cinemQ weekend

Pick of the week:
The Producers
Camnpus-
Blazing Saddles fans, :ake
heart: Mel Brooks's best film
arrives in town this weekend.
Producers, which won an Acad-
emy Award for best original
screenplay, has to be the fun-
niest screen comedy of the last
ten years.
Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder
star as, respectively, a flurkie
Broadway producer and a hack
accountant. Quite by accident
they discover that, thanks to
tax loopholes, a producer could
make more money from a show
that flops than from a hit.
Thus begins the strange saga
of Bialistock and 3bl-m, the
first producers in show bustiess
history out to stage 'h2 world's
worst play. Their cuoice:
"Springtime for Hitl-!r: A Romp
with Eva and the wuhrer."
The hilarious musi::al sequence
which opens the "Springtime"
show is alone worth the price
of admission.
-David Blomquist
Mame
Michigan
I'll readily admit that I have
a soft spot in my heart for this
Jerry Herman show - I play-
ed little Patrick Dennis, t h e
young boy that dear Auntie
Mame molds into a man, as an
amateur child actor some ten
years ago. Perhaps that is why
I was so disappointed with this
movie version of the original
musical.
Lucile Ball plays Maine, and
no doubt that was mistake num-
ber one. Lucy, at age 60 plus,
is still one of the greatest comic
actresses, but Mame she simply
is not. All the sequined gowns,
$11 million sets, and diffusion
filters in the world can't cover
up the simple truth - Lucy just
isn't 40 any longer.
Beatrice Arthur, the peppy
lady who gives zest to the part
of Maude on television, provides
the only bright note in this oth-
erwise dismal movie. Unfortun-
ately, her time on screen is all
too short.
-David Blomquist

Jeremy
The Movies, Briarwood
Writer-director Arthur Bar-
ron had a nice idea for this film,
but it simply didn't work out.
He wanted to tell the story of,
as the ads put it, "a young first
love." Unfortunately, he got
tangled up in so many cliches
that the picture comes off more
like some weird tarody than a
serious romantic picture.
All of the traditional Holly-
wood devices are here: the nag-
ging parents who can't stand
rock music, the nosy best
friend, the elderly, father-like
teacher, et ala ad absurdum.
Not only that, but Barron
even manages to slip in a PG
sex scene and a pseudo-unhap-
py ending that had this reviewer
rolling in the aisles (you try and
figure out how it all supposedly
fits in logically).
About the only good part of
this picture is that it's in town
just to fill the bottom half of a
donble bill with Where T h e
Lillies Bloom. Go see that pic-
ture, if you want, but for heav-
en's sake leave during the in-
termission
*-David Blomquist
Paramount's Oscar
duo
"Save the Tiger" and
"Paper Moon"
The Movies, Briarwood
Paramount Pictures - y o u
may know them better as "the
Godfather company" - brings
two of its 1974 Oscar winners to
Briarwood this weekend to start
a summer double feature run.
Tiger is an interesting film
from John G. Avildren (best
known for his 1968 Joe). Avild-
ren attempts here to put togeth-
er a film with Joe's horrifying
impact, but becomes mired in
the quicksand of sentimentality
along the way and ends up with
a rather mediocre product.
Jack Lemmon - the Academy
Award winner - portrays Har-
ry Stoner, a Los Angeles gar-
ment manufacturer ("Capri
Casuels") hard pressed to keep
up a wealthy image in the
midst of hard times.
Pushed up against a financial

wall, Harry devises a brilliant
plan - why not hire an arsonist,
burn Capri's factory down, and
collect the insurance? (No won-
der my insurance agent calls
this film more gruesome than
The Exorcist.)
Paper Moon is a fine although
somewhat erratic quasi-period
piece from Peter Bogdanovich
(Last Picture Show, What's Up,
Doc?). Bogdanovich likes to im-

be showing a special triple
decker of vintage Hitchcock in
MLB at 7:30 and 9:30, and Cin-
ema II will be presenting
Things to Come in Aud. A, also
at 7:30 and 9:30.
Judy Garland comes to town
Saturday night in her greatest
role - A Star Is Born, courtesy
Cinema Guild, at Architecture
Aud. at 7:30 and 9:30.

Michigan Daily
Arts

itate old Hollywood styles (that
is why Paper Moon is in black-
and-white), but here does so
with only limited success. When
this film is good, it's very good;
when it corny, however, it drags
on relentlessly.
Ryan O'Neal portrays Moses
Pray, a very small-time con
man who comes to a small Kan-
sas town to pay last respects to
an old flame - but finds by
graveside Addie, a shrewish lit-
tle 9-year-old (played by Oscar
winner Tatum O'Neal, Ryan's
daughter). who just might be
his illegitimate child.
Forced by circumstance to
give Addie a life to Missouri,
Pray thinks that the con game
racket is over for a while -
until he discovers that the cig-
arette-smoking Addie is better
at the trade than he is,
Even though both pictures
have flaws, both are certainly
better-than-average fare - and
a pleasant way to spend an
otherwise dull summer evening.
-David Blomquist
Not to mention . .
Friday night, the Tati series
winds up with Mr. Hulot's Holi-
day, a Cinema Guild production
at 7:30 and 9:30 in Architecture
And. Friends of Newsreel will

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
lmovies after experiencing a
brief success as the directat of
the Beatles' pictures, He had
stepped out of this a r e a of
strength - comedy - and the
lackluster nature of his films
showed it.
Then last year the f o r in e r
Philadelphia TV writer who left
in the early '50s for ; ngland
and the Goon S h o w managed
to drum up financial support
from producer Ilya 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 tim
in his Hard Day's Night era -
Musketeers is plagued by some
slow pacing in a few places.
But his subtle, witty to'ss.'es are
just magnificent.
Michael York stars as D'Ar-
tagnan, the apprentice Muske-
teer, and turns in a fine per-
formance. Simon Ward, !Zaquel
Welch, and Geraldine C'naplin

round out the cast (and by the
way Raquel can act).
-David Blomquist
Thunderbolt and
Lightfoot
The Movies, Briarwood
Just what we all needed to
get through the summer - an-
other dull, predictable, and to-
t a l l y absurd police - bad
guys melodrama. Breaking
windshields, fish fights, pulp-
novel - quality dialogue, a n d
wailing sirens abound in t h i 
latest in a string of complete-
ly forgettable nothings from
United Artists.
Clint Eastwood and J a f f
Bridges head up the cast, but
who really cares? After all,
how watchable can a police film
be when the plot calls for te
bank robbers to use a cannon
to break into the vaults?
--David Blomnqist
What's Up, Doc?
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
Arthur Penn's cenebrated Bon-
nie and Clyde), and finally, as-
sembling a cast with spectacu-
lar stars like Barbra Striesand,
Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn,
and Kenneth Mars.
Having realized what appears
to be the ultimate -n comedy
production, Bogdanovich t h e n
hired every out-of-work Holly-
wood stuntman he could find to
make his dream come true.
What's Up Doc? may not be
very funny, but it at least
brings meaning to the w o r d
zany again. Many feel Striesand
and O'Neal are mere puppats
and hinder the film. Believe
me - nothing could hinder
What's Up, Doc?"
-Michael W;son

Cranbrook to hold
fllmmaking class

By LOUIS MELDMAN
Special to The Daily
BLOOMFIELD HILLS - Final pre-
parations are underway at Kingswood
School here for what promises to be
one of the most exciting local film events
of the year. From June 23 to July 6,
Kingswood and co-sponsor Michigan
State University will host a unique mo-
tion picture seminar.
Several notable filmmakers will be
lecturing and working with seminar stu-
dents. Under their guidance, each stu-
dent will produce two films - one each
in both 8mm and 16mm formats,
According to project director John
Geohegan, the seminar will attempt to
present every aspect of the movie media,
from photography to editing to artistic
critique.
"We are hoping to have several people
from the Ann Arbor community, espec-
ially because of its sophisticated invol-
vement in the making and viewing of
film," Geohegan says.
A few openings remain for the two
week course, which is worth six grad-
uate credits. The course fee, including
meals, is $320.
Geohegan and Associate Director Bill
Moran have prepared the seminar's sch-
edule so that any prospective filmmak-

er - regardless of his relative ability
- can devote two weeks to nothing but
film movie production and get ad much
out of the experience as he or she wants
to.
The project appears to have excellent
facilities, including a special library,
individual screening rooms, and a large
reserve film collection - all of which
wil be at the disposal of every student,
During the two week session, the en-
tire Cranbrook grounds will be at the
disposal of the participants, allowing
them to combine study with natuoe hikes,
tennis, swimming, or visits to the Insti-
tute of Science (2001, anyone?) and the
Art Academy Galleries.
"The only problem," puns Geohagen,
"is in getting enough exposure. We
were given extremely generous sponsor-
ship by the National Endawment for
the Arts and other groups, but we
didn't allocate much for adertisement
purposes."
All in all, the seminar sh-)oli prove to
be well worth the time and money to
any aspiring film maker. after all, there
is no really comparable opportunity for
anyone to get this concentrated an in-
traduction to the fascinating world of the
movies.

Linda at the races
Linda Lovelace, star of the porno film "Deep Throat", receives a mixture
of looks from fellow racegoers while waiting with her boy friend, producer
David Winters (right), for the start of the annual Royal Ascot Race yesterday
in London.