Friday, May 31, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five
cinemQ weekend
Millhouse
Eckstein for Senate
Nat. Sci. And.
Sat., 7, 9
EDITOR'S NOTE - This on-
campus trmn showing is sponsored
by an organizatioa which inteads
to use theproceeds to help the p-
litical campaign of Peter Eckstein.
Such exhibitions are illegal under
the State Elections Act, according
to Washtenaw County's prosecutor's
office. At press time there sass no
indication whether or not the film
will still be shown.
President Nixon is at pre-
sent the brunt of thousands of
jokes and untold ridicule (not
to mention a Senate investiga-
tion, and possible impeach-
ment). In this he is not much
different than any other great
political leader.
However, the film Miihonse
by Amelio Antonio is not a
joke. It is a collection of film
footage that follows Richard
Nixon throughout his illustrious
political career.
The president that we love to
hate isn't presented in a very
good light, but there is very
little editorializing in the film.
Antonio just lets Nixon go, and
R.M.N. manages to make a
complete fool of himself in no
time at all.
-David Warren
Pick of the week:
Images
Cinema II, And. A
Fri., 7:30, 9:15, 11
Robert Altman's Images
(1972) has never been commer-
cially released and Altman de-
votees should not miss this ex-
clusive Ann Arbor premiere of a
fascinating and almost jigsaw-
like motion picture.
Susannah York, who was so
marvelous in Freud (1962) and
They Shoot Horses (1969), fin-
ally gets a decent starring role
that necessitates talent as well
as her beautiful face.
The plot, confusing and al-
most impenetrable, concerns a
young girl with a haunting past,
present, and future. To reveal
any more would disgrace the
efforts of Altman and York, who
have put together one hell of a
fine and disturbing film.
Images is a whole different
ball game for Altman, the
former television director-turn-
sd-Hollywood-moody-success, but
be tackles the project artfully
and tastefully.
York stars with Rene A'iber-
jonois in this sleeper of the
century.
-Michael Wilson
Fat City
Friends of Newsreel, MLB 4
Friday, 8, 9:45
The first film John Huston
ever directed became an in-
stantaneous classic. The Mal-
tese Falcon (1941) was a bril-
liant first effort and probably
the best detective thriller ever
filmed. But by the '70s, many
said Huston, now 68, was wash-
ed up and couldn's recapture
the fascinating tempo and orig-
inality so prevalent in his ear-
lier works.
No so, however, with Fat City
(1971), an authentic tribute to
the fading but still consciously
unique talents of perhaps one
of America's most prolific and
substantial motion picture direc-
tors. Fat City is about win-
ning and losing, in typical Hus-
ton fashion, as seen through the
eyes of two boxers: one is on
the way up (Jeff Bridges), and
the other on the way out
(Stacy Keach).
As the disillusioned fighter
trying for one last comeback,
Keach gives the performance of
his career. His desperate fan-
tasy to get back in the ring
will absolutely knock you off
your feet - he is almost pathe-
tically realistic. Bridges, play-
ing the young boxer with subtle
gum-chewing casualness, com-
pliments Keach's talents p e r-
fectly.,
This film is a winner, and not
to be missed.
-Michael Wilson
Sinbad's Voyage
Arnold
Golden Voyage: Michigan
Arnold: State
The other night in a dream
I saw two of the worst movies
I can ever remember seeing:
Arnold and The Golden Voyage
of Sinbad. Not only were they
just bad pieces of film, b u t
they didn't do much for my
ego: I was about the only per-
son in both theaters.
There was some small excite-
ment toward the end of Sinbad:
some sexy squeals, insinuating
laughs, and helpless giggles. Un-
fortunately, I soon realized that
this was not part of the film -
two ushers Krebs and Veronsky,
were playing footsie in the last
row.
Oh, why didn't my editors,
Blomquist and Fink, steer me
clear of these bombs? Fo r
heavens sake don't make the
same mistake I did - avoid
these two dregs at all costs!
-Louis Meldman
The Trial
Cinema II, And, A
Sat., 7:30, 9:30
I don't mean to sound hero-
worshippy or anything but I
think I'd go to see anything
that Orson Welles had anything
to do with, even if he was just
the gardner on the set. Any-
thing.
The Trial (1962) was directed
and adapted by Welles from the
paranoid Kafka novel with prac-
tically everything intact, ex-
cept for maybe the beginning
and the end. Welles himself
plays the advocate in the film,
which stars Anthony Perkins as
Joseph K. in one of the most
brilliant pieces of casting in film
history.
Perkins is the perfect bureau-
cratic fool, and co-stars w i t h
Jeanne Moreau, a perennial
Welles favorite.
The film is overly long, a n d
almost too much to bear dur-
ing the last hour or so, but the
photography alone is worth the
price of admission. Shot in an
abandoned railway station, The
Trial is more visually stimulat-
ing than seventy hours' worth
of Charlton Heston spectacle re-
runs. The angles Welles shoots
from are absurdly just right,
the kind of thing nobody but
Welles would dare to do and
succeed.
Yet if you liked the book, skip
the movie. If you hated or miss-
ed the book, don't miss The
Trial.
-Michael Wilson
On the Waterfront
Cinema Guild, Arch. And,
Fri., 7:30, 9:30
Marlon Brando likes only two
or three of the 50-some odd per-
formances he's given on film,
and On the Waterfront (1954)
happens to be one of his fav-
orites. Directed with a profes-
sional and talented hand by
Elia Kazan, Waterfront is a
shattering and kinetic portrait
of the waterfront docks in New
Jersey.
Besides Brando, the fantastic
cast includes Rod Steiger, Lee
J. Cobb, Eva Marie Saint, and
Karl Malden.
The plot is simple: Brando
fights back when corruption
starts hitting too close to home,
and that's when the fun begins.
(Continued on Page s)
Michigan Daily
Atrts
'Extemporaneous Body'
Great fun
By TONY CECERE
In the blackened Residential College
Auditorium actors stretch and reach in
warm-ups borrowed from Tai-Chi, while
on the stage two women portray a sup-
ermarket drama. One woman turns to
the other and inones the following bene-
diction: "A day without orange juice
is like a day witehout sunshine!"
Ah yes. The Theatre Company of Ann
Arbor is at it again with a show that
opens tonight and runs through tomor-
row titled The Extemporaneous Body,
an evening of improvised, symbolic con-
temporary theatre. It promises to be
great fun and excellent drama.
The show is a thread of playlets that
cover a wide spectrum of subje.:ts, open-
ing with "The Story of our Names", pro-
ceeding through sweet tidbits titled "Per-
fect People" and "The Sexual Circus",
and finally winding up with "Enflings and
Beginnings".
Each playlet is a miniature cosmo.s
containing the basic elements of human
interaction.
"The Story of our Names"' is an im-
provised tale of Genesis, depicting each
actor's vision of how his name was ar-
rived at. Immediately the strong flavor
of each player's personality surfaces in
this brief portrait: the name B.nita ih
physically blocked out in a cha-cha and
a tango while the name Bill is con-
templated in the staid, traditional 01n-
ner befitting a Michigan dairyman.
"The Sexual Circus" is best described
by its title. Materials drafted from day
to day American life are stripped down
and analyzed under the stark micro-
scope of the bare stage, with notoriously
humorous results. You may never go to
Burger King again after i ewing this
playlet.
Indeed, there are many serious io-
I ments in the revue. Perhaps the heaviest
piece in the program is "The Creation
and Destiny of the Earth People", a
the highly symbolic and formal statement
Resi- about the human condition,
See EXTEMPORANEOUS, Page 8_J
Doily Photo by KAREN KASMAUSK
Coming out?
Pictured are John Mifsud and Jan Kirby Mesler enacting a scene in the womb, part of "The Sexual Circus" sidt from
Theatre Company of Ann Arbor's production, "The Extemporaneous Body." Shows are tonight and Saturday in the F
dential College Auditorium, East Quad, at 8 p.m.