A THOUSAND ACRES By Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Touchstone Pictures Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse Writer: Laura Jones/based on Jane Smiley's novel Cast: Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Robards, Keith Carradine, Kevin Anderson, Colin Firth William Shakespeare's themes are universal, so it's no marvel that they have been adapted to hundreds of diverse settings. Thus "Richard III" becomes "Dick Deterred" and takes place during the administration of Richard Nixon. "Romeo and Juliet" is played out against the backdrop of contemporary California gangs. "Julius Caesar" is situated in Mussolini's Italy. "King Lear" now gets a production not in prehistoric England but in modern Iowa, where emotions are just as primitive. Lear becomes Larry (Jason Robards), Cordelia is Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Goneril becomes Ginny (Jessica Lange) and Regan has changed her name to Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer). Unlike Shakespeare's version there are no bastards this time around, but in the opinion of at least one of the characters, you will find a couple of bitches. Enter, then, the world of Lear in the corn fields and not on the heath, where the thunder and lightning are just as ominous, Alzheimer's replaces heroic rage, and melodrama supplants tragedy. It's a weepy, soapy, takeoff. People die with a whimper and a Lothario assumes the role of the knights in shining armor. When Tak Fujimoto's camera zooms in on land more fertile than any Elizabethan king could have imagined, we are not surprised to see its owner housing his family in three mansions of the richest acres in the county. Larry Cook, the most respected manorial lord in the area, is determined to beat Uncle Sam's tax collectors, so he carves up his land into three parts for his daughters. Caroline, the kid sister of the group, is now a hotshot lawyer in Des Moines, and declines her share for the time being--which is how we know she's The Good One. Dad, enraged, literally shuts her out of the house and divvies the plots between the repressed Ginny and the high-strung Rose--whose husbands Ty (Keith Carradine) and Peter (Kevin Anderson) smack their lips avariciously. After that Shakespeare takes a powder and "As the World Turns" takes over. Ginny, now enjoying an affair with Jess (Colin Firth) is convinced by Rose that Dad used to seduce both of them while they were in the teens. And oh yes, Rose has had a mastectomy: her husband regularly buttons her up lest he be exposed to the scars, and you know the rest. Jennifer Jason Leigh shows herself capable of new range. No longer the cynical Mrs. Parker, she's all halos here but Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse--who contributed mightily with her "How to Make an American Quilt"--does not give her much to do despite the nice budget the producers have given her. Jason Robards' second thoughts about the transfer of property are unmotivated. He accuses the daughters of throwing him out, but in reality he has turned himself out of the picture. The women are not as bad as Goneril and Regan: they've simply decided to live with the truth about the incest and are dismayed by their father's paranoia. The story's center, the relationship between Rose and Caroline, is played out well but hampered by a so-so script lacking in dramatic intensity and anticipated payoffs. But "A Thousand Acres" is worth seeing as an antidote to the standard summer action-adventure blockbusters. It deals with real people in a genuine setting with strong female roles. Rated R. Running Time: 105 minutes. (C) 1997 Harvey Karten
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