The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 18, 1981, Page Page 8, Image 8
Guardcmf
w w W m m m ^
By DOUG BELL
Film Critic
Walter Hill is one of the few true action
directors working in films today. His most
recent films include The Warriors, a violent,
ligntning-paced depiction of urban street
gangs and The Long Riders, the only notable
Western of the past few years.
With Southern Comfort, Hill focuses his
taut, violent vision on the deep South. The
story (bearing close resemblance to
Deliverance) concerns a National Guard
squad who, lost in a Louisiana bayou,
hpc.imp (hp hilin:in nrov nf a flrniin nf
V..V. VJ V** ? b?"Wp V/l
murderous Cajuns.
Basically a study of men under life-and'Time
B an
By doug bell
Film C?itk
The Monty Python troupe are the propom
unique brand of humor ? erratic, off
uuu ageuus. nui me success 01 meir numor ai
the edge of a precarious precipice. Wher
hilarious; when it's the least bit off, it becc
and dull.
What works and what doesn't is a matter o
Monty Python and the Holy Grail reducec
laughter but Time Bandits. directed by P
Gilliam, only induced me to slumber.
Time Bandits is a sort of History of the
clamorous midgets as tour guides. The
originally construction workers in the fc
universe. But when the Supreme Being (Sir
son) refused to recognize their contributioi
spiteful bandits, looting from century tocenti
Free shuttle tonigh
Townshio for 'Chili
DtiwDEESg
H*.?1.
m DUIlie BR
death pressure, Southern Comfort probes,
with varied effectiveness, into such themes
as leadership, survival and morality. The
dilemma is set in motion when one of the
nine Guardsmen playfully fires blanks into
a group of hostile Cajuns. Lurking unseen
behind the cvDresses. the Caiuns take their
revenge with merciless savagery, killing off
all but the keenest Guardsmen.
THE NATIONAL Guardsmen are an illassorted
lot, including a couple of "ignorant
rednecks," a soldier who goes mad under
the strain, and a tin-horn corporal who
clings uselessly to the conduct manual. The
stars of the film are Keith Carradine as a
quick-thinking city boy and Powers Boothe
as a quiet, shrewd newcomer to the outfit.
dits': Pyth
/if a mnoh.pnupfoH man tHc
holes" leading to particula
? down them like Alice in Wonc
ents of a wildly
the wall and
ways teeters on THE STORY proper begii
t it works, it's burst into the be-room of
>mes ponderous (Craig Warnock), whose pa
middlf class wnrshin nf fiihi
f sheer opinion, the poor kid feels neglected.
I me to hysteric fantasy he can't refuse, he joi
ythonian Terry
They scurry from one ej
various versions of historic?
World with six Holm) obsessed with the sup
midgets were Agamemmnon (Sean Conner
>uilding of the credibly dull and postured fa'
Ralph Richard have enjoyed her Olive O
i, thev became Popeye, because she rer>e
iry. With the aid airy and disjointed as ever.
t from Russell Hous
iren of a Lesser God1
^ I /?Tcro"
" \u s c i 1
\ i f
u?\ S airpor
j Shuttle ^
3 The Air
iSTAURRHT a You Up Fi
id SRLOOn 1 ^ W
jj Dates of Delivery:
\r_} Approximately
I ! Approximate!
M Approximated
ib
- | Lolumbi
ihmh . k?
I (az> f-~
. i u K I
I "*-? tm rQ &^
I Sponsored By Your St
iWmtHTK!* ?Tg?
* ^a..aLamm i
I juuiiieni1
Unity is out of the question with so p
disparate a group. Temperaments collide, c
resulting in arguments and confusion. Only p
the fittest survive the disorder, the en- g
vironment and the Cajuns.
Visually, Southern Comfort is unrelen- "
tingly dark; Andrew Laszlo's s<
cinematography casts everything in an
ethereal gray. The pace of the film is often ?
^ ? J _ 1 rn I ._ _ a I 1
iiiauueiiiiigiy siuw. i nese are noi
necessarily drawbacks, but rather expressions
of Hill's realistic, entirely unsentimental
vision.
' d
c
Performances are generally good. Keith a
Carradine is a rather flat, uninteresting t<
actor, but Powers Boothe has a quietly u
ion Humor F<
; midgets locate specific "time The various hisl
r historical settings and jump visual scope, ar
lerland. dreary. For me tl
Monty Python ve
makes a pseudo-s
ns when the boisterous bandits
an eleven-year-old British kid The rest of th<
rents are so absorbed in their deliciously snobb;
iristic domestic appliances that overwrought out
When the midgets offer him a quickly.
ns them.
f>och to another, encountering IT COULD be z
il characters: a Napoleon (Ian simple children's
>remacy of short people and an characters and il
y) who turns out to be an in- derland, The Wizi
ther figure. Shelley Duvall must merit offers a levi
yle performance in Altman's too. Time Banc
tats it in Time Bandits ? as diffusing its com
come off.
e to/ The Student (iovernm
/the IISC mascot, in from
Ree * * a
tshuttle ; a' f7 6
.... _. .. _ 3 v st
'ill lake You To D IrbrS/0
port and Pick J if 5VS
'om The Airport j (Kr.
>un 11/22 p I ' Ja ^\Si
^ every hour from 5 10 [
ues 11/24 p IvVTV^"'M
y every hour from I 6 J
un. 11/29 J |
/ every hour from 4-11 H | ^ ^
Points Are: n
Hotel [ I' \ / y&
ia Hall/Capstone A | j^
sseu Mouse " I Afr :vU#t ^
Rates J 1, |7?|
Blossom St. Side) J , \ i$y' i{?
srep.^ J
""?l
udent Government and Your A
vities Fees [ '
'www?'??mwmmfi ! v
I
Comfort'
owerful presence about him. The minor
haracters, the rednecks, are perfectly
layed in terms of looks, speech and
esture. !
Y COODKK composed a wry, atmospheric 4 *
:ore played largely on acoustic intruments.
The songs performed by the
ajuns in the dance toward the end of the
lm are authentic and genuinely haunting.
Southern Comfort will not please
veryone; it is too unyieldingly dark, brutal
nd slow to be endearing. And while the
onclusions it reaches may not justify such
n excessively grave tone, I found the film
o be a generally intriguing study of men
inder extreme stress. t 1
? 1
wife CflAft
Mll^ l#ll?l a
torical episodes, though often elephantile in
e invariably overlong, monotonous and
le only substantial laugh was provoked by
teran John Cleese as Robin Hood. Cleese
sophisticated fop of the legendary outlaw.
I
e film, save for Sir Ralph Richardson's
y personification of the Supreme Being, is
rageousness. And it becomes tiresome
irgued that Time Bandits succeeds as a
movie: it has pretty effects, larger than life
t borrows from fairy tales ( Alice in WonirdofOz
). But every "kiddie film" of any
el of meaning and enjoyment for the adults,
lits attempts to straddle the two levels, M
mitment to either. At any rate, it doesn't f
cut is sponsoring Cocky,
t of Kusscll House today
4Je?casicder& .
^a/amAiW, ?7rio.
787-6607
Complete hair care for g
Guys and Gals! Always
the latest styles and techniques
h 20% Off
VJ;> ALL
X& HAIR SERVICES
(with this ad ? valid ^
3l\\V Student or Facultv ID}
!!\V^i ' ' I
fl\\ \v \ Appointment available :
^Ut n0t neCeSS3r^ J
5 yuR \ Rosewood Dr.
I \ 787-66 07 -
~,Kh^ I x-, 1