THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday, November 7, 1969
Page Two
._y. .,
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n
i.
- cinema
Butch Cassidy':
Old West never
looedso good
By NEAL GABLEI"
Paul Newman is more than an actor. Like Bogart, Gable,
Brando and Dean, Newman is a personality. It's impossible to
just sit back and watch him perform; you have to marvel at him.
You have to shake your head, smile and say, "Damn! Isn't he cool?"
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid now playing at the
Fox Village Theater uses Newman well. It is a cool movie. William
Goldman's screenplay. like his Harper, is sharp and witty, and
he has Newman say what we expect Newman to say.
But it would be a mistake to think this is all Newman.
The rest of the cast is just as glib. Robert Redford, as the
Sundance Kid, the fastest draw in the West, is not quite a Paul
Newman, but he deftly balances the Kid's humor and toughness,
ever exuding cool. As for Katherine Ross, she could do anything,
and I'd love her, so why comment? I would be remiss if I didn't
mention character actor Strother Martin. He is fabulously wry as
the grizzled head of a Bolivian mine.
Like Newman and Goldman, cinematographer Conrad Hall
was a member of the Harper team. This time out he's much better.
Using slightly washed-out color, occasionally inserting sepia clips,
Hall captures the flavor of the Old West. There is a pastoral
heauty here seldom seen in the conventional Western. Director
George Roy Hill uses his camera and not just his costumes to
recreate the period. As a result, the dialogue is fun to listen to and
the film is nice to watch as well.
The story, based on fact, concerns two rather unorthodox
outlaws- .-Butcli Cassidy, a fast talkeni always ready with a new
scheme, and the Sundance Kid, his top gun. School marm Etta
Rice, the Kid's mistress, serves as a respite from the boys' hard
work. Along the robbery road, there are many misadventures. They
blow open a safe but also blow up the money. And when the path
of escape leads to Bolivia, they bumble through Spanish lessons
so they can rob the banks there.
Butch Cassidy is fast paced and dripping with droll humor.
Only once does it really bog down. In an overlong, repetitious
sequence, a superposse hired by railroad magnate E. H. Harriman,
chases the desparadoes all over the West. But with the escape
to Bolivia, the pace quickens once again and the climactic scene
is a classic shoot 'em out.
The film has been criticized for being too slick, and it is
slick. (What do you expect for a Western with music by Burt
Bacharach?) But this isn't meant to be a great social commentary;
it is meant to be an often amusing, often exciting Western. It's
Harper 1890, only better than the original. It isn't Bonnie and
Clyde. but then what is?
- music
Contemporary Music series:
Visual, musical kaleidoscope
..
*
TONIGHT 8:30
2 PERFORMANCES SAT.
By JOE PEHRSON
The School of Music present-
ed the final concert of the
1969-1970 Festival of Con-
temporary Music series last
Wednesday night at Rackham
Auditorium. Unfortunately, due
to an illness in the family of
the soloists Michele and Ell-
wood Derr, the Webern song
cycle Drei Gesange, had to be
omitted. The concert began with
a work by Seymour Shifrin, the
guest composer for this year's
contemporary festival. Shifrin,
currently Professor of Music
at Brandeis University, w a s
present for this performance of
his String Quartet No. 3 and
Chamber Symphony, heard lat-
er in the evening.
Shifrin's process of composi-
tion is similar in both works.
Since the string quartet is a
less orchestrated work, the pro-
cess becomes practically a vis-
ual one. All four members of
the quartet share the exposi-
tion of a theme, which travels
from one instrument to the next.
Shifrin makes a musical merry-
go-round, and the circular ar-
rangement of the four instru-
ments on stage adds to this il-
lusion.
At the same time he is de-
veloping harmony, and his
themes take on vertical pas-
sengers as they proceed in
their journey. His lines have be-
come cylinders, rich in tex-
ture, but without any loss in
motion. String Quartet No. 3,
a piece in one movement, has
three separate sections, ana-
logous to the three movements
of the Chamber Symphony. The
second section is a bit more dis-
tended, and the use of the vio-
lin overtone series is balanced
with a cello pizzacato. T h e
second violin is a pivotal point
for much of the work, and pro-
vides support for many of the
melodic structures. The third
section combines elements from
the first two; there is a con-
stant struggle between the tight
harmonic form of the first sec-
tion and the linear development
of the second.
The work, however, is a
whole, and the sections are too
interdependent to be considered
separate movenuts. Shifrin is
not particularly interested in
dynamic contrast in the quar-
tet. Each time one instrument
plays a marked dynamic
change, the others soon rise to
accommodate. They function
like a thick rug - any predom-
inant sound is quickly absorbed.
For this reason, the quartet
seems unusually uniform, and
some interest tends to be lost.
The Stanley Quartet, however,
compensated for this through
characteristic precision and vi-
tality.
Des Visages de France by Wal-
lace Berry was somewhat sand-
wiched in by the two Shifrin
numbers. The text, inscriptions
on public buildings and monu-
ments in France, determined
much of the sound texture.
Berry seemed more interested in
musically illustrating t h e
sounds of the French language
than in conveying the content
of the text. This would be fine,
but he was somewhat incon-
sistent. In Sur les voies and
Dans ces murs, the second and
fourth sections, content takes
the upper hand. The direction
and purpose of the piece h a s
changed, seemingly to the bene-
The Michigan Daffy, edited and man-
aged by students at the University of
Michigan. News phone: 704-0552. Second
Class pnstage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich-
igan. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arhor,
Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues-
day through sunday morning tniver-
sity year. ub riprton rates: $10 by
carrier, $10 by;mil
Summer Session pubitshed Tuesday
through Saturday morning. Subscrip-
tion rates: $3.00 by carrier, $3.00 by
mail,
fit of the work as a whole.
These two sections are a mark-
ed contract to the rather mono-
chromatic first and third, and
Berry still finds it possible to
echo the sounds of language
instrumentally.
The Chamber Symphony of
Shifrin, the last work present-
ed in this concert series, is a
fantastically colorful and in-
tricate piece. All Shifrin's stand-
ard techniques, as seen in the
string quartet, are used, b u t
he has added enough content
and textural interest to make
the quartet seem like a theore-
tical exercise. The themes are
carefully integrated; they build
upon one another, and subtly
extend themselves through har-
mony. There is no lack of in-
terest, however, as the themes
unfold. The constant activity
and linear motion have become
funed with dynamiccontour.
Shifrin's process of composi-
tion, seen before as technical
innovation, has fulfilled its po-
tential. It has combined a na-
tural beauty with its original-
ity.
The U-M Exhibit Museum has
established a new policy for all
non-University groups number-
ing 15 or over which wish tours
of the building.
All such groups arriving dur-
ing school hours must use the
guides provided by the museum,
at a charge of 10 cents per per-
son. This charge includes not
only a tour of the exhibit areas
but also, if desired and w h e n
available, a lecture-demonstra-
tion in the Planetarium and a
visit to TAM, a life-size trans-
parent anatomical manikin.
Groups must be scheduled at
least two weeks in advance.
General admission to t h e ex-
hibit areas remains free. On
Saturday and Sunday after-
noons, however, a charge of 25
cents per person is made.
WORLD PREMERE N., NOV.3SA.,NOV.
weeK 8:30
Sara
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AUDRA
IINDLEY
JAMES
WHITMORE
CATHERINE
BURNS
Gil WL;
a EVAN HUNTER
MVnlIN
I-t r i ( I N
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DeslAewdby JO MIELZINER
I jrm A ACE
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11 NY
ITELLECTUAL?
LIBERAL ?
17
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presentation
SPECIAL DANCE ATTRACTION-Non-subscription event
THE BUDAYA TROUPE
from INDONESIA
SATURDAY, NOV. 8,8:30
in HILL AUDITORIUM
(preenTed in cooperation with University's Center for South and Southeast Asian Students)
THE PROGRAM: Fifteen of Indonesia's greatest performing artists will
present a broad cross-section of Indonesia's performing arts by relating-the
story of the Ramayana through different art forms-depicting a comic scene
through woyang orang (live actors) ; a scene from the love story of Rama
and Sita through Javanese dance; and a battle scene through woyang kulit
(shadow puppets) . A gamelan orchestra will accompany the performers, and
a narrator will relate the events depicted on the stage.
TICKETS: $3.00-$2.50-$2.00-$1.50
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, BURTON TOWER, ANN ARBOR
Office Hours: Mon. thru Fri. 9 to 4:30, Sat. 9 to 12 (Telephone 665-3717)
(Also at Auditorium box office 1 1 hours before performance time)
TATE HELD OVER
A e5TH WEEK
Proqrom Information 662-6264
where the heads of all nations meet
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Use Daily Classifieds
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SKI CARIL
at
2455 S. State
Ann Arbor, Michigan-662-7307
SATURDAY and SUNDAY-NOVEMBER 8th and 9th
12:00-5:00 P.M.
" 3 SKI MOVIES-Simultaneous showings all weekend in our outdoor
tents.
See the prize winning film "THE MOEBIUS FLIP."
* FACTORY REPRESENTATIVES AT TEE & SKI - Come in and visit
with these top ski industry specialists.
Mr. Bill Peterson from HART SKI.................. .Saturday
Mr. Tom Keegan from HEAD SKI .............. . .... Saturday
Mr. Mike Harrell from VOIT SKI............ .......Saturday
Mr. Wimp Harvey from NORTHLAND SKI . . . . Saturday & Sunday
AA _ - s _ _, _. .__ r*), A,- rtr'II r1)/ -1 t CC. .~l
SUNDAY, NOV. 9-Hill Auditorium, 2 P.M.
TICKETS: $1.50 Union, League, Fishbowl, Door
HELD OVER BY POPULAR DEMAND
EXTRA SHOW TONIGHT-11:0 P.M.
"A Pace Seller"
-Judith Crist
--William Wolf
"A Fantastic Movie"
-The Harvard Crimson
Er "'Funniest Picture of the Year"
-East Village Other
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