Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, March 3, 1912 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, March 3, 1972 on Harris is finding out about himself and Him. First a flash- back to his mother's death, so we realize that this is no mere tail of revenge but, that's right, an allegory. Then flashbacks. of his wife saying "The kingdom of heaven is within you as with all living things." Flashbacks to a harsh preacher. Flashbacks to his mother in law telling him that his wife's death was "God's will. Which tells us absolutely noth- ing about him, Him, revenge, and least of all the rebirth of man through the forces of na- ture. But the women should like it, according to director Sarafin: "The Indian birth sequence.. is one that will have women on the edge of their seats. It's never been shown in a major picture but it's been sensitively directed. . . Women like to see human conflict end peace- fully and understandably." Peter Munsing life. Jeff climbs mountains. Jeff paddles his canoe. Jeff shoots wild geese. Jeff tends to an ail- ing doe. Jeff eats raw clams., Jeff sucks rocks, actually. The narrator keeps insisting that this celebate hunter is the happiest man alive, but that is of little consolation to the viewer, who is supposed to identify with a hero whose most poignant ex- pression of his inner being comes when he spits out his tobacco. Throughout the movie, Jeff says not a word. But we know that he's really digging the clean, clean air, because the narrator insists that he is. And insists and insists. The movie fails so miserably because it is basically about na- ture and scenic delights, yet it superficially focuses on Jeff, in- stead of on the animals, as the Disney nature films did. Some- how the Disney films would in- variably illuminate the "person- ality" of the animal, shifting the tellectual American mathemati- cian, and Amy (Susan George), his beautiful a n d physically oriented wife, move to Amy's hometown in Cornwall, England. What David thinks will be a re- laxing life-style, though, turns into a nightmare when the townspeople, annoyed, that the town peach could marry such a dud (by their standards), at- tempt to make up for the mathe- matician's lack of virility. Obviously, there is more to this tale than just action. What happens when a bright guy mar- ries a girl for her looks? Can the intellect (David) overpower the brawn (the townspeople)? What makes someone "a man"? The entire movie builds towards the climatic half-hour battle at David's house, and Peckinpah withholds his position on these issues until the last moments of the film. Sadly, Peckinpah's in- tellectual statement, once reveel- ed, is somewhat simplistic, un- ers? With a subject about a strange series of strangulation murders that result where bird droppings on the victims are the only clue? It's all here in this delightfully nonsensical (and oc- casionally brilliant) farce, as served up by director Robert Altman and a terrific crewball cast. Before Brewster (Bud Cort) makes his first flight with his invention, several people are disposed of, thus leading to a variety of mad, comical inspira- tions: Margaret "Wicked Witch" Hamilton belting out an off-key Star Spangled Banner at the Houston Astrodome, a supercool Bullitt - type investigator (Mi- chael Murphy) who's called in to solve the crimes, and dozens of other hilarious bits and pieces to keep you continuously laugh- ing. In as wildly uneven a farce as this, one has to expect broad, DIAL 668-6416 TWO HIT ENCORES An epic drama of adventure and exploration! MGM E.u STANLEY WORICK PRODUCTION *AND* BREWSTER McCLOUD with Bud Cort and Salty Kellerman Join The Daily. DIAL 665-6290 HELD OVER! "Dustin Hoffman's finest per- formance since 'Midnight Cow- boy!' " National Observer "A brilliant feat ,of movie mak- ing M" .Time Magazine o crnemci weekend DUETIN og, -Daily-Sara Krulwich Man in the Wilderness State Theatre Picture a ship on wheels, re- plete with fingurehead, lumber- ing across the mountains of the Northwest. Sound like a Disney epic? Man in the Wilderness is pretty much a Disney film. A trapper, Zachary Bass (Richard Harris), is left to die in the wilderness and in surviving to track down the men that left him he learns to love, or as Har- ris put it, "Man AIs reborn through the forces of nature." At least that's the way it's .supposed to be. Of course Dis- ney wouldn't deal with hate and neither does this film. Though the theme is supposedly based on revenge, the way this is conveyed gives no sense of anger; I didn't even feel any empathy with Harris as he was" nauled by Peggy the Bear. The entire film consists of cuts between shots of Harris' hand or self appearing over the horizon as he crawls, limps. and trudges onward, and shots of the leader of the group' that deserted him (John Huston) looking over his shoulder at the horizon to the man he left be-, hind. The 'boat was named the "Moby Richard" by the film crew. This might make for a good potboiler,. but Man in the Wild- erness isn't even tepid, due pri- marily to its implausibility. First Huston says he won't leave Har- ris "While there's a drop of God's breath in him." Then when Harris has been stitched up they leave him, though I didn't see the difference another 180 pounds would make com- pared with hauling the boat. "Why do they do it?' 'For 'Gold.' " Fine, but if they're mercenaries why does Huston bother telling them "This is more than a, trapping expedition, this is an exploration of a new frontier." While the exploration is going North Country Fifth Forum The makers of North Country, American National Enterprises, wanted to make a clean family film about the wilderness. Well, that they did. They must have been pretty intent on it too, considering they stopped the film in the middle to allow some weird executive behind a desk assure the audience that the film was clean. But although cleanliness may be next to God- liness, it is also most assuredly a close cousin to boredom. Throughout the movie we fol- low the unbearably inconsequen- tial adventures of Jeff, the h a p p y, back - country hermit, whose life is one long panoramic nature hike. No one is asking here for Hemingway, for the feel of the rope burning in the palms of the hands as the old man tries desperately to haul in the giant marlin. But life can't be this easy, even "clean" attention from the comparative- ly lifeless humans to the thriv- ing "heart of the jungle." True, in North Country there are some pretty majestic scenes, but if you've seen one babbling brook . . . Anyway, the point is, when making a feature film about na- ture, it would be a good idea to move beyond the soggy dra- matics of the George. Pierrot travelogue genre. It would be easy to write off such lifeless drivel as meaning- less pap, but what is repulsive is that such empty-headedness seems to be tolerated, 'as if we need a last bastion of virtue in American entertainment. Kids would be better weaned on War- hol, since I daresay it would take a pretty good dose of Ritalin to make little Johnny sit through this one, even if you gave him popcorn. Bruce Shlain * * * Straw Dogs Michigan The Damned looks Godawful compared to. Straw Dogs, but then The Damned looks Godaw- ful compared to almost any- thing. Visconti's aimless, for- ever roaming, panning, zooming camera, though, did make me. for one, appreciate that much more Peckinpah's razor-sharp editing: every cut for a purpose. Thanks to the care taken in crafting Straw Dogs the film, on a simple level of action and excitement, is one of the more gripping movies around. David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), an in- realistic, and unsatisfying, not to mention immoral. Richard Glatzer * * * 2001 Campus Writing one or two paragraphs on 2001 is a thoroughly unre- warding task-even if you hate the film, you've got to contend with the enormous Kubrick cult ready to attack any unjustified slur on their hero or his m'ster- piece. And how can a non-cultist like myself hope to compete with a throng that has spent years collecting and researching statements like, "H.A.L. (the name of a computer) is one let- ter removed from I.B.M.," or, "The first three notes of Thus Spake Zarathustra (soundtrack music) represent the Holy Trin- ity," or, "The final episode rep- resents a human zoo."? I personally like 2001 (in spite of the worshippers surrounding the film) and believe it to be an awesome, complex, visually re- markable depiction of the limi- tations and dangers of Man's scientific knowledge. Let's leave it at that. Richard Glatzer *I * * Brewster McCloud Campus Try explaining the plot of Brewster McCloud to someone and you'll end up sounding as insane as the movie itself. A film about a young man's crazed desire to build a pair of wings and fly a la the Wright Broth- slightly coarse goings-on, and Brewster falls into the pitfall more than once. It's also the type of film one can easily grow impatient with because it's bas- ically plotless and loosely con- structed as well, But Altman has a sound, sure instinct for comedy as we all know, and he pulls it off in grand style. Even if Professor Rene Auber- jonois' bird lectures grow tire- some and the fun bogs down midway with an uncomfortably self-conscious ending (the cast members re-appear in the midst of a circus to introduce them- selves), Brewster McCloud is still an entertaining, genuinely original p i e c e of disposable cinema. -You owe it to ,yourself to try it. Kyle Counts Can You Top This? Iowa's 560 yards in total offense against North Dakota State in 1947 represents the sixth best per- formance in Hawkeye football an- nals. lI SHOWS AT 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 P.M. At State and Liberty Program Information 662-6264 0 "THE GODFATHER"is now a movie COMING SOON NOW SHOWING OPEN 12:45 SHOWS AT 1,.3, 5, 7, 9 P.M. Feature 10 min. later REMEMBER "A Man Called Horse"? Now Richard Harris Is Back In The Wilderness Again! Academy Awards Nominations HOLLYWOOD (R:--Top hon- ors in the 44th nominations for M o t i o n Picture Academy Awards were split among "Fid- dler on the Roof," "The French Connection" and "The Last Pic- ture Show." George C. Scott, who won the Oscar last year as best actor after announcing he would re- fuse the honor, was again nominated -- this time for his performance in "The Hospital." Nominated for best actor of 1971 with Scott were Peter Finch, "Sunday Bloody Sun- day;" Gene Hackman, "The French Connection;" W a I t e r Matthau, "Kotch;" and Topol, an Israeli actor who uses no first name, "Fiddler on the Roof." The race for best actress was predominantly British. O n 1y Jane Fonda, the prostitute of "Klute," was an American. Other nominees for best ac- tress: Julie Christie, "McCabe and Mrs. Miller"; Glenda Jack- son, "Sunday Bloody Sunday"; Vanessa Redgrave, "M a r y, Queen of Scots"; and Janet Suzman, "Nicholas and Alexan- dra." Eight nominations were scor- ed by three divergent films: "Fiddler on the Roof," the mu- sical of Jewish life in czarist' Russia; "The French Connec- tion," a realistic crime drama featuring a sensational chase; and "The Last Picture Show," an idyllic drama of small-town life in Texas. Runners-up in the numbers of nominations were: "Nicholas and Alexandra," six, and "Bed- knobs and Broomsticks" and "Mary, Queen of Scots," five apiece. Nominees for best picture of the year: "A Clockwork Or- ange"; "Fiddler on the Roof"; "The French Connection"; "The' Last Picture Show," and "Nich- olas and Alexandra." Nominees for best supporting actress: Ellen Burstyn, "The Last Picture Show"; Barbara Harris, "Who is Harry Keller- man, and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things about Me?"; Cloris Leachman, "The Last Picture Show"; Margaret Leighton, "The Go-Between," and Ann - Margaret, "Carnal Knowledge." For best supporting actor: Jeff Bridges, "The Last Picture Show"; Leonard Frey, "Fiddler on the Roof"; Richard Jaeckel, "Sometimes a Great Notion";; Ben Johnson, "The Last Pic- ture Show," and Roy Scheider, "The French Connection." Best Director: Stanley Kubrick, "A Clockwork Orange"; Norman Jewison, "Fiddler on the Roof"; William Friedkin, "The French Connection"; Peter Bogdano- vich, "The Last Picture Show," and John Schlesinger, "Sunday Bloody Sunday." Best song: "The Age of Not Believing," from "Bedknobs and Broomsticks";, "All His Chil- dren", from "Sometimes a Great Notion"; "Bless the Beasts & Children" title song; "Life is What You Make It," from "Kotch," and the theme from "Shaft." "L M u " " s "a "P COMING SOON T V . . r BOX OFFICE OPEN 6:30 SHOW STARTS at 7:00 SHOP TONIGHT UNTIL 9:00 P.M. SATURDAY 9:30 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M. mm mm!w ANYTHING THEY WANT ... THEY TAKE! "BRUTE CORPS" NIGHTLY AT 7:05 & 10:10 -PLUS- "DEVIL RIDER" AT 8:50 000~t1 R% II5W S' Nw W rr I-]W O I VE"~IN~ XT I I -R FRI.-SAT.-SUN. I~ THE --TON IGHT- LOST RUSS MEYER FILM FESTIVAL "CHERRY, HARRY & RAQUEL" N "FINDERS KEEPERS, LOVERS WEEPERS" x "MUD HONEY" X MAN written and directed by Robert Alan Aurthur From ODD MAN OUT 14SI Hill $MIT Zt t SL 11 big ::.,..v.r.:::..:........:..:y: Sidney Poitier Joanna Shimkus Al Freeman, Jr. Finally, a Hollywood film that tries to take the Black Liberation struggle seriously. A strong departure for Poitier-"the man who come to dinner"-as a Block mili- tant driven to violent struggle underground, planning and executing a suspenseful payroll robbery to finance the movement and support the families of jailed dem- onstrators., Joanna Shimkus plays a wealthy white smypathizer, and Poitier's lover. A liberally pessimistic conclusion that fails to obscure the passionate justice of the struggle, or hard-hitting action, for once placed in a meaningful context. 7:00 & 9:00 p.m. K