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I HE MIC.;HIUAN DAILY
Saturday, January 22, 1972
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f'oge Iwo li-IL MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, January 22, 1972
MA CGOWRAN, BECKETT
Presenting symbols,. not men
. .
Two
Dubliners together
Ed. Note: Tom Macintyre is an
Irish writer who has taught as a
visiting lecturer at the University of
Michigan.
By TOM MacINTYRE
"Christ, what a planet."
-Beckett
In this by now renowned
show, two Dubliners come to-
gether to produce an evening of
memorable theatre. That Irish
actors. should be"the finest in-
terpreters of Irish literature is
to be expected but in this in-
stance the degree to which the
actor has entered and delineated
the writer's world is exceptional.
Presenting himself as arche-
tynal Beckett tramp. MacGow-
ran wanders through the fic-
tion. the poetry. the plays, plac-
ina them all in one landscape --
and that landscape unarguably
of the modern experience. The
view is bleak, repetitively bleak
- but relieved again and again
by humour and compassion.
Last night the second part of
the show came across as the
stronger: possibly the material
is more powerful or possibly
MacGowran took some time to
warm up. Lucky's speech, which
concluded the first part, lacked
the catatonic leprous quality
which the text seems to demand.
Later, in direct contrast, Watt
on the subject of stone-sucking
and the variety of permutations
possible - four pockets, sixteen
stones, etc. -- was enchanting.
Here, MacGowran's comic gift
had full play, and yielded the
gem of the show. His climactic
- "But deep down I didn't give
a tinker's curse" -- wore the
colours of wonder. And the re-
mainder of the show increas-
ingly took on richness of tex-
ture. By the conclusion, one
could easily go along with the
Irish proverb which Beckett's
work in many ways embodies -
"You might as well sing grief
as cry it."
Looking more closely at Mac-
Gowran's acting: his feel for the
especially Dublin rhythms of
much of the prose was sensitive,
and constantly authoritative;
his flexibility in altering mood
and shifting tone without dis-
rupting atmosphere was never
in question; and the manner in
which he employed posture and
gesture to embellish the verbal
music was professional in the
extreme. There was, besides, the
lick of genius - and more than
once - as he took his audience
out to the edge of Beckett's-
world, to the shore, the sea, and
the sea-journey. Plainly; Beck-
ett's work stands up to hard ex-
amination, and plainly the edge
has not gone off MacGowran's
reading of it. The lyricism, the
wit, the anguish, "the Monday
mourns" - it is all here. Even
as guns blaze in Ireland, the
Irish muse is alive and singing.-
records
Grand Funk: A side review
By HERB BOWIE
The Hip Establishment didn't
have much trouble when Dylan
passed thirty. Everybody seemed
to think that it ought to be im-
portant - Charlie Brown even
bemoaned the fact in "Peanuts"
- but, all in all, everyone took
it in stride. After all, it only
called for a redefinition of
youth. Instead of saying "Don't
trust anyone over thirty," you
just had to teach yourself to
say "Don't trust anyone older
than Bob Dylan." Simple enough.
Yes, those were truly the
Groovy Days, when everyone
was cruising gently toward that
magic day when Dylan would
pass away to that big recording
studio in the sky and of course
everyone would be young
Not that a few divisions in the
ranks didn't appear from time
to time. I mean, the Moody
Blues were just a little too
much, not to mention those de-
cency rallies that sprang up
after Morrison's escapade in
Miami. But then, anyone who
could shout "Power to the
People" when the vast majority
of the people were telling him
to shove it - well, you certainly
wouldn't expect such a person
to have any trouble dealing with
a few little splinter groups,
would you?
There was, of course, one
group that could call the Hip
Establishment's bluff, but it was
positioned on their blind side
and everybody sort of ignored it.
I mean, you'd sooner suspect
your own mother; er, that is,
your own Brother, let's say.
That group refused to be ig-
nored, though. Just about the
turn of the decade a few groups
popped up that - in all fair-
ness - seemed indistinguishable
\T R
SATURDAY and SUNDAY
The Wizard
of Oz
Dir. VICTOR FLEMING, 1939
STARRING
Judy Garland
with Bert Lahr, Ray Bol-
ger and others who fol-
low the Yellow Brick
Road to the ILand eof C(
from your average group. ex-
cept for their singular lack of
good taste. Rolling Stone placed
one of these groups' first albums
in its "Condemned" section and
dismissed it in this fashion:
"One of the most simplistic, tal-
entless, one-dimensional, unmu-
sical groups of the year. The
drumming guaranteed to send
you up the wall. Absolutely un-
believable." And that was that.
Or so they thought for a while.
Slowly it began to dawn on the
Hip Establishment, though, that
there was something special go-
ing on here. It wasn't just that
the condemned album sold over
a million copies, Nor was it
anything about the group in
particular. No, it was something
about 'these audiences. They
were all young.
Rolling Stone reacted with all
the aplomb of an aging matron
unsuspectingly seating herself
on a whoopee! cushion. In a
landmark review in the Nov. 25,
1971 edition, Lester Bangs took
the rather curious position that
one of the groups, Black Sab-
bath, is monotonous yet excit-
ing. Incredulous? ". . . both
Funk and Sabbath are for all
their monotony at least ex-
tremely consistent . . ." "Rock
has been - some of the best
of it too - in large part mon-
otonous from the beginningF.e. ."
SALE
9 Jeans
" Bells.
" Flares
2 Off
CHECKMATE
"The only criterion is excite-
ment and Black Sabbath's got
it." A curious aesthetic, wouldn't
you say?
By now, though, it was too
late; no amount of double-talk,
no matter how skillful; could
conceal the obvious: those little
cretins, speaking with all the
authority of a punk drinking
Ripple for the third time and
still looking for his first lay, had
dared to call the Hip Establish-
ment old! Jesus Christ, Super
Star!
And that's my review of
Grand Funk Railroad's latest
album E Pluribus Funk (Capi-
tol SW-853). After all that, yov
don't really expect me to tell you
whether I like them or not, do
you?
'Ij
By NEAL GABLER
Herbert Ehrmann, defense co-
counsel, has called it "the case
that will not die," and indeed
that seems an ant description
for the Sacco-Vanzetti trial,
having been immortalized by
Unton Sinlair's Boston. John
Dos Passos' TNA. Maxwell An-
derson's WntprsPf. ecores of
nonms. and now a film titled
simply. Saen & vanz.Ati. From
a modprln, liberl nersnctive we
can understand how the nllht
of cobbler. 1n4nln Spco and
fish Teddler. RArtolrmen Van-
70f+i rmnhr ianto oinoinninns of
"nrl'ri"e cnor. sine the im-
mnirants' nightmarigh odvss'v
f-ri their arra t n May 5.
1MO for rohborv-rnirder. to
thir .onvjctirn on thre thare
PinAw-e n uan fqinll1 to their P-
anrrinn in 14 a qA h 11 s P.t '
Ch.arls+o n Prison sevn vas
lh+r hear the mortrq of an
ane tale of initistice. Solf-nro-
noimn-d anorphis1 tipd in a
fvjihtPend. n-t-war. xenonhnh- "
in gocot- the fovrps of onlitical
"raion "rravd a e a I n s t
thm: 4ho 1htAn r a(sm of
nro-nvetion and nonrft the hor-
vhlv hlrno'lp iinvq+i-ation -
thpaP ar +hinos to rouse the
mnrqe in indination.
m't lost r he hnrindad hv our
"1nnli+iei," f(ba hilsohv of
nnlitiec lhr ls'I. wpP should
riapmnhpi'that wha tran-
fnrwrip an+s anr l enn stti's
n-rcpnntinin from. niitial nA-
tThoq to a tropdu i 'rar.1bil-
m-van to'vmnj waq +11ho lni'ne of
+h-ocoalmrnq+ inl-v Mnen'Thirs
aon not mTpvr anof-.4nstne
of Piht vrsis Left. but, rather
rn inrtnnop of intlprence ver-
cic hinv,,ar,+v pod l+h 7 h-
lipr i v~Orb ora r noentons
of the case vet foped with mod-
ern oaonosa i To rinn't eam to
Par ovTV+" +"aVP 44,01 rlea
ri-avar. PFrnev lnfnn. An'la
aI -eem to P o" holfnt Is the
Cr"'fiil Qvs4pm tlnnr4r1''n 7donv
nn anvnnp whonalrls rofsrp
which is a norfPctlv umderstand-
AbhIp attitude if yr life vision
is movement oaAinst mnovement,
ht whih ran be terribly stulti-
fvin if you still believe in
peonle.
For art, as for morality. noli-
ticization and easy radical re-
refents spell disaster. The aes-
thetic question then becomes
not, "Does the film work dra-
CINEMA
GUILD
MATINEE
PRESENTS
TREASURE
ISLAND
The first in our
series of films for
the young.
Dir by Victor Fleming
in 1934 and starring
Wallace Berry, Jackie
Cooper, and Lionel Bar-
rymore.
The greatest of all
TREASURE ISLANDS.
ARCHITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
(Monroe and Tappan)
SATURDAY ONLY
at 1 :00 and 3:00--75c
MAOR Theater Presents
The Reading of the Play "Cain"
by John Nemerov
Followed by a discussion by Mr. Yaacov Orland,
Israeli playwright, producer, and director, on "Israeli
Theater.'
Sat., Jan. 22, 8 p.m. at HILLEL, 1429 Hill
-Admission Free-
DIAL 8-6416
TODAY AT
1, 3, 5, 7, 9 P.M.
"AN ABSOLUTELY STUNNING
FILM! A TOPNOTCH THRILLER!"
-UDiTh CRIST.
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
If
you re curious
about terror... .r .s a
Paramount dilPitw S fSPrte cMti Produvt, et~o aiton Wrih DevM Hemmings
*UNMANWATIERING AND ZIGO" DAVID HEMMINGS
Produaced by Gareth Wgan, D0rected by John Macbenz e, 5creenptay by Simon Raven
f'S afenthe Okay by G ies Cooer CoWe A Paramiount Pcture
matically?" but "Does the film
come down on the right side of
the issue?" Giulano Montaldo's
picture, Sacco & Vanzetti, is a.
casualty of this politic-aesthetic,
underscoring its own problems
with District Attorney Katz-
mann's little speech: "You're a
symbol, Mr. Vanzetti. You're
also a man. You have to decide
which to save - that man or
that symbol." Sadly, the film
decides to sacrifice the men,
save the symbols, and comix its
eponymous heroes; and so we
viewers, hopefully self-seltcted
cynics, get two hours of earnest
radical breast-beating in which
all ambiguity is reduced to Man-
ichean black and white. The
System is bad, the Radicals are
good.
Montaldo wants to make sure
we get the point. His picture be-,
gins with a prologue (meant, of
course, as an excoriation) docu-
menting Attorney General Pal-
mer's 'Red Raids' of January 2,
1920, and then brings on the
soprano of Joan Baez warbling
a quite lovely tune about op-
pression. The movie ends with a'
juxtaposition of lines that tells
the whole story: "I am inno-
cent." "In accordance with the
law I declare you dead." Then
more Baez. Sandwiched in be-
tween these endpieces are shouts
of "anarchist"; the lean, sneer-
ing visages of power brokers;
vicious cops; a liberal cocktail
conversation about the strength
of' the American judiciary de-
livered, in all places, at a cock-
tatil party; and a speech about
real violence (poverty, misery,
norance) that sounds More like
David Harris than Bartolomeo
Vanzetti, showing perhaps how
quickly, poetry can become a
mushy, political cliche.
What is missing from this po-
litical passion play are all the
larger implications of the Sacco-
Vanzetti tragedy. Even on its
shallowest, most political level,
the case raises issues of whether
the jury system can operate
amidst hysteria, or whether jus-
tice and power politics can co-
exist; and in the larger political
context, the case could be used
to dramatize the national de-
mentia of the early 20's or, by
extension, the 50's. (As late as
1959, the Massachusetts Legis-
lature rejected a posthumous
pardon.)
But it is as personal drama
that the Sacco-Vanzetti tale is
most heartrending, and this is
precisely where the film is most
botched. Its tears are nearly all
in its title or in Riccardo Cuc-
ciolla's (Sacco) timid, pitiful
face, and what few issues the
film does touch are fitted in, not
woven through. Nor can Montal-
do plead faithfulness to the rec-
ord, because he takes his share
See MOVIE, Page 10
RICHARD JAECKEL- LINDA LAWSON
CLIFF POTTS Screenplay by JOHN GAY
E"sed on the Novel by KEN KESEY < Music by HENRY MANCINI
Directed by PAUL NEWMAN - Produced by JOHN FOREMAN
AUniversal/Newman-ForemanPicture TECHNICOLOR-PANAVISIONS
Program information 665-6290
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8 o.m.-3 p.m.
I__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _NW
State Street at Liberty
Friday & Saturday
STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
with Marion Brando, Vivien Leigh,
Kim Hunter, & Karl Maiden
directed by Elia Kazan
screenplay by Tennessee Williams
1D
........ f:;;: ";.r