VHS Vednesday: Between the Lines

BETWEEN THE LINES (1977). Directed by Joan Micklin Silver. Starring John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, and Jeff Goldblum.

Going a little more highbrow than usual this time: Between the Lines is an ensemble comedy/drama revolving around the intertwining personal and professional lives of the staff of a small alternative newspaper, faced with the choice of maintaining their own identity and going broke, or selling out to a corporate media mogul. Director Joan Micklin Silver (Hester Street, Crossing Delancey) maintains a strong hand on the many plot and character threads, weaving them together with Altmanesque skill. The screenplay by Fred Barron works as both a behind-the-scenes look at the "lower side" of the newspaper business and as a time-capsule of the changing zeitgeist.

Who's Leaving This Off Their Resume?

My usual headline doesn't really apply, as the entire cast does an outstanding job and has no reason to be embarrassed by the picture. Among the leads, John Heard and Lindsay Crouse are particular standouts, bringing believable chemistry to their relationship as the paper's star reporter and photographer (respectively), struggling to keep their troubled romance separate from their professional lives. Jeff Goldblum provides some of the movie's funniest moments as the paper's cynical music critic. The smaller parts are no less compelling, particularly Bruno Kirby as a naive but ambitious novice writer, Michael J. Pollard as one of the paper's street vendors, and Marilu Henner as a stripper interviewed by Heard and Crouse.