The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, February 6, 1980-Page 7 HALL OF INFAMY Ten worst films of 1979 By CHRISTOPHER POTTER Here are the winners, in no particular order of abhorrence: The Black Hole (Gary Nelson). All of Peter Ellenshaw's mesmerizing special effects go down the chute in Walt Disney's roalefic tribute to outer space dumbness. What's the good of staging an interstellar miracle if there's no one to the downfall of Mr. Hiller's maledroit career, then it may not have been a total minus. Old Boyfirends (Joan Tewksbury). A disenchanted psychotherapist (Talia Shire) embarks on a cross-country odyssey, taking revenge on a series o of former lovers who may or may not. have done her wrong in years gone by. masters any thematic or stylistic framework whatsoever. Director Tewksbury and scriptwriter Paul Schrader must have quarreled violen- tly on the first day of shooting and then quit speaking. Winter Kills (William Richert). This skatterbrained attempt as a black- comedy fantasy on the Kennedy assassinations only proves that some wounds run very deep. We seem not enough removed from our legacy of blood to regard such "humor" minus disturbing heart-tigs over what might have been-as this sour, archly distasteful film bears out. Even a top- flight satire on this subject would have been difficult to take, and Winter Kills is immeasurably less than that. The Champ (Franco Zeffierelli). Will Jon Voight rise up from skid row and regain his self-respect? Will Ricky Schroeder's pet horse win the big race? Will Faye Dunaway find true happiness amongst riches and high society? Will one of these smarmy-faced nerds please slip on a banana peel? Director Zeffirelli assaults us by taking an opera-junkie's approach to his film-every scene is a soaper, every confrontation a histrionic ari a in itself. Though Zeffirelli's aim is not to leave a dry eye in the house, his ultimate suc- cess, alas, involves a somewhat lower portion of the anatomy. Rocky II (Sylvester Stallone). Can you really fool all of the people some of the time? This bloated, self-deifying rip-off of Rocky I was, horrifyingly, the top-grossing film of 1979. Grim congratulations are hereby extended to writer-director-godfather Stallone for pulling off the cinematic hustle of the decade. When a Stranger Calls (Fred Walton). First Amendment con- siderations aside, there is simply no reason for having made this sadistic, clinically punishing film about a psychopath who terrorizes a baby sitter, then returns to menace her children years later. Unsuspenseful and often illogical, yet never quite inept enough to be taken as camp, the. picture becomes a vile-spirited monument to the dregs into which huckster cynicism can deposit an audience, all in the name .of art. It's movies like this that . give witch hunts respectability. The Electric Horseman (Sidney Pollack). An aging rodeb star (Robert Redford) rescues a champion horse from an evil corporation, and finds human affection (Jane Fonda) as a bonus. Horseman is as insufferably sitg a piece of pseudo-liberal hokum as any film in recent memory; it's directed without a trace of spontaneity by Sidney Pollack, who mutates the film's great-outdoors motif into a cloistered, strangling screen experien- simultaneously in Rocky II, Old Boyfriends and lastly this environmen- talist stinker. Prophecy seizes the grimly serious topic of the ecological effects of industrial pollution, then proceeds to pervert it into a looney- tunes universe populated by wicked salmons, killer racoons, and a lurching, two-legged behemouth vaguely resem- bling a bear with advancing psoriasis. Once-talented director John Frankenheimer displays a complete absence of pace, terror or even logic; he is ably assisted by a cast which ap- pears unanimously abashed at being involved in this twaddle at all. The Class of Miss MacMichael (Silvio Narizzano). You've doubtless never heard of this one, so count your blessings, folks. This yammering, jackhammer film involves an English reform school for incorigable boys and girls, wherein progressive teacher Glends Jackson and fascist principal Oliver Reed scream incessantly at each other, break chairs over each other's heads, and commit assorted other cacophonous atrocities in a state of perpetual quadrophonic babble. A. S. Neill would turn over in his grave, and so, unfortunately, would the Marx Brothers. Now that this ldathsome burden is off his chest, Christopher Potter's selections for the ten best movies of last year will appear on tomorrow's A rts page. Attention All Hookwormns: Now that your midterms are over, TAKE A vatiQ BREAK! subscribe today 764-0558 ... Have a SUB-perb' DAY, For PIZZAs Sake! SUBMARINES & PIZZA FAST, FREE DELIVERY 663-0511 La SMIL. i rr " Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson, last seen driving each other to suicide and madness in Women in Love, attempt to do the same for the audience in last year's screaming exercise, The Class of Miss MacMichael. The two played a principal and teacher, respectively, at an Inglish reform school, and their facial expressions here indicate the sweet nature of the sparkling, witty byplay they were forced to speak. While below, Ricky Schroder makes use of one of the many rather large handkerchiefs used to sop up the endless flow of tears spilled by the cast of Franco Zeffirelli's snivelling remake of The Champ. As his mom, Faye Dunaway waits for her turn to drench the rag. *n the film to witness all the splendor except dimwits? It may prove difficult for the mongoloid cast (including Maxmilian Schell, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine) to ever be taken seriously, artistically or mentally, again. Nightwing (Arthur Hiller). A mon- ster movie without a monster. Night- wing containsa lot of pseudo-profundo jabber about Indian spirits, vampire eats and-industry vs. ecology, but somewhere amidst all the verbal topicality, director Hiller and screen- writer Steve Shagan forgot to include action. Nightwing is too boring even to be laughable, yet if it contributes at all This abstruse, incoherent film is staged ce. neither as nostalgic whimsy nor as Prophecy (John vengeful horror-indeed, it never Poor Talia Frankenheimer). Shire-trapped Who reads g AUDITIONS CANTERBURY LOFT Feb. 5 at 7 pm & Feb. 6 at 3:30 pm for STATEMENTS & THE ISLAND TWO PLAYS BY ATHOL FUGARD DIRECTED BY KAY LONG STATEMENTS-ONE WFITE WOMAN must play 30 to 40 years old. ONE BLACK MAN Must play 30 to 35 dears old. These roles require some nudity. THE ISLAND-ONE BLACK MAN must play 25 to 35 years old. PERFORMANCES IN APRIL-REHEARSALS IN MARCH SCRIPTS AVAILABLE AT THE LOFT FOR INFORMATION CALL 313-665-0606 it " COOL CATS The Intel Notebook Careers and Technology at Intel The Microelectronics Revolution- and how you can be part of it. See us on campus February 7. " FAT CATS " ALL cats !(smart ones, that is) Intel is the acknowledged leader in four major product areas: semiconductor memories, microprocessors, micro- computer systems, and memory systems. And we're extending our leadership into data-base management. We have career opportunities available at any of our four great locations-Cali- fornia, Oregon, Arizona, or Texas-in: Q Engineering-design, manufacturing, and fabrication development L Technical Marketing If you want to be part of the emerging microelectronics revolution, and are about to receive a degree in engineering, computer science, solid-state physics, or chemical engineering, we'd like to talk with you. 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