THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
Power and
sexuality
rule
By JIM KENTCH
Power served by sexuality is
the core. Royalty, morality, re-
ligion and a bit of existentialism
and communism are also central.
Add Marlow's beautiful language,
the idiom of this century, a fault-
less set, and fine acting and the
result is the excellent 'U' Play-
ers' production of Brecht's Ed-
ward the Second, currently play-
ing at the Power Center.
Brecht uses Marlowe's play of
the same name as a source for
his version of the royal power,
politics of England in the early
fourteenth century. Edward as-
cends the throne and promptly
makes his homosexual lover
Gaveston second in command.
The nobles and church rebel
and defeat Edward in battle, but
Edward unscrupulously kills all
their leaders save Mortimer.
Gaveston is murdered, Mortimer
marries the queen and becomes
the Lord Protector. He has a
thug seduce Edward to his death
but the king's fifteen year-o 1 d
son discovers Mortimer and
Edwar
sends him and the queen to the
Tower. The play ends with the
gears of Justice grinding out
Morality.
But morality comes only after
man's stomach and groin are sat-
isfied. Evil reigns: the archbis-
hop leads his troops on the bat-
tlefield, sex and murder are the
means to power, and the queen
ends a drunken slut. The inno-
cent young prince offers the only
hope.
What makes the production so
dynamic is the set that Robert
Darling designed. Posts in the
floor -lscend to become pillars,
pods s, and pedestals for songs,
spee.hes and seductions. Two
gray and brown structures that
rotate in full circles serve as for-
ests, battlements and castle
walls. The lighting is imagina-
tive in creating the desired mood,
as is the live trumpet and drum
musip.
The acting is outstanding. Ran-
dall Forte as Edward and Ro-
bert Metz as Mortimer consum-
mately portray their intersect-
/ i s not
d
ing fat
serves
sically
Anne -
in this
This
aesthet
an int
drama.
Edwarc
cannot
fess h
Kings,
fornica
way to
game c
Brecl
ptation
Helenc
man s
that on
II ,
es. Diane Daverman de-
special credit in the phy-
demanding role of Queen
- she is the only woman
man's world.
production is visually and
ically pleasing, it's also
ellectual and historical
One feels sympathy for
d in his suffering b u t
forget his refusal to con-
is crimes to the priest.
bishops and knights kill,
te and sodomize all the
their graves in this chess
of power.
ht couldn't resist the tem-
to draw parallels with
of Troy. Although a watch-
ays otherwise, it is true
.e whore can make a war.
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AP Photo
Draw one, win twelve
Soviet chess master Boris Spassky studies a move during one of 13 simultaneous matches he played
in an exhibition at the United Nations Wednesday. The chess master won 12 of the games and played
a 10HI --..,:.t..: . ..u..a..,....\1. .
' - --'--------. . . . . . .- -..- --- .-..,-- ..0
Cineim
Jack Nicholson Festival
Friends of Newsreel, MLB, And.
3, 4 Fri., Sat., 7:30, 9:30
Jack Nicholson is one of the
few true-blue stars left in Holly-
wood today. After a long fifteen-
year haul playing in B-horror
pictures and sleeping on cold,
wooden floors, this supremely
talented but unrecognized actor
gained a permanent spot in the
public eye in Five Easy Pieces.
Shunning interviews and talk
shows; he prefers to live in isola-
tion. He plans to retire soon al-
together from acting in order to
direct what he terms "real pic-
tures."
There are some hilarious bits
in the film but an overall feeling
of emptiness and disillusionment
as Bobby tries to explain how
when things "get bad", he has
to get going. Pieces also stars
Karen Black, Susan Anspach
and in a minor role, All in the
Family's Sally Struthers.
Drive, He Said also features
Karen Black but Nicholson stays
behind the camera this time. He
directs a very un-subtle picture
about a college basketball player
(William Teppler) who gets in-
volved with revolutionary poli-
tics and the coach's wife. Bruce
Dern is very effective as the
coach who knows all the plays
but just can't work them on his
bride. There is a very good
scene at the end about a young
man who finally goes nuts on
campus in the nude.
-MICHAEL WILSON
Chloe in the Afternoon
Cinema II, Aud. A
Sat., 1, 3, 7, 9 Sun., 7, 9
Commenting at 'length last
Wednesday about this final flick
in Eric Rohmer's series of "six
moral tales," the senior movie
critic of these pages, Bruce
Shlain, called it the work of a
"cinematic poet-magician". This
review simply urges you not to
miss an absolutely marvelous
picture.
Rohmer's simple story-the
saga of a middle-aged man wor-
ried about his age and bored
with his wife who meets up with
an old friend and casually be-
gins an affair-is simultaneously
tragic and comic. The sharp
theme stings the viewer: why,
Rohmer asks, has marriage be-
come an almost god-like institu-
tion-one beyond criticism or re-
proach?
-DAVID BLOMQUIST
weekend...
for the queasy
Simon of the Desert
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Fri., 7, 9,
Well, for all of you who don't
care to brave the Exorcist lines
out at Briarwood, here's a
quickie substitution (only 44 min-
utes) from no less than Luis
Bunuel.
Claudio Brook stars as St. Si-
mon, head of a religious order
that does penance by standing on
a pillar in the desert. Well, life
was just dandy out there on the
pillar - dandy, that is, until
sweet, lovable Silvia Pinal, play-
ing (horrors!) the Devil disguis-
ed as a woman, comes along to
tempt poor St. Simon.
-Frankly, go out and stand in
line at Briarwood. You can well
afford to miss the flick.
-DAVID BLOMQUIST
One-Eyed Jacks
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sat., 7, 9:05
Stanley Kubrick was supposed
to direct One-Eyed Jacks (1960)
but quit the production after nu-
merous disagreements with star
MarIon Brando. The latter took
over the direction and the re-
sult is one of the most interest-
ing and perceptive films to come
out of the early sixties.
Co-starring Karl Malden, Jacks
is part Kubrick (he penned much
of the screenplay), part impro-
visation and mostly dynamite
Brando. Since this picture is al-
most impossible to view any-
where, its screening here is a
small miracle. Giving away plot
of this disturbing and methodi-
cal work of art would be unfair.
-MICHAEL WILSON
The Life and Times of
Judge Roy Bean
UAC-Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. Aud.
Fri., Sat., 7, 9:30
John Huston's Judge Roy Bean
(1973) suffers from the medioc-
rity of Roddy McDowell's acting
and an atrocious attempt by Paul
Newman to sing "Yellow Rose of
Texas" in a deep, serious bari-
tone. Otherwise the picture is
pretty satisfying entertainment,
with a long list of guest stars
(Jacqueline Bisset, Ave Gardner,
Stacy Keach, Anthony Perkins)
and a snappy screenplay by John
Milius. Based on true historical
fact, Bean is the story of a self-
proclaimed lawman and the
town he builds and governs until
it turns on him. There are a few
truly hilarious moments and
some beautifully photographed
killings that make this picture
a very competent Huston crea-
tion.
-MICHAEL WILSON
Marjoe
New World Film Co-op, Nat. Sci.
And. Sun. 7, 9 .
Marjoe is the best American
film about religion since Elmer
Gantry. It is the documentary
account of evangelist Marjoe
Gortner's last tour since age
three. Not even a believer at the
time, Marjoe made the tour only
for the money. As a result, Mar-
joe is a particularly incisive look
at evangelism in America.
-JAMES HYNES
Triumph of the Will
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sun., 7, 9:05
Much acclaimed though rarely
shown, Leni Riefenstahl's Tri-
umph of the Will (Germany,
1934) is a detailed account of the
sixth Nazi congress convening at
Nuremberg. It's said that during
the thirties Hitler had a thing for
the brilliant actress-turned-movie
director Rierenstahl. In 1936 he
commissioned her to cover the
Olympic Games amidst a fury of
controversy.
-MICHAEL WILSON
Don't Look Now
State
Don't Look Now, starring Don-
ald Sutherland and Julie Christie,
is an intelligent, entertaining mo-
vie about what could very soon
become a trite, boring subject.
It is an eerie thriller dealing with
psychic powers, and a director
Nicolis Roeg has rightly seized
this type of story to exhibit the
collection of supernatural spe-
cial effects capable of the motion
picture camera.
This, along with its slightly un-
subtle symbols (water, eyes, and
especially the color red), used
to recollect events gone by, lift
the film above the ordinary, and
leave one, despite a period where
impatience and confusion take
over for suspense, with a feeeling
that it is a story expressed in the
proper genre.
-BRUCE WEBER.
Also . .
Continuing are the Way We
Were at Campus, Chariot of the
Gods at Fifth Forum and Sleeper
at Michigan.
By BETH NISSEN
You stand to lose more than
$3.00 if you choose to see The
Exorcist. If you don't have a
stomach of solid granite, y o u
stand to lose your dinner as well.
The movie is the most contro-
versial film since Brando's Last
Tango. The movie and the book
on which it is based have ex-
humed the rarely performed rite
of exorcism and revived public
interest and belief in the rite -
and the need for it.
As promised by all the public-
ity, there is enough vile bile,
type A negative blood and stom-
ach-challenging sound effects to
make even Vincent Price close
his eyes a few times.
Audience reaction included ner-
vous laughter, quiet sobbing, a
few hasty exits in the middle of
the film and a vast contingent of
jelly-kneed nail-bitten people.
The film's impact is mainly due
through the nausea of the film,
there is a very solid religious
core. A striking scene at the
movie's beginning showing a
face-off between von Syd ^v and
a demonic statue, promises a bat-
tle between good and evil. Few
movies, however, have shawo the
blow by blow account of such a
battle with as much gut effect
as The Exorcist.
Like the traditions of every
religion, the movie has symbols
and actions that must be inler-
preted. They are the true sub-
jects and questions of the film,
but are easily missed by those
whose heads are entre ichcd be-
tween their shaking legs or whc-.e
minds are too distracted by the
surface goo to ponder deepe:-
meaning.
This film may not let you sl-ep
without a night-light for a few
weeks and may cause emotional
indigestion far longer than that.
( Lo{mediatrics presents
PAUL NEWMAN in
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
JUDGE ROY BEAN
Would you believe a comedy about a hanging judge?
FRI. & SUN. $1.00 7 and 9:30
NATURAL SCIENCE AUDITORIUM
NEXT WEEK-The Incredible Bruce Le in--FISTS OF FURY
EVERY MONDAY NIGHT IS GUEST NIGHT!
You and a Guest admitted for .nly $2.25
(Two admitted for the price of one)
MEXCLUSHIELY AT THESE BUTTERFIELD THEATRES
ECUMICHIGAN, STATE, CAMPUS, WAYSIDE
"There is enough vile bile, type A negative
blood and stomach-challenging sound effects to
make even Vincent Price close his eyes a few
times."
" w,
ts.
*,.
to the graphic interpretation of
the possession of an angelic-fac-
ed child by the devil, and the
exorcism of that spirit. Half the
horror of the film is the little
girl's change from a sugar-voic-
ed sweetie who could sell you a
truckful of Girl Scout cookies to
a scarred and bloodied beast who
spews out obscene shocker lines
along with buckets of intestinal
material.
Max von Sydow, as the aging
and experienced exorcist, earns
himself another gold star for his
latest religious movie. Jason Mil-
ler does similarly well as t h e
younger Jesuit, Father Carras.
Ellen Burstyn's performance as
the little girl's distraught act-
ress-mother lacks salt; she re-
sorts to swearing in the same
tone of scream whether she's
yelling at the telephone operator
in Rome or pleading with the
young priest for help.
The sound effects person re-
sponsible for the bone-crunching
and hideous animal growls and
the make-up person with paint-
box of red and diarrheal green
should be awarded special men-
tion, despite the fact that their
handiwork increases public use
of Dramamine and Pepto-fismol.
If one can manage fo see
But it is, after all, merely a film.
Its real inner horror is related
to each viewer's belief in pos-
session and exorcism as fact.
Director William Friedkin and
author William Peter Blatty have
given us a film with photography
and effects that test physical en-
durance and a message that tests
faith.
One wonders whatever Fossess-
ed them to do it.
,JAZZ !
Thursday * Friday * Saturday
Feb. 7, 8, 9
The 11th House featuring
Larry Coryell
Also ¢n the some show
OREGON
(Former members of the
Paul Winter Consort)
AMPLE FREE PARKING
2333 East Stadium Blvd.
(near Washtenaw(
Below Trickey Dick's Restaurant
For info call 663-1212
3rd
LAUG
WEEP
"A REAL RIP-SNO
... SLEEP]
"' TH E CENTt
3HABLE TERRiFi vN
-Canby, N.Y. Times -VAN V
"Allen's Masterpiece" Dormito
News do-
WOODY ALLEN
TAKES Az
NOSTALGIC LOOK
AT THE
FUTURE
OPEN 12:45
SHOWS AT
1 3, 5, 7,9P.M
'wody Diane
and
603 E
603 E. LIBERTY DIAL 665-6290
RTER!
PER OF
'URY."r
/INKLE
nandaao
ry News
.. ; _.
>, - "
! THIS WEEKEND
$2.50 8:30
r
w
r
k
t
i
I
r --"
wwwAft"MEM16-
MAJOR STUDIO
PREVIEW
TONITE at 9 P.M.
iH HS
FRI.-SAT.-SUN.
MICHAEL
COONEY
A ONE MAN FOLK
f
w
PLEASE
NOTE:
There
Are
Two
Different
Films
Being
Previewed
at
Two
Different
Theatres.
U
WE CAN'T TELL YOU THE TITLE,
but we CAN tell you it's the new
movie directed by Clint Eastwood-
on interesting and different love
story.
Regulor attraction: "Don't Look
Now" will be shown before and
nftar ma ninrfl.., .
II
I
1 ........ :r. .. ._ .....
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gMMmmmn
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