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should be funny hit
By FRED ROTHENBERG
Asscx:iated Press
LOS ANGELES — One sounds like
a foghorn, the other can kill you with
saccharine. Bea Arthur and Betty
White are part of an odd foursome of
sprightly old women who could
make Saturday night television
worth watching again.
A female version of "Cocoon,"
minus aliens, NBC's "Golden Girls"
is about four women over 50 who
share a house in Miami Beach. Rue
McClanahan, Estelle Getty and the
others may be graying, but they're
young at heart. The result is the fun
niest new comedy of the season.
Recent comedies have catered to
the youth market with beautiful peo
ple for parents and precocious kid
actors for offspring. But "Golden
Girls" has no one in the cast under
the drinking age.
"Let's face it," Arthur said in a re
cent press conference. "We're not
gonna play 'Charlie's Angels.'"
NBC officials say "Golden Girls"
will appeal to all ages in the same
way that "Cocoon" and "On Golden
Pond" had universal appeal.
The cast was asked if any grand
children or other kids would be on
the show.
"Kids?" Arthur shot back, looking
down her nose the way she did
when her character, Maude, locked
horns with Archie Bunker a decade
ago. "I think you can spray for them,
can't you?"
Susan Harris ("Soap," "Hail to the
Chief) wrote the pilot script and will
serve as producer, but more impor
tant than the clever writing is the de
livery, timing and personalities of
these four brassy actresses that
raises "Golden Girls" well above
standard sitcom.
"We're all fairly bawdy ladies,
particularly Betty White," Arthur
said. White, who played the catty,
man-chasing Sue Ann on the "Mary
Tyler Moore Show," can give as well
as she can receive.
When Arthur had trouble.locating
a questioner at the news confer
ence, White directed her co-star to
look to her left. "That's the one with
the watch on," White said in her
deadpan way.
Since "Mary Tyler Moore" and
"Maude," White and Arthur have
starred in sitcom flops. White's vehi
cle was "The Betty White Show," in
which she played a fading actress in
a TV series. Arthur was proprietor of
a hotel in a ripoff of the British farce
"Fawlty Towers."
"The only thing it had to do with
'Fawlty Towers' was that I got to beat
up the little servant," she said. □
Tina Turner as Aunty Entity in 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'
MAX IS BACK
Max is still mad in "'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," but the
years are starting to mellow him out. In "Mad Max," the first part
of this high-adventure saga, our hero starts off as a squeaky clean
cop. But after his wife and kid get run down by a gang of low-life
outlaws, he begins his quest to exterminate the filth of this deca
dent society. Then comes "The Road Warrior," a film in which Mel
Gibson again portrays a quasi-'good guy" in a nuclear war-torn
society hell-bent on self-destruction. In this lawless land, Mad
Max must fight or die. The current installment of the tale is set
about 15 years later. During that time, he cooled off and led a
peaceful, nomadic life. But Mad Max gets catapulted into a world
ruled by ruthless people and remnants of technology. He battles
these forces, not to gain power over them, but only to save his life.
Despite the open ending, a sequel probably isn't in the works.
Max just isn't as upset as he used to be. WALTER SMITH
TV viewers to end film
By FRED ROTHENBERG
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Come up with the
right stuff for an ending for this Sun
day's Showtime's unfinished film,
"Murder in Space," and the pay-ca
ble network will give you $25,000
and a trip anywhere on Earth.
Unfortunately, the contest is better
than the complex movie, which is
assembled amateurishly. Although
imaginative, it's too far-fetched for
credibility — a prime requisite for
mystery buffs.
"Murder in Space" could easily be
titled "Lust in Space." While aloft, an
internationally sexy crew from the
United States, the Soviet Union,
France, Italy, Canada and West
Germany conducts more experi
ments than mission control sched
uled.
John Glenn probably would
cringe at the heterosexual and ho
mosexual extraterrestrial encounters
that occur in TV's first space-shuttle
soap opera, which is played out in
something resembling a condomi
nium more than a spacecraft.
At least one killer is knocking off
the crew members one by one. But
the suspense doesn't build; we
never see suspects lurking or plot-
. ting and only learn of the deaths af
ter the fact, as does Earth-bound
mission coordinator Dr. Andrew Mc-
Callister (Wilford Brimley of "Co :
coon").
At the "end" of the inconclusive
broadcast, and just before the shut
tle's forced landing, McCallister
says he thinks he has the answers.
But, with so-few clues dropped
along the way, any solution would
be more guess work than police
work.
Questions will be posed to viewers
immediately after the movie, which
will be shown six times through Au
gust 9. Showtime subscribers can
mail in their answers about the
method, motives and killer or killers.
Total prizes are worth $50,000.
Showtime says that none of the
actors, or even the director, knows
■the outcome. The only ones are the
screenwriter, executive producers
Richard Link and William Levinson,
one Showtime executive and a rep
resentative of an independent
judging firm.
The script has been locked in a
vault and only after the yet-unan-
nounced contest deadline has
passed will the cast and crew reas
semble to shoot the finale. The entire
film then will be broadcast on Sept.
14. □
Movies are listed alphabetically. The Grove movies will be shown on listed date only.
The rating and theater code name are in parenthesis. The theater codes are:
GR — The Grove 845-1515
ME — Manor East 823-8300
P3 — Plitt Cinema III 846-6714
PO — Plitt Post Oak ;..... ..764-0616
S6 — Schulman Six
Back to the Future (PG,P3)
A new Spielberg film about a kid
who gets transported back to the 50s
and sees his parents as high school
sweethearts. Great film.
The Black Cauldron(PG,ME)
New Disney film.
Blue Hawaii (Sat. ,NR,GR)
The King is back.
Cocoon (PG-13,P3)
Ron Howard directs this science-
fantasy adventure.
The Emerald Forest (R,ME)
A father spends years in the Amazon
searching for his kidnapped son.
E.T. (PG,S6)
This summer favorite is back.
Fletch (PG,S6)
Chevy Chase stars as a reporter with
many disguises.
The Goonies (PG,PO)
Seven kids follow a map to a trea
sure. Playing first four shows only.
The Heavenly Kid (PG-13,S6)
A guy dies and comes back as a
young kid's guardian angel.
The Legend
of Billie Jean (PG-13,PO)
A punk Billie Jean fights for justice and
becomes a cult figure. Late show.
775-2463
Mad Max •
Beyond Thunderdome (PG-13,56)
Mel Gibson and Tina Turner star in
this Road Warrior sequel. I
The Man With One Red Shoe (PG,S6)
A Tom Hanks film that looks prom
ising. Remake of the french film "The
Tall Blond Man With One Black I
Shoe." I
The Muppet Movie (Sun.,G,GR)
Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of the -1
gang in a movie for all ages. ;
National Lampoon's
European Vacation (PG-13,PO)
A second movie in Chevy Chase's ad- *
ventures. I hope it's better than the J
first. ;
Pale Rider (R,S6)
Clint Eastwood is back in the saddle ;
after a nine-year absence. ;
Rambo (R,P3) !
Sylvester Stallone in First Blood II. J
St. Elmo's Fire (R,PO)
Sort of a Big Chill for the college I
crowd. Mixed reviews. J
Silverado (PG,ME)
A great new western. *
Stir Crazy (Wed.,R,GR)
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor star ■
in this comedy. I