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Cinematograp Terrence Ma n.. naLav oy uaviu uanm Q?m?cock Film Critic With Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick has created a European art film that is distinctly American. The picture, which was nominated for four 1978 Academy Awards, is both emotionally demanding, with its offbeat dramatics and literary dialogue, and technically breathtaking, with its prodigiously detailed sets often becoming so important to the action that they virtually take on the dimensions of leading charac- < ters. After a stunningly effective title sequence, wherein black and white photographs graphically depicting the degree of poverty faced by the inhabitants of the Chicago slums in the early 20th century are flashed on the screen beneath the main credits, the film opens in a blast furnace where the handsome young hero Bill (Richard Gere) is having an argument with the mill's foreman (Stuart Margolin), who subsequently fires him. Bui, his sister Linda (Linda Manz) and his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) immediately hit the road as migrant workers. Like cattle, they and a horde of other urban migrants are shipped via locomotive to the Oklahoma panhandle in open boxcars. Pretending to be brother and sisters, the trio finds employment on a successful wheat farm owner by a wealthy, but terminally ill young man (Sam Shepard, the playwright, in his acting debut). The farmer eventually falls in love with Abby and, when the harvest is over, he asks her and her "family" to stay with him on the farm. When Bill learns of the man's illness, r? i Cfi rreu oiiuerm creating adult By Peter J. Boyer The fir AP Television Writer robber, t one fron LOS ANGELES (AP) - The adult and enoi television audience is underrated, strain th NBC President Fred Silverman dieted ca said last May. Kid-vid is an insult. And f< i 4i? KT- ? a. 1- t__ ? i>dv> win ue uie rsu. i neiworK Dy pwuy, Christmas 1980, and it will get sprinklin there by catering to the tastes of Ah, ma mature audiences. Actual! "The audience we're little bit ^ programming for is adults ? reporten people between the ages of 18 to 102," Silverman said, "and not children and teen-agers, as ABC is M doing." NBC, he said, would concentrate | I "on such areas as news, theater in and opera ... well-crafted, intelligent programs, and huge w amounts of news and information f0r programs..." V Meet Sheriff Lobo, spinoff of B.J. and the Bear, and one of the new stars of NBC's fall schedule. The show debuted last night with an ^ episode called, "The Day the snarK Ate Lot)o." m "A giant man-eating shark and an escaped bank robber," reads the show's publicity sheet, "wreak ) hilarious havoc on Sheriff Lobo's u pj elaborate and outlandish plan to \ con thousands of dollars out of a V group of fishermen..." (jf Like that, adults? Read on, ) M?. mature audiences. 7 To get the idea of The Misad- \ ,,YI ventures of Sheriff Lobo, Fred V Lean Silverman explained to a group of V cone advertisers (also last spring) you 0 rhur have to imagine a cartoon with u p^| humans instead of drawings. He \ likened Sheriff Lobo to Road r r<in Runner with human actors. Mon< Indeed, Sheriff Lobo is easier to ^ n/larotan/l if u/ui l\n rt f* CUkak 7 WluctOMiiiu ii Juu uvai uit r vi" #_ man's instructions in mind. x Claude Akins plays Lobo, a y larcenous red-neck who is facing (# financial difficulties, a fellow in ^ for ! need of a money-making scheme. J the1 We know this because Lobo X r ' t mutters to himself, "If I don't get y those bills oaid. that finance (f lo >' company's gonna up'n repossess ) you my underwear!" X' >hy highlight! lick's movie he induces Abby to marry him. For a while, the four live together happily, enjoying the pleasures that new-found wealth can bring, but instead of dying within the year, as the doctors said he would, the farmer gets better. In addition, Abby falls 'n love with him. Both events are too much for Billy to accept and, when his uncontrollable passion for Abby begins to break the group apart, everyone realizes the days of heaven have ended almost as suddenly as they began. Exclusive of the main and end titles, Days of Heaven is told in less than 90 minutes. Every shot in the film is efficient either in pushing the story forward or in supplying a landscape so beautiful that one wants to sit and look at it far past the time Malick permits us to do so. The elliptical use of words and Linda's narration-commentary also help the film attain a strong emotional impact, though the latter is too reminiscent of Sissy spacek's lurid prose in Malick's earlier Badlands to be hailed as anything nearing ingeniousness. Every performance in the film is well polished and well integrated into the ensemble. Shepard's quiet, brooding portrait of the farmer is especially deserving of recognition. Patricia Norris costumes, Billy Weber's editing, Jack Fisk's art direction and Ennio Morricone's score are also worthy of praise, but the most oustanding facet of this outstanding production is Nestor Almendros' cinematography. Almost any frame in Days of Heaven could be blown up and mounted in a museum. The shots of dew clinging to wheat stalks and of locusts falling from the sky with their wings aflame are as impressive and as startling as the first closeup of a firing gun must have been to movie ^ TI 7 * tun s i v gei cartoon proc st episode involved a bank that shows like wo sharks (including the make him look i Jaws), a few buffoons the fail, but exp igh low-minded antics to build an audien< e interest of even an ad- oh, I get it rtoon viewer. audience bv aii 3r you lovers of rural human actors, there is a generous with the theati g of cornpone epigrams. well-crafted, inl iture entertainment. the "huge amc ly, Silverman hedged a information pro when he had that talk with This televisio 5 back in May. He said complex than 11 jrgentiy neeoeu people with Mononuci Medical Research, if you now have or hav< s past 2 weeks mono, you may qualify fc ek for 3 hours of your time, call 254-6537 matlon. Mon. thru Frl. Serologicals Laboratory Suite 105 2719 Middle burg Columbia, SC 29204 ERSONAL DEVELOPMENT of the Counseling and Human Development announces: VIORY AND CONCENTRATION GNOSIS n to use hypnosis for Improving indlvidu entraiion. sdays. Oct. 4-n, lO:30-12:00a.m. RENTING SKILLS n constructive ways of relating 10 children, days. Oct. 8-Nov. 5. 2:30-4:30 pm. rntiii ior use siuaeni Group size limited to sign up e Phone 777-5223 r. ? ili111 igi ii hum i ldiiui i cJiiu-or rcscrvir group of your choice, or ne to room 203 Pendleton Bldg. (r II out the participant forms which \ a space. hSBbbhtc ?w r&V/-J' - ' i :- .rn^P* ? . X aRichard Gere: audiences in the early part of the century. The landscapes, the sunrises and the seemingly limitless expanses of swaying wheat are so exquisitely photographed that they are simply staggering to behold. Days of Heaven is possibly the most beautifully realized motion picture I've ever seen. If only its plot was as profound as its visuals are dazzling, I'd be willing to call it the best movie ever made. I encourage everyone to see Days of Heaven while it's playing in town, rather * IfffG jrams i--cR Sheriff Lobo might JP ||| T~" like a hypocrite in p Sm J lained, "We have to :e base first." - . xou auraci an ring cartoons with then you hit 'em *e and opera, the "DA D'P T*TT elligent programs, in.K 1 111 >unts of news and -pi grams." n business ismore . Choose yc :hou8ht' . Discount, Apply at Br leosls to aid )] 3 had within I L____ r $80.00 per | downtown dutci for more in- H mnm 7 Prom flnn . _ I w^/p Centers t THROUGHX 1 42511 al memory and ^ v ? ? 3 *one Day service X Gold seal service 2 'Leathers & Suede 7 cood Parking for a Formal wear s*. X Branch Of ar|v V Forwa )g a space in y text to nbsc) y I rjr vill guarantee (f I t I Fab |l CLEANER ~ -..4i 3 SFm * ? '. N ? * 4 ?-.- ? "- _--i * * < < ?. ? ? '- "*"*? ~~" - .< ? * ? "? ' ^ - *r^:-, : " - -: -/'/ .y. r2Uw--? ? . ? ?? . ?. 'Days of Heaven' than to wait until November and see it in the Russell House, because the transition from 35mm to 16mm undoubtedly will destroy a great deal of the picture's impact. Of course, if anyone thinks they would like to see it once in each place, I won't discourage them. After seeing it in both formats, one might discover just how many differences there are between them and how ridiculous it is for one to put off seeing a film for several months in order to save a few dollars. NOTICE! VIE AND FULL TIME MPLOYMENT >ur own hours on your clothes j with the leaders in fashion ittons - 1337 Main Street H SQUARK'RICHLAND MALL'COLUMBIA MALL SwTVTUf IINE MOVED oslte The Honeycombs lSSEMBLY I (handwork) !S : Customers flee at 1415 Cervals Street de Hampton Residents Jfre| Sine# 1937 f Simw ric Care Center S?LAUNDERER5#nJHRlEHS |,