‘Operation: Condor’ keeps
Chan’s action streak alive
By Gerry Beltz
Features Editor
Jackie Chan has just got to be lov
ing this. Movies he made years ago
overseas are just now being released
here in the US, thus giving him an
entirely different audience with
whom to work. Chan’s successful run
in American cinema continues with
“Operation: Condor,” a movie filmed
back in 1990.
Dubbed from Cantonese to
English, this flick could have only
been more like an Indiana Jones
movie if Harrison Ford showed up
with a giant boulder rolling after him.
Our hero (Chan) is a global
adventurer who is brought in to find a
cache of Nazi gold hidden some
where in the Sahara desert. Naturally,
others are also looking for the gold
and are willing to kill for it, so Jackie
must be on his toes and use every
acrobatic trick in the book to escape
traps, injury and death in general.
(And all the while insuring his
female sidekick loses her bath towel
at some point in the fracas.)
As the adventure continues,
Jackie and company pick up two
more female adventurers, and the
chemistry and antics involved here
again and again bring “The Three
Stooges” to mind.
Though Chan’s last three US cine
matic releases - “Rumble In The
Bronx,” “Supercop” and “First
Strike” - have been a fairly equal
blend of drama, action and comedy,
“Operation: Condor” places much
more emphasis on the comedy and
action aspects of the film, and Chan’s
physical-comedy talents are let loose.
It’s all a hoot.
Highlights of the film involve
rolling down a hill in a giant beach
ball, an incredible chase scene involv
ing a motorcycle and more wrecked
cars than a “Smokey and the Bandit”
film, and battle tactics in a wind tun
nel.
Sadly, the film has been edited
from it’s original length, down to 90
minutes from it’s original 105-minute
The Facts
Title: “Operation Condor”
Stars: Jackie Chan, Carol ‘Do Do’
Cheng, Eva Cobo, Shoko Ikeda, Aldo
Sanchez
Director:Jackie Chan
Rating: PG (mild violence and
mature humor)
Grade: B+
Five Words: Indiana Jones with
martial arts
running time. Even more sad is how
obvious the cuts are in the film.
Why can’t well enough just be left
alone?
As usual for Jackie Chan films,
the ending credits for “Operation:
Condor” are filled with outtakes
from the film, including Jackie tak
ing a nasty fall and also a misfired
kick to Jackie’s throat.
“Operation: Condor” is a definite
step above the lackluster “First
Strike,” and is a welcome change
from the big-budget, big-name
bonanza of summertime films.
Check it out.
‘Nothing to Lose’ brings
new life to buddy films
_NOTHING from page 8
he can really act, too.
Another thing that usually slays
buddy films from the start is a poor
script. Although the ending is a bit
too “feel-good,” writer/director Steve
Oedekerk has a solid script with lots
of little one-liners and well-written
bantering.
A couple of well-cast cameos also
adds to the humor immensely. The
part of Henry, one of the people who
is held up by T and Beam, wouldn’t
have been anywhere near as funny if
they hadn’t cast Patrick Cranshaw.
Cranshaw adds the same bit of
bizarre humor that Burgess Meredith
did to “Grumpy Old Men.” The same
holds true for the gas station atten
dant who pulls a shotgun on Beam.
Through a bit of confusion, T and
Beam are confused with a pair of
hoodlums named Rig (John C.
McGinley) and Charlie (Giancarlo
Esposito.) The two crooks set out to
get credit for their crimes, claiming
that T and Beam are infringing on
their turf.
McGinlet and Esposito almost
come across as typical villains.
Almost. Their characters are a little
crazier than most people and they
make a great contrast to Robbins and
Lawrence. A pointless discussion
about “Pachabel’s Canon” while they
drive makes the two bad guys seem
even more surreal.
The final sting of death to buddy
films is the awful use of music.
I
The Facts
Title: “Nothing to Lose”
Stars: Martin Lawrence, Tim
Robbins ‘ \
Director: Steve Oedekerk
Rating: R (language, violence)
Grade: B+
Five Words: “Nothing to Lose”
scores big.
_ i
“Nothing to Lose” doesn’t have that
problem either. A combination of
jazz, rock, rap and R&B blends
together for a little of something for
everyone, from Morphine’s “Honey
White” to “Angelina” by Keb’Mo to
“C U WHEN YOU Get There” by
Coolio. Plus the music actually inter
acts with the film twice, something
that has to be a record in the days
when the soundtrack has no rele
vance to the film.
In the end, the overly cutesy end
ing holds the film back a little. It’s a
finish line too much like too many
other buddy films, with no surprises
and no curve balls. The attentive
audience member can catch it early
on in the game. If you’re surprised,
turn in your Sherlock Holmes Jr.
Detective card. It’s a little bit of a let
down, but if you realize you’re watch
ing a buddy film, the mushy ending is
expected.
Still, “Nothing To Lose” has
everything to gain. With a solid
script, great cast and good produc
tion, “Nothing to Lose” can’t lose.
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9 Golf-shoe piece
14 Biblical trader
15 Lulu
16 Handel’s
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17 Sir
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18 River in Zaire
19 Old womanish
20 Emulate a nene
21 Acts wildly or
angrily
23 Datum
25 Frances of films
26 Dwell
29 Letter from
Greece
31 File
35 Boston Garden,
e.g.
36 -Valley,
Calif.
38 Another Greek
letter
39 Lags
42 Charged
particle
43 Public
storehouse
44 One way to get
off base
45 Actress
Barrymore
47 Mount-,
Nev. peak
48 -the cat
(dared)
49 Enzyme
51 Unit of loudness
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52 Power-operated
dollies
57 Salt’s “down”
61 Emulate Cuomc
62 Observes
63 Put away
64 Funt’s directive
65 Gardner of
whodunits
66 Tied
67 Starchy tubers
68 Placebos
69 Fender bender
DOWN
1 Jacob’s
substituted
bride
2 Kon-Tiki
Museum site
3 Neighbor of
St.-Lo
4 Twain character
5 Michener’s
“The-”
6 -a time
(singly)
7 Sandwich shop
8 War god
9 Man on a
$10,000 bill
10 Spear carrier
11 Phillies’ former
manager
12“-Want for
13 Bobby-soxer
22 Mrs. Bunker
24 Saw
26 Violent; furious
27 Boo-boo
28 Net
29 Full of energy
30 Fill up
32 Of a region
33 Figaro’s
specialty
34 Burned
midnight oil
36 Denoting two
37 Actress Hayes
40 Manipulate a
rudder
41 Freed
46 Interlace
48 Foremen
so Infuse
51 Metal for tubing
52 Red figure
53 Marie Wilson
role
54 Lay an egg
55 Applies
56 Game fish
58 Bathe
59 Where to put
your dough
60 “Down
McGinty..
