MOVIES - March 31, 1989

Robert Redford is one of several producers vying for rights to the story of a union leader who tried the save the Amazon rain forests and was killed for his efforts. Cable mogul Ted Turner, producer David Puttnam and Paramount Pictures are also interested in the story of Chico Mendes who was shot and killed last December as he stepped out of his modest wooden house in the Amazon town of Xapuri. Mendes, 44, was a rubber tappers’ union leader who campaigned to save the Amazon rain forests. The decision on the film rights lies with the new Chico Mendes Memorial Foundation that is composed of his family, rubber tappers and ecologists with whom he worked.