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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1990)
Monday, February 19,1990 The Battalion Pages Costner, Quinn in battle for ‘Revenge’ By TODD STONE Of The Battalion Staff “Revenge” is a gripping film that delivers all the tension, anger and suspense the title suggests. That may be the one problem with this movie. The story predic tably moves along to set up the motivation for ... revenge. No surprises with this movie. The plot is simple. One guy gets another guy mad, because he wanted to be bad with the mad guy’s wife. The mad guy gets the other guy even more mad. Before you know it, someone wants ... (see the aforementioned film ti tle). “Revenge” would not be inter esting if not for the intriguing performances of stars Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn and Madeleine Stowe. Costner stars as Cochran, a hot-shot fighter pilot who decides to retire from the Navy and “find himself.” He takes a vacation in Mexico to visit his friend Tibey, played by Anthony Quinn. Tibey is a Mexican kingpin who controls the labor and poli tics in his part of Mexico, a man who gets what he wants. He is fond of Cochran and al ways respects his wishes. Their friendship is interesting and fun to watch. Cochran and Tibey do all the male-bonding stuff you would ex pect. They play tennis, hunt and poke fun at each other. They even exchange gifts. So far, no problem. However, Tibey has a beautiful wife, Miryea, played by Made- REVENGE Starring Kevin Costner, An thony Quinn and Madeleine Stowe Directed by Tony Scott Rated R leine Stowe. Miryea and Cochran fall in love and have an affair. Now, there is a problem. Tibey discovers the affair and catches the lovers in the act. His men beat Cochran and leave him for dead, and Tibey forces his wife to endure worse. Naturally, Cochran is mad and wants ... Costner brings tension to the screen as Cochran. However, Cochran is more interesting be fore he gets mad. As a revenge seeking killer, he becomes disap pointingly one-dimensional. Cochran and Miryea’s love af fair needed more development. Cochran risks his life to get Mi ryea back. You assume Cochran is in love with Miryea — that is his motiva tion to save her. But the filmmak ers never feature enough interac tion between the two lovers to show this intense love. I kept asking myself, “why is Miryea more special to Cochran than any other woman?” Further, Cochran is not a killer during the first half of the film. The filmmakers never clearly in dicate the point at which he be came a cold-blooded, revenge seeking killer, instead of someone who wants to save his lover. Costner’s performance over comes these ambiguities. You Battalion file photo Anthony Quinn, Madeleine Stowe and Kevin Costner (not pic tured) star in “Revenge,” directed by Tony Scott. may not know why Cochran is in love and wants murderous re venge, but you believe Costner’s portrayal of his emotions. Anthony Quinn puts forth a dominating and intimidating presence as Tibey. His motiva tions are more clear, because he comes from the old school of love and friendship. Also, since his business is run much like A1 Capone’s, Tibey’s C roblem-solving doesn’t surprise, ut it does disturb. Madeleine Stowe is engaging as Miryea. She was not overpowered by Quinn or Costner’s screen presence, which is an accomplish ment in itself. Stowe was partic ularly effective when she was vic timized. Director Tony Scott keeps the story moving along at a quick pace. Scott’s work is slick in this film. He evokes striking images with lighting, shadows and colors. Scott’s directing of the film’s opening jet scenes makes the movie “Top Gun” look like the shabby “Iron Eagle,” which fea tured model planes instead of jets. Overall, it is the performances of Costner, Quinn and Stowe that overcome murky character devel opment, making “Revenge” an entertaining film. ongini eone (ik 'our ok materii t. Lovin;; as a ret rial. :lvesasi ing said, .and tlit if of om ily a part X-it has shows in entsfini but it's l-it rocks b before :h 23. informa- i93-4l9i Brazil's spirit cults flourish during economic slump RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Dried bat wings are a big seller at Ri cardo Conceicao Lima’s store. So are devil statues, baby snakes and deer antler shavings. Lately there’s been a run on mystical African incense, said to attract wealth. Lima runs a spirit-cult supply store in Rio’s poor north zone. Tucked away in a corner of a musty indoor market, his shop has a loyal clientele. While many retailers are strug gling to stay afloat amid four-digit inflation and soaring interest rates, Lima says business is Dooming. “The tougher times get,” he says, “the better I do.” Lima is one of thousands of mer chants who cater to Brazil’s legions of spirit-cult worshipers. Experts estimate that 90 million of the nation’s 150 million people fol low African voodoo-style cults, gen erally lumped under the term Ma- cumba and descended from Yoruba and Bantu religions practiced by slaves. Over the centuries the cults freely borrowed elements of Roman Ca tholicism, native Indian faiths, Euro pean witchcraft and kardec spir itism. They became uniquely Brazilian and spread among all races and classes. “Brazilians have lost faith in their leaders and are turning to spiritual means of solving their problems,” says Paulo Coelho, a magician and Vivid hand coloring brings old photos to life WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — Long before cable broadcaster Ted Turner began coloring black-and- white prints, Margaret Spargo was adding a blush to the cheeks or a splash of color to the dresses of the B subjects in her monochrome por traits. Almost daily she sits at a little red table in the window of her storefront studio, carefully coloring photo graphs by hand. Spargo is a woman of few words, especially when describing how she learned her technique nearly 60 years ago. 1 T just did it on my own. Don’t ask L dl me h° vv ^ learned. I just did it,” she says. Working from detailed notes about her subjects, she deftly dabs nearly transparent oil paint with a piece of cotton onto the faces of a | mother, father and son. She had spent several painstaking hours working with a colored pencil and brush to match the blue print dress. “That was a lulu. It’s not 1 right, but it’s close,” she said. She works quickly, with widening autiful» her exp ore.” Mattbf ative. Tfe thers, A child tot* rs. Nevet neet at lb lounts pencil woman’s quite circular strokes. If she strays, the paint can be wiped away until it fully dries in about a day. The artistry comes in blending the colors and highlighting the features, so the boy’s blue eyes have a lifelike, almost impish sparkle. Spargo says she can’t tell how long it takes to finish a photograph. “That sounds silly, but I’ve never timed myself. People are much too scientific about things,” she said. Hand coloring emerged in the 1840s, shortly after daguerreotypes, the first commercially viable photos taken on glass plates, said David Gib- ney, negative archivist of the Inter national Museum of Photography in Rochester, N.Y. At first, a little blush was added to the cheeks and a splash of color to jewelry. Fully tinted photos became popular after the turn of the century until color photo materials improved and became affordable in the 1940s. “I think a lot of sins that the cam era’s lens brings out can be hidden with hand coloring, and you can en hance the good things,” Gibney said. Even the best color print will be gin to age in five years, but hand-col ored photos can last 50 years without much deterioration, said E. Ken White, chairman of fine art photog raphy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and himself a hand col- orer. Spargo remembers that it was sometime in the 1930s when she was 19 that she w T ent to work for photog rapher Fred Stiles at his downtown studio. “I just thought I wanted to do something that I would learn some thing, not just a job,” she said, but af ter the first day of retouching the photo of a boy to remove his freck les, she almost went looking else where. Stiles “told me it looked like a hen scratched it, which it probably did,” she said. But Spargo persevered under a succession of owners and four years later bought the studio. It was at a national photography workshop at Winona Lake, Ind., where she went to learn more about commercial photography, that she took up hand coloring. author of several books on magic. About 85 percent of Brazilians profess tp be Roman Catholics, but many see no conflict in also partici pating in spirit cults. Most buyers are the poor, but a growing number are middle- and upper-class Brazilians. At the heart of this phenomenon is the belief that many illnesses and economic and emotional woes have a spiritual ori gin. To tap the market, some mer chants have switched from peddling housewares and clothing to hawking cult articles. Manuel Felgueiras Pontes gave up his fish stand three years ago and opened a voodoo shop. “I knew a lot of people would rather practice Macumba than eat,” he says. For the voodoo bargain hunter, the market in Madureira district, on Rio’s north zone, is the place to shop. Some 37 of the 350 shops in this winding, shadowy market feature black magic items. A mannequin in black top hat, boots and velvet cloak and holding a trident stands outside the Oxala Te- cidos shop, specializing in ritual gar ments. The mannequin holds the gar ments of Exu, a deity Africans be lieved represented change, movement and fertility. But under the influence of Roman Catholicism, Exu in Brazil became a devil. This particular Exu is called Mar- abo, an entity said to bring financial success. His cape costs $80, boots $145, trident $45. At the Odo-Ya voodoo shop, a toad used to cast evil spells goes for $25. A bar of black soap to wash away negative fluids is $6.50. Shop See Magic/Page 6 .all and 1 ’ are nie [i itchtitfN the lb 1 "llotostf lisa so f the fad 11 :; an. Eb ,; Ip him lin FEVER STUDY Do you have a fever of 101° or greater} Earn $200 by participating in an 8 hour at home research study with an investigational over-the-counter fever medication. No blood drawn. 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