Tuesday; Seoter be 9, 1 975
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Pete Five
..soS~ebe ,1~ HEMCIA ~L
Jewison's
'Rollerball ':
More
future schlock
By JAMES VALK legitimately become accepted doesn't really look that bad
A few years ago, Norman as a potential medium for ser- when you do just that-look. In
Jewison had everyone fooled. ious artistic endeavors, Norman fact, if a few of the dialogue
Copping the Oscar for Best Pic- Jewison will be damned if he sequences were cut out and
ture with a trite little melodra- is going to be just another the' film was viewed without
ma, In the Heat of the Night, shmuck director who simply any soundtrack, it might be
Jewison became a director of makes movies that simply kind of fun. Unfortunately, au-
social awareness in an era yet make money. And thus comes diences tend to get restless
unaffected by the "new wave" Rollerball. when they pay $2.50 a head
of the late '60s. His prominence Rollerball was a conception and hear only the film running
as a Hollywood highbrow as- that simply looked too good to through the projector.
sured him security as a bank- be true in terms of the prevail- The basic fault that plagues
able filmmaker, thus affording ing Hollywood mentality: a fu- Rollerball is its determination
him the status as a legitimate turistic film (science fiction) to take itself too seriously, with
cinematic force. that features a superstar stud Jewison again responsible for
Evidently, Jewison's m i n d (played grudgingly by James drastically overstaging every-
was exhausted from the exces- I Caan, who has yet to button thing he touches (remember
Superstar?). Even those carcin-
.-ogenic sequences where John
Houseman dictates the evils of
wj CONCERT SERIES
USHERS
NEW USHERS -Anyone who ushered on a
part-time basis or has never ushered but would
like to, come to the meeting at 5 p.m., Thurs-
day, Sept. 11.
VETERAN USHERS - Anyone who was a
permanent usher or security team, come to an
organizational meeting at 5 p.m., Wednesday,
Sept. 10. No new ushers will be signed up at
this meeting.
BOTH MEETINGS AT THE
PENDLETON ARTS CENTER
2nd floor of Michigan Union Bring ID
t
t
r
i
f
Michigan Daily
ts
the corporate philosophy are
shot in the now passe stark
white interiors, a scene that is
literally put to shame by
George Lucas' far superior
THX-1138. The decadent "de-
struction parade" of the social
elites, where flame-throwing
handguns destroy what little is
left of nature for mere plea-
sure, is filmed so reminiscent
of Bergman's procession in
Wild Strawberries it's embar-!
rassing.
And the final climax, Jona-
The shame of things to come
James Caan proves once again that all is not bleak and impersonal in the not too distant
future by expressing a moment of grief over the death of his rollerball teammate in Norman
sive cerebral demands of "ser- up his shirt, to the direct ap- than E's victory of individual
ious" cinema, and he relaxed peal of the star gazers) engaged humanity over mass conform-
his output with the film adap- in the world's roughest sport ity, complete with freeze frame
tation of Fiddler on the Roof, (sport fans) who fight to re- and Andre Previn's swelling
which in retrospect proved tain his individuality (democ- strains of Bach, may be the
where his real directorial tal- racy, morality, decency, apple most garish finale since Billy
ents lie. Unfortunately, his urge pie) in a world dominated by Jack surrendered to the fascist
for cinematic relevance was gigantic corporations (big authorities amid sobbing sup-
again aroused, and his semi- business, a villian everyone can porters while 'One Tin Sold-
ambitious Jesus Christ Super- hate), despite temptious lures ier' raised goose pimples onk
star bore the burden of his of beautiful women (sex). those who didn't know better.
pseudo-auspicious instincts. The amazing thing about the u.i
But in a time when film has film is that the entire melee Buetting aside the v
_________ual pretentiousness, it may be!
Jewison's vision of a morgue-to-
can give us that without the
pretension.
The simplicity of the wholeI
affair becomes even more ob-
vious when one stops to ques-
tion exactly what anything
means. The game itself, which
is supposedly some deviant re-
placement for global war, or the
need thereof, remains nothing
more than just that. There is no
metaphorical significance here;
just a largely unsubstantiated
spectacle that has even less
to do with society itself that it
does with the corporations.
We are told that the game of
rollerball illustrates the futil-
ity of the individual effort, but
that doesn't explain the evolu-k
tion of rollerball in place of
war. Even worse yet, it as-
sumes some quasi - literate cor-
relation between war and indi-
a theoretical "loss" of individ-
uality becomes enraged, deter-
mined to fight for survival.
But survival of what? His
rights, his life, the entire ex-
pression of humanity? Hardly-.
he just wants to play rollerball.
It taxes one's attention to ac-
cept this unmotivated reversal
of ideology, especially since
Jonathan E has absolutely no
identification with the masses
who widely support his human-'
istic effort in the end except for
that superficial relationship be-
tween superstar and fan. But
perhaps they are cheering him
blindly for the wrong reason,
them out of blood thirsty addic-
tion for the game, while only
Jonathan E realizes his final
victory of the individual effort.
One could only interpret this
as a fleeting bit of irony on
the part of Jewison, but then his
entire premise is even more un-
substantiated than it stands
now. For if Jonathan merely
represents himself as the last
individual ideologically on
earth, there is absolutely no
victory relative to anything.
money on an effort that never si y Wednesday is Barqain Day
should have been pursued in! at all Butterfield Theaters!
the porportions it was.
Futuristic films that contem- Shows at7&9 p.m.
pplate the human condition tend P S4 Open at 6:45
to become self - indulgent any-
way; with Rollerball, it was
simpply a case of trying to
make too much out of too lit-
tle. And when we are asked to
believe that a Machiavellian t
version of roller derby becomes
a substitute for the conscious
entity, the only thing that be-
comes futile is the rationale.
I
t
Records in review:
safe to assume that Jewison has.
advanced on a faulty premise.
Granted, no one is going to ar-,
gue with the foundation-after
all, who wants suppression or
IS CURRENT INFORMATION ON
STUDENT GROUPS AVAILABLE?
YES! .. . Current information on campus student organiza-
tions and how to contact them is always available at Student
Government Council. Also, the Student Organizations Board
of SGC coordinates and assists the more than 400 groups on
campus.
am pa so abolition of individual expres- viduality that simply isn't made
sion by gigantic corporations clear - if there even is one.
WILBUR LANDREY i ano with the composer pianistthat now control world politics? Perhaps we are to assume
By Obviously, there is no argu- that those who watch rollerball
United Press International Claude Bolling, billed as Ram- ment here, and thus, there is are less of individuals than
The flute of our day is ac- pal's first jazz recording (Co- no argument with the film. The those who don't, and from that
counted the most perfect of all umbia M 33233). one intellectual purpose the bit of logic extrapolate that no
wind instruments. If one takes Finally, among the latest film dvae is taig of ne old eeraque the
the number of recordings of the Rampal releases is a re-issue, om a vances is a s agin one would ever questionlthe
past couple of years into ac- on the Budget Odyssey label, ofsm hftacorporate system ofpo
count, it is also the most fash- music for flute and harp with sort of peep show into a spec- Jurisdiction because they knew
ionable. Lily Laskine (Y 33520). The se- ,ltthve visiono a. ty couldn't possibly ever par-
Many of the recordings, if not lections include "Greensleeves' But then, that s all Forbidden ticipate in the spectacle. But
most, are by the fabulous and pieces by Rossini, Ibert, Plant ever did throughout all this, what has
French flutist, Jean-Pierre Faure, Damase and Krumpholz. Jewison allows no intellectual happened to self-righteous indig-
Rampal, usually playing with Rampal is not, of course, the involvement with his material nation? Are we really to be-
his partner of 25 years at the only flutist who is recording. A - there is never any question lieve that a culture had be-
harpsichord, Robert Veyron- rare recording is a two-record of right or wrong in a reason- come so callous that a game
Lacroix. album from Das Alta Werke able perspective presented, nor of sheer physical contact be-
There is a new three-record (6.48074 ER) of the flute sonatas is there any reason for anyone comes a substitute for moral
set of Bach's complete works of the 18th century composerto feel the least bit uncomfort- consciousness?
for solo flute from RCA, which Jean-Maria Leclair played by able over any issue anyone or To complete this entire se-
is marketing the French label Christian Larde with Huguette anything takes in the entire quence of incoherency, we are
Erato in this country (CRI 3- Dreyfus at the harpsichord and film, for there is never any pre- given the personna of Johna-
5420). Jean Lamy on the viola da gam- vailing threat that penetrates than E. the rollerball whiz-kid
These works include four so- ba. The recording won a Grand past the boundaries of pure con- of the world. A true corporate
natas for flute and harpsichord, Prix du tisque inFrance. trivance. The only reaction to parasite, this world - famous
three sonatas for flute and con- It is obvious just from reading be elicited is purely a gut reac- superstar rubs elbows with the
tinuo, two partitas for flute and the names that France has pro- tion to the physical violence of multinationals to his material
continuo and, finally, a sonata duced more than her share of the game, and hell, Peckinpah advantage, but when faced with
for flute, violin and continuo. fine flutists. For Seraphim (S-
There was another release a 60247), another of them, Michel -
couple of years ago of Rampal Debost, plays virtuoso pieces
and Veyron-Lacroix playing entitled "The Golden Age of the COFFEE
only the sonatas, but the RCA Flute" by several 19th century KOL BO C F EE HOUSE
imports are all new recordings. composers, including Theobald
An entirely different thing is Boehm, who was responsible forr WEDNESDAYSEPT.10-8 P.M
Rampal's delightful recording of the development of the modern.D 1- 8 P
the Suite for Flute and Jazz Pi- instrument.
Kolbo-"It's all there.
i
t
t
i
t
C
Obviously, Jewison never got
this far in his reasoning, for if
he did, we might be chewing
over Jesus Christ Superstar
Part II. Unfortunately, a lot of
people spent a lot of time and
SGC
Trying to make UM a better
place for students to live.
3rd floor, Michigan Union-M-F 9-5-763-3241
F
i
1L
i
a,,
d
a
.>
a
1
6
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
9P ofes siona 1
ORTHE
POWER CENTER
'N
'Wjea tre
Trogr am
PRESENTS
K
i
I moo"
1
som-
PAT
(CAR ROLL,
h C
REFRESHMENTS, CONVERSATION,
and MUSIC
Mixed League Bowling
SIGN UP NOW!
Michigan Union Bowling
Open 11 a.m. Mon.Sat., 1 p.m. Sun.
at HILLEL---1429 Hill
663-3336
#'
pm
I
A;
I
Calculator Questions?
Hewlett-Packard's
factory representative will be at
ULRICH'S BOOKSTORE
Monday and Tuesday
(SEPT. 8TH AND 9TH)
Nfi~l.)
SIIuT
r f FO
SA'
"A GREATODELIG-
udm {r <:DANCING. CHORE
PUNCH LINES AN
IPRATFALLS'- C
"THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN
CALL ME IRRESPONSIBLE
HIGH HOPES
and many more
A MUSICAL SPOOF FOR
MYSTERY LOVERS
September 19, 20, 21
Evenings: 8pn,,. heLrod
,m~ay Ma nee: 3pm1)
S-U ,day Matinee: 3px
1,oo
- . v, .fir ,... ..
ror r
45VM
'N
?ORD
AND
Feb. 27-29
or April 16'-18
HT.. TAP
US LINES,
ID
* .
November 7, 8, 9
Ai! Evenings: 8pm,
11 A.M. TO 3 P.M.
S
JASON ROBARDS
Eugene INONeis
SEPT 26.27&z8TH
All Evenings: bpm.,
Sunday Matinee: 3pm
i
I
F-
AND OPERATE THE
pp,
zo$
UD---Ol ,...J UD-9C
LONG DAYS JOURNEY
I
* }G
Y
m
1 .
I
.%IX VAN" it I