Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I Encert Bak m m t ^ ? HKKtKKtr 'f ^?E '''"'" ***** J& - sIFJQ *. \ iiali Roi By David Baker Film Critic With a few notable exceptions, the nominations for the 53rd annual Academy Awards contained no surprises. The movies everyone had been predicting would make strong showings Martin Scorsese's "Raging U..11 " Mlnhnnl A ' r. i^un, ifin unci npicu s "Coal Miner's Daughter" and Robert Bedford's "Ordinary People" - did. though "Coal Miner's Daughter" certainly got )M ' "1f| m iMMi Robert DeNiro scores a 'Plpirw By Danro Stuff V The first ballet originally . "Planet Dance," a very typic. love story set in the heavens, ' the USC Dance Company this p The story line was rather si before many times, but what dancing of the USC students. T! really stood out, but there wer audience's hearts. PATRICIA HIGGINS Clanc) Dance Company, was truly gn especially when dancing with 1 i Polaris. Venus was the ult i throughout the entire evening Rhea Ann McElroy as Eartl John Green as Mars and the di j Worrell as the Sun and the Su performances, both individu; i groups. The story began with Earth to release Venus (Clancy) in makes a mistake by showing whom she has a liking for. B falling for Earth and returning .ainnnet :erp ?e?0^8II I c * IIK UW * I > I W /j. bert Red ford and Timothy h dumped on in most of the major categories, what with the performances of Tommy Lee Jones and Beverly D'Angelo being ignored. "Ordinary People's" Donald Sutherland was omitted from the Best Actor category and Jill Clayburgh and Michael Douglas, the dynamic duo from Claudia Weill's "It's My Turn," also were not recognized. But the major races, by and large, contained creditable choices. KO in "Raging Bull. " ^t Dai / Powell Writer adapted by artist Blue Sky, al boy meets-girl-and-falls-in UMO I/VUUUUIIIJ JATI IUI II1CU uy ast weekend. mple, one that has been told made it spectacular was the iere was no single dancer who e a number who captured the a guest artist with the USC \-it in her portrayal as Venus, her male lead. Bill Reeves as imate in poise and grace i, Michael James as Jupiter, jo of Kurtis Weiner and Mimi nbeam all turned in brilliant illy and with their various (McElroy) opening up a shell to the universe. Then Earth Venus to Polaris (Reeves), ut instead of the North Star the affection, he comes to fall 1 "t"~ f >rea\ ' . JNl'IWV^sv^s.tSWv ^ W las^EiiESP lutton THE ACADEMY members truly made asses of themselves in the Best Supporting Actress category, though, and they did not redeem themselves in the slightest when it came to choosing the Best Original Song. Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" and Walter Hill's "The Long Riders" amazingly did not receive a single nomination. Neither did Paul Schrader's "American Gigolo," which not only should have been nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Supporting Actress, but should have won the statuettes for Best Original Song (Blondie's "Call Me"), Best Original Score and Best Art Direction. But four movies I liked immensely rurainary People," Richard Rush's "The Stunt Man," Alan Parker's "Fame" and Roman Polanski's "Tess") received 21 nominations between them, so I can't really complain because three f ilms I liked a bit less were left out. IN THE RACE for Rp*t Picture of the Year, "Coal Miner's Daughter" can be ruled out immediately on the grounds that it's director, Michael Apted, did not receive a nomination. "The Elephant Man" and Kaging Bull" can also be considered longshots because they were filmed in black and white. No black and white movie has won the Best Picture ice' a! in love with the vision of Ven ballet's plot to really begin, wl through the Solar System to find THE DANCING through the lifeless and somewhat boring, dancers, but rather the chore* The scenes involving Fluto ( (Billy Koss) and Uranus (Suza moons were somewhat dragging When the Polaris party, incli dancers) and Altair the Nova ( next planet, Saturn (Brenda St really began to pick up. With the addition of the extr. cina was murh mnr<? liv?>lv :?n< ranged from classical to conter and added to the dancing. Frc anything but boring. MICIIAKL JAMES portra) brilliance that earned him the And when his 11 moons came c their planet, it turned out to l>e entire evening. The entire mo< solo, which also added to the hui From comedy, the ballet took icts award in 20 years, since Billy Wilder's "The Apart ment in 1961. 'less received no acting nominations ami was filived completely outside the Hollywood studio heirarchy, so that leaves "Ordinary People" as the favorite. In addition to its being my prediction, it's my preference, having placed higher on my 1980 "10 Best" list than any of the other nominees. The award for Best Director usually goes to the person who directed the Best Picture and that would mak. Hnhnrt RpHfnrH th#? frm : runner And while I d love to see Kedford win, I feel the Academy might give the award either to Martin Scorsese, who is overdue for an Oscar, or to exiled Roman Polanski, whose recognizance would serve as an act of defiance against the Moral Majority. David Lynch ("The Elephant Man") and Richard Rush ("The Stunt Man") are long shots at best, as are Bert Actor nominees Jack Lemmon and John Hurt. LEMMON'S NOMINATION is simply the Anorlnmtf'c moir r\f nai;?nrt ^iv.uuvu i j o vy aj kji pacing tribute to his distinguished 30-year career. Hurts nomination is a tribute to the make-up artists who worked to turn him into "The Elephant Man." Peter O'Toole ("The Stunt Man") and Robert Duvall ("The Great Santini") have careers every bit as distinguished as Lemmon's but neither has woM. .:: Oscar, so both should be considered dangerous in the eyes of favorite Robert De Niro ("Raging Bull"), who .. . u.. : 1 ? anuuuy ua? ictcivtu an award for his work in "The Godfather II." My preference for Best Actor would be Duvall or O'Toole, but my prediction is De Niro. The Best Actress race has two laughters in the pack: Ellen Burstyn i"Resurrection") and Gena Rowlands <4 'Gloria "). Re "?'r?t'on" was a box bomb and "GIoiim ' \\uo garbage any way you looked at it, which few people paid for the privilege of doing. Goldie Hawn could sneak in for "Private Benjamin," as an leave us. The stage is set for the lich is the journey of Polaris I Venus. first of the ballet was rather It was not the fault of the ographing that seemed dull. Ramsey Makhuli), Neptune inne West) and their various 5 * uding the Little Dipper (four Miriam Austell) reached the :ott Szymanowski) the action i moons, nine in all, the danri exciting. The music, which nporary rock, also livened up >m this point, the ballet was fed Jupiter with fire and audience applause early on. >ut to "amuse and entertain" the most hilarious part of the )n dance was done to a tuba nor. a direct plunge into violence, Osc , .y f> ft-*."' S* / ommy Lee Jones an award tor her wi-ald be a salute t?i i! 'lie film's feminist pon.. ew and to its still ?;:? * 'Mr . clout at the bo a *!. II) BE THIULLEI) if Hawn won, but I'd prefer to see Mary Tyler Moore win for the courage she exhibited in playing against type in "Ordinary People." Smart mnnou hmuovor ic nn Qicctr IIIWIIVJ f IIVfTV ? V/I , to V/ll UIOOJ Spacek for "Coal Miner's Daughter." In that the Academy saw fit to nominate "Daughter" only in the major categories of Best Picture and Best Actress, we've been tipped off that the members look upon the movie simply as a vehicle for Spacek, much in the same way as they saw last year's "Norma Rae" as a vehicle for Sally Field. The fact that Spacek did all her own singing in the picture only adds to her attractiveness as a potential winner. Many people have predicted that the concurrent nominations of Timothy Hutton and Judd Hirsch for "Ordinary People" would cancel one another out in the Best Supporting Actor category, but that's foolishness. Hutton's performance was so strong that most people, myself include^, have trouble remembering that Hirsch was even in the movie. If there's a cakewalk' among the categories, this is it. The only way Hutton can lose is if a sweep develops for "Raging Bull" and the award gets dropped into the nly ba ballet-style. Mars (Green) wa with his two devilish moons to 1 cover of fog, ambushed the P Venus, "killing" the entire grc not yet present. After a brief intermission, tl the arrival of Nova, who reviv< mars see me "error of his wa> Polaris the last to be revived, tl THE EARTH scene was the plot, because Earth hi'. i to gui had expressed her love to the Most rejected females would n< man, but Earth showed the waj After Polaris finds Venus in Earth slips away to let the two it is up to Mercury (Susan Shel performance, to bring Earth c which, of course, she does. , Polaris together, Earth reali North star for herself. The finale came when the Si the two lovers. The last dancin the evening, involving most of t ALL IN all, if you happened missed a masterpiece of dancin - ' '?? I"11-1 ? H A?*C I & . .! d Sissy Spacek lap of Joe Peschi. Although they turned in exceptional j performances, Hirsch, Michael O'Keefe ("The Great Santini") and Jason Robards ("Melvin and Howard") need not show up at the ceremonies. 1 UK BK5T SUPPORTING Actress category, as I said earlier, is the one the Academy really blew. I can name five actresses more deserving of the award than any one of the five nominees. Will anyone who saw "Urban Cowboy be able to forget the work of Debra Winger? And what about Angie Dickinson's performance in "Dressed to Kill," Lauren Hutton's in "American Gigolo," Beverly D'Angelo's in "Coal Miner's Daughter" and Blythe Danner's in "The Great Santini?" All were exemplary and none were nominated. ^ Of the nominees (Eileen Brennan in "Private Benjamin," Eva Le Gallienne in "Resurrection," Cathy Moriarty in "Raging Bull," Diana Scarwid in "Inside Moves" and Mary Steenbergen in "Melvin and Howard"), I prefer either Steenburgen or Brennan on the basis of the laughter each generated in her particular movie. The Academy, how ' r. seems likely to go ^ til the sentimental choi< ol ;i2year-old Le Gallienne, even though the performance she gave could have been matched by any granny the producers of "Resurrection" could have roped and pulled See Baker, page 9 iliet s the real villain ot the night, lelp him. It was Mars who, in a olaris party as it headed for up, except for Nova, who was he second act opened up with I'd the fallen group and helped rs." With Mars converted and le entourage left for Earth, real dramatic episode of the de Polaris to Venus after she North Star but was rejected, it do so much for the rejecting ' to keep the story going, her shell and brings her out, finH tlwkir* lnim iu mvii iuvc . i nun ley), in an absolutely brilliant >ut of her state of depression, <\nd after seeing Venus and zes she can never have her un (Weiner) rose and blessed g scene was one of the best of he company dancers. to miss "Planet Dance," you ig art.