ASH WEDNESDAY

Lovely Liz

ASH WEDNESDAY (1973). Produced by Dominick Dunne. Directed by Larry Peerce. 

Sixtyish Barbara Sawyer (Elizabeth Taylor) fearing that her husband, Mark (Henry Fonda), will leave her for a younger playmate, goes to Switzerland and has cosmetic surgery (graphically depicted) to make her look like -- gorgeous, 41-year-old Liz Taylor! After the bandages come off, Barbara goes to the resort of Cortina, Italy, staying in a fabulous hotel and wearing expensive fashions. She also turns the head of a playboy named Erich (Helmut Berger, again miscast as a heterosexual). Should Barbara succumb to her romantic feelings for Erich, and what will Mark think of her new look when he finally arrives in Cortina. She may learn that her marriage had more problems than her aged appearance ... 

Helmut Berger

With its superficial and one-dimensional characters, one really has to wonder why anyone thought making this movie was a good idea. Sure, lots of people might have loved looking at glamorous Liz (although probably not at distasteful surgery), but an actual  story might have helped. Half of the movie is taken up by scenes at the clinic, and the surgery sequence seems to last as long as the actual operation. When Barbara/Liz puts on her sweeping ultra-chic winter coat/robe that looks like it must have cost a thousand dollars, the film just suddenly seems to turn into a comical parody. Taylor's performance is generally on target, although it's not one of her best. Helmut Berger is Helmut Berger and doesn't really have to act just look enigmatic. Fonda is actually good in this -- his assorted reactions are perfect -- and Margaret Blye [The Entity] is fine as their daughter, Katie. Keith Baxter adds some zest as David, a (possibly gay?) fashion photographer who is also getting work done and befriends Barbara at the clinic and elsewhere. Monique van Vooren [What Makes Sammy Run?] plays a German celebrity who briefly chats with David at the clinic. 

Verdict: Another entry in the "Oh, how the rich suffer!" sweepstakes! **1/4. 

THE ENTITY

THE ENTITY (1982). Director: Sidney J. Furie.

Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) lives with her three children and has had a difficult past. One evening she senses an intruder in her bedroom, and is physically assaulted and raped -- but no one is there! Periodically this continues, and she wonders if she's going crazy. A sympathetic psychiatrist named Phil Sneiderman (Ron Silver) tries to get to the bottom of what's happening to her, but he, understandably  thinks it's in her mind and she's doing it to herself, even though there are wounds on her body in places that she couldn't possibly reach. Fed up as the attacks continue, Carla eventually turns to a team of parapsychologists, a trio whose presence in Carla's life and home Phil strenuously objects to. They believe a strange "entity" is responsible for the attacks on Carla, and arrange for her to help trap this invisible creature in a huge "set" erected in a gymnasium equipped with cameras and canisters of a liquid that can freeze the entity. But, as Phil fears, will Carla get caught in the trap instead of the monster? 

The Entity is a suspenseful film that benefits from two excellent lead performances from Hershey and Silver, as well as good work from the supporting cast, which includes David Labiosa [Mega Piranha]  as Carla's grown son, Billy; Margaret Blye as her caring friend, Cindy; Alex Rocco as her freaked-out boyfriend, Jerry; Jacqueline Brooks as Dr. Cooley; and others. The thumping on the soundtrack during the "thrill" sequences becomes irritating and there are a few moments of illogic, but the picture -- if not always in the best taste -- is absorbing. This is based on a novel by Frank De Felitta which was supposedly inspired by an actual case. You decide. 

Verdict: Compelling psychological-supernatural horror story. ***.