Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 8, 1991                   TAG: 9102080033
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Chris Gladden
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

YO, DUDES, READY FOR THE SEQUEL?

The sequel to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Movie" is on the way.

Invitingly titled "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze," it's scheduled for a spring release.

Our household is still reeling from the commercial fall-out of the last movie. We have Ninja Turtle shampoo, bubble bath, pajamas, jigsaw puzzles, Halloween costumes, sleeping bags, books, baseball gloves, action figures and, of course, the video of the first movie.

And that's just an off-the-top-of-the-head inventory.

Youthful fads are astonishingly ephemeral. Last year's super group - New Kids on the Block - is now as popular at our house as bedtime, spinach casserole and homework.

But the karate-fighting reptiles are demonstrating a surprising tenacity in the market place. These green backs make greenbacks, as the original movie proved to the tune of more than $129 million in box office receipts at the end of its 1990 spring-summer release. The voice of the turtle is heard throughout the land.

In case you were worried, those dueling dogs in "White Fang" were only playing.

The American Humane Association has given the Disney movie based on Jack London's novel its highest rating. An association representative spent more than four months observing the shooting of the film in Alaska. The association, which has monitored the treatment of animals during movie shoots for 50 years, concluded that all scenes of violence were simulated.

Still, some very young children apparently find the scenes disturbingly realistic. At one showing, I saw a mother carry a very upset youngster into the lobby. And a father told me his 5-year-old was ready to go after 25 minutes.

However, for youngsters old enough to distinguish fantasy from reality, it's a well-crafted adventure based on a classic book.

> When Michael Cimino scared the sagebrush out of investors with his costly disaster "Heaven's Gate" in 1980, the western entered an uncharacteristically dormant period. While it may have peaked in popularity in the 1940s and '50s, the western has always captivated filmmakers. Lawrence Kasdan briefly revived it in 1985 with "Silverado," but the western has remained in the last decade a definitely low-profile genre.

That may be changing.

"Lonesome Dove" deservedly generated an almost unheard of devotion among television viewers. "Dances with Wolves" is nearing the $100 million mark at the box office and still has legs.

No matter what you thought of the two "Young Guns" movies, they drew a teen and young-adult audience to the genre. And TV devoted another four hours to the western miniseries this week with "Son of the Morning Star," a respectable version of Evan S. Connell's book about George Armstrong Custer and the Little Big Horn.

Nothing breathes new life into an ailing genre like a gust of dollars. The western seems to be stirring up a little wind these days.