s THE MICHIGAN DAILY
A rts &E nte rt ainm e nt Thursday January I13, 1 977 Pae Five
Screenings
by CHRISTOPHER POTTER
THOSE RECENTLY re-arrived in town will perhaps observe
that Ann Arbor has been buried not only in snow but
in a veritable deluge of new - but not too diverse - fea-
ture (lms. It's all part of the annual cinematic extension of
holiday hucksterism - a finite cultivating and nurturing of
hoped-for "blockbuster" films deliberately withheld until the
last possible second, then exploded on the public in the spirit
of Christmas philanthropy (spelled B-U-Y), inspired by the
hope of untold millions in revenue every good movie producer
begs Santa to bestow upon him.
- The most salient characteristic of The Holiday Film is
solidity - in the form of a large (but not insane) budget, at
least one big-name star, a slick, proven money-making director
and a plot guaranteed to titilate - but certainly not transgress
- the most provincially constricted viewer.
Thus one is conditioned not to expect the sacrilege of in-
novative cinema this time of year, but the current Holiday
fare strikes me as being especially barren. The new King
Kong and A Star is Born, however imperfect, at least dis-
played the guts to risk remakes of two previous and beloved
classics, and as such rate a more extensive examination here
next week; but smooth trifles such as Silver Streak and The
Pink Panther Strikes Again scarcely rate mention at all.
The Seven Per Cent Solution is definitely a puzzlement,
artistically speaking; while i readily confess a lack of ex-
pertise on the varied exploits of Sherlock Holmes, I just can-
not fathom the largely ecstatic critical response to this' sterile,
bloodless "thriller" transposed by Nicholas Meyer to the screen
from his equally lifeless novel. Only Alan Arkin breathes ani-
mation into this stillborn venture with his fanciful re-creation
of Sigmund Freud; otherwise, Nicol Williamson's galvanic tal-
?nts are as usual undertaxed in the role of Holmes, Laurence
Olivier is wasted in a minuscule cameo as Prof. Moriarty, and
Robert Duvall's flat, whining travesty of Dr. Watson encapsu-
lates the meager efforts of the remainder of the cast.
Some critics have commented that The Enforcer - num-
ber three in the Dirty Harry series - contains considerably
less overt bloodletting than do its two predecessors. True-
enough, if one interprets such things strictly in terms of gore
per frame; yet if anything the various assorted (albeit sani-
tized) killings that pile up during the film take on an even
more sterile, impersonalized malevolence with their normal
biological results neatly deodorized. The Enforcer regurgitates
the conceit-saturated theme of Bay Area detective Harry Calla-
han (Clint Eastwood) standing alone against anarchy - the
noble epitome of the plain, simple man befuddled and out-
raged at the perfidies of an army of governmental toadies,
incompetents and liberals who obviously would have left San
Francisco in ruins long ago had not Harry virtuously and ran-
corously blocked the way.
It's an appealing fantasy motif for a shades-of-gray world,
and despite its brutality The Enforcer gins along surprisingly
well, thanks mostly to James Fargo's brisk, well-paced direc-
tion. This time the urban crisis involves a group of supposed
SLA-style terrorists with a predilection toward murder, kidnap-
ping and general sabotage. While the city quakes in fear over
possible armed insurrection, only Harry sees through the group's
rhetoric and exposes it as an assortment of pimps and pushers
cynically utilizing a revolutionary guise for various extortion
schemes. We are thus spared any pseudo-soul-searching con-
fessional dialogues between extremist and cop; in fact, direc-
tor Fargo wisely foregoes any socio-personality evaluation of
his phony radicals (and oh, what a blow that must have been
to scenarist and professional schlock writer Stirling Silliphant);
instead The Enforcer sticks to the simple activity of tracking
the culprits down. In the process, Fargo lets Harry vent his
apoplectic spleen a good dozen times against the assorted
morons and fellow-travelers subverting his tortured path to
justice, and rather unexpectedly guides his protagonist first
through a comic, multi-leveled chase sequence, then through
a hilarious interlude in a massage parlor that in no way fur-
thers the plot but is still the best segment in the film.
OH, YES - The Enforcer actually makes a bow to the chang-
ing world (and to half the paying audience) with the
injection of the ultimate terror to any right-thinking cop,
especially Harry: a female partner. Predictably, Callahan
raises his hackles sky-high at the rank intrusion into his most
sacred macho Parnassus, then just as predictably starts to
soften and crumble as his new running mate (Tyne Daly)
bumbles her way to a sort of vaguely endearing competence.
In fact,he melts so much that fr a while the distinct possi-
bility of - yes, true believers - love finding Harry Callahan
starts to rear its downy, sinister head. I could feel the fanatics
around me in the audience fairly writhe with anguish over the
doleful prospect of The Lone Wolf settling down with slippers,
two kids and a copy of Saturday Review in hand.
Fortunately, fate (and box office considerations) intervene,
leaving Eastwood the emoty glory of singlehandedly liquidating
the villains, singlehandedly resecuring the shanghaied mayor ofI
San Francisco, singularly spurning the frazzled magistrate's
bended-knee gratitude, then once again stalking into the sun-
set - along, desolate, and richer than ever (The Enforcer is,
currently o'tdrawing King Kong in Ann Arbor).
Last and certainly least, we have in town a piece of lead-
ened whimsy whose thematic intent is baldly posed in its title:
How Funny Can Sex Re? Tn the hands of a master like Bunuel;
or Wertmuller, very; in the slobbering fingers of a hack named
Dino Rissi, not at all.
Despite possessing the enormous asset of the great Giancarlo
Giannini (Seven Beauties), Rissi's badly-dubbed slapdash of a
film succeeds only in being simultaneously gross and naive, and
not even remotely humorous. Guised in a series of fright wigs,
Giannini leers and mugs his way through seven disconnected,
unerotic episodes, including an
embarrassingly blatant J e r r y
Lewis imitation unworthy of his
own genius. Director Rissi - h a sI
made Giannini boring. And any-0
one who can manage that just e
doesn't belong in films.
CURTIN MATHE ON SCIENTIFIC, INC.
A COULTER SUBSIDIARY COMPANY
To keep pace with the fast growing sci-
entific apparatus market, we're expand-
ing our sales force in 1977. If you're a
graduating senior majoring in the physi- r
cal sciences, consider starting your
E
'AFTERNOON DELIGHT' BEST
SONG??
Blake:
Yo disco
Grammy in
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A group of re-
cording neophytes - Starland Vocal Band
led a field of mostly well-known voices
in nominations for the 19th annual Grammy
Awards announced today.
Starland was nominated for best new
artist of the year and their sensuous love
song, "Afternoon Delight," was nominated
for record of the year and song of the year.
ALSO NOMINATED for record of the
year were Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave
Your Lover," Barry Manilow's "I Write the
Songs," Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now"
and George Benson's "This Masquerade."
Stevie Wonder, who has become a per-
manent fixture in this annual event, plays
another prominent part in this year's nom-
inations. His "Songs in the Key of Life" was
nominated for album of the year, as were
George Benson's "Breezin' " and "Chica-
go X," Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes
Alive" and Boz Scaggs' "Silk Degrees."
The Grammies, the music industry's ver-
sion of Oscar Awards, are presented each
year by the National Academy of Record-
ing Arts and Sciences. Nominations are sug-
gested by academy members and record
companies. Nominees are selected - usu-
ally five in each of 49 categories - by.
academy committees and the winners are
chosen by voting members of the academy
at large.
This year's winners will be announced in
a nationally televised presentation Feb. 19
at the Hollywood Palladium, hosted by sin-
ger Andy Williams. Williams was to have
announced the nominations today but was
unable to) be here because he was attend-
ing the manslaughter trial of his ex-wife,
Claudine Longet, in Aspen, Colo.
NATALIE COLE, daughter of the late
Nat King Cole and last year's female artist
of the year, presented the nominations along
with Darryl Dragon and Toni Tenille, also
known as The Captain and Tenille.
Songwriters nominated for song of the
year were Bill Danoff for "Afternoon De-
light," Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield
for "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," Bruce
Johnson for "I Write the Songs," Leon Rus-
sell for "This Masquerade" and Gordon
Lightfoot for "The Wreck of the Edmund
Fitvgerald."
Nominated with Starland for best new
artist or group were Boston, the Brothers
Johnson, Wild Cherry and Dr. Buzzard's
Original Savannah Band.
COLE WAS AGAIN in the running f'r the
best female performer for her album, "Nata-
lie Cole." Also nominated were Linda Ron-
stadt for "Hasten Down the Wind," Emmy-
171 Harris for "Here, There and Every-
where," Joni Mitchell for "The Hissing of
S mmer Lawns" and Vicki Sue Robinson
for "Turn the Beat Aroimd."
Wonder also was nominated as best male
performer in the pop field, as rhythm and
blues song, along with "Love Hangover,"
"Lowdown,""''Misty Blue" and 'Shake Your
Booty."
By JIM STIMSON Blake got a laugh from the,
crowd when he said, in a Geor-
NORMAN BLAKE is a coun- gia twang, "I ain't Guy Loin-
try-picked-extraordinaire. bardo. (laughter) And this ain't
He plays guitar, flatpick-style, disco. .. Do you have disco 1
as well as anyone I've seen, here?" The crowd wasall:
and handles fiddle and mando- moans. My faith in Ann Arbor
lin on the side: was restored.
Blake was accompanied by
his wife Nancy, an imaginative BLAKE PROVED a very cap-
cellist and fair rhythm guitar- able fiddle player indeed, and
ist, at a benefit for the Ark the cello-fiddle duet was a
Coffeehouse. Bluegrass and fid- pleasant interlude from the
dle tunes were the evening blueg-bluegrass repertdire. To
fare. my dismay he mentioned no
The cello accompaniment was song titles, but later explain-
something new for me. It gaveI ed that"... all fiddle tunes are
the slow ballads a, mournful! one big tune," and what good
serenity, as in "Lonesome Gin- ; is a name anyway?
ny," for guitar and cello. At All through the evening I
other times Nancy's cello kept heard rumblings for the song
to a basic bluegrass rhythm. "Old Brown Case" from diehard
BLAKE SEEMS to be able to fans, and sure enough Blake,
fit a whole bluegrass tune into chose that song for the end of
a flatpick-gitar arrangement. the show. He called it, "the one
how he does it I can't say. Sev: to quit with," and he made a
eral of his fast licks and runsgodcie.Tesn shwE
drew spontaneous applause good choice. The song show-
from an intimate and retaxed
Ark crowd.
XWith his scruffy beard and Need Hej
casuai attire, Blake could have-
walked out of the audience.:He's the Smokii
not ashamed to admit he's a
Georgia country boy, and ap- Come to the public m
peals to "country values." One Smoking Withdrawal C
song, "Church St. Blues," tells
of his (and Nancy's)hmove from Thursday, Janu
Nashville back to the country'
in Georgia, away from rampant U-Health Ser
commercialism.
Sponsored by Michigan Lung
Health Service
cased Blake's considerable in-
strumental ability, as well as
a musical sense of humor. By
George, I think I'll go out and
get a Norman Blake album.
if
you
see
news
happen
call
76-DAILY
p Kicking
ng Habit?
eeting of Ann Arbor
Zlinic.
ry 13th-,-7 p.m.
vice Room 5
g Association and U of M
-.r- -vor,
Dirty
Harry returns -again
T THE COLLARBORATIVE
Winter Art and Craft Classes
c
c
c
r
Y
+t
r
f
By MICHAEL BROIDY Hickman and S.W. Schurr. The the edges toughness. This, off
FIVE YEARS AGO, Warner two students bypassed the Hol- course, can almost solely be;
Brothers released a filmlywood rule of only agents sub- attributed to Eastwood, who
called Dirty Harry, the story! mitting scripts, by personally really created the characterI
of an iconoclastic San Francis- delivering the script to the himself. Eastwood is proving!
co cop who was tougher than maitre d' of 4 restaurant East- to be a primary force in mov-t
not only his fellow policemen, wood owns. Screenwriting hea- ie-making today, not only as ant
but even more scabrous than vyweights Stirling Silliphant and actor, but as a director as evi-
the ruthless malefactors he Dean Riesner (again) did a denced by his excellent West-
would apprehend or kill. Clint polishing job on the script and ern, The Outlaw Josey Wales.I
Eastwood, who portrayed 'In- James Fargo, an assistant di- The rest of the performances
spector Harry Callahan (nick- rector on two earlier Eastwood are fine - Harry Guardino re-
named "Dirty Harry" because films was assigned to direct. creating his role of Lt. Al Bres-j
he would always get the dirtiest sler is appropriately "harried"
for the first two Dirty Harry
films.
The ultimate triumph of The
Enforcer, albejt a small one,
is that it is more faithful to
the original conception of the
title character.
- - ----
fm
N
$24.00/8-2hr. Classes
Register thru Jan. 24
CONTACT:
U-M Artists & Craftsmen Guild
668-7884
2nd Floor-Michigan Union
jobs) was undeniably perfect
for the role, which in many
ways can be considered an ex-
tension of the Man With No
Name role he created in the
three Sergio Leone westerns.
Dirty Harry proved to be so
successful that Warner Brothers
persuaded Eastwood to make a
sequel, Magnum Force - which
went on to make millions.
Now we have the latest addi-
IN THIS STORY, Harry Cal- as Eastwood's superior, as isl
lahan goes after a group of ter- Bradford Dillman as the chiefI
rorists laying siege to San Fran of police whose political ambi-
cisco, planting bombs and kid- tions continually get in Har-
naping the mayor, and demand- ry's way. The performances off-'
ing millions for ransom. This, set Jerry Fielding's ridiculous
however, is not all Harry has soft, jazzy score which totally
to contend with. After his orig- lacks the pounding electronic
inal partner is murdered by the music of Lalo Schiffrin's score
terrorists (a fate common to
many of Harry's partners), Har- .
ry is saddled with a female POETRY R
inspector, Kate Moore (nicely
played by Tyne Daly). Harry, WI
of course, initially displays a 1:MARTIN H
cool antagonism toward her, R N YI
but, predictably, comes to ac- RANDY
cept Kate as she shows her READINGS FROM
mettle in police combat, and
even saves Harry's life a few THURS., JAN.
times.
The Enforcer, while lacking- GUILD H0USE
the raw power of Siegel's Dir- , REFRESHMENTS
ty Harry, is a vast improve-
ment on Magnum Force. Direc-
tor Fargo displays a sure hand~
with action especially during a
scene"where Harry breaks up
a liquor store robbery by driv-
ing a car right through the
front of the store. Fargo, Silli-
pant, Riesner, et. al. also re-
tain much of the form and struc-
ture of the original film. The
character H-arry Callahan,
though, at first seems to be
mellowing with age. The cold
brutality of the character seems
to . be slowly replaced by a
warmer, if still rough around
SAN FRANCISCO
Whether you're looking for a
summer job or a career posi-
tion, find it in the--'JOB
F I N D E R, the Bay Area's
most complete employment
newspaper. Send $10 for 13
weeks to:
JOB FINDER
The Hearst Building
9th Floor
Son Francisco, CA 94103
I
EADINGS
TH
UETER and
41 LGRON
A THEIR WORKS
13-7:30 p.m.
-802 Monroe
(corner of Oakland)
- -
/ IKU1% C~m9r6onceTs
FOURTH PROGRAM
BACHOFFEN
Duo Concertante in F Major
RUTH DEAN CLARK, harp
JOHN MOHLER, clarinet
Associate: CAROL LYON, cello con tinQ
CHOPIN
Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano
JELINEK-GURT DuO
FINNEY
Second Sonata for Violin and Piano
GUSTAVE ROSSEELS, violin
WALLACE BERRY, pianq
JELLY ROLL
MORTON
Eastwood
tion in the series, The Enforcer.
Eastwood was reportedly reluc-
tant to do another Dirty Harry
film, but the executives at War-
ner'Brothers virtually begged
him to do it. Eastwood also
received a script he liked very
much - an unsolicited script
by two San Francisco State
graduate students, Gail Morgan
Jazz Compositions (1902-1929)
JAMES DAPOGNY, Piano,
with
GRETA GARBO as 1933
QUEEN CHRISTINA 4
The fascinating but lonely queen of Sweden
slips away from her isolation in a snow-covered
castle to discover the world of her subjects.
Dressed as a young huntsman, she meets the
dashing, handsome John Gilbert and the com-
plications begin. Vintage acting distinguishes
this intoxicating melodrama.
FRI: TOM JONES
CINEMA GUILD 7ON&HT AT OLDARCs U.$1 .
Associates: DARYL MONTILS, LEE ZIMMERMAN, STEVE
GALANTE, PETER FERRAN (Guest), reeds; VAN ZIM-
MERMAN, PETEI FARMER, TERRY SAWCHUK, trum-
pets; ARTHUR GOTTSCHALK, trombone; JOHN LEN-
NON, guitar; RANDY EYENDEN, bass and tuba, DENNY
BROWN, dr-ums.
A' 4.+tio o ,«Ys n R C, u'1 t 1"totww
FREE -WORKSHOP SATURDAY - 2 P.M.
I
'; A.CINGT LIVE BANDS,
I
AT THE
NO COVER
CASUAL DRESS Sa aaI Woo
-ALSO-
JAZZ
IN OUR 1st FLOOR
PUB
FRI. AND SAT. EVES. I-N.
7
NIGHTS
A WEEK
LADIES NIGHT
TUESDAY & THURSDAY
I
Health and Healing Energy
Friday evenings at Canterbury
A WORKSHOP ON
"IJWDRC A kI ATMHD DEMEDIEC
I
0
i
I
i
1
i
i'ZI