Friday, October 20, 1972
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
AIRBORN
9:30-2:00
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Intimate Lighting
Cinema Guild
Fri.
The pleasures and the entice-
ments of provincial family life
are explored in this 1965 Czech
film. A big-city musician re-
visits an old music conservatory
friend, now music director of the
local school. The sharply differ-
ent life situations and styles of
the two men-one married, with
children, the other frolicking
with a mistress who has ac-
companied him - are contrast-
ed.
Young director Ivan Passer,
with subtly understated tech-
nique and acting, captures the
interplay of the various char-
acters - and the intimations of
the deeper feelings beneath the
surface.
-MATTHEW GERSON
ONLY
Les lonnes Fernmes
Cinema Guild
Saturday, Sunday
Born of the French 'New
Wave' ,and directed by Claude
Chabrol, Les Bonnes Femmes
depicts the crude, deforming re-
alities of the lives of four shop
girls who spend their days be-
hind the counter and their nights
on the prowl seeking those baser
pleasures of human existence.
While all the girls share the same
purpose in life,heach is uniquely
individualin character. Chabrol
examines them as if they were
insects - coldly, impersonally,
and objectively; but with a feel-
ing of intensely personal concern.
The futility of any of the girls
ever achieving happiness drives
them to increasingly degrading
means of entertaining them-
selves. Their story becomes a
tragedy.
The shopagirlsrand the men
they meet are products of Cha-
brol's unique sensibility for hu-
mor, irony, emptiness, and fu-
tility. With the camerawork of
Thi NPKBCD
one of the best of the 'New
Wave' cinematographers, Henri
Decae, he captures the dreary
cheapness of the Parisian land-
scape.
Les Bonnes Femmes is not a
film that entertains and delights
audiences. But nevertheless, it
is an exemplary 'New Wave'
film and a step in the develop-
ment of a highly respected
French director.
-CAROLE TOWNE
Black Orpheus
Cinema II
Fri.
Updating an older dramatic
work to utilize a contemporary
setting and translating ancient
Greek myth in terms of modern
life are two entirely different
propositions. This is the reason
why, to the casual reader, James
Joyce's Ulysses bears little re-
semblance to its mythic source,
and is also the reason why Mar-
cel Camus' Black Orpheus is
no West Side Story. The super-
natural quality of myth and the
mundanity of everyday life can
be reconciled only on the level
of a symbolic and spiritual unity
of the works.
In the film, Orpheus, a music-
ian, falls in lovetwith Eurydice,
loses her to Death, in the form
of a man in a skeleton costume,
and journeys to hell via a voodo
medium to regain her. Other
than this, the myth remains a
spector in the background of this
story of life among the poor
blacks of Rio de Janeiro during
Mardi Gras. The dramatic de-
fects which result from the use
of actual natives rather than
professional actors are more
than offset by the way in which
the director has used his setting
to capture the quality of life in
Rio, and the exciting, almost
mystical air of the Carnival.
-SHELDON LEEMON
A Day at the Races
Cinema II
Sat/Sun
What happens when you take
the world's funniest human be-
ings and place them in the mid-
dle of a fourth - rate musical
comedy? You get a second-rate
musical comedy.
That's about the best that can
be said for A Day at the Races.
The form of successful Marx
Brothers' movies is present in
Races but the substance is
missing. It's filled with gags that
almost succeed and situations
that aren't quite funny. Even the
genius of the Marx Brothers
couldn't salvage this one.
Grouche used to admit that
when all else failed to he al-
ways get a laugh by rolling his
eyes and flashing his eyebrows.
Races doesn't have too much
else to recommend it.
Filmed to cash-in ($) on the
prior success of Night at the Op-
era, Day at the Races unfortu-
nately
quels.
went the way o
ERIC
Thell Them W
Boy Is Her
Bursley Hall
Sat.
Abraham Polonsky wz
balled from Hollywood
McCarthy's reign of t
cause of his Leftist pal
naturally when he ret
f i l m d o m with Wi
critics tried to make up
years by praising thefi
skies. None of which cha
fact that Willie Boy is
tious, often laughable b
ford is OK, but Kather
Indian Maiden has to b
be believed.
f all se- Where the two films part com-
pany, however, is in the all-im-
LIPSON portant matter of tone. Director
John Schlesinger took Cowboy
Tillie and buffed it up to a nice, shiny,
glamorous sort of raunchiness,
e and wrung out of it all the pathos
and pseudo-tragedy he could
find. John Huston, on the other
as black- hand, directs Fat City in a man-
d during ner much more appropriate to
error be- his subject. Assisted by a fine
litics. So screenplay (courtesy Leonard
urned to Gardner, author of the novel by
Ilie Boy, the same name), Huston has fa-
p for lost shioned a small, uneventful film
Im to the about small, uneventful lives.
anges the City is properly drab, faded,
a preten- yet continuously interesting.
ore. Red- One fault: Stacy Keach is mis-
ine Ross' cast as a fifth rate boxer. But
e seen to Jeff Bridges, as a very ordi-
nary small-time pugilist, is fine,
and Susan Tyrrell's barfly, look-
in like d Bnpr ~in pt
And Now for Something
Conpletely Different
Fifth Forum
If you had hundred monkeys
typing at a hundred typewriters
for a hundred years, you prob-
ably would not be able to ar-
rive at a final shooting script
for And Now for Something Com-
pletely Different. With a typic-
al British sense of economy when
it comes to such resources as
monkeys and typewriters, Five
British Loonies, however, were
able to accomplish the task in
considerably less time. While
not Completely Different, this
movie is a novel and amusing ex-
position of the British sense of
humor, somewhat in the vein
of the earlier works of Richard
Lester, and Peter Cook and Dud-
ley Moore's Bedazzled.
The main body of the film con-
sists of a series of bizarre
sketches mixed with parodies of
documentary films and T.V.
Merely describing sketches about
an accountant who wants to be a
lion - tamer, or about the Hell's
Grannies, a savage group of
little old ladies, or about a man
who buys a dead parrot, cannot
convey the tone of this some-
times dry, sometimes silly com-
edy. It is well-paced, with in-
teresting transitions between the
bits, and it is this quality, as
much as the stand-up comedy,
that keeps the film interesting
even when the humor is the type
that merely evokes chuckles
rather than drawing howls of
laughter.
-SHELDON LEEMON
Fat City
Wayside
Fat City and Midnight Cowboy
have a lot in common. Thematic-
ally, that is. Both films are about
empty, lonely lives. Both films
tell the stories of unimportant
people and their gritty, thankless
existences. Both films attempt
to examine the grubby underside
of life that we middleclass mov-
iegoers rarely see.
ing ne a sousea young te
Davis, is fascinating and funny,
if not the utmost in movie rea-
lism.
-RICHARD GLATZER
The New Centurions
Fox Village
The New Centurions begins as
a feature length Adam-12, with a
few nifty chase scenes to its
credit. But director Richard
Fleischer and scenarist Sterling
Silliphant fail to give the movie
the depth necessary to really ex-
amine its subject: cop as an in-
dividual against society. As the
plot develops, two patrolmen -
Andy (George C. Scott), a pa-
trolman due to retire in one
year, and Roy (Stacy Keach), his
youthful partner - are plagued
with a variety of plausible mis-
fortunes. All of which soon be-
come unconvincingly complicat-
ed, however.
Roy undergoes a metamor-
phosis that Kafka would admire.
And Andy, after retiring from
the police force, decides to take
a powder and commit suicide.
One wonders just what George
C. Scott was doing in this medio-
cre film in the first place.
-RAYMOND WILLEY
Fiddler on the Roof
State
Balancing your life between
the pull of tradition and the call
of progress is a little like play-
ing a fiddle on a steep roof.
Harmony is precariously main-
tained, subject to fits of disson-
ance, and liable to terminate at
any moment. Only some tor-
turous bending enables the play-
er to stay in tune at all, and the
established score is largely
scrapped in favor of playing it
by ear.
For the Russian peasant,
Tevye, whose life has always
been laid out according to the
tenets of his Jewish faith and
the demands of the community
good, change is easy to equate
with chaos. The marriages of
his daughters, each succeeding
one more unconventional than
the last, forces him to bend his
traditional values into somewhat
more modern patterns. The les-
sons in compromise (which do
not extend to taking a Gentile
son-in-law) assume greater im-
portance when the villagers are
forced to scatter into lives of
their own at the end of the mo-
vie. Minus the age-old support
of the community, those who
have learned some flexibility
will stand the best chance of
survival.
You can see the film and fig-
ure out the philosophy, or you
can see the film and enjoy its
songs and Technicolor and the
should - have - been Award-
winning acting of Topol as Tev-
ye. Either way, Fiddler on the
Roof is one of those increasingly
rare cinematic events that
should not be missed.
-TERRY MARTIN
Getting Straight
Campus
Getting Straight tries to be
so groovy and hip you feel utter-
ly nauseated at its end. Uptight
school administrators in flair
knits and sideburns try and re-
late to stereotyped student re-
a
ARTS
Easy Rider
Campus
When this film first came out
I was in tenth grade and saw it
four times, mainly because I had
read they used real drugs, and
I had never seen real drugs be-
fore. Now that I'm older and
wiser I can understand and ap-
preciate Easy Rider for what it
really is - a brilliantly con-
ceived musical comedy. Dennis
Hopper, who so obviously copies
the late James Dean it is crimi-
nal, made a fortune from direct-
ing it and went on to make the
disasterous The Last Movie in
Peru - the greedy hippie also
sued Fonda for a supposed quar-
ter of a million in the process.
All of which goes to show that
if you want to be a real hippie
and do real cocaine you've got
to have money.
I should mention that Jack
Nickolson is the only person in
the film who knew what he was
doing, but they kill him off be-
fore he even gets started. The
tricky transition cuts galled ev-
eryone at first, but now we know
it was only due to Hopper's lazi-
ness. If you haven't seen this
garbage don't miss it. The
soundtrack is dynamite, even
though they did cut most of the
songs in half. Gee, real joints.
--PETE ROSS
Butterflies Are Free
Michigan
Being the son of Green Acres
star Eddie Albert probably
brought Edward Albert a lot of
-'I
More, Pizza Days Left
to add a little BLACK OLIVE
to your life
You say you've never tried BLACK OLIVES
on pizza? Try it with ground beef or ham-
it enhances the flavor of the meat. But
there are ONLY 12 DAYS LEFT to try this
scrumptious addition-so order it on your
pizza today!
CALL YOUR NEAREST LOCATION:
E 169-5511 169-4555
1141 Broadway 2259 W. Liberty
$2.0
MALVINA
REYNOLDS
Wrote "L i t t Ie Boxes
"Who Have They Done1
The Rain," "Turn Around,
etc., etc.
"Along with Guthrie, Dyl
and Seeger, Malvina Rey
olds stands as one. of t
20th centurys major write
of folk music.
-S.F. Chronic
MON. & TUES.
DAV ID
BROMBE RG
141 Rill STREE1
71+14s1e
" .a..a s
To
an
n-
he
erF
cfe
T
bels in blue work shirts on a
groovy campus with hip Elliot
Gould. Pretty Candice Bergen is
miscast as pretty Candice Ber-
gen in college struggling to keep
poor Elliot's head together be-
cause everyone's getting laid and
going through so many changes.
Really, the movie is absolutely
awful and don't you wish Ann
Arbor was like that?
I guess Hollywood didn't know
that nobody's protesting any-
more; students are too busy'
cleaning up their faces and get-
ting high on horse tranquilizers
to participate. If you do go, don't
follow your instincts and leave
halfway through-Gould delivers
a genuinely funny monologue on
F. Scott Fitzgerald at the end
that somehow -rises above the
rest of this nonsense.
-PETE ROSS
S0V
tonight
6:00 2 4 7 News, Weather, sports
9 Eddie's Father
50 Flint stones
56 Bridge with Jean Cox
6:30 2 4 7 News
9 Jeannie
50 Gilligan's Island
56 Book Beat
7:00 Truth or Consequences
4 News, Weather, Sports
7 To Tell the Truth
9 Beverly Hillbillies
50 I Love Lucy
56 World Press
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 Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
4 Lion at World's End
7 Brady Bunch
9 News
56 Washington Week in Review
50 Dragnet
62 Wrestling
8:30 7 Partridge Family
9 Political Talk
50 Merv Griffin
56 Off the Record
thleatre
End game: Dramatic success
harassment and the lead role in
the screen adaption of yet an
other successful Broadway play.
It's the tender, warm, and
friendly story of a handsome
blind boy trying to cope with an
overprotective mother, Goldie
Hawn, and the city of San Fran-
cisco - all on one big stage.
For .some reason, whenever
Albert Jr. opens his mouth or
walks across the room, he looks
like a zombie, but don't let that
get in your way; I for one saw
the picture because of Goldie's
body and the way she says,
"Goodnight, Dick," but neither
is in much evidence here. All is.
forgiven in the Albert family,
though, and I'm told Son of
.Green Acres will be playing at
a theater or drive-in near you
soon. Times Square! Fresh Air!
PETE ROSS
9:00 2 CBSsReports
4 How to Handle a Woman
7 Room 222
9 Tommy Hunter
56 Realities
9:30 7 Love, American style
10:00 2 Smithsonian Adventure
4 The American Experience
9 News, Weather, Sports
50 Perry Mason
56 High School Football
10:20 9 Nightbeat
10:30 7 Political Talk
11:00 2 4 7 News, Weather, Sports
9 Cheaters
50 Rollin'
11:30 2 Movie
"The Nutty Professor" (1963)
Jerry. Lewis.
4 Johnny Carson
7 Dick Cavett
9 Movie
"Snake People" (1968) Voodoo
dominated island inhabited by
Zombies, snake cultists.
50 Movie
"Mister Buddwing" (1966) Am-
nesiac wanders New York to
find out who he .is.
1:00 4 News
7 Movie
"Man on a Tightrope" (1953)
Circus troupe tries to flee
Communist occupied Czecho-
slovakia.
1:30 2 Movie
"The Curse of Dracula" (1958)
Vampire kills man and as-
sumes his identity.
3:00 2 7 News
911-5555
3148 Packerd
161-1111
1821 E. Ann
By GLORTA JANE SMITH
Arts Editor
Watch for next month's
ITEM OF THE MONTH
0 V
on the
othe screen
An evening with the Univer-
sity Player's Showcase produc-
tion of Samuel Beckett's End-
game has led me to believe that
local student theatre is perhaps
finally taking a turn towards
truly challenging and innovative
dranma.
Endgame is basically a cere-
bral play-not merely entertain-
ing but thought-provoking. Its
success on the Players' stage
lies mostly in good direction by
Donald Boros which allows us
to experience-more than simply
witness-the utter human agony
of existence. Well-executed comic
relief matched by fine acting
make this production a deeply
meaningful and quasi-enjoyable
experience.
The play centers around di-
alogue between two men-one
who cannot sit and the other
who cannot stand.
Blind Hamm, the dominant of
the two, is portrayed by Warren
Hansen as overpoweringly nar-
cissistic and authoritarian, con-
tinually demanding actions of
Clov. With a brutally scarred
face and dressed in a patchwork
robe of crimson and fur, he is
perversely regal.
The subservient Clov is por-
trayed by Steven Chapman as
one flippantly indifferent to all
about him. Responding to
Hamm's commands, he drags his
stiff leg about stage fetching
alarm clocks, gaffs and other
itinerary, perching himself up-
on a ladder to view the vast
nothingness outside, etc. . . .
Entering into the action are
Hamm's legless parents who
emerge from ashcans to add a
bit of tragic humor and needed
comic relief to the play.
Nagg (played by Michael Roth)
and Nell (played by Vicki Ver-
geldt) dredge out our pity as
they vehemently shiver in the
cold, reminisce the past, and
complain about their cans' sand
which is in need of being
changed. And yet we must sim-
ultaniously laugh . . . at Neel's
whistful sigh "Yesterday . .";
at Nagg's tale about a tailor; at
the couple's futile attempts - to
reach from their cans to kiss
each other.
In the shadows of Beckett's
other works, Endgame speaks
not only of trapped humanity, but
of two men who must wait.
Things are "taking their course,"
gradually degenerating with the
loss of bicycles and sugarplums
and Hamm's painkiller. And out-
side the window, we are con-
tinually reminded, exists a vast
nothingness.
Tension mounts in the play as
we await some outburst, some
rebellion by Clov against his
conditions. He is held slave to
Hamm by forces other than
physical-trapped by a man who
is both unable to see and to
walk.
We also await some saving
grace-some magical eradicator
of the conditions suffered by all.
Gradually Clov's controlled ac-
ceptance diminishes and he be-
comes enraged-or at least as
enraged as a Cloy is capable of
becoming. "You drive me mad,
I'm mad!" he tells Hamm.
Intrinsic to Beckett's success
as a playwright is his poetic
use of language. As earlier in the
play when Clov says "I'll leave
you . . . What is there to keep
me here?"-Hamm replies "The
dialogue."
The cast works well under
Boros' direction,kdoing justice
to Beckett's choice of language
and talent as a playwright. Roth
and Vergeldt, both freshmen, do
a superb iob in their difficult
roles of old-age. Cllapman's por-
traval of nonchalance and con-
trnlled aneer is equally fine.
Perhaps the only acting flaws,
thongh minor, come from Han-
sen. Thronghot the play he sus-
tni-s good gestures and sound
effects (the whistling of the wind,
an o^"gional falsetto): but there
CULI.TURE .CAL EINWAR
DRAMA-Samuel Beckett's Endgame continues at the Frieze
Building's Arena Theater.
UPCOMING THEATER TIP-The tony Award-winning mys-
tery Sleuth will launch PTP's touring series here. The
play will be performed four times-Saturday and Sun-
day at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets available at the Men-
delssohn box office.
MUSIC-Malvina Reynolds performs tonight at the Ark;
The Rockets and Bad Luck and Trouble at the People's
Ballroom tonight from 8-12; And live entertainment to-
night at Rive Gauche.
DANCING-International folk dance tonight in Barbour Gym
8-11 (teaching 8-9).
WEEKEND BARS AND MUSIC-Bimbo's, Gaslighters (Fri.,
We Don't 'Just
Publish a Newspaper
" We meet new people
" We laugh a lot
" We find consolation
" We play football
" We make money (moybe)
* We solve problems
" We debate vital issues
a
®1
SWe drink
5c Cokes
- I ..---.-.W--..--.....-... --.- G -N.G . v .----.- I
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