April 4, 1988

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COVER

MOVIES COME BACK TO EARTH

A few years ago the art of moviemaking appeared to be in serious trouble. Movies were not about anything anymore, at least nothing that related to the real lives of most North American adults. By the mid-1980s Hollywood studio executives had become convinced that the typical popcorn-eater was adolescent, male and bored.

CANADA

A premier under fire

In happier days, British Columbia Premier William Vander Zalm would bound into the provincial legislature building in Victoria and stroll down a corridor where the news media were waiting for him. There, the telegenic premier, who thrives on being at centre stage, would relish the chance to hold forth on topics as diverse as agriculture and abortion. By JANE O’HARA

COVER

WRITING HIS OWN TICKET

John Patrick Shanley plans to bet $500 that he will not win the Academy Award for best original screenplay on April 11. “Then,” said the author of director Norman Jewison’s hit comedy Moonstruck, “if I lose, I win.” With that sort of backhanded logic, which also pervades his scripts, Shanley has emerged as one of the most sought-after writing talents to hit Hollywood in many years. By Brian D. Johnson

MUSIC

A voice of the spirits

The first lines on Joni Mitchell’s new album, Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, are an invitation to intimacy: “I’m going to take you to my secret place. It’s a place that you, like no one else I know, might appreciate.” That enticing opening will make most longtime fans think that Mitchell has returned to her confessional style of songwriting. By NICHOLAS JENNINGS

COLUMN

The message between the lines

Canada’s largest-circulation newspaper chose a Saturday for a recent display of what in the opinion of many Jews—including myself—was nothing short of venemous anti-Semitism. Saturday is The Toronto Star’s peak circulation day, and the editorial in question was a commentary on External Affairs Minister Joe Clark’s March 10 speech to the Canada-Israel Committee. By Barbara Amiel

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Storm clouds over free trade

Leaders of the powerful U.S. textile and apparel industry have declared war on the proposed free trade agree ment between Canada and the United States. They say that they are con-cerned about a Canadian government program that would rebate $63 million annually to Canadian clothing manufac turers to offset the tariffs that they pay on imported fabric. By WILLIAM LOWTHER

Q&A: LORD CARRINGTON

A warrior’s farewell

Over the past seven years U.S. and Soviet negotiators have made enormous strides toward an agreement to reduce their nuclear arsenals in Europe. But Lord Carrington, secretary general of the 16-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization for the past four years, says that progress on the nuclear front amplifies another Western European security concern :

FOLLOW-UP

The Cambodian crusader

The carpet is threadbare, and plaster has started to crumble from the walls. Shabby and small, the second-floor apartment in smoggy downtown Los Angeles hardly fits the popular image of a movie star’s home. But on a table in the tiny living room, a golden Oscar statuette stands at the feet of a Buddha. By ANNE GREGOR

March 281988