:ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz: The Michigan Daily-Friday, October 26, 1979-Page 5 'Ama By DENNIS HARVEY If A Man,A Woman and a Bank had .een made in the 1940's or '50's, it would have been called a programmer-a ,erm for the kind of modest, un- distinguished comedies and dramas that the studios used to grind out by the dozens for use as the bottom half of double-bills, to rake in a few stray bucks between major productions. Most of these films were entirely n, awoman' routine, but their mediocrity didn't deem to matter much when stuffed into W program along with cartoons, short Subjects, previews, a newsreel and another feature. For 5W, or whatever the cost, the viewer didn't expect brilliance. Now just paying for a single feature can put a serious strain on one's finan- bes, and it's not so unreasonable to ex- pect something considerably above the routine for your $3.50. A Man is a per- fect example of what the studios don't need to produce anymore, unless they're merely concerned with building up a backlog of films for future TV sale. It's a romantic comedy about some cute crooks who try to rob a bank; a pitifully familiar formula by now, af-- ter six years of Sting imitations, and the film does virtually nothing to breathe new life into this pat format. It isn't a bad movie, unfortunately (badness might have lent it some kind of distin- ction), but it offers so little of real in- terest that one wonders why the film- makers ever bothered with the project in the first place. If theaters still charged 50a for admission as in the days of yore, A Man might be passable if forgettable entertainment. But at $3.50 a head, there's scarcely any reason why a film like this one should exist. TWO WRITERS are given story credit, and three more have been stuck with authorship of the screenplay. It's remarkable that so many presumably creative people could combine their talents and manage to come up with a plot that can all too easily be described in, at most, two or three sentences. Reese (Donald Sutherland) schemes to rob an elaborate computerized bank. with the reluctant help of his friend Norman (Paul Mazursky). While Reese is stealing blueprints from the bank, he is photographed by Stacey (Brooke Adams), who is doing publicity work for the corporation and assumes him to be a worker. they fall in love, the bank job is pulled, The End. VERY LITTLE else happens. We ex- pect the vacuum left by this very or- dinary storyline to be filled in by suspense, likeable characters, goo4 lines and offbeat twists. No such luck. The film's only intriguing point may well be that it makes clear, whether in- tentionally or not, that robbing a bank can be pretty dull, and that the people involved can be as boring as anyone. The crooks don't have any interesting reasons for stealing the money, or any good notions on how to spend it; if they don't care about such mundane mat- ters, why should the audience care about the characters? The Sutherland-Adams romance is just a sparkless relationship between two nice, rather mild people, neither of whom are in any way particularly fun-. ny or unique. Perhaps this can pass as realism, but it's not asking much to ex- pect more from movie characters, especially in a harmless trifle of a film like this one. The thin premise might have been rescued by a little charm or tension, but the occasional humorous lines are so flat that one suspects the actors were left to improvise. The bank robbery itself goes so smoothly that the characters might just as well have been handed the money at the beginning of the film, sparing us an hour and a half of unnecessary buildup. From time to time the action sud- denly waxes serious to include dismal scenes of bland emoting as Stacey tries to shake off her pesty ex-husband, and, Norman moans about his faltering marriage. Sketchy and unresolved, these subplots do little more than provide filler material. SUTHERLAND AND Adams ap- peared together twice last year, as the pot-smoking professor and his live-in blank student in Animal House, and as some of the last resistors of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In those films they managed to develop a nice, quirky chemistry in their screen relationships, but here they're just two good perfor- mers working without material. Sutherland, as always, can survive such lapses, but Adams is a promising actress whose career could be killed easily enough by many more thuds in this league. Paul Mazursky, a fine director (Harry and Tonto, Blume in Love), just can't act. He doesn't fumble and make a fool out of himself; instead, he strives so hard to be inconspicuous that the performance is closer to dead weight than dead-pan. Director Noel Black made a dazzling debut over 10 years ago with Pretty Poison, a nifty tale of small-town romance laced with murderous black comedy. Nothing in A Man, A Woman and a Bank has any of that earlier film's offbeat style and imagination. Clearly Black and everyone else in- volved in the movie, just wantdd to collect their paychecks and get it over with; their lack of enthusiasm may be understandable, but it makes this very mild caper just a waste of time for the audience. Saturday ,All Day Oct. 27, 9:30.*5:00 A Antiquarian BOOK FAIR' 21 BOOTHS - THE GREATEST VARIETY OF MIPWEST BOOK DEALERS - 21 BOOTHS ITEMS FOR THE COLLECTOR, THE NOSTALGIA BUFF, THE GENERALIST, THE SPECIALIST, AND THE ORDINARY READER! COME BROWSE - ADMISSION FREE! EXTRA ADDED ATTRACTION! FREE SEMINARS FOR THE COLLECTOR Starting at 12:30 in the Explorers Room; 3 hour-long sessions on Collecting and Coltectibles Detroit Public Library 5201 Woodward _. . George Cukor's 1940 THE PHILADELPHIA STORY CARY GRANT, KATHERINE HEPBURN and JAMES STEWART in the classic high society comedy by Phillip Barry. Two reporters from infamous Spy magazine crash the latest pre-nuptial proceedings of Tracy Lord, spoiled ex-wife of Dexter Haven, who seems to be hanging around a lot . .. Virginia Weidler creates one of the few child roles in film that leaves you wanting more. Stewart got an Oscar for his serious writer-turned-yellow journalist'role. Short: KITSCH IN SYNCH (Adam Beckett, 1975) An abstract animation with a soundtrack of enthusiastic and persistent ducks. Sat: FANTASTIC ANIMATION FESTIVAL -d sponsored b Friends of the Library DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY 1979 79556F Solomons dan cers give appealing show By KATHE TELINGATOR There was tension at Power Center Wednesday night while the Ann Arbor audience waited-for the Solomons Dance Concert. Gus Solomon taught in residence lastyear with the University's dance department, and this performance was his troupe's first in this city. Solomons choreographed "Step Chart," "Psycho Motor Works," and "Make Me No Boxes to Put Me In . ." the three pieces performed Wednesday. Each work is a conglomeration of several small segments, and so it is difficult to approach any as a single unit. And yet all are connected; a powerful energy flowed through the Solomons dancers all evening, and seemed to satisfy the anxious tension in the audience. "STEP CHART," choreographed this year, creatively uses a string of disco songs played occasionally at ultra-high speed to establish an electrically energetic movement. The program states that "Psycho Motor Works," originally created during 1977-78, is an '"umbrella title" for much of the choreography made for the company during those-years. With each performance, the number and sequence of the parts change, and hence a new dance is created-before the audience. In this piece, as in "Step Chart," the lack of a unifying theme did not distract: the movement sufficed. Grand extensions and arabesques, great use of arms, hands, and shoulders as leaders of movement expressed a love of energy which the troupe ex- tended to the audience. "Move!" they seemed to say in their dancing, "There's life out there!" CONTRACTIONS, which suggest tension, were juxtaposed with lax movements in "Make Me No Boxes To Put Me In ...". This especially long piece was punctuated by a startling scream suggesting the exorcism of the torment confronting a lead dan- cer. The movement and energy that flowed fromthe Power Cen- ter's stage Wednesday, though natural and spontaneous, was also clearly constructed. Solomon's choreography reflects his interest in structure-he graduated from MIT with an architec- ture degree. CINEMA GUILD TWITAT OLD ARCH. CINEMA II1' PRESENTS G DON'T LOOK NOW -ff7 T (NICOLAS ROEG, 1973) An intensely erotic and macabre film. Working with elements of the tradi- tional horror genre-second sight, ESP, warnings from the dead, a mad killer-anc a cinematography of disquieting beauty and dreamlike sense of dislocation, Roeg weaves a fabric of anxiety that questions all reality. Outstanding performances by JULIE CHRISTIE, DONALD SUTHERLAND, and the CANALS F VENICE. "The most subtle and sophisticated horror film ever made." NY Times (110 min ANGELL HALL 1:50 7:00 & 9:00 If I Tomorrow: LA GRAND BOUFFE J Ile Ann Arbor Film Coopertv e Presents at MLB: $1.50 Friday, October 26 BREAD AND CHOCOLATE (Franco Brusati, 1978) T,8:40, 10:20-MLB 3 A beautifully photographed film that details the plightof an illegal Italian immigrant attempting to fit in a supercilious, Swiss society. The lead character, an expertly cast Nino Manfredi, appears on the screen as an innocent victim of events; the character recalls Chaplin with his poignant blend of pathos and humor. Bread and Chocolate is an artfully done film that is both funny and rueful with little bits of caustic social satire thrown in for good luck. Some memorable moments and thoroughly entertaining. NINO MANFREDI, ANNA KARINA. Tomorrow: Roger Corman's THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, and George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD at MLB 4. Also showing tomorrow: Jerry Garcia's THE GRATEFUL DEAD at MLB 3. ARE YOU LETTING CLASSES GET TO You? RELAX Take a 1 atg break ... you deserve it!