1998, 2 hrs 4 min., Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements emphasizing sexuality, and for language. Dir: Gary Ross. Cast: Tobey Maguire (David/Bud), Reese Witherspoon (Jennifer/Mary Sue), Joan Allen (Betty), William H. Macy (George), Jeff Daniels (Mr. Johnson), J.T. Walsh (Mayor), Don Knotts.

When I first saw the trailer for Pleasantville, I thought it was an independent movie released straight to video. I had heard nothing of it on any entertainment web site, which is generally where I begin anticipating films and acquiring information. Then about a month ago my ears perked up greatly because preview audiences were describing "life-changing" experiences. Phrases were tossed out like "you'll always remember where you where when you first saw it."

Well, I saw it Fri, Oct. 23, 1998 at the Gwinnett Place Mall Cinema at 1:30 p.m. EST, the first Atlanta viewing.

But, I was still apprehensvie going in because I don't want any ideal conservative values being attacked, i.e. a father, mother, boy, girl, dog, live in a suburb and go to church every sunday.

Afterwards, I can say I didn't have anything to worry about, because what Pleasantville wants to know is, "What brings color into your life?"

In other words, for what do you have passion? Do you just go through the motions? Or do you live to the fullest? Do you love the feel of rain on your body, do you notice how red a rose is, the vivid colors and imagination of a Renaissance painting?

I'm glad this picture came out in the fall, because I can say that I love this season. The feel of the cool weather when I walk out the door, the awesome breeze blowing your hair and the newly fallen leaves across the lawn. The clear, blue sky or starry night where the air feels so crisp, so fresh. The nights, when it's colder, and the comfortable feel of a warm jacket or in bed snuggled under a blanket.

And when the residents of Pleasantville first feel rain and see the lightning, hear the thunder, it actually makes me think of how I'd hate to live somewhere like L.A. I love weather; rain, snow, winds, hail, it's just great to feel, to experience. I'd love to just once be in a city when a hurricane hits, or chase a tornado. I love playing sports, especially soccer and football in the rain and slop around in the mud. It makes you feel alive.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still feel Saving Private Ryan is number one so far this year, and will be at the end of 1998. But Pleasantville is a different movies. It belongs in the top five, and will be one of those cult films you put in at night, or with your significant other and curl up and always leave with a smile.

Even though it won't win an Oscar for Best Picture, Joan Allen, playing Betty the mother, is a top contender for Best Supporting Actress. And Pleasantville will win several awards for special effects. I read that there were more than twice the effects than in Titanic, even though it only cost $45 million, below average in today's standards. I can honestly say that the colors are stunning. You never know how great color is until it's all black and white. And the colors aren't thrown on there all at once, they're introduced little by little. Now, I was disappointed that sexuality was given so much credit for instilling passion in the "coloreds", but the library is given as much credit for opening the students minds as to "What is outside of Pleasantville?" The director also shows that any emotion is just as good, be it love or anger. It reminded me of Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier with Kirk's quote "I need my pain...It's what makes us what we are."

Halfway through beware that it turns into a civil-rights campaign, with shots framed to look like a 50s rally by whites against blacks. It's short-lived, though, to give a semblance of anti-change. (Look for the courtroom scene straight out of To Kill a Mockingbird). J.T. Walsh gives a dramatic finale in his final role of his career, passing away after shooting was finished.

But I'm not worried about being told that as a conservative I can't adjust to change. Between May 1997 and March 1998, I graduated college, moved from my home in Memphis to Martin, Tenn. (pop. 6,000) then to Atlanta (pop. 4.5 million), Dad got remarried, and my best friends got married and had a son.

There are great moments of wit in Pleasantville, such as the shock on people's faces of seeing a bed for two, the look on the basketball team when Skip misses the first shot of the team's history, the firemen asking how to operate a hose to put out a fire, or when George (Macy) tells his barber-shop friends how his wife didn't have dinner ready when he came home.

The analogies are also difficult to miss in Pleasantville. One theme is a Garden of Eden parable. The first color painting we see is Masaccio's "The Expulsion of Adam and Eve From the Garden." Also on that theme, Don Knotts character as the watcher who arranged the kids' transformation, realizes that Bud (Maguire) has turned when he eats the bright red apple given to him by his new girlfriend, Margaret.

I do wish that Witherspoon (Jennifer/Mary Sue) could have maintained a bigger part in the movie. She and Maguire (David/Bud) are a team in the first half, but she's relegated to a part-time player in the second. After this role she goes straight into my list of top actresses, as the smoking, sexpot twin sister who gets the change in the town rolling. She has a great scene where she describes the facts of life to the mother.

The score by Randy Newman has an elegance that invokes emotion, and then gives a playfulness that is reminiscent of 50s shows. Naturally I went out and bought the album. The Fiona Apple song, "Across the Universe" fits great with the movie as well. You know Fiona, she's the twin sister of Ally McBeal.

The verdict: -- "They" are right.

Postscript: The Atlanta paper had an interview with Gary Ross, the director of Pleasantville, which gives some interesting insight into the movie.

When asked how he got the idea, Ross says that "it was this idealized time that I longed for too, with these perfectly manicured hedges and white picket fences and everyone was happy. But it wasn't a utopia by any means...You didn't have that episode where Ozzie and Harriet took Ricky and David to the bomb shelter and told them how they would live if there was nuclear fallout. Isn't it wild that we grew up with this specter of annihilation, and at the same time believed in the happy patriarchy that underscored this illusion of permanence?"