Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sundav. April 12, 1970 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sundov Anril . i, ... ,, . 11 cinema M A S- H: Heroically subverting the military "FOUR STARS * * *HIGHEST RATING ... A GRATIFYING ACHIEVEMENT." -Wanda Hale, N.Y. Daily News "EPIC BATTLE OF THE SEXES." -Vincent Canby, N.Y. Times By NEAL GABLER It is only natural for the television generation that T.V. would have a tremendous impact on the way we view war. For the first time we can see and hear it unfold almost as it happens. As a result war has lost its fas- cination for many of us. Maybe ts Just the nature of the Viet- nam War, but battle no longer seems as heroic as John Wayne had led us to believe in all those Late Show movies. In M*A*S*H, now playing at the Fox Village, we get this "modern" perspective. The he- roes are the people who subvert the military system, not the men on the front lines bringing our brand of religion to the ignorant Asians; the fighters here are not bedecked with medals but with blood-stains. Television has indeed brought home to some of us, at least, that war is lunacy that would be funny if no one had to die for the joke. So Wayne has been knocked off his pedestal to be replaced by modern Bilko's, monkey-wrench- es in the war machine. It is almost impossible to talk about M*A*S*H and its concept of war without mentioning Catch-22. Watching it, the scent of Heller was thick in my nos- trils. And with Nichols' film due for a June premiere, it seems likely that M*A*S*H producer Ingo Preminger is try- ing to capitalize on that long awaited event. Nichols aside, this music Fulfilling a jazz' obligation By BERT STRATTON Having concentrated on the McDonald's / Burger Chef cir- cuit as a kid, I naturally miss- ed out on the equally thriving Lemon Tree / Inteilude Lounge scene. But alas, last weekend I fin- ally fulfilled my young-adult ob- ligation by going to the big daddy of all lounges - Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit It is the place, as their match- book covers say, where one finds "great jazz and comedy, em- bellished with good booze." It's also the place where one can go broke at $3.50 cover charge plus drinks. The pure motive behind my seeming bourgeois depravity is simple; I really wanted to see the stage show, which was bill- ed as the Battle of the Saxes: Sonny "Bebop" Stitt vs. Gene "Jug" Ammnons. Apparently the last time Stitt and Ammons had gotten togetherdwas in 1961. S i n c e then and up until this year, Ammons was in the "jug" (pri- son), serving time on a nar- cotics conviction. Presently on parole from the rest of his fifteen year sentence, he was returning to Baker's to take his old friend Stitt in battle. The crowd, which filled the lounge (about as big as Can- terbury House) knew a lot more about what was going to hap- pen than I did. I'd never heard either of the two musicians, even on record, while most of the audience looked as though they remembered Stitt and Ammons, from the days when they play- ed tenor in Billy Eckstine's Band. (circa 1940's). Needless to say, I was the token .young man in the crowd, as well as being the token white man. Sonny arrived before Ammons, and he warmed up his drum- mer and organist, as they ran through some' old Charlie Park- er tunes. But Stitt didn't use an alto like Parker used to, in- stead he had a Varitone sax, which is an electric tenor that can play more than one note at the same time. With the press of a button on his amp, Stitt could make the sax switch from a strident high octave to a bellowing bass. He was just starting his set, when Ammons came walking in, and yelled out "Hey Bird!", be- cause Stitt happened to be play- ing a Charlie Parker tune at the time. Ammons looked about twice as heavy as Stitt, a n d Gene's blue sharkskin suit and alligator shoes easily- matched Sonny's. besides which, G e n e upped Stitt one gigantic dia- mond ring. SONNY GEN ST .. STARTS PRIDAY ARLlt.UDY_# HOUS"TON PER ...U,.' EYBOARD 4ra ytl# 1"p~RyA5RE"4 gsiw'of # f is a good, often brilliant, film in its own right, and deserves to be considered as something more than the Premature Son of Catch-22. Like Catch-22, M*A*S*H por- trays war as thea ter of the absurd, this time the Pacific Theater. War as absurdity, however, can be terrible tedious as Oh! What a Lovely War more than adequately demonstrated; lunacy may elicit a chortle but seldom anything deeper. It is only when the consequences of the insanity of the system are presented in blood-red that the device transcends simple clever- ness. The makers of M*A*S*H un- derstood this. T h e y juxtapose humor and horror in much the same way Penn used these ele- ments in Bonnie and Clyde. In addition, they employ another technique, combining in the same scene v i s u a l shock and audio flim-flam. Because it re- lies mainly on juxtaposition, it may turn out to be an easier film to make than Catch-22 in w h i c h the insanity gradually ripens into tragedy. Yessiree! Pretty f u n n y stuff, dropping bombs on our own troops. But then the bloodstarts flowing, the soldiers' start dying, and it isn't so funny after all. The credits set the tone for the entire picture. Helicopters, to the accompaniment of John- ny Mandel's "Suicide is Pain- less." tote in a cargo of messy morsels of flesh - once sold- iers. The surgeons trade quips as they stitch wounds and saw off limbs. "If this guy knew the clowns who were operating on him, he'd faint." Or, "It's a The Michigan Daily, edited and man- aged by students at the University of Michigan. News phone: 764-0552. Second Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich- igan. 420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor. Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues- day thrcugh Sunday morning Univer- sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by carrier. $10 by mail. Summer Session published Tuesday through Saturday morning. Subscrip- tion rates: $3.00 by carrier. $3.00 by mail. STUDENTS INTERNATIONAL E E INNER SPACE ! DESIGN LIGHT FABRICATION INTERIORS LIGHTING LOW COSTNG 769-6871 good thing, nurse, you have a nice body. Otherwise, we'd fire you." The jokes fly, and the bodies throb. When it isn't too glib and cute, the humor, like war it- self, is cruel and pitiless. The witty barbs are always directed at someone. Someone always suffers. This cruelty, however, may be the surgeons' substitute for, and is a hell of a lot bet- ter than, knocking off gooks or whatever our GI's called the Koreans. It is a tribute to the film that it had -me laughing on its terms, at its goats, even though I felt I shouldn't be laughing. Yet, I realized both in my re- action and in the doctors', that one n e e d s a ballast in this crazy world, whether you're watching stupidity in a film or picking shrapnel out of a moan- ing soldier. You have to work the absurdity at your own level without getting sucked into the bigger asylum of the war-men- tality. The closer we are, the morecallous we must become. M*A*S*H, which stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, is stationed just behind the lines in Korea. It's 1951, and the war is raging. The atmosphere is an inhospitable combination of mud, canvas and Army. Mean- while, Radio Tokyo blares orien- tal versions of "Hi Lili, Hi Lo," "Darktown Strutters' Ball" "and "My Blue Heaven." A n d the c a m p s' surgeon - pranksters, played by Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould and Tom Sker- ritt, carry on their subversive antics. Program Info: NO 2-6264 HELD OVER! 5th W EEK.. . SHOWS AT: 1:00-3:00-5:00 7:00-9:10 P.M. It is reminiscent of the days when Phil Silvers used to frus- trate Paul Ford. There's a re- ligious fanatic and a tradition- bound nurse who h a v e their love-making broadcast o v e r loud-speakers. There's a den- tist who announces he'll com- mit suicide because he's con- vinced any day now he'll be- come a queer. There's a wild, rag-tag football game .between the 325th and M*A*S*IU - a funny allegory of war. And these are just a few of the many sur- prises that await you. Sutherland, Gould and Sker- ritt are a 11 simply fantastic. They have an off-hand charm that really telegraphs, (How could Streisand leave Elliot?) What's more, they look 1 i k e they're having such a good time it almost makes you want to en- list. But not quite. T say that M1A*S*H is a red comedy rather t h a n a black comedy has become a cliche, but it is accurate nonetheless. Frankly, it isn't as good as I had expected it to be, and I don't believe this is the movie Nich- ols has set out to make. But it is still important for what it says about the change in our sensibilities toward Nva r, a change both Vietnam and the media have wrought. You'll laugh yourself sick. If that isn't enough of a test- imonial, remember: The armed forces would not permit t h e film to be shown on bases. The film's characters would h a v e loved that. R-IcHARD BURTON GENEVIEVE BUJOLD IiAIIN THE HALWALLIs PRODUCTION tie P1ousatzS Vea AIMVERSAIPICTUR .TECHWICoiOR' PAMVIS*N i m Shows at 1:10-3:40-6:15-9:00 3110 MICHIGAN HEALTHY-HAPPY-HOLY ORGANIZATION WELCOMES OUR FOUNDER TO ANN ARBOR YOGI BHAJAN Master of Kundalini Yoga LECTURE AND DEMONSTRATION SUNDAY, APRIL 19--7:30 P.M. TUESDAY, APRIL 21--3:00 P.M. MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM Sponsored by Office of Religious Affairs-2282 SAB-764-74412 I s Try Daily Classifiods ' l °-!l STRIKE ANALYSIS - BLACK PERSPECTIVES As for saxophones, Ammons rolled out an amp and Varitone sax as well. A nearby listener asked him what had happened to his "true sound", to which Gene explained that he w a s merely "moving with the times", and the Varitone was what he needed. Ammons did a quick warm up set, then both he and Stitt took the stage together. Similar to the way Luther Allison and T- Bone Walker dueled at the Blues Festival, Gene and Sonny had it out on their tenors, matching each o t h e r note for note, trading identical 1i c k s back and forth. Ammons would run an impos- sible solo followed up by Stitt. But Sonny .couldn't match Am- mons' control. Gene was cut- ting Stitt. That sounds a little o v e r - dramatic, considering that the two old friends weren't really out to slit each other's throats, but the hell if they weren't com- peting. Ammons was the crowd's fav- orite. For one thing he sweat- ed and jumped around alot more than Stitt, and for ano- ther, his tenor made a lot more sense than Stitt's. One resounding blast by Gene was worth a whole pattern by Stitt. Ammons made the tenor cry, and everybody loved it. But Sonny wasn't going to let Ammons completely steal the show. He had one weapon that Gene didn't have - an alto sax, on which he proceeded to wail. In the middle of nis solo, an old black man seated next to me, tapped my shoulder a n d said, "That's the closest thing to Parker!" Yea, I guess so. Fantastic! About 2:00 p.m., when Gene and Sonny were getting ready to call it quits after t h e i r five hours of jamming, the old man next to me started up his rap again. Seems he played piano in a group for ten years. By him, Parker was the best that ever lived, Coltrane was a close second. Roland Kirk is a necessity and he even dug white vibist Gary Burton when he saw him in New York. That was too much to hear coming from a fifty year-old man. Meanwhile, the bill I was running up was getting too much also. (The barmaid kept pushing more drinks in front of me.) The cultural vibrations and shocks were taking their toll, telling this visitor he'd better get back to good old A2 before he went broke. But come May 27, I'll make another field trip to Baker's Lounge; that's when Roland Kirk's gig starts. WINNER OF 1 ACADEMY AWARD BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR GIG YOUNG Followed by a Program of Black Art as Protest Sponsored by BAM AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM MOVEMENT TO INCREASE BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS SUNDAY, APRIL 12 3:00 p.m. Auditorium B, Mason Hall BLACK DANCE-Lecture Demonstration, Vera Embree MONDAY, APRIL 13 7-9:00 p.m. Residential College Rooms 124-126 WORKSHOP-Goals and Organization of BAM Ron Harris, Cynthia Stevens Frank Yates, Darryl Gorman, Jack Cole 9-11 :00 p.m. Residential College Rooms 124-126 INTERPRETIVE READING-Artee Young TUESDAY, APRIL 14 1:00 p.m. Auditorium D, Angell Hall TOWARDS THE THEORY OF A BLACK POLICY, Archie Singham 7-9:00 p.m. Room 4200, School of Education (top floor) WORKSHOP-MEDIA, PUBLIC OPINION AND PROPAGANDA Gloria Marshall, Esau Jackson 9-11:00 p.m. . Room 4200, School of Education (top floor) MUSIC AS PROTEST, Milton Stewart .# Ak4- I ,f CIIRCILE BOOIKS Zen, Yoga, Tarot Alchemy, Astrology, Theosophy Tarot, Magic, Parapsychology Q Macrobiotics and Health Food Books 215 S. ST ATE . .. 2nd Floor ID A.M.-8:30 P.M. 769-1583 Read and Use Daily Classifieds s: i with comiexiori Problems Cool it and get Fostex... the great pimple stopper. See yourself smooth and clear. Wash with Fostex and you help remove blackheads, dry up pimples and oil, and fight germs. For the good look . .. get Fostex Cake. Sold in drugstores. sendftor tree sample WESTWOOD PHARMACEUTICALS INC. Buffalo, New York 14213 NAME STREET CITY & STATE ZIPCODE PE U ~Im I I I WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15 7-9:00 p.m. Residential College Rooms 124-126 WORKSHOP-MASS ACTION AND WHITE COALITION Grace Mack, Roger Short Dave' Lefis, Madison Foster 9-11:00 p.m. Residential College Rooms 124-126 BLACK DRAMA, Artee Young and David Rambeau THURSDAY, APRIL 16 7:00 p.m. Residential College Rooms 124-126 SUMMARY AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE REPORTS FROM GROUPS AND BLACK RESEARCH Archie Singham, Harold Cruse Gloria Marshall, Ron Thompson WINNER SFOREIGN "' damn near knocks you out of your seat." --Pauline Kael, The New Yorker "The last word in thrillers. Terrific." -Gene Shal it, LOOK MAGAZIlNEB, "Enough intrigue and excitement to eclipse James Bond.Y -PLAYBOY -.P- I -^ I I R ADIC AL FI LM SE RI E S presents a benefit for Legal Self Defense Fund DIAL M FOR MURDER-Hitchcock (1954) MON. 13 starring RAY MILLAND, GRACE KELLY TUE. THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM- * -based on the storv by EDGAR ALLEN POE. starrina VINCENT PRICE 'Is there a"Pauilis t in the crowd? Believe it or not, a campus pro- test group is not an unlikely place to find a Paulist. Why? Because Paulists are the mediators of our time .. . stand- ing betweenGod andman.:. understanding, helping, loving ... trying to bring together the extremes of the world we live in and the Church. Wherever he is ... as a college chaplain, working in a ghetto or helping in a parish ... the Paulist is serving. If you're interested in finding out more about the Paulist priestly spirit, write for our illustrated brochure and a copy of our Renewal Chapter Guide- l1:... I I I I U ~ ~.