Friday, January 17, 1975
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
Friday, January 17, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
Pick of the Week:
Chinatown
Cinema II, Aud. A
Fri., Sat., 7, 9:30
What can I say about a film
I've already. niamed as the best
of the year? Chinatown is, un-
questionably, the top motion
picture of 1974 - and, for that
matter, perhaps the last three
years.
Scriptwriter Robert Towne
and director Roman Polanski
started with an intriguing lo-
cale - the Los Angeles of thee
'30s: California before the big1
postwar population boom. Butc
the preparations were under-i
way for the growth to come -
and, of course, the speculatorsc
and graft-takers were out in
full force.t
Jack Nicholson portrays a
tough but incredibly cool-headed
private detective thrown intot
the middle of this corrupt, pow-
er-hungry muck. He tries tot
salvage the life of Faye Duna-t
way - a remote but fascinating
woman enmeshed in this seamy
quicksand - but, finally, to not
avail. Like Don Quixote, Nichol-f
son had taken on an imnossible
task. The power structure was
simply too immense.
I don't like to classify China-
town as a Watergate film -
after all, it really has nothingI
to do with the White House
scandals of the past two years.
Yet, in the end, the compari-c
son is almost inevitable, for
C h i n a t o w n is perhaps
the strongest damnation in
American cinema of the selfisht
subsociety that surrounds all ofI
us.
-David BlomquistI
* * *1
Paper Moon
Briarwood
,Peter Bogdanovich has made
his reputation as one of Holly-
wood's foremost directors by3
stealing the successful formulasf
of his predecessors and using
them in his own productions.
Paper Moon is no exception to
the rule. L'
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 littlef
sidekick, who may or may notI
have been his daughter, how-t
ever, he was able to turn his
con game into a profitable
racket.
Most films of this genre aret
insipid and this one is no better1
or worse than others. PerhapsI
if Bogdanovich were to make an
original movie we would be able
to grasp whether he has anyE
talent. This movie doesn't show
any.
-Mark DeBofsky
cinemca
weekend
Towering Inferno
Fifth Forum
What more could one ask than
a spectacle requiring the com-
bined efforts of two major stu-
dios at a cost of more than $10
million that includes an array
of box office blockbusters head-
ed by Paul Newman and Steve
McQueen? We ask, what more
could-one yearn for? The answer
is simple: literacy.
This was to be the greatest
disaster of all time-and is.
After contemplating the legal
hassle over two extremely
similar novels, 20th-Century Fox
and Warner Brothers merged
their forces, employing the
master-of-disaster, Irwin Allen,
to create the ultimate in con-
temporary spectacles.
The cretinous premise that
gives this entire scenario a
reason for existence is the fault
of screenwriter Sterling Silli-
phant. In the meantime, Mc-
Queen and Newman vie for
screen dominance while Richard
Chamberlain acts guilty, 0. J.
Simpson acts bewildered, and
Fred Astaire attempts to act.
The only real significance one
may attribuite to the entire pro-
duction is that it will bring an
end to the disaster enics. But
alas! Those woef:l survivors of
the S.S. Poseidon seemed to
traveling through the Swiss
have run into trouble while
Alps, and to no one's surprise,
Irwin Allen just happened to
have his camera along.
-Jim Valk
Longest Yard
Going Places, along with;
Dracula several others films, are in-
State dications of a disturbing trend!
The Exorcist was supposed to in French cinema.
be "gross," but scary. Some Nevertheless, American audi-
people, however, laughed. In ences seem to be just gobbling it
Dracnla, Andy Warhol sets out up. It seems that pople will
to make people laugh at "gross- buy anything, even pornagraphy,?
ness." if it's disguised as art.
A vampire who hasn't sham- -Michael Broidy
nooed in years doesn't fall down * 1* *
the way most people would
w h e n h i s appendages are Seventh Voyage
chonped off. His attempts to de- of Sinbad
fend himself in that condition,l
along with a shot of an arm Law School Films
left hanging from the banister 100 Hutchins Hall
i* clasped, are made funny to Fri., 7:30, 9:15
some peonle. Dracula also finds If this is indeed The Seventh
virgin blood in several distaste- Voyage of Sinbad, I'd like to
fill ways which amused some. see the other six. The great
The "grossest" part if the Ray Harryhausen created the,
movie is intellectual rather than , special visual effects (in Dyna-
physical, though. A geek, who is mation) for this "sleeper" hit
very proud of his prowess and of the late '50s, and the result
not very benevolent to the Bot- is an enchantaing adventure
ticellian beauties he beds with, fantasy.
emerges as the hero._
-Joan Ruhela
* * *
African Queen
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sat., 7, 9:05
The setting: the lush African
jungle. The time: World War I.
The story: a frosty female mis-
sionary and a besotted tropical
tramp get thrown together in
an attempt to escape the Ger-
mans by floating down an East
African river in a dilapidated
mini-steamboat. Sounds just a
bit absurd, eh?
Nonetheless, what the The
African Queen lacks in credulity
it makes up in sheer entertain-
ment value. Unlike the C. S.
Forester novel it's taken from,
John Huston's adaptation makes
no real effort to be serious but
Briarwood rather prefers an extremeiy
When Robert Aldrich, the pleasurable mixture of tingly
veteran director of such manly adventure and droll humor.
favorites as The Dirty Dozen Powered by two splendid per-
and Emperor of the North, con- formances from Katherine Hep-,
bines talents with Mr. Machismo burn and Humphrey Bogart, this
himself, Burt Reynolds, the end little trifle of a movie has
product promises old fashfood chugged itsway into sthe hearts
Hollywood entertainment replete of several generations of movie-
with bad guys in black hats. goers, surpassing more critical-
Their effort, The Longst ly acclaimed flicks. Final note:
Yard, is nothing short fgs Bogie freaks arise, nirvana
cinema. Reynolds stars as Paulawaits. -George Lobsenz
"Wrecking" Crewe, an arro- * r *
gant exquarterback serving 18
nonths in a prison run by foot- Going Places
ball fanatic Eddie Alb rt. Campus
Tension mounts as Reynolds F r e n c h director Bertrand
forms a team of convicts to Blier's Going Places bills itself
battle Albert's pride, the guards' as a sophisticated youth film.
tough semi-pro squad, on the However, it only uses this pre-
gridiron for a one-shot, do-or die tense of sophistication as a dis-
clash, guise. Going .Places is really
To-Aldrich's credit, the filn just soft-core pornography.
mercifully steers clear of the Going Places, in relating the
likewise gutsy "disaster" flick's sexual adventures of two im-
path and its inevitable cliches. moral men, attempts to tell its
Although a celebration of the audience that women enjoy
old Hollywood ideals, The Long- every type of abuse and degre-
est Yard also parodies standard dation that men can give them.
prison and football films, and Blier has certainly fashioned
ultimately, like many greater a tale that has something for
works before it, parodies itself. everyone to hate, particularly
-Chris Kochmanski women's libbers.
r
t
i
i
's
E
The plot is virtually meanine-
less: the film's considerable at-
traction lies in the memorable
musical themes of comnoser!
Bernard Herrmann, and in the
niethora of mvthical creatures
animated to as perfeczt preci-
sion as Harryhauisen has ever
achieved. Especially fearsome
is the colossal Cvclons, and Sin-
bad's sword battle with a living,
indestructible skeleton.
Kerwin Mathews and Kathryn
Grant (now Mrs. Bing Crosby)
are less than notpworthv in their
starring roles. blt the en'hej
affair is played with such ialit-
hearted assurance that The
Golden Voyage of Sinbad (film-
ed by the same production team
just last year) is put to shame.
Sinbad's seventh is still the
best.
-Chris Kociimanski
Harold and Maude
New World Film Co-op
Aud. 4, MLB
Sat., 7, 8:45, 10:30
An incredibly popular film on
campus, Harold and Mawide is
the stor~y of a young man who
moves from staging bizarre sui-
cides to the discovery of life.
The movie stars Bud Cort (of
Brewster McCloud) as harold,
the young suicide artist, and
Ruth Gordon as the 79-year-
young e: thusiast, Maude, who
brings lifv into Harold's exist-
ence.
Shot in a very straightforward
manner, this film is much more
than the simple fantasy-comedy
it appears to be. A well-packed
social satire, it blasts the army,
police and all other co:itrOltng
organizations. Ultimately itfs
about freedim in our so..uetv.
-Roy Bergelin
(,entlemen Prefer
Blondes
Cinema Guild, Arch. Ad.
Fri., 7, 9:05
"Diamonds- Are A Girl's Best
Friend," the gold-digger theme
song, pretty much ;uins up
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, this
1953 Harold Hawks extravagan-
za. Marilyn Monroe stars as that
"Little Girl from Little Rock,"
Lorelei Lee, and Jane Russell
appears as her brunette, but
equally voluptuous, d a n c i n g
partner.
Monroe and Russell meet all
sorts of admiring "gentlemen"
on board their ship bound ftor
Europe, including an ancient
but lascivious diamond king, a
six-year-old millionaire, a pri-
vate eye and the entire U.S.
Olympic tearn.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is
basically a sex burlesque, and
most of the gags are anatomical.
The choreography and music
are entertaining, though .lot par-
ticularly noteworthy.
Hawks and his friends at 2oth
Century-Fox must have decided
in '53 that if half of the male
audience preferred Marilyn
Monroe and the other half Jane
Russell, they'd be left breathless
with both. Reactions may, how-
ever, be less enthusiastic in
1975.
-Sarah Polar-k
Cinema II, Aud. A
Sun., 7, 9
With the artistic and commer-
cial success of his recent China-
town, celluloid whiz kid Roman
Polanski has become a figure
of considerable cinematic aus-
piciousness. As early as 1962,
with his first feature length
film, Knife in the Water, the
young director attained a tem-
porary status as an important
filmmaker, only to have any
doubts erased with his bril-
liant Repulsion three years lat-
er.
Cul-de-Sac is Polanski's so-
cial metaphor to alienation.
Donald Pleasance and Jack
MacGowran offer virtuoso pre-
formances in Polanski's con-
trolled circus of the absurd - a
concept that divided the critics
sharply, But Polanski's contriv-
ed setting is merely an exten-
sion of an available tool com-
monly employed by filmmakers.
An admittedly false pretense
serves merely as the necessary
foundation on which Polinaski
builds his highly personal film.
While Cul-de-Sac remains one!
of Polanski's last admired films,
it stands as perhaps his most
abrasive and disturbing film to
dlate. Suffering from unauthoriz-
ed editing after the film was
completed, the version shown
is eight minutes shorter than
Polanski's original. But partial
Polanski is better than no Polan-
ski, a distinction that can onlyI
be attributed to the sheer pow-t
er of his films.
-Jim Valk
* * *
The Man with the
Golden Gun
The Movies, Briarwood
Sequels, as a whole, are dis-
appointments. Don Segal's Dirty
Harry was far superior to Don
(: f, 7 9L A ..
I
TODAY ONLY!
PRESENTS
JANE FON DA
DONALD SUTHERLAND
IN
LU T E
TODAY-Fri., Jan. 17
;a
.
',
Post's embarrassing Magnum
Force; Airport (1970) was piti-
ful, only to have Airport 1975
defy description by the Eng-
lish language. Only recently
with Francis Ford Coppola's ex-
cellent Godfather 11 has the se-
quel taken a respectful place in
modern cinema (see review'
above). And the thus enters the
longest, most successful series
of sequels ever produced: the
James Bond epics.
The early films were -sur-
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 forG
it (except for the snazzy titles).
Guy Hamilton's direction is
shabby; the script by Bond3
"veterans" Richard Maibaum'
and Tom Mankiewicz follows
true to the totalkdemise. Roger
Moore's acting is right on par
with Stubby Kaye and Soupy
Sales, while Christopher Lee as
the diabolical Scaramanga
comes off as a reasonable fac-
simile of a cupcake..
-Jim Valk
* * *
Freebie and the Bean
The Movies, Briarwood
The 1974 Christmas rush of
feature films may go down in
Hollywood history books as
containing what could ultimate-
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 before dreaming 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
MLB Aud. 4
Coming
$1.25
Tins. & Wed.: LAST TANGO
7:00
9:00
IN PARIS
trit
Prine and band open tour at Power
By MARNIE HEYN ished recording in Los Angeles.
Interspersed with "Onimoto-
Rattling around inside a case poeia," "Angel From Montgon-
of flu, John Prine laid back a ery," a fine rock rendicol of
full house at the Power Center "My Mexican Home," "Every-
last night with fine music, witty body Needs Someone," "Eve.y-
insights, and the well-loved thing's the Same," "Cloks and
gravelly voice that sometimes Spoons," and "You Got News
barely made it from lips to for Me" were six numbers
mike. never before exposed in public.
At this opening concert of a "Middle Man" is cheerfully
tour that stretches into May, bawdy with a memorable re-
Prine introduced for the first frain and an insinuatng beat.
time the four talented men who "Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna
make up his band: Arlen Roth Beauregard" is an oddball ex-
playing guitar and dobro, Greg tended anecdote about an al-
Jackson on bass, Alan Hand at leged girl next Jor. "That
the keyboards, and Peter Bun- Close to You" is bouncy and
etta on drums. Although aud i- amplified to the point of incom-
ence response bordered on! prehension.
mania, amplification problems Prine and the band pound out
got in the way of Prine's work semantic antics in "It Makes
all night. No Sense that Common Sense
Prine's first set, performed Don't Make No Sense No
solo with acoustic guitar was More." "Forbidden Jimmy" is
strictly old favorites that were Prine's outstanding first venture
greeted by cheers of recogni- into calypso. And "Saddles in
tion frpm the crowd and r::mrs I the Rain" is excellent bitter-
eoflaughter at the punch lines, sweet blues.
The lineup ranged from ' Blowi Prine has pulled t, gelher the
Up Your TV" and freak national kind of musicians be needs o
anthem "Illegal Smile" to "Sam diversify his standard acous-
.;v:,. : vStone" and "Hello in There.'" " tic material, but some sound
In the second set, the band engineer with fine sensibilities
made its well-received debut, needs to work out a better
and Prine broke five strings on volume ratio between Prine's
his acoustic/pickup guitar keep- voice and the instruments. Con-
s.ing up with them. The program trary to prevailing opinion,
was a mix of Prine stnndards some of us do listen to lyrics--
and new material rr.im the &I- and Prine's are simply too good
bum he and the band just tinb to be lost in the :mps.
Daily Photo by KEN FINK
John Prine
{ . 1 LIN D A
} RONSTADT
..r Tues.., Jan. 21
Hill
Auditorium
LAA'VI FTI M~ .111IFL
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