Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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D~avid Carradine, of Kui at Dutch Square. On M Carradine's visit to USC. The ultini exposed ii BY TERRY DUGAS Of The Gamecock staff "While the city slept last u that great scourge of man! pornography, crept in -and away the morals of our peop This was the opening sentence review I wrote on June 14, 1 The city still sleeps, the moral: still stolen, and "High Rise back at the Atlantic II Theati "Reviewed in such prestig publications as 'Variety,'' thouse,' and the 'Naked News, concensus has been that 'I Rise' is the best produced and skillfully done sex flick eve grace the smut houses of New' City. "'High Rise' makes no pret at being 'art.' The produceri out to make a superior porno and they succeeded admiralt The plot is unimportant since viewer sees the crew preparlaj each shot. The effect is on viewing a porno film in making. "To keep the viewers intel the produers use strikingly un camera shots, (ever seen nilingus performed upside dow in bizarre sets, coupled with a 1 funny musical score ("I've I bitten by the kissing bug"). Shi perfect color and focus, often f a distance of three inces, Russell Jeffcoat ig Fu fame, stars'in "You and Me" onday, Chuck Cromer will review Late .porno a town agam result is interesting, both from at erotic and a technical standpoint. The end result of 'High Rise' is t< reek, show that pornography can rise rind, above the 'Deep Throats' of th< stole genre and have class as well a: le." sex." of a Every word of this review i: 73. true, "High Rise" is still the bes are porno film ever made and one o "is the funniest movies I've ever seen. e. Since that summer, Columbia hai :ious seen such masterpieces of erotica Pen- as "Flesh Gordon," "The Devi ' the and Miss Jones," "Score," an< digh "Fulfillment," starring thai nost anatomical wonder, Johnny Wadd. r to No one, however, has offered t< (ork blame Columbia's crime rate or this plague of explicitness. ense What is baffling to me is how the set citizens and officials of Columbia film can become outraged over a peer ly. show like "Last Tango In Paris,' the or even the real thing like "Devil Ir for Miss Jones." "High Rise" has e of played in Columbia ovet five times the and not been shut down, although it would be ruled obscene by ar~ est, Southern judge. If this should ique happen, though, I will glad ly testify eun- that, being the definitive satire ogi n?'), pornography, "High Rise" oc very cupies an important place iir been cinema history. t In Meanwhile, grab your raincoats rom and run because the last day to see the the film is today. Movies Allen 14 BY CHUCK CROMER Entertainment Editor SLEEPER--Written, directed, produced, and starring Woody Allen. Woody Allen wakes up after a one hundred year deep freeze in a future society where physical love is outlawed. Why? Only the nose knows for sure. Diane Keaton costars. Thursday and Friday $1.00. THE GREAT DICTATOR--One of the more famous and probably the most controversial picture that Charlie Chaplin ever made, that satirized Adolph Hitler and his pre war Nazi Germany. Chaplin plays the dual role of Adenoid (Adolph) Hynkel and a bedazzled Jewish barber. Chaplin was severely crificized for the so-called "pseudo 'Lenny' lik4 BY SAM L. IRVIN, JR. Of The Gamecock staff "Lenny" is, without doubt, a very good motion picture. It is directed by Bob Fosse who also made the excellent "Cabvret", still his best production. There are obvious similarities between the two movies; both are biographies of performers, both show the decadence of society. It is easy to make comparisons since "Lenny" is playing at the Fox Theatre downtown and "Cabaret" will be playing at the Russell House Theatre March 27 28. Where "Cabaret" was handled as a straight story, "Lenny" is done almost as a documentary. The action is interrupted every few minutes to show interview comments made by the charac ters, presumably in the present day. "Lenny" is shot in black and white, a technique which, in this instance, does little more than draw attention to itself. The presumed reason for doing it this way is to symbolize our "colorless" society and the drab, harsh life Lenny Bruce led. This does not work as well as it tshould. It seems to be a fad among Hollywood directors to do their films in black and white for symbolic reasons. Peter Bogdonavich made "The Last Picture Show" in black and white to emphasize the drabness of the town, and it worked only to a point. "Paper Moon" was shot without color, and the film suffered. The only recent motion picture enhanced by colorless film is Mel Brook's "Young Frankenstein". "Lenny" would have been more enjoyable in color. Dustia rloffman gives a superb performance as Lenny Bruce, the comedian who was punished all the way to the grave for using "ob scene" language in his monologues. This is one of the few films Hoffman has had a leading male role all to himself. "Midnight Cowby'', "Papillot'' and the upcasning "All the President's Men" feature equalty-important male roles filled by the likes of Jon Voight, Steve McQueen and Robert entert >oks at futi communistic theme" of the pic ture. Sunday. SPIRITS OF THE DEAD--First we had Black Sabbath, narrated by Boris Karloff. Now Spirits is here with Vincent Price narrating three separate tales of suspense, horror, and tragicomedy. Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda star. Also, believe it or not, Frederico Fellini directs one of the episodes. Monday. SABOTAGE--An extremely obscure Alfred Hitchcock movie produced in England in 1937, the plot centers around a young boy who is unknowingly carrying a concealed bomb through the streets of an English city. Watch for the explosive results. Tuesday. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY Excellent film of army life in 'Cabaret' the center of attention this time, Hoffman's portrayal is his best to date. Hoffman does have female Valerie Perrine, who plays a stripper who marries Lenny. Perrine is causing quite a sen sation in the industry at the moment and, therefore, one ex pects a brilliant performance. She is quite good, but certainly not the supreme artist all the publicity claimed. Her first appearance in George Roy Hill's "Slaughter House Five" was totally unim pressive. She has vastly improved since then and is now a beautiful, talented actress. Just don't expect too much. Gary Morton, a veteran producer and Lucille Ball's husband, makes a rare acting appearance in "Lenny" as famous comedian. He is very good as is the rest of the cast. The technical side of the film is impressive. The editing, in par ticular, is remarkable. There is no music score, and this is a mistake. With music the film would have been more moving. As it is, the story is tragic and very real, yet no lumps are raised in the throat. The only people in the audience displaying any emotion at all got immature thrills at hearing four letter words. Because Lenny Bruce is such a powerful figure, one does not come out of the theatre unaffected, but music would have made a world of difference in magnifying audience reaction. With deft use of music, one can manipulate feelings for a scene. "Lenny" needed a little manipulation. In retrospect, it is clear Fosse experimented with several unorthodox methods of film making: documentary format, no color and no music. But audiences are accustomed to a few con ventions, whether right or wrong. With so many oddities in style, muchi of the impact "Lenny" should have had was tost. However, Hoffmaun is so good, and Fosse such an ipnaginative filmmaker, that the film is well worth seeing even at the sacrifice of a few conventions. Of course, if used to "experimental" films, one has a great advantage over the average film oer. ainment Lire Hawaii in the months just preceding the attack on Pearl Harbor. Burt Lancaster, Mon tgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed, Er nest Borgnine and George Reeves star. Sinatra and Reed won Oscars for their performances. Burt won Deborah for his performance. Wednesday. METROPOLIS-Director Fritz Lang and Germany have dominated Russell House movies for the last two weeks. An ex traordinary exciting and expensive science fiction film that explains why people can't trust dames and wonders why the ruler of Metropolis would stir up dissent in the peasant population and then destroy his own city? It's a silent but superlative Fritz Lang film. Thursday. DOWNTOWN YOU AND ME--David Carradine, who was in Columbia Tuesday to promote the film, Richard Chadbourne II and Barbara Seagull star in this film about an outlaw motorcyclist who teams up with a nine-year-old kid to roam the countryside between Los Angeles and Canada. Dutch Square, PG. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN Nominated for two Academy Awards, this has to be the classic comedy film of the year. Gene Wilder, Marty (goggle eyes) Feldman and a cast of nuts star in this tribute to old horror films. Students should see this one before leaving for Spring break. Miracle, PG. FRAMED--Did you see Walking Tall on the tube last week? If you did or even if you didn't, skip this trash that has Joe Don Baker making a mockery of good old redneck American justice. His baseball bat has been retired but his mouth hasn't. Plaza III, R. LENNY--Has Dustin Hoffman been given too much credit for his performance in this semi biography about an early 60's social satirists' decline and fall from society? Can Valerie Perrine act better than she can strip? Decide for yourselves. Fox, R. TOWERING INFERNO--The Academy Awards are a farce. How could they ever nominate this fireball for eight Oscars? Paul Newman and Steve McQueen got one million dollars each for their contribution to the movie. All the audience gets from the movie is heartburn. Dutch Square, PG. EARTHQUAKE--The management states that today is positively the last day that this film will be shown. That only means Earthquake will undoubtedly move over to the Gamecock Twin Theatres to be shown for ao~ month. The picture asks of Ava Gardner and Charlton Hes, "How long can you tread water?" Jefferson Square. PG. MURDER ON THE ORIEN'r EXPRESS-A thriller where 30 suspects of a murder ask, "Whodubit?" Here's a hint: It wasn't Riehard Widmark. Sean Connery, Albert Finney and ingrid Bergman star. Richland Mall I, PG.