Fridoy, April 13, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Friday, April 13! '1973 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Tim Buckley
i0!O
Randy Newman
By GLORIA JANE SM
Arts Editor
Dear Glo:
Doesn't Randy Newm
like John Lennon from i
How did you like Tim R
Cock rock! But I loved
matter how sexist!
Coming into the office
hung over from the night
I found this note glaring
the face from my ty
along with a set of contac
from the photographer.
wouldn't be a bad way to
review.
JITH gentle rhythms that gradually
accelerate, sending his entire
body into a shaking frenzy. He
an look raises his arms and his voice
he side? speaks of seduction and swells
3uckley? into a barrage of orgasmic
d it, no screams,
Screams? And yoddles, and
-Diane sighs and groans. Buckley uses
his voice to its ultimate capa-
rather bilities. Sounds that range from
before, rich and deep to mellow and lilt-
g me in ing reach out from his vocal
pewriter chords and penetrate his lis-
t sheets teners
H open1-iWhat struck me f i r s t about
) open a Buckley's performance at Power
Center Wednesday night were the
changes he's gone through since
his appearance here two years
ago. There were few remnants
of" his experimental jazz influ-
enced days. He's mellowed down
considerably, relying heavily on
the lilting ballads of earlier years
sqngs like "Pleasant Street" and
"Once I Was."
During an'interview backstage.,
Buckley talked about the show's
changed format. "People today
are apathetic . . . the energy's
not up far enough for high-energy
songs where nothing ever re-
peats itself. For example, I could
never do anything off Starsailor."
(an album from his jazz-influ-
enced phase).
Buckley's m u s i c has gone
through various phases . . . bas-
ically a progression from coun-
try to folk to jazz to rock. Asked
why his music has changed so
frequently during such a short
time span, he answered merely
st? Per- "God, do we have to be ra-
eally de- tional?" He was sure, however,
ne your that "people really don't have
d is that much to do with it."
a per- Buckley's performance, which
h sex, he called pretty "layed back,"
his eyes ranged from the blatant "On
that he Top" (Get on top of me woman),
es open) and "Sweet Surrender," to the
rotate in meloncholy strains of "Pleasant
Metropolis
Cinema Guild
Fri.
Extravagantly theatric a n d
technically marvelous, Fritz
Lang's remarkable special ef-
fects make Metropolis (especial-
ly considering its being made in
1927) one of the most emotional-
ly powerful of science fiction
films, despite its lack of sound.
37,000 extras were engaged in
some of the episodes. 11,000 of
the men had their heads shaved
to play the Workers, the men
who walk in hypnotic, loboto-
mized two-step to their monoto-
nous jobs underground. Only the
wealthy enjoy the fresh air, sun-
shine, and skysqrapers above
ground, in the land ruled by
Masterman.
How far can this dehumaniza-
tion go? Will Rotwang, the in-
ventor, really build a mechani-
cal duplicate of Mary, the hero-
ine? Will Masterman's son, Eric,
developing his fledgling political
consciousness, lead the workers
in revolt? Will the revolt suc-
ceed? Will Eric get it on with
Mary?
-BRUCE SHLAIN
Forbidden Plane
Cinema Guild
Sat.
When MGM ventures into the
realm of the science fiction
film, one would expect a pretty
lavish end result.'Which is just
what Forbidden Planet (1956) is
supposed to be. From Robby the
gentlemanly robot to the villain-
o'as Id forces (courtesy of Walt
Qisney's animators), this is re-
puted to be a classily mounted
production. The plot revolves
around, Commander A d a m s'
(Leslie ' Nelsen) journey to
Planet Altaire 4 of the Alpha
Aquilae galaxy in the year 2200
A. D. A bit of Altaire history:
the planet, it seems, was orig-
inally inhabited by the super-
human Krell race centuries ago..
In 2180, two Earth-dwellers, Dr.
Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and
daughter Altaire (Anne Francis)
happened upon the place. It is
this happy pair whom Adams
and crew encounter during the
course of their visit to the plan-
et. And then, of course, there
are always those Id forces.
Some critics have pointed
given a lift by a strange young
man whom her husband also in-
vites to stay. That night - prob-
ably one of the most protracted
in screen history - begins with
animosity between the newcom-
er and the wife and progresses
through courtship to love-mak-
ing to a morning in which the
youth and the wife drive off to-
gether to start life anew, leav-
ing her intended lover; her hus-
band, her child. We are asked
cl
.weekend
.I. . . . . . . . . . . .:. 1.r. ..Jr
Daily Photo by JOHN UPTON
Buckley
Newman
Street (You thought you were fly-
ing, but you opened your eyes/
And you found yourself falling
back to yesterday's lies") and
the gentle "Once I Was" ("And
I searched behind your eyes for
you/ And soon there'll be an-
other/ To tell you I was just a
lie"), ending with encores "Sally
Go Round the Roses" and "I Just
Want to Testify," a song accom-
panied only by his drummer and
the rhythmic clapping from the
crowds.
Randy Newman, often referred
to as a "brooding perfectionist,"
was in fine spirits Wednesday as
he ran through a variety of
basically humorous songs, casting
off w i t t y self-criticisms like
"tasty stuff" or "I really got no
shame."
But there was really no need
for self-criticismn - Newman's
raspy voice carried well lyrics
that were both amusing and well-
designed such as a parody of Leo-
nard Cohen's Suzanne which de-
tails the story of a man who
"saw your name, baby In a
telephone booth,/ And it told all
about you, mama' Boy I hope it
was the truth." At the piano,
Newman is a musician par ex-
cellence, rambling through the
soft and lilting, the sounds of
honky-tonk, even some "carou-
sel" tunes (appropriate to one of
his songs).
Is Tim Buckley sexis
haps he is, but that re
pends on how you defi
terms. What can be sai
Tim Buckley pours out
formance that oozes with
On stage, he closesI
(he has said in the past
can't sing with his ey
and his hips begin tor
For today's TV listings, see Page '7
C ULTURCA
DRAMA-The University Players present Cesaire's The
Tragedy of King Christophe in the Trueblood Theatre at
8 p.m.
DANCE-An International Folk Dance will be held in the
Barbour Gym from 8-11 p.m.
MUSIC--The music school presents the opera Palleas and
Melisande in the Mendelssohn Theatre at 8 p.m. In
Rackham Auditorium at 8 p.m. the music school con-
tinues its Contemporary Directions Series.
WEEKEND BARS AND MUSIC-The Ark, Diana Markowitz
(Fri., Sat., Sun.), admission; Blind Pig, Brooklyn Blues
Busters (Fri., Sat.) cover; Pretzel Bell, RFD Boys (Fri.,
Sat.) cover; Rubaiyat, Iris Bell Adventure Fri., Sat., Sun.)
no cover; Bimbo's, Gaslighters, (Fri., Sat., Sun.) cover;
Del Rio, Jazz (Sun.) no cover; Golden Falcon, B.J. and
the Holding Company (Fri., Sat.) cover; Mr. Flood's Party,
B.C. Papke (Fri., Sat., Sun. at 3 p.m.) cover; Bimbo's on
the Hill, Cricket Smith (Fri., Sat.) cover.
out a plot similarity between to believe - and sympathize
Forbidden P 1 a n e t and The. with - the thesis that one sat-
Temptest; some critics tend to isfactory sexual encounter, pre-
get carried away. Anyway, it is sumably her first such, is enough
all in Eastman Color, with elec- to make the wife spurn ' her
tronic "tonalities" instead of whole as a wasteful sham and
soundtrack music. (Not review- go off with the young man who
ed at press time). has brought her the Truth so
-STAFF pleasantly and quickly.
The wisdom of .the film is thus
Alphaville somewhat less profound and in-
Cinema Guild deed is somewhat dated. It be-
Sun. longs to the "I tell you, Sex is
Beautiful" school of the early
Lemmy Caution (Eddie Con- part .of the century . . . One
stantine) was the hero of many shudders for the future of the
a low-budget French detective pair, particularly the woman.
films of the early Sixties. In Al- --STANLEY KAUFFMAN, 1959
phaville (1965), Jean-Luc God-
ard decided to make his own The Virgin Spring
Lemmy Caution film, this time
sending Lemmy on a mission to Cinema II
the futuristic, computerized, Sat. & Sun.
passionless title city. Lenny's ad- The Virgin Spring, directed by
ventures in Alphaville - re- Ingmar Bergman with a screen-
volving around battles with the play by Ulla Isaksson, is the
evil computer Alpha 60 and its story about the rape of a young
mad creator, Professor van girl and the brutal revenge her
Braun - sound like a diffuse sa- father takes upon her assail-
tiric commentary on pop art ants. Since none of the Daily re-
combined with an attack on tech- viewers have seen this film, we
nology. are borrowing the words of critic
Generally, critics have con- Robin Wood: The first thing peo-
demned the movie as avant- ple tend people tend to notice
garde trash. Arlette Ekraim (quite rightly) about The Virgin
(Jean - Paul Sarte's adopted Spring is the convincing reality
d a u g h t e r), in Le Temps with which medieval life is cre-
Moderne, called Alphaville, "a ated. In fact, the film can be
mass of pseudo - philosophical sharply distinguished from The
verbiage, twaddle, scenes so af- Seventh Seal in that the char-
fected as to be embarrassing." acters of The Virgin Spring are
Ex-Daily critic supreme Neal felt consistently 'to belong. to
Gabler echoed these sentiments their environment and their per-
when he called the film, "Boffol iod:. the universal relevance of
El Stinko!" the film grows out of the perma-
Yet the movie has a defender nent and fundamental drives of
in Sight and Sound's Richard human nature, not out of the
Roud, who compares the film to placing of essentially modern
a Liechtenshtein painting. Roud characters within a medieval
then goes on to praise Godard's framework. Throughout, there
use tof underlit Paris locations is the sense of life lived close to
as settings for his city of the fu- the basic physical realities, with
ture. Some . people call that little to soften or screen; a life
praiseworthy; others call it against which Karin's (Brigitta
cheap. (Not reviewed at press Pettersson) lovely clothes and
time). coddled sweetness stand out in
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The Discreet Charm
of the Bourgeoisie
Campus
It might well have been called
The Dreams of the Bourgeoisie,
for this latest film of Luis Bunuel
is made up of several strange,
surrealistic scenes meant to
sound the depths of its charac-
ters. The charm of the charac-
ters grows out of the fact that
this sounding out does not phase
them in the least. No matter
what goes on around them or
within them, they never regis-
ter anything more than minor
annoyance or irritation. Their
darling smiles remain intact,
their unconsciousness is never
shaken.
The Discreet Charm feels as
though it was made by a man
who is content with his long and
(in some circles) distinguished
career as a filmmaker. Bunuel
seems to be having fun with his
haracters and his style. There
is none of the anger or deri-
sion which marked' his earlier
films like Las Hondas, Viridian,
Los Olvidados. Instead he has
made a light, mildly humorous
movie about upper-class folly.
It is a film easy to enjoy, though
it is not the raucous comedy
many have made it out to be.
-DAVID GRUBER
Brother Sun,
Sister Moon
Fifth Forum
Brother Sun, Sister Moon pur-
ports to be the story of the life
of St. Francis of Assisi. I was
not aware that St. Francis was
such a simp. In this movie he
does little more than look serene-
ly into the heavens, walk or run
through sunny Italian meadows,
or give brief sermonettes on the
necessity to return to the "sim-
ple life." Nice to look at, boring
to listen to.
-WILLIAM MITCHELL
Jerimiah Johnson
Fox Village
Robert Redford is Jerimah
Johnson, the adventuresome pio-
neer, the self-imposed societal
outcast who, as a young man,
seeks the awesome beauty and
austere survival - oriented life
of the Rocky Mountains. We fol-
low his life for a number of
years, witnessing encounters
with fellow mountaineers, hostile
and friendly Indians, and set-
ters. Unlike the majority of
cowboy and Indians genre films,
this is a relatively chauvanism-
free documentary on mountain
life in the last century. The wild-
erness scenery, filmed in na-
tional forests and state parks in
Utah and Colorado, is breath-
taking, the sets painstakingly
realistic, the acting convincing,
the action well-paced and not
overly blood-stained. One could
argue that Robert Redford's
character was a touch over-god
ly, but this is of minor import.
Go see it.
-MARTY MARMOR
The Class of '44
Michigan
.Benjy, Oscy, and Hermie, the
boys from Summer of '42 are al
getting older - and growing
richer. Critical concensus has It
that Class of '44, like its fore-
runner, is a sweet, nostalgic un-
pretentious, undisguised ploy for
money. One of our young men
enters the army, another enters
college and flunks out, the third
is a collegiate whiz kid who
makes it with some blond. U
like its predecessor, the film
does not move the audience that
much, because the sentiment is
too thick. Not seen by press time.
-STAFF
One Day in the Life
of Ivan Denisovich
UAC-Mediatrics
Sat. & Sun.
A sincere film made from the
work of Solzenhitzen, Denisovich
has trouble with the problem of
how to make a film portraying
monotony without being monoto-
nous. At any rate, Tom Courte-
nay is very fine in the leading
role, and the final scene, with
the hero. staring down complac-
ently at the fish-heads in his wa-
tery soup, is unique in its effec-
tiveness.
-BRUCE SHLAIN
Willard
UAC Mediatrics
Friday
Hold on to your rat poison-
here comes Willard again. This
heart rending story of a boy and
his rat tries to chill you with
graphic scenesof vengeful ro-
dents swarming all over Ernest
Borgnine. Poor Ernie . . . poor
rats ! Instead what you get is a
pretty predictable Frankenstein-
ian plot wherein man tries to con-
trol his environment by creating
a monster, which works for a
time until the monster gets ideas
of its own. End of ecological
balance: After Willard, what??
A pet shark movie? Let's hope
not.
-WILLIAM MITCHELL
Also:
For the fifth program of its
international film series, the
New World Film Co-op is present-
ing Viva Frelimo and Come Back
Africa, two films dealing with
The Lover
Cinema II
Fri.
The Lovers, directed
ten by Louis Malle,
sence, as silly a pic
have seen in .some tin
young provincial wife. 1
a busy husband, toys
idea of taking a lover.
band invites the can
their house for a week
her car breaks down t
-STAFF ballad like relief, carrying strong
positive meaning even when the
rs treatment is most critical. Phys-
ical experience is consistently
vivid, from the opening shots of
and writ- the pregnant Ingeri (Gunnel
is, in es- Lingblom) blowing the fire and
ture as propping open the heavy, primi-
ne . A tive skylight with a pole, through
bored with the sequence of her hiding the
withthe toad in the loaf of bread Karin
The hus- is to carry with her on her mis-
ididate to sion to the church, to the brutal
end. After details of the rape (most of the
he wife is impact and much of the point
of which was considerately re-
moved by the British censor),
and of the father's revenge .. .
l'1T
A Streetcar Named
Desire
MLB Auditorium
Fri. & Sat.
For people who were impress-
ed by Brando in The Godfather,
seeing A Streetcar Named De-
sire helps put things in perspec-
tive. One can really see, in Bran-
do's portrayal of Stanley Kowal-
ski, what the man is papable of
doing. True, he perhaps leaned
too heavily upon the character of
Kowalski in subsequent films,
but that does, not diminish, in any
respect, Brando's brilliant, orig-
inal physical and verbal concep-
tion of brutal, primitivistic amor-
ality.
Vivian Leigh won an Oscar for
her role as Blanche, the lonely
and decaying Southern belle lost
in a hopeless struggle to main-
tain her fading gentility in the
face of Stanley's badgering.
Elia Kazan, directing the Ten-
nessee Williams play, concen-
trated on the pathos of vain es-
capism, alternating masterfully
the moments of poignancy with
those of sheer emotional vio-
lence. One of the best adapta-
tions of drama for the screen.
-BRUCE SHLAIN
"TON IG H T! 8:00 P.M."
The University Players
Proudly Present
Aime Cesa ire's+
"THE TRAGEDY OF
KING CHRISTOPHE"
(The black ex-slave and cook
who become the King of Haiti )
APRIL 11-14
TRUEBLOOD THEATRE
(Frieze Building)
SINGER-SONGWRITER
"BRIGHTEST NEW FACE
IN MANY MONTHS"
-Village Voice
141 0 iI l REET
T6> 1g5
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*~'*~'~~******.-....4 N'S..
".N 3 :
Petitions now being accepted
for Fall 1973 GILBERT AND
SULLIVAN Production
* DRAMATICS DIRECTOR
* MUSICAL DIRECTOR
m