Friday, January 11, 1974
FHE MICHIGAN DAILY
page Five
Pooe Fiv
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By BRUCE SHLAIN
The great advantages film has
over the other arts are its con-
trol of time and its power to
achieve, with the. large screen
capturing the smallest details, a
heightened sense of realism. The
remarkable potential film has
for distorting and recreating
time, so devastating as early as
Potemkin, has hardly been rea-
lized, probably because it re-
quires an exercise of cinematic
intelligence.
Truly revolutionay Proustian
time-studies like Hiroshima Mon
demise
of
Dirty
Harry
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Amour have been almost totally
neglected-not critically, but by
fellow filmmakers who largely
fail to regard it as an experi-
ment to build upon in their own
way, treating the work of a di-
rector like Resnais as a "freak,"
interesting and even profound,
but general position being that he
has "gone far enough."
To achieve the ultimate in rea-
lism, however, all that is re-
quired is a high-powered lens
and a minimum of guts. It was
inevitable that the camera would
wheel around to the "underside"
of life, first into the boudoir and
now, finally, to a detailed and
shocking portrayal of the physi-
cal end of the last taboo, mur-
der. Thus the birth of modern
screen violence, in a frenzied at-
tempt to "grab" the audience
by shock.
And so I get extremely queasy
when I hear people talking about
boycotting violent films and
"drawing the line," because the
question is obviously not "Is it
too gory?" Peckinpah is certain-
ly excessively violent, but his
violence is always the principal
means for explosively expressing
individual characters and style,
the blood spills comically, or
sloppily, or balletic, but it is not
simply blood for blood's sake.
(Which is not to say that Peck-
inpah's morality gets my o.k.,
because it does not.) The
question, then is whether the vio-
lence is under the director's con-
trol, whether it is used as Re-
noir masterfully used the farcial
shootings in Rules of the Game
to underline a larger statement.
This brings us to a discussion
of why the new Clint Eastwood
film, Magnum Force, is such a
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By MICHAEL WILSON
Stanley Kubrick
Weekend
Cinema II, Angell
Fri., 7, 9, Sat., 7, 9:30, Sun., 7,9
A Stanley Kubrick weekend is
the moviegoer's dream: there
are very few American directors
who can even approach his un-
canny, consistent track record of
thoroughly enjoyable a n d
thought - provoking films.
In Paths of Glory (1958) three
innocent French soldiers are
court - martialed to cover up
for a sadistic general's brutal
whims in a tight, well-articulat-
ed story of Kubrick morality. An
excellent cast includes Kirk
Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolph
Menjou and George Macready.
Many have seen Lolita (1962)
on television in a somewhat mu-
tilated and censored form. If the
film is intact this weekend, pre-
pare yourself for an amazingly
accurate cinematic treatment of
the Vladimir Nabokov novel.
James Mason, in a smooth and
characteristically mean perform-
ance, plays a man who falls in
love with a sexy 14-year old girl
(Sue Lyon) during a perverse
and very human tale of infatua-
tion. The brilliant Peter Sellers
and the cornball Shelly Winters
are among the supporting cast,
but it is Mason who will capti-
vate; he is the. embodiment of
"tortured man" and realizes ef-
fortlessly all the capabilities and
flaws of the Humbert character
from the novel.
Dr. Strangelove (1963) also
presents Peter Sellers in not one
but three startling roles: he is
the President, Mandrake and
Strengelove in what is surely one
of the most superhuman acting
jobs ever recorded on celluloid.
Strangelove is the story of what
might happen if the United
States accidently bombed one of
the cities in the Soviet Union --
Kubrick, the master of black'
comedy, wrote, produced and di-
rected this perfect piece of so-
cial satire. Also on hand are,
Sterling Hayden a n d Keenan
Wynn as Army personnel who
contribute magnificently to the
absurdity surrounding the Pen-
tagon during a time of crisis.
What's up Doc?
Friends of Newsreel, MLB, Aud.
3, 4 Fri. Sat., 7, 8:30, 10:20
In 1938 the able Hollywood di-
rector Howard Hawks filmed a
remarkable screwball comedy
entitled Bringing Up Baby with
Cary Grant and Katherine Hep-
burn. What's Up, Doc? is an at-
tempted remake of that classic
picture by the overpraised Peter
Bogdanovich, a former critic-
turned-filmmaker whose L a s t
Picture Show easily illustrates
his superficial, unoriginal style.
Ryan O'Neil has the Grant part,
that of an affianced archaelogist
grudgingly falling in love with a
total nut who follows him around
everywhere. Fortunately, the
nut in this case is Barbra Streis-
and. Her acting ability increases
with each picture, and she out-
shines O'Neil easily. Streisand
is escaping the Bronx - accented,
predictable Fanny Brice routine
which made her a fortune in
Funny Girl and a disaster in
Hello, Dolly! She is a genuinely
funny performer with impec-
cable timing and a face that
leaves you laughing at any no-
tion of plastic surgery.
Discreet Charm of the
Bourgeoise and Sleuth
Campus
An entertaining double-feature
is hard to come by nowadays so
take advantage while you can.
Discreet Charm, the Academy
Award winner last year for
Best Foreign Film, is a thorough-
ly confusing and preposterous
work of art directed by the mas
ter of surrealist cinema, Luis
Bunuel. Easly his most coherent
work, Discreet Charm gave Bu-
nuel the recognition he deserved
twenty years ago. It's about a
group of high - societies who
keep meeting for dinner but
get sidetracked by a series of
astonishing events. You won't
understand who is dreaming
what but don't let that stop
you from enjoying one of the best
foreign films to come out in
years.
Sleuth, adapted from the hit
Broadway play, stars the impec-
cable Laurence Olivier and the
dynamite Michael Caine in a
story of suspense and irony that
will leave you hanging there
gasping for breath at the end. I
won't reveal the plot but be
forewarned: Sleuth is a tiny bit
long but otherwise a pretty
"neat" picture.
Night at the Opera
Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.
Sat. 7, 8:30, 10:15
This was the Marx Brothers
first film for MGM, shot in 1935.
Although there are some boring
musical interludes that will
makes you impatient for Harpo's
wacky antics, Opera stands out
as one of the funniest films ever
made in Hollywood. There is an
improvised cabin stateroom
scene aboard a ship that will
make your sides hurt. The Bro-
thers are hilarious as usual and
veteran scapegoat Margaret Du-
mont plays a lady of high society
who feels Groucho's pinches
once too often.
The Paper Chase
Fifth Forum
James Bridges is a phony
Hollywood director who will do
anything to make a fast buck.
The Paper Chase emerges on
screen as a cheap, dishonest and
frankly boring tale of a first-year
Harvard Law School student who
falls in love with a mean profes-
sor's even meaner daughter.
Timothy Bottoms is the boy and
Lindsey Wagner the girl in this
superficial tale of college life.
John Houseman, who produced
Citizen Kane, plays the sadistic
law professor superbly in his
screen debut as an actor. Unfor-
tunately he has about six lines
Hatha Yoga
Classes
Beginning and Advanced
Classes offered
NEW CLASS BEGINS
JAN. 14
Meeting both
Mondays & Fridays
for further info ca
Larry Short-663-9287
in the whole film, presumably to
devote more time to Bottoms
and Wagner.
Jimi Hendrix
Michigan
This is the definitive documen-
tary on the immortal guitarist.
Included are interviews with
various relatives and friends
(Mr. Al Hendrix, Eric Clapton,
Pete Townshend) that tend to
border on tedium, but the live
footage of the superstar perform-
ing makes it all worthwhile.
Hendrix also contains interviews
with the star himself, who
emerges as a sophisticated and
sensitive performer in one as-
tounding scene where he plays
a 12-string acoustical guitar ver-
sion of "Hear My Train A-Com-
in'." If you even liked Hendrix,
let alone worshipped him, go see
this film.
Cinema Weekend
Also .
Cinema Guild presents G. W.
Pabst's Three Penny Opera at
7, 9:05 Fri. in Arch. Aud. and
Diary of a Shinjuku Burgler Sun.
at 7, 9:05 in Arch. Aud, with
Eng. subtitles.
New World Media shows Work
(U.S. 1970), a powerful study
of the alienation -experienced by
workers on the assembly line at
8 in Rm. 126, E.Q. on Fri.
disappointment, a topic I have
been putting off because I think
I would rather discuss the Riggs-
King match. At any rate, this
film is particularly regrettable
because it comes on the heels of
a really fine genre film, Dirty
Harry, that brought itself out of
the bog of its own violence to a
great finish.
Dirty Harry featured the emer-
gence of a great screen charac-
ter, in Eastwood's Harry Cala-
han, the dedicated troubleshoot-
er who bows to no man. The dirt
on Harry is the evil stain he as-
sumed for all of us, descending
as he must into a battle against
a psychopathic murderer. Don
Siegel's direction was perfectly
paced, and the most skillful of
suspense techniques created in
the audience the desire to see
the, perverted killer get his due.
But when the maniac is finally
trapped by Harry in Kezar Sta-
dium (in context a perfect com-
mentary on a society that views
violence as entertainment) with
all the lights turned up, Harry's
sadistic side triumphantly sur-
faces. It is from this point that
Siegel begins to makes his in-
ventive twists from a simple
good-beats-evil bloodbath.
For as it turns out the killer
goes scot free on legal technical-
ities, since Harry did not inform
him of his rights before beat-
ing him up. But the film is more
than just an indictment of lib-
eral values and laws. When Har-
rv tracks the sniper down on
his own and stops him from mur-
dering a schoolboy by finally
killing him, his disgust is for
more than just a set of impotent
laws. Flinging his b-dge down
into the waters that the killer's
corpse is floating in, his realiza-
tion is of the futility of human
action and the horror of violence
itself, even horrific to someone
who sees it every day.
But films are made to make
money, and Harry was a big
grosser, and so, with a far less
talented director, Ted Post, we
have a sequel, Magnum Force.
In this new film, Harry atones
for his brutal excesses in the pre-
vious film, as he has to fight a
group of ultra-right-wing cops
who set themselves up as vigi-
lantes, murdering Mafia bosses
protected by the "candy-ass
courts." And so Harry is made
the policer of the police, a ridi-
culous extrapolation of the finale
of Harry.
In Magnum Force, Harry is
virtuous and yet still cynical
about violence, as when he com-
ments in the morgue on a woman
murdered by having Drano pour-
ed down her throat: "That shows
a certain sense of style." Deliver-
ing lines of such crass tasteless-
ness, we are reminded of East-
wood's linitations, that his only
claim to fame as an actor is
his bone structure, and Ted Post
manages to make it seem like
most of the bone is inside.
The violence in the film is
strictly gratuitous, the whole
plot seeming to be designed as
little more than an excuse for a
series of inexplicable murders.
Magnum Force imitates in the
worst way, for not only does it
live up to the film it is imitat-
ing, but is also partially de-
stroys the previous film; it al-
most makes one hope for a se-
quel that could do the same to
Magnum Force.
TMU OT Y TCAS LNO'AY'V AG\4rR "JOHNHOUSE-kAK =THE PA.PER CHASE.
-I MCTL*E M .xoROW I C. THOMOSON -SOC PAUL .-- JAMES BRIDGES
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1-0000 SHOWTIMES .,
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'3 EVE R YMONDAY NIGHT IS GU EST NIGHT!
You and a Guest admitted for only $2.25
I E(Two admitted for the price of one)
EGCLUSIVELY AT THESE BUTTERFIELD THEATRES
I,: MICHIGAN, STATE, CAMPUS, WAYSIDE
I
BOWL AT THE UNION
MIXED LEAGUES FORMING
SIGN UP NOW
Open till
I
a.m. Fri. and Sat.
FRIDAY NIGHT, JAN. 11-9:00 P.M.
BURSLEY HALL ENTERPRISES presents
THE MARX BROTHERS in
HORSE FEATHERS and
MONKEY BUSINESS
Bursicy West Cafeteria
Admission $1.00
ALL-CAMPUS TG
DELTA SIGMA DENTAL FRATERNITY
Friday, Jan. 11-8:00 p.m.
1502 HILL
LIVE BAND BEER
Ladies Admitted Free
A
5
s 7 T
OPEN 12:45
Shows at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 p.m.
** arEII CINEMA **********
THE ULTIMATE IN GIFT GIVING
GEORGINA SPELVIN
& TINA RUSSELL
WITH A IISTT EMTIP FROM THEIR FRI(NOS!