Play it Again, Kurt

Copyright 1994 Southam Inc.

Browning, the showman, knows how to deliver a good line, how to stick with success, and how to keep on spinning and jumping into the hearts of Canadian audiences

KURT BROWNING: YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS, airs today at 8 p.m. on Ch. 6-6-9 and 24-16

The title of Kurt Browning's special, You Must Remember This, comes, of course, from the Humphrey Bogart character he now plays every time he skates. And which he will play again during the forthcoming winter Olympics.

Evidently, Canada's greatest athlete -- some say -- is a firm believer in the adage that says if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Don't even change it, he might add, even if your audience has seen it several hundred times before. (So I exaggerate; it's called making a point.)

Thus it isn't surprising that this same character figures prominently in this special. The second half of it is devoted almost entirely to a tongue-in-cheek take on Bogart's Philip Marlowe personna as Browning plays a down-on-his-luck '40s gumshoe (gumskate?) hired to solve a murder.

Filmed in black-and-white and shot on three period sets -- a slightly seedy office, a casino and a train station -- built in turn on an ice rink, it features Browning and fellow skaters Kristi Yamaguchi, Josee Chouinard, Christine Hough and Doug Ladret in a kind of The Big Sleep on ice. Browning and friends dance, fight, make love and shoot each other while careering about on narrow slivers of steel that logic says shouldn't be enough to support a sparrow, let alone a human being.

And yes, it's all very impressive -- especially the set design and photography. But it's also the weakest part of the show. The story is, of course, just a showcase for the skaters' talents, but it's such a weak, stupid story that no story might have been better. Even Browning's surprising ability to deliver a funny (well, reasonably funny) line doesn't quite cut it.

The first half of the special is far better. The opening segment also borrows from the movies, but it's terrific. After Browning explains how he and his mom used to watch old films on Sunday afternoon TV, the special segues into a tribute to Gene Kelly singing Singin' in the Rain.

Browning, dressed exactly like Kelly and skating on a set reminiscent of the one Kelly danced on, becomes Kelly on skates. Rain pours down in sheets (isn't the ice in danger of melting?), but Browning, with umbrella in hand, revels in it. What a glorious feeling, he's happy again. It's very clever.

Equally effective is a subsequent number that copies Robert Palmer's notoriously sexy/sexist video of Simply Irresistible. Browning, in a shirt and tie, leers and cavorts suggestively at Yamaguchi, Chouinard and Hough as they preen and pose in much the same way that pouty-lipped women did in the video. Again, it's very well done.

Following that comes a kind of Red Skelton turn done to a recording of Donald O'Connor singing Be a Clown. And if you like that sort of thing. . . .

All in all, however, as specials like this go, it's surprisingly good. The conception is a bit weak at times -- was it really necessary for the producers to haul in a bunch of dopey kids for Browning to philosophize at? -- but the level of production is amazing. Extraordinary at times.

And as far as Browning is concerned, well, it's no wonder he's the reigning world champion. Boy, can this boy skate.