Page 10-Saturday, July 24, 1982-The Mi

I

I

THE MOVIES AT BRIARWOOD
1-94&S. STATE (Adacentto J.C. Penny)
"1:00 TUESDAYS DISCONTINUED"
BURT REYNOLDS 10:00
DOLLY PARTON 1 2:30
5:00
7:30
10:00
10:00
12:30
2:45
5:00
7:30
10:00
A BATTLE IS ABOUT 10:00
TO BEGIN. 12:30
STTRCI L 2:45
1_ p""Am 5:00 "
keAI'i® 7:30
"1A PARAMOUNT PICTVRE : 10:00
beyond your 10:00
wildest dreams. 12:30
.f, I ! 7:30
/Nf~4fj . 10:00
-MIDNITES-
THE BEST LITTLE
WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS
BLADE RUNNER
DAWN OF THE DEAD
ROCKY HORROR
READ
AND USE
DAILY
CLASSIF I EDS.
,. A v , , ."

Robin Williams as T.S. Garp jousts with his sons while wife Helen Holm, Mary Beth Hurt, shakes off the advances of
an admirer.
'Garp' misses the point

By Richard Campbell
THE WORLD according to Garp is
a place full of love, pain, and
healing. Garp according to Hollywood
is just confusing.
The latest attempt at transforming a
blockbuster novel into a bigger block-
buster movie has only one problem. The
World According to Garp is missing its
star, Garp.
Director George Roy Hill is to blame;
screenwriter Steven Tesich is respon-
sible; and Robin Williams valiantly
trys to make up for it. Between the
three of them, Garp exists only as a
cardboard figure. If you've read the
book you can fill in the blanks. If not,
you're going to end up muddled.
There's no way you can squeeze a 500-
page novel into a two-hour film and not
have chapters to spare. But those chap-
ters better not be the decisive ones in
terms of the main character. Make
changes, but don't change the
protagonist.

added to and deleted from John Irving's
rapturous novel describing the growth
of T.S. Garp, a man fighting to save his
family, his dignity, and his unique way
of looking at life.
Garp grows up amid the preppy life of
New England, while picking up fierce
determination and strength from
wrestling at school. His mother, Jenny
Fields, works at the school as nurse; his
father . . . well, Nurse Fields doesn't
believe that marriage or even personal
involvement is necessary to have a
child.
After graduation, the two go off to
New York to experience life. Garp wan-
ts to become a writer to impress Helen
Holm, daughter of his wrestling coach.
At the same time, Fields decides to
write her biography, the story of a
woman scorned, a "sexual suspect"
because of her progressive views. With
the publication of this world-wide best-
seller Garp becomes known as "the
bastard son of Jenny Fields."
There is much, much more to Garp
than any plot summary can tell. Unfor-
tunately, there is also more to Garp
than the movie discloses. Many
elements of the book have been
mysteriously changed, elements that
are essential to understanding Garp.
With Tesich's script, our hero isn't as
complex or as interesting a character
as he must be, else we have a world ac-
cording to nobody in particular.
The book has Garp and his mother
travel to Vienna rather than New York.
For Garp, Vienna is a haunting vision of
arrested growth, a city wounded by
World War II, its citizens still living un-
der the shadow of destruction. tis in
Vienna that Garp matures.
When the screenplay changes
location to New York, a city of
strikingly different meaning, Garp
changes. An undertow of death is
missing from his viewpoint, a brooding,
mysterious quality vanishes. The effect
on Garp's character is much like
moving Gone With The Wind from war-
ravaged Atlanta to Ypsilanti. -

:
'. , .

I

I

Close
. .. typing Jenny Fields'
autobiograpihy
Tesich hasn't done all bad, however.
He manages to bring a small amount of
narrative drive to a plot that could, in
lesser hands, have become un-
manageable. In particular, Garp's
fascination with flying (his father was a
bombadier during the war) is a quiet
melody that ties the movie together,
from baby Garp being thrown in the air
with joy, to a last, desperate flight from
death.
In addition, the supporting charac-
ters' roles are very well written but so
well acted that they tend to overshadow
Garp. Glenn Close portrays a very sen-
sible Nurse Fields, living her life as she
sees fit; John Lithgow tackles the part
of the transsexual Roberta Muldoon
with charming grace and understan-
ding; and Mary Beth Hurt is competent
as Helen Holm, calm and wise, wife and
mother to the Garp family.
The World According to Garp ends up
a nice movie that almost captures the
crazed attitude of the book. But the film
continually shortchanges Garp's
character, never allowing Williams to
come center stage and share his
viewpoint. You never do find out what
-the world according'toGarpis like

I
I

0

Williams
... growing up in New York