New Movies: Pope Opera

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The Red Chinese leader is a strutting Yellow Peril who does everything but say "Die, Yankee dog"; it is inconceivable that he could be melted by any gesture of the Vatican. And David Janssen, as a TV correspondent covering the Vatican, is even more awkward among the red hats than he was as a journalist with The Green Berets. Before the Pope straightens out her life Janssen's wife (Barbara Jefford) accuses him of spending the night with a girl friend. "You really pick a helluva time to bring that up," he says. "I'm on the air in 47 minutes."

At a time when Roman Catholicism is rent by internal rebellion and dissent, the church could use some aid. The Shoes of the Fisherman makes a pompous offering—and in the act of genuflecting, falls on its face.