THE MICHIGAN DAILY 'inema we ek Pick of the week: -The Godfather UAC Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. Aud. Fri., Sit., 7, 9:30 Sun., 2:30 Gulf & Western's golden goose comes to town this weekend with all of the hooii usually re- served for truly classic motion pictures. Whether or not Godfather is, indeed, cinematically classic is, admittedly, debatable - at best the film can only be described as "inspired" =- but $80 million at home and $100 million abroad is, unquestionably, an awfully convincing argument. Leading the parade in front of the camera is Marlon Bran- do's alreqdv legendarv perform- ance as Don Coroleone. Al Pa- cino and James Caan's work as his sons is almost cinema legend as well. Even Diane Keaton, Woody Allen's foil in Sleeper, shows up at the end - although in an en- tirely different sort of role. Francis Ford Coppola's direc- tion features flashes of mastery, but he has a nagging tendency to use three minutes of film to cov- er a two minute scene. Coppola and novelist Mario Puzo's screenplay retains the impact of the original book, al- though large quantities were left on the cutting room floor (soon to appear, however, in a now- lensing segel). Nino Rota's mu- sic score is, typically, nothing less than superb. -David Blomquist East of Eden Cinema II, Aud. A. Fri., 7, 9 This movie should appear a bit melodramatic to the average stu- dent who only knows James Dean as he is referred to in modern song. It is a story of a family conflict between father (Ray- mond Massey) and son (Dean, who thinks he's Marlon Brando) set in scenic California., The photography is very good and holds the picture together. This movie could prove good en- tertainment for some, especially Lou Rteed fans who want to know how Suzy could have "thought she was James Dean for a day." Too little of the Steinbeck novel is used to make this mo- vie an artistic whole. Wait until it is on TV again. -LOUIS MELDMAN Great expectations Cinema II, Aud. A Sat., 7, 9 Great Expectations is an early film from British director David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago). Made in 1947, this ek- cellent film remains one of the best adaptations of a Dickens novel ever made. Expectations is the story of young Pip, his youth, and his coming of age. The film, like the book, is filled with dozen of memorable Dickensian charac- ters. The marvelous cast (Alec Guiness, John Mills, Jean Sim- mons, and Valerie Hobson) proves once again that the Brit- ish ch'aracter is the finest in the world. -James Hynes Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe Fifth Forum. Tall Blond Man is a charm- ingly funny French spy movie directed by Yves Roberts. The film is a farce about Francois (Pierre Richard), a young violin- ist who, unknown to him, is chos- en by the head of the French In- telligence Agency to act as a de- coy to trap Milan (Bernard Blier), the agency's second-in-- command. Milan's ludricous bugging of Francois's day-to-day activities and the misunderstandings that result are carried off winningly by an excellent cast. -Margaret Coffey The Sting State Newman and Redford turn in nice performances (Redford even got a best actor Oscar nomina- tion), but at the real heart of the film is the work of screenwriter David Ward and director George Roy Hill. Although Ward's exaggerated, outlandish, full-of-holes script is blatantly escapist, it is a dar- ingly original piece of Hollywood scripting (the bad guys, you see, don't get hauled off to jail in the end, and that's a cinema code no-no). Hill gets a little carried away with 130s gimmicks (e.g. wipes, Sat Eve Post titles, and even the 1935 Universal Studios lead- er), but on the whole creates 'a brilliant work, most remarkable for some unbelievably effective point-of-view shots. The no-moral, no-theme nature of Sting may - turn off cinema purists, but most viewers will find this a delightful little flick. -David Blomquist The Last Detail Michigan Last Detail is another Jack Nicholson style comedy. Direct- ed by Hal Ashby, Detail is to- tally dominated by Nicholson's special blend of cockiness and charm. Nicholson and fellow sailor Otis Young are given five days to deliver a young recruit, Randy Quaid, to the brig to serve eight years for petty theft. Their ad- ventures enroute make for an amusing and entertaining film. Even' Detail's witty dialogue, inventive episodes and spirited direction cannot totally change a depressing situation into a satis- fying comedy. -Margaret Coffey One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Bursley Hall Enterprises, Bursley West Cafeteria Fri., 9 Of the two films so far made from the novels of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, one was poor and one was excellent. The film adaptation of First Circle was pretentious and overdone. One Day, on the other hand, is a bru- tally realistic film that accurate- ly captures the impact of the novel. As in the book, the film sim- ply records one day in the life of one prisoner in a Stalinist labor camp in Siberia, Ivan Deniso- vich (played by Tom Courtenay). The picture chillingly depicts the brutality of the guards, the hyinger of the prisoners, and the bitter, bitter, cold. The viewer should keep in mind throughout this excellent but depressing film that Solzhen- itsyn spent eight years in such camps. -James Hynes b Also... Warner Brothers continues to push Robert Redford and Sydney Pollack's Jeremiah Johnson at the Campus. You can forget this one. The Exorcist and Serpico go on and on (probably into eter- nity) out at The Movies at Briar- wood.' Cinema Guild's annual Ann Ar- bor Film Festival continues through the weekend, with award winners announced Sunday night. Finally, the Cook Memorial Festival presents 12 Angry Mep, a typical piece of commercial film, in 100 Hutchins Hall Friday at 7:30 and 9:30. Page Five film festival --_____ - -..-- .- . Unique films mark late night showings. By DAVID BLOMQUIST Nature, animation, dance, and documentary provided a unique -if occasionally mediocre -eve- ning Wednesday night for those cinema - loving night owls who waited up for the Ann Arbor Film Festival's 11 p.m. offer- ings. While each of Wednesday's six late show movies had its own distinctive approach, all experi- mented more with oral than visual effects. Grover Dale's Motion Pictures exhibited a simple approach to the problem of sounds. He elimi- nated sound completely in an ef- fective attempt to focus all at-. tention on his visual presenta- tion. Basically, the 18 minute film can best be described as a fran- tic, erotic, and grotesque ballet- without-music. Interior dance sequences were beautifully cho- reographed, marvelously lighted, and exquisitely photographed, but over-extended exterior dance scenes had the audience squirm- ing in its seats. "Natural" sounds provided the audio track for Skycap, an imaginative nature flick from Theodore Lyman. An undescrib- able gamut of sounds - every- thing from rippling water to a simulated bowel movement fol-' lowed by a stuck flushing toilet- appear as accompaniment for a series of quick, flashing cuts of woodland scenery. Lyman's camera movements were a bit jerky at times, but on the whole Skycap was perhaps the most technically advanced film of the evening. Electronic effects provided an interesting background for Joe Comerford's documentary-from- fiction Withdrawal, an Irish- made film examining the life of a heroin addict undergoing with- drawal in a mental institution. Comerford's audio was, the best of the evening, (but despite good source material and fine quality acting '- Withdrawal did not have the visual impact to match. Comerford spent too . pntp much time in medium and long shots, ignoring endless possibili- ties for close-ups of facial reac- tions. Video and audio came together most completely in a brilliant film from Harvard filmmaker Richard Rogers. Rogers's Ele- phants, produced under a grant from the American Film Insti- tute, is an almost-documentary look at not only that proverbial generation gap but differences within the same generation. In a series of carefully staged interviews with his grandmother and his father, he painstakingly explores the now-cool relation- ship' between old guard and revo- lutionary filmmaker. Roger's Boston girlfriend then appears in a second setof inter- views that sharply contrast with the . family sequences. Here we look at a second side of Rogers's character - instead of the liber- al vs. arch conservative con- frontation we found within the Rogers family, we now find, our- selves in the midst of a scathing examination of Roger's sex life. These contrasting sequences - neatly, one is presented in color and the other in black-and- white - add up to- an amazingly detailed portrait that covers a surprising amount of ground in 27 minutes. Elephants was cer- tainly was the highlight of the Wednesday late show, and definitely deserves recognition from the festival jury. SFI!E Un oL1041 ed For anyone wbo wants to sing, play or listen to folk or old-time music. NEXT GATHERING Sunday, March 17, 3-5:30 p.m AT THE ARK- A421 HttSt., Ann Arbor Daily Photo by KAREN KASMAUSKI Maim~iln I lire . again! The Music School and Collegium Musicum presented "An Entertainment of Music from the Court of Maximilian I" last night at Rackham Aud. The program, under the direction of Thomas Taylor, was organized to accompany a graphics exhibition of the p e r i o d presently underway at the Graduate Library. Men uhin* than musi I'U' Players offer two fine examples of Black Theatre By ROY CHERNUS Violinist Yehudi Menuhin re- vealed a wealth of consummate musicianship in his University Musical Society recital Wednes- day night. Yet there is more than mu- sicianship that distinguishes Menuhin from his colleagues. He has a rare humanism and cosmo- politan spirit that pervades his very way of life. What other artist pursues such diverse interests as classical mu- sic, Indian music (Menuhin's collaborations with Ravi Shankar were unprecedented cultural fu- sions), jazz (Menuhin has been a longtime friend and admirer of the French jazz violinist, Stephane Grappelli with whom he recently recorded an album, Jalousie), countless humanitar- ian causes, two music festivals and a school for aspiring mu- sicians? The most striking aspect of Menuhin' wonderful cal logic of meret of innate turity.. T in the ma for solo vi Menuhi of the v Gigue se shading tum. Som sourceful present i dante ex inner voi the clari whnla ctr reveals more, calvirtuosi~ty s performance was the 108, Yehudi and Hephzibah prob- l lucidity of his musi- ed each o t h e r' s inner- - something born not most thoughts for all to hear. A technical virtuosity but better Brahms could hardly be insight and fullest ma- imagined; this was a reading his was most apparent that fanned the pathos in the )numental Partita No. 3 score up to blazing intensity. iolin by Bach. The supple thematic give-and- n, etched out the lines take between the two in the vivacious Preludio and Brahms was carried to an ex- ections with sensitive ilarating extreme in, the Beet- and chugging momen- hoven as furious chords and ne of Bach's most re- runs were hurled from one to the harmonic writing is other. Romantic duo-sonatas in- n the work's Loure-an- evitably give predominance to pressivo section' whose the non-piano instrument of the ces were shaped with pair, and the broad themes fair- ty and breadth- of a ly soared off Menuhin's strings. ims cton-nn_- -- -- BENEFIT DANCE FOR MARY RICHMAN DEMOCRAT 2nd WARD By MICHELE BECKER 'U' Players Wednesday night opening of Douglas Turner Ward's Happy Ending and Day of Absence provided city audi- ences with a rare opportunity to view Black Theatre here. Black Theatre has been suf- fering from very little exposure. U Players presents its "token" black play every year. Its ne- glect is topped only by the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre. Carlton Molette II, a man greatly respected in Black The- atre will direct the production which is being presented in Men- delssohn through Sat. Ward's two plays are two fine examples of what is happening in Black Theatre. Happy Ending, the first play of the evening, opens with two sis- ters, domestics, crying over the possible divorce of their bosses, the Harrisons. The story unfolds to disclose how the sisters have "put one over" on the Harrisons. The Harrisons stock their re- frigerator, clothes them and pay their bills without even knowing it. The divorce would end this ar- rangement. At first the two women's ne- phew resents his aunts for bow- ing to the "mastuh." He finally realizes that "whitey" is the one that's getting used. But "whitey" ironically believes it's the oth- er way around. The black wo- man has made fools out of her TONIGHT! white employes who are too stu- pid to realize what is happening. Although the production itself had problems, ranging from breaks in concentration to stilted movements, the play offers valu- able insight into black life. Day of Absence is a satirical" fantasy that takes place in a southern town. When the entire "nigra" population vanishes one day, the town stops working, "ba- bies that's due won't be born .. . them that's helf-well won't git no better." Even Mr. "Klan" wants the "darkies" back. The play is done through a series of blackouts. the cast con- sists of black actors in white face, with the exception of the announcer, a white actor. The play explores the consequences for America if the entire black population were to leave. For this town the exodus meant destruction. The white people were unable to run the town without their "nigras." In only one day of absence the town fell apart. The play was beautiful, well done, exciting, funny and fright- ening in its implications. Hopefully, this exploration of Black Theatre will be repeated here. SHABBOT SHALOM 6:00 Traditional Services 6:45 Dinner 8:00 Liberal Services 9:00 Torah Study Friday, March 15 HILLEL 1429 HILL ST. wni sring sucun Yehudi is not the only Menuhin genius. He had an admirable counterpart in his pianist-sister Hephzibah. In two staples of chamber literature literature, Beethoven's Sonata No. 7 (Op. 30, No. 2) and Brahms' Sonata No. 3, Op. 603 E. Liberty DIAL 665-6290 Open 12:45. Shows at 1, 3, 5, 7, & 9 P.M. 3 Academy Award Nominations icl. BEST ACTOR JACK NICHOLSON "THE LAST DETAIL" r, CINEMA GUILD Presents the 12t~h Ann Arbor Film Festival -TONIGHT- 7, 9, 11, (each different)j FREE SHOW TODAY at 1 P.M. $1-ARCH. AUD. info. 662-8871 FRIDAY March 15 featuring LIGHTNIN' 9:00 P.M. LAW CLUB LOUNGE State & South University Contribution - $1.25 I PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY, Inc., DELTA RHO CHAPTER PRESENTS PAUL NEWMAN & ROBERT REDFORD in "THE STING" (PG) WINNER OF 10 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS! OPEN DAILY I P.M. Shows at 1:30, 4,6, 6:30 & 9 P.M. Three Dog Night and CHAMBERS BROTHERS 1- - DAYSTAR PRESENTS GLADYS KNIGHT And THE" PIPS 1 THE PERSUASIONS THE SOULFUL SOULMATES THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1974 CRISLER ARENA-8 P.M. $5RESERVED SEATS 5 a I University Players present Obie Award Winners HAPPY ENDING and CRISLER ARENA, U of M Campus March 15, 1974 8 p.m. FRI.: open 6:45 shows at 7 & 9 only Sot. & Sun. RobertU Redford as Jrem iah Johnson" 14 s. university AMPUS tre Phone '60-6416 $6.50 $5.50 S4.50 ,I I VJ. -j %W 'V w %y I. ,of %J I U I q