ARTS
The Michigan Daily. Thursday, September 16, 1982 Page 7
"Road Warrior'
twists old
movie cliches
By Malcolm Robinson
AIRLY EARLY in George Miller's
The Road Warrior, a man known
only as Max-the road warrior him-
self-comes across a rig with the most
elling of graffiti written upon it. "Let
-the vermin have the earth," the spray
painted words say. Yet the irony here is
that not even the vermin might want it.
The earth, in a sense, has shrunk from
the expanse of the wilderness to the
strips of the highways, and life in this
post World War III, post nuclear-
holocaust-apocalyptic-wasteland of a
world has shrunk right along with it.
It's gasoline that literally and
figuratively drives this world; it's
gasoline that people kill for, drive
others off the road for, sometimes die
for; it's gasoline that allows most
people to exist and a few to dream.
Nothing in recentamemory is quite so
bleak as this thrilling and terrifyingly
violent film from Australia. It is not,
nonetheless, unrelievedly black; and
therein lies its real beauty.
The Road Warrior manages to move
along at such afeverish pace that, for
the most part, all this seems taken for
granted. Interestingly, the film is a
sequel to a 1979 release entitled Mad
Max (footage from which is included in
the haunting and surreal prologue to
this, Miller's second film), a motion
picture few American audiences
bothered to notice. Hence, its
engagingly kinetic style ought to catch
many unaware. Just like the vehicles it
depicts, this movie virtually hurtles
along from shot to shot and sequence to
sequence, barely stopping along the
way to use a handful of conventions
from the American serial films of the
'30s.
Indeed, the closest cinematic
equivalents to The Road Warrior,
besides Death Race 2000, are George
Lucas' Star Wars and Steven
Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost
Ark-two basically pleasant, empty-
minded, smash-success films. Whereas
Lucas and Spielberg, however, merely
mimic the techniques of the '30s (e.g.
last second escapes, comic relief amid-
st the otherwise non-stop action, the use
of wipes-an editing effect where an
image appears to "wipe off" a
preceding image), Miller works not
only to revive but also to breath new life
into the joys of his youth: and not only
the serials and American B-movies but
comic books too. For his latest film, like
his first, is essentially a live action ver-
sion of a cartoon the likes of which has
yet to see the light of day.
As befits such ancestry, the plot is
basically a simple one. Max, a burned-
out, child-like shell of a man in search
of gasoline, alone with his dog in his
souped-up hot rod, stops along the side
of the road nearby the previously men-
tioned rig. He is quickly confronted by
an angry pair on motorcycles seeking
the same drops of fuel that he is.
These two post-punk marauders,
Miller soon reveals, are followers of
Humungus ("the Ayatollah Rock 'n'
Rollah" as his crier proclaims; there is
a considerable amount of the driest
imaginable humor in the film) and it's
Humungus' plan to storm the last out-
post of the civilized, the horders of the
fuel, and to strip their gas from them.
Of course, the mechanics of the plot
demand that Max eventually join the
members of the compound to free them
and help them escape. But, finally, it is
precisely because of the fact that he
does choose to do so that I find the film
so honestly moving.
The performances are mostly fun-
ctional-after all this is certainly a
genre entertainment-and rarely wan-
der from the single dimension granted
to them by the screenplay. Never-
theless, Bruce Spence gives a fine,
whimsical performance as Max's "par-
tner," the Gyro Captain. And Emil
Monty and Mel Gibson (Gallipoli, Tim),
as the feral child and Max, respec-
tively, lovingly parody the Brandon de
Wilde/Alan Ladd relationship in Shane.
The characters, unfortunately, are
sometimes given to spouting high-
minded rhetoric about both a new world
and a new life; I guess this is to be ex-
pected of a film that is set in the
wasteland. What is unexpected is all of
the talk about contracts and bargains
struck and about families and family
members lost.
It is along these lines that the film
begins to develop meaning. So when
Max, the consumate loner, accepts the
offering of clothes from the feral kid, it
is more than simply a heroic figure get-
ting dressed to do a job. As he walks
from the tent, injured, quite significan-
tly leaning on the child, he is, in the con-
text of the film, adding the child to his
sphere of responsibility, forming and
enlarging a family at the same time. In
the atheistic extremity of the
wasteland, this is more an act of
secular benediction than anything else.
4
The Road Warror starring Mel Gib-
son; Directed by George Miller;
Script writers, Terry Hayes and
Miller with Brian Hannant; Director
of photography, Dean Semler; a
Warner Bros. release; Rated R.
NOON LUNCHEON
Homemode Soup & Sandwich $1
Fri 9-17 DON COLEMAN:
"Reflections on a
Visit to Nicaragua"
GUILD HOUSE, 802 Monroe
662-5189
LSAT & GMAT
LSAT Seminar beginning
on Campus September 17
For information regarding any of our LSAT
or GMAT seminars which are offered year-
round at locations throughout Michigan and
Ohio, write or call:
(313) 261-LSAT
University Test Preparation Service
33900 Schoolcraft G-2
Livonia, Michigan 48150
In a post-nuclear war world, Max (Mel Gibson) and a feral child (Emil Minty) fight for the most precious of all elemen-
ts-gasoline.
-A selection of campus film highlights
Allegro Non Troppo
(Bruno Bozzetto, 1976)
Next to the anthropomorphicly sim-
plistic Fantasia, Allegro Non Troppo
hits the screen with fresh, intelligent
and fun-filled cartoons dancing to or
playing off of classical music. In
between all the animated glee are
scenes of the symphony, conductor,
and animator struggling to complete
their truly epic work. (Thursday,
September 16; Nat. Sci., 7:00, 10:00).
Gampu
Films
Citizen Kane
(Orson Welles,1940)
} Unfortunately, all of those people
who call this "one of the best films
-ever made" are. right. So if you
haven't seen Charles Foster Kane's
brash ego on the big screen, see it.
The only problem with tonight's
screening is that every student is an
introductory film course will be
there taking notes with those stupid
light-pens. (Thursday, September
16; Lorch Hall, 7:00, 9:15).
I Casablanca
(Michael Curtiz, 1942)
Are you looking for some of the
greatest dialogue written for the
movies? Some of the best ensemble
acting around? Or one of the sap-
piest plots that ends with a classic
twist? You can find it all in
Casablanca. Starring Humphrey
Bogart and the beautiful, enchanting
Ingrid Bergman. (Friday, Septem-
ber 17; Lorch Hall, 7:00, 9:00).
Star Wars
(George Lucas, 1977)
More movie fun than you're sup-
posed to have in one sitting. Take the
Lucas film timewarp back to the '30s
and catch a whirlwind tour of
strange new worlds. From Tatooine
to Alderan, the Millenium Falcon to
the Death Star, R2D2 and C3PO to
Darth Vader (boo hiss). Starring
Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and
Carrie Fisher. With a fantastic
score by John Williams. "And
remember Luke, the force will be
with you, always." (Friday, Sep-
tember 17; and Saturday, Septem-
ber 18; MLB 3,7:00,9:30).
The French
Lieutenant's Woman
(Karel Reisz,1981)
Harold Pintor took John Fowles
period romance and wrote it as a
movie script being acted out by a
modern couple. The film winds up
fairly interesting throughout, but
neither romance is intriguing. A nice
idea underplayed. Starring Meryl
Streep and Jeremy Irons. (Satur-
day, September 18; Aud. A, 7:00,
9:15).
Beware of a Holy Whore
(Rainer Warner Fassbinder, 1970)
Typical Fassbinder excess. The cast
and crew of a movie stand around a
hotel and shout at each other for two
hours. This exploration into inter-
personal relationships is decidedly
uninvolving and unimaginative.
(Sunday, September 19; Aud. A,
8:45).
compiled by Richard Campbell _
Monaco mourns death
of Princess Grace
MONTE CARLO, Monaco (AP) -
The stunned people of Monaco, sud-
denly bereft of their storybook prin-
cess, filed in mournful lines past the
former Grace Kelly's coffin yesterday,
in the hilltop palace where the fabled
Hollywood beauty first joined them 26
years ago.
Princess Grace, the American-born
actress who won an Oscar in a brief but
triumphant film career, died late
Tuesday of a cerebral hemorrhage at
age . 52, about 36 hours after lunging
down a ravine in her automobile.
Her funeral will take place Saturday
at 11 a.m., 5 a.m. EDT at the Roman
Catholic Cathedral on Monaco, the
palace announced. Royalty, film stars
and other luminaries from throughout
the world are expected to attend.
Yesterday morning Grace's
husband, Prince Rainier ii, and two of
her three children, Princess Caroline,
26, and Crown Prince Albert, 24, joined
in a private Mass at thepalace.
Princess Stephanie, 17, who was in
the car with her mother when the ac-
cident occurred, was recovering from
minor injuries at Monaco's Princess
Grace Hospital, palace officials said.
They said she was wearing a neck
brace for vertebral damage described
as not serious.
Rainier, Caroline and Albert were at
Grace's bedside when she died at 10:30
p.m., Tuesday, palace spokeswoman
Nadia Lacosta said.
Word of her death shocked the people
of Monaco because her injuries -
reportedly two broken ribs, a fractured
collarbone and a broken right leg -
were thought not to be critical.
Although no detailed report on the
cause of death was issued, medical ex-
perts elsewhere noted that undetected
or seemingly minor head injuries
sometimes produce cerebral bleeding
that can suddenly become fatal.
Grace Patricia Kelly, daughter of a
Philadelphia millionaire, made 11 films
P
Not sure which HP is
right for you?
We are having a
Hewlett-Packard Demonstration
Thursday, Sept. 16, 10:30-12:30 and 1:30-4:00
A company representative will be here
to answer questions about all Hewlett-Packard
calculator and computer products.
Kelly
... with Frank Sinatra in
'High Society.'
MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE Main Store:
549 E. University
E. University & S. University 662-3201)
Electronics Showroom:
1110 S. University
(at the corner of
before she married Rainier on April 18,
1956, the year after they met at the
Cannes film festival.
Her starring roles included High
Noon, Dial M for Murder, Rear Win-
dow, and Country Girl, for which she
won an Academy Award in 1955.
Dance Theatre Studio
711 N. University (near State St.), Ann Arbor * 995-4242
co-directors: Christopher Watson & Kathleen Smith
day, evening and weekend classes
new classes beginning Sept. 13
r
bIou
For the well-dressed
student who
wants something
different .. .
Bivouac has
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