The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 29, 1988, Page 7, Image 7
United Artists' 'Betrayed'
Film poses adv
By The Associated Press
HOLLYWOOD ? It's one thing getting filmgoers to
watch the make-believe violence of a Nightmare on Elm
Street. It's another luring them to witness a true-to-life
racial lynching that mirrors the sickness of their society.
Yet that's the challenge facing the makers of the explosive
movie Betrayed, which opens in theaters across
the country on Friday but has already suffered one advertising
snafu that left preview audiences steaming.
Filled with unbridled bigotry and an all-too-real racial
murder, the film stands as a study in how ? and how not
? to market an earthshaker.
"This movie is enormously difficult," says Gordon
Weaver, who is supervising the advertising campaign.
"This is a very tough, tough film."
What makes Betrayed, directed by Costa-Gavras, a
hard sell is its explicit depiction of U.S. white
supremacists ? a topic audiences might want to avoid. So
producer United Artists looked for another marketing
hook within the movie.
Cut to Debra Winger and Tom Berenger, the film's
stars. For United Artists, the popular pair made for a
natural advertising angle. Thus, in the first Betrayed
posters, or "one sheets" as they are called, Winger and
Berenger were shown embracing.
From the looks of the poster, Betrayed appeared to be a
steamy little film, perhaps an update of Jagged Edge,
which was, in fact, written by Betrayed author Joe
Eszterhas.
But preview audiences expecting Betrayed to resemble
an adventure-packed pulp romance were startled to see a
band of hard-working Midwestern farmers who lead a
double life as racist killers.
The white supremacists murder a talk-show host
reminiscent of Denver radio personality Alan Berg, who
was gunned down in 1985 by members of The Order.
They hunt down and lynch a black youth and denounce
homosexuals, Jews and various ethnic groups.
In more than one instance, preview audience members
spontaneously erupted in anger, either walking out or
speaking out against the film while it was still on screen.
Said one woman at a Century City screening: "All white
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ertising dilemma
people are not like that!"
"What we found out was that people didn't know how
to react to this film," said Brenda Farrier, who with
Weaver was called in to consult on the $6 million advertising
campaign.
"We had to help the audience along and say, 'It is going
to be an upsetting film. It is not going to be a
musical,'" Farrier said. The decision was ironic: If the
movie were to be popular, United Artists was saying, people
had to be ready to hate what they saw.
"Powerful films do cause people to say, 'I don't want
to see this. ... It makes me uncomfortable.' That's the
risk that you run," said Tony Thomopoulos, chairman
and chief executive officer of United Artists Pictures.
"When we first started screening the film for people,"
Thomopoulos said, "we found out that if people were not
prepared for what they were going to see, their reaction
was so shocked that they weren't able to digest it all, and
they missed a great deal of the film. Now we are taking
this approach of making people aware."
Among the first moves that Farrier and Weaver made
was dropping the sexually tinged poster, which was to
have been used as a newspaper advertisement.
The poster was replaced with an unusual, unillustrated
full-page ad that ran in newspapers in Los Angeles, New
York and Chicago ? but in the hard-news, not entertainment
sections.
The movie, the ad said, is "a profoundly disturbing and
often shocking motion picture portrait of a hidden part of
contemporary America. It will anger you. It will upset
you."
A new television ad, which began the first week of
August, was just as blunt: "It will change the way you
think . . . forever."
Soon, United Artists introduced a television commercial
built around interviews with average-looking
moviegoers leaving screenings. Said one: "The movie was
terrifying." Said another: "It will kick you in the rear
end."
After that ad ran, United Artists finally began running
commercials that addressed the entire storyline, and
Winger and Berenger were finally revealed to be lovers.
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British rocker Robert Palmer hits t
Carowinds Paiadium. Palmer's latest 1
new album Heavy Nova.
British rock
coming to <
From staff reports
British rocker Robert Palmer will
perform 8 p.m. Saturday at the
Carowinds Paiadium, highlighting
the theme park's Labor Day holiday
weekend.
Since beginning his solo career in
1974, Palmer has recorded 10 records
and has produced hits including
"Addicted to Love," "Bad Case of
Loving You" and "I Didn't Mean to
Turn You On." His most recent success
is the hit single "Simply Irresistible"
from his newest album, Heavy
Nova.
Tickets to the concert are $5.00 in
addition to Carowinds theme park
admission and may be purchased at
Ticketron outlets, through Teletron
Ci
USC's J
is seeking staff n
Interested student
Tuesday,
August 30
at
6:00 p.m.
I
WU2
TRAINING (
i
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$100.00
USC 9 + LO]
ON-CAM1
Fill out this coupon and stop b
Computer Services Annex, U!
f* Name: i
I
I I
| SSN:
I
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j Drawing held on Sept
IWIN ? FRE
iLONG DIS
jBILL!!! FOU
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he stage 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3 at
tune is "Simply Irresistible" from his
;er Palmer
Carowinds
at 1-800-233-4050 or at Carowinds
from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the day of
the show.
For the holiday weekend the park
will open Saturday through Monday
at 10 a.m. and will close Saturday at
10 p.m. and Sunday and Monday at 8
p.m. After Sept. 5 the park will be
open Saturdays and Sundays only
through Oct. 16.
Carowinds admission is $15.95 for
ages seven through 59 and $7.95 for
ages four to six and 60 and older.
Children three and younger are admitted
free.
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vaiuvYinua ia lutaitu JU3L Ull 1-/ /
(Exit 90) approximately 10 miles
south of Charlotte and 12 miles north
of Rock Hill.
irnet & BIa<
student Yej
members to work on
s sh|p|^en| the 1
Everyone Welcome
iC-FM a
9FNEWMEMBE.
uesday, August 30, 198
7:00 n.m.
1
loom 305 Russell Hous
All Majors Welcome
DRAWING
NG DISTANCE !
PUS STUDENTS
y our office or mail it to commu
SC Campus Mail.
ember 2, 1988.
t $ <i? <i> <i? <i? rps\\\r
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JTANCE TI
R DRAWING
Some stars
should not
leave TV
By CHUCK DEAN
Staff writer
A number of television personalities
are choosing movie careers
over the demands of a weekly series.
Typically, movies pay more and demand
less time to make, benefits appealing
to actors.
But the crossover is often a tough
one to make. Here are some classic
examples of failed attempts:
Somebody Killed Her Husband
(1978) ? This was Farrah Fawcett
Majors' first movie after leaving
Charlie's Angels and was a critical
flop. After seeing this incredibly
stupid movie, many wished that someone
would have iced Farrah instead
of her husband.
Making Love (1982) ? Farrah's
partner Kate Jackson (the ugly one
from Charlie's Angels) played a
woman whose husband turns out to
be real gay and in love and making
love with another man. He probably
did all this because Jackson was so
whiney in the movie and because she
is too damn brainy and ugly.
Care Bears Movie (1985) ? These
sickening colored bears got together
with some high and mighty
Hollywood executives and landed a
lucrative movie deal ? as if they
weren't making enough manipulating
the Saturday morning cartoon kids.
Had they hired Martin Scorsese to
direct this movie things might have
developed more interestingly.
Leonard Part 6 (1987) ? Bill
Cosby in a joke of a movie. Who saw
it? The public is slowly coming to the
realization that this guy isn't God,
and more so, he isn't funny.
Harper Valley P.T.A. (1979) ?
Barbara Eden, that annoying Jeannie
from I Dream Of Jeanie, portrays a
redneck mom from a redneck town
trying to see that there is justice for
her redneck daughter in this redneck
movie that should never have been
made.
United Wiay
IUkT/Vj! ?f the Midlands
;k
arbook
the Yearbook
first staff meeting
Russell House
Room 327
No Experience
Necessary
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