THE SHADOW (1994)

THE SHADOW (1994). Director: Russell Mulcahy.

A very disappointing adaptation of the famous Shadow pulp character for the big screen is tricked up with special effects and the like but never has the right panache to bring it all to life. Not only is Mulcahy's direction off the mark, but David Koepp's script, although it has good aspects, is sometimes just too campy. (And why is the tragic death of a young sailor who is mind-controlled to jump off the Empire State Building practically treated as if it were comedy?) Why should anybody take the character seriously if the film's creators don't? In this The Shadow is actually Lamont Cranston, who was originally a fiendish, dissolute murderer and criminal before being transformed by an Oriental mentor into an agent of Good, the price for his redemption (of course his evil past makes him a bit of a hypocrite when confronting criminals). 

Alec Baldwin as The Shadow

One thing the picture gets right is the look of The Shadow; when Alec Baldwin [The Departed] puts on the cloak of his alter-ego, FX make his face elongate and change into the well-known hawk-like visage of the pulp hero. Baldwin is not at all bad in the role, but he's much too “contemporary” an actor to get across the proper thirties “feel.” The plot has to do with the emergence of Shiwan Khan (John Lone) the last living descendant of Genghis Khan, who wants Cranston to revert to his evil ways and help him conquer the world. To this end Khan needs a “barillium sphere” to build an atomic bomb. A clever if improbable bit has Khan somehow building a skyscraper which is not visible to anyone in Manhattan. A knife whose hilt comes alive and bites The Shadow, and a doom-trap involving a room full of rushing water, are among the better moments in the movie. A scene with a giant rolling time bomb is like something out of the Batman TV show, however, and there are other stupid moments. Tim Curry and Jonathan Winters (as Cranston's uncle) are excellent performers, but neither of them belong in this movie. Penelope Ann Miller is fine as Margo Lane, but Ian McKellen [X-Men] is wasted as her scientist father. Russell Mulcahy also directed Prayers for Bobby. 

Verdict: The really great Shadow movie has yet to be made, and the serial is lots more fun than this. **1/2. 

WISEGUY Dead Dog Records Arc

Tim Curry as the diabolical Winston Newquay

WISEGUY. The "Dead Dog Records" arc. 1989.

Because the cost of acquiring the music rights would have been too prohibitive, the "Dead Dog Records" arc from season two of Wiseguy was not included in the official DVD release, more's the pity. In this story undercover agent Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl) is assigned to investigate corruption in the recording industry by using federal money to buy the dying Dead Dog Records, which does not sit well with certain government officials who get no thrill out of being record moguls like Vinnie does. Deborah Harry plays a washed-up singer, Diana, who is working in a cocktail lounge when Vinnie decides to engineer her comeback, but he has to reckon with the schemes of near-psychotic music bigwig Winston Newquay (Tim Curry), the former Sam Fishbine, who is also Diana's former lover, a fact that does not sit well with his wife, Claudia (Deidre Hall). Vinnie gets assistance from the enthusiastic Bobby Travis (Glenn Frey), as well as from husband-and-wife record company owners Amber (Patti D'Arbanville) and Isaac Twine (Paul Winfield). Vinnie's producer is a coke-snorting "genius" named Johnny Medley (Paul McCrane), who is difficult to work with, to say the least, and has a sixteen-year-old wife (Pamela Segall Adlon) who is more mature than he is. [This last business is kind of creepy, frankly, but fits into the weird tone of the episodes.] With more humor and craziness than most episodes of this show, the Dead Dog arc was atypical Wiseguy -- for one thing, Vinnie seems more interested in having a hit record than in putting anyone in jail -- but it is marvelously entertaining, and the scripts by David J. Burke and Stephen Kronish, among others, probably influenced the more outrageous serial dramas of today. Highlights include a dress-tearing catfight at a fancy party, a couple making passionate love who wind up crashing through a skylight, and a certain someone who's pissed off Winston being thrown off a rooftop by thugs. The acting from the entire cast is excellent, with McCrane, Frey and Winfield taking top honors, but even they take a back seat to Tim Curry, who gives an absolutely mesmerizing and ferocious portrayal of the devilish, always sleek and sophisticated, Winston Newquay, a fascinating character -- but not one you'd want to know personally. Jonathan Banks and Jim Byrnes also appear and are as good as ever. The song Harry sings, "Brite Side" was recorded by her, but only in a version that has none of the impact of the original.

Verdict: Deliriously entertaining and sharply acted. ***1/2.