The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 04, 1977, Page Page 5, Image 5
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.