r A I &

Read Jim Poniewozik Every
_-d

I


1

VITALE
Continued from Page 7
Every time I pick up the
newspaper, I see suspensions
everywhere. Now we see players
suspended for drinking, for being at a
bar, and for just about everything
.else. Look at Sean Higgins and
Syracuse's Derrick Coleman. You're
starting to see as many suspensions
in college as in the NBA. It's
ridiculous. My feeling is that the
NBA suspensions create a trickle-
down effect. We need tougher rules

0
D: Do you enjoy doing what you
are doing?
V: Right now I am having the
ball of my life- it's like a fantasy
trip. I'm in Carolina tomorrow,
Champaign on Sunday, back in Ann
Arbor next Saturday. You get sit
around and chat with people like the
General, Robert Montgomery
Knight and Frieder. It's incredible to
sit courtside, and get paid
handsomely to talk about basketball.
I have a great love for what I am do-
ing. I don't need a TV critic to tell
me I'm doing well. I know if I'm
getting my point across by the

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'You don't have the
electricity or the noise in
Crisler because the seats
close to the floor are
occupied by the alumni.
You can't get the rock-
and-roll feeling that you
get other places across
America.'

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'I love talking to everybody. I'm a TTT guy -
all talk, talk, talk. I will talk to anyone who lis-
tens. I just enjoy talking.'

0
Michigan?-
V: This conference is the best.
It's a debate between the Big Ten and
the Big East. It's like when I was
growing up following (Willie) Mays
and (Mickey) Mantle and the
constant debate there. You cannot
win anywhere easily. Unless you
come prepared to lace them up and
play, then you're going to be in deep
trouble. The depth of the conference
is unbelieveable.
If Kansas can win the national
championship with their personnel,
jeez, Michigan should have no
problem. But Michigan needs to find
a better confidence factor on the road
and better balance from its
backcourt, particularly the
inconsistencies of Sean Higgins. He
might be Heartbreak Hotel. One day
he is like electricity - a 6-foot-9
guy who can shoot from downtown,
run the floor like a deer. And then
you go see him another night and
say 'Who is that.' He'll just break
your heart. I don't know if you can
ever win a national championship
when such an important part of your
attack is inconsistent.
Talent-wise Michigan has five
babies who can play. Hughes and
Griffin could start most places in the
country. Frieder is a brilliant
recruiter. Recruiting is the key to
success. John Wooden didn't win ten
national championships because he
was a great tactician. Blending is the
most important part of the game in
college. You take a player and ask,
'Can he blend with the people
around him after being Uno, No. 1,
in high school?' I'm still waiting for
Terry Mills to explode. You have to
realize that coming out of high
school, Mills was one or two on
everyone's list. I think the problem
is the guard play. One of the
problems is that Michigan's guards
can't make the entry pass, but not
many guys can. The entry pass is
the hardest pass to make. The guards
just don't do a good job getting
Mills the ball.
D: What do you look for when
you attend a basketball game?
V: I look for the loud crowd, the
excitement of a close game. I like to
see the coaches. I love talking to
everybody. I'm a TTT guy - all
talk, talk, talk. I will talk to anyone
who listens. I just enjoy talking.
PASS
IAROUND!

in the I
By Mark Swartz
Pity the poor fictional creation!
The characters of Dangerous Li-
aisons have had such long and in-
consistent lives. They were first
published in a controversial novel in
18th century France by Choderlos de
Laclos only to be dug up two hun-
dred years later by Christopher
Hampton, translated into English,
and cast in a play. Now, finally, di-
rector Stephen Frears (My Beautiful
Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears)
captures these weary pilgrims on
film. Luckily for them, and for us,
the actors whose job it is to play the
well-travelled characters are some of
the best around.
Glenn Close is the one the critics
are going to butter up and eat for
breakfast. Understandably so, be-
cause as Marquise de Merteuil, her
character runs the emotional gamut
from devilish prankster to unshak-
able aristocrat to hysterical tragic
victim. Her candor and composure as
a modern woman caught in the
wrong century (in an ideological
sense, not a Back to the Future
timescape) stand out as exceptional

8th C.
in a career of exceptional perfor-
mances.
But it is John Malkovich who
holds Dangerous Liaisons together.
Previously heralded for playing the
vulnerable (Places in the Heart) and
the sensitive (The Glass Menagerie),
his unbridled sexual bravado is a re-
freshing and rewarding change-up.
As Vicomte de Valmont, the das-
tardly womanizer who makes a secret
contract with Merteuil, he's the vil-
lain we love to hate. It's business as
usual for Valmont when he sets out
to fulfill his part of the bargain by
seducing Madame de Tourvel
(Michelle Pfeiffer), a pious young
maiden. Written proof of accom-
plishment will earn him a night of
pure carnal satisfaction with Close.
Watching him stroll in the gardens
with Pfeiffer - his speech, his face,
even his swagger spiced with
naughty innuendos - is a voyeur's
delight. It's clear that these liaisons
are his craft, his science, his life.
The acting is right on target.
Much of what's appealing about
this movie grows out of the way the
two protagonists conspire and clash.

Liaisons
Their relationship is at once affec-
tionate and coolly mercenary. It feels
like they have known each other for
years before the opening sequence.
There is a definite, if only insinu-

ated, history. Elusive as it may
seem, that factor is central to the de-
gree to which it convinces you that
it's about real life.
Just as in real life, there is no

such
that c
Dang
captu
sexua

John Malkovich & Glenn Close play a game of sexual innuendo and in

Sex and love


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Gleaming fails to


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on top. Everything is done to cuddle
athletes, but the time has come for
them to learn to be a man.
I believe you should lend a hand
to someone, because not everyone's
perfect. But these athletes have to
realize they are role models for
everyone else. If this all happened to
me, or the average man, we'd be
gone. We'd be in big trouble. If you
are a college student and are not
bright enough to know the dangers
of the drug scene, there is something
wrong.. As the father of two girls, I
really worry about the drug problem.
D : With all the infractions
currently being reported, has the
total amount of cheating increased?
V: I'd like to think it's not as bad
as people say. But whenever dollars
are at stake, people will go a step
beyond. And the pressure on a coach
to win and keep his job is relentless.
Until university presidents say 'Let's
hire a guy if his kids are graduating
and are being boy scouts,' we will
have things happen. I don't see this
happening.
Players should be paid. They're
putting in awesome hours every day,
while the rest of the student body is
watching their every move. Every
athlete should get room, board,
tuition, books, and $150 per month
in spending money and they should
get one round trip ticket home.

reaction of the fans. In 1971, I was
teaching 6th grade, and in 1977, I'm
coaching in the NBA.
Everyone thinks what I do is
easy. I'm part of what (Howard)
Cosell termed the jockocracy and I'm
proud of it. I'm a guy constantly
working and striving for perfection.
I've always been an insecure type of
guy. This for me is my one big run
in the major leagues. But sooner or
later, I know it's all going to end.
D: How has coaching changed
since you were a coach?
V: Coaching itself has become
more sophisticated because coaches
are under increased scrutiny.
Whatever Bill Frieder does here, the
fans won't be satisfied until he
walks into an NCAA championship.
He's put up some amazing numbers
here, and the back-to-back Big Ten
championships and all, but still the
fans aren't satisfied. Personally, it's
unfair to him because of his success
here. Frieder is different, abrasive at
times. But he is also a character and
that's great for the game.
You don't have the electricity or
the noise in Crisler because the seats
close to the floor are occupied by the
alumni. You can't get the rock-and-
roll feeling that you get other places
across America.
D: What do you think about the
Big Ten conference, specifically

By Kevin Sandler
A skateboarder trying to avenge
the killer of his Vietnamese brother
sounds more like the subject for an
ABC "Movie of the Week" than
material for a major motion picture.
How can a film audience digest a
storyline so ridiculous and not ex-
plode with laughter! When the ab-
surd plot of Gleaming the Cube is
supposed toje taken seriously as the
basis of an action/thriller movie,
how can anyone not grieve for the
equally absurd producers who in-
vested in the picture. Some high
echelon producer must have lost a
bet to have produced a movie whose
plot makes as much sense as its ti-
tle.
Christian Slater plays Brian
Kelly, a rebellious skateboarder
who's a screw-up in the eyes of his
smart Vietnamese brother, Vinh (Art
Chudabala), his teachers, and espe-
cially his father (Ed Lauter). Brian's
father devotes most of his time to
Vinh, ignoring Brian for the shame
he has wrought upon the family.
Disneyland is the only place Brian's
ever been taken by his father.
From this point on, the plot be-
gins to unravel in a Disneyland-like
fashion. Vinh stumbles upon an il-
legal arms distributor and is acciden-
tally murdered for his curiosity. De-
tective Ed Lucero (Steven Bauer) and
his entire department believe Vinh's

But young star
Slater rolls
above the rest
death was a suicide. Brian feels dif-
ferently, and sets out to find the
killer in his own radical way, skate-
board and all. Discovering he can't
obtain any answers because of his
appearance, he abandons his earring,
gloves and Dead Milkmen T-shirt
and goes prep.
The only glimmer from a sup-
porting cast of Magnum PJ. guest
stars and Big Trouble in Little China
stunt doubles is 19-year-old Slater.
Already displaying diversity in such
roles as Sean Connery's apprentice
in The Name of the Rose and as Jeff
Bridges' son in Tucker, Slater
breathes a little life into a film
which is dead from the beginning.
He deserves better roles than this.
A word of warning: if you dare
enter a theater showing this film,
bludgeon yourself over the head with
a couple rented videos of Ishtar.
This may sound a little awkward and
painful, but a good smack in the
head is maybe what's needed to un-
derstand this movie. Also, you must
assume stupidity, because the
screenwriter, rookie Michael Tolken,

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"Exit.
.-__


__
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Christian Slater skates his way through stupidity in Gleaming
the Cube.



ILL x

PAGE 12 WEO/AARY 201989EKEND/JANUARY 20,1989

WEEKEND/JANUARY 2Q, 1989