Brad Pitt has forsaken the lowlife British boxing rings he livened up in "Snatch," for a dusty Mexican desert dotted with pueblos and bad guys in "The Mexican."
Now, the Mexican in question isn't Pitt who plays Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman; it's a priceless, antique Mexican pistol which he must retrieve, or get snuffed, as we say south of the border, by an angry mob boss. However, that's not all –- the plot thickens faster than a bowl of overcooked cornmeal when his girlfriend Samantha (Julia Roberts) forbids his going after the prized gun.
Even Welbach sees the wisdom of disregarding Samantha's ultimatum for the time being in order to retrieve the gun and stay alive long enough to make the appropriate amends. But it isn't that easy. The gun supposedly carries a curse, which Welbach begins to believe after Samantha gets kidnaped by a hit man to ensure the safe return of the pistol.
The hit man (James Gandolfini of HBO's "The Sopranos"), from some reports almost steals the show as he and his captive, Samantha, get to know each other. This is the first encounter for Roberts and Pitt, but reviewers say they aren't on screen together long enough to stir up any caliente tamales, just some refried beans.
You might want to bring a taco or some beans with you — the movie is two hours long. It is directed by Gore Verbinski ( "Mouse Hunt"), and is rated R for violence and language.
It starts Thursday at Market Square East.

Boston public relations expert Sally Jackson will explain at the Ad Club of the V.I. monthly meeting next Wednesday how she launched the "best beer brewed in America" out of the trunk of her car.
In the noon meeting at the Hibiscus Beach Hotel, Jackson, of Sally Jackson & Co., Public Relations in Boston, will recount her challenge to introduce the then unknown Sam Adams Lager to the public.
The key to her success, Jackson said, was starting in "our own Boston neighborhood." Jackson said the brewery owner had no advertising funds, a fact which got Jackson's creative energy going. Those who have tried to launch a product on a tight budget should be all ears.
She enlisted the help of the brewery owner, filled the trunk of her car with all the bottles of Sam Adams it could hold, and proceeded to visit a different Boston bar each night. And it worked. Brewer of the lager, the Boston Beer Company, now has more medal-winning beers than any other craft brewer.
The meeting is open for registration at 11:30. For reservations, call 773-9700 ext. 708.

Boston public relations expert Sally Jackson will explain at the Ad Club of the V.I. monthly meeting next Tuesday how she launched the "best beer brewed in America" out of the trunk of her car.
In the noon meeting at Chickie's Place in Frenchtown, Jackson, of Sally Jackson & Co., Public Relations in Boston, will recount her challenge to introduce the then unknown Sam Adams Lager to the public.
The key to her success, Jackson said, was starting in "our own Boston neighborhood." Jackson said the brewery owner had no advertising funds, a fact which got Jackson's creative energy going. Those who have tried to launch a product on a tight budget should be all ears.
She enlisted the help of the brewery owner, filled the trunk of her car with all the bottles of Sam Adams it could hold, and proceeded to visit a different Boston bar each night. And it worked. Brewer of the lager, the Boston Beer Company, now has more medal-winning beers than any other craft brewer.
The meeting is open for registration at 11:30. For reservations, call Austin Advertising at 776-7828.

The most recent plan for a development at Botany Bay — to be "marketed as an eco-tourism/heritage product" according to the local architect — was unveiled on the site Monday before two senators and legislative staff, and includes more than 75 acres set aside as natural and archeological/historical preserves.
William Karr told the assembled officials that in addition to preserving one-fifth of the stunning 366-acre site, the plan calls for buildings and access — including two funicular systems for transporting visitors — intended to least disturb local flora and fauna. He said he expected to submit the plan to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources on Tuesday.
"We felt this needed to be a different kind of resort," Karr told Sens. Donald "Ducks" Cole and Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, and staff for Sens. Celestino White Sr. and Carlton Dowe. "There are incredibly rich historical and archeological areas here."
The changes to the plan, completed last week, came in response to meetings and mini-tours of the property that Karr said he held last year with DPNR, representatives of the Environmental Association of St. Thomas, UVI environmental scientists and neighborhood groups — as well as four senators: White, Roosevelt David, David Jones and Almando "Rocky" Liburd. The former estate of Warren H. Corning was purchased last year by investment group Atlantic Land Holdings LLT.
Karr pointed out nearby petroglyphs and said that archeological consultant Holly Righter had discovered pottery and Precolumbian artifacts from at least one Taino Indian settlement on the property, possibly dating back as far as 700 A.D. That is consistent with earlier studies of the area cited in the 1993 Comprehensive Analytic Study of Botany Bay carried out by DPNR, which also called the area "an extraordinary example of relatively undisturbed ecosystems and habitats." Ruins of a bridge, step-down cistern, and sugar factory once accompanied by a horse-drawn sugar mill also led to the proposed heritage preserve in the plan drawn up by Karr's firm, William M. Karr and Associates.
But Donastorg remained skeptical of the project, calling it too big for the site and pressing Karr on the issue of archeological artifacts, which he has said were removed from the site in possible violation of the Antiquities Act. Karr responded, as he did last week, that Righter removed them for date-testing, which he said is required by the Phase I exploratory permit granted by DPNR.
The size of the resort itself appears to differ little from that in earlier conceptual site plans roundly criticized by Donastorg, UVI scientists and others.
The project calls for a 100-unit hotel, 80 housing villas, 80 time-share units and 40 houses with total square footage of less than 700,000 square feet. All of the structures would utilize "pinning" construction, in which "the uphill side of the structure is connected to the ground usually through footings and rigid connections, while the rest of the structure is supported through the use of beams and columns," Karr said. "This produces a minimal amount of physical construction to the land and thus less disturbance."
Such building typically mitigates erosion, runoff and sedimentation by leaving more ground area intact.
On Monday, Karr said conversations with residents concerned about access to the West End particularly after hurricanes have led him to consider including a single dock facility just off the area called Mermaid's Chair, a starkly beautiful area of massive slabs of eroded rock angling into the sea alongside a small pebble-and-sand beach.
One Senate staffer, awed by the natural beauty, said to no one in particular, "How many people on St. Thomas have ever been out here to see this?"

A litany of problems – including the prospect of a federal grand jury investigation – continue to plague the Department of Public Works’ territorial wastewater system as the agency heads into Senate committee hearings Wednesday and Thursday.
On St. Croix, problems that caused millions of gallons of raw sewage to flow into the sea over the past several years have been resolved, though broken sewer pipes are still spilling an undetermined amount of waste at three different locations.
On St. Thomas, Public Works is under federal court order to hire an outside contractor to operate its wastewater treatment plants, but has not complied, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials.
Many of the territory’s wastewater treatment problems predate 1984, when the local government signed a consent decree with Washington to repair its sewage system. The decree was amended in 1996. But illegal discharges continued unabated on St. Croix, and last year federal Judge Thomas Moore issued several orders to force Public Works to repair pump stations and the island’s mostly inoperable wastewater treatment plant.
Washington's frustration over the longtime delays appears to have culminated in a grand jury investigation, meaning that the 16-year-old civil action against the government could turn into a criminal case.
Local and federal government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from Public Works and the Department of Planning and Natural Resource relating to the sewage system.
STILL SPILLING
On St. Croix, broken lines have been spewing an undetermined amount of sewage since late February and early March in the Bethlehem area near Territorial Court, in Castle Coakley adjacent to the Hovensa refinery and in the Castle Burke area, said Jim Casey, the EPA’s Virgin Islands coordinator.
The age of the sewage system combined with a lack of proper maintenance is a recipe for disaster, he said.
"The system is such an aged system that once you fix one place, it busts in another," Casey said. "But what has been budgeted for sewage is always far less than what is needed. The sheer age and the absence of a maintenance program only exacerbates the problem."
On St. Thomas, there continues to be a problem with staffing in the wastewater division, Casey said. Additionally, under the amended consent decree, Public Works must hire an independent contractor to operate its treatment plants for six consecutive months, because the department wasn’t able to met the minimum-discharge requirements set forth in the agreement.
But Casey said no operator is on duty at at least five of Public Works’ pocket wastewater treatment plants.
"The previous contractor is no longer on the job," he said. "I can’t tell you if there is a contractor actually overseeing the operation of those plants."
Acting Public Works Commission Wayne Callwood was off island Tuesday and couldn’t comment. A Public Works employee said he would not be present at the Committee on Government Operations and Planning and Natural Resources hearing Wednesday on St. Thomas, but that he would make it to the Thursday session on St. Croix.
GRAND DECISION
Because Public Works failed to meet many of the standards set in the 1996 amended consent decree, it was fined hundreds of thousands of dollars by the federal government, money that was put in trust to fund future wastewater projects, such as the new Cruz Bay Wastewater Treatment Plant on St. John.
The fines, however, do not end there. A settlement has been reached with the U.S. Department of Justice for violations in 1997, but discussions on 1998 and 1999 haven’t even been broached.
Theoretically, the consent decree will be lifted once its conditions are consistently met. But if Public Works’ past performance is any indication, that won’t happen any time soon. And that is the motivation for the grand jury probe, according to a source familiar with the issue.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the grand jury must decide whether to initiate criminal proceedings against the government for violating the federal Clean Water Act rather than the civil remedy already in place under the consent decree.
"The grand jury can look into any allegation of criminal activity it wants to look into," said the source. "Technically, when (Public Works) dumps into the ocean, you must differentiate between criminal or not. What are the conditions?"
The decision, said the source, may come down to Public Works' repeated failure over the years to comply with the Clean Water Act and whether it involved willful intent to disregard the law.
The grand jury could also consider spending by the executive branch on nonessential programs, even as sewage discharges continued in violation of federal laws. In other words, the continued failure to provide Public Works with an adequate operating budget, particularly for the wastewater system, could sway the grand jury.
"That’s an essential and indispensable aspect of any wastewater management program," the EPA’s Casey said. "That seems to be a glaring, absent element."

The local organizers of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s postponed visit to the territory vow that the South African activist will indeed make it, despite the government’s refusal to pitch in monetarily.
The 65-year-old political activist was scheduled to spend a week on St. Croix starting Feb. 23 and then four days on St. Thomas to highlight Black History Month. Due to "unforeseen circumstances," however, Madikizela-Mandela was forced to cancel her mainland tour last week in order to return to South Africa.
Shelley Moorhead, coordinator of Madikizela-Mandela’s local tour, said Tuesday on WSTX radio that negotiations are "still on the table" for Madikizela-Mandela to visit the territory. But funding the visit is proving to be difficult.
On Tuesday, Moorhead urged the private and public sectors to pitch in to make the visit a reality, even though Gov. Charles Turnbull said the government couldn’t help defray the approximately $330,000 it was told it would cost to bring Madikizela-Mandela to the territory.
At a impromptu press conference on St. Thomas, Turnbull said the government would help by providing Madikizela-Mandela with security and lodging, "but we cannot afford at this time the expense" of underwriting the visit.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Legislature is considering pitching in $60,000 to help bring Madikizela-Mandela to the territory.
Moorhead, meanwhile, said the governor should not overlook the spiritual and economic benefits of a possible visit by Madikizela-Mandela.
"Mrs. Mandela is recognized around the world as a definitive catalyst to unite people…," Moorhead said, adding that her visit would attract worldwide media attention that would help promote the territory.
"At this time we are looking forward to receiving Mrs. Mandela in the Virgin Islands," Moorhead said. "If not by the end of this month, hopefully by next month."
Madikizela-Mandela was a key participant in the decades-long effort to end South Africa’s apartheid government. Apartheid was a policy of legal racial segregation put in place by the minority, white-led governments in South Africa for nearly 45 years.
Madikizela-Mandela’s involvement in the liberation struggle began in the 1950s and then accelerated after she married Nelson Mandela, a lawyer and political activist. Shortly thereafter, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for his work.
Madikizela-Mandela’s life hasn’t been without its share of adversity, achievements and controversy, the latter Turnbull alluded to Tuesday.
She was imprisoned for several years for her efforts to end apartheid, including being held in solitary confinement for a year and a half from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.
In 1988 she was implicated in an incident in which her bodyguards beat four young black men, one of whom died in the Mandela home. Although she successfully appealed the assault charge in the kidnap case, that incident and accusations that Madikizela-Mandela and her entourage conducted a reign of terror in the black township of Soweto in the late 1980s, including killings, torture and intimidation in the name of political solidarity, were scrutinized in 1996 in front of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In December 1993, Madikizela-Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress' Women's League. In 1994, Nelson Mandela, who became the South African president after being released from prison in 1990, appointed Madikizela-Mandela deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology. She held this post until April 1995.
The Mandelas were divorced in March 1996. After the divorce, she readopted her maiden name and is commonly known as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

A joint effort to catalogue and preserve Virgin Islands historical records is well under way, according to Danish and Virgin Islands members of the Bilateral Archival Commission, who provided a progress report Monday at a press briefing at Government House on St. Thomas.
Members of the group and advisors from Washington, D. C., and Denmark are in the Virgin Islands this week for the second formal meeting of the organization. The effort began in 1999, and the first meeting was in Copenhagen.
Johan Peter Noack, director of the Danish National Archives, explained that the program has three phases: first, to open and review the contents of records and catalog the information; second to make them accessible by microfilming, repairing any damage and preserving them, and finally to transfer the originals to the Virgin Islands.
Regarding the first phase, "the work in Copenhagen has been almost completed," he said. Once all the records have been translated, the information will be available on the Internet.
Records listed in Denmark include 8,066 volumes/packets from the West India Local Archives, 879 volumes/packets of West India & Guinea Company Records, 1,444 volumes from the Central Colonial Office, 510 volumes of West India Trading Company Records, West India Censuses from 1841 to 1911 and 250 volumes from private collections.
Michael J. Kurtz, assistant archivist in Washington, D. C., said another 2,500 cubic feet of records pertaining to the Virgin Islands are housed in the U.S. National Archives. These include records from the Danish colonial days and from the early American period, from 1917 through 1950.
The U.S. National Archives has undertaken to microfilm the entire collection, Kurtz said. The project is expected to take 10 years.
Soren Black, a St. Thomas businessman of Danish descent who serves as Danish Counsel in the Virgin Islands, said he is especially interested in the third phase of the project – bringing Virgin Islands records to the territory.
"My children (and all) the children of the Virgin Islands need to be able to read their own history in their own island," he said.
Gov. Charles Turnbull, a historian, introduced the speakers, noting that Denmark and the Virgin Islands have a "shared history."
The commission is visiting all three of the main islands, taking tours and attending functions. The formal meeting will be Thursday and Friday on St. Croix.

This valentine bears no hearts or flowers, no chocolates. In fact, he bears lots of light brown feathers, a couple of webbed feet and a very long beak.
"Valentine," after all, is a brown pelican. Barely three months old, he is a remarkably peripatetic youngster, very well-traveled — on ferry boats.
This isn't how things are supposed to be, but Valentine isn't your normal pelican. The name, for one thing, and the fact that he doesn't seem to know he is a bird, for another. Plus, brown pelicans are an endangered species.
Apparently abandoned by his family, he was discovered waddling down the street in front of the Coconut Coast Art Gallery on St. John by gallery manager Joan Cook.
"He was all alone and some peacocks and a little dog were harassing him," Cook said. She immediately called her husband Bob, charter boat captain and avid animal lover, to the rescue.
That was on Feb. 14.
Bob Cook knows something about wildlife. He was a docent in the Houston Zoo for four years, where he volunteered teaching children about animals, and he has worked as a diver at SeaWorld in Florida.
"I took him home and fed him canned sardines in water," Bob Cook said, "and then I called Park Ranger Laurel Brannick Traeger and we made arrangements to bring him over here to Judy. I brought him on the ferry in a cardboard box."
At the Fish and Wildlife Division, Judy Pierce is a Wildlife Biologist III, but that's an inadequate job title for everything she does.
"I kept him for about two weeks that time," Pierce said, "As a pelican, he's a very nice bird — he'd do a little dance for me when I went to feed him. I released him at Little Maho Bay, and I told Bob to keep an eye out for him because I didn't know how well he would get along by himself." Pierce had banded the bird for identification.
Her worries were valid. About three days later, Valentine was seen back in Cruz Bay seeking handouts from the local restaurants. Somebody called Brannick, who went to the rescue this time, and then called Bob Cook: "Guess what?"
Cook said he wasn't really surprised, since he had been forewarned.
So, back to St. Thomas on the ferry in the cardboard box again. Now Valentine's home is once again a large cage in back of the Fish and Wildlife office in Red Hook, at least until Thursday. "I have to go to the states for training next week, so Bob is going to take him back to St. John," Pierce explained.
But Cook is going to do more than that. He has arranged for a special site for a cage for Valentine in a secluded area at Maho Bay Campground. Cook is building the cage.
Then begins the process of preparing Valentine for an ordinary pelican's life, without all the drama and ferry rides.
Cook said the problem now is that the bird has "imprinted on humans": Valentine sees humans as his source of food (and entertainment, of a sort). What Cook will do is deliver the pelican's food with a sheet thrown over him at first, then gradually move him to shallow water, where, still disguised, he will throw in a few sprat for the bird to catch.
Pierce said, "Bob has his work cut out for him." And it may not work.
Cook has consulted with wildlife authorities in Florida who have cautioned him about Valentine's chances of becoming able to hunt for himself. If he doesn't get the hang of it, Cook said that's OK, then he will become what is called a "teaching bird," a bird he will take to grammar schools, essentially doing what he did before at the Houston Zoo, teaching kids about animals and birds.
"Lots of kids down here have never seen a pelican up close," Cook said.
Cook has taken a year off from sailing to investigate other projects and teach CPR and first aid for the American Red Cross' St. Thomas-St. John chapter. He is also working with the Wildlife Rehabilitation International Council to become a certified wildlife rehabilitator. There are none in the Virgin Islands.
Pierce, for one, thinks that would be a wonderful idea. "People just assume we do this as part of our job, and that's not the case at all," she said. "We are on federal grants, and there is no grant for wildlife rescue."
However, Pierce said, "There is often nobody else to do it. You've got a critter out there that's suffering, you can't just say 'it's not my job.'" Pierce works for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, but her work is funded by federal grants.
Cook and Pierce agreed that there are lots of people who go beyond their jobs to help, including the National Park Service employees. Ranger Brannick Traege is president of St. John's small Audubon Society where on March 13, Cook is giving a talk on wildlife rescue. "Rescue, rehabilitate and release is what it's all about," Cook said.
Cook and Pierce went outside her office to pay a surprise visit on Valentine, in his spacious cage.
The pelican appeared acutely disappointed when they both arrived empty handed, reacting with what Pierce called "playful" nips.
Playful? That's a very serious-looking beak.

The Virgin Islands Carnival Committee will hold a mandatory meeting for all troop leaders for the Adults and Childrens Parades at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 7 at the Charlotte Amalie High School cafeteria.
Carnival 2001 parade regulations will be given out. This is the final meeting of the parade subcommittee and attendance is mandatory for troop leaders or a representative.
For more information contact the Virgin Islands Carnival Committee at 776-3112.

The St. Thomas Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is seeking girls between the ages of eight and 11 to enter the annual Little Miss Delta Pageant.
For applications and more information contact Pamela Browne at 776-6500, ext. 4506.