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enteitainn Capsule Review 'Ono.PuA#! -7"*u Jacks' compelling, puzzling 'New York a poor pan By CHUCK CROMER "N Entertainment Editor two | othei Director Martin Scorsese thrives saxo; on violence. In his finest works corn* ("Main Streets," "Alice Doesn't tenoi Liive rtere Anymore," "Taxi at w< Driver'') Scorcese challenges each befor of his main characters with a brutal survival test. The stakes are } high and the obstacles difficult, as 3 the individual must confront the mi?.c^ most violent and powerful elements of his environment to either maintain or create their JIl00 personal identity. get" Violent confrontation between individuals and their society is two? what makes Scorsese a successful UP 01? director. He toys with his P1?^1 characters' consciousness and their ability or inability to cope 10 with their surroundings. Often they P1"^* cannot cope. De Niro combats the underworld in "Mean Streets" and can?t an unsympathetic society in "Taxi ieaVe Driver" with tragic results. night howe In each confrontation the shjne struggle is a 1 ways personal, yet not huge actually between two persons s^. ( (even though we often consider after institutions in the third person Minri( singular;, scorseses latest film, the formula is altered, with the jf * violent confrontations between two human personalities, with the mj environment serving as a minor .New backdrop in the story. Our at- wast tention is thus shifted from storj focusing on mankind against a beinj harsh society to figuring out whom binal we feel the most sympathy for in Bom this tale of misguided lovers. it is lent S By CHUCK CROMER Entertainment Editor NOTE: All campus movies are sponsored by the Russell House University Union Cinematic Arts Committee and will be shown at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday in the Russell House Theatre. Films are free to USC students who present a validated ID Sunday through Tuesday, while a $1 admission is charged for Wednesday's and Thursday's films. THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975) ? Robert Redford in one of his best per' formances stars as a bright CIA agent baffled by and running from CIA mass murderer Ma* Vnn Surtniu ? w?? U'JVIVTT. V/Ilt VllllL commented, "'Condor' reveals the chilling premise of just how simple it is for the government to utilize any possible resource from the most highly trusted government official right on down to some unbelievably sophisticated electronic equipment all in the name of governing our democratic society." Thursday $1. . New York' m ~ ~ ~ ? ody, parody lew York, New York" is about satire of mus >eople who are wrong for each New York" f, . De Niro is an irresponsible triteness and r phonist whose joys from life For example, S ? from playing a "barrelful of parody Busby making obnoxious passes musicals with amen and blitzine ftakin? off :?? ? o a musical line e paying his bills). Yet the effo .ile trying to pick up a girl at a / on V-J Day, he meets an :ent USO singer (Liza Min- By not follo\ i. After making it painfully formula of m; ;nt that the two have nothing Scorsese has pi mmon (not even their music), melodrama jese has them fall in love and characters that married. Well, of course, a viewer's imagii / future lies ahead for those the same worn to no one's surprise. Both end times in other the road in the same big band New York" rob! ng a combination of jazz and character ident ; music until each one's desire ? the leader and Minnelli's What saves lancy break the band up. York" from I waste of thre< en the kid arrives De Niro another fascin handle the responsibility and by Robert De T S Minnelli to open his own nrpdirtnhlp rnli club. Don't fear for Liza Pan unorthodox ver, because her true talent sometimes c< s through as she becomes a sympathetic bu recording success as well as a charac terizati of film musicals. Six years pleasure to wal he leaves her, De Niro meets elli again to try to patch Scorsese has 5 up. Guess what happens as with one of the i didn't know before? mospheres of t that I have eve / first reaction to "New York, he has believs York" is to ask why Scorsese Niro's characte ed the time making it? The the 1930s and r ic Knrinrt an/1 m* * " ? uui M15 ci 1 in j/icuiuujuie, mmrow ana 1/ I nothing more than a com- only loyalty wa :ion of plots of "A Star Is . . ?... " and "The Way We Were." If u . made to be a tribute to or no^n8 short m * ' FURY (1936) ? A bitter denunciation of mob violence and their morbid fascination for death and disaster. Spencer Tracy stars as a meek filling station owner unjustly qp/>I1CdH r\f IriHnonrvirirt Km* ? MVVMMVU w* niviiiappiu^ UJ llIC LlllACI^ U1 d small town, who try to lynch him and burn the jail where he is imprisoned. He escapes and, seeking revenge, returns to confront his accusers. Directed by Fritz Lang and also starring Sylvia Sidney and Walter Brennan. As Lewis Jacobs wrote, "Lang's camera piled detail after detail from the point of view of the spectator, the victim, the community, and the law, making them an inspired commentary, on bigotry, provincialism and intolerance." Sunday. MOUCHETTE (1966) ? An extremely depressing story of a 14-year-old schoolgirl whose tra jic encounters with society (the death of her mother, alcoholic bootlegger \ ? luurcr, rape;, increase ner nosiuuy and isolation from the world around her. Directed by Robert Bresson, starring Nadine Nortier and Marie Cardinal. Monday. icals, "New York, ,,,-Sr ails because of its ^ x* nisguided direction. Jcorsese attempts to .4* Berkeley's many > / \ |R Minnelli rl lUonn- ?7>_j; ?' is futile and ? - ''V y/-^:-^p0y\ Iworthy of Scor- < ''> ,. ;" ving hi? successful m RRsWkSM an versus society, oduced a mixed up of stereotyped leaves little for the lation. Having seen out plot countless > us of suspense and 9Bw|||X ification. ; >' "Kt - iiiMiuMuBaifflysyyg^? saxophonist, his _ . ... . 41 >mic, sometimes Liza Minnelli strike t always obnoxious Judy Garland, in on is indeed a musicals, "New Yc :ch. aiso provided us cream with syrup poure s most realistic at- Except when she's sing he 1940s in a film nelli has nothing to do tha r seen. In addition role of the sympathetic ibly patterned De - , r on the jazzmen of Scorsese used bad 1940s like Mezz when he based N jster Young, whose character on the caree s to music. mother, Judy Garland. IV made up to look like her 's performance is her mannerisms and sing of peaches and way. The intentions may h ONE-EYED JACKS (1960) ? A puzzling western directed by and starring Marlon Brando. The story is one of revenge and sado-masochism, as Brando tracks his former partner (Karl Maiden), who after several robberies leaves him to die in the desert. Biographer Tony Thomas wrote, "Brando's 'One-Eyed Jacks' a title that refers to the duplicity of man is not a film to dismiss or forget. It lingers in the mind because of its visual beauty and the intensity of some of its scenes, particularly those between Brando and Maiden, two knowing actors playing together with the skill of champion chess players. It might be said that the film is rather like the man who directed it strangely compelling." Tuesday. PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM (1972) ? My favorite Woody Allen film. Allen stars as a film critic whose wife leaves him because of "insufficient laughter." Because of his shyness and awkwardness with women, he seeks the guidance of his idol, Humphrey Bogart, to help him score. Also stars Diane Keaton, and Tony Roberts, and is directed by Herbert Ross. August 10, 11, $1. ?r*r" * \ ifc Hrmrn. ! OH -V \\ JHM s a pose characteristic of her mother, Martin Scorsese's new film about >rk, New York." d over it. to honor Miss Garland, but it came [ing, Min- across to me as a shabby parody n play the done in poor taste. w''e- In the final analysis, Scorsese iudirment should confine himself to the i i nnoi n"o violent world of man versus society unneiii s where ho has sts^manto ?a moim ? 01 ,.n^r and issues to criticize. is Melodramatic yarrts like "New .express York, New York" should be left to the same incompetent and less skilled lave been directore.