lk
Joi de vivre'fills
exuberant gay flick
By MIKE TAYLOR
HAD ANITA BRYANT known that her tirades against gay men and les-
bians would unify them for the first time into a strong movement in
defense of human rights, she might have had second thoughts. Arthur J.
Bresson Jr.'s Gay USA, which had its Midwest premier Monday and Wed-
nesday nights at the Modern Language Building, is the first film to try to
capture the vibrance and loving warmth of this movement. As a film,
it's not great; as a vivid document of human growth, however, it succeeds
admirably.
All the documentary cliches are here in this record of the June 26, 1977
Gay Freedom Day marches in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los
Angeles, and San Diego - fast cuts from face to face, real conversation
instead of rehearsed narration, a soundtrack filled with voices and songs,
and "dramatic" shifts from the marches to Riefenstahl's Triumph of the
Will Nazi footage. But while the film won't win any awards for imaginative
filmmaking, it uses standard techniques to more than adequately convey the
spiritual high of the day.
As the fast-paced stream of faces flashed on the screen shows, an im-
mense variety of people came to the marches. From the man who condemns
gays for having problems with "sex hormones," to the countless "I'm not
gay myself, of course, butI do believe they should be given their rights,"
onlookers, plenty of straights are represented.
BUT THE GAY men and lesbians
are the true stars of the show. One
woman originally from Witchita,
Kansas who left her husband to
come out in 1975 said that "There's'
less repression in Witchita than in
other places in Kansas," but admit-
ted that wasn't saying very much.,
Another woman. glowed with
feelings of safety and warmth in a}
street filled with men and women
she did not know; it was a new ex-.
perience for her. A beaming man
talked of his job teaching youngechil-
dren and the changes he's made sin-Y
ce moving to San Francisco from
Rochester, New York.A nita Bryant
The folk songs which back many scenes and colorful visuals add to a
carnival-like atmosphere. One marcher noted that unlike the peace mar-
ches, which were often depressing due to their negative protest nature, the
day's march was much more a jubilant celebration of gay life and rights.
The gorgeous array of faces, bodies, and clothes contrasts sharply with
older black and white shots of earlier marches, when fewer women par-
ticipated, and all the men had long hair and beards, as well as with Riefen-
stahl's regimented Nazi march footage.
The film is only an hour and fifteen minutes long, but the folk songs
become a bit wearing after a while, and the shots and dialogue become
repetitive. Tighter editing wouldn't have hurt it. Some scenes are a little too
cute; they seem straight out of a Pepsi commercial. As one viewer joked
later, "Come alive, you're the gay generation!"'
Gay USA is a non-profit film - all the proceeds beyond cost go to Artists
United for Gay Rights, which then distributes the funds to various lesbian
and gay men's groups. The free Ann Arbor showings were paid for by the
Lesbian's Advocate Office, the LS&A Student Government, the Gay
Academic Union, and the Residential College. -
For straights, the film is a revealing, non-threatening glimpse into the
lives of real gay folk; for gays, it's a gesture towards solidarity in the battles
that lie ahead; for all, it's a moving tribute to love.
aldeman says
Nixon" s at fault
(Continued from Page 1)
'Julia~
By MICHAEL BROIDY
HEN GOING TO movies, rarely
does one expect to see a film that
works well on a number of levels. One
goes to a spy picture expecting but the
usual adventures, not a character study
or a breathtakingly photographed
essay on human values; similarly, one
goes to a so-called "woman's picture"
expecting a four-hanky melodrama, not
a film which details an increasingly
complex relationship with such finesse
that the events move with intensity
precluding the shedding of tears.
In the new film Julia, however, one
finds all these elements woven together
with such intricacy by director Fred
Zinnemann and stars Jane Fonda and
Vanessa Redgrave that one is left stun-
ned. Julia is a powerful work which
leaves an indelible imprint on its
audience.
The screenplay is adapted from
author and playwright Lillian
Hellman's autobiographical memoir
"Pentimento" in which her relationship
with Julia is one of the episodes. This
episode, as well as the book as a whole,
is beautifully written - sophisticated
and touchin, while at the same time
evasive and mysterious - and keenly
outlines the intimate feelings and frien-
dships of its author, while shedding
light on a complex and exciting period
of history. Her recollections of her
lifelong friend, Julia, provide the core
of the memoir from which is revealed a
superl ati
i
headed for Berlin a
forces there. The t
the sequence is a
Zinnemann's contr
one can feel the ch
train compartmen
current fear. Whi
straightforward a
while very effect
tional, the underly
dship and growth a
ventional. Through
grows and her rela
solidifies into an und
THE FILM REA
of its power in a sc
taurant where Lillia
for what turns outt
Although they hav
communicated with
eral years, their me
alliance having be
The Michigan Daily-Friday, February 17, 1978-Page 5
ye memoii
Lnd the Underground -are appropriate both professionally and
ension that pervades personally for their roles.
tribute to director Director Fred Zinnemann blends
ol over the medium: together many elements of the film -;
austrophobia of the as an historical document, thriller, tale
t and Lillian's con- of love and friendship ' masterfully
le the suspense is Zinnemann has had a long and
ind the technique, distinguished career in Hollywood;
ive, quite conven- from the human drama of From IIere to
ing values of frien- Eternity and the narrative structuring
re anything but con- of thrillers such as Day of the Jackal. In
this ordeal, Lillian Julia, he brings all, these elementg
ationship with Julia together in a way that surpasses even.
dying love. the aforementioned films. Douglas"
Slocombe's cinematography surrounds
CHES the pinnacle
ene in a Berlin res-
an meets with Julia
to be the last time. '
e not seen or even
each other for sev-
eeting is short, their
en ripped apart by
Jane Fonda
relationship which matches the
richness and evasiveness of the writing.
THE FILM CAPTURES all the
beauty of Hellman's writing: The com-
plexity of Julia; her relationship with
the brilliant mystery writer Dashiell
Hammet (subtly and carefully evoked
by Jason Robards); and the paranoia
and horror of Nazi Germany in 1937,
while adding a cinematic technical
brilliance that interweaves the beauty'
of their relationship with the horrors of
living in an era which usurped sen-
sitivity and replaced it with malignant
terror.
In flashbacks we see Lillian recalling
how she grew up as a writer with
Hammett's persistent care, and as a
woman under the tutelage of her friend
Julia, a brilliant medical student who
gave up a life of comfort to fight
Fascism in the years before World War
II. Lillian's increasing awareness of the
forces that were working in this dark
era was due to Julia's perceptive aware
ness. The film becomes a story of an in-
dividual's growth as a human being and
the rites of passage.
The film is also about commitment
and the power of friendship: after Julia
has been severely beaten by fascists,
she summons Lillian to Europe to help
the anti-Nazi underground. What
follows is a harrowing sequence in
which Lillian smuggles several
thousands of dollars aboard a train
Vanessa Redgrave
Julia and Lillian with a glow starkly set
off from the horrors which threaten
them. Julia, like the friendships
recounted, lingers on long after the film
is over.
Jason Robards
the evils that surround them. The two
women exchange information about
their lives in a few rushed minutes, are
denied any warm rewards of their com-
pleted courageous act: That this is the
last time they will ever see each other
adds an almost unbearable emotion to
the scene.
It is undeniable that the two leads,
Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave,
are perfectly cast. Ms. Fonda captures
Lillian's growing awareness with a
feeling that must certainly emanate
from an intense identification with her
character. Ms. Redgrave, too, gives the
impression of a feeling and iden-
tification with the title character. They
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POWER CENTER
Crash kills Ypsi man
By R. J. SMITH
Michigan State Police reported that a
64-year-old Ypsilanti man was killed
yesterday on I-94, when his car was
struck from behind by a truck. The ac-
cident occurred at approximately 1:45'
p.m.
Jesse James Williams, of Ypsilanti,
had stopped his car in the right lane of
I-94 near US-12 to help a friend ahead of
him who was having problems with his
car.
TRUCK DRIVER Frederick Foland,
a 61-year-old man from Kokomo, In-
diana, had just passed a vehicle and
had moved into the right lane when he
struck Williams car. The car was im-
mediately engulfed in flames. Foland
said he was looking in his rear-view
mirror, and by the time he saw
William's emergency blinkers it was
too late for him to brake.
An autopsy will be performed today
at University Hospital.
DON'T RAISE HOOP
LOS ANGELES (AP) - John
Wooden has been retired for a couple
of years as head basketball coach at
UCLA . but still has definite ideas
about how college basketball should
be played. The great coach was
asked what he thought about raising
the basket a foot or two to cut down
on the advantage enjoyed by taller
men over short ones.
"I'm not really for it," he said. "I
think taking away offensive rebound
baskets would achieve the same
purpose.
then it is rushing the book into stores
today.
"I believe the initiative for the Water-
gate break-in came from Nixon through
Colson," Haldeman writes. "Nixon lit
the match, handed it to Colson, who in
turn touched off the fuse."
He says Nixon "was in on the cover-
up from Day One, although neither he
nor we considered it a cover-up at the
time."
HALDEMAN SAYS Nixon talked of
paying hush money to the Watergate
burglars and using the CIA to sidetrack
the ongoing FBI investigation three
days after the June 17, 1972, burglary.
That, in turn, was three days before the
"smoking gun" conversation which,
when released by the White House,
preceded Nixon's resignation.
"When you get the CIA people in, say
'look, the problem is that this will open
up the whole Bay of Pigs thing again,"
Haldeman quotes Nixon as saying. "So
they should call the FBI in and say for
the good of the country don't go any fur-
ther into the case. Period."
Haldeman said he passed the
message on to CIA director Richad
Helms and said he was shocked at his
violent reaction.
"THE BAY OF Pigs has nothing to do
with this," Haldeman says Helms
shouted. But Haldeman said Helms and
deputy director Vernon A. Walters then
expressed no concern about telling the
FBI to stop its Watergate investigation.
"It seems that in all of those Nixon
references to the Bay of Pigs he was ac-
tually referring to the Kennedy.
assassination .. .
"When Nixon said 'it's likely to blow
the whole Bay of Pigs' he might have
been reminding Helms, not so gently, of
the cover-up of the CIA assassination
attempts on the hero of the Bay of Pigs,
Fidel Castro - a CIA operation that
may have triggered the Kennedy
tragedy and which Helms desperately
wanted to hide."
Center for Afro American African Studies
presents a
BLACK HISTORY WEEK CELEBRAT/ON
Featuring the
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
SOUL REVUE
The Indiana University Soul Revue is a musical group consisting of 45
university students who play contemporary Afro-American Music
SUNDAY, 7:00 P.M. FEBRUARY 19, 1978
MENDELSSOHN THEATRE ADMISSION FREE
For A Great Evening Of Fun ...
Come To BIMBO'S!
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT Every
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114 E. Washington-Downtown
665-3231
[IS SCHOOL GETTING YOU DOWN?
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GARY SNYDER
0E1 ISRAEL Proudly Presents
DOCTOR DAVID WEISS HALIVNI
Professor of Robbnics
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Friday, February 17-8:30 p.m.
"THE GENESIS OF THE ORAL LAW"
Saturday, February 18-11:00 a.m.
(during Sabbath Services)
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