4 ARTS Page 6 Friday, January 6, 1984 The Michigan Daily I 4 Dirty By Dan Desmond HE HOTTEST trio in show business today is Smith, Wesson, and Clint Eastwood. They are the stars and most exciting characters in Sudden Impact, the latest episode in the "Dirty Harry" guide to crime fighting. Typically, first scene in the film is a gruesome murder. The first words out ND INTRODUCING of Harry Callahan's mouth (to a just freed criminal who was taunting him) are, "Listen, pal, you're nothing but F sdogshit to me." With these two premises the tone of Sudden Impact is set. In other words, what you have in THURSDAY,JAstore for you in this film is a brutal, nasty, potpourri of violence and hateful Michigan Un npeople. If you are looking for that type of diversion then Sudden Impact is the t. 0 .. t :0p*:. Door ope of :30 ~m- movie to see. Tickets available for $2" The film begins in San Fransisco C ashbr.La batts beer special where Harry tests his magnum out on a few ill-fated thieve's bodies, and also effectively makes enemies with some underworld thugs. Harry antagonizes Fo more Info: La. ,t' his superiors as a result of his lack of 763-1107 'le ethics in these cases. So they send him - ~ to do some routine investigation on a man murdered in San Fransisco. The fe -l ae hiv' ois an as Harry trail leads him to a town called San Paulo where the rest of the story un- folds. In San Paulo, Harry is greeted by a gift from a friend, a bull-dog he calls Meathead. He also meets one Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) an artist who paints in a kind of "Night Gallery" style. Though she is behind the series of murders that are linked with the killing in San Fransisco, Harry does not find out until later. In the meantime they turn what was once probably just another quiet town into a modern-day Dodge City. The movie essentially follows the "Dirty Harry" formula from Eastwood being "Harry-on-the-spot" at daring robberies to our hero finishing off the psycho killer who does things that would make Lucifer jealous. There is also a bevy of practically sub-human criminals that couldn't possbily have had mothers. As you can easily guess, every last one of them ends up in the obits. There are some new elements in this "Dirty Harry" episode, however. The first is that some hitmen (those under- world thugs) try to kill Harry. This time Harry is on the other side of the gun. It temporarily throws him a bit but he quickly solves the problem with his buddies, Smith & Wesson. There is also a psychological portrait in Sondra Locke's character, something new for Dirty Harry flicks. There is something that allows her to step out of her normal, moral self and become another person - one that kills. That something is revenge. After killing one of her prey she glances into a mirror which she has to smash because she could not bear to look at that other, dark side of herself. This goes just a lit- tle deeper than you might expect from a Dirty Harry picture. Practically all of the credit for this movie must go to Clint Eastwood. Clint is looking markedly gaunt, lean and lethalin Sudden Impact. He is exciting on screen and in short, makes the movie. Eastwood also shows some notable directing skills. The action scenes are tense and there are some dusts off his piece C'mon punk, make my day - or so Dirty Harry would say. Clint Eastwood stars 'Sudden Impact,' the latest violent in- stallment in the Dirty Harry series. This time the blood and guts are a little too much. r Handheld Computers for the Student or Professional. Personal Pocket Computer PC-1500A 8K RAM standard $187.00 memorable shots, even though they may not be overly imaginative. This is the first time that Clint Eastwood has assumed the directorial duties for a Dirty Harry picture, and he surpasses the average efforts of the previous three Dirty Harry directors. Just as Clint Eastwood ignites the movie, his co-star, Sondra Locke, almost stalls it. She is so tepid in her performance that you can't help remembering that she probably got the role through nepotism (she's Clint's mate). I found myself simply an- ticipating the next scene in which our hero would appear. It is getting hard to find a hero without a .44 these days, though. As a result, Sudden Impact is extremely violent. Harry's violence is glorified. But, there is a great deal of brutal and possibly unnecessary violence. This may bother some viewers. The audience will most likely find some weak areas. One example of such is fortuitous subplots that really have nothing to do with the rest of the-movie. They are only there for the sake of sup- plying Harry with some additional enemies that he can use for target prac- tice. Nonetheless, the important thing is that Eastwood-pulls off the "Dirty Harry" role once again. It seems that it is Harry Callahan's sheer invincibility that makes him so exciting. The character's electricity is enhanced by Eastwood's raw fierceness, which he punctuates by his slash-eyed glares, his vein-lined forehead, and his utterance of threatening lines like, "Go ahead, make my day." He blatantly tempts criminals to challenge him. He is tougher that anyone who dares confront him and it seems that audiences love it. I got just what I expected from Sud- den Impact. That is, Harry (and others) blowing away an entire cast of extras, Harry constantly being 4 reprimanded by his superiors because of his severity, and the ultimate, inevitable showdown between Harry and the demented killer who has deser- ved Callahan-style justice all along. There is even an interesting little twist at the end. Though some may find the heavy violence exhausting, Sudden Im- pact is full of action. The movie has its weak points but it is essentially Clint Eastwood's charisma and the audacity of his character that carries the picture and gives it intensity. Features: The PC-1500A incorporates 16K bytes of system ROM and 8K bytes of user available RAM. Optional memory expansion modules are available. The PC-1500A features an extended BASIC language operating system capable of handling two-dimensional arrays, variable string lengths, program chaining. full graphic commands and many other features. An 8 bit C-mos CPU enables fast data processing while consuming little energy. 7x156 dot matrix LCD display. that can be programmed to create graphics and more. 26 character wide LCD display. Memory Safeguard'", an added feature that conveniently prevents erasure ot programs or data, even when the model is turned off. Full ASCII character set with upper and lower cases. Available Software: * CE501A-Craphics Development Pkg./4 " CE-501B- Business Graphics * CE- 502A-general Statistics " CE-502B-Statistical Testing & Distr. Analysis * CE- 503A-ElectricalEngineering " CE-503B-Circuit Analysis " CE-504A-Finance * CE-505A-Mthematics. CE-507A-Sharp Calc Optional Printer/Plotter CE-150 $177.10 * The CE-150, an optional printer/cassette nterface, provides four-color graphics, 9 different character sizes and X, Y plotting capability. * Comes with an attractive carrying case, A/C adapter/charger. 3 rolls of paper and dual cassette cables. MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE Babbling Brooks bumbles badly Electronics Showroom: 1110 S. University Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (313)662-3201 Main Store: 549 E. University h. By Emily Montgomery M EL BROOKS has another Frank- enstein on his hands with To Be Or Not To Be, one of the more disappoin- ting releases of the Christmas movie season. Having taken the entire plot from the 1942 Ernst Lubitsch film of the same name, Brooks insults audience members' intelligence with this tediously long, frightfully repetitive remake. In his past successes, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, Blazing Saddles, Brooks managed to restrain himself to a supporting role by relying on the humorous talents of Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Dom Deluise and Harvey Korman to propel the comedy and the plot. In To Be Or Not To Be Brooks is the star. While he's busy giving new meaning to the name '.Ham"-let, the plot and viewers' patience grow mighty thin. To Be Or Not To Be is unique in one aspect, considering the fact that it was originally intended as a comedy, which takes place in Poland during the Nazi invasion. Brooks stars as Frederick Bronski, an actor with his own theater in Poland, who manages to do a variety of non-theatrical things with the help of his wife (played by his real-life wife, Anne Bancroft) and assorted theater troupe members. Not only do they un- cover a double agent (Jose Ferrer), they recover a secret document, and narrowly escape with their lives. This plot, however intriguing it may seem, is dragged down and almost lost com- pletely amongst the shuffle of Brooks' sappy, insipid soliloquies, which occur quite frequently throughout the film. To Be Or Not To Be is built on im- probabilities. For example, millions of Nazis (including high-ranking Gestapo officers), mistake Brooks for their beloved leader, but the only resemblan- ce lies in the 10-cent mustache Brooks (Bronski) pastes on his face to fool them. Now really, some things can be accepted by convention, but this is going too far. Moe Howard we could believe, but Mel Brooks, Nein! The cast has a good many accom- plished actors in it, yet their talents are lost to the two-dimensional, stereotyped nature of the characters they portray. See QUESTION, Page 7 4 Dance Theatre Studio 711 N. University (near State St.) Ann Arbor Classes in ballet, modern, jazz, tap. Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks discuss trivial and unfunny matters with Tim Matheson in 'To Be or Not To Be.' The only question is why is this movie so dull? <; .: ._ m Net Ge0 1 " NO hoQ4 egt Jack sl >> Mal. toyo yaA - ^Itl 11 m m m ,©s m -I -G -a J0 0" W^ ( I TT:T r a m