FEBRUARY 1988 River's Edge tar handles Hollywood in his own way By Gregory Robert Krzos State Press Arizona State U. It took a lot for ctor Daniel Roebuck to leave his home back East, head to Hol- lywood and try bat- tling it out against the California ne'er-do-wells. Roebuck, who cur- rently can be seen *n Vista film's Dudes," insists there's a reason for A this rambunctious decision. Daniel Roebuck "I must have been dropped on my head when I was a kid," Roebuck said jokingly in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. About show business, he said: "It's the dumbest career choice anyone could make. I just want to go own to all those people at the bus depot and say, 'What's the matter with you? Get on that bus, there are 2,000 people coming here a day.'" Apparently dropping in on Hollywood has paid off for the young actor. In "Dudes," Roebuck plays Biscuit, a wild and bizarre punk rocker who's fed up with life in the big city. In the film, Roebuck, Cryer and Lee Ving are friends who head West for a simpler life. "The kids grew up with a particular set of ideals," Roebuck said of the punk- ed-out trio. "I guess all of the emotions they've bottled up inside have been ignored and eventually come out." Roebuck's character, Biscuit, is espe- cially dripping with emotion. And for the actor playing the role of a wild and frenzied wildman was indeed far from his own upbringing. "I hadthis quaint, little, parochial up- ringing in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania," he said. "I'll never write a book about how my parents beat me, I had a wonderful family. I have wonderful friends and that character in the film is so alienated." When asked if he was attracted to the out-of-the-ordinary roles, Roebuck said, "I guess I'm fortunate enough because it finds me, too. I'm such a weird type. Ya .know I'm big-I'm not fat, I'm not huge-and thank God I got away from those fat-guy parts where the kid goes on Bob Newhart and say, 'Yeah, give me 12 pizzas.' " Roebuck was last seen as Samson in the critically acclaimed "River's Edge." Last October, he began filming "Farm of the Year," with Richard Gere. Although Roebuck enjoys acting, he said his way of "doing Hollywood" is somewhat diffe- rent from most actors. "I work in a kind of funny way-I stay away from the Hollywood thing, I stay away from par- ties and screenings and have this small group of agents and managers who tell me where to be. I usually do my job and then come back home." About breaking into the business, like most professionals, Roebuck has a lot to say. "I came out here because I wanted to be an actor. I didn't need to be a star. I think you just need to want to do this and nothing else." U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER 15 'Zero' scores points on big screen By S.M. Wenrick - Daily Nexus U. of California, Santa Barbara The American Dream is shot to hell. Decadence is the password, and the god of gluttony will have his due: death. F. Scott Fitzgerald's vision of the revelries of his Lost Generation is tame com- pared to the explosion that is Less Than Zero. "When I read the book," said screenplay writer Harley Peyton, "I thought, 'it's The Great Gatsby in 1984 with drugs'-that was my glib summa- tion of what I wanted to do." He and director Marek Kanievska, backed by a brilliant team of technicians, have cre- ated a media extravaganza beyond mere decadence. The spectacle depicts the ruin of a part of Western civilization. Beverly Hills is a canker which should be ampu- tated from the rest of the nation. The film, based on Bret Easton Ellis' 1985 novel of the same title, is a huge, shiny, larger-than-life nightmare. If Brazil was a wild journey into a strange world, Less than Zero is perhaps more fright- ening; the protagonists are readily identifiable as people of our generation. The three, Andrew McCarthy as Clay Easton, Jami Gertz as Blair, and Robert Downey Jr. as Julian Wells, are excel- lent in their roles. Clay was the narra- tor in the novel, and here is the straight kid with a straight tie whose face flin- ches according to the tension in the scene. Gertz is beautiful as a young model on the edge. Her hair changes with every scene. Downey (The Pickup Artist) delivers the most impressive performance as the cocky aspirant to his parents' dreams going down. He hits rock bottom in a grotesque and realistic way. This is a stylish film. Natural light is rare, and most of the action is noctur- nal. The music is obtrusive at all the right moments. The tense photography, flashy lighting, and rapid pace bring home the novel's desperate edge. One cannot pause to think, and the film it- self is in a way a drug trip. This is no social satire, but a bold attack, a sca- thing burn on upper-class L.A. moral- ity. Less Than Zero is a heavy film and one definitely for a mature audience, but it is not bereft of a lighter touch. When Blair and Clay are carried away by passion, for example, they are literal- ly parked in the fast lane. Christmas Eve with the Easton family approaches the absurd as the scene cuts from Clay's dad playing the piano and his mother slowly ingesting martinis to Clay and Blair's frantic sex in the hall. The humor is nevertheless fleeting, their masochistic playground shortly becom- ing tragedy in Palm Springs . "You don't look so happy," Clay tells Blair. She flashes her teeth and asks, "But do I look good?" "You don't look so happy," Clay tells Blair at the start. She flashes her teeth and asks, "But do I look good?" Almost everyone "looks good" inthis film, but in the end, the "feel-good" society is round- ly blasted. The chic American Dream has gone awry when parents wish their children "Merry Christmas" through closed doors, or don't wish at all. Less Than Zero, or drugs in high soci- ety, is another in a series of "issue- oriented" television and film pro- jects. It is accompanied by a disclaimer of sorts, a short, stark anti-drug ad mes- sage just before the film starts. Large white words flashed on the screen at the Cinema on Hollister: "Crack: the thrill can kill." That the drug maintains its seduction after the film seems improb- able. You'llI never watch a gory movie again By Julietta Cheung Daily Orange Syracuse U., NY How disgusting can you guys get? Trister Keane, the fictional composite character for the publications Trister Keane's Magazine and Slimetime, is the perfect guy to ask. Trister Keane is the assumed name of a group of four writers: Steve Puchalski, Brian Edwards, Travis Riker and Mike Schafer. These four Syracuse U. alumni and former University Union Cinema Board members produce sever- al small press publications containing film criticism, comics and creative writing. The editorial plan is to write about "anything that's not accepted, all the obscurities." Slimetime is published monthly; each issue contains about a dozen "sick movie" reviews. Films like Surf Nazis Must Die and Blood Orgy of the She-Devils are critiqued in the pub- lication. "We write about films that don't get written about," Keane said, "to get others interested too. These aren't real- ly straight reviews. We write them with a twisted sense of humor. Even people who don't enjoy watching these films i will like to read about them." As the editors claim on the front page of every issue of Slimetime, "We sleaze to please." Moonlighting: Model bares all for art classes... Northwestern graduate Dennis Anderson's part time work puts him in a diffe- rent position than most. He poses nude for a Northwestern undergraduate "Life Drawing' class twice a week at $10 an hour. At the begin- ning of each class, Anderson walks in wearing only a bathrobe. After the spotlights and props are set up, Anderson disrobes and strikes 10- to-15 second poses to get the artists loosened up and in-synch with the atmosphere. Ander- son, who discovered the job through an ad in the campus daily says, "I have alot of self-con- trol. Many say women would haveahardertime doing this, but I think a man has a greater opportunity to be embarassed," he said. "All we have to do is look at something fairly suggestive and then we're off.". Cindy Eberting-Daily Northwestern, Northwestern U.,IL U-R what U drive... Tom Couch, co-author of "U R What U Drive," argues that the car you drive is a key to your personality. A few exam- ples: The VW bug driver... Name: Tawnie. She'll never grow up. Philosophy: Boys are to die for. Occupation: Next fall she'll be enrolling at a local junior college if she can arrange her classes around PTH (prime tanning hours). Favorite author: Jackie Collins. Hobby: Com- posing tunes on her touch-tone phone. World view: If people would just stay at the beach there wouldn't be so many wars... The BMW-3 series drivers... Names: Mark and Lindsay. Profile: the typical BMW couple. Have aperfect relationship. They never fight because they're always at their offices. Prospects: In a few years they will break up when one of them admits to a concern for the homeless. Until then, onward and upward. Favorite book: Megatrends. Favorite food: sushi. Best kept secret: Mark hates sushi and Lindsay hates Mark, but stays with him to benefit from his credit rating... The Custom Van driver... Kenny; friends call him "The Count." Pastimes: Known to blow a little smoke, down afew brews and try just about anything with a warning label. He usually winds up at the local laundromat (watching the spin cycle). Favorite meal: mun- chie time. Favorite drink: Jolt Cola. Favorite saying: The captain has turned on the smoking sign... The High Rise truck driver... Name: This is immaterial. Demeanor: Mighty proud to know ya. Philosophy: He was born free. Physical characteristics: He spits. Attri- butes: Women look up to him. Giraffes look up to him. .Twyla Pumroy-State Press, Ari- zona State U. Round-up... A comic group of Ohio alums- Scott MacEwen, Noah Budin, Darren Stephens, and Rick Vamos, better known as Four Guys Standing Around Singing-has made the jump from doing doo-wop on the streets of Chicago to recording theme songs for McDonalds commercials ... Twenty years af- ter the sexual revolution, Random House has updated its dictionary to reflect gender equality ... College antics provided Mike Shea, a Kent State U. alum, with enough plot twiststo create an original soap opera .