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6 A good mo UGHTSCAMERAREACTION STEPHEN BROWN Staff Writer ED WOOD jckir^ (out of tour stars) Moviemaker Edward D. Wood, Jr. could hav been the next Orson Welles. Both men hit thei stride at an early age and possessed unswervin passion for the films they created. There's just on thing Ed Wood lacked: talent. ? c? <ti_: rxi (i wu 10 uuaiuuus iui lummg sume oi ine wors movies ever made. In fact, midnight movie addict have heralded "Plan 9 From Outer Space" as th worst of the worst, making numerous citations c the film's insipid acting, cheeseball special effect and complete lack of linearity. Opening with th? words, "Future events such as these will affect yoi in the future" and culminating with a battle agains flying saucers made of tin plates suspended ty strings, Ran 9 has taken its proper place in cul film history. Its creator, however, has been th< butt of jokes, branded as an immortal failure, a cit izen insane. Until now. Director Tim Burton celebrates the filmmak er's golden years of the 1950's in a movie called Ec Wood. It is sure to make audiences take a seconc glance at a man whose disastrously bad produc tions do not tell the whole story of his life. Ed Wood documents the filming of three of the director's notable catastrophes, the gender-bend ing Glen or Glenda, the horror film "Bride of the Atom" and the science fiction epic of the absurc Ran 9 From Outer Space. Johnny Depp (Cry-Baby, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?) plays Wood as an over-the-top maestro of moviemaking, reminiscent of the Jon Lovitz character The Master Thespian. Depp and director Burton convey Wood's pure joy in creating film as he gathers zany casts and revels in the pure artistry of shooting featurelength movies in several days. Wood never reshot any of his film sequences for fear of losing the imDact of the oricnnal take even when not nie/too h . ble to the floor or actors accidentally run into walls. Martin Landau (Tucker, Crimes and Misdemeanors) plays the has-been horror actor Bela Lugosi and steals the show with his brilliant acting. Lugosi, who created some of the most memorable monsters of the screen, including Dracula, cannot find a movie role to sink his teeth into after almost 20 years of drug addiction and self-pity. This withering, bitter, decrepit ex-bogeyman has not aged well, and only in desperation through a relationship he forges with Ed does he finally find a sense of happiness again. Lugosi sees himself in the young Ed Wood. Wood's pure romance with the lens and his panache for moviemaking appeal to Lugosi, and the lasting friendship between the two is the emotional core of the film. Ed Wood has an obsession with transvestites which is evident in his choice of making the film Glen or Glenda and casting himself in the dual title role. You see, Ed is a transvestite himself, who ' Garnet & ill Wednesdayf interview w Sound, imludlr you'll get I literary subn Hits A * The Gamecock I vie about a 1 e BH^r^^' *^' * ^11 a Be X ** V' / B*? .?? ??A - / Kh " |?%*J - Legendary film etar Bela Lutfosl (Martin Lane i (Johnny Depp, left) In Touchstone Pictures' p * enjoys wearing fluffy angora sweaters and strap" py high heel pumps in his spare time. His passion for dressing up in womens clothing, which usual5 ly does not bode well with his wives, is a manifes tation of his absorption with life's many splendors. Ed loves women, and wearing their clothes I brings him closer to them. In fact, he tells stories about how he fought as a paratrooper in WWII 1 wearing a bra and panties. And he directs the entire film Glen or Glenda in full drag. Oddly enough, Burton presents this element in a straightforward 1 manner to show the poignancy of Ed's passion in1 stead of grabbing cheap laughs. There are plenty of cheap laughs from other sources, however, such as Bill Murray's would-be transsexual Bunny Breckinridge. Murray is incredibly funny as an actor working for Wood and saving his money for a sex change operation. Ed accepts Bunny and the entire supporting casts of weirdoes, creeps and pariahs like the Mother Teresa of Hollywood. Ed notes the unusual charm each of them possesses, making them at home in his movies. Burton shows, despite Wood's unusual tendencies, he is a pure artist who is guided by an unswerving personal vision. Burton believes Ed Wood deserves credit for being more than just a failed filmmaker. Filmed in a black and white stock which looks far from perfect, just like Ed's films, Ed Wood looks intentionally hokey from opening credits on tomb stones to a baptism in a Hollywood pool and a showdown in which Bela Lugosi must flail around the arms of a plastic octopus to create the illusion that it is moving and attacking him. Burton presents archetypal suburban neighborhoods and set It's All 3<k Quarterly, the new gei o a newsstand mc^ciiir you. ith James Dickey, an insid icg Hootie and the Blowfisl he scoop on what's hot aii [fissions this side of the F< GBQ is the pubiicat the stands Wednesi iv^ IflvAmM m J^B_JI Touchstone Pictures c lau, right) Is befriended by Edward D. Wood Jr. < >lgnant homage "Ed Wood" pieces that intentionally look like models to com- a plete his film's authenticity to Wood's skewed world. i Writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who we will forgive for bringing Problem Child to life, strike a delicate balance between absurdity and poignancy in Ed Wood. They capture the r magic of moviemaking from a new perspective. Biographies on great directors such as John Huston 8 and Charlie Chaplin are always welcome, but it took a lot of courage and good humor to celebrate P an artist such as Ed Wood. ^ o Part of the fun lies in the notion that Wood is d oblivious to how bad his movies are. When his lover d Dolores eventually blurts out, "These movies are f( terrible," it is not so much a reality check as a re- ^ assurance to Ed that he is scaring the dickens out p of his audience. b Of course Ed Wood, with his schlock-jock-with- d a-heart approach to filmmaking, never approached li the success of an Orson Welles. But in Burton's V chronicle of Wood's life, the man responsible for n some of Hollywood's worst cinema gets his moment a to bask in the limelight of fame and recognition. Through Ed's passionate no-nonsense techniques b \irVn/?V* in "**1??? \1T J --? ? nmwi 1C9U1ICU U1 pcuisiuiiicoa IIUIIOCIIHC, YY UUU WclS still an auteur, breathing life into stories we nev- rer would have experienced without him. For all the rubber squids, aluminum foil robots and unstoppable zombie performances you have given us, here's to you, Ed Wood. Courtesy of Tim Burton and everybody else who laughs and cries through the midnight movies you created, here's your moment in the spotlight! After all, who's to say master artist Orson Welles did not wear angora sweaters too, in a delicate shade of rosebud. most Here *fl \\W\ *' ' | >jjilf's jf <v^"' ^ ? ^jJ HHHK^ h lr \i mtBKKKKKKmKKL * tieroi interest/literary maga; The premiere issue of GBQ w e look at Playboy model Jan i, and a ride on the informal! td what's not on campus and 1 ilger Shakespeare Library! Yi ion that finaliv hrinn* if fa vi ? W ?? oojoa ? a oo oca V? ? ? ?? ^ flflf 55 ? S W ^ 1 lay at 15 locations a<i ^^E3f T carH^na; Monday, October 10, 1994 bad director i s sv.?^^V^jhHBB| I By 4 m i %' m < PVri ? i~ Berkeley's Samiam gets 'Clumsy' in Columbia Major labels are starting to have [ w jfl rock scene. h d d i^" Samiam's debut on Atlantic, ^um- , . , T ? i y," enters this California quintet in- J f Bryn previously ;o the major label arena with their m Social Unrest and Beebout and roung punk rack contemporaries. They ?"?nal bffst Martin Brohm were lit Rockafellas' Tuesday night with both members ofWry. "W.i threw Phe Toadies garbage at people, said Beebout of The band has been around since his *0" * St. the punk epi.988, and their first self-titled record ce"'er?fthe Berk?ley sce?e,n New Red Archives built up a solid ?ddnt play very well, so we thrashed oUowing of fans and sent them tour- 0"1 tniments around and threw ng around the world. 199 l's "Soar' g r,age" , ... _ ,. . ?d -92-s -Billy- caught fire with crit- Cumnt basslst Aaron Bubm latJ cs and fans _____ er signed on with J JW fWWU.W I the band, a UC ther in a line of Mteby disrate ^-.urgent $amja||| LoTbkoff anTI -Clumsy-is a foimdmg member _ i' j a iT ?*1 of San Franciscos ection of racing Wh0r* Rockafellas' Mr. T. Experience, op-punk tunes^ wIkh. Tuesday Oct.11 Drummer Victor Really touching with The Toadies & Swig Indnzzo has done n eveiything from how much $6 nfT)^ ealing with the ??---1 and Masters of Reeath of a hated , 0 >e, as in "Stepson" to a lighthearted , , T?^ rj^mi" ribute to singer Jason Beebout's has matured musKully, and "ClumVench automobile in "Simca.- Bee- *\?* "ample of musical outs fiery vecals lay over the bands 7Iu??n a"d after years . . . _ _ of onnloflQ tAimnrr and onnmi/wtinrr riving, crunchy guitar sound, bongs " "*"? iMA? T1%* "T """"eke "Speed" frem"Samiam" and "L t. Ouraound ha.changed a bi oyer fe*re TokT off of "Clumsy" are quick, the>"T' ??dBeebout Butlve luscuiar attacks that capture Sami- tten ^ *e f ; place f?r a lon? m's passion for their music. tl,man?w'1 think we ve made a conThe members of Samiam have s<??t <hange, a steady improvement, sen areund the blodt, musically. Gui- whlch rm ^ ***? about Three days 'till magic time. In0\| BEWARE. I I I cine at USC, is coming ill feature an in-depth Pollack, the Columbia on superhighway. Plus, the best collection of Hi've been wanting it. HI. fo$$ campus