steven@ism70.UUCP (03/16/85)
THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO Starring Jeff Daniels, Mia Farrow and Danny Aiello. Also starring John Wood, Edward Herrmann, Milo O'Shea and Irving Metzman. Directed by Woody Allen. Written by Woody Allen. Produced by Robert Greenhut. Photographed by Gordon Willis. Production Designed by Stuart Wurtzel. Edited by Susan Morse. Music by Dick Hyman. From Orion Pictures. (1985) This is one of the best films you'll ever see about the relationship between the movies and their audience. Mia Farrow plays a mousy, down and out waitress named Cecilia. She escapes from facing her life in Depression-era New Jersey and her no-good husband (Danny Aiello) by going to the movies faithfully. Every time the program changes at the Jewel, the local movie house, you'll find Cecelia watching the first night's show. She's seen "The Purple Rose of Cairo", her current favorite, five times. When her life takes a few particularly depressing turns, she retreats to the safety of the movie house. Then dashing Tom Baxter of "Purple Rose" (Jeff Daniels, Flip, of _T_e_r_m_s_ _o_f_ _E_n_d_e_a_r_m_e_n_t) unexpectedly looks out beyond the screen into the audience and begins to converse with his favorite fan. Tom leaps out of the movie into the real world, driving the studio crazy and forcing Gil Sheperd, the actor who _p_l_a_y_s Tom Baxter (also Jeff Daniels, of course) to New Jersey to try to convince his creation to return into the movie. I can't really say all that much about how wonderful _T_h_e_ _P_u_r_p_l_e _R_o_s_e_ _o_f_ _C_a_i_r_o is or why. It's not the kind of movie I feel comfortable analyzing, because part of its message is, "Hey, don't like the movies _t_o_o much or you'll neglect your life and end up all screwed over." Here then, are your all-purpose Stephen Schaefer/Joel Siegel adjectives to think about: Original, Hilarious, Thought-Provoking and, most importantly, _P_e_r_f_e_c_t. It's perfect. Four Stars out of four.