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Los Angeles Times
Calendar Weekend
Thursday, July 29,
1999
The Laemmle Theaters’ “Summer Series” continues
Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Sunset 5 (8000 Sunset Blvd, West
Hollywood) with Bob Swaim’s “The Climb,” a classic small boy-old man
relationship movie that represents quite a departure for the American director
of such stylish French films as “La Balance.” The story is so familiar you may
find your attention wandering, yet it is a sincere effort anchored by fine
performances, most notably by John Hurt, David Strathairn and young Gregory
Smith. The widowed Strathairn and his son (Smith) live in a blue-collar
Baltimore suburb in 1959, which means that there are lots of neighboring World
War II vets who have concluded that because Strathairn didn’t serve in the war
he must be one of those lily-livered conscientious objectors. This makes it
tough on his kid, who gets crucial grandfatherly reinforcement from Hurt, a
crusty itinerant construct-worker who’s dying of cancer, Auckland, New Zealand,
passes fairly well for Baltimore outskirts. “The Climb” also screens Aug. 7 and
8 at 11 a.m. at the Monica 4-Plex (1332 2nd St., Santa Monica). Sunset 5: (323)
848-3500; Monica 4-Plex: (310) 394-9741.
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