Collection showcases Stone's savvy

By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service

Just as writer-director Oliver Stone seems to have a love-hate relationship with these United States, I have a love-hate relationship with Oliver Stone. As much as I admire his courage (reckless though it often is) and skills as a filmmaker, his judgment is forever in question, not just in the conclusions he reaches, but in the choice he makes reaching them.

I couldn't make my point any better than it's made in "The Ultimate Oliver Stone Collection" (Warner), a box collecting 12 of Stone's feature films made for various studios. Missing are two early horror films, 1974's "Seizure" and 1981's "The Hand," as well as his 2003 Fidel Castro documentary "Comandante."

There is real brilliance here, most notably in his Vietnam trilogy — 1986's "Platoon," 1989's "Born on the Fourth of July" and 1993's "Heaven and Earth."

There is also much good to be said about Stone's examinations of foreign policy in 1986's "Salvador," capitalism run amok in 1987's "Wall Street," free speech run amok in 1988's "Talk Radio," the complex crook who was president in 1995's "Nixon" and professional football in 1999's "Any Given Sunday." All of these, however, contain prime examples of Stone's worst tendency as a filmmaker — which is overheated bombast. "The Doors," from 1991, may be the worst example if you don't count 1994's uber-violent satire "Natural Born Killers."

Although few would deny the astonishing technique on display in 1991's conspiracy stew "JFK," it remains a deplorable film in its willful distortion of history and character. With 1997's "U-Turn," we learn that when Stone has no ax to grind, he has precious little to say.

The final two discs in the box may make it desirable even for those who already have the other movies. One contains the Castro film Stone made after "Comandante" was rejected by the pay-cable channel for which it was made on grounds it was too fawning. The follow-up is the far more even-handed "Looking For Fidel," which acknowledges Castro's crackdown on dissidents. The disc also contains "Persona Non Grata," an account of Stone's 2002 trip to the Middle East, during which he interviewed Shimon Peres and other leaders as well as residents on both sides of the conflict.

The other disc contains a fascinating, extended interview with Stone conducted by director Charles Kiselyak, whose rabid admiration for Stone does not prevent the director from being insightful, entertaining and self-critical, as well as occasionally self-aggrandizing.