GET SHORTY; Barry Sonnenfeld (15) THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE; Kaizo Hayashi (nc)

It was written for a man. Now a woman is playing the part. Does the recent trend for role-bending change the play? By Paul Taylor

In the Seventies, John Travolta was a phenomenon, a craze - then it all fell apart. Now he's back, bigger than before, and maybe even better. David Thomson looks on; Is it the Scientology? Or do those kind eyes show us a rare man?

Once upon a time in the movies there were original cast recordings and spin-off albums of dubious merit. That was before the big boys moved in. By Andy Gill

Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer had a formula: high-tech flashy movies with loud bangs, louder music, car chases, car crashes and straight guys who dig other guys. The audiences responded. They didn't know a Simpson from a Goldwyn, but Hollywood did. Even so, Simpson admitted, "People didn't really like us." "In the Eighties it was cool at one point to be the ugliest, meanest, most selfish bastard in the world," said Christian Wagner, who edited Simpson's last film, Bad Boys.

The growling cockney Arthur Mullard took his 6ft 2in bulk and bashed-in nose from the professional boxing ring to television screens and found his greatest fame as he was approaching retirement. Acting success took him 30 years to achieve and, after several decades as an extra in films and a feed to television comics such as Tony Hancock and Arthur Askey, he found it playing a scrounger called Wally Briggs in the situation comedies Romany Jones and Yus My Dear.

1Joseph, pounds 89 The stretch suede-effect camel trousers are beautiful to the touch, and a good shape. Sure to be a winner with those currently obsessed with all things camel. From Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge, London SW1, and Joseph branches at 77 Fulham Road, SW3, and 26 Sloane Street, London SW1

Celluloid Jukebox, the National Film Theatre's huge season celebrating popular music and the movies, continues throughout July with golden oldies like Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (5 July 8.45), Louis Malle's Lift to the Scaffold (20 July 8.40 and 23 July 8.40), Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (19 July 7.30) and High School Confidential (30 July 8.40), and more recent work like Alan Parker's The Commitments, pictured above (2 July 8.40), Saturday Night Fever (20 July 6.15), Rock 'n' Roll High School (3 July 8.45) and Barry Levinson's Jimmy Hollywood (13 July 8.45).

Who will walk away with the Oscars next week? In Hollywood, the bets are on. Phil Reeves considers the odds

Television

WITH delicious irony, the great dissection of British monarchy turns out to be French. La Reine Margot (18) is too stately and subtle to be taken as a broadside at our royals, but the House of Windsor must feel some rumbles from its mighty impact . The events are set in 16th-century France, and they show our current royal crop to be mere amateurs in matters of regal decline and decadence. The marriage of religious convenience between the Catholic Margot (Isabelle Adjani) and the Protestant Henri de Navarre (Daniel Auteuil) is, Prince Charles-style, loveless, but also avowedly sexless. When Margot fancies a fling with a commoner (Vincent Perez's La Mole), mere toe-sucking is not enough: she mounts him against the castle wall in full public view.

The general sense of anxiety is reflected in the Spring collections. Wi ll we look rich? Will we look poor? And what will we do to look shocking now?

Unexpectedly, the scene in Quentin Tarantino's astonishing film Pulp Fiction that astonishes more than any other is not decorated in torn body parts, dripping in ketchup or draped in a thick fog of expletives. It is the one where a low-rent LA gangster's moll has been taken out for the night by a heroin-sodden hit-man employee of her boyfriend's. The pair pitch up at a theme restaurant, where all the staff are lookalikes for dead stars: there, waiting tables, are a Marilyn, a Buddy Holly, a James Dean.

Let's get up and boogie,' said Suzy, tying her silk batik blouse high above her midriff. We were hanging out in London's West End, about to hit the Carwash - a 1970's theme night frequented by Soho's cognoscenti.