Dan Webster

If you remember the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan film "Sleepless in Seattle," you may remember how great a date movie it was. That's how Seattle author-publisher Steve Oliver recalls it. Only Oliver sees it as more of a comedy than a romance.

It ended up having 175,000 lights. And, if you can imagine, that was the scaled-down version of the Christmas display set in the front yard of Mitzi and William Jennings Bryan Osborne of Little Rock, Ark.

1. Pierce Brosnan is the latest in the line of actors who have played Ian Fleming's Agent 007. 2. What's a Bond movie without a few steamy sex scenes? Brosnan and Izabella Scorupco keep up the tradition.

So there you are, watching the Seahawks lose - again - when the muttering starts. It's your (choose one: wife, girlfriend, significant other, love muffin), washing Saturday's left-over dinner dishes and complaining about how you never pitch in and help around the house. Quickly, you recall that in the past 48 hours you have: run two loads of laundry, cooked one dinner and two breakfasts, taken the car in for its oil change, gone grocery-shopping twice, taken out the week's recycling and the garbage, let the cat out at 5:22 a.m. and adjusted the plunger arm on a running toilet for what must be the millionth time. And yet, here you are, being called a slug just because you're indulging in a few hours of sports-fan masochism. Or is that what's really going on? According to an article in the December Reader's Digest, the conflict may be due to what a University of Washington psychologist calls an "emotional gender gap." John Gottman has studied the fortunes of some 2,000 relationships over the past 20 years. His take: "Harsh criticism is an early signal that a marriage is in danger." Before you mutter "Du-uh," consider this: Fights between couples follow gender-based patterns. For example, Gottman claims, the intensity of a woman's reaction may have more to do with a specific matter than an overall dissatisfaction with the man in her life. In their turn, men tend to take such intensity personally. They shut off their emotions in the face of a perceived attack, which curtails any real chance that the conflict can be settled. Or even discussed. So, Gottman offers a few suggestions: Men need to listen while women talk about their feelings instead of attempting to fix things right off. Women need to be more specific about their complaints instead of simply indulging in across-the-board character assassination. Both partners need to try to see the situation from the other's point of view. And both need to try to state their feelings with as much love as they can muster. Will such guidelines work? It depends on how much effort each person is willing to expend. What, you have to ask yourself, do you have to lose? Far more, clearly, than a 15-yard penalty and loss of down.

(From For the Record, Wednesday, December 6, 1995): The Washington State University Press Book Fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today in Room 212 of the Compton Union Building in Pullman. The wrong date was published in Sunday's IN Life section.

1. Roger Moore starred in several Bond movies. 2. Timothy Dalton filled the spy shoes as well. 3. George Lazenby was the least memorable Agent 007 after Sean Connery (right) made the role famous. 4. (Photo of Sean Connery)

When critics talk about specific filmmakers, they tend to credit them with more praise or blame than they likely deserve. The Hollywood platitude about moviemaking being a collaborative exercise is more than just a cliche. Consider: The screenwriter, either working on his or her own or at the behest of a deal maker (who could be a producer, director, star, studio head or anyone else with an idea and the influence to get it financed), figures out the characterization, plot and dialogue. Then, as the project takes shape, the actors take those lines of dialogue and imbue them with feeling. The cinematographer decides how the film is lighted. The editor works on fitting millions of feet of spent film into a coherent whole. There are others, too - the production designer, the line producer, the sound man, assistants of all sorts, grips and electricians, etc. And over all of them the director looms, conferring with each one (as well as, in most cases, the producer). But the one person who seldom gets mentioned is the casting director - the person responsible for finding the actors to play, if not the primary roles, then certainly those that are secondary. In fact, no matter who is ultimately responsible for casting a certain film, this area is crucial to the final feel of any movie project. I mention all of this because of Debra Winger, an actress who, given the right role, is as good as any actress working today. The flip side, of course, is that when Winger isn't right, she can be easily dismissible or even fairly horrible. And in the Billy Crystal-directed "French Kiss" (see capsule review below), Winger is about as believable as... well, as Emilio Estevez cast in the role of an uptight lawyer (see both of "The Mighty Ducks" films). Winger on (and presumably off) the screen is a strong, opinionated and utterly feminine presence who managed to project those attributes as well as sexiness in "An Officer and a Gentleman," vulnerability in "Terms of Endearment" and all the above in "The Sheltering Sky." She is not at her best when strength is eliminated from her character (nor, for that matter, when she is forced to affect a phony accent, as in "Shadowlands"). Of course, she isn't alone in this limitation. Miscasting has had a prominent place in Hollywood cinema. John Wayne, after all, was forced to play Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror" (1958). Michelle Pfeiffer was forced to play a lonely, dumpylooking (yeah, right) waitress in "Frankie and Johnny" (1991). And Sharon Stone in any number of films has been confused with someone boasting more acting talent than mere good looks. Miscasting, of course, is sometimes unavoidable. No major studio would have made "Frankie and Johnny" starring the actress who played the role on the New York stage, Kathy Bates. No, Hollywood saves her, indeed even rewards her, for playing demeaning horror roles ("Misery," "Dolores Claiborne"). Some movies get made only because an inappropriate star is attached to the deal. Maybe that was the case with "French Kiss" - as in, "Sorry, Mr. Crystal, but Meg Ryan has decided to pass on your project." The obvious question then is: Can the movie survive? Sometimes, as in the case of "Forget Paris," the answer is a qualified yes. Often, though, it cannot. Forget Paris *** In the manner of Woody Allen, Billy Crystal directs and stars in this look at the difficult side of marriage. Especially difficult is the fact that he (Crystal) is an NBA referee and she (Debra Winger) knows nothing about basketball, so there is trouble galore once the romantic glow wears off. Winger is miscast in a part so clearly perfect for Meg Ryan, but everything else about this thinkingperson's comedy smoothly traverses the ground between laughter and loud sighs. Especially good are Cynthia Stevenson and Joe Mantegna as a couple contemplating marriage despite their respective fears. Rated PG-13.

Catherine Deneuve stars in "Belle de Jour."

Woody, right, faces a challenge from Buzz Lightyear in "Toy Story."

Chris Eigeman co-stars as Max in "Kicking and Screaming." Photo by Trimark Pictures

"The Great Escape" and "Hoop Dreams" are good buys. The EW video guide won't steer you wrong. Photo by Molly O'Hara/The Spokesman-Review

Seems like every time I turn around I meet someone who is either a Virgo, a Libra or a Scorpio. Now I know why. It's a holiday thing. According to New Choices magazine, the scent of pumpkin pie is a virtual aphrodisiac. In the magazine's November issue, a report states that research by the Chicagobased Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation indicates that "the aroma of pumpkin pie combined with lavender can stimulate a man's sexual desire." "Smell treatment may be useful in improving sexual arousal," said researcher Alan R. Hirsch, M.D. "And because of the increase in blood flow, we hope that they may also eventually prove helpful in the treatment of vascular impotence."

Jim Carrey hams it up in 'Ace' and brings home the bacon.

From left, Amanda Root, Richard McCabe and Ciaran Hinds in Jane Austen's "Persuasion."

(photo of Dolores Huerta)

For the record (Tuesday, November 14, 1995): James Welch will read from his novel "Killing Custer" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie's. Also, the Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred on June 25, 1876. The reading time and battle date were incorrect in a Monday IN Life story. George Armstrong Custer was set up by the times as a heroic figure.

"The Bodacious Kid" By Stan Lynde, (Cottonwood Publishing, 241 pages, $24.95) Those of us who were children of the 1950s still recall a time when Westerns reigned the airwaves. From "Gunsmoke" to "Bonanza," "Maverick" to "Wagon Train," we embraced what we thought was the Western experience from the comfort of our living rooms. Those days no longer exist, and that's not all bad. If the Western ever does resurrect itself on television, maybe the Indians finally will get a fair shake. Until then, Western fans take their pleasure where they can, and that typically involves trips to the library or to stores where videos and books are sold.

In its quest to support the literary life of North Idaho, the Idaho Commission on the Arts is holding a pair of meetings among writers and readers. The first meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Coffee House in Sandpoint, 208 N. Fourth. The second will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Gallery By the Lake in Coeur d'Alene, 210 Sherman Ave. Both meetings, which will attempt to pose questions as how to better provide opportunities for writers to make a home in Idaho, are open to the public.

Good looks weren't enough for Cindy Crawford in "Fair Game."

When Drew Barrymore smiles her trademark take-me smile at Chris O'Donnell in the teens-on-the-lam romance "Mad Love" (see capsule review), you know he's a goner. Family, school, job, responsibility, the notion of a future - all of it becomes just so much white noise to O'Donnell's hormone-hungry and emotionally vulnerable character. And when he does take off, jettisoning his life for the promise of wild escapades of the nocturnal kind (if you catch my drift), he joins a long line of like-minded losers, from Don Jose in "Carmen" to Ned Racine in "Body Heat." Since he has a powerful agent, of course, O'Donnell the actor doesn't allow O'Donnell the character to end up ruined or, worse, a murderer. And so in that respect, at least, "Mad Love" has nothing in common with any of the great femme-fatale film noir classics of the 1940s and '50s. Still, many of O'Donnell's predecessors experience some combination of either ruin or untimely death - or both. They include: "The Blue Angel" (1930) - Emil Jannings is an upright professor who gives up everything, especially his dignity, for the night-club cutie portrayed by Marlene Dietrich. "Black Widow" (1987) - Theresa Russell, who in more than a dozen films has yet to prove she can act, portrays a woman who woos rich men only to kill them. Debra Winger is the emotionally insecure federal agent who falls under her spell. "Body Heat" (1981) - Lawrence Kasdan's first film has libidinous Kathleen Turner playing William Hurt for a prime chump. "You're not very bright, are you?" Turner purrs. "I like that in a man." "Double Indemnity" (1944) - Fred MacMurray is the insurance agent lured into murder by praying-mantis-cum-wife Barbara Stanwyck. Distrust is the very soul of this notable film noir. "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946 and 1981) - Both tell the same noir tale, of a drifter who gets involved with the frustrated-and-very-sexy wife of a man with no future. The 1946 version, featuring John Garfield and Lana Turner, crackles with tension, while the latter version, with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange, displays full well why some men might actually kill to get what they would consider ownership of a woman. "Out of the Past" (1947) - Jane Greer is the spider woman, and Robert Mitchum - believe it or not - is the chump in this noir classic (just as hard to believe is the fact that raven-haired Rhonda Fleming is the innocent who attempts to steer Mitchum straight). Bad Boys **-1/2 There's nothing new here that we haven't seen a dozen times or more: Two cops, feuding friends, kill off half a city while trying to foil the plan of a drug kingpin. Even the city (Miami) is a familiar setting, and the bad guy is distinctly Euro-trash (French star Tcheky Karyo) - a cliche that goes all the way back to "French Connection." Two things, however, seem new. The MTV-type quick editing, which can be done without, and the presence of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, which cannot. These guys make what happens around them seem like fun, even a second-rate script such as this one. Rated R. Mad Love ** Drew Barrymore is surprisingly good in this teenage romance between an All-American highschooler (Chris O'Donnell) and the psychologically troubled girl (Barrymore) he falls in love with. When the families tear them apart, they hit the road. Movie fans will understand when I say that what begins as "Reality Bites" evolves into "They Live By Night" but ends up being an overwrought version of "Baby It's You." Which is to say that while there's an emotional undertow here, the film never really reaches high tide. The Seattle scenery is nice, though. Rated PG-13.

"Run of the Country" stars Matt Keeslar and Albert Finney.

Charles Colson, a Nixon aide who went to jail for obstruction of justice, now works for the Prison Fellowship and has written 13 books. Photo by Associated Press

If your literary interests run to used books, you might want to pick up a copy of "The Used Book Lover's Guide to the Pacific Coast States" (Book Hunter Press, 472 pages, $18.95 paperback). The book, which was compiled by the husband-wife team of David S. Siegel and Susan Siegel, lists more than 1,350 stores, some 230 of which are in Washington (Idaho is not included). Those culled from Spokane are: Agathon Books (by appointment only, 624-5624), Arthur H. Clark Co. (928-9450), Auntie's (838-0206), Clark's Book Store (924-0737), Cal's Books (487-1206), Inland Bookstore (624-9064) and 2nd Look Books (535-6316). The list is hardly comprehensive, and the authors admit that they don't list those stores that sell exclusively paperback editions.

Here's a phrase you'll likely never hear: "You know, that guy can be a real shrew." Shrew, as defined by Webster, refers to "any number of small, slender mouse-like insectivore mammals with soft fur and a long, pointed snout." But there's a second definition: The word is often used to mean "a scolding, evil-tempered woman."