en r-lC MlCl-llt~AN DAILY Friday, July 23. 1 97~
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rit MICHIGAN DAILY,
Friday, July 23, 1976
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Happenings ,.
HAPPENINGS film reviews
are written by Kim Potter.
All week long
COMMERCIAL: CINEMA
Lady Sings the Blues and
Mahogany - (State) A pair of
poorly wrought Diana Ross ve-
hicles, of which she triumphs
over her material in the for-
mer, helps drag dawn her ma-
terial in the latter. A mixed
bag, but mostly negative. **
Silent Movie - (Michigan)-
The first Mel Brooks picture to
also star Mel Brooks, in the
role of a director who decides
to make a silent picture as a
novelty gimmick in modern-day
Bolls-wood. Long - awaited and
doubtless very funny.
The Shootist - (The Movies,
Brirwood) - The esoteric title
is presumably the sole umisual
item in this latest John Wayne
sagebrush runthrough.
Murder by Death - (The Mo-
vies, Briarwood) - Neil Sim-
on's gentle satire in which a
group of Hollywood's most fam-
the ann arbior film cooperative
TONIGHT in Air conditioned MLB 3
MONKEY BUSINESS
Norman Mcleod 1931) MLB 3-7 & 9:30
Is a ptiOt seoe-ary ii a Marx Bros. fim? For the sake of
tradtitoti tts t11- ito- boys are trying to stow away on a
trailAtjaiitic lier aiti somehow end up paired off as rival
atnstsrs, bod-gmatet. In between, the laughs tiy as fast as
file tptn,
HORSE FEATHERS
Norman McLeod, 1932) MLB 3-8:10 and 10:40
Ititstime the Brothers take their madness to the college
campustt. Urom'1to retutrns to his alma mater as the new coI-
ice preotshnt topes to win the annual footall classic. En
roate, they trougtsah toas atftheir most tamous routines--
'irjw t i o-au sodih.
BANANAS
(Woody Allen 1971t) MLB 4 - 7, 8:45 & 10:30
Allens tmser at its tifitt T'h i only logic is the logic o
I "itOt >y A thacatih atteaaied teotee ar Robe Goltberg gadgets
ise-()It Vt- i hati tih Aneitieunatry where he istoranormsease
nto a revtitiotattry oath a talse beard. Louise Lasser in her
bestiIii-.try mirtmanrole.
$1.25. DOUBLE FEATURE $2:00
onis screen detectives are men-
aced in the proverbial old dark
house by the unlikely personage
of Truman Capote. A low - key
farce that is quite harmless and
for the most part quite fun-
ny. ***
Buffalo Bill and the Indians-
(The Movies, Briarwood) -- A
splendidly made but largely un-
moving study of the famed
cowboy's Wild West show of
the 1880's. Based loosedly on
Arthur Kopit's play, Indians,
the film swiftly establishes its
dual theme of The White Man's
bigotry toward The Red Man
and of the power of image-mak-
ing and salesmanship to distort
and often obliterate reality,
then plays variations on the
subject the rest of the way. Di-
rector Robert Altman seems at
last to have evolved a cinematic
style fully and legitimately his
own, and it is a pleasure to
watch this talented filmmaker
in complete - if somewhat me-
andering - control of his ma-
terial.
But for all its virtures, Buf-
falo Bill lacks something unde-
finable - perhaps it's simply
the fact that most of its charac-
ters are such schmucks that
it's hard to get really involved
with them. Their innate rotten-
ness is thoroughly established
ten minutes into the film, and
Altman, for all his cinema vir-
tuosity, has nothing to develop
further. The end result is a
film consistently stimulating to
the mind and senses, but aridly
circumnavigating the heart.
The Omen - (Fifth Forum)
- This Summer's runaway box
office blockbuster is many cuts
above the crass exploitation
film one might reasonable as-
sume from its overheated pub-
licity campaign.
The story about the rebirth of
Satan in the form of a five-year-
old boy manages stylistically to
avoid both the overt grotesques-
ness of The Exorcist and the
overamorphous subtleties of
Rosemary's Baby, and is also
in no way an artistic rip-off of
either; it is a straight, stark
exercise in terror, complete with
some of the most profoundly
frightening sequences ever put
in a film.
In its own way, The Omen is
a cinematic masterwork, but for
God's sake leave the kids at
home; they'll have nightmares
for weeks (so wiill you). ****
Logan's Run - (Fox Village)
- A post - apocalypse tale of a
23rd Century domed city hous-
ing the remnants of humanity,
and the efforts of two individ-
ualists to escape its stagnant
confines.
The first half o fthe film is
brilliant, spine - tingling sci - fi;
the second half falls flat on its
face. largely through the pe-
destrian efforts of the formerly
talented Peter Ustinov. Cast as
the lone remaining inhabitant
of the outside Earth. Ustinov as-
satilts ius with a grotesque semi-
W. C. Fields imitation so out of
kilter with anything else in the
filtm - or any other film, for
that matter - that one longs to
yank him off the screen and
give him a solid kick in his self-
indulgent rear. He's old enough
to know better.
It's all rather a same, be-
cause mich of Logan's Run riv-
als 2001 in both scope and imag-
inative fling - too bad the
filmmakers couldn't carry their
vision all the way through. ***
Friday
CINEMA
The Phantom of the Opera -
(Michigan, 1 & 3 p.m.) - Lon
Chaney's greatest horror class-
ic, featuring the most gor-
geous face this side of Marty
Feldman, complete with live
organ accompaniment and all
for only a buck. ****
You Can't Take It With You
(Cinema Guild, Arch. Aud.,
7:30 & 9:45) - Frank Capra's
good but not great cinemaza-
tion of the famous Broadway
Comedy. Capra was always at
his best when working from
scratch, and the obvious stage
origins of this work tend to
drag it down in contrast to the
freewheelingness of the direc-
tor's more original efforts. Of
course, Capra with one hand
tied behind his back is still
more entertaining than most
other filmmakers and Yft
Can't Take It With You re-
mains a very funny offering.
Stalag 17 - (Cinema II, Ang.
And. A, 7:30 & 9:30) -- An ex-
citing comedy - drama about a
group of American soldiers in
a Nazi POW camp, one of whom
is a German informant - the
question is, which one? Some
of the G. I. humor employed in
the film will seem a little dat-
ed now, but director Billy Wild-
er achieves a remarkable blend
of the grim and the comic,
making any resemblance be-
tween Stalag 17 and a certain
nightly Ch. 50 TV abomination
purely coincidental.
The film's excellent cast is
headed by William Holden,
who won an Oscar for his por-
trayal of a wise-guy loner who
may or may not be the Nazi
stool pidgeon (we won't tell).
Monkey Business - (Ann Ar-
bor Film Co-op, MLB 3, 7 &
9:30) - The Marx Brothers'
first non-stagebound movie, and
still hilariously intact nearly
half a century later. ****
Horse Feathers - (Ann Ar-
bor Film Co-op, MLB 3, 8:30
& 10:40) - The Marx Brothers
destroy utterly the American
university - maybe not their
best film, but probably their
funniest. Groucho's anatomy
lecture ranks among the luna-
tic interludes of all comedy.
Bananas - (Ann Arbor Film
Co-op, MLB 4, 8:45 & 10:30) --
Sex-starved New Yorker Field-
ing Mellish seeks to improve
his stock in life, somehow winds
up dictator of a small Latin
American country. Woody Al-
len's most disjointed film is
also his funniest; the negligible
plot is offset by such a hyster-
ical series of gags and situa-
tions that one really can't stop
laughing long enough to follow
what story there is. Watch the
magnificent and now - famous
Louise Lasser reaffirm Diane
Keaton as the worst artistic
(and perhaps personal) mis
take Woody es-er made. 000
See HAPPENINGS, Page 11
( f
FRANK CAPRA'S
1938
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU
Capra's screwball version of the hit Kaufman and Hart comedy about a non-
conformist American family. Lionel Barrymore is great as the leader of his
clan-a man who has never paid income taxes yet promotes the pursuit of
happiness. James Stewart is a banker's son who would rather find out why
grass is green. He falls for Jean Arthur who invites him to meet her family
and friends. Also starring Edward Arnold, Spring Byington and Donald Meek.
SAT.: John Wayne in John Ford's THE SEARCHERS
CINEMA GUILD TONIGHT AT OLD ARCH. AUD.
7:30 & 9:30 Admission $1.25
BILLY WILDER'S 1953
STALAG 17
Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard) wrote, directed and pro-
duced this unlikely comedy about life in a prisoner of war camp. William
Holden puts in a performance for which he netted great critical acclaim.
One of the N.Y. Times Ten Best Films of 1953, it makes you laugh with
just enough seriousness to let you know that war and prison camp aren't
really funny.
CINEMA I1 TONIGHT AT ANGELL HALL AUD. A
7:30 & 9:30 Admission $1.25