r Friday, March 29, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY pAre Gi rage r iv VA C 1C QQ Q d I _____ Pick of the week: W aiand Peace Cinema II, Aud. A Part 1, Sat., 6:45, 10 Part 2, Sun., 6:45, 10 Lenin once said that he felt cinema was the most important of the arts in Russia. Appropri- ately, then, when it came time to select a project to commemor- ate the 50th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviet Government decided to produce the world's grandest and most expensive motion picture - an epic presentation of Tolstoy's War and Peace. The product has its problems, many quite severe, but must certainly be ranked as one of the most breathtaking ef- forts of cinematic history. Sergei Bondarchuk, probably Russia's best living director, co- ordinated and stars in this mas- sive six hour production. He oft- en gets carried away with some of the airy Tolstoy side comments on life, but on the whole presents a tight, respect- able version of the original. His helicopter shots of the battle se- quences are brilliant. The acting, however, is not always of the best quality. Lyud- milla Savelyeva, as Natasha Rostova, wallows in a sea of cuteness and comes pretty close to drowning in it by the last reel. Bondarchuk has his excellent moments as Pierre Bezuhov, but seems to have only one facial ex- pression in his repertoire - and frankly, after six hours one gets tired of his half-worried, half- dour stare. -David Blomquist Romeo and Juliet Bursley Hall Enterprises, Bursley West Cafeteria Sat., 9 Thus, even though I don't agree with all of his touches, I do think that Franco Zeffirelli de- serves due credit for coming up with a distinctively different ap- proach to Shakespeare's most fa- mous early play. Probably Zeffirelli's most suc- cessful idea is his choice of two teenage actors, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, to fill the lead roles traditionally played by far older actors. The script suddenly takes on an entirely different per- spective ,even if hampered by an occasional hesitant line here and there. Pascqualio de Santis's photog- raphy is perhaps the most de- lightful element of this pleasur- able film. His stunning lighting. gives the interior scenes a slight yellow cast that remarkably imi- tates the colors of a Renaissance painting and amplifies the period atmosphere. David Blomquist The Sting State No doubt about it: the team of Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and George Roy Hill simply can- not make a bad movie. If you liked Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, you'll squeal with delight at Sting. Sting is a story of a big con artist (Newman) who comes out of retirement to take on an ap- prentice (Redford) and make one final "big con" - one final "sting". The result is perfect. -Louis Meldman MCO The Movies, Briarwood McQ is Dirty Harry without star Clint Eastwood, or Don Sie- gal's taut direction. Instead, we have John Wayne in street clothes running around Seattle, hunting down cop-killers with a quasi-cannon that he uses as a handgun. Director John Sturges (The Great Escape) seems to be mainly interested in making sure that all the scenes are in order and that Wayne's gun is loaded. Basically, this is an eminently avoidable movie - unless you like the sight of John Wayne blowing holes in people with a gun that could stop a trailer truck. -James Hynes Jean Cocteau Festival Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud. Blood of a Poet: Fri., 7, 9:05 Orpheus: Sat., 7, 9:05 Testament of Orpheus: Sun., 7, 9:05 Surrealistic filmmaker Jean Cocteau is featured this weekend in a unique triolgy that spans over 30 years of his work. Blood of a Poet, Cocteau's first film, is a slowly unfolding drama filled, as are all of his works, with vivid images from his past. His amazing artistic diversity (Cocteau was a poet, playwright, and artist as well) is brilliantly displayed in this unusual and in- fluential film. In Orpheus, Cocteau updates the legend of the young poet who becomes so fascinated with death that he almost loses Eurydice, his pretty young wife. Unfor- tunately, Cocteau's amazing dex- terity with symbolism flashes by so quickly and furiously that Or-. pheus is virtually incomprehen- sible in one sitting. Testament of Orpheus is a star - studded (Pablo Picasso and Yul Brynner drop by to say hel- lo) autobiographical film told in terms of the original 1950 Or- pheus.The principal cast of that film returns to join Cocteau in what turns out to be a search for nothing. He must have an-, ticipated the reaction to Testa- ment when he subtitled it "Don't Ask Me Why", because the hap- hazard, blah content of the film' certainly invites that question. -David Blomquist and James Hynes Yankee Doodle Dandy Cinema II, Aud. A Fri., 7, 9:15 It's not strange that Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) is Jimmy Cagney's favorite film - the brilliant actor surprisingly start- ed out as a dancer and really cuts loose in this one. Loosely structured around a biography of playwright/showman George M. Cohan, Doodle is a fine picture with excellent supporting per- formances by Walter Huston and Joan Leslie. Top-notch, patriotically choreo- graphed music and an Academy Award - winning Cagney make this a must-see movie. Michael Curtiz, who did Casablanca, di- rected the whole package with a delicate and sensiblemixture of nostalgia and champagne. '-Michael Wilson Klute Friends of Newsreel, MLB Klute (1969) exhibits Jane Fon- da's exceptional acting ability, as she depicts a mysterious call girl involved in a sadistic blackmail scene with more ability and tim- ing than 10 .big - name actresses put together. Donald Sutherland is the cop who tries to help her, and, predictably, falls in love in the process. Alan J. Pakula brings home the suspense and elaborate de- tail with a directorial flair un- equalled that year in tempo and style. His previous works To Kill A Mockingbird, among others) pale considerably against this one. Klute is a twisted and fine- ly mechanized piece of terrific filmmaking that should not be missed. --Michael Wilson Day for Night Campus With Day for Night, Francois Truffaut joins the lengthy list of directors who have attempted to produce The Definitive Movie on the motion picture industry. And while the result isn't really very meaty, it is witty, enjoyable, and a winner - which makes it look like a sure bet for this year's best foreign film Academy Award. Truffaut himself portrays a di- rector working on a typical American' studio film entitled "Meet Pamela". Cast members Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Leaud, and Jean-Pierre Aumont, among others, perform superbly in this combination satire on and tribute to the world of commer- cial film. -David Blomquist Sleuth UAC Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. And. Fri., Sat., 7, 9:30 Laurence Olivier portrays an aging, eccentric writer of mys- tery novels and a lover of elab- orate games. Michael Caine plays a young, modish hairdress- er who is the lover of Olivier's wife. They meet alone at the writer's country estate to talk the situation over. Olivier pro- poses a game, which soon evolves into something more serious. Cleverly scripted by Anthony Shaeffer (Frenzy), Sleuth is packed with witty dialogue and g e n u i n e l y surprising surprises. The plot has more twists in it than a Chubby Check- er record. Yet Sleuth, more than a clever suspense, is a scathingly satiric condemnation of the mur- der - as - a - gentlemanly - sport school of literature and film. Olivier and Caine are mar- velous, of course, but above all, Sleuth is simply great entertain- ment. --James Hynes Easy Rider Friends of Newsreel, MLB Easy Rider (1969) is so unbe- lievably phony that it may well be the worst picture ever made. When you realize that producer Peter Fonda and director Dennis Hopper were actually serious about their project at the time it was made, the whole thing gets a lot more pathetic. Perhaps the most sickening thing about Rider is that it made a fortune - untold millions. The only good minutes in the movie consist of some drunken con- versationdbetween the two co- stars and Jack Nicholson, a Southern lawyer who gets them out of jail. -Michael Wilson The Bank Dick Cook Memorial Films 100 Hutchins Hall, Law Quad Fri., 7:30, 9:30 W. C. Fields plays the con- tinually drunken Egbert Souse in a hilarious 1940 tale that chron- icles the star's annoyinghabit of being in the wrong place at the right time. Fields deftly cap- tures a bank robber and is re- warded for his efforts with full- time employment in the form of permanent bank guard duty. The result is a comic catastro- phe - a classic that will split your sides. Fields' hate for chil- dren crystallizes beautifully in one scene when he threatens a four year old with a five-foot plant. -Michael Wilson The Exorcist The Movies, Briarwood Director William Friedkin (French Connection) has said that this movie was intended to scare people. It is the story of how a little girl (Linda Blair) becomes possessed by the Devil. The little girl masturbates with a crucifix, =turns her head all the way around, and swears a la Jack Nicholson. -Louis Meldman Butllit Michigan House, West Quad Sat., 7 Peter Yates's Bullit (1968) is a truly powerful action-filled flick with enough shotgun bursts of violence and obscene car chases to last you a lifetime. Yet the flawless performance of Steve McQueen in the title role gener- ates more energy than anything the actor's done since his classic Blob in 1958. --Michael Wilson Serpico The Movies, Briarwood Serpico is a fine example of how a film can wrestle with a controversial subject and come out on top. Al Pacino exquisitely portrays Serpico, a Greenwich Village in- tellectual who decides to join the New York 'City police force. Dis- gusted by rampant corruption among patrolmen, he complains to his superiors, but each time receives the same blunt answer -an order to keep his damn mouth shut. Easily Sidney Lumef's best movie, Serpico also happens to be Dino De Laurentis's first film since moving his operations from Rome to New York. --David Blomquist SHOW TIMES Mon.-Sat., 7:15 & 9:00 Sun., 5:30, 7:15, 9:00 JEAN COCTEAU WEEKEND ILOOD OF APOET13 Cocteau was versatile in virtually every 20th century art form, and this film is one result of his interests. The metaphoric happenings of a p o e t. Shorts: Un Chien Andalou Bunuel and Dali, Entr'acte Rene Clair, and a f i I m clip from La Fille D'Eau Renoir SAT.: Cocteau's ORPHEUS Tonight at ARCHITECTURE cU Iu 7 and 9:05 C~ne~naAdm. $1 EASTERN MICH IGAN UNIVERSITY-MAJOR EVENTS COMMITTEE is pleased to announce the only Detroit area performance of T~0T""EM PTATIONA e- SAT., SUN., & WED. AT 1, 3, 5, 7, & 9:05 THURSDAY & FRIDAY at 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. ,I L -17 1:10 MZW6'.. Attention MICHAEL CURTIZ'S 1942 Advertisers for total campus Yankee Doodle andy saturation over air' Call JAMES CAGNEY as George M. Cohan in a nostalgic view of the world of 763-3501 show business in the golden days of Vaudeville. Cagney's brilliant per- formance wan him both the Academy Award & the N.Y. Film Critic Award as best actor of 1942 James Cagney, Walter Huston, Joan Leslie. SAT.: WAR AND PEACE-PART ONE Pack AUD. A CINEMA 11 TONIGHT AT ANGELL HALL -T 650 AM-CN 7 & 9A:1nr Adm. $1.00 The Rock of Ann Arbor WINNER Best Foreign FILM ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION T RUFFAUT'S FOR 603 E. Liberty DIAL 665-6290 Open 12:4$. Shows at 1. 3. 5 7 and 9om. with special guest stars Tower of Power in Bowen Fieldhouse April 5-8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $6.00 (reserved), $5.00 and $4.00 (general) AVAILABLE AT: I McKenny Union, Grinnell's, son's, Ann Arbor Music Huckleberry Party Store, Spaghetti Bender. Hud- Ma rt, and I r I PREMIERES TONIGHT I Pando Company in association with Raybert Productions presents UU5HIDUR An American Odyssey - _ -- JANE FONDA Academy Award winning performance as a New York calTgiri in I i a I with DONALD SUTHERLAND WINNER OF 10 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS including BEST MOVIE starring PETER FONDA - DENNIS HOPPER JACK NICHOLSON directed by Dennis Hopper, written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Peter Fonda, Executive Producer Bert Schneider I "Jane Fonda here emerges as probably actress of her generation."-Life the finest screen TH E £ I= "A ~ . - - - 'fil l I I-rE' .r .tl., ..s...... I I A tirst-rate example of f rKU I L is visually stun- I i