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Enteni An *TT1_ - 1 lie Richard Oreyfuss po petition," a concert pt stardom. Dw n "T " F In Joel Oliansky's "The < seems to have conquered dered his performance in snitty portrayal of concert f thoroughly loathesome and, And lest anyone accu: darkening his character so formance, Paul Dietrich has profession. He's been partic most of his 27 years, almost Travi Jose\ abou By David Baker Film Critic The waiter at Trader Vic' in Atlanta walks up to ou table and immediatel mistakes Joseph Cali, the 3( year-old co-star of Jo< Jose) ' i ' i ' 1 1 ?? miniiiiBiiinif coinmer ;nvig ;Con :pv^ <? ^^BR^;';S:#; . *:'w rtrays Paul in "The Com:anist with his last shot at avid Baker ilm Critic Competition," Richard Dreyfuss the terminal cuteness that ren"The Big Fix" unpalatable. His rianist Paul Dietrich is, at times, thus, thoroughly believable, se Dreyfuss of unnecessarily as to counter his previous per; every right to be bitter about his ipating in piano competitions for ; always winding up as a finalist, ^ltd tii phCal t new Oliansky's "The Competition," for John Travolta, s After a few minutes of heavy ir thinking, the polite little man y says he remembers that Cali )- had only a supporting role, i\ as one of Travolta s buddies. 9h Cati oratii ipetit but never as a winner. The Hillman Competition in Sar prize of $20,000 and two years < admits, will be his last chance foi accept a stale teaching job at an el down to a life he knows he will desp For Heidi Schoonover (Amy Irv of the famous Greta Vandemann ( Competition is a chance to brea petitions and festivals with a ban ready yet, but her teacher knows d Both Paul and Heidi survive th< when one of the remaining four f girl, suffers a nervous breakdown J _ r a A - A ' " * vin q i talks film I in "Saturday Night Fever," ^ but he still thinks the two look identical. Cali acknowledges the resemblance, says Travolta does as well, and explains W that the pair are currently f looking at a script in which they would portray brothers. m But, Cali says, he doesn't H want to be John Travolta j because the hassles of H superstardom are so great. "I don't think John wants to [ be John Travolta at this point," he adds. t ' SATURDAY NIGHT t 4 FEVER" was Cali's first film and it earned him f. membership in the Screen Actors Guild. "But the cost 'P01 to join the union was more than my take-home from my the first check," he explained, the "Fever" was made, Cali tur said, on a budget of $2.5 an million and, with the ex- rey cention of Trnunlfa th? bla actors in it were paid scale. Th Cali defends the movie's wo controversial passages of c?l violence, though, saying that C?1 the real tv^n-aged n*8 inhabitants of Bay Ridge, No N.Y. are more violent and ^ much tougher than those * ?II I 111 aeiecuon 10 American, tne unais ai During the interim, Paul and He in love. To Oliansky's credit (he wrote as the story of the competition and th< romance never detract from each equal amount of screen time and v outcome of either until the credits r The sub-plot about the defectioi forced, but only one tiny scene is ur When Paul and Heidi spend their i explains that she wants to be as clo that she doesn't think it would be rij What follows is a beautiful, touc sitting up half the night, talking another. The sequence ends, thot and unbelievable sex scene. Does C such intelligent people can't get I jumping on each other's bones? Cinnn r:i J uui\.c mc icai ui me mill IS Oliansky's one lapse in logic can be As I noted earlier, Dreyfuss' per should be: fresh, funny and dev refreshing to see an actor of Drey pear in a movie wherein almost e\ taller than he is. Irving, the bewitching young ac and "Honeysuckle Rose" better tl be, delivers yet another winning pe ig rc ion i i Francisco, with its grand )f concert bookings, Paul r glory. If he fails, he will ementary school and settle >ise. ing), a 21-year-old protege Lee Remick), the Hillman k inio me worm 01 comg. She doesn't think she's ifferently. i Hillman semi-finals, but inalists, a young Russian as a result of her mother's re postponed for a week, idi find themselves falling well as directed the film), e story of Paul and Heidi's i other. Both are given an ve're never sure about the oil up. n seems more than a bit lquestionably out of place. First night together, Heidi se as possible to Paul, but sht for thprn to mnlcp lnv#* 3 v :hing sequence of the two and getting to know one igh, with an unnecessary e Hiansky really believe two :hrough the night without C r so exceptional, however, forgiven. jj formance is everything it d oid of cuteness. It's also P fuss' stature agree to ap- a 'ery other cast member is n tress who made "Voices" v tian they had any right to fi ;rformance as Heidi. "The ii 9 Remick talks with heI I Travolta lookalike Jose WfH/ftr " /?/o * ! 1 ?- f w W >** VTK, Ifffri* -trayed in the film. The first night I went re (to "2001: Odyssey," disco used in the pice), there was a shooting d a stabbing," Cali sealed. "If you were ick, you couldn't go in. ere was no way there uld have been a black iDle and a Puerto Rican /pie in that club that ;ht, contest or no contest. way. They would have , sndone-in outside." , \>r the recital scenes in 1 - v-' man IS SUJ EB?I ?iiiWWBWWrF^^p > Amv Irvinn nAai/c /? x,r*,mn %r i ? ? r xperiences in love and high p Competition" should be the mov ninx into a full-fledged star. In support, Remic and Sam V aired and hot-to-trot conduct* elightful, not only in that they ha icture, but in that they present t nd Heidi are apt to become in a d< "The Competition" is an invigoi tot opened in New York and Los A fould be a likely candidate for m or "Altered States" and possibly n town and shouldn't be missed. r star pupil Amy Irving in iMsl WPP ph Ca/i practices a scene i "The Competition," Cali a said, "We had a technique i for faking it. We would play t a recording of the piece we ( were supposed to by playing and, during the shot, we would move our hands on the [ keys. t IN TKAT RESPECT, Cali % said, "Saturday Night \ Fever'Ms less realistic than f "Tne Competition," which, c he said, "is not a <j documentary, but it's as f close as you're going to get v in a movie that's really i, ' ' . hbbh^hbi ce, >erb J. pianist faced with first tressured competition. ie that turns this enticing ^anamaker, as the silverar Andrew Erskine, are ive the funniest lines in the is with a look at what Paul scade or so. rating romance that, had it ngeles this past Christmas, ly 1981 "10 Best" list. Save "Tess," it's the best movie "The Competition." JBSi 23 jMWWWnfWTnr * n "Saturday Night boat two artists who fall in ove and have to deal with hat in the middle of a crisis." "Rllt it fAAt *vi ho aC *v VWI1 A11V/I 111IO VI >ractice to have your hands nove in the right place. I hought that was as much vork as learning the piece, ^or two months before the ilm started, I worked on my :ures, played the scales. I lon't play that much in the ilm, actually, but all that vork sure helped me feel ike a pianist." I