Arts & Entertainment
f Flashback’ an instantly forgettable movie
By John Payne
Staff Reporter
There must be two Dennis Hoppers. What
other explanation can there be? Yes, that’s it,
two guys named Dennis Hopper who look and
sound exactly alike, but make drastically dif
ferent choices with movie roles.
The first Dennis Hopper co-wrote, directed
and starred in the American watershed “Easy
Rider.” He was a doped-up psychopath in
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“Blue Velvet,” a doped-up photojoumalist in
“Apocolypse Now,” and just plain doped-up
in ‘‘River’s Edge.”
The second Dennis Hopper gave us “My
Science Project” as well as one of the most
offensive, worthless flicks ever, “Texas Chain
saw Massacre II.”
So which Dennis Hopper shows up for
“Flashback,” the new, generation-gap action/
comedy? Well, 1990 is just underway, but
“Flashback” is an early favorite for “most
idiotic movie of the year” honors, and the
second Dennis Hopper has reared his ugly head
once again.
The story begins in Washington, D.C., where
FBI rookie John Buckner (Kiefer Sutherland)
is assigned to transport a recently-arrested
political activist from San Francisco to Spokane,
Wash. Huey Walker (Hopper), has been on the
run from the feds for 20 years, ever since he
played a practical joke on Vice President Spiro
Agncw during a campaign speech.
Walker was arrested for the prank and be
came a counterculture folk hero after he es
caped custody in 1969. As Buckner’s Boss
explains: “Walker made the FBI look foolish.
We don’t like to look foolish.”
Buckner then flies to California to ensure
that the bureau doesn’t look foolish again. Of
course, the two can’t take the one-hour flight
from San Francisco to Spokane, because, dam
the luck, the airport is fogged in. So they travel
by train, and an eventful train ride it is.
Seem familar? It should; this premise has
been used many limes, and much better by
movies like “Midnight Run” and “48 Hours.”
“Flashback” offers nothing fresh in the way of
the standard buddy movie.
Hopper simply isn’t suited for comedy, and
the lame script given to him by writer David
Loughcry doesn’t help. The laughs arc few and
far between, and Hopper’s ranting hippie char
acter wears thin quickly.
But what is most annoying about “Flash
back” is that it pretends to say something
substantial about modern-day norms as com
pared with ’60s values.
The flower-power allusions arc simply thrown
in to camouflage a very tired movie formula.
There should be a law discontinuing the use of
“Bom to be Wild” in movies; it’s been done
far too often.
Kiefer Sutherland is an interesting young
actor, but frankly, he cannot carry an entire
film at this point in his career. He often is asked
to do so in “Flashback,” playing straight-ma:i
to Hopper’s stupid one-liners.
The idea of a ’60s radical befriending an
’80s conformist, although not altogether origi
nal, might have made for an interesting movie.
However, a standard, predictable story line and
overacting by Hopper make “Flashback” an
instantly forgettable flick.
“Flashback” is playing at the Pla/a4 Thea
ter, 201 N. 12th St.
Pamphlet details ellorts ol music censors
By Bryan Peterson
Staff Reporter
"There's a healthy way to be Big
Brother."
- Middlesex (New Jersey) County
District Attorney, whose office runs a
computer surveillance network di
rected at heavy metal bands and fans
The editors of “Rock & Roll
Confidential’’ magazine have pub
lished a pamphlet which details the
continuing efforts to restrict or ban
access to many forms of rock music.
“You’ve Got a Right to Rock:
Don’t Let Them Take it Away’’ de
scribes recent incidents in cities across
America which arc part of an organ
ized effort to regulate rock music in
this country.
The Parents Music Resource Cen
ter (PMRC) gained instant notoriety
m 1985 with a combination of strong
political ties and overblown rhetoric
about the evils of rock music.
PMRC and similar groups with
tics to the religious right thrived on
blanket condemnations and political
muscle-flexing.
Since PMRC evolved, concerts have
been banned, records have boon slipped
behind the counter or banned out
right, and trials have been held.
Musicians and fans have tried to rc
sistattcmpts at ccnsorshipand intimi
dation with varying success.
The “Right to Rock” pamphlet
highlights the growing organization
of the efforts of some to resist the
agendas of PMRC and similar groups.
The cover price of S3 is a little
much for a 16-pagc pamphlet, but the
information inside is valuable. The
pamphlet is full of amazing examples
of music censorship in action.
Heavy metal, rap and punk arc the
most common targets of censorship
efforts, but some of the most innocu
ous musicians also have been tar
geted.
There arc extremes in any art form,
but by confusing these extremes with
entire genres, PMRC supporters have
opened themselves up to the sort of
criticism found in this pamphlet
This pamphlet shows how would
be censors try to label everything
associated with certain musical styles
to be “immoral” or “obscene,”
among other vast generalizations.
It also reveals how control over
music is only one part of a much
larger agenda for many groups simi
lar to PMRC. The notion of protect
ing children from harm seems inno
cent enough, but many groups want
to control much more than just music.
Consider some examples from the
pamphlet:
“The Rev, Shane Wcsthoclter, ol
Missouri Project Rock, calls Catho
magazine
lies ‘cannibals’ and claims *Bruce
Springsteen put satanic messages on
‘Dancing in the Dark.’
“Project Rock distributes tapes
claiming that Hollywood promotes
race mixing (referring to Martin Lu
ther King Jr. as Martin Lucifer’ King)
and that the Holocaust never hap
pened.”
“St. Paul-based ministers Dan and
Steve Peters stage record burnings
around the country as they denounce
Tina Turner for her Buddhist faith.”
They also claim, “The Jewish star is
the universal symbol for Satan.”
These may be some of the most
extreme examples, but the sheer
number of less extreme examples is
staggering. PMRC has mainstream
appeal, as well as the support of
numerous corporations, ranging from
Coors and 7-11 to Marriott and 7-UP.
“You’ve Got a Right to Rock’’
examines the wide range of musi
cians who have become targets. Out
rage over KJSS, O/zy Osbourne, NWA,
the Dead Kennedys or WASP is not
surprising.
Some groups produce music merely
for its shock value and arc no more
threatening than a street corner revo
lutionary, while others may be truly
threatening, yet no such distinction is
made by many who seek to control
music.
To see that the music of Bruce
Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, U2
and others has been pulled from store
shelves or blacklisted shows the po
tential power and scope of efforts to
control music.
In its “Two Faces Have I” sec
tion, the pamphlet details some ironic
results of trying to label all rock music
as bad in a society which approves
and embraces such music.
According to the pamphlet, “Strom
Thurmond, South Carolina senator,
tried to deport John Lennon and steered
the Child Protection Act through
Congress. His wife is a member of the
PMRC, yet Thurmond helped to get
his 16-ycar-old daughter Nancy audi
tioned for a job as an MTV VJ in
1987.”
This pamphlet is exhaustive in
documenting absurd or excessive at
tempts at controlling music. But in
the final pages, different tactics are
used. The pamphlet proposes eight
ways to ‘‘blunt the coordinated na
tionwide attack on rock and roll.’’
Confronting legislative efforts,
circulating petitions, calling press
conferences and spreading informa
tion among the music community all
arc included.
Despite occasional, unnecessary
swipes at those it opposes, ‘‘You’ve
Got a Right to Rock’ ’ makes a strong
case, and should do much to pull
musicians and fans out of apathy before
their music is pulled away perma
nently.
‘‘Rock & Roll Confidential” is
available from Box 15052, Long
Beach, Calif. 90815. A one-year
subscription costs $19.95.
- 1 ' ~ -1
Ministry LP abandons pop sound
for blaring guitars, buzzsaw vocals
By Michael Deeds
Senior Editor _
Ministry
“The Mind Is A Terrible Thing
To Taste”
Sire Records
Change is a rare thing in the
heavy metal music industry, but
when it strikes, the results can oc
breathtaking.
Take Ministry, the A1 Jour
gcnsen/Paul Barker com bo thatcul
some of the most danccable syn
thesizer music in the mid-’80s.
Ministry is still here today. But
lorget the pop stuff.
Abrasive, industrial grind has
replaced smooth, synth rhythms.
Screaming guitars and buzzsaw
vocals cover programmed drum
patterns and sampling.
Jourgensen, the eclectic main
man of Ministry, proclaimed nine
months ago that he had been tak ing
LSD onstage for the past four years.
Ah-ha!
Last year ’ s ‘ ‘The Land Of Rape
And Honey” scared the pants off
critics everywhere. ‘‘The Mind Is
A Terrible Thing To Taste’ ’ shoves
a fist down their throats.
Suddenly, Ministry has become
Depcche Mode’s evil twin. The
duo’s latest release is a sonic as
sault at limes, an ethereal, drug
induced dream zone at others.
But at no lime is it pretty.
The opening cut, ‘ ‘Thieves,’ ’ is
a cybernetic, spccdmetal rage -- a
driving, anguished barrage of dis
tortion, vocals and mechanical
sampling. Happiness doesn’t exist
in the land of Ministry, only anger
and drifting confusion.
Next comes the guitar crunch of
“Burning Inside’’ and “Never
Believe.’ ’ Both tracks instill asick
ening fear that Ministry has gotten
See MINISTRY on 11