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FORTUNE Front Page Nine AFTEII,rwo viewings of the film, the meaning is still not clear, and the movie does not justify a trip to the library to look up further details. Joyce 's characterizations of Oscar and Nick are completely insound. Nick appears to be the schrewd character who would have the initiative to instigate illegal practices while Oscar appears to be the innocent party who somehow got mixed up in the scheme (he even breaks under the least bit of pressure and blabs the whole thing to the police). But Joyce throws in one line of dialogue that completely contradicts everything else that was built up: we are told Oscar had embezzled more than $1,500 when he was a bankteller! One ridiculous scene has Oscar telling Nick what his mother used to call feminine napkins when he was a child - she called them mice beds, and this scene takes five minutes to explain why, in one of the least funny segments ever in a pseudo-comedy. This is all tied in later, when it turns out that Freddie's mother owned the Quintessa Feminine Napkin Co., but none of it has any relevance to the plot, and is certainly not fnnny. The few almost funny scenes are very predictably set up, as when Oscar and Nick stop their vehicle in the middle of the road on a bridge to dump Fred die's body into the river. Before they can get the body over the side of the bridge, a traffic jam is caused by the way the vehicle is stopped, blocking both lanes. But the audience easily guessed what would happen simply by the way the vehicle was artifically parked. The director should have found a MA W L THE JUNIOR i AND SPORTSWEAR TOPS N' For Groovy4 ** HUGF WAREHOUSE** ACRO55 FROM FAIRGROUNDSE 1120 SH OP ROA D 771-7079 OPEN A DAYS - 10 TILL 74 * EASY LAYA one-lane bridge to film the scene, if he wanted any laughs at all. ANOTHER SCENE that was even more predictable was when Oscar and Nick buy a snake to kill Freddie. They want to test it first, so they put it into the cage where Freddie keeps her pet chicken. Instead of doing the normal thing, staying and watching what the snake does to the chicken, the two men decide to leave and come back the next morning to see what happens. This is so artificial that one knows long before the next morning that yes, you guessed it--the chicken has killed the snake. With such a wretched script as this, it is a wonder that Mike Nichols agreed to direct it, and it is even more of a wonder that he was able to convince his two stars to do it. What saves the film, aside from the aforemen tioned performances of the two female members of the cast, is the professionally lush look that the film visually boasts. The sets by Richard Slybert and the photography by John Alonzo were stunning, capturing the 1920's era with nostalgic grace. Also of interest is Nichols' sly little camera technique of panning to a later event instead of cutting to it. One case of this technique is when Oscar and Nick take Freddie to a Justice of the Peace for the marriage. We see them knock on the door, and then the camera pans over to a window to show them already well into the ceremony before the Justice of the Peace. It is all nicely done, but why for this script? The Fortune will probably make a fortune at the box office because of its male superstars, but if Beatty and Nicholson make any more films like this, their status as "superstars" will dwindle quickly. The true "superstar" at work here is Stockard Channing who will hopefully grace her talents on some good scripts. OTAL SYSIEM [FFICIENCY buy CHED PIONEER COMPONE NTS isten - We Service 771-7340 PIONEER A ,hpr ,c n, . VY' PIPE RACK Place To Shop ir "Funky" iok'ng and Feminine" RTY FALL '75 BOT TOMS Junior Bodies *BUSH RIVER RD. 1-26 * 7UCt BLOCKS FROM DUTCH SQUARE IN THE "BOARDWALK" PLAZA 6 DA YS- 10 TILL 7 FRIDA YS TILL 9 -798-305i WAY PLAN * Cola. Magazine not up to par By LAMA IARLU Gamecock Staff Writer Hi there mag hags' Well as we all know, for many months there has been much fanfare and hoopla about the new Columbia Magazine. It. along with the second coming of "Pug" R{avenel has been heralded as the great events in South Carolina history for 1975. Well, Pug came and went, but Columbia Magazine never made it out of the fallopian tube. We were all led to believe that Columbia Magazine would be bright. sharp and biting, thought provoking, and that you as the reader would want to throw away your Earth Shoes. But what received in actuality was Pepsi with no fizz. AS I SEE IT, there are only three things in Columbia Magazine worth your attention, and two of those are ads. To put it mildly. Columbia Magazine would be a disappointment to a manic Lepressive. and it is tacky. It's like wishing for a bicycle for Christmas and getting a toothbrush. But then a toothbrush is useable. I would not say that Columbia Magazine is like a cold bowl of cream of what, but the temperature is falling rather quickly. The guiding philosophy of Columbia Magazine, at !east from this point of view, seems to be: cover our butts with the Columbia business community: let's not do anything to offend the Burnsides, the Hamp tons, the Gibbs, the Bessingers, (the old guard Columbia Merchants who might spend $550 for a full page black and white ad) The end result of Columbia Magazine is a rather bland mixture of old topics. produced in the old overworked newspaper format, using old news. and very little imagination or inspiration. In other words. those same tired old tits only this time in a new sagging bra. BUT LET'S BE honest people, what can you say about a magazine that died with its first issue? That it was gray, that its copy was uninspired: that its graphics were rejects from the Yellow Sub marine: that it was young that it cost 75 cents" Try as I might. I can find nothing in print to compare Columbia Magazine I nless. one could say it has the graphics of larpers and the copy style of the North American lorticians Digest. But boys and girls ! did not have to be that wa If lonsieur> ('alabrese and Ilaght had done \w hat they said the. w ere going to do I would not havc beenl able to w'ite this review Arid that would hat t niade me very happy If in fact they are reaching for the Imomniod class. the intel.gentsia. that 10 per cent of the population that r'a'i h does read and think, then they w ill not do it with unmispired copy aho topics that ha\e been covered elsewhere -new spapers to collt-Lt yearbooks Ha ve they not heard of (;eorg4c Bernard Shaw. Doroth\- Parkew ()scar Wilde. Nocl ('oward. (;,arr.T TrIudt'au, Nicholk von lloffr,v.: Instead we ha ( ten >erved ver. poor imitations ot 1)avid S Brodth John Kenneth (;,tlhraith. Kate Mlillet. Tolstoy ('olumbnia lagaini: needs to walk iitt N75 They need to think about their audience. Th need to entertain not insult their audience So what about specifics' The[ cop.\ is at best bland The graphi those that are there, ail suffer I roim a boring samemr-'ss The tull p' art works (iily t\%o' are positioned wkrong Both pies led a froni the rebspte('tive articles 1IWT' ALL. IS not had with ('oluuIIa M\agazine Previousl\ I mniel lioned that this new literary effort did have three good item> hat imlight be wo'th your time. First is the full page ad for M1aximri's on page one It has graphics quality that the rest of the magazm.re dloes not Iivye up to It is realbI a sad state of things when the advertisers have better art work, bet terv Iayout , better design than the magazine itself Next . on page 21 . we have a ratheir double entrendre ad for Brirttons Yet another exam ple of the advert iser' being better than the vehicle in which it appears And saving the best for last, ''Play it again. Pug' is the only article 'that offers an> piromise for the fut ure survival of this magazine Writ ten by Bob ('aft. who undlerstands that w r'itmg for a magazine is much dliffer'ent than writing for a newspaper, the article attempts to be the things that ('olumbia Miagazine fails at llow~ever. it is onlh fair t) say, that from my> point of view, this art i('le has also suffered f rom an editorial hatchet jot) done none to grac'efully with a pick ax. Being famiiar with the ('raft style ot w.~riling. I can only account for te hop scotchb effect as bt e d itoiialIi manrdat e But in spilt' of the hatIchet oh. the article (do's flow, is rather huimorous, andl is min.u of the timgs that ('olumiu a Mlagazine is not Thus fair tthi b ave onl> pr'odu('td tint' issue fut .: is past tun' bor (oltumbia \1laga/im and itsa people to tcan uip t hi': :v T1'hat is ift ht'r w.' ish to pusth and1( flourish arid not1 to be a !.n u riteoff for a io porat I on H t ionne one. numbi er ne is ant t'\an ii ! what t he' flunl holds in stor < mat I suiggtesl t t t'i'trr ont' fi K ent om the' A I st> I bt hok .mid phi> that new funi filled canii lt A .\ lagaioc