MOVIE REVIEWS : Double Bill With a Minor Masterpiece

This week’s AFI USA Independent Showcase offering at the Monica 4-Plex is a case of the tail wagging the dog. The curtain-raiser is Chicago film maker Steven Elkins’ 23-minute gem, “Medusa Challenger,” a minor masterpiece of economic cinematic storytelling starring Jack Wallace and Joe Mantegna that in its flawless economy recalls classic shorts such as Roman Polanski’s “Two Men and a Wardrobe” and Adam Davidson’s Oscar-winning “The Lunch Date.”

The intended main attraction is Phillip Koch’s “Pink Nights,” a sweet-natured, nicely acted romantic teen comedy that is as slight as it is artificial and meandering. No wonder it has sat the past four years on video store shelves.

In the 1977 “Medusa Challenger,” which Koch produced, Wallace and Mantegna play uncle and nephew respectively, and they make their living hawking carnations at a buck a bunch on Chicago’s busiest thoroughfares. The nephew is slightly retarded but strives mightily to please. One day, when they’re at the Lake Shore Drive Bridge, the largest double bascule span in the world, the uncle goes off to buy his nephew a hot dog. He stops by to say hello to his buddy (Al Lamb), who from a tower opens and closes the immense counterweighted drawbridge.

So quickly do the two men become absorbed in conversation that Wallace momentarily forgets his errand. Then it’s time for the bridge to be opened and raised to let a ship (called Medusa Challenger) pass. All of a sudden the uncle remembers his nephew, but where is he? Could he be on the bridge? Will he be smart enough to get off or will he panic? Or what else might he be up to?

Elkins structures his vignette with a documentary-like survey of the workings of the bridge, a monument to Machine Age/Art Deco styling and technology such as Hoover Dam or the Golden Gate Bridge. At the same time he generates considerable suspense because uncle and nephew are such nice guys--and Wallace, last seen in “The Bear,” and Mantegna are such good actors.

“Medusa Challenger,” which pays affectionate attention to the kind of people who so often go unnoticed, deserves to be billed with Morris Engel’s classic “Little Fugitive” rather than with “Pink Nights.”

“Pink Nights” is an instance of a filmmaker trying to break through commercially while trying not to sell out. It’s pleasant to see a teen film that doesn’t exploit sex, drugs and mayhem and does suggest that teen-agers crave camaraderie and friendship like everyone else, but there’s not much else in this tale about a shy but handsome high school boy (Kevin Anderson) who, while mom’s away, unexpectedly winds up with three girls (Peri Kaczmarek, Shaun Allen and Jessica Vitkus) in his bed. “Pink Nights” is a kind of PG-rated “Risky Business” with an innocence that strains credibility.

‘Medusa Challenger’

Jack Wallace: Uncle

Joe Mantegna: Nephew

Al Lamb: Al

A Koch/Marschall production. Writer-director Steven Elkins. Producer Phillip Koch. Cinematography Craig Somers, Marc Miller. Additional camera Jeff Jur. Music Alan Barcus. Running time: 23 minutes.

Times-rated Family (suitable for all ages).

‘Pink Nights’

Kevin Anderson: Danny

Larry King: Jeff

Peri Kaczmarek: Esme

Shaun Allen Terry

Jessica Vitkus: Marcy

A New World Flms release of a Koch/Marschall production. Writer-director Phillip Koch. Producers Koch, Sally Marschall. Cinematographer Charlie Leiberman. Editors Koch, Marschall. Costumes Rachel Herbener. Music Jim Tullio. Set designer Gail Specht. Sound Hans Roland. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG (some adult situations).