IITIS

ENTERTAINMENT

OYSTER BAR &GRILLF:.-

29110 Franklin Rd. • Southfield • 357-4442

Shock Radio's Dense Underworld
Portrayed In 'Talk Radio'

OPEN
SUNDAYS
4 p.m.-9 p.m.

Fol: O w nly $ 6 951. $ 8 95
You Can Be Fashionably Early

Arrive at Norm's Oyster Bar & Grill between 4:30 and
6:00 in the evening, Monday through Saturday, and 4:00 to
5:30 on Sunday, and enjoy one of Norman's specially
priced, Early Bird dinner selections.

MORRIE WARSHAWSKI

Special to The Jewish News

5-8.95

From only 6 .9
you can enjoy
one of the seven entrees offered. This price
includes soup of the day, garden salad or
coleslaw, hot bread and butter, and your
choice of coffee, tea or milk.

T

• Calves Liver $6.95
• Fresh Lake Superior Whitefish $8.95
• Center Cut Pork Chops $6.95
• Fresh Boston Scrod $7.95
• Char-Grilled Chicken Teriyaki $7.95 • Lemon Chicken Fettucine $7.95
• Petite Filet Mignon $8.95

Your party must check in by 6:00 p.m. to order these specials

NI

RESTAURANT

K

(Next to Majestic Market)

25861 LAHSER AT CIVIC CENTER DRIVE • Southfield • 354-3640

BREAKFAST
SPECIAL

7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
2 EGGS
BACON, HAM OR
SAUSAGE
HASH BROWNS
TOAST & JELLY

•
•

•
•

LUNCH

DINNER

11 am. to 3 p.m.

3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

15
MINUTE
DAILY
SPECIALS

$1 79

FREE
DELIVERY

We Also Serve
Lox and Sable

FRESH FISH,
CHICKEN & VEAL

$495

• BROILEDWHITE FISH
• BOSTON SCROD
• BOILED CHICKEN
• BAR-B-Q CHICKEN
•CHICKEN PARMESAN
• VEAL PARMESAN
INCLUDES SOUP OR SALAD,
POT. OR RICE OR SPAGHETTI
AND VEG.
We Also Serve lamb, Bar•11-Q Ribs & Steak

1

LOUPON

FAMILY ITALIAN DINING & PIZZA

4033 W. 12 MILE, 3 Blks. E. of Greenfield
548-3650
Berkley

NOM NU BRAD

SPARE PEA
MIND PUB
SMALL OR LARE 911111-464AIE
ON FOOD PURCHASES
OF $6 OR MORE

$1 OFF

DINING ROOM, CARRY-OUT
Expires Feb. 28, 1989

• BANQUET ROOMS • BEER • WINE
▪ COMPLETE CARRY-OUT • COCKTAILS

Ai Cafe

29566 ORCHARD LAKE RD.
Just N. of 13 Mile • Farm. Hills • 626.0804
Home-Style Family Dining • High Quality • Reasonable Prices

I-

I COUPON I

BUY ONE WAFFLE
GET SECOND FREE

ANYHOUR! MON. THRU. FRI. ONLY

L •

1 Coupon Per Customer

• Expires 2-10-89

JN j

OPEN 7 DAYS—SAT. 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., SUN. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

66

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1989

alk. Talk. Talk.
There is a lot of talk
in Oliver Stone's new
movie, Talk Radio, now play-
ing at the Main and AMC
Towne 4 theaters. But do not
come to this film expecting
small talk, idle chatter or
that most feared of all radio
diseases, "dead air." Come
ready to delve into a dense
and disturbing underworld of
"shock radio" presided over
by Barry Champlain, expert-
ly played by Eric Bogosian.
The story has been fashion-
ed from the New York play
written by and starring Bogo-
sian. It also borrows from real
events detailed in Stephen
Singular's book Talked to
Death: The Life and Murder
of Alan Berg.
Berg was the host of a con-
troversial and inflamatory
evening talk show in Denver.
He pulled one of the more
tasteless stunts in talk radio
history when on Yom Kippur
he invited callers to say what
they disliked about Jews. Ap-
parently, some of his callers
took the question too literal-
ly. In 1984 he was
assassinated by a neo-Nazi
hit squad.
Stone leaves no doubt about
where this film is headed
beginning with his opening
shots of the Dallas skyline at
night followed quickly by a
closeup of a microphone that
fills the screen and suddenly
spouts an ominously tall
flame that lights one of
Champlain's many cigarettes.
Most of the action takes
place in the middle of a radio
station, KGAB, that could
easily double for a slick,
glassed-in version of a padded
cell in Dante's Inferno. The
studio is bombarded by the
call-in voices of denizens of
the sick, lost, scared
underbelly of society — a
rapist, a neo-Nazi, Debbie the
"Zombie Queen." Champlain
goads them on, shouts in-
sults, rudely interrupts or
just hangs up, occasionally
sympathizes, and tries to
soothe and, in one case, in-
vites a caller directly into the
studio.
Like the real Berg,
Champlain exhibits very lit-
tle good taste and will stop at
nothing to keep his audience
titillated and tuned in. Late
in the film he admits, "My
greatest fear is being boring.
I'm afraid the audience will
get up and leave."

0
0

CC

Eric Bogosian portrays disc jockey-talk show host Barry Champlain in
the new film Talk Radio.

At one point Champlain
receives an anti-Semitic call
and responds to it by recoun-
ting a touching story about
visiting Dachau. He tells the
audience about walking
under the sign "Arbeit Macht
Frei" at the entrance to the
camp and then noticing a
scrap of cloth on the ground
— a star of David. In a soft
voice he whispers, "I'm
holding that star right now,"
but on screen we see just a
cup of coffee clutched in both
hands.
The plot spins itself loosely
around a four-day period.
Champlain is offered a chance
to have his show aired na-
tionally. He wins, loses and
wins that opportunity during
a binge of verbal peaks and
valleys that whiplash his
lover/producer (Leslie Hope),
ex-wife (Ellen Greene),
technician (John C.
McGinley) and everyone else
at the station..
Bogosian and Stone ex-
panded the play to include a
long flashback that portrays
Champlain's background.
The entire section is shot in
washed-out pastel colors and
hazy focus. We meet a
younger Champlain (whose
real name was Golden) with
long greasy curly locks work-
ing as a clothing salesman.
He worms his way into a
radio studio by being
outrageous. Then he worms
his way out of a marriage
with an innocent and beguil-
ing Ellen Greene by being
unfaithful.
Talk Radio maintains a
strong hold on language and
wrenching verbal tongues.
The film more than fills its
quota of racial slurs leaving
no minority untouched. But,
because Champlain is
Jewish, Jews come in for

heavy lambasting by right-
wing, anti-Semitic callers
who send him a dead rat
wrapped in a swastika, call
him "Jew boy," rail against
the "Zionist Organized
Government," and claim the
Holocaust never happened.
Towards the end of the film
Champlain, who has just call-
ed himself a hypocrite, says to
his audience, "You're
fascinated by the gory details.
You're mesmerized by fear.
You're happiest when others
are in pain."
What becomes clear is that
this man hates himself and
his dependence on an au-
dience for whom he has no
respect. His last line is, "I
guess we're stuck with each
other" — a vow for a marriage
made in hell, not heaven.

'Fairfax Tales'
Are Presented

Fairfax Tales, by the late
anthropologist, Dr. Barbara
Myerhoff, will be presented
by Arthur Strimling at the
Maple/Drake Jewish Corn-
munity Center Wednesday at
7:30 p.m.
Dr. Myerhoff was the
author of Number Our Days
and co-director of the
Academy Award-winning film
of the same name.
Before her death in 1985,
Dr. Myerhoff was working in
the Fairfax area of Los
Angeles, gathering stories
from Chasidim, Holocaust
survivors, refuseniks, elderly
volunteers, and others who
live and work in the extraor-
dinary community.
There is no admission fee,
and the public is invited. For
information, call the Center,
661-1000, ext. 335.