ARTS
Tuesday, August 14, 1984
Page 7
The Michigan Daily
The Russians are coming
By Byron L. Bull
JOHN MILIUS remains one of the
more interesting oddities in the film
community today. From his notoriously
guiltless first screenplay for Apocalyp-
se Now (extensively rewritten by Cop-
pola when he filmed it) through the
mindless and musclebound Conan The
Barbarian (believe it or not, a twisted
allegory of the '60s complete with
flower children) through his overseeing
of the utterly deplorable Uncommon
Valor (Vietnam vets go back into the
jungles with a vengeance), Milius'
hawkish and machismo infatuations
remain inseparable from his work. In
his latest project, Red Dawn, a movie
that details a Soviet invasion of this
country, he's at his patriotic, jingoistic
pinacle with this hard-core action ad-
venture, adolescent minded mini-epic.
Milius works around the insurmoun-
table barriers of logic and common
sense by simply ignoring them. In a
brief prologue he very neatly stacks his
hand by telling us that first NATO
collapses (making the U.S. pull all its
missiles out of Europe) then Central
America is overrun by communist
regimes, and finally that the Soviet
Union has faced a devastating crop
failure, and is on the brink of star-
vation.
Those convenient facts in hand, we
fade in on Calumet, Colorado, a small
rural town in the heartland of the coun-
try, shimmering in its Autumn hues and
Coplandesque soundtrack. Suddenly
hundreds of Soviet, Cuban, and
Nicaraguan paratroopers rain down
from the sky. After slaughtering half
the town, they herd the rest of the sur-
vivors into the local drive-in turned
A selection of campus film
highlights. This special edition of
campus films runs until the
beginning of the school year.
High Anxiety
(Mel Brooks, 1977)
An uneven but often hilarious
parody/homage of Hitchcock suspen-
se films, with plenty of succulent jabs
at Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds
among many others. (Wednesday and
Thursday, August 14 and 16, 9:15 p.m.
at the Michigan Theater.)
C. Thomas Howell and Patrick Swayze, fresh off their tandem success in 'Grandville U.S.A.' with Jamie Lee Curtis
(pictured above), also star in 'Red Dawn', John Milius' new film about a Russian invasion of the U.S.
concentration camp. Within a few days
main street is flanked by wall sized
murals of Lenin, and the local Bijou is
screening Alexander Nevsky as its
permanent feature.
Only a handful of teenage boys, all
varsity jacket types, manage to escape.
They load up their four wheeler with
plenty of Coke, Wheaties, and of course
hunting rifles, and flee into the nearby,
mountains. Under the leadership of
former high school star quarterback,
Jed, (played with ample leaderly
brooding by Patrick Swayze) they learn
the basics of hunting and camouflage.
Eventually they develop a tribal
campus
films
Gone With The Wind
(Victor Fleming, 1939)
Frankly not intellectually
stimulating film fare, but grand and
colorful fun in its extravagant, big
screen self-glorification. In 35mm as
it should only be seen in. (Friday,
August 17, 8 p.m. at the Michigan
Theater.)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
(Alexander Hall, 1941)
Far superior to Warren Beatty's
almost depressing remake, Heaven
Can Wait. A prizefighter dies when he
isn't supposed to, with mayhem
resulting both in Heaven andmon Ear-
th. (Friday, August 17, 9:30 p.m., at
Lorch Hall.)
The Wrong Box
(Bryan Forbes, 1966)
Peter Sellers, Michael Caine, and
Dudley Moore in an agreeable bit of
British black humor. Based very
loosely on a story by Robert Louis
Stevenson. (Saturday, August 18, 7
p.m. at MLB 3.)
The Bank Dick
(Eddie Cline, 1940)
Most W. C. Fields films just haven't
held up so well over the years. But for
those who are curious to see what they
were like, this is one of the better
ones. (Saturday, August 18, 9 p.m., at.
Lorch Hall.)
Mad Max
(George Miller, 1979)
Cheap, atrociously acted, at,d
crudely slapped together, far inferior
to the sequel The Raod Warrior. The.
first ten minutes and the last are
great, but the 73 in between are an un-
bearably bad B-western. (Sunday and
Monday, August 19 and 20, 7:30 p.m.
at the Michigan Theater.)
Allegro Non Troppo
(Bruno Bozzetto, 1976)
Everything Fantasia (the film it
sometimes parodies) wasn't a
thoughtful animated festival of music
and color, rich in both ideas and
images, as witty as it is touching. A
thoroughly rewarding experience
even for those who wouldn't be in-
clined to go see an animated film.
With a soundtrack that includes
Ravel, Debussy, and Sibelius. (Wed-
nesday and Thursday, August 22 and
23, 7:30 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. at the
Michigan Theater.)
Topper
(Norman Z. Mcleod, 1937)
Forget the feeble television series
you might have seen on early morning
reruns. The original is much better,
though more out of Cary Grant's
magnetic presence than the only
average script. (Friday, August 24,
7:30 p.m. atLorch Hall.)
La Cage Aux Folles
(Edouard Molinaro, 1979)
Good fluffy French film about the
gay owner of a transvestite nightclub
who discovers his straight son is
bringing his fiancee's ultraconser-
vative parents home for dinner. Once
a campus perennial as popular as
Harold and Maude. (Saturday,
August 25, 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.) at
Lorch Hall.)
Lawrence of Arabia
(David Lean, 1962)
Peter O'Toole gives one of his most
charismatic performances as a
British officer who becomes a virtual
demogague among the Arab tribes he
leads into battle during WW I. An in-
vigorating, sprawling epic by the
existance, making themselves up as
Indian warriors, and indulging in a
manhood rite of drinking the warm
blood of a freshly slaughtered deer.
Although they are not, understandably,
beyond breaking the daily routine of
See 'RED', Page 10
master of the genre. (Sunday and
Monday, August 26 and 27, 8 p.m. at
the Michigan Theater.)
Dragonslayer
(Matthew Robbins, 1980)
A sadly neglected gem. Although
it's hindered by a witless, linear
script, Dragonslayer is so rich in its
dark and moody tone it remains one of
the most enchanting of film fairy
tales. Alex North's score is one of the
most stunning soundtracks of the last
10 years, and the dragon (courtesy
George Lucas's effects shop) will take
your breath away. (Wednesday and
Thursday, August 29 and 30, 7:30 p.m.
at the Michigan Theater.)
King of Hearts
(Phillippe de Broca, 1967)
Alan Bates plays a young Scottish
soldier in WW II who stumbles into a
small French town where the
inhabitants of the local asylum have
escaped and now roam freely. A little
unbearable when it begins to pon-
tificate on the fine line between sanity
and insanity, but with a heart of gold.
(Friday, August 31, 7:40 p.m. and 9:30
p.m. at the Michigan Theater.)
Thunderball
(Ternence Young, 1965)
Sean Connery is Bond, James Bon-
.d, in one of the more sluggish but still
adequate amusing adventures of Her
Majesty's finest secret agent. (Satur-
day and Sunday, September 1 and 2 at
7:30 p.m., at the Michigan Theater.)
-compiled by Byron L. Bull