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8 • The Red and Black • Friday, November 2, 1990
A&E
BEST BET
It's stupid human tricks Monday night at 3 p.m. In Georgia Hall.
University Union will be presenting acclaimed "hypnotist to the
stars" Mort Berkowltz. Tickets are $3 for general admission and
$2 for students. You are getting sleepy...
Thrills lack in “Jacob’s Ladder”
By NOEL MURRAY
Entertainment Wnter
Cinematic Arts had a free sneak
preview of "Jacob’s Ladder” earlier
this week and it was the first time I
ever heard an audience openly boo
a movie when it was over.
What that means for a dis
cussion of the merits and demerits
of “Jacob’s Ladder" is difficult to
say, but it certainly can’t be ig
nored. One thing it definitely
means is that director Adrian Lyne
is not going to reach the same audi
ence that propelled his “Fatal At
traction” into the box-office
stratosphere.
The movie tells the story of
Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins, in a
helplessly good performance) as he
Hashes back and forth between a
strange night in Vietnam and a bi
zarre lifestyle as a divorced
postman. He’s living with a girl
named Jezebel (hmmmmm), par
tying all night and by day
mourning the loss of his wife and
his son.
Something tangible is wrong
with Jake’s life, as he keeps seeing
demonic faces in vehicles that pass
him by and he keeps running into
eople that tell him he’s dead.
peopli
What’
’s going on?, Singer wonders.
“Jacob's Ladder” attempts to an
swer that question in a coy,
gradual fashion.
One of the biggest problems for
the audience, I think, is that for a
movie that advertises itself as a
thriller, there seems to be a gen
eral lack of thrills. There are one or
two good gasps, but most of the
Tim Robbins
screen time is devoted to fitting to
gether all the disparate elements
into a somewhat coherent whole.
A few of the elements should
have been dropped before produc
tion began. There’s a convoluted
subplot about LSD experiments on
soldiers in Vietnam that is ridicu
lous and irrelevant. It’s only func
tion is to serve as a sort of red
herring for the ultimate plot direc
tion.
The film also could’ve done with
a lot less of Elizabeth Pena’s
breasts. There’s certainly nothing
wrong with breasts per se, but
when the film has Jezebel
(hmmmmm) spending a large
amount of time topless for non
erotic reasons, it verges on exploi
tation.
At any rate, these two problems
are the ones that could’ve been im
mediately avoided. "Jacob’s
Ladder” is fraught with problems
too deep to solve, such as what the
point of this whole exercise is. I ap
plaud Adrian Lyne for trying to
make a non-linear, non-commer
cial movie that doesn’t fall into the
lame traps that snared “Fatal At
traction,” but that doesn’t make
this an instantly good movie.
Which leads us back to the cnies-
tion of that audience at the Tate
center, feeling betrayed by a movie
that wasn’t what they expected to
see. Jacob Singer is a man experi
encing a great deal of confusion,
and so was the audience for “Ja
cob’s Ladder.”
That is not, in itself, a bad thing.
Films that “Jacob’s Ladder” emu
lates —namely Paul Verhoeven’s
‘The Fourth Man” and Nicholas
Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” — count
on the confusion to make the end of
the movie more suprising and
forceful. But the ending of “Jacob’s
Ladder” is not particularly sur
prising, it’s just there.
All the pieces of the puzzle fit to
gether neatly, but the resulting
picture is none too sublime.
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Fifth District Commissioner
Athens / Clarke County
Unified Government
"Support Proven Leadership"
PPLICATIONS
NOW BEING
ACCEPTED
The Red & Black
is now accepting applications for
Editor-In-Chief
Managing Editor
Student Advertising Manager
as well as both editorial & advertising staff
positions for Winter Quarter.
For more information, or to pick up an application, come by our
offices at 123 N Jackson St , Monday-Friday ftom 9-5.
Deadline for submission of application
for Editor, Managing Editor or Student Advertising Manager is
Tuesday, November 6, at 9a.m.
Andrews takes tour stop in Athens
By JEFF GREEN
Contributing Writer
One of Georgia’s most accom
plished authors and Athens’ most
prominent citizens, Raymond An
drews, will be at Book warehouse
on Saturday on the second stop of
his nationwide promotional tour
supporting his fourth novel, “The
Last Radio Baby”.
Andrews, recipient of the first
James Baldwin Prize for Fiction
in recognition of his first novel,
"Appalachee Red,” will be auto
graphing copies of his book and
fielding questions from the public
from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.
A native of Morgan County,
Andrews grew up minutes south
of Athens, the fourth of 10 off
spring of a sharecropper during
tne 1930s and 1940s.
An abundance of talent has
come from these unlikely begin-
inny is
ly b
nings. Andrews’brother Ben „
an artist in his own right. He is
the artist-in-residence at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York and contributed the il
lustrations for his younger
brother’s latest novel.
‘The Last Radio Baby” is an
autobiographical memoir de
tailing Andrews’ experiences
growing up in rural black
Georgia. The novel spans the
first 15 years of Andrews’ life,
from 1934 to 1949, after which he
left home with a cardboard suit
case in hand to live at the Atlanta
YMCA.
Upon taking up this new resi
dence, he furthered his education
with night classes at Booker T.
Washington High School. After
receiving his diploma, Andrews
served four years in the U.S. Air
Force, highlighted by a tour of
duty in Korea. Following this
stint in the Air Force, he at
tended Michigan State Univer
sity.
In 1958, he moved to New York
where he spent the next two and
a half decades laboring through a
variety of jobs, ranging from air
line agent to farmer.
Andrews moved back to
Georgia in 1984, and now spends
a portion of the year at his resi
dence in Athens.
According to Andrews, growing
up in the midst of the storytelling
tradition of the black South had a
tremendous effect on him.
‘The Last Radio Baby’
is an autobiographical
memoir detailing
Andrews' experiences
growing up in rural
black Georgia the first
15 years of his life.
This shows in his three pre
vious novels: “Appalachee Red”
(1978), “Rosiebe’.le Lee Wildcat
Tennessee” (1980) and “Baby
Sweet’s” (1983). All three are
tales of rural black heritage set in
the fictional Georgia county of
Muskhogean.
“His first novels were written
in a minute New York City apart
ment, staring out the window at
a brick wall,” Ron McGuire of
Book Warehouse explained.
Andrews’ voice reflects his
rural Southern upbringing and
makes his stories interesting to
read. Show up Saturday and
meet an intriguing local person
ality and artist.
Project Safe sponsors bike ride
By KELLY THRELKELD
Contributing Writer
The Project Safe Tour *90, a day
of biking to help aid the battered
women’s shelter that serves a 12
county region, will begin Saturday
at 9 a.m.
Project Safe is run by Karen
Cabot and is the only women’s
shelter between Athens and Gwin
nett County.
‘The main purpose of the
women’s shelter is to help women
get back on their feet and start a
new life,” said Kim Cauthin, orga
nizer of the benefit.
Project Safe is confidential and
helps women who are in emergency
situations get out of their homes.
The shelter also helps women who
have been mentally or emotionally
abused by men.
All funds raised go to the main-
tainence of the shelter as well as
food, clothing, counseling and any
thing else that the women might
need.
The day’s events will include a
25 mile ride for novices with peri
odic rest stops, and 50 and 100 mile
rides for more experienced riders.
The cyclists will begin in Winter-
sville Depot and will continue on
through Sanford Community, Hull,
Colbert, Watkinsville and end in
downtown Athens.
Cauthin said this tour’s pictur
esque route will make this a refre
shingly different event.
First and second prizes will be
given to the cyclists with the
greatest combined sponsorship. All
riders will receive a long-sleeved T-
Shirt and a goodie bag. There will
also be a post-ride party at the
Days Inn downtown in Athens ca
tered by Rocky’s Pizzeria.
The pre-registration fee is $12,
the party is an extra $3 and late
registration is $18. For more infor
mation call Cauthin at 543-6585.
UNION WEEK
NOVEMBER 5-8, 1990
IIYl*\OTISING
DR MORT BERKOWITZ
"HYPNOTIST TO THE
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11/5
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MOVIES AT TATE
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