Page Six
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Six THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Happeninsr
HAPPENINGS film reviews COMMERCIAL CINEMA barnstormin
are written by Kim Patter. The Bingo Lang Traveling All gro basebal
Stars & Motor Kings - (State) 1930's. Bing
- An entertaining and almost- are prodig
all eek memorable film about the banned by
N..
the major leagues; they instead
must eke out a living through
an endless town-to-town ,odys-
sey playing local (mostly
white) semi-pro teams, while
simultaneously dodging strong-
arm tactics -by Black League
owners resentful of Bingo's in-
. trusion into their once-exclu-
sive territory.
Recognizing the need to cater
to the white townsfolk who des-
pise them, the players gradual-
ng exploits of a Ne-
ll team in the late
go and his players
iously talented but
color forever from
-- -
: 3 e a ribertyHELD OVER
. N 4th Smash Week
SHOWS TONIGHT at
7:00 & 9:00 OPEN 6:45
m *
3020 WA$NT£N pit phone 434-178
FINAL DAYS
COMPLETE SHOWS
DAILY at 1-3-5-7
OPEN 12:45
south 3 t1 HELD OVER
2nd Big Week
SHOWS TONIGHT at 7 & 9
Theatre Phone *62-6264 OPEN 6:45
BILLY DEE JAMES EARL
WILLIAMS JONES
PRYO
-,
t. E
g w -..............r
TmasuRI ofO -
Starring ROBERT JOAN and PETER Vic
FOXWORTH HACKET TUSTINOV MORROW
.m~ JANtWYA TV,..AVINCENToKNIGHTsc.,enpbytDNTAITi' t1
. Sw,05ANDERSON ,......RONMILLER 0.-,,-,,, ,ATMCEVEETY
cA976 WALT DISNEY PR DUCT O NS...Releasedby UENAt: . A V.
-PLUS-
TH E A PPLE
DUMPLING GANG
4 - STARTS TONIGHT
SHOWS AT 7:00 & 9:00
Theat re Phone 668-6416 OPEN 6:45
COMPLETE! UNCUT!! HILARIOUS!!
asa
BESI ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY"
(Mel Brooks)
"BEST CINEMA COMEDY
t IN YEARS!Tre
jewphi ftevine!Pre rcn~a Jd -
ZE1I"0 MO "E /
nMel Brooks'
A Sidney Glazier Frodutlions
..,.orin, Gene Wilder "-{ick Shawn ts~
Wrihe ndOirttd b Ml aoot "Frovrd b Sdne Goti
AN AVCO M ASS IInCoor/L
"Tilt
Firday, August 13, 1976
ly adopt a routine of self-de-
meaning Harlem Globetrotter
groteskueries (a pitcher in a
gorilla suit, etc.) in order to
keep the money trickling in and
in some cases, to avoid being
lynched. This garish ongoing
pageant of self-stereotyping
lays the groundwork for what
could have been a trenchant
social - political commentary
on the time, but director John
Badham opts instead for a kind
of melodramatic slapstick that
nimbly aerosols the underlining
grimness of his characters'
life style. It's regrettable, be-
cause Badham captures a vera-
cious feeling for the period and
coaxes wonderful perform-
ances from Billy De Williams
and James Earl Jones as the
team's organizers - stars. These
elements combine to make
Bingo Long an enjoy-
able, friendly picture, but one
must achingly wonder what
kind of scorching narrative
Badham might have created
had he not obviously had one
eye on the box office. The ele-
ments were all there.**
Swashbuckler - (Fox Vil-
lage) - A misfired nostalgia
venture which lamely gropes to
resurrect the Hollywood sea
epics of yesteryear. The film's
producers apparently never
made up their minds whether
they were paying tribute to the
original genre or parodying it,
and thus wound up with a still-
born enterprise neither hom-
age nor camp, nor much of any-
thing else. The lifelessness of
this noble - pirate vs. evil-En-
glish - tyrants anachronism
submerges a talented but mis-
guided cast including Robert
Shaw as a rather frenetic hero,
James Earl Jones as a wasted
second-in-command, and a hor-
ribly miscast Peter Boyle as a
villianous British governor by
way of Brooklyn. **
The Producers - (Campus)
- Mel Brooks' scattergunned
cinematic debut remains prob-
ably the most schizoid synthes-
es of brilliant comedy and
wretched taste in the history
of film. If you go, take a
scoresheet along to see if the
guffays outnumber the groans.
f riday
CINEMA
Phantom of the Paradise -
(Ann Arbor Film Co-op, MLB
3, 7, 8:45 & 10:30) - A mod
synthesis of Faust and Phan-
tom of the Opera: A struggling
disfigured rock composer sells
his talent and soul to a satan-
ic record mogul in order to
make the girl he loves a star.
This is probably the most not-
able "lost film" of recent
years - released in late 1974,
it received mostly have reviews
from the New York critics,
seemed headed for major suc-
cess, then suddenly just died
(it never reached Ann Arbor
at all).
It's too bad, because Brian
de Palma's musical - political
satire contains some penetrat-
insight not only into the rock
world but into our social value
systems so precariously under-
pinning the musicculture. Yet
Phantom never falls prey to
the pompous self - righteous-
ness which infects so many sa-
tirical excursions - in true
See HAPPENINGS, Page 7
Daring, Dasageraus and Downright Dee-lightful !
-A e pi c I, 1 i a 1 A11 I , le c IA,,, In. II M R14LA m '0 , , IIGO I 'E IAAAI , 1 <<y -
e ec B D PE ct, ~ NI551511 t ^i t O M'5 R 1 i ~f' - D R
mu