Critics' Voices: Nov. 11, 1991

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THEATER

ON BORROWED TIME. George C. Scott is back on Broadway as a quintessential foxy grandpa, all harmless cusswords and mock-fierce benevolence, in a sentimental 1938 comedy-drama about an old man's battle of wits with death. What a pity to waste his gifts on piffle.

THE BABY DANCE. A desperate L.A. yuppie couple arrange to buy the unborn child of a dirt-poor Louisiana pair in Jane Anderson's passionate off-Broadway drama, beautifully realized in the fierce, moving performances of TV's Linda Purl and Stephanie Zimbalist, and Richard Lineback.

TELEVISION

EDGE (PBS, Nov. 6 and 10 on most stations). PBS's new monthly magazine series on pop culture, with host Robert Krulwich, enlivens some familiar topics (Grateful Dead fanatics, Norman Mailer's new novel) with personal points of view from such contributors as Buck Henry and critic James Wolcott.

! IT'S ONLY TELEVISION (Nickelodeon, Nov. 6, 5 p.m. and Nov. 8, 7 p.m. EST). Do TV news programs tell the truth? How close to reality are TV sitcoms and dramas? Host Linda Ellerbee addresses these and other questions in this level- headed half-hour children's special, which encourages kids to think about and even -- gasp! -- criticize what they see on TV.

THE RETURN OF ELIOT NESS (NBC, Nov. 10, 9 p.m. EST). Robert Stack is back as TV's most famous G-man, as still another classic TV series, The Untouchables, proves there's life after death.

MUSIC

KILLER JOE: SCENE OF THE CRIME (Hard Ticket). The knockdown, knockout party record of the season, if your idea of a blowout is straight-from-the-hear t rock with the rollicking flavor of the Jersey shore. Killer Joe Delia is a piano pounder with a raucous voice, and he's buttressed here by the eloquent drumming of his crony Max Weinberg, late of the E Street Band, and guest performers like Little Steven and Jon Bon Jovi. Glory days indeed.

RICKIE LEE JONES: POP POP (Geffen). One of rock's most idiosyncratic talents bends pop standards like I'll Be Seeing You and Second Time Around to her own offbeat styling. She comes up with interpretations that career between the telling and the bizarre, but some of the most surprising renditions -- like, for God's sake, Hi-Lili Hi-Lo -- turn out to be the most successful.

DIRE STRAITS: ON EVERY STREET (Warner Bros.). Likely you've caught the first single, Calling Elvis, on the radio. The rest of the record is similar: edgy, mysterious, insinuating, with some typically masterly guitar work by Mark Knopfler. Dire Straits is the most stylishly surreptitious group in all of rock: the music seems to drift off into the unconscious as soon as you hear it, leaving the impression that it's been part of your life forever -- or at least since Elvis.

MOVIES

BILLY BATHGATE. Over budget and over schedule, with rumors of rancor soiling its production, Robert Benton's movie of the E.L. Doctorow novel arrives in a shroud of doom. Well, surprise! There's rare grace and gravity in the tale of a Bronx kid (Loren Dean, a find) who hitches his hopes to the falling star of gangster Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman, again splendid). Forget the Cassandras. Go see a good movie.