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ARTS
Friday, February 14, 1986

The Michigan Daily

Page 8


Twain's life takes shape in Claymation

By Seth Flicker

REMEMBER WHEN you were a
kid and used to watchGumby and
Pokey or Davey and Goliath? Don't
you miss those fun-loving and wild
clay figures? Well, don't despair -
The Adventures of Mark Twain is the
first feature film done in Claymation
and it opens this Friday.
"Claymation is a registered
frademark of Will Vinton productions
who has really taken the art of moving
single frame photography clay
figures to a very surrealistic ex-
treme," said Hugh Tirrell, the
executive producer of The Adventures
of Mark Twain.

The director of Mark Twain is Will
Vinten. According to Tirrell, Vinton
and his studio has been the most
Academy Award nominated
animation studio, even more than
Disney. Vinton has been up for five
Oscars and has received one for his
short in 1974 called "Closed Mondays"
and is up this year for special effects
for Return to Oz.
"There has been Claymation done
before," said Tirrell," but when Will
Vinton won his first Oscar in 1974, he
really put Claymation on the map."
Tirrell got his inspiration to do
Mark Twain after he saw Hal Holbrook
in a production of Mark Twain,
Tonight. In The Adventures of Mark
Twain, James Whitmore is the voice
of Twain.
"The story opens up with a very
restless Tom Sawyer who hasn't had
any noteriety since he showed up at
his own funeral. He wants to do
something again to gain noteriety,"
Tirrell said.
"Tom hears about this balloon up in
St. Louis and decides to go because no
one has ever chartered the skies.
Tom sneaks upon this vessel not
knowing that it belongs to Mark
Twain. Twain wants to rendezvous
with Halley's comet."

Twain was born in 1835 when
Halley's comet came. "Here are two
freaks of nature," Tirnell said. "They
came in together and they'll go out
together."
"Huck and Tom learn about Twain,
the man, through his sharing of
snipets of some of his famous
stories," added Tirrell.
Claymation is a very complex
process. The Adventures of Mark
Twain took three and a half years to
make. A clay figure has to be moved
24 times for each second of film;
meaning there are approximately
130,000 frames in the film.
"The process, strictly speaking is
animation," said Tirrell," but it's
mystifying to people when they don't
think of it as animation."
According to Tirrell, although
Claymation is usually associated with
children's shows, The Adventures of
Mark Twain is far from being just for
kids.
"The Adventures of Mark
Twain 'opens at Briarwood tonight.

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Phone 764-0558

Claymation brings Twain and his wit and wisdom to life.

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'Youngblood'skates on thin ice

*ee@@@e.@eNNO COUPON
! O F F "CO P Nwith this entire ad $100 of{ adult eve.
admission.1 or 2 tickets.Good
all features tru 220186 except
PRIZZIS DAILY
5 P.M.
HONOR (R) SHOWS
Call for show times.
STA RROUND
. /C
strrrhouti
Talent Search Finals February 15
8:00 pm
Hosted by: Mendelssohn Theatre
erir $ 3.00/person
.-. $5.00/couple

By Leslie Eringaard
I F YOU LIKE an endearing, athletic Rob Lowe,
complete with a missing tooth, then Youngblood
is for you. Dean Youngblood is a seventeen year old
protaganist of this hockey movie. There is olenty of
violence on the hockey rink and plenty of blood. At
one point in the movie, the hockey coach even goes.
into the stands and punches one of the spectators for
his derogatory comments and at another, all the
hockey players break out into a brawl on the rink.
Although there is an excess of sex and violence in
"Youngblood," the movie is fast-paced, enter-
taining, and occasionally funny but it also has some
deadly serious moments.
Dean Youngblood is a teenager from a farm in
Canada who gets a shot at the Junior Hockey
League. He is not getting any younger and he is
aiming for the pros, so he and his ex-hockey-player
brother persuade their father into letting him go.
This opportunity is the true test of Youngblood's

mettle. The movie is not quite a coming-of-age
movie, but it does stress strength and courage in the
face of adversity.
Dean Youngblood goes through many trials
before he becomes a full fledged member of the
team. He gets stitches in his forehead without the
benefit of novacaine, and has to suffer through
some hideous team pranks. Dean's exploits include
a sexual tryst with a woman who runs a boarding
house, and a touching romance with the coach's
daughter.
Patrick Swayze is likeable as Derek Sutton,
Youngblood's best friend. A star player on the
team, Derek is determined to make the Pros,
especially since he never finished high school and
can't contemplate doing anything else. Cynthia
Gibb is well cast as the sweet and precocious
coach's daughter, Jessia. She comes off as an
ingenue with her big brown eyes and ready smile.
Jim Youngs and Nesterenko are sympathetic as
the brother and father of Dean. They give Dean the
inpetus he needs to return for the final game of the
series, and teach him how to fight with his fists. The
scenes at home are a nice touch-although there is

something unconvincing about the speech Dean's
brother makes when he is berating his brother for
returning home after a tragic mishap on the ice.
The coach, Murray Chadwick, is played by Ed
Lauter. He is tall, thin and hard with steely blue
eyes, but quite charming when Jessie and Dean cat-
ch him singing to himself in a hallway. Flonnula
Flannagan plays Miss McGill, who runs the boar-
ding house. She does add some sleazy comic relief,
but the audience is given little insight into her
character, and it is hard to understand her
motivations.

The end of Youngblood is as dramatic as such
athletic movies as "Rocky" and "Chariots of Fire."
The music is thrilling and the audience claps and
cheers. Still, Rob Lowe could have found a better
forum for his talents. Many of the jokes are cheap
and sexist, and the audience is often (albeit suc-
cessfully) manipulated emotionally. The movie will
appear most strongly to hockey players and hard
core Rob Lowe fans. See the movie if your aim is a
lively diversion, but only if you are not too
squeamish about blood.

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$110000
REWARD
FOR INFORMATION LEADING
TO THE SAFE RETURN OF
THE CHIKUTO JAPANESE
SCROLL WHICH WAS
RECENTLY TAKEN FROM
FROM THE UM MUSEUM
OF ART.
Informants may contact the
UM Dept. of Public Safety
anonymouslyif desired.
CALL (313) 763-3434

'Best of Times' is worst of times

THERE IS a fine line between
escapist comedy and witless ab-
surdity. The Best of Times is a movie.
which drunkenly criss-crosses this
boundary several times before falling
flat on its face in the realm of the ab-
surd and stupid.
Robin Williams stars as JackDun-
dee, a man still tormented by a key

pass he funbled.in a high school-foot-
ball game in 1972. Jack is sure that if
he had only caught the pass, his whole
life as the town loser would be dif-
ferent, so he breaks all rules of law,
decorum and decency in order to set
up a rematch between the former
players to replay the game.
Williams' talent for sarcasm and

CELEBRATEN


mimicry backfires in the face of a
script which makes him look childish
instead of insightful and innocent. It
would be nice if Jack was a sort of a
Charlie Brown figure, but he is so ob-
sessed with this long-ago failure that
he comes out looking like a clod. Jack
leaves his wife, slights his best friend,
and vandalizes his own town in order
to get the game replayed. He turns
out to be such a self-seeking4
delinquent that it's hard to care in the
end whether he succeeds or not, and
what's more, you wonder why the
other characters do care so much.
Kurt Russell is surprisingly
passionate as Reno, Jack's pur-upon
best friend and the team's former
star, but the greatest cause Reno and
Jack have to be passionate about is
"to have the game and the women
too."

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All proceeds go to

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SPRING BREAK '86
in Ft. Lauderdale -at
on the beach
FT LAUDERDALE'S PREMIERE
CONCERT AND DANCE CLUB
7 am to Noon - "EARLY RISER"
BLOODY MARY SPECIAL
For you early risers, have a Bloody Mary and KEEP THE MUG!
10 am to 6pm POOLSIDE PARTIES
UVE D.J. EMCEEING POOLSIDE CONTEST " WATER VOLLEYBALL
TOURNAMENT " FREE BEER CHUG RELAYS , FREE T-SHIRT RELAYS
THE BELLYFLOP CONTEST " AND CLIMAX THE DAY WITH ... THE
WETTEST, WET T-SHIRT CONTEST FEATURED IN PLAYBOY MAGAZINE
CASH PRIZES " FREE T-SHIRTS o AND OTHER GIVEAWAYS
7 Pm to 8pm COLLEGE HAPPY HOUR
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PARTY * MONDAY, FEB. 24
FREE SPRING BREAK '86 T-SHIRT WITH PAID ADMISSION FOR
ABOVE COLLEGE STUDENTS BETWEEN 7 O'CLOCK AND 8 O'CLOCK
WITH PROPER COLLEGE I.D.
ALL BAR DRINKS AND DRAFT BEER - $.75
COMPETE IN CONTESTS FOR PRIZES!
EVENINGS
SUMMERS on the beach presents...
FT. LAUDERDALE'S FINEST ROCK 'N ROLL BAND NIGHTLY PLUS OUR
INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED D.J. SPINNING THE BEST DANCE
MUSIC AND ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT MUSIC VIDEO.

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In fact, we'll even pay you more than $600 a month while you attend. That's in
addition to paying for your tuition, required books and fees.
It's all part of the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program.
And here is how it works!
If you're selected for a Physician's Scholarship-from the Army, Navy, or Air
Force-you're commissioned as an officer in the Reserves.
While you're in school, you'll serve 45 days a year on active duty, gaining
valuable medical experience. After graduation, you will serve three or more
years, the length depending on the requirements of the Service selected and
years of scholarship assistance received.
As an Armed Forces physician you'll receive officer's pay and benefits, and
enjoy the advantages of working regular hours. You'll also see a diversity of
patients and have opportunities to use sophisticated medical technology.
But most important, while you're in medical school we'll help pay the bills.
For more information, send in this coupon. There is no obligation.
Y Tell me how the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program
!can help pay my medical school expenses. Iunderstand there is no obligation.
Mail this coupon to: Armed Forces Scholarships, P. Box 2865
*Huntington Station, NY 11746-2102 9008f
Check up to three: OARMY 0 NAVY OAIR FORCE,
Pleaseprint all informaon clearly and completely.
uNuR, nA.. -0 Male O Female f


The other characters are an-
noyingly predictable. Jack and
Reno's wives are gossipy, sexy and
resentful of theirhusbands' fixations
with football. Jack's father-in-law,
known only as "the colonel," is a
pushy bank president who hates the
fact that his daughter has married a
wimp like Jack.
Don't let the fact that the movie
stars 30-year-old actors fool you. The
Best of Times is about teenagers, an
for teenagers. The adults in this
movie do everything high school kids
do in movies. They drive junky cars,
sleep around, and of course, go to
football games.
There are a few funny moments,
like when the two couples try to eat
dinner together without discussing
football or sex. But despite a few
sight gags and an exciting (though
unbelievable) ending. there is not
much else. -Mary Jaklev iC

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V I C K I
H ON E Y M

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MON, WED & THUR:
Contest Nite
Prizes & giveaways


SATURDAY:
Come and Party til 3 AMI

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TUE & FRI: Video Music Nite
"Best Buns on the Beach" Contest Dance to our wide screen video

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