Antipasto Salad... and the #1 rated Pizza in town PARTY ROOM FOR ALL OCCASIONS • Bar Mitzvahs • Bat Mitzvahs • Showers • Meetings • Etc. Corey Parker, right, as Epstein, receives some stern advice from Sgt. Toomey, portrayed by Christopher Walken, in "Biloxi Blues." Simon's 'Biloxi Blues' Focuses On Jews' Roles MICHAEL ELKIN Special to The Jewish News A rnold Epstein, a Jew- ish intellectual dis- dainful of the mindless instructions drilled into him by his army drill sergeant, gets no kick from boot camp. But the war he encounters is on a different battlefield from the one he had expected. His basic training is as a target for Jew-baiting. "You're in the army now," he is told, and Epstein must marshal up an arsenal of in- tellect to battle the bias buf- feting him about. Epstein is one of the core characters of Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues," a fine film adaptation of the playwright's Tony Award- winning Broadway hit (1985), one in a trilogy of plays about growing up Jewish. Corey Parker grew up Jewish, too. And, as Eptein he brings a nicely defined sen- sitivity to a role that might have the actor biting his nails in the audience next year at the Academy Award ceremonies. The intellectual Epstein smarts at the way he is treated by the others, in- cluding his friend Eugene (Matthew Broderick), another Jewish recruit, who sits out the war of words and anti- Semitism swirling around Epstein. "I always hated what I con- sidered the stupidity of the Army," says playwright Simon, "and that's where the character of Epstein came from. I think he is, in a sense, the alter ego of Eugene. "It's Eugene split down in half; it's the part of him that's the renegade and the part of him that's somewhat of a conformist. "I didn't know that when I was writing it; it was only when I was through with it that I realized that Epstein was in a sense the other side of Eugene." But nobody sides with Eps- tein. And left alone to his own devices, he stands out as a moral marauder, marching to his own civilized tune. "I admire him quite a bit," says Parker. "He's so strong- willed, so committed. I've never met anyone like that." Maybe the actor has only to look in a mirror. Parker reflects on his own background, growing up in Woodstock, N.Y., in a .family committed to honest values — honest Jewish values. "I get passionate about things that I believe in," just like Epstein, says Parker, 23. "I get passionate if we're talk- ing about South Africa, civil rights, things done to animals in laboratories, about people abusing power." There is an undercurrent of urgency, a subtle power that energizes Parker's Epstein. Maybe it's what he experienc- ed himself while the crew shot in and around Arkansas. "The whole experience there mirrored the script," rcalls Parker, an accomplish- ed actor whose film credits in- clude "91/2 Weeks" and "Angel Heart" and who has guest-starred on television's "Bronx Zoo" and "As the World Turns." Arkansas was a world apart from woodsy Woodstock, where Epstein grew up in an environmental "blending of the Me Generation and rebellion." "There were actually some people there in Arkansas who said, 'I've never seen a Jew before.' " And what they saw they didn't necessarily like. "They made lots of negative com- ments about Jews." May the New Year Bring Health, Happiness and Prosperity to all our Friends and Family garlietirr in pact TRY OUR SUMMER SALADS FARMINGTON 31646Noni,,,,,,,, Hwy. (coma of Milflebelt) ittei Was ADVERTISING I DESIGN / PRINTING RFORD 9370 Highland Rd. (N1-591 (comer of Pontiac Lake Rd.) 19675 W. Ten Mile Rd., Suite 309 Southfield, Ml 48075 Phone: (313) 357-1640 683.3636 855-4600 IWATE Bring this ad in for... any Large Pizza f! $ 1 . or Large Antipasto or Large Greek Salad am/ 11111 ■ 111 BRASSERIE DUGLASS WISHES YOU GOOD HEALTH • MUCH HAPPINESS AND ALL THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE BRASSERIE DUGLASS • 29269 SOUTHFIELD IN SOUTHFIELD 6.424-9244 Learn how to take better care of yourself and your family, call Red Cross. 8334440 American Red Cross Jek‘ publicService of This'Newspaper The Advertising Council THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 95