Soturdoy, April 3, 1976
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Saturday, April 3, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three
I
lk'
11
g S o..
events and entertainment
for the week of April 3-9
This week's Happenings cal-
endar was prepared by James
Burns (bars) and Kim Potter
(Mom'es)-
all wek
long
COMMERCIAL CINEMA
Taxi Driver - (The Movies,
Briarwood) - The best Ameri-
can film in at least a decade,
Taxi Driver is an absolutely
staggering directorial tour de
force about a young disaffected
Midwesterner who becomes a
midnight - shift cabbie in New
York City. Emotionally and
communicatively crippled to be-
gin with, he acts as a kind of
silent Greek chorus to the hor-
rors of the big city - gliding
down the garish-lit streets, wit-
ness to squalor and atrocities
that neither he - nor anyone
else - possesses the apparent
power to alter. The tragic com-
bination of sensitivity and help-
lessness grind and wither him
until he is finally twisted into a
murderous, self-styled avenging
angel bent on purging the city
of its vipers. Robert DeNiro is
brilliant in the cabbie's role,
but Taxi Driver belongs utter-
ly to director Martin Scorcese.
Blending compassionate rage
with dazzling technical style,
Scorcese leads the viewer
through a Fellinesque vision of
Hell so profound and terrifying
that one leaves feeling doubt
for the salvation of any of us.
The director falters slightly in
the film's questionable, am-
biguous climax, but Taxi Driv-
er's first nine - tenths con-
stitutes the closesttthing to a
perfect film that I have even
seen.
Blazing Saddles - (The Mov-
ies, Briarwood) - Mel Brooks';
textbook exercise in how to
make low-level comedy funny.
Enjoy yourselves. ***
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest - (The Movies, Briar-
wood) - The first film in over
40 years to win all five major
Oscars (Best Picture, Actor, Ac-
tress, Director, Screenplay) -
but still, just not as good as it
could have been. No quarrels
about Jack Nicholson or Louise
Fletcher ,though - they are
both superlative.***
Swept Away - (Campus) -
Lena Wertmuller's class - se
warfare film involving a right-
wing female aristocrat and a
Communist sailor who express
their mutual loathing for each
other during a Mediterranean
cruise, then shortly after find
themselves stranded on an un-
inhabited island. Seizing the
isolation, the sailor rapes and
beats his blonde companion into
total subsurvience, venting his
political and macho rages into
a kind of symbolic revenge for
the Proletarian Male in general.
To this point, Swept Away
seems an exceptionally dis-
tasteful exercise in masculine
brutality, but the film sudden-;
ly reverses gears and settles
into a gentle love story so beau-
tifully lyric that it tends to dis-
solve even the memory of the
preceding unpleasantness. While
Swept Away coild be interpre-
ted as saying rape and beatings
lead to domestic bliss, Wert-
muller's disjointed creation
seems artistically above all
that - as if her poetic instincts
finally triumphed over her poli-
tics. This is an imperfect but
in many ways extraordinary
film, containing as haunting a
tragi - comic finale as you're
ever likely to see. ""
Dog Day Afternoon - (Michi-
gan) - Sidney Lumet's film
about an actual bungled bank
robbery in Brooklyn, which
turned into a kind of city-wide
happening thanks to the wacky
sideshow eccentricities of the
felons involved. The story itself
is quite compelling, and the
electric performances by Al
Pacino as the exhibitionistic
"brains" of the operation and{
John Casale as his silent, psy-
chotic sidekick make this a
better film than it perhaps de-
serves.
H 0 U SE
I Will, I Will . . . For Now -
(The Movies, Briarwood) - An
absolutely abominable film
about the attempts of a divorc-
ed, filthy - rich New York cou-
ple (Elliott Gould and Diane
Keaton) to rekindle marital
bliss. The picture abounds with
all sort of pseudo - mod, frank-
chic (non-explicit) machina-
tions involving cohabitational
contract, sex clinics as other
hot items, but these '70's-ish
trappings serve only to expose
rather than camouflage a whee-
zy bedroom - farce plot that
could have been filmed thirty
years ago and seemed archaic
even then. Bomb
Robin and Marian - (State)-
Richard Lester's new re-telling
of the Robin Hood Legend, with
Sean Connary and Audrey Hep-
burn. A recipient thus far of
almost unanimous rave reviews
- we shall see.
saturday
APRIL 3
CINEMA
Patton - (Bursley Film En-
terprises, Bursley XV. Cafeteria,
8:30 only) - Franklin Schaff-
ner's study- of the famed WW 11
general bills itself as a thought-
ful and even - handed treatment
of our most complex military
figure, but is in reality a slick
Hollywood - soft patronization
that seems almost to be leading
"Fight, George, Fight!" cheers
in its latter stages. And I don't
think George C. Scott does near-
ly enough to help the proceed-
ings; Patton is often regarded
as his greatest performance,
but it's very far from that.
Scott seems so caught up in
capturing all the surface mans-
festations of his character -
even down to the correct place-
ment of facial moles - that he
neglects any concentrated
scrutiny as to the underlying
drives that made Patton tick.
We are thus offered an out-
ward accurate portrayal that
sheds precious little light on
the inner psyche of this intense,
haunted man,
Black Orpheus - (Cinema
Guild, Arch. Aud., 7 & 9:05) -
A retelling of the Orpheus leg-
end, set in the black section of
Rio de Janeiro. As joyous and
infectious a film as you're ever
likely to see, driven by an en-
ergy so intense that it's almost
hypnotic in its pulsation of sight
and sound. A champion of mu-
sic, art and simple love of life,
and the best offering of the
evening. -"
Shampoo - (Mediatrics, Nat.
Sci, Aud., 7:30 & 9:30) - War-
ren Beatty's savage, supposed-
ly autobiographical study of a
quintissential stud bathed in
the eternal youth of Southern1
California of the late 1960's. One
of the most penetrating come-
dies of recent years Shampool
is graced with scintillatingly ac-
curate portrayals by Beatty,
Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn
and especially Jack Warden as
a brutal, thrice - cuckolded in-a
dustrialist. Shampoo hits home
beautifully about 90 per cent of
the way, but suddenly and sur-
prisingly goes soft in the end-
it's maudlin climax is jarringly
out of kilter with the rest of
the film, both artistically and
philosophically. Too bad Beatt
and director Hal Ashby didn't
quite maintain the courage of
their convictions, but Shampoo
remains an inventive, almost-
brilliant effort. --
Skidoo - (New World, MLB 3,
7 & 9) - A recently - discov-
ered 1960's Otto Preminger
drug - laced feature comedy
which was never released. An
immediate candidate for cult-
film status due to the presence
of Groucho Marx, Jackie Glea-
son and other notables getting
high on artificial notables, but
the picture was reportedly with-
held not for morality reasons
but for the simple fact that it's
an unbelievably bad film. All
heads, film scholars and enter-
tainment seekers might there-
fore stand warned.
Hoppity Goes to Town -
(Cinema II Children's Films,
Angell And. A, I & 3 p.m.) -
A forgotten 1940 feature car-
toon classic involving the ef-
forts of a small community of
grasshoppers from being over-
run by humans. Utterly ne-
glected but every bit as exciting
and technically superb as the
Disney films, Hoppity is just too
good a film to miss - and you
may never get another chance
to see it. A treat for anyone.
The Big Sleep - (Cinema II,
Ang. Aud. A, 7 & 9) - Howard
Hawkes' film from the Rav-
mond Chandler novel is hope-
lessly complex but a great deal
of fun. Humphrey Bogart de-
livers probably the bestof the
many interpretations of Philip
Marlowe on screen.*
BARS
Ark - John Roberts and Tony
Barrand, folk, 9, S2.50.
Bimbo's - Gaslighters, singa-
long ragtime, 6-1:30, 50c after 8.
Blind Pig-Silvertones, blues,
9:30, S1.
Chances Are - Cloudburst,
rock, 8, S2 with I.D.
Golden Falcon-Melodioso, jazz,
9, Si.
Mr. Flood's Party - Mike
Smith and his Country Volun-
teers,. 9:30, 51.
Heidelberg Rathskeller-Mus-
tard's Retreat, folk, 9:30, no
cover.
Loma Linda-JB & Company,
9:30. no cover.
Pretzel Bell - RFD Boys,
bluegrass, 10, $1.50.
Rubaiyat - Open Road, top
40, 9, no cover.
EVENTS
Trotter House, Dance Dept.-
Concert and recital, Schorling
And., 8.
Sunday
APRIL 4E
CINEMA
Partner - (Cinema Guild,
Arch. Aud., 7 & 9:05) - From
Bernardo Bertolucci, of all_
people, a legitimate candidate
for the Worst Movie Ever Made
and the only film this writer
has ever literally walked out on.a
Incoherently based on Dostoev-
sky's The Double, Partner con-t
tains no plot, no characteriza-f
tion, no apparent direction andt
certainly no interest - just an4
unrelated string of infantile3
socio-sexual-political happenings
incorporating the worst elementsi
of Godard and early Warhol,
minus the saving humor of the;
former and the spontaneous
freedom of the latter. Bertolucci
claims the film reflects his
early "intellectual and political
sources" - if so, he must have]
had a very dull youth. BOMB
1984 - (People's Bicentennial
Commission, Nat. Sci. And., 9
only) - A rather shabby cine-
mazation of George Orwell's
famed totalitarian nightmare.;
Although made by a British
comany, the film was financed
by American interests who bull-
dozed American stars (Edmund
O'Brien and Jan Sterling) into
the leads for their box office1
apeal. and who were quite
parsimonious in their budgetary
allotments. (They also forced
an alternate, less-bleak ending
to be filmed for American audi-
ences, but fortunately this
watered-down version is rarely
shown.) Given these substantial
handicaps, the film's creators
did aout as well as could bt
expected, although O'Brien lorks
fat and ridiculous as the sup-
nosedly underfed Winston and
Sterling is unforgivably wooden
as his clandestine lover, Julia.
M i c h a e l Redgrave salvages
things somewhat with a frighten-
ingly accurate portrayal of thet
Satanically matter-of-fact in-
quisitor O'Connor (changed from
O'Brien in the novel lest low
I.Q. moviegoers confuse himI
with eood ol' Edmund). But
the efforts of Redgrave, Donald
Pleasance and others cannot eb-
scure the fact that 1984 is a
second-rate production, tragical-l
ly far from what Orwell's mas-
terwork deserved. **
Rebel Without a Cause -
(People's Bicentennial Commis-
sion, Nat. Sci. Aud., 7:15 only)
- Nicholas Ray's high school
delinquency tale is the genre
film of the 'ss', every element
of which is relegated to insig-
nificance by its star and itsc
director. Forget the cornball
script with its troubled-teenr
cliches, forget the bad acting by
some of the kids and most of the
adults, the hokey sets and the
general Hollywood mentality
pervading the proceedings. Ray's
vision of a night-and-a-half in
the life of a youthful loner
ignores those celluloid boun-
daries and transcends itself into
an ethereal legitimacy all its
own. Under his eye, his main
characters glide and dance
through an ecstatic-demonic
Walpurgis Nacht, where the
youn g are immortal and the
only death the sudden death of
morning. Ray found the perfect
exension of his dark liturgy
:hrough James Dean, who in-
stinctively understood truths
most trained actors didn't who
never grew old and thus worn
out, who instead remained as
eternal as the night-spawned
moonchildren of his director's -
rie.
The Missiles of October -
(Cinema II, Ang Aud. A., 7 &
9:30) - Theatrical showing of
the 1974 TV dramatization of the
Cuban Missile Crisis, comete
with Jack and Bobby Kennedy,
Nikita Khruschev and other lum-
inaries of the time. Well-acted
and tinginglv suspenseful when
shown on television - whether it
will come across so well on a'
large screen is anybody's guess.
For those too young to remem-
ber, Missiles provides a sober-
ing nostalgia trip back to a
time when none of us knew for
sure whether we'd be around
the next morning or not.
BARS
Mr. Flood's Party - Fred
Small, 9:30, no cover.
Chances Are - Cloudburst,
rock, 9, S1 with I.D.
Loma Linda - JB & Company,
9:30. no cover.
Ark - John Roberts and Tony
Barrand, folk, 9, S2.50.
EVENTS
Musical Society - Don Cos-
sacks, Hill, 2:30.
APRIL S
CINEMA
No:hing scheduled.
BARS
Blind Pig - Boogie Woogie
Red, blues, 9:30, 51.
Chances Are-Lightnin', rock,
9, S1 with I.D.
Mr. Flood's Party - Aging
Children, 9:30, no cover.
Loma Linda-JB & Company,
9:30, no cover.
Golden Falcon - Silvertone,
blues, 9:30. 51.
EVENTS
Music School - Jazz Band,
Rackham, 8.
Galens Medical Society-"Mv
Fair Malady," Trueblood, 8.
luecday
APRIL 6
CINEMA
Satvricon - (Ann Arbor Film
Co-op, Ang. Aud. A, 7-& 9:15)-
The gluttonous, overblown depth
of Federico Fellini's career.
Based loosely on Petronius'
novel of two young men in pre-,
Christian Rome, Satyricon dis-
plays an amazing lack of energy
and imagination - it just lum-
bers along with its giant budget
and cast of thousands from one
supposedly fantastic-erotic ad-
venture to the next, rather like
a low-I.Q. hippopotamus in the
dregs of old age and sterility.
Much of Fellini's best surreal
work contained a kind of an-
cient, almost mythological aura
that hypnotized the viewer;
Satyricon is his first film ac-
tuallv set in such a long-ago
period, and much of the effect
seems to evaporate into tedious
history. "
Open City - (Cinema Guild,
Arch. And., 7 only) - Roberto
Rossellini's stark, moving drama
of Rome during the last days
of the Nazi regime. This film
established Rossellini as the
leader of the Italian "New Real-
sm" school, and is still regard-
ed by many as his finest work.
Force of Evil-(Cinema Guild,
Arch. Aud., 9:05 only) - John
Garfield film about a lawyer
who makes a career represent-
ing gangster elements. Sounds
like an interesting guilt vs. re-
sponsibility proposition and most
probably dramatically exciting.
BARS
Chances Are-Sky King, rock,
9, S1 with I.D.
Mr. Flood's Party - Catfish
Miller, jug blues band, 9:30, no
cover.
Loma Linda-JB & Company,
9:30. no cover.
Ark - Biff Rose, folk & com-.
edy, 9, S2.50.
EVENTS
Music School - Varsity Band,
Hill. 8.
Musical Society - Stirar,
Kathak dancer, Rackham, 8:30.
wednesday
APRIL 7
CINEMA
The Scarlet Empress - (Cin-
ema Guild, Arch. Aud., 7 &'
9:05) - Early Von Sternberg words
film about Catherine the Great, existed
starring Marlene Dietrich. ligan's
Hearts and Minds - (Ann doesn't]
Arbor Film Co-op, Ang. Aud. A, enough
7 & 9:30) - The Vietnam de- milks
bade as viewed from the Left. tragi-co
An admittedi and unabashedly lush-pla
one-sided documentary reliving syruped
a tragedy that most of us would inimitab
like to forget - but must never perforn
do so. For all its political slants. the you
this film is still almost required O'Neill
viewing.~ self a g
BARS not act
Ark - Hoot night, folk, 9, 75c. Grimes
Loma Linda-JB & Company, youth
9:30. no cover. more se
Mr. Flood's Party - Stoney his comi
Creek, country, 9:30, 75c. dramat
Blind Pig - Synergy, jazz, orangut
9:30, $1.
subtlety clearly never
in director Robert Mul-
education - he just
know when to leave well
alone. Here he milks and
a potentially sensitive
medy into a souped-up
stic Hollywood banality,
with Michel Legrand's
ble Muzak-ed score. The
ners are of no help: As
ung navy wife, Jennifer
once again proves her-
gorgeous model who can-
Worst of all is Garv
who, in the role of a
supposedly possessing
nsitivity and insight than
npatriots, displays all the
ic skill and charm of an
an. **
Chances Are-Sky King, rock, The Phantom of the Paradise
9, 54c with I.D. - (New World, Nat. Sci. Aud., 7
EVENTS & 9) - A mod synthesis of
Music School - Philharmonia Faust and Phantom of the
Orchestra, "New Music for Or- Opera, wherein a struggling dis-
chestra." Hill, 8. figured rock composer sells his
Professional Theater Program soul to a satanic record mogul
- "Camino Real," Power, 8. (Paul Williams) in order to get
his music produced. Probably
the most notable "lost film" of
If drecent years - released in late
1974, it received mostly rave
reviews from the New York
APRIL 8 critics, seemed headed for big
CINEMA things, then suddenly just died
Summer of '42 - (Couzens (it never reached Ann Arbor at
Film Co-op, Couzens Cafeteria, all). It's too bad, because Brian
8 & 10:15) - A 15-year old de Palma's musical-political sa-
youth comes of age during a tire contains some remarkably
troubled-idyllic WWII summer penetrating insight into the rock
on a New York island. The world and the value systems
first of the nostalgia flicks and behind it, and is wildly funny at
a moneymaking blockbuster, but the same time. One of the best
oh, my, is it undeserving. The films about America in the '70s,
the s a *b* Scooperative
The Ann Arbor Film Cooperative is
taking applications for student mem-
berships until April 9.
Forms may be picked up at the ticket desk at
our film showings: T, W, Th, in Aud. A; F
at MLB.
PIRGIM thanks those who have supported its
public interest work.
For those who wish not to fund, PIRGIM announces a
PIRGIM FEE REFUND
1. Your tuition bill shows the $1.50 PIRGIM fee.
2. To eliminate the fee
a. simply fill out any piece of paper
b. with your name, i.d. number, signature,
c. and SEND or take the card .. .
d. to the Student Accounts Office (2nd floor SAB)
or the Cashier (lobby, L.S. & A. Bldg.),
e. ANY time this term.
(We hope, of course, you will want to support our activi-
ties with a $1.50)
I
}
Steak & Eggs
For $1 .75
AT ~
(AMPUS GRILL RESTAURANT
808 S. STATE ST.
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NOW SHOWING I
If/
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SUNDAY
at HILLEL
APRIL 4
12:30-2:30
ISRAELI
DANCING
1 :00-2:30 P.M.
PASSOVER
WORKSHOP
ALL AT
1429 Hill St.
NOIV OPEN
Iam~ sHead
Leather
ti La 1ACm i T -.
For
Love is the greatest adventure of all.
COLL-MBLA PKThRES "d RASTAR CT L'RES
AUDREY
.sY orKS. tal.
539 E. Liberty
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31 suth sIi ateSHOWTIMES
Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri.:
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