Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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wu ^sVi. -S ^arfir ^aa p#?.a^B8^^aEwgyg^jigN^r ^BBIHIIP^aBr >Sj-^\.y^$->v x SB jto HnHraHl 3n^S& :^y EBhsEB -^:V^^?.'ir^ J^MKfo $2 tfK^^BHsMKfiam ^jW^^KF'jHfw^rff^ Wfe^rME^^KS^K A Mn film hinhlinhts if/^a1 mo dutpuif^ luicriu By David Baker Gamecock FRm Critic ml . * a. l _ r n .1 i_i i _ _ t i r m* ine uue 01 jerry acnatzoerg s new movie was cnangeu irom me Senator to The Seduction of Joe Tynan about a month before the picture's release. It has long been a truism of Hollywood that a change of title late in the distrubution process is a sign of panic. It usually happens after a few test screenings indicate the public is not clamoring to attend. Almost invariably after a title change is instituted, the public senses the confusion over the product and responds by staying away in droves. This happened a year ago when Karel Reisz's Dog Soldiers was given the meaningless handle Who'll Stop the Rain. While the title change involving The Senator isn't quite so arbitrary as the one involving Dog Soldiers, it still indicates some concern on the part of the moguls at Universal Studios over the industry myth that pwn tljuaio UUA-UIUV.U puiowii. I ???????I I Movie Review Hopefully. Universale title ploy will defeat both of the axioms I've mentioned, lor The Seduction ol Joe Tynan is a very line mm, wen deserving of the time and money one must spend to see it. The film stars Alan Alda (who also wrote the picture's intelligent script) as Senator Joe Tynan, a liberal democrat from New York. In the beginning of the movie, Tynan is shown winning passage for his bill to create jobs for the unemployed, a bill that several other senators have tried and failed to have accepted. The media pick up on Tynan's impressive victory and he soon is known as Washington's newest wunderkind. The publicity blitz surrounding the passage of the bill makes Tynan hungry for power, so when he sees the chance to stop the Supreme Court nomination of a Southerner with a segregationalist background, he jumps at it, even though he has promised an old and influential friend (played by Melvyn Douglas) that he would never actively oppose the candidate. The background work necessary to halt the nomination takes Tynan away from his wife (Barbara Harris) and children (Blanche Baker and Adam Ross) and puts him into heavy contact with Karen Traynor (Meryl Streep), an activist lawyer from Louisiana. Karen's intelligence and wit stimulate Tynan and he soon finds himself falling in love with ht?r in unitp nf t hr? thy) hor a cr'/mt ic thi/^lr onnndh In molro magnolias grow on the walls of the Senate chamber. The thrust of the film's remaining portions deal with the conflicting emotions Tynan experiences while deciding between his wife and Karen and between his old friendships and his new opportunities. wniie sucn a scenario may ai ursi seem painiuny lacKing in any visual or verbal excitement. Alda's script fills it with several scenes that are as emotionally charged as anything I've seen so far this year. One of these scenes is the one where Tynan's wife learns about his plans for re-election via a television newscast. Hurt and upset, Harris' character eenerates a whirlwind of feelinp as she tearfnllv trips to finH out why he didn't bother to tell her of his plans before he told the press. Another good scene is the one wherein the two women in Tynan's life are introduced to one another at a fund-raiser, with Harris intuitively Lnnu'inO vi'hat hue Ke?<*n OninO nn a r>H Qtroon roali^incf that cKo Unmuc i?ii\/ ?f * *?> ?' iiuv Iiuu wvvu ^ w in ^ un uuu w_/v* vvp a vun^iti^ muv onv auv/TTO. Though Aldas ability to write dialogue for a scene involving two or three people is much more impressive than his ability to write dialogue for scenes involving a group, the reasons why these specific scenes work so well are the respective talents of Streep and Harris. The characters they create seem to grow with every scene they appear in. When Harris is first introduced, she appears to be doing an imitation of Madeline Kahn's Eunice Burns character from What's Up, Doc? She speaks in a very nasal tone and she acts as if she's mentally disoriented. By the film's finale, however, Harris' character is quite realistic and pvtrpmplv aHmirahlp ?-~-w. Likewise, when Streep first appears, she looks to be nothing more than a mere set decoration. Her character becomes increasingly threedimensional, though, through every glance she throws and through every word she speaks. While Harris and Streep win the film's top acting honors, special mention should be made of Alda's complex portrayal of the title role. He holds the film together by making Tynan both attractive and believable. Sometimes, however, his script seems too concerned with making Tynan a decent guy. As a result, Alda often appears to be stretching for points in the characterization that really have nothing to do with anything else in the film. For instance, who really cares if Joe Tynan can't break off his affair with Karen without rushing to the airDort to tell her cood-bve? Since the two had previously agreed by phone not to see one another again, the scene is totally unnecessary Such lapses in Alda's script are few and far between, though, and for the most part, it paints a powerful and intriguing portrait of a man ...I .? ...? ??? IkhoI tionrllfk Iho 'iff'? ir*c r\f dAt/nrnmonf hvii urhAm tiro WIIUII1 W C UclII H UHl t\J naiiuiv *"?'v * 11? ? ? ?? vi f^v/r v-i iiiuv/iiv, i/i4i rv iiv/iii nv can't trust to handle anything more important. The Seduction of Joe Tynan will never be remembered as a great political film, but it will be remembered as an enjoyable motion picture ohnnt nratfalls encountered bv adult men and women in their quest v""~ r to reach the top Little Sally Evans hefted her darling set of mat cmng luggage onio ner oea in ner peacny-nwn new dorm room. Gosh, how exciting it was to be a new freshman at the University of South Carolina! Sally could hardly wait to get started! She started unpacking, carefully putting everything in its perfect place. She put her big lovable teddy bear on her pillow; she put her cute wardrobe in the cute little closet. Living in the dorm would be so much fun! Oh dear! Was that drawer handle supposed to come nff and fall intn lnts of little nipf OS like that? Whv does the floor have that funny orange puddle in its middle? Why does the light switch have a six-page instruction manual? Then Sally realized: it was all part of the cuteness! What could be cuter than a lovably rickety old dorm? She leaned against a wall, convulsed with laughter at this, and fell through. Being the resourceful girl she was, Sally patched the hole and set to work reading her shiny-new textbooks. Hardly had she gotten through with the breathtakingly exciting introduction to her calculus text when there was the sound of something falling against the door. "Come in!" Sally called cheerily. When nothing happened for a few minutes, Sally wpnt and onened the door. She watched her new roommate crawl into the room and plop into the orange puddle. "Hi! I'm Sally Evans!" she said hesitantly. "Mmrmmph," replied the orange puddle. "Likewise, I'm sure," Sally responded, edging toward the door. Suddenly her roommate jumped up and grabbed her by the straps of her peachy-keen top, slobbering all over the little rablbit sewn on the right front pocket. "I'm Sasha Kilvicky," she mumbled. "Got any coke?" "Oh sure!" Sally replied, bouncing over to her cute little refrigerator. "And Pepsi, and RC, and..." irnn cfnnirl 11 ff 1C4 clnt T o cnnrf I \Ia iiv;, juu oiupiu hi lav. oiui, a iiwu a o uv/i v. iiu \,ui\v., huh? How about some acid? Pot? Angel Dust? Sterno? Liquid Wrench? I gotta get high!" "Hi! I'm Sally Evans," Sally said, reacting from instinct. "Um..I mean..." "Garrummrph," said Sasha, pushing Sally away and falling across her bed.' Want me to bring in your luggage? asked bally, trying to salvage what courtesy she had left. "I'm wearing it," said Sasha. "Hey, how long until Thanksgiving break, anyway?" Sally sat on her bed and cried softly. No one said anvthine about oranee middles and I.inuid Wrench! - russeM hou ^ ffll Ifrrgy- / No one said anything about unbearable roommates! I Sally fled her room and walked around for a long time. She ended up in tne Kusseii House. An, a movie! Something to take her mind off her troubles. Pink Flamingoe8 - what a nice name! Sally came running out of the theatre five minutes into the movie. She collided with a clean-cut young man and knocked his books down. Whoa! This guy was cute! Here was her salvation! She could see it all now - walks through the Horseshoe, football games, introducing him to her parents, tender kisses at the door of her dorm. "Oh, I'm sorry," Sally said. "Hi! I'm Sally Evans!" "Hi." the guy said with a big grin. "Wanna go up to my room?" Sally was running out of salvation. She thought of the nice professor who had advised her. Rushing up ten flights of stairs, she dashed down the hall to his office and read the nice note on his tnnn An ciliKntioal fn (itrifa canornl UUtll . nave gunc Ull iiauvnuvui vw n> nv uv*v>ai incomprehensible books so I can keep my job. Will be back in time to predict next recession. If you need something, see my graduate assistant, if they ever give me one." So off Sally went to her last resort, the young, dynamic Jim Holderman. "Please, I've got to see him," she cried as she pushed into his office. "HALT! WHO GOES THERE?" "Just me,"Sally squealed. Holderman was pointing a pistol at her. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were the football fans." Sally stared at Holderman's gun. "Oh, don't worry about this," he said, holding it up. "It's licorice." He took a bite from the barrel. "Can I help you?" "I just don't understand it," Sally wailed. "College is nothine like I imagined it would be. Whv is that?" "I know what you mean," Holderman mused. "Tree-lined walkways...exciting, important classes...innovative, caring professors... winning sports teams. It could all be mine. BUT NOOOOOO! I get wild-eyed radicals and renovation projects! I get irate fans and stingy state legislators! Well, now do vou understand what college is reallv like?" "Not exactly," Sally whimpered,"but I'm beginning to." Sally walked weakly back to her room. But when she got there... the final insult! Someone had stolen her teddy bear! She lay down and wept. Sasha turned toward her. "What's wrong?" she asked. In her arms was Sally's teddy bear. She saw Sally staring at it. u%t! l n _ i _ ? s mceoear, sneexpiainea. And suddenly Sally understood. nH MnHrWIW IB "ound the world. JHWH ; I* *> _