As THE MICHIGAN DAILY
rts & Entertainm ent Friday, April 2, 1976 Page Five
Fri.-Sat.-Sun. $2.50
JOHN ROBERTS
and
TONY BARRAND
from the British Isles
Presdents i
By JAMES VALK
N THE past few years, it has
become somewhat of a Holly- "
wood tradition to adapt run-
away best sellers to the screen,
converting them into "bigger-
than-life" motion pictures. Itn
accidently started with Love
Story, continued with the monu-
mental successes of The God-
father and The Exorcist and be-
came an international phenome- t<''
non with Jaws.
Yet when Warner Brothers
purchased the screen rights to
Bob Woodward and Carl Bern-
stein's All the President's Men.
for Robert Redford's Wildwood
Enterprises, the scenario was
somewhat different. The subject
was no longer that of pop fic-
tion-it was history, and its .
sense of immediacy was fright-
ening
All the President's Men seems
to have everything going for it:
two of the hottest actors in the¢
business (Redford & Hoffman-
both are presumedly so big now
that their first names are being
dropped in the ads), a story that
has become familiar with vir-
tually everyone in the country,
and thus a guaranteed slew of
publicity.
Y E T W H I L E moviegoers ]
spend millions to see Redford
and Hoffman in action, there is a Jack Warden as Harry Rosenfe
good chance the majority of Alan Pakula's film of "All the
them may be disappointed.. (One
must not forget that All the opens April 9 at selected theal
President's Men is being releas-
ed on the basis of its universal problem was unavoidable. It
appeal to the entire country, not would have been all too easy to,
just to a particular segment of make it into little more than a
filmgoers. Thus, the majority of cheap political shot, and director
its audience will undoubtedly Alan Pakula realized the need.
consist of those who see perhaps for restraint. The result is a film
2,3 films a year - the same that exists more as a dramatiza-{
crowd that frequented Jaws will tion of fact than a cinematict
be wanting to check out the adaptation of the book. This!
latest "blockbuster.") isn't to suggest that the decision
The reason that All the Presi- was wrong-it wasn't. Yet in
dent's Men will encounter this the final wake of Pakula's con-!
klen 7 Pakula remains loyal
until near the film's end, Halde-
*, man or Nixon.
* I FIND myself at odds as to
drawing the line between fac-
Xj ".tualizing and fictionalizing.?
*,${There are elements of film that,
without disturbing the issue of
fact, enhance the basis of pre-
sentation-an altered camera
angle, a mismatched cut, an
overlapping soundtrack. Eviden-
tially Pakula encountered the;
problem and, realizing the risks
he would assume by remaining
a filmaker, proceeded - but
more as a documentarian +han
as an artist.
In the long of it, I believe his
decision to be both an honorable
and correct one. But in the same
context, his direction remains
S. .overly cautious, guarding itself
from becoming too dramatized,
,Y with Pakula himself failing to
realize that he is making a film
and not merely recording one.
The elements of filrm which
k a make the medium more tan
just, another mode of expression
are scarcely present in this
movie. Gordon Willi, whose
cinematography could stand as
a film in itself (Godfather II),
anpears remarkably flat. In this
/1 film, he is forced to indulge his
camera in mere juxapositions of
} :r.... television sets blaring Nixon's
K in -ngural with shots of the
Wshineton Post newsroom.
e Washington Post reporter's findings in David Shire's music is sparce
by CarlBernstein and Woodward. The film to the point of being suoressed,
being heard almost exclusively
wit'i witomobiles.
BUT All the President's Men
nurky leads, no violence, no exotic scenary -s, above all, a -chronicle of
nes any de- except for the majestic interiors °vents. a oaasi-mystery where
t even here of the Library of Congress. whi-oone-it is reolaced by
3f prevailing 'v t'Q how-it-was-done. Tt s the
hen Redford' Perhaps the film will prove too 11ln 'Redford envisioned in early
is life is in narrow in perspective for the 13. and is the film that he and
o'lrt3elves average viewer. Those who paid k have created. Admitting-
facts-Wood- to see Robert Redford of Butch I.it is a sterling, precise trans-
n are alive Cassidy days or the Dustin Hoff- "nrmation from book to screen.
man of Midnight Cowboy, may rlans those more intimately
any doubt or well be disappointed. Instead -ttaThed with the matters of
the manu- they may discover themselves 'o tics and journalism will find
that Pakuaa lost in two hours of Bernard 're comfort with the film. Un-
rly the head- Barkers and High Sloans, not frarfnately, its historical and
appears on even finding solace in the ta- nolitical significance far out-
after a cru- miliarity of Ehrlichman or, not weighs its cinematic relevance.
guitar, banjo, concertina
English music hall (vaude-
ville) drinking songs, sea
chanteys, ballads, novelty
songs.
SAT. 1 P.M.--MORRIS DANCE WORKSHOP-FREE
Tues.--BIFF ROSE-comedy
1421 HILL 8:30 761-1451
eld and Robert Redford as Bob Woodward discuss th
President's Men," based on th e best-selling book b
tres across the country.
servative artistic judgement, All ward through his n
the President's Men comes off that the film assur
as a highly polished educational gree of intrigue. Ye
film. there is no sense o
Pakula's goal, not to fiction- danger, for even wk
alize Woodward and Bernstein's' is informed that hi
book, has been so totally realiz- jeoiardv we find
ed on film that one loses grasp shielded by the f
of perhaps the film's biggest ward and Bernstei
commercial draw-the personas and well.
of Redford and Hoffman. Both THERE IS never
are so equally counterbalanced suspense, and thus
by the other and mutually factured moments
dwarfed by Pakula's emphasis interjects (particular
U
What's playing this Cinema Weekend
Another week-end has arrived, and once again comes
another exciting Cinema Week-end:
Friday--Love and Death (Ann Arbor Co-op, MLB 3, 7,
8:45, 10:30) Bananas (Ann Arbor Film Co-op, MLB 4, 7,
8:45); Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Cinema Guild, 7, 9:05);
Shampoo (UAC Mediatrics, Nat. Sci. Aud., 7:30, 9:30)
Saturday-Skiddo (New World, MLB 3, 7, 9); Patton
(Bursley Hall Enterprises, West Bursley Cafe., 8:30); The
Big Sleep (Cinema II, Aud. A Angel 7, 9); Black Orphes
(Cinema Guild, Old Arch Aud, 7, 9:05); Shampoo (UAC
Mediatrics,'Nat. Sci. Aud., 7:30, 9:30)
Sunday-Partner (Cinema Guild, Old Arch Aud., 2:30);
The Missles of October (Cinema II, Aud. A, 7, 9:30 p.m.)
All week long - Robin and Marian, State (662-6264)
Inserts, Fifth Forum (761-9700); Swept Away, Campus
(668-6416); Dog Day Afternoon, Michigan (665-6290), Cuckoo's
Nest, Blazing Saddles, Taxi Driver, I Will, I Will, For Now,
Briarwood (769-9780) Winterhawk, Fox Village, (769-1300)
on the material that the film
loses the personalities of the
pair in exchange for a penetrat-
ing look at their work.
HOFFMAN has said that the
film is not an actor's film, and
desnite the numerous excellent
performances, I not only concur
but go one step farther: All the
President's Men is not a direc-1
tor's film, either.
Pakula's work is so totally de-
voted to its material and self-
conscious of its execution that
it becomes, for all purposes,
cinematically bankrupt. Except,
for a couple of shots by cinema-
tographer Gordon Willis (most
notably a high angle shot in the
Library of Congress), there is
hardly a memorable scene,'
either visually or dramatically,
in the entire film.
It is only in the sequences
with "Deep Throat," the name-
less informant that guides Wood-,
light that suddenly
Redford's face just
cial rendezvous with Deep
Throat) fail to make the film
t h e "investigative mystery"
that the director had hoped for.
The deft seriousness of the!
film may prove annoying t o
those whose interests are not
overtly political. There are, of
course, no chases through thel
streets of Washington, no sex,
SUNDAY
at H ILLEL
APRIL 4
12:30-2:30
ISRAELI
DANCING
1 :00-2:30 P.M.
PASSOVER
WORKSHOP
ALL AT
1429 Hill St.
__ ..
It Pays to Advertise in The Daily
k
........Iwas swept
away by the
volcanic, slam- bang
performances of
:> its two stars."
--Gene Shait, NBC-TV
Au
Awy:"
{ ..
3rd Big Week
1214s unversi SHOWTIMES
Mon ,,Tues., Thurs., Fri.
K il~ J' U ,7:00 and 9:00 p.m.
Sat., Sun., Wed.:
Theatre Phone 668-6416 1 :00,3:00, 5:00, 7 and 9
STARTS TODAY
For
Love is the greatest adventure of all.
COLUMBIA PICTURES and RASTAR PICTURES r
AUDREY
TONIGHT-WOODY ALLEN COMEDY
FRIDAY, APRIL 2
DOUBLE FEATURE in the MLB!
$1.25 single show $2.00 double feature
BANANAS
(Woody Allen, 1971)
MLB 4-7, 8:45, 10:30
Allen's humor at its height. Its only logic
is the logic of fantasy. A thoroughly alie-
nated tester of Rube Goldberg gadgets takes
off for a South American country where he
is transformed into a revolutionary leader
with false beard. Woody Allen.
LOVE AND DEATH
(Woody Allen, 1975)
MLB 3-7, 8:45, 10:30
Woodv Allen's satire on Russian novels,
Napoleonic Wars, and movie classics from
Eisenstein to Beraman, complete with one-
liners on just about everything. With Diane
Keaton.
SEAN HEPBURN ROuERT
CONNERY IN SHAW
"ROBIN AND MARIAN"
A RICHARD LESTER FILM
NICOL WILLIAMSON
DENHOLM ELUOTT RONNIE BARKER
KENNETH HAIGH IAN HOLM
adRICHARD HAj j'RRIS .,Richrd tht Uohart
A RAY STARK-RICHARD SHEPHERD roduaon * iby JOHN BARRY
Exeutive Produ RICHARD SHEPHERD - Wrten by JAMES GOLDMAN
PG Produced by DENIS O'DELL - Direted by RICHARD LESTER &
r
v
s sSHOWTIMES
Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri.:
7:00 and 9:00 p.m.
Sat., Sun., Wed.:
1:00, 3:05, 5:10,
7:20, 9:30 p.m.
-w