Friday, June 18, 1976
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday, June 18, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Happenings .
N N
This week's HAPPENINGS
film reviews were written by
Kim Potter.
All week long
COMMERCIAL CINEMA
Midway - (Campus) -
Screen re-creation of WW II's
most famous sea battle, featur-
ing a cast of thousands all
jangled with sense-enervating
SENSURROUND; all fragile
eardrums and sinuses beware.
That's Entertainment, Part
II - (Michigan) - Gene Kel-
ley and Fred Astaire dance
their way through another
round of MGM's musical self-
congratulations. Presumably,
the entertainment value con-
tained therein will once again
outweigh the inherent pompos-
ity of the enterprize.
All the President's Men -
(The Movies, Briarwood) -
Less a specific chronicle of
Nixon's downfall that a pre-
cise and remarkably absorbing
look at the step-by-step jour-
nalistic detective work that un-
did him - and in the process
probably saved us as a na-
tions. *
Goodbye, Norma Jean -
(The Movies, Briarwood)-The
latest biographical fancy on
poor Marilyn Monroe; all vul-
tures are cordially invited.
The Missouri Breaks - (The
Movies, Briawood) - The sup-
erstar pairing of Jack Nichol-
son as a noble outlaw and Mar-
Ion Brando as a psychotic kill-
er hired to track him down is
about the only thing this con-
fused, meandering Western has
going for it, and it's not
enough.**
Friday
JUNE 18
CINEMA
Paper Moon - (Ann Arbor
Film Co-op, MLB 3, 7 & 9) -
A downtrodden con man and
his ten-year-old female ward
hustle their way across the
plains states during the De-
pression. Peter Bogdanovich's
film captures a nice feeling for
the '30's countryside and sports
an enjoyably gentle, low-key
plot - if this is all you're look-
ing for, then recommended. As
the kid, Tatum O'Neal consist-.
ently outdoes papa Ryan both
as hustler and actor. ***
Invasion of the Body Snatch-
ers - (Ann Arbor Film Co-op,
MLB 4, 7 only) - Don Siegel's
1956 picture is probably the su-
preme cult film of btheentire
horror-sci-fi genre, and, as is
typical of cult films, it doesn't
quite live up to its reputation.
It's chief virture is a very sol-
id, scary plotline - mysterious
seed pods-drift from outer space
to a small California town,
where one by one they take
over first the minds, then lit-
erally the bodies of the citizen-
ry - turning them into emo-
tionless zombies dedicated to
spreading the seeds to the rest
of the world. The story works
well on both the thriller and al-
legorical level (depersonaliza-
tion of the Mechanized Age,
etc.) and Seigel's direction is
exceptional, but he is hamper-
ed throughout by an obviously
meager budget, mediocre act-
ing, and a studio which clear-
ly didn't place much faith in
his project (They even forced
him to tack on an unwanted
phony-hopeful ending). It's still
a good film, but the sci-fi reper-
toire still awaits the optimum
blending of talented artists
with a parent company willing
to give them the financial sup-
port they deserve. ***
Targets - (Ann Arbor Film
Co-op, MLB 4, 9 only) - This
was Peter Bogdanovich's first
feature film, and he has never
since approached its level. The
unlikely plot of Boris Karloff
(playing himself) stalking a
psychotic mass murderer works
surprisingly well, but it is
Bogdanovich's camera that
lingers; utilizing his Southern
California locale, he captures
a feeling of raw, souless Amer-
Page Five
icana matched only by William
Friedkin's New York visuals in
The French Connection. Bog-
danovich leads us through im-
ages of prefab houses, drive-in
movies and the like, all bathed
in a kind of blistering, sterile
gray; we feel for the killer -
a quintessential "nice boy" -
when his suburban trap finally
blows his mind apart, we sec-
retly thrill even as we recoil
with horror as he guns down
motorists from a water tower
and later at a theater. Targets
brings us some insight to the
violent underbelly of our own
people, and it's an amazing, if
uncomfortable, experience.""
The Battle of Alglers-(Cine-
ma II, Ang. Aud. A, 7:30 &
9:40) - Gino Pontecorvo's me-
morable re - created depiction
of Algeria's lengthy and ulti-
See HAPPENINGS, Page 6
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Theatre Company of Ann Arbor, Inc.
presents
~aI'cH.YOU CRAZr r
a kaleidoscope of women in American institutions
JUNE 18, 19 and June 25, 26, 27
at SCHORLING AUDITORIUM
IN THE U OF M SCHOOL OF EDUCATION BLDG.
TICKETS $2.00 CURTAIN 8:00 P.M.
CRAQD)
4EnEt * ,0 O F F o n lo fs o f
shoes, hoofs agas
under new ownership...
come see our new look_!!
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