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events and entertainment
week of Oct. 9-15
HAPPENINGS film reviews
are written by Christopher Pot-
ter.
all week
.Brian de Palma's homage to film"? Or did his producers
incarnation of a wealthy busi- sabotage it? We'll probably
Alfred Hitchcock's great Verti- never know, but what remains
go, involving the seeming re- is an often hypnotic, utterly in-
nessman's murdered wife. Any consistent film which, in the
film deliberately patterned af- knowledge of what it could have
ter a brilliant original runs an been, must stand as one of the
extremely high risk of failure most engagingly tragic works
COMMERCIAL CINEMA
Sex With a Smile - (Fifth
Forum) - A poorly-dubbed
Italian import consisting of five
separate episodes about risque
love among the Latins. Parts
One and Five are reasonably
funny; Parts Two through Four
comprise the most deadening
series of pseudo-comic grop-
ings since John Goldfarb,
Please Come Home. Included is
a rather sad and revealing seg-
ment starring Marty Feldman,
in which the bug-eyed come-
dian is stripped of all his Mel
Brooks endearments and comes
across as merely grotesque. **
Fantasia - (State) - For
those who don't mind its syn-
thesis of the cartoon and clas-
sical music cultures, Fantasia
remains the ultimate Disney
creation and aptly demonstrates
the cartoon medium's potential
as a legitimate art form. The
Rite of Spring and Night on
Bald Mountain sequences are
like nothing seen on film before
or since. ****
Barry Lyndon - (Campus)-
Stanley Kubrick's film from the
Thackeray novel comes across
huge, breathtakingly beautiful
and absolutely bloodless. Oh,
the first hour or so lones along
interestingly enough, what with
duels, wars and the promise of
greater things to come. But as
the film sinks ever deeper
into stilted, costumed soap on-
era and one realizes that noth-
ing of further interest is forth-
coming, the viewer has no al-
ternative other than to settle
back and concentrate on the
scenery - rather akin to stroll-
ing through a gallery of Con-
stable paintings, all gorgeous
but rather numbing after abot
the 400th entry. One can only
sneculate on Kubrick's motiva-
tions for choosing story and
style, but film entertainment
obviously was not one of his
goals. Good for him-too bad
for us. **
A Woman Under the Influ-
ence - (Michigan) - John
Cassavettes' searing, merciless
study of non-communicative
marriage, with Gena Rowlands
and Peter Falk working the di-
rector's improvisational tech-
nique to an almost unbearable
intensity. Rowlands is simply
spectacular, deserving of every
award on record including the
Oscar she didn't win. ****
Alice Doesn't Live Here Any-
more - (Michigan) - Martin
Scorcesse's now-famous film of
a New Mexico housewife who
packs up her baggage and her
12-year-old son and strikes out
for California following her hus-
band's sudden death. Alice has
become a sort of artistic meta-
phor for women's lib although
it would hardly seem in step
with that particular banner giv-
en its bland, conventional, ev-
ery - woman's - dream conclu-
sion. In fact, this whole endeav-
or seems on the bland side -
OK in and of itself, but hardly
what one would exect from the
man who made Mean Streets
and Taxi Driver; contrasting
the electric breathlessness of
those two epics, Alice just gent-
ly pokes along from scene to
scene. Ellen Burstyn does well
in the title role, buthhardly de-
served to beat ot the spectac-
ular Rowlands for the Academy
Award.**
A Matter of Time - (The Mo-
vies, Briarwood) - A new ro-
mantic comedy by Vincente Mi-
nelli, starring daughter Liza
and Ingrid Bergman.
Seven Beauties - (The Mo-
vies, Briarwood) - Lena Wert-
muller's flawed but memorable
film of an Italian stud dedicat-
ed to the sole purpose of sur-
vival above all else, even if it
means selling his own soul to
do it. Wertmuller follows her
protagonist from his relatively
carefree, woman - chasing days
in the late 1930's into the rigors
of World War II and the Dore-
like visual horrors of a Nazi
death camp, eventually allow-
ing him to survive only at the
cost of any idealistic notions he
may have once possessed about
his own instincts. The film's
not really about the loss of in-
nocence but rather the slow,
bitter realization that such in-
nocence never existed to be-
gin with.
Seven Beauties' lenuthv plot
doesn't all hold together, but
Wertmuler's technique is ex-
quisite and gloriously enhanced
by Giancarlo Gianini's masterly
conception of the craven hero-
whose final line may somedav
rank with Clark Gable's Gone
With the Wind utterance in
screen immortality. *
Obsession - (Fox Village)-
but Obsession by and large
works excitingly and well. To
be reviewed in depth nextI
week.***j
Logan's Run - (The Movies,
Briarwood) - A post-apoca-
lypse tale of a 23rd-Century;
domed city housing the rem-
, nt f himny i nl+h f
of all cinema. **%
EVENTS
Ark - Bob White, folk, 9,
$2.50.
Guarneri String Quartet -
University Musical Society,
Rackham Aud., 8:30, works by
Beethoven.
BA 1c
Second Chance - Shooter, The Private Life of
rock, 9:30, $1-1.50. Holmes - (Ann Arbor
op, Ang. Aud. 9 only)
cent Billy Wilder com
Mo da y cerning a newly - u
Holmes case.
EVENTS
CINEMA Ark - Hoot Nite, 9,
STell Me Where It Hurts ~Othello - Professio
(Women's Studies films, MLB 3, tre Program's Guest A
7 only) - Story of a middle- ies opener, Power Ctr
aged housewife searching for George Benson-UA
recognition as a person. Stars Jazz, Hill Aud., 8 p.m
Maureen Stapleton. BARS
EVENTS Blind Pig Andy
16th Annual Organ Music friends 9:30 $1 y
Conf -- Peter Hurfrdr $1et.
Sherlock; has acquired much of the al-
r film Co- most magical power left by a
- A re- strange race of super-beingsT
nedy con- who once occupied the planet,
uncovered but who were unaccountably de-
stroyed eons ago by an unseent
but monstrous force which now
75 cents. threatens to engulf the present
nal Thea- visitors.
Artist Ser- When it sticks to this central,
8 p.m. theme, Forbidden Planet is ab-
C Eclipse sorbing and, for the genre, quite
t" literate; but all too often the1
11&film seems to condescend to its
Sacks & natural popcorn clientele, pre-j
senting us with a folksy auto-
Music School/Ctr. Southeast gul in order to make the girl
Asian Studies - "South India he loves a star. This is prob-
Music and Dance", Rackham ably the most notable "lost
Aud., 7:30. film" or recent years - re-
Othello - Professional Thea- leased in late 1974, it received
tre Program, see Wed. Events. mostly rave reviews from the
BARS New York critics, seemed head-
Casa Nova - Gwen & Kevin, ed for major success, then sud-
C&W, 9, no cover. denly just died (it never reach-
Golden Falcon - Silvertones, ed Ann Arbor at all).
'SOs-'60s rock, 9:30, $1. It's too bad because Brian
Mr. Flood's Party - Tucker Itde too ad, bscas-oBrial
Blue Ban, 930, 5 cets. de Palma's musical - political
Blues Band, 9:30, 75 cents, satire provides some macrabre
Son 9:3an$-Aft rHou yet interesting views not only of
rock, 9:30, $1-1.50. the rock world but of our social
value systems so precariously
" underpinning the musiculture.
It is one of the more stylistical-
ly striking films yet produced
CINEMA about America in the '70's, and
Animation Night - (Cinema deserving of far more than the
II, Ang. Aud. A, 7 & 9) - A meagre theatrical distribution
variety-spiced cartoon anthol- it has thus far received. ***%
ogy involving most of the (non- The Wild Child (Ann Arbor
Disney) c h a r a c t e r s See HAPPENINGS, Page 5
we've known and loved (or hat-
ed) over the years.
nants or umanty, an the e- -. - rM, gr. Flood's Party - Long- mation known as Robby the
forts of two individualists to es- Bimbo's - Gaslighters, rag- organist, Hill Aud., 8:30. horn 9:30 75 cents. Robot straight out of - and on
cape its stagnant confines. The time, 50 cents after 8. BARS Second Chance - Jedediah, the level with - TV's Lost n
first half of the film is exciting Blind Pig - All Directions, Blind Pig - Boogie Woogie rock, 9:30, $1c-1. Spae, ande oft cours saturatin
sci-fi: the second half falls flat jazz, 9:30, $1. Red, 9:30, $1. Space, and of course saturating
on its face, largely due to a Casa Nova - Gwen & Kevin Golden Falcon - V-II-I, jazz, as wand teesuterimpace
horrible performance by the C & W, 9, no cover. 9:30, $1. and plot-regressive outer space
no langer talented Peter Usti- Golden Falcon - Melodioso Mr. Flood's Party - Fred th U rsd y romance. It's as if the film's,
nov. Too bad the filmmakers Latin jazz, 9:30, $1. Small, 9:30, no cover. creators were fearful that theirc
couldn't carry their vision all Mr. Flood's Party - Jaw- Second Chance - Mojo Boo- CINEMA basically superior product sim-1
the way through. *** bone, 9:30, $1.50. gie Band, rock, 9:30, $1-1.50. The Passion of Anna - (Ann ply wouldn't make money with-
Pretzel Bell - RFD Boys, ! Arbor Film Co-op, Ang. Aud. A, out throwing in the usual juve-e
bluegrass, 10, $1-1.50. 7 & 9) - Ingmar Bergman's nile gimmickry - and, udg-
# * I T eMaRubaiyat - Celebration, 9 rep company again encamped ing from the financial success
no cover. 7on an isolated island, again of such intellectual endeavors
CINEMA Second Chance - Shooter CINEMA caught up in a universe apart of the time as Queen of Outer
Butch Cassidy and the Sun- rock, 9:30, $2.-2.50. The Little Foxes - ((Cinema from - and quite possibly be- Snace and Hercules vs. The
dance Kid - (Mediatrics, Nat. Guild, Arch. Aud., 7 & 9:05) - yond - the trappings of civiliz- MOonmen, they were probably
Sci. And., 7 & 9) - The origi- Lillian Hellman wrote her own ation. This is one of Bergman's right.
nal "Sting", but considerably!S jFn a 7 screen adaptation of her fa- most cryptic efforts (even John It took Kubrick's 2001 to
more worthy and palpable than mous play about a mendacious Simon didn't understand it), in- break the ground for true ac-
Iits huckster successor. George CINEMA Southern family living at the volving a microcosm of tortured cetance of science fiction as
Roy Hill's direction is as soul- Valerie and Her Week of turn of the century. Hellman's human relationships presided a legitimate cinematic medium,
less and plastic as ever, but! Wonders and Love - (Ann Ar- concern is the perversion of un- over by a mysterious evil force and maybe the current wave of
William Goldman's script is bor Film Co-op, MLB 4, Valer- bridled free enterprise, as ex- blanketing the island - de- sci-fi productions will at last
agile and literate and the visual ie at 7 and 10:30, Love at 8:45 hibited through the venal ma- stroying animal and forest with- provide genre addicts like mv-
atmosphere much less claus- only) - A pair of Eastern chinations of her characters - out detection or apparent pro- self with The Great American
trophobic than in Hill's subse- European films, the former most of whom view their blood vocation. Anna is a labyrinthine Snace Film. Until that time, we
quent opus. This first-time dealing with the various day- kin not as loved ones but as riddle, the answers to which will just have to make do with
matchup of Redford - Newman dreams of a 13-year-old girl, the enemies or victims to be dis- will probably remain locked what virtues exist in sch half-
is exciting and funny, whereas 1 latter with the relationship be- sected at the earliest oppor- within the mind of the director, artistic half-commercial schiw-
in The Sting they seemed bog- tween a woman and her dying tunity. The Little Foxes subse- but is still a remarkable - if oids as Forbidden Planet.
ged down in a stale, used-up mother-in-law. Ann Arbor pre- auently got Hellman into trou- not thoroughly comprehended- Seduntion of Mimi - (Pen-
routine. ***% miere of both. ble with the House Un-Ameri- cinematic experience. This was nie's Bicentennial Commission,
International House - (Ann North by Northeast - (Ann can Activities Committee, but Bergman's first major feature Nat. Sci. Aud. 7 & 9) - Com-
Arbor Film Co-op, MLB 3, 7 & Arbor Film Co-op, Nat. Sci. can be enjoyed perhaps more in color, and he proves so mas- m11nist fatorv worker runs a
10:30) - A little - known W. C. Aud., 7 & 9) - Rich playboy as an inquest into human rela- terful at the medium that one nernetual footrace to avoid the
Fields film dealing with - of Cary Grant is mistaken for a tionships than as a political al- wonders why he didn't adopt Ii(ilia Mafia on the one hand,
all things for 1933 - televi- government agent by alien sub- legory. **** it years earlier. ****hi andoned wife on the oth-
sion. versives, then swiftly sucked That'll Be The Day and Star- Forbidden Planet - (Cinema er. Lena Wertmnller's flat, u-
Reefer Madness - (Ann Ar- into pursuit by both the bad dust - (Ann Arbor Film Co-on,= Guild, Arch. Aud., 7 & 9:05) - fnnnr conmedv deliieted most
bor Film Co-op, MLB 3, 8:45 guys and the police, who be- Ang. Aud. A, That'll Be The One of the better products of critics, bnt I found it a preten-
only) - The original dope-is- lieve he is a murderer. Famous Day at 7, Stardust at 9) - A the brief sci-fi wave of the ear- tiosly offensive bore: Wert-
death public service film, re- Hitchcock film replete with the two-part epic dealing with the ly and mid-50's, but like most nuier's camera dwells loving-
leased in the 1940's under the famous crop-duster and Mt. rise to fame of a fictional Bri- of the others a very mixed bag. lv and endlessly on the allee-
warning title, Tell Your Chil- Rushmore sequences, a n d tish rock group, reportedly This is essentially an intergal- ed hilarities of bloated fat wo-
dren. Absolutely hilarious, less though it's not really one of its roughly patterned after The lactic updating of The Tempest men, but it wasn't funny when
for its drug campiness than for director's best it's certainly Beatles. Both films were the - a space crew lands on a Fellini induleed in it and it's
its unrelentingly sublime cine- one of his most accessible. *** victims of poor distribution in mysterious, unexplored planet, not funny here, either - it
matic and thespian incompe- The Mother and the Whore - the U. S. (they've never ap- discovers its sole inhabitants trikes me as grotesque and
tence. **' Tge Mother And A W :e- peared in Ann Arbor - or any- are a middle-aged Earth-emi- heartless. **
Am'- -d - (Cinema II, Ang. where else I can remember), grated scientist and his twen-
Aud. ' - & 9:15) - Fellini's ?nlY) - A recent French film but have been praised by those ty-ish daughter, who has spent EVENTS
most to'wlhing, low-key film in involving the entangling per- who've seen them. her entire life on this world. Ark - An evening concerning
sonalities and opinions of the
years, which focuses - rather members ofd biarre lo ti 6 EVENTS Prospero - like, the scientist Puerto Rico, 9 p.m.
predictibly - on his childhood angle. Three-and-a-halfvhours 16th Annual Organ Mnsic
in a small Italian town. Slightt Conf. -Student organists, 4 p
on plot but incredibly rich in ln sand reportedl qthuite tay .: Almut Rossler, guest or-
atmosphere, Amarcord consists ast, 8:30: Hill Aud.
of a series of loosely connected ing experience once the view- Poetry Reading - Rav M
events in the town - most er gs Jean-P into it. The picture Bride: Pendleton Arts Informa-
comic, some starkly serious, all minus factor in my eyes but tion Ctr., 2nd floor Union, noon. . o
affectionately and stunningly a plus to many others. BARS
crafted by the director. **** aUmberto D - (Cinema Guild, Golden Falcon - Rout, jazz,
The. Philadelphia Story -I Arch. And., 7 & 9:05) - The 9:3M, $1.od
(Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud., 7 & movie pick of the week, the Mr. Flood's Party - Gemini,
9:05) - The Hepburn - Grant- month and quite possibly the 9:30, no cover.
Stewart classic about roman- semester: Vittorio deSica's Second Chance - Moxy, rock,
tic musical chairs among Phil- study of the terrors of old age 9:30, $1-1.50.
lv's upper crust. Getting a stands among the most pro-!
little shopworn and perhaps a found and moving works of all
bit remote after all these years, cinema, and the real tragedy w ednesdav 50c Discount on Admission
blt the once-in-a-lifetime cast is that it's been almost totally t tdn
still makes it a delight. *** neglected by audiences and CINEMA with Student .D.
The Hired Hand - (Ann Ar- distributors over the past twen- All These Women - (Cine-
bor Film Co-on, MLB 4, 7 only) tv years. DeSica's everyman ma Guild Arch. Aud. 7 & "Violate Michgan State"
- Peter Fonda's rarely - dilemma is embodied by an 9:05) - An honest-to-god com-
shown 1971 Western about three elderly apartment dweller sur- edy by Ingmar Bergman, and -
drifters searching for their des- rounded by a world gone cold said by critics to be one of h
tiny. I've never seen it, but and harsh: Cut off from work, worst efforts. I've never seen
some critics who have consider his companions dead, his sur- It.Diary of a Chambermaid - r HOURS: Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m.-2 a.m.
it something quite special. roundings strange and uncar- .-WEEKLY HOURS: 9 p.m.-2 a.m.
The Last Movie - (Ann Ar- ing, he continues to struggle for Aunn Arbor Flm Co-op, Ang.-
bor Film Co-op, MLB 4, 9 on- what little dignity he retains' d. 's only) - Luis sutIU 516 ELiberty -5
lv) - This was to be Dennis what minimal foothold he stillabul'sesex liousasatryE. LJ
Honner's triumphant follow-up has on the comforting andfa-' abroutthe exploits of ansaucy,
to Easy Rider. His film about I miliar. In Pauline Kael's irreverent maid (Jeanne Mo- Aha0
the corrupting effect of an words, "His alienation has such reau).
American Western film com- pride and spirit that he is not - _________-__________-__________
pany on the inhabitants of a unworthy to stand as a sym-
small Peruvian village was bol of man's fate." -
geared to entrench Hopper's I wept openly when I first saw
nosition among the vanguard of Umberto D and would frankly1
the new young filmmakers. So defy anyone else not to; it is
what hapnened? The Last Movie not an easy film to take, but I
ran briefly in New York and hope potential viewers will not O
L. A., got bad reviews and was be out off by this fact. Um-
then unceremoniously yanked berto D is worth a hundred
from the memory of man - its Butch Cassidies, is as deeply
one-night Ann Arbor showing universal as the latter is super-
last December seemed to mark ficially slick, and simply not to
only the third time it's been bT G Ri ****
I
m
i
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I
ANN I [3C1 FILM CCmCP
shown in this country.!
The Last Movie is probablyj
the most maddening film I've
ever seen. Long sections of'it
are so eood that one feels he
is watching a major turning
point in cinema: but interspac-
ed with these wonderous seg-
ments are sequences so incom-
orehensible and inspid that one
feels Horner simply fell asleen
in the editing room, dropped all
his footage on the floor, then
nicked it up and spliced togeth-
er in whatever order it hap-
nened to land. Or was Hopper
exnressing contemnt for the
authoritative "well - made -
FIFRI.-SAT.
FRONT HALL RECOR
BOB
Ltg.u EEF
De misseu
EVENTS G EORG E C UKO R'S 1940
Guarneri String Quartet -
Snecial repeat performance,
2:30. Rackham Aud. (UniversityI
Sciaket)d'=V HILADE LPHIA STORY
MResidential College - Chain
ber Music Series, original songs When reporter James Stewart says, "one of the prettiest sights in the
for voice, guitar: RC Anud, 8 world is the privileged class enjoying it's privileges." He's talking about
16th Annual Organ Music Katherine Hepburn and her place in high society. She's the center of
Conf. - Robert Clark, organist: - attention as a result of her upcoming marriage but exhusband (Gary
Hill A Bd., 8:30. Grant) doesn't let that stop him from getting into the act. Phil Barry's
S BARS, sparkling script makes it happen.
Del Rio - Jazz, S to 9, no
cover. SUN: De Sica's UMBERTO D
Golden Falcon - Benson and
Dralles, jazz quartet, 9:30, $1.
Mr. Flood's Party - Gwen TONIGHT AT OLD ARCH. AUD.
& Kevin, 9:30, no cover. CINEMA GUILD 7:00 & 9:30 P.M. Admission $1.25
$2.50 4 E L I N 1'S 1974
D'S ,E
D'S ~ 3AMARCORD
Meet the wonderfully strange characters from Fellini's past. AMAR-
CORD gives a visual perspective of Fellini's childhood in Italy of the
1930's. "AMARCORD is full of tales: some romantic, some slapstick,I
some eleaiacal. some baudy, some as mysterious as the unexpected
I
TONIGHT in MLB!
W. C. FIELDS and GRACIE ALLEN
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE
(Edward Sutherland, 1933) 7 & 10:30
W. C. Fields, slightly lost on his way to St. Louis, drops in
on the Wuhu Hotel in China in his gyrocopter-automobile.
There he sets about procuring all the available liquor and
women, as well as engaging in mortal combat with a sub-
limely stupid Gracie Allen. Cab Calloway praises marijuana
in "THAT REEFER MAN." George Burns, Bela Lugosi and
Rudi Vallee.
REEFER MADNESS
(Leo Gasnier, 1936) 1 8:45 ONLY
Originally titled "TELL YOUR CHILDREN." An anti-mari-
juana propaganda film now regarded as ridiculously camp.
The wed is described as 'the new drug menace which is
destroying the youth of America!" With THE MYSTERY OF
THE LEAPING FISH (JohnEmerson, 1916) the classic "Cocaine
Comedy" with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., as detective Coke
Ennyday-a parody of Sherlock Holmes. Scenario by Tod
Browning, supervised by D. W. Griffith.
'GREAT LOST FILM' NIGHT
"Lost Film" night-Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda hit it big
in 1969 with EASY RIDER. In 1971 they both directed very
personal films which were ignored by critics and savaged by
distributors. Here's a chance to see what became of the
American "New Wave." Don't make the same mistake the
critics made!
THE HIRED HAND
(Peter Fonda, 1971) 7 ONLY
THE HIRED HAND, Peter Fonda's first directoral effort is a
lean, poetic and ambitious film about three drifters who have
spent seven years trying to reach the dubious El Dorado of
California. One of them decides to go home and re-establish
his relationship with the wife he left years before. An
"existential western" concerned with the questions of respon-
sibility and "going back home," THE HIRED HAND has
some of the most daring cinematography ever boasted by
a western (shot by viimos Zsigmond). "One of the best films
of 1971 was THE HIRED HAND . . . a film of great visual
beauty and pervasive style."-velvet Light Trap. "THE HIRED
HAND . . . is serious and well worth seeing. It's richness is
not just a lot of loose syrup that flows off the screen .
it contains purpose."-Stanley Kaufman.
THE LAST MOVIE
(Dennis Hopper, 1971) 9 ONLY
Legend has it that Universal sabotaged the distribution of
YTS 7 Am 1krnr,',, ,t 4,, .~p*the. n.r,noftmaverickt nro-
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