Friday, September 20, 1 q74 THE MICHIGAN DAILY, Doge Five Fridoy, September 20, 1 ~74 THE MICHIGAN DAILY P0~e Five. - . - Pick of the week: California Split Fox Village Robert Altman more than re- deems his spring flop, Thieves Like Us, with this terribly sub- tle yet terribly complex tale of two gamblers on an almost un- believable winning streak. Elliot Gould is the professional of the pair - the man who thrives on the risk of high-low poker and the close, sweaty at- mosphere of the dice tables. George Segal, meanwhile, portrays a magazine. writer wnrkinr in .Las Vpoas (whilp crnemci wekend R marks the completion of a full- circle adventure. This has not, for reasons un- known, been a box office suc- cess. But it's a young film. And it's so good. Go. -Bruce Weber * * * / the source from whence it came. By now, Bergman's repu- tation precedes him always andj we are interested in his xiews of a world not his own, iast as we are interested in what de. Tocqueville had to say about America. Cries and Whispers is some- times tedious and static, but it's fairly important. I won't re- commend it for evening enter- tainment because I can think of a lot of important films that are boring as hell. -Bruce WVter is hard to swallow, bat t acting makes it palatable. the Robert Blake reminds me of a cross between Charles Bronson } t f -Linda Fidel and Tom Laughlin, and t ii e * * * whole damned thing smells of Scarecrow Billy .Jack. caree OtcThere are lots better pickins ' Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. Aud. at the movies this weekend. Sat., Sun., 7:30, 9 -Bruce Weber Featuring truly excellent per- * * wu~ug II .a :gj kwl separated from his wife) who Three Musketeers has only a passing interest in Waysidef gambling - until he meets up With an international all-star< with the pro. cast featuring the likes of Charl-t But the icing on the cake is ton Heston, Raquel Welch, and Altman's superb use of sound to Richard Chamberlain, how can emphasize and heighten the: a film like this one fail to elicit pace pace of his film. S o u n d excited response from even the mixer Jim Webb presided over j most discriminating audience? no less than 13 microphones in It can't - but still I wonder' a daring attempt to convey a why talented director Richard more in-depth cinematic im- Lester should devote so much1 pression of the frenzy-filled of his cinematic energy to sucht world of the casino. ,The tech- an obviously "formula" film. i nique proves to be largely suc- Three Musketeers concerns it-: cesful, and at' any rate is fas- self with the efforts of t h e cinating to listen to. bumbling D'Artagnan, played -David Blomquist with less-than-engaging goodr * * humor by Michael York, to win Zandy's Bride the favors of the famed Mus- 'keteers and the hand of the Michigant lovely but equally bumbling R- Two superior performances quel Welch. yg by Liv Ullmann and G e n e Although Lester's latest yen- Hackman as a frontier couple t srnc edy fl in a weak romantic 'melodrama ture ito screen comedy falls characterize this film directed considerably short of classic sta- chaactriz ths flm iretedture, one might nonetheless be by Jan Troell (his first- Amer- tlesanlmdghte t lesb ican film after The Emigrants pleasantly diverted by its leis- an4 The New Land). urely, lighthearted raucousness., The 94 minutes of Zandy's -Chris hmanski formances from award-winning' stars, Gene Hackman and Al' Pacino, and highlighted by the best work of premier cinema-' tographer Vilmos Szigm nd,I Scarecrow succeeds on most levels in presenting a vivid por- , Itrait of two drifters in search of a productive existence. Animal Crackers Hackman and Pacino portray State Max and Lion, derelicts by any Animal Crackers, a classic' definition of the word, b u t Marx Brothers comedy, has re- united in their dream of estab- turned to the world of the liv- lishing a car wash in Pitts- ingk For 20 years this film burgh, of all places. Their ad- has been kept off the market, ventures, rather meaningless for one reason or another. But and unstupendous by H o I11 y- now another studio has re-re- wood standards, lead them leased it, and it is as funny as+ across highways and railways everyother Marx Brothers film from small town to small town, Shot, on Long island in the' and dramatically conclude on early thirties, this film is an Detroit's Belle Isle. excellent opportunity to see the Ultimately, the film seems Marx Brothers as young men. rather fragmentary, with each It is easy to see the seeds of scene contributing l i t t 1 e to greatness in these four young- the over-all plot development. sters. Regardless, the performanes What can one say about a by all concerned, and especially Marx Brothers film? Only tnat Hackm an, constitute an unfor- if you go to see it, you will gettable visiontoftheapettiness laugh for the entire evening. of small people's lives. -David Warren --Chris Kochmanski * * * * * ,* The Conformist Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud. Sat., 7, 9 This 1970 film marked the in- troduction of director Bernardo Bertolucci to the 'American Cinematic Empire', having pre- viously to his credit The Spid- er's Strategy and Before the Re- volution. The Conformist is based on a book by Alberto Moravia b u t diverges to produce a more stimulating plot set in 1930 Fac-, ist Italy. The main character, Marcello, (Jean-Louis. Trintig- nant, who was attacked in his youth by a homosexual (whom he shot, is, as a result, ob- sessed with conformity, and be-! comes a Facist. Trintignant's performance is excellent, but Bertolucci w i I1 no doubt be criticized for his. attention to the photogenic de- tails of a decadent period. The: Conformist is a good choice for inder extremely poor circum- The Groove Tube stances. -David Warren Fifth Forum The Groove Tube is much like Death Wish Where's Poppa? It containsa The Movies, Briarwood something to offend nearly ev- Death Wish features Charles erybody, no matter who you Bronson as the New York City are. But it's also wildly funny vigilante who has to stand by in spaces and is a beautiful and let his wife's death at the roasting of the bland dreadful hand of street psychos go un- pap which comprises commer-! avenged. His daughter, raped ial television. and brutally beaten during the The short film is set in a attack, has been left a perma- number of short skits, many of nent vegetable as well but the which parody familiar televi- police seem to be doing nothing s i o n formats. Predictably, about: it. Well, thinks Bronson, there's a Sex Olympics skit, somebody should. with, of course, commentary by Death Wish, although featur- a former participant describing ing pointless murder after mur- the action. The French Chef et der by Charlie stone-face in an absurd attempt to curb city vio- lence, has been doing smash box office everywhere it plays and will continue to do so through the fall. Do yourself a favor and don't patronize garbage like this, and wait until the day when movies will be made again instead of cheap sensationalis- tic stuff like Death Wish. Directed by Michael Winner, the picture also features Hope Lange in a three-minute role that gives her more time than she deserves, Vincent Gardenia gives the only valid perform- 3L Daily alia is blasted by The Kramp Easy Lube Kitchens. But this film is not for the squeamish. When I saw it in August, a number of patrons walked out after an episode about a new miracle substance called "Brown 25", brought to you by "Uranus Corporation, where everything comes out a little different in the end." Still, if you're not offended by National Lampoon humor you're bound to find a great deal of it funny. .-Stephen Selbst * * *~ Interested in reviewing mov- ies? Then why not join the staff of Cinema Weekend! We meet every Monday evening at 7 p.m. at The Daily (420 Maynard St.) to discuss the upcoming week's films, and we'd be hap- py to have you join us. -David Blomquist s I anyone who can appreciate a ance in the movie as the cop in good piece of upper-middle class charge of the vigilante investi- decadence. gation who sports a wisecrack- -David Crumm ing attitude. Bride (what remained a f t e r much initial criticism about the film lagging forced Troell to cut 22 'minutes) tells the story of a lovely, strong spirited mailorder bride who tries to adapt to the crude, stubborn frontiersman who she has married. Even though the plot still moves at a slow pace and stret- ches, its credibility with Hack- man savagely attacking his bride and expecting her to love and accept him, the superb, pro- fessional jobs done by Ullman and Hackmn make this a worth- while film. -David Crumm Cries and Whispers New World, MLB 3 Sun., 7, 9 Cries and Whispers is ingmar Bergman's incredible and haunt- ing film about a household of four woman, three of whom are sisters. One of them is afflicted horribly with tuberculosis, and her ogoing agony is the back- drop for a sensitive and shatter- ing study of women and their relationships to each other. The camera-work is beautiful and a pervasive sort of imagery gives the film a real complete- ness as it builds quietly towards its denouement A masterpiece * * * -Michael Wilson Summer of '42 Campus Summer of'42sis a movie with which everyone wants to identify. The simplicity of sum- mer, the intensity of a boy's first sexual encounter, and the unappreciated closeness of kids growing up together make Ro- bert Mulligan's 1971 film an en-. joyable one. It's not recom- mended to viewers repulsed by' the nostalgia craze or who will: try to analyze the plausibility of the plot. As Dorothy, Jennifer O'Neill is bland through most of the movie,, although a touching sen- sitivity emerges at the climax. Instead, Hermie, Oscy, and Benjie provide the film's strength as they stumble into adulthood. Their bickering and ogling of 'pubescent girls is done! with authentic innocence and comedy. Michel Legrand's music and} a beautiful shore (filmed through a hazy lens - a fav- orite nostalgia device) add a; bit too much softness. Tie story' Tell Them Willie loy Is Here Couzens Film Co-op* Couzens Cafeteria Fri., Sat., 8, 10 Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is the second film by director. Abraham Polonsky, the first af- ter 20 years. There are sormel good moments, but by and large, I think he's a little rus- ty. . Willie is an Indian who in self-defense has killed the fath- er of his white girlfriend. A sheriff (this is the od West) is given a posse and is dispa'ch- ed to capture him, but he dies not want to, because he 1 i k e s Willie. The greater portion of t h e film is devoted to the chase, with the best moments coming during intercuts between the hunters (Robert Redford plays the sheriff) and the hunted (Robert Blake and Katherine Ross). The main fault of the film is that the plot is unavoidably bad. Friends The Movies, Briarwood Lewis Guilbert's 1972 f i l m Friends was a good picture, and it had limited success in the U.S. and Europe. However, it was a smash in Japan. It is an interesting movie, even though Guilbert uses triedl and true camera techniques.: Still, he is able to keep our attention for the entire picture, despite the rather poor story. A young man, the son of a millionaire, is a juvenile de- linquent with no direction to his life. While stealing a car he meets a young orphan woman, living with her sister and her sister's lechrous husband. To-. gether they leave theit homes, fall in love, and begin to make a home of their own. It is rather too sentimental in spots, with lots of gauzy shots of the young woman, looking beautiful and vulnerable. But the real theme of the film is the untapped inner strength within people that allows them to live ----- --------- - ------ ------- n U 603 E. LIBERTY DIAL 665,6290 OPEN DAILY 12:45 SHOWS AT 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9P.M. 231 S. STATE DIAL 662-6264 STARTS TODAY! Today Open 6:45; Shows at 7 & 9 P.M. Only Sat. & Sun. at 1, 3, 5, 7, & 9P.M. MAIL-ORDER MARRIAGE -WESTERN STYLE! She was less than he i had hoped for and more than he dared imagine! 6tL m I 0 Lucky Man of Bergman cinema and of mo- Cinema II, Aud. A 'dern film. Sat., 4, 7, 10 -David Weinberg 0 Lucky Man! (1973) marks Near the end of an otherwise the reuniting of director Lind- superlative review, Vincent say Anderson and Malcolm Mac- Canby says: "Cries and Wh i s- Dowell, a duo which made its pers is not an easy film to debut in 1969 with If . . . Mac- describe or endure," and, it is Dowell is cast as Mick Travis, just this, I think, which has an ambitious rookie coffde produced a good many negative salesman, who immediately af- reactions to a film which cer- ter his training is the recipient tainly .deserves better. of his first bit ofluck - there Ingmar Bergman made Cries is a sudden opening in the high- and Whispers about women, er reaches of his firm, which specifically, three sisters and he and his unavoidably charm- an attendant. It is about the ing smile are chosen to fill. fierceness of the varying emo- The remainder of the film tak- tions; love, fear, hate, a sub- es on a sort of initiatory flav- ject which is generally reserved or as Travis, in a series of for men dealing with men or fantastic episodes, is witness to women with women. the ways of the world - poli- Admittedly, Bergman is tread- tics and money. ing on thin ice, and (though The finale, in which Travis I obviously, will not be one to ends up at an audition for a do it), could possibly be accused new film by Lindsay Anderson of being inaccurate. called 0' Lucky Man, and at However, accuracy is not in which he recognizes all the fig- itself a sufficient test for any ures who colored his travels, I statement. We must consider ,Classic eof CreodgClassics! aa kiinlUnaseg4Uni la 4AL '- sf . .1 .,.. dA I 1 1974's MOST HILARIOUS WILDEST MOVIE IS HERE! "May be the funniest movie of the year. Rush to see it!" -Mnneapo6s r bune "A smashing, triumphant satire. -Seattle Post Intellgencer "Riotously, excruciatingly funny." -MIwaukee Sentinel "Consistently hilarious and brilliant:' REa' oDay Record "Insanely funny, outrageous and irreverent"-' Bruce Wlarnson--PLAYBOY MAGAZINE r ' FROM HERMAN RAUCHER'S NATIONAL BEST SELLER A Robert Mulligan/Richard A. Roth Productior JENNIFER O'NEILL - GARY GRIMES " JERRY HOUSER -,OLIVER CONANT -'d RFSTRIt ffl t I I