Film

Kevin Whitehead reviews the latest entries in Hollywood's "lovers-on-the-run-through-blinding-deserts" genre: "Kalifornia" and "True Romance" (scripted by Quentin Tarantino, who blessed us with his "Reservoir Dogs" last year).

Novelist Amy Tan. Her debut novel, "The Joy Luck Club," was a huge critical and commercial success, and it earned Tan a nomination for the National Book Award. It's now been made into a movie. Tan and Ron Bass wrote the screenplay. Marty will talk with Tan and Bass about making "The Joy Luck Club" into a movie. Ron Bass also wrote the screenplay for "Rain Man" for which he won an Academy Award. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Critic Stephen Schiff reviews the cinema's latest gender-bending foray: "The Ballad of Little Jo".

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews, "The Man Without a Face."

Actor Jerry Adler. He's a former Broadway producer, director and stage manager who took up acting at the age of 62. He worked on over 53 Broadway shows before moving to L.A. where he staged managed a soap opera. On a hunch, a friend, who was casting a film, brought Adler in to read. That resulted in his first appearance as an actor in the film noir thriller, "The Public Eye." Since then, Adler has acted in a number of television shows. He's now starring in the new Woody Allen film, "Manhattan Murder Mystery." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer A.E. Hotchner. His memoir, about growing up in a flophouse during the depression, "King of the Hill," is being made into a movie, directed by Stephen Soderbergh (who directed "Sex, Lives, and Videotape). Hotchner is best known for his controversial 1966 biography of his personal friend Ernest Hemingway, "Papa Hemingway: A Personal Memoir." Presented in the unusual form of dialogue, Hotchner faced criticism from the literary community and an attempt by Hemingway's widow to ban the sale of the book. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Film director Andrew Davis. Davis' string of action-thriller hits include last year's "Under Siege" with Steven Segal and a Chuck Norris picture "Code of Silence". His latest film is a remake of a TV series from the 1960's "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford. Davis' Hollywood credentials belie his journalistic background: he began his film career as an assistant cameraman to Haskell Wexler on "Medium Cool" which was filmed during and uses footage of the chaos of the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Manhattan Murder Mystery," the new Woody Allen movie.

Documentary filmmaker Jim Chambers, who put together the new film "112th and Central: Through the Eyes of the Children", a documentary about the effects of the Los Angeles riots on the young people who lived through them. The film is put together from interviews of friends and family filmed by the children themselves, including 12 year old Cleophas Jackson whom Marty also interviews. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Searching for Bobby Fischer" (Paramount Pictures).

One of the pioneers of the American underground cinema, film maker George Kuchar. He worked in ultra-low budget 8mm, and 16mm filming in and around the Bronx, where he lived, creating works that showed the disparity between the fantasy of Hollywood dreams and everyday reality. Kuchar's films include, "I was a Teenage Rumpot," "Pussy on a Hot Tin Roof," and "Lovers of Eternity." Now Kuchar is now working in a new form, the video diary. The American Museum of the Moving Image is holding a retrospective of his work (Aug. 6 - Sept.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The Fugitive" starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews Rising Sun, starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. It's based on a novel by Michael Crichton, who also wrote Jurassic Park.

Film critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "Coneheads," the latest Saturday Night Live-inspired movie. It stars Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd.

Chubby Checker got the credit for "The Twist," but the real credit goes to Hank Ballard who wrote the song and recorded it first (with the Midnighters') in 1958. Balalrd was a notorious figure in the early days of rhythm and blues. His song "Work with me Annie," was considered too lewd for many stations to play. Anyway, Ballard gets the credit for "The Twist," in a new documentary, "Twist" by film maker Ron Mann. Terry talks with both Hank Ballard and Ron Mann.

First-time film-maker Tiana (the Americanization of the name Thi Thanh Nga) has made a personal documentary tracing her 1988 journey back to Vietnam, where she was born: "From Hollywood to Hanoi." Her father was the head of press relations for the South Vietnamese government, and she enjoyed a privileged childhood. But her father moved the family to the United States just before the fall of Saigon. Tiana was raised in California from the age of three and became an actress in low-budget exploitation films.

Forty year Hollywood veteran, and director of almost fifty films, Richard Fleischer. He's the son of the legendary cartoonist, Max Fleischer, who created Betty Boop. Richard Fleischer's films include "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Fantastic Voyage", "Doctor Doolittle" and "Conan The Destroyer".

Producer Jeff Apple and writer Jeff Maguire. Their latest project is the new film, "In the Line of Fire," starring Clint Eastwood as a burnt-out Secret Service agent, haunted by the assassination of President Kennedy. Apple has produced hundreds of TV commercials as well as documentaries and promotional films. He came up with the idea for the film, and approached Maguire to write the film script.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new film, "Orlando," based on the novel by Virginia Wolff.

Filmmaker Rob Weiss. His first film, Amongst Friends, draws on his own experiences growing up affluent on Long Island. His characters reject the values of their parents and are attracted by a world of gangsters and gambling.