Page 10--Friday, July 16, 1982-The Michigan Daily
'Tron' has fascinating
animation but little else
(Continued from Page 7)
Tron is imaginative and visually im-
pressive. It's certainly a quantum im-
provement over classic animation
techniques. And it has grossed a
respectable $4.8 million in its first three
days.
But all that probably means is that
everyone who wanted to see it has seen
it. It probably won't get much repeat
business and will probably sink without
a ripple, much less the tidal wave at the
box office the Disney studios so
desperately needs.
Tron is all gloss, just like Black Hole,
Disney's last ill-fated venture into
special-effects cinema. Its story is
minimal, a predictable clash between
the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. It's
the same plot Disney has been working:
since Snow White and the Seven Dwar-
fs.
The Good Guys are three idealistic.
technicians at Encom, a West Coast"
high-tech computer firm. The Bad Guys,
are the evil corporate president and
his cybernetic crony, the Master Con-,
trol Program (MCP).
The Good Guys are out to pin the Bad,
Guys for industrial plagiarism. The
BadGuys are out to control the world..
So much for story-bring on the light
show.
And Disney does, as Flynn, one of the.
Good Guys breezily played by Jeff
Bridges, is molecularly disassembled,
'by a laser and piped into the computer.
There, he finds computer programs'
that look and act like human beings,
except that their clothes appear co-'
designed by Ralph Lauren and Western
Electric.
There are Good Guy programs and,
Bad Guy programs. The Bad Guy
programs tyrannize the computer
world. The Good Guy programs are out
to liberate it.
There is even a fickle female
program that falls in love with two
male programs at once, thus providing
the romantic triangle. The romantic
triangle is about the only thing not
drawn by computer animation.
Bridges has fun with his role, as well
he might-it's a walk-through. Bruce
Boxleitner as Tron is considerably
more serious, as well he might be-it's
his first featured movie role. And Bar-
nard Hughes as a wise old program is
polished, as well he might be-it's the
same role he's had for thirty years.
The best performance is given by
David Warner as the evil corporate
president and, in the computer world,
leader of the electronic Gestapo. But
that's to be expected. The villain
alwaysgets the best part in such pieces
of fluff as this. And David Warner, a
gifted actor who's been stuck with
trivial parts for too long now, has got
his villain act down pat.
The best line is delivered by the MCP,
who threatens Warner with, "You like
all the power I've given you. How'd you
like to be put in a pocket calculator?"
Perhaps that~hsidious threat is what
earned Tron its PG 'rating. Certainly
there is no other reason, unless it was
that the producers begged for it,
knowing that a G would kill them.
There are many reasons why the
'movie fails. One is the typically muddy
Disney metaphysics after the typical
climax. Pretty lights flash skyward as
Mantovani and his Strings play
something inspirational. I thought we
left this kind of thing behind with The
Ten Commandments, but Disney
resurrected it for The Black Hole and,
figuring you should do something until
you get it right, did it again in Tron.
But the biggest reason that the film
fails is that Steven Lisberger, who
directed Tron, also wrote its story and
screenplay, and created its visual ef-
fects concepts. Woody Allen has the
talent to get away with doing
everything, but not Steven Lisberger.
Somebody should have told him that
less is more, and he should have accor-
dingly done less.
Tron is actually somewhat enter-
taining, in its modern mindless sort of
way. If you like spectacular cartoons,
it's well worth seeing-once. But the
Disney folks have yet to learn the secret
of these effects flicks: we don't mind
mindless, but you shouldn't rub it in.
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B.B King, legendary blues guitar player, ina recent Ann Arbor concert.
Guitarist B.B. King.
faces fear offaili
RENO, Nev. (AP)- He's the legen- can go and play a place together, and
lary master of the blues guitar, a he'll have people just pulling out their
dississippi plantation child who rose to hair.
sme by pouring out his soul on stage "They never do it for me," he says,
wo and three times a day. his voice dropping. "Ever."
B.B. King has been called the , In frequent engagements at Harrah's
reatest bluesman of all time. But the casinos in Reno and Lake Tahoe, King
ing of bluesmdoesn't think he's a star, is never booked into the main room. He
When he goes on stage each night, he plays the casino cabaret, where gam-
ays he has a nagging fear that he blers receive an hour of King's rum-
night fail. bling, soul-filled voice and searing
"I feel that I know my job," he says. guitar for the price of two drinks.
I feel that I know what I do and that I King gives a balanced performance
to it pretty well. But as far as the star of old blues standards and newer, less
it is concerned-no. traditional songs Usually-but not
"I have a lot of friends-for instance always-the show is crowned with his
blues singer) Bobby Bland. Now we classic, "The Thrill Is Gone."
Face contorted, sweat forming on his
brow, he throws back his head and
bellows: "The thrill is gone, the thrill is
gone away . . . The thrill is gone, the
thrill is gone away . . . You done me
wrong, baby, and you're gonna be sorry
some day."
King's explanation for his failure to
reach the top deals in part with the
nature of his music. He says he resents
being stereotyped as a blues singer, but
agrees that the label fits.
"Whatever I play is bluesy," he says.
"A lot of the younger people, especially
the young blacks-they hesitate to use
chigan Union the word 'blues,' because blues has
f ter 9:30 always been thumbs down, and I can
understand that. But I've had thumbs
down on me for so long that I've got
S* * * used to it.
** "Blues is whatever yo-. think is
blues," he said. "It's a feeling and it
has to do with life-people living, doing
well or not doing well, love affairs,
togetherness or not togetherness. A guy
always wishing, hoping that things are
going to be better.
"That to me is blues. And it doesn't
matter who sings them, it's still blues.
Itdoesn't matter what race sings them,
Records donated by Make Waves it's still blues. Anybody can play them,
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ anybody can sing them."
49
On the Patio at the sic
Cover 75c beginning of
M.Choel 0 S de
Fridays
8:30-12:30/
4