Cinema: Season's Greetings: Bang!

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Christmas is traditionally a time when the movie studios upend their cornucopias, spewing out many of their major films in the hope of capitalizing on all the good cheer ∧and spare time. Once this meant primarily "family films," light comedies and musicals. Nowadays, such things appear mainly in the continuing fad for nostalgia, as exemplified by Ken Russell's new version of The Boyfriend. For the rest, a striking number of film producers arc celebrating Christmas with a new wave of violence and bloodshed. Among the entries: Macbeth, Roman Polanski's first film since Rosemary's Baby; Dirty Harry, a tough police melodrama starring Clint Eastwood; and, once again, Sean Cannery as James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever. Here is a look at three of the season's most interesting films—and their directors.