Mulholland Falls MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2

Set in the 1950s, MULHOLLAND FALLS is the action-packed story of four no-nonsense cops who make up an elite unite of the LA Police Department. The officers' days are filled with routine cases until the body of a beautiful young woman is discovered. The body's flattened appearance, as though some huge piece of equipment had rolled over it, piques the interest of Max (Nick Nolte), one of the officers. There are no marks on the body to indicate it had been crushed, and x-rays show one of the woman's heels to be radioactive. Their investigation takes the officers to the atomic testing site in New Mexico. Meanwhile, the intensity of the case takes a toll on Max's marriage to Kay (Melanie Griffith). When a film of Max and another woman mysteriously appears at their home, their marriage is all but over. MULHOLLAND FALLS' fast-moving pace and timing keep viewers wondering who dun it.

The film contains at least three intense, bloody fights and killings. One man is killed execution style with a gun stuck in his mouth. Another extremely violent struggle takes place on an airplane with no doors. Two people are pushed out of the plane, and Max's partner and the pilot are both shot. At the atomic testing site, the general in charge tells Max that the cornerstone of civilization is made up of human sacrifice, obviously referring to a room filled with grotesque, severely injured men. Ten obscenities, plus several profanities and crudities, serve no purpose. The one sex scene of Max and his lover includes nudity. However sex is implied once in a bedroom scene between Max and his wife. MULHOLLAND FALLS illustrates the devastating effects of unfaithfulness on marriage, but its gratuitous foul language and excessive gory violence spoil an otherwise good story.

Preview Reviewer: Bonnie Harvey
Distributor: MGM/UA, 450 N. Roxbury Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210