Friday, January 24, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five Pick of the week: To Kill A Mockingbird Cinema II, Aud. A Sat., 7, 9:15 Quality acting is a rare com- modity in cinema. The endless blockades that constrict the film performer are almost in- herent in-the necessities of com- mercial production - out-of-se- quence filming, endless retakes for different angles, lengthy shooting schedules and so on. . Perhaps that is what makes a picture like To Kill A Mocking- bird so especially exciting. From a unique and extremely special combination of director ,and actor-Robert Mulligan and Gregory Peck . - emerged a drama as powerful yet restrain- ed and poignant as any com- parable piece of American film. Peck plays Atticus Finch, a warm but firm liberal lawyer in a bigoted Depression-era Southern town. Despite intense public pressure, Finch agrees to defend a poor black laborer wrongly accused of raping a white girl-and finds that not even a strong will and dogged perserverance can pierce a dis- criminatory justice system. Mulligan's.,direction aptly con- veys the uncomfortable, muggy atmosphere of Harper Lee's novel. He captures unforgettably an unfortunate period in Ameri- can 'history that far too many of us would rather gloss over and forget. -David Blomquist ** * Sacco and Vanzetti New World Film Co-op Aud. 4, MLB Sat. 7, 9:15 The adaptation of factual legal proceedings to the screen can be a delicate affair. Accurately delivering a legitimate resur- rection of the material can be a process severely hampered by any passionately - felt devotion to any particular injustice on the part of the filmmaker. put the primary reason for a filmmaker to bring the pro- ceeding to the medium at all is to present what is generally thought to be an unjust verdict of past history. It is his chance, however late it may be, to set the record straight. Resorting to Costra Gravas caricature tactics, director Gi- ullano Montaldo here attempts to give equal time to Nicola Sac- co and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Ac- cused of payroll robbery in 1920, the two were ultimately put to death out of pure sentiment against what they stood for. But what puts the film out of sincere consideration are the Keystone Cop antics and "black- hat" stereotypes assigned to the judge, jury and prosecutor. Creating a virtual comedic tra- vesty, Montaldo has abandoned restraint for a more illustra- tive comparison. Still, the film nevertheless succeeds in surfacing an un- pleasant skeleton from a dimly lit closet. -Jim Valk{ * * * It Happened One Night Bursley Hall Enterprises Bursley West Cafeteria Sat. 9 Frank Capra's It Happened One Night wasn't a new story, even in the 1930s. There are many movies about two people with spunk who argue and ar- gue but fall in love, neverthe- less. There is something unique about the story when the lovers are Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, though. Colbert is a rich girl .who runs away because she doesn't want to marry the man her father wants her to. Gable is a newspaperman who promises to help in exchange for getting an exclusive story about her. There are also many romantic movies which make you sit on the edge of your chair near the end because one of the lovers makes a mistake and it looks like the two might not get to- gether. But even though you've seen the sort of thing before, you can't help worrying about the hero and heroine of It Hap- pened One Night. You'll be sit- ting on the edge of your chair. . -Join Ruhela Deliverance New World Film Co-op Aud. 4 MLB Sun., 7, 9 It begins as a canoeing week- end down a wild Georgia river. But by its conclusion, John Boorman's Deliverance has turned into a tragedy and an cinema weekend intense study of character in- gerald, Larry Hagman and, terplay. The timeless "man vs. Chief Dan George) and even nature" and "man vs. man" Lenny Bruce's mother in a ca-# conflicts are the underlying meo at the end of the film. themes of this 1972 release, but What makes this film, whose here they are presented in a plot sounds right out of Dis- visually stimulating way as part I ney, such a joy to watch is Art of a cohesive story. Carney as the 72-year-old who c r #1 4 I3 }jftt k minute segments of artistic in- terpretation of the 1972 Sum- mer Olympics in -Munich, and the result was Visions of Eight. Unfortunately, the collection is not breathtaking enough to es- cape the tedium of the sports documentary. The eight directors were Ar- thur Penn from the United States, Milos Forman from Tarza, the Ape Mari Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud. Sat. 7, 9:05 The primeval jungle echoes the cry of the bull ape, herald- ing Tarzan, the Ape Man, who defeats both man and beast while encountering innumerable cliches in this 1932 film. Johnny Weissmuller is Tarzan, 1 ;l t l R i t f { 3 is There is lots of adventure, varying from raging rapids to the gunpoint performance of sodomy by one of the mountain men. Perhaps there is a bit too much action and too many pithy messages, but the film's credi- bility assures a vicarious thrill, if not a catharsis for the view- er. The photography is superb,; capturing the full vitality of the almighty river. Acting is strong with Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds in the leading roles. Deliverance is a good movie worth seeing. -Linda Fidel} * * The Point Cinema II, Aud. A Sun. 7, 9 Poor little Oblio was born into Point Land without a point on the top of his head. Ostra- cized by the duke of that land, he is forced into exile with his dog Arrow and discovers the dilemma of choosing individual- ism over social pressures. The Point is an . animated' cartoon which was originally shown on television in 1971, and was recently rerun in Novem- ber. The music was written by Harry Nilsson, and Dustin Hoff- man narrates the fable in the form of a bedtime story told to his disarmingly sophisticated young son. The film is neither childish nor tedious; the fun is imme- diately contemporary and ac- cessible. But most significant- ly, the point of The Point never catches in the throat. -Sarah Polarek refuses to act his age. He makes Harry and Tonto what it is- a touching film laced with tears, laughter, and above all a certain wisdom which will make i you want to see it at least as many times as Harold and Maude. | -John Frank * * * Trait Until Dark Couzens Film Co-op Couzens Cafeteria Fri., Sat. 8, 111 In Wait Until Dark, a blind1 woman, alone in an apartment, becomes the prey of some criminals - one creepy and one not-so-creepy. In contrast with See No Evil, another film about a blind wo- man in danger, Wait Until Dark, has some flaws. Wait Until Dark doesn't really get moving' until it is half over, while See No Evil only needed a few minutes to be well on its way. Audrey Hepburn, as the blind. woman, and Alan Arkin, as the creepy criminal, manage to make the last part of Wait Un- til Dark very suspenseful and; scary, though. It moves so fast we can't tell what will -happen next, though the woman's life, depends on it. -Joan Ruhela The Emigrants New World Film Co-op And. 3, MLB Sat. 7, 9:45 Jan Troell's film The Emmi- grants is a story of first-genera- tion Americans, Swedes who I dream of a land kinder in po- litical, geographical, and re-1 ligious temperment than their Czechoslovakia, Claude Lelouch inthe nglish wait raised in the from France, John Schlesinger , jungle by the beasts. He is ; from England, Yuri Ozeroz from I Lord of the Jungle and master the U.S.S.R., Mai Zetterling of his own domain, but Tar- from Sweden, Michael Pfleghar ; zan's vulnerability appears in from West Germany and Kon his first contact with civilization. Ichikawa from Japan. While rescuing a hapless sa- fari from danger, Tarzan is The Olympics have been stricken with love for the fair: filmed before, and Visions of English woman, Jane Parker, Eight still cannot match Leni played by Maureen O'Sullivan. Riefenstahl's now classic Olym- She is Beauty, taming the sav- j pia, which was not merely a age Beast with her affection. record of the 1936 Olympics held As an adventure in the Afri-11 in Berlin but forceful propa- ca of Hollywood, this film is ganda concerning the rise of replete with lions, crocodiles, Hitler. menacing headhunters, and prisingly good. Doctor No, From Russia With Love and Goldfing- er were from an era where Ian Fleming's novels were con- sidered more than mere mas- querades for their exploits. But as time wore on, so did the films. And now we are given Roger Moore. The film has zilch going for it (except for the snazzy titles). Guy Hamilton's direction is shabby; the script by Bond "veterans" Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz follows true to the total demise. Roger Moore's acting is right on par with Stubby Kaye and Soupy Sales, while Christopher Lee as the diabolical Scaramanga -Jim Valk Freebie and the Bean The Movies, Briarwood The 1974 Christmas rush of feature films may go down in Hollywood history books as S Paper Moon Briarwood ,Peter Bogdanovich has made his reputation as one of Holly- wood's foremost directors by stealing the successful formulas of his predecessors and using them in his own productions. Paper Moon is no exception to the rule. Featuring Love Story's Ryan O'Neal and his cute daughter Tatum, Bogdanovich tells the story of a couple of con artists travelling on the road during the '30s. Originally O'Neal was just eking out a living selling Bibles to widows whose names he found in the obituary columns. With the arrival of his little sidekick, who may or may not have been his daughter, how- ever, he was able to turn his con game into a profitable racket. Most films of this genre are insipid and this one is no better or worse than others. Perhaps if Bogdanovich were to make an original movie we would be able to grasp whether he has any talent. This movie doesn't show any. --Mark DeBofsky Dracula State The Exorcist was supposed to be "gross," but scary. Some people, however, laughed. In Dracula, Andy Warhol sets out ' to make people laugh at "gross- ness.", A vampire who 'hasn't sham- pooed in years doesn't fall down the way most people would w h e n h i s appendages are chopped off. His attempts to de- fend himself in that condition, along with a shot of an arm left hanging from the banister i* clasped, are made funny to some people. Dracula also finds t virgin blood in several distaste- ful ways which amused.some. S--Joan Ru ela -Sarah Polarek ^ * even the graveyard of the ele- phants. Although it is not an accurate adaptation of Edgar containing what could ultimate- A Night at the Opera Rice Burroughs' novel, this is Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud. probably the best in the series Fri. 7, 8:45, 10 of Ape Man films. The Marx Brothers return , -Joe McMullen with their hilarious 1935 Marx-' ist assault on grand opera. As imposters and stowaways, Grou- te an witte cho, Chico and Harpo infiltrate Golden Gun an otherwise stuffy New York The Movies, Briarwood opera company with gags and mischief progressing to a de- Sequels, as a whole, are dis- lerious climax, appointments. Don Segal's Dirty roucho isax.ho u Harry was far superior to Don1 Groucho is a phony musical i Host's embarrassing Magnum' impressario in hope of connmng ;Force; Airport (1970) was piti- a dignified millionaire out of ful, only to hae Airport 1975 her millions. Chico is managing an Italian tenor, while Harpo, as udefy descriptin by threcen usual, is getting in everybody's with Francis Ford Coppola's ex-a Dony. mcellent Godfather II has the se- Don't miss the young Kitty quel taken a respectful place in Carlisle as lovestruck opera modern cinema (see review star if you haven't seen the above). And the thus enters the film before. If you have, the longest, most successful series Marx Brothers' flair for fun of sequels ever produced: the; has not yet been outdated. James Bond epics. -Gayle Krinsky ( The early films were sur- ly be the worst movie of the post-Civil War period. Freebie and the Bean is such a miser- able collage of disjointed seg- ments and abandoned continu- ity that it could reasonably be mistaken as randomly - edited five - minute clips from the worst 22 films of past years. Exploiting virtually every- thing in his path, director Rich- ard Rush has delivered a suit- able member to his ailing port- filio of films that is meagerly highlighted by the 1970 muck Getting Straight. One could venture a guess that Rush had viewed the French Connection just beforedreaming up this junk, and was hoping that car{ chases and smashups would be the newest fad in luring patrons into the auditoriums. The end result is a grab bag of stock footage that ultimately totals more cars per foot of film than anything to previously pollute the silver screen. -Jim Valk liar old and Maude own. The ,difficult decision to leave, Mediatrics the arduous journey, and the Nat. Sci. Aud. encounter with the real Ameri- Fri., Sat. 7, 8:45, 10 ca have parallels in the heri- This weekend, Harold 'and ,;tage of many of us. Maude, Ann Arbor's favorite The film is unaffected yet elo- movie returns to the local quent with expuisite camera screen. One of the most popular work. Troell takes his time: "cult" movies to emerge from with each sequence, and lingers Hollywood, this former box of- fice bust has recently captured wih ic ureportrits - a the ears ofthosand ifnotship's bunk filled with lice and the hearts of thousands if not blood, a steamboat coruscating millions of fans, in moonlight, a flock of geese Featuring excellent perform- over a Minnesota lake. ances by Bud Cort and Ruth -C. B. Covello Gordon, this Meovie tells the bizarre story of a young man obsessed by suicide who falls Here Is Your Life in love with a much older wo- Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud. man. The relationship teaches Sun. 9:05 him that it is far more worth- Here Is Your Life is a young while to live and enjoy life than film, a film of beginnings. It is to try to end it. director Jan Troell's first ef- Directed by Hal Ashby (The fort. In it he tells of the growth Last Detail), and soundtrack by of a young man to maturity in{ Cat Stevens polish this movie Swveden during World War I. into one of the two or three The acting is, if not uniform- classic comedies produced with- ly excellent, then certainly in- in the last few years. spired. Standouts include Eddie It seems that everybody has Axberg as the young man and seen Harold and Maude at least two Ingmar Bergman s t o c k once if not fifteen times. How- company members, Per Oscar- ever, if you are one of the un- son as a railroad workers and fortunates who have never Gunnar Bjornstrand as a carni- seen the movie, don't neglect to val owner. take advantage of this week- The film, for all its exuber- end's offering. ance, has its flaws. Most ob- -Mark DeBofsky vious of these is an over-use of freeze frames. However, Here Is Your Life is not a film to be harry and Tonto missed. It is a visually striking State tale of growth and loss of in- What does this tale of a re- nocence. tired English teacher and his -John Frank cat hitchhiking across America* have to offer? Well, Art Carneys in the performance of his ca- Visions of Eight reer, the unique vision of Paul Cinema II, Aud. A Mazursky, stunning portrayals Fri. 7, 9 by supporting actors (including Eight international film mak- Ellen Burstyn, Geraldine Fitz- ers each contributed 10 to 12 GUYS andDOL Fame & Fortune Poster Contest Enter your design for a poster to represent the upcoming musical "GUYS AND DOLLS" The person who enters the winning design becomes co-ordinating artist for the show and wins $25.00. All entries must be in UAC offices by Jan. 27th at noon. for more info coil 763-1107 or 764-1630 P°" I Bursley Hall Enterprises presents IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert Sat., Jan. 25 Bursley W. Cafeteria i t S' 7}f 1 9:00 P.M. ADM. $1.00 OPEN TIL 1 A.M. Fri. & Sat: BILLIARDS and BOWLING at the UNION Must present U-M I.D. for admission I I Couzens Film Co-op PRESENTS WAIT UNTIL DARK t MK I 'II i I