short takes (2)

In last week's "On Film" column, I wrote about a charming new movie called Melving and Howard, with a story line about a gas-station owner who claimed that billionare Howard Hughes had left him a fortune in his will. As the article correctly pointed out, the plot depicts this claim as entirely legitimate, but through a page-processing error beyond my control, a later phrase unintentionally seemed to contradict this description. The first reference -- about the claim's legitimacy -- was the accurate one, and also reflects the off-screen opinions of director Jonathan Demme and screen writer Bo Goldman. The movie is a winner is almost every way, and should be on screens across the United States before long.