Ana's

ENTERTAINMENT

FAMILY DINING

2 FOR 1 SPECIALS
BAKED CHICKEN . $9.257
$9.75 FOR
VEAL CUTLET
RAINBOW TROUT.$10.25 FO 2R
CHICKEN KABOB
$9.75 FOR
KAFTA KABOB
$9.75 FOR
NEW YORK STEAK .$12.25 FOR
CHOPPED SIRLOIN... X9.'75 FOR
ALL ABOVE INCLUDE: SOUP OR SALAD OR COLE SLAW, VEGETABLE,

I

POTATO OR RICE AND BREAD BASKET

NO DISCOUNTS
ON SPECIALS

Offer Expires 7-31-90

ASIC ABOUT OUR
CATERING FACILITIES

27167 Greenfield, Just N. of 11 Mile

559.8222

One of Metropolitan Detroit's
Most Beautiful and Exciting
Restaurant-Lounges

Live Entertainment and Dancing

CHEERS

Excalibur Available For Your Favorite Occasion
Every Sunday (all day) and Saturday (12 to 5 p.m.)

Call 358-3355

28875 Franklin Rd. at Northwestern & 12 Mile
Southfield, MI

OUR FAMOUS SUNDAY BRUNCH

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11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
POACHED NORWEGIAN SALMON WITH DICED RED ONIONS. CAPERS AND TOMATOES
NOVA LOX. TUNA SALAD DISPLAY AND SMOKED WHITEFISH
ASSORTMENT OF FRESH BAGELS (Salt. Egg. Onion. Plain) AND CREAM CHEESE.
COOKED TO ORDER OMELETTES FEATURING BROCCOLI. CHEDDAR & SWISS CHEESE.
ONIONS. GREEN & RED BELL PEPPERS. RIPE OLIVES. GARDEN TOMATOES & MUSHROOMS.
WAFFLE STATION: STRAWBERRY GLAZE. WHIPPED CREAM. BLUEBERRIES AND MAPLE SYRUP.
CARVING STATION FEATURING TOP ROUND OF BEEF AND ROAST TOM TURKEY.
DELUXE SALAD BAR INCLUDING PASTA SALAD POTATO SALAD. COLESLAW. GARDEN SALAD.
ASSORTED DRESSINGS. GRATED CHEESE. TOMATOES. SWEET RED ONIONS. MUSHROOMS.
INTERNATIONAL CHEESE BOARD WITH SWISS CHEESE. BOURSIN CHEESE. CHEDDAR CHEESE.
BRIE CHEESE
FRESH SEASONAL FRUIT INCLUDING HONEYDEW. WATERMELON AND CANTALOPE.
CRUDITE DISPLAY: CRISP RELISHES AND DIP.

fr, 1 ,e.,-.....*

r. .

• SWEET TABLE APPLE COBBLER. EYE-TEASING ARRAY
OF MINI PASTRIES. PEACH COBBLER. CHEESECAKE
COOKIES. CREAM PIES. TORIES.
'''s
.
. - 1
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VARIETY OF CAKES. PECAN PIE

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$

EMBASSY
if
SUITES
HOTEL

5
adtdrs
1 4 9

• GRAND BUFFET FEATURING 10 HOT ENTREES
INCLUDING
CHEESE BLINTZES. FISH ENTREE. CHICKEN ENTREE
COUNTRY STYLE EGGS. SMOKED BACON. PORK SAUSAGE
HASH BROWNS. VEGETABLE DU IOUR. STARCH DU 1OUR.

$$95
12 E. Under

OIPMN

C ? pies .75 effiers

PRESENT THIS COUPON
AND RECEIVE

$ 2 °I)
PER PERSON

OFF OUR SUNDAY BRUNCH

Expires 8-31-90

28100 Frooldln Road off

Beck Road and

Northwestern Hwy, Southfield. MI6.

355-2050

_)

■•■■ ••11111• ■ ••• ■ 1111WAIIII ■

MAP

The Restaurant
of the '90s

Quality Food, Simple
Setting, Reasonable Prices

Le Metro

"Main courses are studies in creativity."
Sandra Silfven — Detroit News

29855 Northwestern Hwy. • Applegate Square • Southfield • 353-2757

76

FRIDAY, JULY 27, 1990

Woody Allen's 'Crimes'
Poses Many Questions

EDWARD KARAM

Special to The Jewish News

W

oody Allen's Crimes
and Misdemeanors,
which has just been
released on video by Orion
Home Video, is a movie that
raises a lot of questions about
morality and justice that
aren't easily answered. Allen
is concerned with the problem
of finding a morality that
works successfully in modern
society. He poses a lot of ques-
tions, but ultimately he finds
no answers.
The film focuses on two men
whose stories are tenuously
joined by a third. Judah
Rosenthal (Martin Landau) is
an eminent ophthalmologist
and philanthropist, raised in
a devout Jewish family, but
who sees himself as "a man of
science" and "a skeptic." He
has a loving wife, daughter
and son-in-law and a lux-
urious home. He also has a
mistress named Dolores (An-
jelica Huston), who is pressur-
ing him to make good on his
promises to leave his wife and
marry her.
Dolores' hand is strength-
ened by the knowledge that
Judah has embezzled money
from a charity, although he
has paid it back. She intends
to blow the whistle on him
unless he fulfills her expecta-
tions. Her pressure forces him
to turn for a solution to his
brother Jack (Jerry Orbach),
a minor underworld thug
with connections.
The second thread of the
story focuses on Clifford,
a documentary filmmaker
whose offbeat work hasn't
found an audience and whose
wife Wendy (Joanna Gleason)
has just persuaded her smar-
my brother Lester (Alan
Alda), a well-known come-
dian, to hire Clifford for a
documentary that's to be
made about him. Clifford,
played by Allen, takes the job
because he wants the money
to finish his own documen-
tary about a little-known
biblical scholar.
While Clifford is engaged in
filming, he meets and falls for
Hallie Reed (Mia Farrow), an
associate producer that the
womanizing Lester has his
eye on.
The glue between the
stories is a rabbi named Ben,
whom Judah is treating for
deteriorating sight. Ben (Sam

Edward Karam is a graduate
student at the University of
Michigan.

Alan Alda and Mia Farrow in a scene from Woody Allen's `Crimes and
Misdemeanors.'

Waterson) is the brother of
Wendy and Lester, and when
Judah asks him for advice,
Ben tells Judah to put his
faith in God and tell the truth
to his wife.
At heart, Allen's film is con-
cerned about the moral struc-
ture of the universe. If that
sounds weighty, it is. The
humor in Crimes and Misde-
meanors is scarcer than in
many of Allen's works, but its
serious themes are never less
than fascinating, although
sometimes one feels Allen has
become ponderously self-
important. The film charts
the disillusion of both Clifford
and Judah and their inabili-
ty to find a practical morality.
During a crucial sequence
in which Judah revisits his
childhood home and takes
part in flashback in a
religious and philosophical
discussion at a seder, he hears
his Aunt Mae claim "there is
no moral structure" in the
universe. "If the Nazis had
won, future generations
would understand World War
II very differently," she says.
But Judah's father responds,
"If necessary I will always
choose God over truth," echo-
ing Ben, who says, "Without
the law, it's all darkness."
Most of the characters — Clif-
ford, Judah, Mae, Jack — talk
about "the real world" as if it
were somewhere else.
Ironically, all of them suffer
from an impaired vision of
what this other "real world"
is like.
Clifford, for instance, is ad-
dicted to Hollywood movies.
Allen cleverly intercuts
scenes from Mr and Mrs.
Smith, Happy-Go-Lucky and
The Last Gangster with
Judah's similar real-life situa-

tions to establish the dispari-
ty between the two. Yet in the
film's funniest sequence, we
see Clifford's documentary
about Lester in which he has
interspersed shots of
Mussolini and Francis the
Mule speaking with Lester's
voice. It's hilarious, but it's
also over the top: we know
Lester isn't that bad.
And indeed, at the climax
we learn Lester has paid for

Judah Rosenthal is
an eminent
opthalmologist and
philanthropist,
raised in a devout
Jewish family . • •

his niece's wedding, and that
Hallie has fallen in love with
him. "He's warm and caring
and romantic," she tells Clif-
ford. "Give me a little credit,
will you?" For all his training
in cinema veriti Clifford con-
fuses crimes with
misdemeanors.

Judah and Clifford finally
meet at the wedding of Ben's
daughter, and Judah relates
a "story" of a murder that
might make a good movie. He
tells Clifford the story he's liv-
ed: the worry, the horror, the
guilt that now has suddenly
almost disappeared. "People
carry sins around with them,"
he says. "In reality, we ra-
tionalize, or we couldn't go on
living." Clifford suggests that
his story would be better if
the killer confessed, but no,
says Judah: "If you want a
happy ending, you should see
a Hollywood movie."
Martin Landau is excellent
as Judah. We share with him