F=riday, April 1$, 1975
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page rive
Friday, April 18, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
cinema
Pick of the week :
Shampoo What's playing thi
The Movies, Briarwood A feast of new commerc
It's .a shame that Hal Ashby weekend, with the Movies at B
never seems to get solidly writ- selection of motion picture pr
ten material to direct from. In classic, 2001, returns for an
Shampoo, Ashby's cinematic viewing. All together, a good'
technique is again revolutionary The much awaited Robe
and impeccable. But although laboration Shampoo arrives
Robert Towne and Warren Beat- Arborites the chance to decide
ty's screenplay tries awfully fate of this Hal Ashby film.
hard, the only impression it The entire weekend schedu
leaves behind is a perplexed Friday-Shadows of OurI
"So what?" 7, 9, An American in Paris,
Beatty portrays a top Bever-
ly Hills hairdresser trying to Space Odyssey, Nat. Sci. Aud.
keep up simultaneous affairs Saturday-Pride and Pr
with first two and then three of Taming of the Shrew, Aud. A,
his customers (Julie Christies, W. Cafeteria, 9, 2001: A Spa
Goldie Hawn, and Lee Grant). 7, 10.
Inevitably, of course, the wom- Sunday-Take Me Out t
en meet up with each other, the Charulata, Arch. Aud., 7, 9:05
facade of alibis crumbles, and All weekend-The GreatN
Beatty's sex life falls apart. 6290), Janis, State (662-6264),
And that's the problem with (668-6416), Lenny, FifthF
this film: it's perfectly predict- Hearts and Minds, Murdero
able right from frame one. Pop- Doesn't Live Here Anymore,
ular fiction for years has
brought us the sad tales of la- 8780).
dies and gentlemen trying to
burn the candle at both endsw.l the
and getting scorched. Shampoo who tries to crawl ito the
neither poses nor answers the grave with her dead child, the
question any differently. anguished father who has lost
Beatty, Hawn, Christie, and his family and his home to the
Grant go through the perform- bomb, and the young wife who
ance motions quite adequately. has only a photo and casket by
And, naturally, Ashby's catchy which to remember her hus-
style - including the interest- band.
But the war wasn't that sim-
ing use of a strobe light to em- ple, and Davies breeds from
phasize a kietic sequence - the source of contempt, inter-
keens the picture watchable. utngfootage of widows and
Yet when the final fadeout cutting expressing their per-
rolls around, all the hard work orphansepress intervpew-
still seems quite in vain. Un- wsna gny withian ierew
fortunately, there's no sulbstance with Gen. William Westmnore-
's a sdsta land explaining that the Vet-
to Shamoo - it's all su namese don't value life as do
with no soap. Westerners
weekend
'Yeoman'
falls short with
s Cinema Weekend
cial films arrive this cinema
Briarwood offering an excellent
roduct. And Stanley Kubrick's
other well deserved round of
weekend for a movie.
rt Towne-Warren Beatty col-
at Briarwood, affording Ann
e for themselves the aesthetic
ule looks like this:
Forgotten Ancestors, Aud. A,
Arch. Aud., 7, 9:05, 2001: A
, 7, 10.
ejudice, Arch. Aud., 7, 9:05,
7, 9:15, Serpico, Bursley Hall
ace Odyssey, Nat. Sci. Aud.,
o the Ball Game, Aud. A, 7, 9,
5.
Waldo Pepper, Michigan (665-
Last Days of Man on Earth
Forum (761-9700, Shampoo,
on the Orient Express, Alice
The Movies, Briarwood (769-
of the universe.
Stanley Kubrick produced 2001
in 1968 in collaboration withI
author Arthur C. Clarke. Since?
that time, "Also Sprach Zara-
thustra" and "The Blue Danube
Waltz" have become virtually
completely associated with the
film by the public.
2001 offers the ultimate jour-
ney through time and space,
the intellect, and its evolution.
-Joe McMullen
* * *
Taming of the Shrew
Cinema II, Aud. A
Sat., 7, 9:15
Franco Zeffirelli's Taming of
the Shrew has little to do with
Shakespeare and lots to do with
slapstick. The film is a totally
wild abstraction of the play,
with the famous Burtons turned
loose on each other.
Spurred on by Zeffirelli's di-,
rection, Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton race madlyI
through the film, inflicting phy-
sical violence upon each other
at every opportunity. Shake-
speare's text gives way to
shrieking and sweating. All of
the performers ham it up, and
it is in their extravagant over-
acting that the sheer theatrical
gusto of the film resides.
But the rollicking pace be-
comes tedious. Those antici-
pated speeches of Shakesperean
clarity and eloquence never
come. The movie refuses to
settle down to good, Shakesper-
can comedy. The lush Renais-
sance decor and elaborate cos-
tumes hardly compensate for
this real lack of substance.
Yet, however distant from the
original play, the first half of
the movie provides much fun
which even the most pained
scholar should be able to ap-
preciate.
-N ithalie M. Walker
* * *
4, ,4mr Noan inPalris
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Fri., 7, 9:05
Gene Kelly pretty well sums
1n) the content of An American
in Paris when he sings, "I got
rhvthm, I got music, I got my
girl."
Kelly, as an American World
War IT veteran trying to be an
artist in Paris. lives with a pre-
beatnik jar' ninnist and courts
Sa French girl (Leslie Caron, in
her first screen annearance)
wtho returns his affection btt
his commitments elsewhere.
The film's musical renditions
were innovative in their d a v
and still have quite a bit of
aneal. "Who could ask for
a-rvthinP more?" If you like
musicals at all, ou should find
A American in Paris enter-
ta inin g.
i
overly stage
By ANDREW ZERMAN two - dimensional characters sation, musically, comically or ; ens "gaily tripping and lightly
Everything about the Gilbert whose personalities can't be de- dramatically. skipping" around the stage, the
andvSullivan Society's new pro- veloped in the songs because However, there wouldn't be quality of the cast, the direction
duction of Yeoman of the Guard they all sound the same. If the Gilbert and Sullivan societies and the orchestra was apparent.
is graceful, lilting, well-perform- satire were more stinging, if all over the world if people Relentless British decorum
ed and so perfectly neat and the wit were sharper, if the didn't find the operettas peren- may inhibit excitement but
proper as to be more than a singers didn't always seem to nially fresh and appealing. Yeoman demands it and this
little bit sterile and sometimes be singing about nothing, plot These devotees, who are a dedi- company provides it. The cast
cloyingly precious. It is all so and characterization wouldn't cated bunch, must not be both- has no seriously weak link and
carefully stylized and directed. a couple of very strong ones.
Every chorus member knows............................... William Kinnucan does justice
exactly where to go on stage to...... to the show's best role, Jack
look puzzled or delighted or Point, with his ingratiating per-
frightened each time Mr. Gilbert If the satire were more stinging, if the wit sonality and fine voice. Julia
and Mr. Sullivan bring them out . . Broxholm doesn't let the senti-
for no reason at all. The show tcere sharper, if the singers didn't always see, to mentality of her part prevent
progresses like clockwork or a her from giviing a credible per-
department store window: me- e singing about nothing, plot an caracter- formance and her luscious voice
chanically. ization wouldn't matter so much. But in Yeo- is the show's treasure.
Gilbert and Sullivan's operet- In the hokey role of Wilfred,
tas have lasted one hundred then', the humor is predictable and the satire H. Don Cameron is the strongest
years primarily because of their usually tame. We're left with a harmless oper- actor. His numbers with Phoebe
lyrics, but trained opera voices and Jack Point are as enter-
do not constitute the best me- etta, guaranteed to never reach across the or- taining as anything in the show.
diurn through which to transmit chestra pit and create a sensation musically, Credit for all that neatness,
intricate rhymes. Professional which, in fairness, I should
companies performing G & S Corn ically Or (dramatically. call polish and professionalism,
can probably overcome this goes to directors Clark Suttle
challenge, but i this production...............................................:Ei. and Susan Morris. The beauti-
it was not. Many lyrics, espe- ful costumes and attractive
cially in ensemble numbers, lighting brought an appropriate
were lost, even in the second matter so much. But in Yeoman, ered by two and a half hours fairy tale atmosphere to the
row. the humor is predictable and the of patter songs and they should show. Unfortunately, the same
Those complicated lyrics, con- satire usually tame. We're left find this Yeomen delightful. can't be said about the set
taining endless rhymes on with a harmless operetta, guar- Even to a sourpuss like myself, which, for some reason, looked
"ivity" and such sounds, are anteed to never reach across the who quickly got tired of all the two-dimensional even though it
heaped on an absurd plot and orchestra pit and create a sen- pointed pinkies and fair maid-! wasn't.
-- - - -- -----
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-David Blomqgist
IHearts and Minds
The Movies, Briarwood }
With a sense of moral corn-
mitment and striving decency,
Peter Davies' Hearts and Minds
stands as a cry of ontrapee
against the indignation of the1
It is that prevailing mentality
that still pollutes influential<
ideologies today-merely afford-
ing one the comfort of con-
firming previously existing sus-
picions.
-Jim Valk t
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U.S. involvement in Vietnam. 2001: A Space C
Employing the documentary
framework to the pinnacle, dys
Davies goes beyond merely ex- Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. Aud.
posing the lunacy of the no-win Fri., Sat., 7, 10 s
war-he rubs our noses in the In the year 2001, commercials
corrupted mentality that de- spaceliners transport mystifiedt
ceived the American people passengers from the earth tos
from its very conception. the revolving space station, and
The film is an American saga then on to the moon, wheret
of lies and deceptions that start- scientists have established the I
ed with Truman and continued I first self-supporting colony. I
through with Nixon, exhibiting It is on the moon that ex-
proof in the compact form of a nlorers discover evidence of lifex
chronology of shame that stood in the universe alien to earth.L
as standard policy through five Escavated in the crater Tychor
administrations. is obelisk identical to the slab
From the corridors of Wash- first encountered on earth byi
ington to the villages of Saigon, man's anthropoid ancestors mil-v
the film is a disgesting truth lions of years earlier.r
that will reek in the hearts and To investigate the obehsk'st
minds of those who witness it. meaning, two astronauts em- f
The impact of the film is two- bark on a seven-month journeyt
fold. The insane ideologies that to Juniter, the source of somec
put us there still exist, from a sort of communications with thet
ritualistic hero parade for a slab on the moon.C
former prisoner of war who be- 20001: A Space Odyssey is thec
lieved and still believes in the nltimate in s c i e n c e fiction
American involvement to the ^inema. The future it portrays r
hawkish nhilosophv of former is not remote at all, a mere 26s
presidential consultant W a It years away. ,c
Rostow, who was instrumental Though the space travel of I
in holding the film from release the year is primitive next tod
until just recently. "Star Trek." since warp drive,
But the real crimes are has not yet been develoned, it
against the people-the mother offers a trip into the infinity
Serpico
Bursley Hall Enterprises
Bursley West Cafeteria
Sat., 9
Sidney Lumet's Serpico is one
of his most provocative movies.
It is the story of the New York{
City detective, Frank Serpico,
who in 1970 blew the whistle
on graft and corruption within
the New York Police Depart-
ment, leading to the Knapp
Commission hearings and the
biggest shake-up in the depart-
ment's history.
Al Pacino (Serpico) performs
superbly as a driven, Dostoyev-
skian figure, rebelling against
the sleaziness a n d laziness
seening into American life. He
adds depth to the portrait of
the headed, sandaled cop who
istens to Bach and takes ballet
lessons.
Actually, given the screen-
play, Pacino's ability to present
us with anything beyond the
moral-do-gooder-stereotype, is
quite remarkable. There simply
is not much speculation any-
where 'in the film about the
motives that sustained Detec-
tive Serpico, and made him re-
fuse the bribes and corruptions
to which his fellow officers suc-
cumbed. Yet Pacino enables us,
through his performance, to be
outraged and to feel Serpico's
outrage as well. |
Only in retrospect does one
realize how little analysis of
situation and character the film
contains. Actors who fault shal-
low roles as their demise would
do well to study Pacino's tri-
umph in this less-than-perfect
part.
-Nathalie M. Walker I
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-Joan Ruhela
Duck'soup
Couzens Film Co-op
Purple Room, Couzens
Sat., 8, 10
Hopefully all the film groups
on campus will quit showing
Marx Brothers films at such
r e g u l a r intervals so that
"Cinema Weekend" reviewers
will not have to cover them
over and over again.
What can one say about Duck
Soun, perhaps the best but still
typical Marx Brothers film, that
is witty, concise, and hasn't al-
ready been said in this column
in so short a space?
To recap the storyline would
be nonsense since Duck Soup's
plot is . . . just that: nonsense.
A more open - minded critic
might find political symbolism
and irony amidst the manic go-
ings on, but I doubt whether
that was Groucho's, Chico's,
Harpo's or director Leo Mc-
Carey's intention all the same.
PROFESSOR CONDUCTS STUDY:
'Exorcist': A
By JIM VALK tion its merits, as studio execu-
Few films in motion picture tives will stoop to virtually any
history have stirred so much low in order to boost box-office
contraversity as William Fried- grosses. In an attempt to sepa-
kin's adaptation of William rate fact from fiction surround-
Peter Blatty's The Excorist. ing The Exorcist, Professor
Released December 26, 1973, it Frank Beaver of the University
took only a matter of weeks be- of Michigan Speech department
fore the entire country was ex- organized a survey team last
posed to this cinematic and so- year to collect reactions on the
cial phenomenon. Wide spread film.
reports of faintings, vomitings Equipped with a detailed
and other physical and emotion- questionnaire, the team hiked
al reactions to the film were to Briarwood when the film!
quickly publicized by the mass opened there last winter and be-
media, making "exorcism" a'
household word. gan to assemble mass samp-
But as with any slick Holly- lings of data from some 350
wood production, one must cau- persons who had viewed the,
1u
rightf
film.
Although the actual number
of persons to leave the theatre
before the conclusion proved
to be highly exaggerated - on-
ly 26 during 10 showings, the
number of persons who experi-
enced some degree of shock or I
fear while viewing the film was!
significant .Of those who filled |
out the questionnaire, 31.8 per
cent fell into this category, with
most recalling the graphic
scenes near the end of the film
as the chief cause of tension. I
From the eeneral comments,
the study points out that "those t
who were shocked by the gra-
phic material in The Exorcist
accented the events on the
screen as real or potentially
real." Some admitted to "be- I
lieving every second of it." Re-
occuring adjectives that de-
scribed the audio - visual effects
of the film included "nausent-I
ing," "gory," "unnerving," and
"unfamiliar."
Of those who claimed to ex-:
nerience no fear or shock during
the film (68.2 per cent), the
prevailing exnlanation was fa-
miliarity with the material.
Many had read the book or had
been informed as to the content
of the film.
The other common resoronseE
by those claiming no fear was
"T could not really nictlre it as
a real-life situation." Many cit-
ed the elaborate make-un as
stretching the film beyond the ,
realm of believability, claim- '
1 folly
have been incredibly tortuous."
But Friedkin's use of an all-out
visual freak show for cheap
screams, he claimed, "it saved
the film from being an unbear-
able experience."
Two months later, Beaver dis-
tributed a follow-up question-
naire in his film courses and
to several adult groups. Over
half ofhthose whoreturned the
form had avoided the film,I
many because of reports on
content or production quality.
Only 21 of the several hundred
respondents had stayed away
because of fear or religious be-
liefs.
One 21-year-old woman stated
that she had read the book but
thovnght that the film would be
very unpleasant. "A book can
be put down and picked up
again, but a movie is too encom-
passing." she said.
"People don't like to be sub-
ie'ted to a film experience
where thev are at the mercv of
the director," Beaver explain-
ed. "You can put a book down,
but you can't put a film down."
"As a case study in fear and
manic," the survey concludes,
"The Exorcist was more fad
than fright." What Frank Beav-
er's study confirms is the no-
tion that perhaps lingered in
the hck of all our minds: that
the film was an overpublicized
event that exploited a vast mi-
nority of adverse reactions to
the film.
Tv, theend rulthe uventivre an-
m. a