Night of the Shooting Stars

A subtitled Italian import about a group of Itolian villagers trying to escape from the Germans and find the liberating Americans at the end of WW II. The picture got great reviews here in the U. S., though I'm not quite sure why. Yes it has moments of great lyricism and beauty, and well rendered moments of panic and loss and insanity, but the overall jmpact is diluted because I really didn't get the point (maybe you have to be Italian). The fact that the whole tale is set within the frame of a woman (faceless) telling the story to a sleeping infant doesn't help either.

Scarface (original)

Yup, I finally saw it. Sure enough, it's a slam-bang shoot-em-up and a hell of a good gangster picture-but that's really all it is (it's stated purpose--to warn the U. S. public about the memnace of racketeers--now seems a bit quaint). Anyone who says that this picture outstrips DePalma's ' (or, in the Times' phrase, is the "lean Model-T to DePalma's purple Packard") must have old socks for brains. Aside from the fact that the new one is a remake, the two have nothing in common. No kidding.