European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes James j. Kilpatrick last temptation is real stink Roo of a movie out of sheer curiosity i look an afternoon o t last week and went to Etc the last temptation of Christ i have been going to movies since the Days of Clara Bow. And 1 am now prepared to Render an expert opinion. Selling aside All the theological issues and viewing the film simply As a movie i propound this consumer s View the last tem Lalion is he worst movie 1 Ever watched. What a stink Roo is not Only the worst movie in my experience it is also the longest. The first hour consumes 224 minutes. The second hour is twice As Long. The concluding 40minutes last until next tuesday. In the time it takes to watch this Turkey you could take in two double headers at Fen Way Park and have a far better return on a six Buck investment. Why did i buy a ticket Jerry Falwell made me do it. He and other fundamentalists kicked up such a storm that t had to Sec what All the shouting was about now i know. It was the customers shout ing to get their Money Back. Professional critics have heaped Praise on director Martin Scorsese. They have gushed girls shy Over the performance of Willem Dale As Christ. Prodigious says one. Stunningly Brilliant says an other. Masterpiece says time s Riehard Corliss. What hokum let me offer exam Ples. During the prolonged crucifixion sequence about 20 spectators gather near the Cross. It is not Clear Why they Are there. Perhaps they too had an afternoon off. From time to time they lunge and surge they do something with their hands. But these extras constitute a studio audience reacting on Cue. The surge when the sign says surge and they lunge when the sign says  what is meant by the gestures Are the waving fists or waving Bye Bye these docile demonstrators Are held at Bay by cordon of Keystone legionnaires. Look Lough says the Cue Board. Tough you want Tough you gel. At inc moment when Christ is betrayed and captured following Luke 22 50, one of Christ s followers smites the servant of the High priest and cuts off his right car. Sure enough the car Falls to inc pavement. Clunk but this is a most remarkable car. It is a snap on car. Dafoe As Christ picks up the ear and neatly snaps in Back in place. This was Andrew j. Glass the bist temptation of Christ direction of the Lego school. You will recall the wedding at Cana a which Jesus changes water to wine. Scor sese undertakes to improve upon john2 1-10, this prodigious and Brilliant director turns Dafoe As Christ into smirking Amateur magician playing a rotarians luncheon. It s water says a Stooge. Nah says the Restid agitator it s wine. G wan. Taste it i Tell Yuh it s wine it s the real  sure enough it is wine. What Day know the Stooge can t believe  did he do that let us go to the wilderness. There we Are first tempted by a Snake who Speaks to Jesus the Serpent Speaks As if inc Serpent were Lily Tomlin imitating Goldie hawn imitating Mae West. This is direction the Serpent is followed by a toothless lion. The lion scarcely can keep awake. Neither can the audience. The lion is followed by a Fig tree sent from the prop room. And Alt this is followed by a Jet of fire As if an of Well were burning o t Gas. Scorsese s Acton do not speak. They declaim. They do not act. They gesture. Saul having become Paul might be sign ing wildly to the deaf. U is hard to place the apostles accents. Were they brought up in Brooklyn the Bronx the lower East Side new Josicy the Devil Angel Speaks British thus placing hell some where Between Oxford and Cambridge a disconcerting thought. The penultimate sequence the one that set off the uproar is a dream sequence. On the Cross Jesus faces the  that gives inc film its name he dreams of renouncing his divinity he dreams of marrying Mary Magdalene. In the dream they literally Lur Nolc in the Hay. The scene is about As pornographic As the embrace of Dagwood and Blondie but it sufficed to give the last temptation an r rating Ihus tempting the sucker customers to Sec a Little hot stuff. We Are told that movie criticism should be balanced. No movie is wholly bad. Very Well i wish to be fair. In the scene with Pontius Pilate a horse standing stage right. For the record let me say that the horse is Well cast in howl pita syn icim Bush must outline credible Agenda for the future in a Little More than a month or so either George Bush or Michael Dukakis will be holing up with his advisers at some secluded Retreat to decide what he will attempt to do in the presidency. That this daunting task lies just ahead for the vice president or for the Massachusetts governor can hardly be divined in the attack lines now being so assiduously pursued by these rivals for the White House. At times Dukakis seems to suggest that the biggest threat to society stems from the Republican country club set. Conversely Bush holds that democratic Liberal seek to spread pessimism throughout the land. Even when imparting a positive spin to his Campaign the vice president appears to convey the impression that his Mission As president will be to Don a leather flying jacket and Lake out enemy bases in the South Pacific. Chicanery and shenanigans Are the Mother s milk of politics even if nowadays they often come to us a shrink wrapped made for to sound Biles. Still there s a potentially serious Price to be paid on the payoff end of this Campaign the Lack of a Clear Cut mandate to govern. In 1980, Ronald Reagan did More than just defeat Jimmy Carter. While doing so Reagan Laid out a firm itinerary for the voters of what he would do in the presidency slash taxes trim the bureaucracy ease off on burgeoning social welfare programs add muscle to the military and give the soviets fits. One neither needs to cherish Reagan s conservative Agenda nor endorse his lackadaisical work habits to order to Admire the Way he was Able to get his program adopted particularly in the opening years of his presidency. Experience reveals that when a presidential Eon Lender merely peddles competence or continuity and fails to take on the added ask of building a constituency for evident policies the result All too often is Apt to be stalemate and stagnation in the years ahead thus in 1984, Reagan proved unable to transform his vapid feel Good Aboul America theme into a Cohe rent prescription for governance. For him the Well had run  chief task for the vice president is to outline a credible program for the future says Richard Wirth Lin the Reagan pollster who saw his Champion initially fulfil such a task in 1980, Only to fall Short four years later. " Bush has t really solidified what lies behind the phrase we Are the change " actually there Are four main facets to the presidency. Just one of them has been fairly tested As the race moves into its final month endurance the drive to deliver yet another speech and shake one More hand. Three remaining critical factors will come into play Only after the balloons and banners come Down. One of them is the adroitness to pick and choose the 250 or so key people who will actually be calling the shots in the new administration. This tend beyond the High visibility Cabinet secretaries some of whom turn out to be Public relations window dressing to the second and even third level people who actually Lurn the gears. Another vital test is the ability to inspire and Lead the nation. It Means using the vast Media Powers of the presidency to forge great goals such As say walking on the Moon or eradicating a whole class of nuclear weapons. In this Guise a president serves As a teacher. And to get the Job done he must Al limes be willing to spend his political capital. Finally when faced Wilh a deep crisis a president must be Able to make the right Choice. In such situations he is Likely to receive conflicting counsel from his inner Circle As Reagan did about Selling arms to  s when a president is truly inc