soul transplanted into an unfamiliar
body in the year 2110. If all this sounds familiar, you did _n_o_t get
it from seeing the new supposed film version _F_r_e_e_j_a_c_k. In fact,
there is only an idea or two that Freejack may have borrowed from
_I_m_m_o_r_t_a_l_i_t_y, _I_n_c. and a few more borrowed, uncredited, from John
Varley's _M_i_l_l_e_n_n_i_u_m (or perhaps the film version of that story).
But, okay, so _F_r_e_e_j_a_c_k is not a good adaptation. Is it at least a
good movie? And the answer is "No, _F_r_e_e_j_a_c_k is a _t_e_r_r_i_b_l_e movie."
Cut off about ten minutes at each end and the film is one long chase
story set on a futuristic background that makes no sense for any
year as near as its 2009.
Emelio Estevez plays Alex Furlong, a race car driver who is
plucked from a fiery crash and thrown into the super-violent and
incredibly run-down world of 2009. It seems that there is a huge
corporation that wants Furlong's body. His mind they have no use
for. And for about the next ninety minutes you won't need your mind
either. Of course, there is something of a mystery going on in this
future world. But it is the sort of mystery intended to give the
audience the cheap thrill of saying, "Aha! I knew it all along!"
If you are surprised at who is pulling all the strings, perhaps you
deserve this film.
The set direction at best looks like a cheap-jack version of
_B_l_a_d_e_r_u_n_n_e_r, and at times looks as if they had just filmed in any
slum they could find. This view of the world eighteen years hence
is neither original nor imaginative. _B_l_a_d_e_r_u_n_n_e_r's art director
would look at every object in a scene and redesign just enough to
give you the feeling time had passed. The parking meters would be
completely redesigned, for example. The closer you looked, the more
interesting detail you saw. Not so here. There is no quality in
Freejack January 26, 1992 Page 2
the set design. The equivalent here is redesigning a delivery truck
to make a product placement more evident. Most of the cars of the
future look either like cars of the 1980s, cars of the 1980s with
big fiberglass shells over them to disguise them. One of my pet
peeves is a script that makes calendar mistakes. (There is a number
trick for figuring what days dates fall on.) And any almanac should
have told a scriptwriter who cared that November 23, 2009 falls on a
Monday, not a Thursday. In another scene we meet what is apparently
a homeless man who must eat river rat. It would not be a bad little
detail but for the fact that inside the grungy clothing he has a
neatly trimmed beard and smooth, shaved cheeks.
Casting is another place where the film falls flat. Emelio
Estevez, who has not had a decent film since _T_h_e _B_r_e_a_k_f_a_s_t _C_l_u_b,
just looks too young and does not have the acting power for this
role. Mick Jagger plays Vacendak, a hired killer and the head of a
private security army. There is absolutely nothing about him that
adds anything to Vacendak that was not in the script. The best that
can be said is that he does not detract from the role. We might
expect that, since Jagger has little acting experience. But what is
surprising is that Anthony Hopkins apparently chose just to act his
role as a corporate executive and to put nothing extra in it.
Either director Geoff Murphy did not let Hopkins do much or Hopkins
was just simply uninspired.
Overall, we have a film with no characters and no core. In
their place we have chases and gunfights. The producers didn't even
have the sense to borrow what was good about the novel it claims to
be based on. I give _F_r_e_e_j_a_c_k a low -2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
(The novel has been published as _I_m_m_o_r_t_a_l_i_t_y, _I_n_c. and earlier
in a shorter form as _I_m_m_o_r_t_a_l_i_t_y _D_e_l_i_v_e_r_e_d. It was serialized in
_G_a_l_a_x_y magazine October 1958 to February 1959 under the title _T_i_m_e
_K_i_l_l_e_r. It is currently available in a movie tie-in edition as
_F_r_e_e_j_a_c_k, though the novel itself has no reference to the term
"freejack" nor to jacks of any kind.)
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Fannie Flagg's novel is really
two stories told at the same time. A modern Alabama
woman finds her identity through a relationship with
an older woman who tells her a story of Alabama in
the 1930s. However, neither story has time to be
fully developed. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4).
"Fried Green Tomatoes" is the name for two different recipes.
One is a Southern dish I have never tried but it is reputedly
delicious--it looks a lot like fried eggplant. It is also the name
for a stew or goulash made from pieces of old movies about the
South, and politically correct films about women learning to be
independent. It is sweetened with little bits of comedy thrown in
and there is a dash of bittersweet tragedy. The recipe apparently
calls for two small storylines rather than one big one. This dish
turns out to be palatable, even enjoyable, though a little light for
my taste. Its flavor was just a little over-familiar and it left me
hungry for just a bit more.
The film opens with a truck being dredged from an Alabama river
in the late 1930s. We then flash forward to what may be the present
or what may be a decade or so back. (We do eventually find out why
the truck is important, but it is questionable why we open with that
scene.) Evelyn and Ed Couch (played by Kathy Bates and Gailand
Sartain) find themselves passing through the little town of Whistle
Stop on the way to a nursing home to visit Ed's cantankerous aunt.
(The name "Couch" was chosen, no doubt, because Evelyn and Ed are
each a bit over-stuffed.) AT the nursing home Evelyn meets Ninny
Threadgoode (played by Jessica Tandy) and the two begin to talk.
Ninny tells Evelyn a story of the past in Alabama. On repeated
visits that story becomes much longer and, in fact, it is the main
body of the film. In flashback we see the story of the life-long
friendship of Idgie Threadgoode (played by Mary Stuart Masterson)
and Ruth Jamison (played by Mary-Louise Parker). The story develops
as parallel plots. One plot is that of Evelyn finding her own
identity and getting past her late-mid-life crisis. The other is
the story of Idgie and Ruth, two liberated women who run the Whistle
Stop Cafe in the small Alabama town of Whistle Stop. The story is
nothing greatly original. Not too surprisingly, the issue of racism
rears its pointed, hooded head. There is a murder subplot and a lot
of human drama in the story of the two close friends. Meanwhile,
Evelyn tries to find herself through a "Total Womanhood" program,
but finally finds identity through Idgie's and Ruth's liberated
example. The film is a sort of adult _S_o_n_g _o_f _t_h_e _S_o_u_t_h.
Fried Green Tomatoes January 25, 1992 Page 2
Of course the film is not too adult. In Fannie Flagg's
original novel, _F_r_i_e_d _G_r_e_e_n _T_o_m_a_t_o_e_s _a_t _t_h_e _W_h_i_s_t_l_e _S_t_o_p _C_a_f_e, Idgie
and Ruth have a lesbian relationship. In the screenplay by director
Jon Avnet and Fannie Flagg, the relationship is down-played and left
as a matter for speculation. The real problem with the screenplay
is that _t_o_o _m_u_c_h must have been left out. Spreading the film's 130
minutes between two stories does not leave sufficient time to give
either a satisfying telling. This was a light entertaining novel
with humorous vignettes lampooning the South, much as we would
expect from comedian Flagg, but also with some substance,
particularly in the flashbacks. The vignettes in Evelyn's story
just take too much time from what substance there might have been in
the flashback. I rate _F_r_i_e_d _G_r_e_e_n _T_o_m_a_t_o_e_s a high +1 on the -4 to
+4 scale.