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 <