MOVIES - May 18, 1990

‘Bonfire’ Fuel: New Jersey Chief Justice Robert Wilentz has been accused of violating the First Amendment and costing Essex County $250,000 when he barred filming of a scene in “Bonfire of the Vanities” in the county’s courthouse. The American Civil Liberties Union joined Essex County’s Nicholas Amato in a federal lawsuit challenging his decision. The disputed scene, now being filmed at a courthouse in the New York City borough of Queens, showed Morgan Freeman as a judge dismissing charges against Tom Hanks as a stockbroker accused of killing a black teen-ager in a hit-and-run accident.