Page 8--Sunday, November 20, 1977-The Michigan Daily

film

(Continued from Page Bt
used only as a subject and is simply
dropped about two-thirds of the way
through the film. We don't even get as
much as a look at the publication's front
page.
What we do get are a series of cliche-
ridden, mostly musical beds vignettes
involving the Mainliner's staff, whose
members seem perpetually absorbed in
anything and everything except turning
out their newspaper. There are a few
references to their concern that the
Mainliner may be sold to a venally
avaricious big-time publisher, a few
more allusions to their over-30 panic at
becoming potential anachronisms out
of their socio-political time zone. But
Between the Lines is mostly warmed-
over fun and games, a badly staged.
risque-tinged situation comedy, served
up by the dullest group of performers as
one could ever wish upon the Ann Arbor
News.
This just might have been a
film of thematicaly groundbreaking
dimensions, no mean feat for a director
so new. Instead, we've been given a
work one could almost transpose with
Beach Blanket Bingo and never bat an
eyelash. Considering its gap between
potential and fulfillment, Between the
Lines must be accorded the title of Most
Cowardly Film of the '70s.
UNDERRATED FILMS
1. The Taking of Pelham One Two
Three (1974)-Ever get sick and tired of
bloatedly overweight thrillers of the
Cassandra Crossing-Black Sunday
variety? This inventive, bouncily mar-
velous tale of the hijacking of a New
York subway train is an unpretentious
fresh breeze contrasted to the mostly

pompous hot air of the disaster genre.
Pelham's plot is simple in conception,
though literally multi-leveled in
execution: Four men cloaked in
disguises and armed with machine
guns assume contol of a subway train
and, using 20 or so passengers as
hostages, demand a million bucks in
ransom. Using its somewhat far-
fetched premise, the film swiftly ac-
celerates into an absorbing cat-and-
mouse game between the unreachable
hijackers below and the cops and city
officials scurrying around, frantically
above.
MANY CRITICS simply ignored
Pelham, others actually con-
demned it as providing a cinematic
blueprint for real-life crooks. Rubbish.
If there's one thing this film never does
is take itself too seriously; in fact, I've
rarely seen a picture so engagingly
successful in synthesizing suspense and
comedy all under one engrossing
premise. The only recent thriller film
close to it is Richard Lester's equally
neglected Juggernaut, which deals with
the search for a bomb planted on an
ocean liner. Both films minimize the
sappy intra-character subplots of the
Towering Inferno ilk, perferring to
stick to the main crisis at hand.
Ironically, their characters become in-
finitely more engaging than the
humorless stick figures of their high-
budget counterparts.
Pelham seemed to inspire the best
from its large and uniformly creative
cast headed by Robert Shaw as the
leader of the bandits and Walter Mat-
thau as a dogged Transit Authority cop
who tries to unravel his underground
rivals' subtle strategy.

turkey
(Continued from Page 6)
the effort, accompanied by warm
stuffing with fresh Danish herbs, and
tender resenkal (Brussel sprouts)
with green grapes.
The pecan pie gave way to a walnut
pie - pecans, I discovered, were also
uniquely American. My six Danish
guests were at first leary that such a
big bird would be edible, but were
soon enamoured with the beast. I
think of all of them this week - I
hope that Mr. Magnussen has moved
his turkey farm to the Copenhagen
countryside and coined a Danish
word of his own.
I N CONTRAST, we found our-
selves in London one year at
Thanksgiving. The language, of
course, was no problem this time,
and neither was the turkey! The only
difficulty was which beautiful bird to
choose, for there were geese and
grouse and partridge. But it was to be
a turkey, plump and freshly killed,
still dressed in pure white feathers to
be plucked by the poulterer and then
again by me - Thanksgiving! And
next, a trip to Fortnum and Mason to
be waited upon by an aristocratic
older gentleman in striped pants and
morning coat for my $4 cardboard
container of Quaker Oats cornmeal
- the vital ingredient for the Indian
pudding. Never had it tasted better
than made with dark sweet treacle.
Years came and went, and occa-
sionally we were away for Thanks-
giving. One year we travelled to an
inn in Western Michigan where we
imagined eating by a roaring fire and
sleeping under a down quilt in an
antique bed. But, alas, our room was
trimmed with bamboo and torrid
lampshades and the opulent table
was more a Hawaiian luau. '
And there were the country-style
Thanksgivings laced with memories
of my New England childhood -
crisp blue skies and pure snow and
pumpkin pies and cranberries and
my children arguing over the wish-
bone. All the Craig Claibornes could-
n't have traded for these.
Eschewing all manner of marsh-
mallow-related sweet potato recipes,
here is one from the Carribbean that
should be included in your Thanks-
giving Day menu..
GINGERED
SWEET POTATOES
3 large cans of yams or sweet
potatoes, sliced
5 bananas, thickly slant-sliced
20 gingersnaps, crumbled
2 to 4 Tbsp. finely diced crystallized
ginger
'/ cup butter
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/ tsp. salt
1 cup liquid [from the canned
potatoes with water, if neces-
sary]

Butter a medium sized casserole
and fill with alternate layers of
yams, bananas and gingersnaps.
Sprinkle bananas with the finely
diced candied ginger.
Heat butter, salt, lemon juice, and
potato liquid to boiling. When the
butter has completely melted, pour
the mixture over the casserole. Bake
covered for 20 minutes at 400
degrees, and then another 15 min-
utes, uncovered. Serves 12.
Next, a recipe for Southern Corn
Bread Stuffing from my most New
England mother.
IRENE'S DOWN HOME
COUNTRY
SOUTHERN STUFFIN'
10 cups crumbled cornbread [best to
make your own]
2 cups finely chopped celery
2 large beaten eggs
2 eups turkey stock made with the
giblets
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cups finely chopped onion
1% tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 to 1/3 cups butter or oil
*This recipe fills a 12 lb. turkey.
Figuring almost a cup of cornbread
per pound of turkey, crumble it the
day before your turkey is to be
stuffed. Saute the celery and onions
slowly in the butter until they are soft
but not brown, and add to the day-old
crumbled cornbread. Add the eggs
and mix lightly. Add stock and
seasonings and mix lightly. Add the
pecans and mix again. Taste for sea-
sonings but don't eat it all. Fill the
front and rear cavity of turkey and
bake the extra, if you have any, in a
flat pan. And enjoy!
Once you've tasted Brussel sprouts
prepared the way described in the
next recipe, you'll discover that
they're much more elegant than you
had ever imagined.
BRUSSEL SPROUTS
WITH GRAPES
2 pints of beautiful bright-green tiny
Brussel sprouts
3/4 tsp. salt
4 scallions, chopped [white and
green]
About 11/ cups of seedless green
grapes
A good twist of freshly ground pepper
1/p cup butter
1 small red onion
Remove two or three of the outer
leaves of the sprouts and wash well.
Melt the butter, and briefly saute the
scallions only until softened. Add the
sprouts with a couple tablespoons of
water and the salt and pepper. Cover
the pan tightly and steam for ten to
twelve minutes. DO NOT OVER-
COOK! When the sprouts are just
tender, add the grapes and heat
through for a moment or two. Add
thin slices of red onion, stir carefully
so everything is coated with butter
and serve at once. Serves eight.

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law school


1
1
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(Continued from Page 3)
One member had half-promised a
friend he could join and brought up the
idea to the group after the last class one
Friday afternoon.
Some members of the group im-
mediately balked, protesting that an
additional member would be unwieldly
and would decrease the benefit existing
members derived from the group. The
argument dragged on and on in the
corridors of Hutchins Hall and tempers
started to flare. It got ugly, and sud-
denly I regretted involving myself in
something so petty, even though I had
been arguing just as vociferously as
anybody else for my position.
Finally fed up, I walked off, saying I
would abide by either decision, but that
I wouldn't argue any longer. I felt
angry, both that the issue had been
raised and at myself for becoming so
emotionally involved.
It turned out to be a trivial issue; we
let the member in and, of course, the
study group wasn't destroyed. Even-
tually one of the original members left
Snd was replaced, and it was no big
deal. But it sure seemed like one at the
time.
One very real problem the first year
of law school presents, especially for
people who live in the Law Quad, is in-
sultion from the larger world, or even
from the rest of the University. The
Quad's inclusion of the library and Hut-
chins Hall is both its biggest advantage
and its major weakness. It's nice to roll
out of bed at 7:45 for an eight o'clock,
and to be just a stroll across the cour-
tyard from the library. But with meals
classes andthe library1lne, :there's
bo inc'ehtive to leave.

Most of the people at the Law School
weren't undergraduates here, so
they're not acquainted with the city,
and if, you live in the Quad, there's no
reason to leave the immediate area. I
met somebody last week who still
needed directions to Main Street. In the
library I heard about a pair of first-year
students who returned from a trip to
Villge Corners remarking on how nice it
was to get away from the Law School
for a while.
HE MAJORITY of the students
who live in the Law Quad are
men, and many come from
institutions more conservative
than Michigan. Because many are
,lonelyand isolated the first semester,
there is a lot of sexist repartee in the
diniNg hall of the Lawyers Club. For
people sensitive to such remarks, con-
stant conversations about sexual
deprivation can be both tedious and of-
fensive. It's easy to see what, prompts
these conversations, but that doesn't
make them easier to put up with. But
besides the three constants, sex, sports
and law, what do most first year
students have in common?
Remarkably little, and that explains-
why the holy trinity remain as predic-
table in the dining hall as the hockey
pucks presented in lieu of entrees each
week.
I've been sitting here trying to
logically end this story, but as I type I
realize it's after 11 p.m. and I have
more than 40 pages of criminal law to
read before 8 a.m.~My normal speed for
comprehending - the material is ten
pages per hour, so if you'll excuse me
it's time to study.



sunday 'magazine

Susan Ades

Co-editors

Jay Levin
Tom O'Connell

inside:
Lament of
the first-year
law student

Film: The.
underrated,
the overrated

Food: St
it up
your bir(

Elaine Fletcher

.1

Associate Editors
Chinese caligraphy on cover
b Chri Cohoe

_ ._ y. .. .. Supplement to The-Michrigan Daily - - -----~Ann Arbor; Mich grg .-Sltstiy Nveribet- {O-19??--- -,_i. _,.. -