THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, April 9, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, April 9, 1969
cinema
Horse opera of a different genre
Imagination flies
Only so high
By BRUCE HENSTELL
Support Your Local Sheriff is
mistitled: as played by James
Garner this sheriff needs no
support at all. He possesses two
invaluable qualities: a simple
and unadorned intelligence and
the experience of having seen
a lot of Westerns.
Sheriff, now showing at the
State, is in everysense a Holly-
wood genre film with that par-
ticular insight on the part of
the director that genre films
have in fact progressed just so
far. James Garner plays the tall
stranger who wanders into town
and accepts the job of sheriff
justIto get a poke together. He
is, familiarly enough, just pass-
ing through. But he is on his'
way to Australia. Why? the
townsfolknask, because its the
frontier and he plans to do
bit of pioneering.
This is the central irony of
this film, which, like The.
Wrecking Crew, is sustained by
the ability of the director and
writer. Insofaras they develop
this irony, casting it again and
again in stock situations, the
film succeeds. And, encourag-
ingly, Support Your Local Sher-
iff does pretty well.
Burt Kennedy, the director,
repeatedly throws his characters
into traditional Western situa-
tions, but allows them to realize
the irony of their situation.
Garner, for instance, is the
fastest gun around, for abso-
lutely no reason at all. When
asked why he doesn't have a
reputation he replies simply,
who would want one? It makes
sense.
When a series of hired killers
come into town chasing him,
and after he has bumped off a
few, he becomes bored. When
the next one wants to draw on
him, he simply starts throwing
rocks,- expressing the, whole
absurdity of the situation but
thereby revealing a new and
more sophisticated insight. The
gunfighter is forced to run away
because, after all, no one throws
rocks in gun fights.
Meanwhile, the sheriff really
has no desire to clean up the
town. As he tells the people
again and again, he is just pass-
ing through. He knows damn
well that the town, no matter
how wild now, is a natural
scene for law and order. But he
understands law and order will
simply settle in of its own ac-
cord since law and order is also
basic to the genre film. Thgre-
fore, and almost despite them-
selves, even the badmen start
responding tohthe conventions
of old movies and almost' vol-
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untarily hand in their guns. Of
course, the bad guys could not
have yielded logically to John
Wayne; but they were forced by
the campy conventions of the
present genre film to bow to the
lawmen of Support Your Local
Sheriff.
The new wave of genre films
must also take on the problem
of the sheriff and his woman.
Here, the woman is Joan Hac-
kett, a perfect genre actress
whose strengths are all physical
and whose acting remains on
the surface. The sheriff tries
to pass the womanby, but, of
course, he makes it out West
with her and never makes it to
Australia.
But the coup de grace is the
conclusion. The sheriff's deputy
-(once the town bum)-ex-
plains that Garner becomes the
governor (natch) and that he
becomes one of the greatest
myths the West has ever known.
The End.
NOTICE
NON-NATIVE SPEAKERSOF ENGLISH
All speakers of English as a second language* are
invited to take'part in an experimental test of English
language proficiency to be given in AUDITORIUM
A, ANGELL HALL AT 7:15 P.M. ON THE 9th OF
APRIL. You will receive $5.OQ for approximately;
1 to 2 hours of your time. If you are interested
you mist call and register at the following number
764-2416 on or before April 8th.
*NO ELI STUDENTS CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN THE IN-
TENSIVE ENGLISH COURSES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR 'THE TEST
AT THIS TIME.
Il
theatre
AIMA plans 3 fall. productions
ir m.ri i
By LARRY RUSS
David Young, who gave a,
poetry reading at the UGLI yes-
terday, is a teacher at Oberlin,
and a poet whose first book,
Sweating Out the Winter, won
the U.S. Award of the Inter-
national Poetry Forum. He has,
a very good sense of humor and
a very good imagination. But
his imagination is not a terribly
forceful one, it even seems to
be partly borrowed.
One of the problems with
Young's poetry is that it is con-
stantly haunted by the voices
and imaginations of better con-
temporary poets. There are
echoes of Wright, Hall, and
Stafford in both the imagery
and the way of speaking. "Oh,
Salmon-colored Edsel" is pure
(or rather, impure) Robert Bly.
This is too bad not only be-'
cause it means Young is not
finding his own voice, but be-
cause even when he is very good
our enjoyment Is watered down
when we get hints of the voices
of better poets.
Also, many of the best poems
work by stringing evocative
images and lines, shifting quick-
ly, but, unfortunately, do not
have that cohesive under-cur-
rent of strong emotion, the
cumulative force -that a Bly or
Wright poem has. And a few
poems like "The Reapers" and
"Summer, A Far-off War" are
really banal.
I think Young was off-base
when he suggested that the bi-
plane that appears in many of
his poems is a good image for
the poet's imagination. It would
not fit the force and penetra-
tion of Kinnell or the stark
drama of Hecht. But it is a very
apt image of Young's imagina-
tion: casual, light, floating,
slightly humorous. This is not
Sto say that he doesn't come up
with marvelous images 'of the
violence, the darker parts of
our lives. He does.
But usually the poems are
lighter, like the biplane, doing
curves and sweeps, looking down
from a short distance with
gaiety and poignance.
Young does have a delightful
sense of humor. There are fun-
ny lines and poems, like "Will
Tarzan Swing in Time." Some
of the poems in which the bi-
plane gets highest for me are:.
"Journal," "Evasions," "Dreams
of the Wars," "The Small-Town'
Poets," "Oh, Salmon-coldred
Edsel." To close, here are some
really good lines:
". .This empty field
Dreams of the farm in every
*furrow
As the body dreams the mind,
The windmill dreams the
wind."
"Sunday morning at the Dis-
count Center,
entrance to the kingdom of
the dead.
They have a new machine
here.
Put a quarter in this large
white horse,
and he'll paw you to death."
"The plane floats away, struts
Quivering in the still noon,
Like a leaf or a dazed bat.
It ;will only land when
The sun turns chrysanthe-
mum,
A stiff, mad ornament."
The APA Repertory Company
has planned its eighth annual
season at the University from
Sept. 15 to Oct. 26. Three new
productions, including two mod-
ern classics and one American
premiere, will be presented un-,
der the artistic direction of the
APA's Ellis Rabb.
The APA season will open
with a revival of William Sa-
royan's The Time of Your Life.
APA's earlier revivals of You'
Can't Take It With You, The
Show-Off and The Time of
Your Life have gained the re-
pertory company a solid reputa-
tion for its revivals of Amer-
ican drama and comedy. In
fact, The Show-Off, with Helen
Hayes, was taken on national
road tour this year to bolster
the APA's lagging income and
federal support.
The second production will be
the American premiere of The
Chronicles of Hell, by celebrated
Belgian avant-garde dramatist
Michel de Ghelderode. De Ghel'
derode's Pantagleize, premiered
by the APA two years ago, was
well received both in Ann Arbor
and New York. "Chronicles" will
be staged by John Houseman,
co-director of Pantagleize.
Houseman is the head of the
Juilliard Theatre School, a
noted Broadway and Hollywood
producer and director, and for-
mer artistic director of the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
in Connecticut.
Closing the 1969 fall season
will be Nicholas Gogol's satire,
The Inspector General. The
famed Russian's barbs at bum-
bling bureaucrats will be staged
by Stephan Porter, director of
top APA hits, including The
Show-Off and last season's
The Misanthrope.
CINEMA II
April 11-12
KING OF
Tickets for the fall season go
on sale 'immediately from 10
a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5
p.m. weekdays at the Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre. Discounts
are available for students and
subscribers. Individual ticket
sales will not begin until the
fall.
Following the production here,
the company will begin its first
national tour, bringing Ionesco's
Exit the King and Moliere's
The Misanthrope to major U.S.
cities.
The APA has been forced to
take to the road in an effort
to increase their annual revenue.
The company, which has been
called the finest Americanre-
pertory theatre, lost a large
government grant last year, and
must now rely solely on support
of sympathizers, subscribers and
individual ticket sales.
New York's Mayor John Lind-
say gathered several New York
philanthropists who saved the
APA this year and allowed it
to conclude its run at its per-
mament home in the Lyceum
Theatre.
In another effort to raise
the money and to test his talents
on Broadway, Ellis Rabb will
direct a new Broadway musical
based on Truman Capote's The
Grass Harp.
DIAL 5-6290
ENDS THURSDAY
ENTERTAINMENT . . . "a re-
markable story . .. an experience.
C I if f . Robertson's performance
could not be better."
-WINSTED, N.Y. POST
ACADEMY AWARD
NOMINEE
BEST ACTOR-
CLIFF ROBERTSON
TECHNICOLOR '.
TECHNISCOPE'
"SO ABSORBING AND
SO GOOD THAT ONE
IS HELD FROM
BEGINNING TO END."
--COMMONWEAL
TONIGHT
1st set at 8:30
FRIDAY and SATURDAY
Traditional and Original Music
JON SUNDELL
0
4
44
1421 Hill St.
8:30 P.M.
4
Wednesday, April 9
POINT -OF
OIRDER
Incredible documentary
of the.Army-McCarthy
hearings.
wFascism-American Style
PETITION NOW FOR
CONTEMPORARY
DISCUSSIONS
COMMITTEE
Help Bring Good Speakers to Campus. Be a Treas-
urer, Publicity Chairman, Symposium Chairman,
Winter Lecture Series, and Individual Programs, and
Campus Coordnator.
IAW
Pick Up Petitions 3rd Floor Lepgue, H-ender-
son Room, Sign Up for Interview When You
,Pick Up the Petition. Petitions Due Thursday
Morning.
U
STARTING FRIDAY
" Buena Sera,
Mrs. Campbell"
Try Daily Classifieds
Phone 764-0558
I
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7-9
ARCHITECTURE
1662-8871
AUDITORIUM
HEARTS
Alan Bates
Hysterically funny satire
FRI., SAT.-7-9 P.M.
Aud. A-Angell 75c
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" I
Now
Showing
NATIONAL GENERAL CORPORATION
FOX EASTERN THEATRES R IL aG
F5o VILL6E
375 No. MAPLE RD.-.769.1300
MON. thru FRI.
6:30 & 9:15
SAT.-SUN.
1:00-3:45
6:30-9 15
DIAL 8-6416
Wednesday Is LADIES DAY
FACES
1s
"ONE OF THE
YEAR'S
10 BEST!"
-Judith Crist --iNew York Times
r lam*
-!9,m , I
;EPTEMBER 16-28
SAR'0
YAN'S
V Beit Midrash at Ann Arbor
These Nazis
aren't for real!
They are Allied agents
who must win
World War 11
.
'oU
I-.
Sponsored by the College
Cooperation with the B'nai
University of Michigan
of Jewish Studies in Detroit in
B'rith Hillel Foundation at the
I
PRE-REGISTRATION-Spring, Summer, Fall 1969
Name ... .. ... ....................... ........
Address on June 1.................Phone.........
Address on August 28 ...... i............Phone .......
University of Michigan year .......Major.. ...........
Will be at Ann Arbor: spring (llA)'........summer (lIB ... ...
fall...
Please check -those courses you would like to
take and return this form to: 1429 Hill St., Ann
Arbor. Courses are described in the Beit-Mid-
rash Catalogue. More information will be made
available upon pre-registration.
-Spring-Summer semester
.... 1. Hebrew for Beginners (intensive, 2-3 meetings a week)
...2. Intermediate or Advanced Hebrew
... 3. A Survey for Judaism 11 (for those taking No. 2
Can be taken independently immediately)
Fall semester, 1969
4. Basic Judaism-Jewish Ethics
....5. A Comparative Study of Biblical Literature
11
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"FACES"
Is
"A PHENOMENALLY
GOOD PICTURE!"
-Newsweek
" FACES
Is
"A MILESTONE! A
FINE ACHIEVEMENT!"
-Judith Crist
SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 12
-J
Another delightful APA revival of an American clasic!
Ghelderode 's
"A whiff of satanical sulphur"
I
by the author of the APA hit "Pantagleize"
I'
f
ryu
Directed by John Houseman
JOHN CASSAVETES
FAC ES'
0 1 L
7 -
OCTOBER 14-26
Gogol's
a
I;I
L
I
I
MUST WE ALWAYS ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH PREVAILING
CUSTOM? WITH SET PRECEDENT?
NO! (ALMOST)
THIS WEEKEND (ALMOST) WE BREAK ANOTHER MOLD (ALMOST)
The
U1Un- CTO
Directed by
Stephen Porter
A
.. . .6.
..7.
A History of Zionism in America
Introduction to Jewish-Arab Relations 1936-1969
Q. _A,. At.,,...... ,J c ................ c,.,..,. cs..,J:,,, ...C e, h II
t' u.e
II
III
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