Friday, March 30, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Friday, March 30, 1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three
The African Queen
Cinema Guild
African Queen is John Hus-
ton's classic story of the orner-
iest loner (Humphrey Bogart),
the purest Missionaries' daughter
(Katherine Hepburn), and their
impossible downriver journey to
blow up a German ship. More
centrally, it is a wonderfully
naive presentation of the battle
between the sexes. The action
is improbable but exciting. The
characterizations are stereotypic
yet touching. Bogart and Hep-
burn are a magnificent couple.
-MARTY MARMOR
Before the Revolution
Cinema Guild
Sat. & Sun.
The commotion over Last
Tango in Paris is probably'some-
thing director Bernardo Berto-
lucci takes in stride, since he
has been exposed to the likes of
it before. His films have always
generated excitement (though
not such great controversy), and
they have always been acknow-
ledged as the works of a fine,
exuberant creative mind.
Indeed, Bertolucci began his
career with a sensation. Before
the Revolution, his second film,
made when he was 22, was the
triumph of the 1964 New York
Film Festival. It aroused a
number of great expectations
among critics, and these expec-
tations have been met. Now, af-
ter The Spider's Strategem,
The Conformist, and Last Tango,
it is recognized as a work that
has its flaws, but is still far
above what a person might ex-
pect from a beginner.
Before the Revolution concerns
an adolescent's efforts to find
an outlet for his youthful ideal-
ism. He delves into everything-
art, politics, romance - with a
rebellious spirit, but inevitably
learns that reality is relatively
unchangeable. It is said to be
beautifully photographed a n d
surprisingly well acted by its
cast of non-professional perform-
ers. Film not seen by press
time.
-DAVID GRUBER
Key Largo
Cinema II
Friday
Into the still, hot, stick air of
an isolated- stretch of Florida
beach comes Humphrey Bogart,,
an ex-army major here to visit
the father and wife of his best
buddy, who's been killed in the
war. He is hard-bitten, war-
weary, disillusioned. But his
buddy is dead and somehow he
feels the need to pay his re-
spects to the family.
as director John Huston express-
ed to one reviewer, this was not
his primary concern in making
the film. Above all, he said, he
wanted to stress the necessity of
remaining vigilant against any
form of corruption that tries to
slip back into a position of pow-
er. Such sentiments seem en-
tirely understandable in Cold
War America, and they really
do not detract much from the
overall fine acting and tense ac-
tion presented in Key Largo.
-WILLIAM MITCHELL
cinema
weekend
The Hustler
Cinema II
Sun.
'That game with the 15 num-
bered balls is the D e v i l' s
tool . . ."-Prof. Harold Hill.
The Hustler cracks and rum-
bles with every movement of the
very colorful characters, or the
rolling of the ivory balls on the
slate slabs of the pools tables.
The story is a "fastest gun in
the West" saga transferred to
the smoky pool rooms, with a
classic confrontation between
Fast Eddie Felson (Paul New-
mal) and Minnesota Fats (Jac-
kie Gleason). Gambler Bert
Bordon (George C.. Scott) con-
trols the action from the side-
lines, judging what he refers to
as "character."
Director Robert Rossen has
penned an extremely creditable
script, capturing the odor and
irony of the situation. Fats can
beat Eddie, and Eddie can over-
come Bert, but Bert controls
Fats, so who's the winner? As
an added technical note, Willie
Mosconi, Minnesota Fats' num-
ber one enemy, assisted Jackie
Gleason, as Fats, in the filming
of The Hustler.
-JEFF EPSTEIN
Mary Queen of Scots*
Friends of Newsreel
MLB
Fri., Sat.
Charles Jarrott's version of the
16th Century Battle of the
Queens, with Vanessa Redgrave
in the title role and Glenda Jack-
son as her rival, Queen Eliza-
beth. Vincent Canby of the New
York Times described the film
as, "an exceptionally loveless,
passionless costume drama . . .
all it's really doing is touching
bases, like a dull dutiful stu-
dent . . . The feebleness of the
exchanges is almost enough to
induce a kind of nutty compas-
sion." The movie does have two
excellent actresses, as its leads,
though; perhaps it is worth see-
ing for their performances. (Not
reviewed at press time).
long-fingernailed devil atop her.
Or is it more than a dream?
Until the very end, Polanski
carefully splits the evidence for
and against Rosemary's insanity.
But the sympathy of the audi-
ence is with her all the way, es-
pecially during her pregnancy,
when she cuts her hair so she
resembles Joan of Arc, grows
pale, and loses a great deal of
weight.
While movies like Psycho de-
rived their scary nature from
the phenomenon of the diseased
mind in a normal world, Polan-
ski's Rosemary is the only sane
woman left in a world of devilish
insanity.'
-B. SHLAIN
Pistacce (Gabriella Tuna), his
wife and faithful valet: Signora
(in Italian) - "Eh, Pistacce!
What do you think of the Viet
Nam War?" Signor (in English)
"Eh! Why not let Saigons be
Saigons?" Concise, provocative,
uproarious.
One can go on and on describ-
ing Bolu gems: the fabulous
short episode in which Bolu sees
a woman with three breasts -
and does a double take! The
single shot (daringly held for
ten minutes) in which Bolu first
sees a Tootsie Roll. Bolu's
warm and poignant conversation
with Gabriella Tuna when the
couple discovers that their three
year old son is a transvestite.
The Life and Times The Maltese Falcon could also
be the architect of a scene in
of Judg e Roy Bean which Paul Newman gets drunk
The Life and Times of Judge with a bear.
Roy Bean is one of the most -B. SHLAIN
curious - looking films John Hus-
ton has ever made. Surely it is Steelyard Blues
a surprise, coming as it does Fox Village
after the superbly tight drama,
Fat City, in which he blended Steelyard Blues is after your
an acute, almost documentary student dollar. Donald Suther-
naturalism with artfully con- land plays an ex-con demolition
cocted character studies. .....derby freak; Jane Fonda, a pro-
Bean, however, is wildly dis- stitute; (reminiscent of Klute);
jointed, with characters flying and Peter "Joe" Boyle, an un-
in and out of the action like employed madman circus per-
mosquitoes. Mostly, it is a ser- former. They, and their entour-
ies of comic vignettes involving age, are zany free-spirited indi-
law and order in the West, with viduals who merely want to en-
Paul Newman in the starring joy themselves without societal
role as the judge. The movie interference. No such luck.
begins with Bean robbed by a I think the film attempts to
pack of whores and scoundrels offer a political statement con-
-they tie a noose around his cerning the viability of anar-
neck and let his horse drag him chism in a repressive society, or
off to strangle him. But the perhaps an existential statement
rope breaks, and Bean returns to concerning the necessary re-
murder all of his dozen or so sponse of absurdism in the face
attackers, proclaiming himself of alienation and meaningless-
as the indomitable "law of the ness. Maybe both or neither.
land." Either way this is not an even-
Slowly but surely, amidst num- ing with John Paul Sarte or
erous arbitrary hangings or- the Wobblies. The symbolism is
dained solemnly, albeit drunken- gross, the dialogue unexception-
ly, by Judge Bean, a town al, the plot line non-existent.
builds up around him. The his- -MARTY MARMOR
torical implications of the tale,
once the town can no longer tol- And Yet Another
erate hangings in broad daylight Week Of
and denounces Bean, recalls the**
effect of Arthur Penn's Little Cries and Whispers - Campus
Big Man, in which an era is - Bergman's hotly controversial
captured in the legendary exper- film about death, pain, and the
iences of one man. Penn, how- interpersonal relationships among
ever, had far better control over four women (one of whom is
his treatment of history, maybe dying).
because his characters were not The Heartbreak Kid - Michi-
drunk most of the time. Still, gan - A vastly overrated disas-
Huston's movement towards the ter. Elaine May's sloppily made,
surreal is one of the most inter- thoroughly cynical variation on
esting developments in his il- The Graduate, replete with a
lustrious career - who would cast of totally despicable card-
think that the man who made board characters.
The father (Lionel Barry-
more) and his daughter-in-law
(Lauren Bacall) own a big non-
descript hotel, but when Bogart
arrives he finds they are unwill-
ing guests in their own place;
the property has been taken
over by a gang of thugs head-
ed by a slimy second-class mob-
ster named Johnny Rocco (Ed-
ward G. Robinson). Rocco, it
seems, had been deported to
Cuba years ago, but has decid-
ed that the time is right to make
a clandestine comeback, com-
plete with all the cruelty and
arrogance of old. The first shot
of an obese, sweaty Robinson
sitting in a tub of cold water,
rubbery lips wrapped around a
huge black cigar, epitomizes his
vulgar character perfectly. He is
a malevolent force that Bogart
is too apathetic, too cautious to
face up to at first, but as Rocco
becomes more threatening and
constricting, the ex-army major
realizes just how dangerous such
an element is to society, and
finally becomes so outraged that
he is, able to act upon the ideal-
istic convictions he'd thought
he'd lost.
"Rediscovering courage", then,
is one of the themes running
through Key Largo (1948), but
Picnic on the rass
Cinema II
Sat.
New York Times film critic,
Bosley Crowther, had these com-
ments when Picnic On The
Grass opened in the Big Apple
in October of 1960. "Jean Re-
noir is too old, too skillful and
too sophisticated to be wasting
his time on rather foolish, in-
consequential traveling - sales-
man type of jokes.
"True M. Renoir has framed
his picture, which he wrote, di-
rected and produced, in beauti-
ful outdoor settings that are
so rich in color, so real in form
and so redolent of the rustic
that they suggest (as they were
plainly meant to do) the open-
air quality of paintings of the
French Impressionist school.
"But the style of presenta-
tion of the story, which is fan-
ciful and foolish in itself, is more
on the order of some of the pho-
tographs that modern advertis-
ers use - you know, those things
that show ladies in evening
dresses pushing supermarket
carts . . ." (Film not reviewed
at press time.)
-STAFF
The delicate, balletic visual humor of Bolu in 'Squigi'
.. _____
UAC-DAYSTAR Presents:
tim buckley
randy newman
and
-STAFF
Rosemary's Baby
UAC-Mediatrics
Nat. Sci. Aud.
Fri., Sat.
Rosemary's Baby is Roman
Polanski's rendering of the Ira
Levin novel. Like most all of
Polanski's work (Cul-de-Sac),
Repulsion, etc.), the film con-
centrates on lonely characters,
this time one character, Rose-
mary, in a macabre and alien
world.
The story is of a young couple
(Mia Farrow and John Cassa-
vetes) who buy an old house.
Their neighbors, as it turns out,
are involved in witchcraft, at
least as a hobby. Rosemary is
given a sedative in the form of
some dessert from her neigh-
bors, and then dreams of being
raped on a table, with torches
burning on the, walls and a scaly,
t
t
t
Squigi
Nat. Res. And.
Sun.
Squigi (1972) is the third fea-
ture film in fifteen years from
the amazingly talented director-
screenwriter - actor Bolu - the
most popular celebrity in all
Sardinia (actually worshipped
in idol form in one small sea-
side village), the mostrbeloved
comedian in all Southern Eur-
ope. yet a man literally unknown
in the rest of the world. Bolu's
comedy is primarily visual - a
delicate, almost balletic, fragile
form of humor that clearly has
its origins in the silent film.
Witness, for example, Squigi's
classic scene in which we see a
mouse about to run unknowing-
ly into a mousetrap. Bolu's Sig-
nor Pistacce (that brilliantly
simple, arresting screen char-
acterization) p i c k s up the
mouse before it meets its doom
and places it on the kitchen
table - to save its life, we as-
sume. But no, the devilish Pis-
tacce, with that irrestible grin
on his face, proceeds to smash
the mouse with a three foot long
rolling pin.
Yet Bolu's humor is not en-
tirely limited to the visual. His
verbal witticisms are often de-
ceptively simple, the terse final
products of deep and profound
thought processes. An example .
is this devastating exchange
Signor Pistacce has with Signora
Yet the greatest pleasure is in
simply viewing a work of this
genius - and Squigi, like all
Bolu films, is one of those movie
masterworks that should be seen
again and again and again.
-RICHARD GLATZER
Fellini Roma
Fifth Forum
Decadence has become the
forte of Federico Fellini. He
has given us plenty of it over
the years and for the most part,
he has made it "visually excit-
ing, which is something of a
paradox. In Roma we get some
more. The film is a dazzling
collage of scenes depicting life
in Italy's greatest city. Fellini
and his crew, take us through
traffic jams, half-built subway
tunnels, brothels (cheap ones
and exclusive ones), ancient
ruins, modern ruins. We see the
people going through comical
and somewhat grotesque daily
experiences - some of the peo-
ple are quite comical and gro-
tesque themselves. And in one
almost surreal episode, we are
admitted to an ecclesiastical fa-
shion show, which serves as a
classic expose on the state of
the Catholic Church. All in all
it's energetic and entertaining,
though Fellini has said it be-
fore. The Roman Empire is
still falling.
- DAVID GRUBER
tonight
6:00 2 4 7 News
9 Courtship of Eddie's Father
50 Flintstones
56 Operation Second Chance
6:30 2 CBS News
4 NBC News
7 ABC News
9 1 Dream of Jeannie
50Gilligan's Island
56 Bridge with Jean Cox
7:00 2 Truth or Consequences
4 News
7 To Tell the Truth
9 Beverly Hillbillies
7:30 2 What's My Line?
4 Hollywood Squares
7 Wait Till Your Father
Gets Home
9 Lassie
56 Wall Street Week
50 Hogan's Heroes
8:00 2 Mission:Impossible
4 Sanford and Son
7 Brady Bunch
56 Washington Week in Review
50 Dragnet
8:30 4 Little People
7 Partridge Family
9 Woods and Wheels
50 Merv Griffin
56 Off the Record
56 World Press
9:00 2 Movie
"Harlow." (1965)
4 Circle of Fear
7 Room 222
9 News
56 Turning Points
9:30 7 Odd Couple
9 sports Scene
56 Performance: Jazz
10:00 4 Bobby Darn
7 Love, American Style
9 Anne Murray
50 Perry Mason
56 Net Festival
11:00 2 4 7 News
9 CBC News
50 One Step Beyond
11:20 9 News
11:30 2 Movie
"Triangle" (1970)
4 Johnny Carson
7 In Concert
50Movie
"All This, and Heaven Too,"
(1940)
12:00 9 Movie
"King Kong vs. Godzilla."
(Japanese 1962)
1:00 4 Midnight Special
7 Movie
"Treasures of Kenya"
(English 1968)
1:30 2 Movie
"Witness to Murder" (1954)
9 Wrestling
2:30 4 News
3:00 2 TV High Schoou
7 News
3:30 2 News
wcbn
89.5 fm
9 The Morning After
12 Progressive Rock
4 Folk
7, Live Folk
7:30 Talkback
8 Rhythm and Blues
11 The Oldies Show
cable tv
channel 3
3:30 Pixanne
4:00 Julia Meade
4:30 Something Else
5:00 Stratosphere Playhouse
5:30 Local News/Sports
6:00 The Right On-Model Cities
6:30 NCAA SuperSports
7:00 Community Dialogue
4
WED., APRIL 11-POWER CENTER'
$3.00 admission
Both Performing advance tickets now on sale
Bth7: Pe9:o ing Michigan Union 11--5:30
at 7:00 & 9:30 concerts Mon.-Sat. 763-4553
by KEN RUSSELL
director of "The Devils"
featuring Glenda
Jackson's Academy
Award winning
performance
MIDNIGHT MOVIE
Friday and Saturday
Doors Open 11:45
PLUS CHAPTER 9 of
"FLASH
GORDON"
Not Continuous with
"Fellini's Roma"
NEXT WEEKEND
Fri., Sot. - April 6, 7
Lindsay \Anderson's "IF"
and FLASH GOR DON No. 10
"A WILD, WILD, ALL STAR EPIC. NEWMAN BRILLIANT!"
231_ s_____s ___ -James Bacon, L.A. Herald-Examiner
S TA TE I
"AS ENTER' IN THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
TAINING ASe
BUTCH t NOW SHOWING
CASSIDY'" ."SHOWS AT
LARRY KRAMER and MARTIN ROSEN yeset
ALAN BATES OLIVER REED
GLENDA JACKSON JENNIE LINDEN
ml, ELEANOR BRA]
CUL'r7uRE .CALEINDAR'
MUSIC-The School of Music presents Hugo Wolf Liedera-
bend, a concert consisting of a choice selection of Wolf's
19th century songs, as performed by Elizabeth Mosher~
Rosemary Russell, John McCollum, Leslie Guinn, and
Willis Patterson-all accompanied by Paul Boylan. To-
night at 8 in the Rackham Auditorium. Also tonight,
Henry Tysinger's organ doctoral, in Hill at 8.
UPCOMING CONCERT TIP-Bette Midler-The Divine Miss
M-performs tomorrow night at Hill at 8. Some ticketsf
still available.
DRAMA-The U Players' production of Arrabal's The Archi-
tect and the Emperor of Assyria will be presented tonight
at Frieze's Arena Theatre at 8. The Ann Arbor Civic
Theatre's production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at
Lydia Mendelssohn tonight at 8. And the Union Gallery
presents Albee's The American Dream tonight at the
gallery at 8.
DANCE-An International Folk Dance, 8-11 at Barbour Gym
(teaching 8-9).
WEEKEND BARS AND MUSIC-The Ark, Aly Bain and the
Boys of the Loch (Fri., Sat.) admission; Markley Hall,
New Heavenly Blue and Mojo Boogie Band (Fri.) admis-
sion; Bimbo's, The Gaslighters (Fri., Sat., Sun.) cover;
Del Rio, Jazz (Sun.) no cover; Rubaiyat, Iris Bell Adven-
ture (Fri., Sat., Sun.) cover; Pretzel Boys, RFD Boys (Fri.,
Sat.) cover; Blind Pig, Steve Nardella (Fri., Sat.) cover
(Closed Sun.); Golden Falcon, Fifth Revelation (Fri.,
Sat.) cover; Mackinac Jack's, Circus (Fri., Sat.) cover,
Bizzaro (Sun.) cover; Mr. Flood's Party, Cadillac Cowboys
(Fri., Sat.) cover, Diesel Smoke and Dangerous Curves
(Sun. 3 p.m.) cover; Bimbo's on the Hill, Longspur (Fri.,
Sat.) cover.
FAj Med iatrics
Rosemary's Baby
Re-scheduled from April 6 & 7
I
&1-71d
-Judith Crist,
New York Magazine
SAT. & SUN. AT
7 & 9 P.M. ONLY
JACQUELINE BISSET
(Rose Bean)
m-g
AV,. %iARONER
(Lily Langtry)
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