Page Eight THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, May 31, 1974
'Extemperaneous wy':Ce
Eusrm f wriw r~s~ !
cvuInIg lN Henr MIewI I fyo (Continued from PageS)
If you can stand the mundane
(Continued from Page5)
This particular piece comes
very close to the realm of - n-
temporary music composition,
with the actors singing vowel
sounds and performing rhyth-
mic lines on rattles and bongos.
A speaker delivers a line which
is then kinetically given life on
the stage, in a series of niove-
ments that are extremely ritual-
istic.
The supermarket drama extol-
ling the virtues of orang' juice
is part of "Perfect People", a
witty chop at the Madison Ave-
nue - Nationwide TV conception
of American life. If for nothing
else, you should atte'd The Ex-
temporaneous Body for the
sterling portrayal of constipa-
tion in this skit.
The pictures of humanity giv-
en in these playlets are disturb-
ingly real, a tribute to the qual-
ity of this small but energetic
company. The familiar and the
absurd sides of contemporary
society are well blended in a
rainbow of dramatic entertain-
ment.
K~arl Malden -and he's in this
one a lot - this picture may
turn out to be one of your fav-
orites, too.
Waterfront is definitely four-
star melodrama, with a dyna-
mite Lee J. Cobb pitted against
the short fuse of Marlon Brando
in possible one of the greatest
films to come out during Koz-
an's never-ending career.
This film won a whole hand-
ful of Oscars, include B e s t
Picture.
--Michael Wilson
The New Centurions
Friends of Newsreel, MLB 3
Sat., 8, 9:45
._
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
ARTISTS & CRAFTSMEN
GUILD SHOW & SALE
VARIED ENTERTAINMENT
NOW THROUGH JUNE 2
9:30 A.M.--9:30 P.M.
SUNDAY 12--5 P.M.
BRIARWOOD
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ANN ARBOR, MICH.
George C. Scott might just
possibly be the closest thing we
moviegoers now have to com-
pare with the richtalents of a
Spencer Tracy from long ago.
Even though Scott still consents
to starring in bombs like Day of
the Dolphin and Oklahoma
Crude, it is to his credit that
the performer has made a small
handful of notable triumphs,
giving forth his superb acting
many times in the midst of in-
significant screenplays.
The New Centurions (1972),
adapted from real-life Joseph
Wambaugh's best-seling novel,
is another super Scott perform-
ance thrown in during a boring
and otherwise inconsequential
crime drama.
Unfortunately, Wambaugh,
now a self-made television mil-
lionaire, dreams up the kind of
police situations you'd sooner
laugh at than want to take ser-
iously. The Los Angeles Police
Force has already asked him to
retire and leave them alone.
Ntw Centurions is cheap El-
liott Ness, but features a sui-
cidal George C. Scott along with
a fairly psychotic Stacy Keach
whose mind is blown w h e n
George blows his own brains
out. If you like simple crime
THE PLA CE
TO BOWL
UNiON LANES
win a free game!
85 full page
photos
(12" x 16")
from the
amazing
work of
Edward Curtis'
portrayal of
American
Indian life.
Probably says
more in
pictures than
most books
on American
Indians say
in thousands
of words.
$14C98
melodrama, and cheap photo.
graphy as well, this is the one.
-Michael Wilson
Three Musketeers
Fifth Forum
When we last saw director
Richard Lester some five years
ago, he was quickly fading out
of the film scene with a series
of British pseudo - surrealistic
movies after experiencing a
brief success as the director of
the Beatles' pictures. He had
stepped out of the his area of
strength - comedy - and the
lackluster nature of his films
showed it.
Then last year the former
Philadelphia TV writer who left
in the early '0s for England
and the Goon Show managed
to drum up financial support
from producer Ily Salkind and
some Panamanian interests for
another Richard Lester comedy.
The product, The Three Mus-
keteers, is hilarious.
Lester hasn't ironed out all of
the problems that plagued him
in his Hard Day's Night era-
Musketeers is plagued by some
slow pacing in a few places.
But his subtle, witty touches
are, just magnificent.
Michael Tork stars as D'Ar-
tagnan, the apprentice Muske-
teer, and turns in a fine per-
formance. Simon Ward, Raquel
Welch, and Geraldine Chaplin
round out the cast (and by the
way, Raquel can act).
-David Blomqust
What's Up, Doc?
Campus
Peter Bogdanovich takes no
chances when it comes to mak-
ing a comedy. The ingredients
for his slap-happy and slightly
hysterical What's Up Doc? in-
clude filming a partial remake
of Howard Hawe's screwball
Bringing Up Baby (1938), en-
listing the penmanship talents
of not only Buck Henry (who
did the screenplay for Mike Ni-
chols's smash The Graduate)
but David Newman and Robert
Benton as well (they wrote Ar-
thur Penn's celebrated Bonnie
and Clyde), and finally, as-
sembling a cast with spectacu-
lar stars like Barbra Streisand,
Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn,
and Kenneth Mars.
Having realized what appears
to be the ultimate in comedy
production, Bogdanovich then
hired every out-of-work Holly-
wood stuntment he could find to
make his dream come true.
The result is sheer physical
chaos from start to finish. 1
guarantee the laughs because
nobody makes good smash-'em-
up comedies anymore, and
young Bogdanovich seems to
compensate for this gap all by
himself during the course of
one picture.
What's Up, Doc? -may not be
very funny, but it at least
brings meaning to the word
zany again. Many feel Streisand
and O'Neal are mere puppets
and hinder the film. Believe
me - nothing could hinder
What's Up, Doc?.
-Michael Wilson
Thunderbolt and
Lightfoot
The Movies, Briarwood
Just what we all needed to
get through the summer - an-
other dull, predictable, and to-
tally absurd police - bad
guys melodrama. Breaking
windshields, fish fights, pulp-
novel - quality dialogue, and
wailing sirens abound in this
liatest in a string of complete-
ly forgettable nothings from
United Artists.
Clint Eastwood and Jeff
Bridges head up the cast, but
who really cares? After all,
how watchable can a police film
be when the plot calls for the
bank robbers to use a cannon
to break into the vaults?
-David Blomqu st
Special "PORTRAITS FROM NORTH AM. INDIAN LIFE" by Edward Curtis.
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