Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—November 8,1973
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Film Classifications
A. - Section I - Morally Unobjectionable for General Patronage
A - Section II - Morally Unobjectionable for Adults, Adolescents
A — Section III — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults
A — Section IV — Morally Unobjectionable for Adults, Reservations
B - Morally Objectionable in Part for All
C — Condemned
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CHARLEY VARRICK (Universal) is Walter
Matthau, in a demanding tragi-comedy about
“the last of the independents”, which means,
about a barnstorm-pilot turned crop-duster
turned smalltime bank-robber. The message in
this tight, tough Don Seigel-directed film is
clearly that of the gutsy man versus “the
system”. The plot shows Charley and his little
gang at work robbing small banks (small, so
that the law won’t investigate too
thoroughly), content to take
ten-or-twenty-thou at a shot. But, we all
know about the best-laid plans of mice and
bank-robbers before you can say “Stick ’em
up!” Charley has made a getaway with
$750,000 - and realizes that he doesn’t want
a penny of it. The loot, you see, belongs to
the Mafia, which is “laundering” it in the
little bank — and the Mafia, unlike the law,
“don't give you a trial in court”, as Charley
says. Thus, Charley, much to the chagrin of
his hot-blood partner (Andy Robinson),
frantically tries to give the money back. But
hit man Joe Don Baker has already been
dispatched to get it back his own way, which
spells trouble for all. If this weren’t such a
tautly directed, well written and acted movie,
it might be a run-of-the-mill crime thriller; but
with Seigel and Matthau and the rest the film
stands above the pack - all of which makes it
little note of criminal anarchy off limits for
the young, perhaps. (A-lll)
CORKY (MGM) An amateur hotshot
speedster (Robert Blake) stakes his entire
future on making the big-time as a
professional driver. From the very first scene,
however, when he beats out another car from
a stoplight, endangering wife, children, and
best friend, we know that this will be a
picture of a loser, another American non-hero
of the road. As a racing film, it has class not
only in the tension of its track footage but
also in establishing its Southern locales and
people. The story has obviously been
truncated, but what holds the film together is
Blake’s great performance as a man obsessed
with his own self-image, whose delusions lead
to inevitable self-destruction. Blake has gotten
inside the character of this desperately
vulnerable extrovert, inviting not our
sympathy but our understanding of his dumb
inner misery. The film has an excellent cast
including Charlotte Rampling, Ben Johnson,
Patrick O'Neal, and Ron Howard, was
directed in 1971 by Leonard Horn, and has
been slated for oblivion by its distributor.
When it turns up on television, give it a try.
(A-lll)
FIVE ON THE BLACK HAND SIDE
(United Artists) The title refers to a
complicated version of the “soul” handshake,
and the black solidarity and pride implied by
it are what this movie is all about. But if that
sounds fairly "heavy,’! be assured that this
unusual and engaging film is content to take a
lighthearted low route to arrive at its message.
The focus of the film, directed by Oscar
Williams and based on a play by Charlie L.
Russell, is sharply on the varying effect black
awareness has on a middle-class family living
in Los Angeles. Most of the characterizations
are broad and even intentionally stereotyped,
and, similarly, the plot and action are
uncomplicated and for the most part
predictable. But the humor behind the
uniformly zesty performances (by Clarice
Taylor and Leonard Jackson as the parents,
and Glynn Turman, Bonnie Banfieid and
D’Urville Martin as their grown children) is
warm and engaging. T^e humor serves its
purpose, too, by pointing to the absurdity
and irrationality of so many of our notions
about black life and, indeed, family life in
America. The ultimate message, although not
expressed in Christian terms, is one of positive
respect for oneself and for others, which in
turn leads to a sense of solidarity and
community. (A-lll)
SUMMERTIME KILLER (Avco Embassy)
stars Karl Malden, Olivia Hussey and young
Christopher Mitchum in a largely incoherent
Mafia-style revenge caper. Mitchum is out to
avenge the mob’s brutal murder of his father.
Not surprisingly, the bosses do not take
kindly to Mitchum’s systematic decimation of
their ranks, and they set corrupt cop Malden
on a trail that' eventually leads to Lisbon,
where our young man with the telescopic rifle
has abducted the daughter (Ms. Hussey) of his
next Mafia victim and is holding her on his
houseboat anchored in a remote bay. Director
Antonio Isasi makes the most of Mitchum’s
skill with a motorcycle in the picturesque
Portuguese countryside, but he has much less
success with tracking a plot that finally has
the two young people fall in love, and get
caught and then released by Malden (who
pays dearly for the sentimental gesture when
his Mafia benefactors find out).
SUMMERTIME KILLER has such limited
pretensions, however, that the unquestioned
amorality of its characters and situations are
as dismiss!ble as the film itself. (A-lll)
TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS
(Paramount) has a notable cast that gives
cause for some expectations of quality.
Unfortunately, director Freddie Francis
utterly dissipates our hopes in this inexorably
witless four-part chiller that no display of
acting talent can redeem. Donald Pleasance is
a psychiatrist explaining a group of case
histories to Jack Hawkins which Pleasance
claims represent a milestone in psychiatric
analysis, but they all boil down, alas, to a
padded cell for the good doctor. The four
segments feature Donald Houston, Peter
McEnery, Suzy Kendall, Joan Collins, Michael
Jayston and Kim Novak, and concern (a) a
youngster’s imaginary tiger who comes to live
to the regret of the boy’s insensitive parents,
(b) an antique painting that can transpose its
new owner to bygone days and work him ill,
(c) a driftwood tree trunk that looks
suspiciously like a woman and rouses
romantic/homicidal urges in a complacent
husband, and (d) a Philippino writer who
finds the daughter of his literary agent a
tender morsel for a cannibalistic sacrifice.
Frequently the British pull this sort of
nonsense off fairly well, but this instance of
madness lacks even the inner logic to keep the
horror duff from asking questions during the
duration. Neither the frights (which are
hokey) nor the occasional nudity (which is
unnecessary) are worthy of further comment.
(A-lll)
TV Movies
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11 — 7:30 p.m.
(ABC) -- AIRPORT (1970) - Here’s a typical
Hollywood attempt to capitalize upon a
literary success, this time Arthur Hailey’s best
selling novel. Those who enjoyed Hailey’s
involuted tale of a distraught bomber (in the
film version played by Van Heflin) aboard an
airborne 707 and of the fortunes of those
connected with the flight - the airport
manager (Burt Lancaster), his wife (Dana
Wynter), his girl friend (Jean Seberg), the
pilot (Dean Martin), his wife (Barbara Hale),
the airport maintenance chief (George
Kennedy), a little old lady stowaway (Helen
Hayes), the co-captain (Barry Nelson), the
bomber’s wife (Maureen Stapleton), etc., etc.,
- will no doubt find the same fascination with
the film that they discovered in the book.
Indeed, the film suffers from exactly the same
crippling defects as the novel: the characters
are thinly sketched stereotypes, their
problems are undistinguished marital
squabbles an infidelities in the best tradition
of the American soap opera, and the action
moves forward with all the speed and
certitude of a snowbound 707. In an
otherwise interminable movie smothered in
unconvincing performances, Miss Hayes plays
her comic role quite credibly. (A-lll)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12 — 9:00 p.m.
(NBC) - BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (1967)
- broad comedy, strong acting and direction
make for continuous laughter in this
adaptation by Neil Simon of his own popular
Broadway hit about a young married couple
(Jane Fonda and Robert Reford) whose
apartment is five flights up from the street.
Mildred Natwick, Charles Boyer, Herbert
Edelman and Fritz Feld contribute dandy*'
supporting roles. Surefire lines, funny bits of
business and sight gags point to a successful
directing debut for Gene Saks, who played
the children’s TV star in A THOUSAND
CLOWNS’ (A-lll)
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 - 8:30 p.m.
(ABC) - THE COWBOYS (1972) - John
Wayne plays an aging (at last!) rancher who’s
in a pickle — he has a big herd of cattle to
move north to the railhead, but all of the
local ranch hands and drivers are off to the
gold fields in California. The solution puts
Wayne in a worse pickle - he has to hire a
bunch of school kids (averaged age about
eleven years) and “train” them in
cow-punching along the trail. With the help of
Cook Roscoe Lee Browne, this works out OK,
with the usual adolescent problems arising
and a particularly gruesome death of one of
the youngsters to provide an indelible lesson
about spooky cattle. By the midway point in
the film, which was directed by Mark Rydell
with about as much imagination as a plodding
steer, many squeamish youngsters and parents
may have dropped away. But for those who
stick around, there’s a grand finale in the best
and most violent Wayne tradition, which has
the kids slaughtering a bunch of luckless
cattle rustlers who have brutally murdered the
Duke (this is one of the rare Wayne movies in
which the star allows himself to be killed). It
all goes to show, that even if you manage to
kill John Wayne, you’d still better look out!
When this insidiously violent movie reached
its bloody climax in Radio City Music Hall,
where it was first presented to holiday crowds
of family film-goers, the little kiddies
stomped and cheered as their onscreen peers
dispatched the grown-up villains. You take it
from there. (A-lll)
10:00 p.m. (NBC) -- THE BLUE KNIGHT
- First in a four-part “mini-series” to be
shown on consecutive nights (Nov. 13-16)
based on the novel by Los Angeles policeman
Joseph Wambaugh, and starring William
Holden as Bumper Morgan. In this first part,
Morgan begins an investigation of the brutal
murder of an L.A. prostitute which, along
with some other unsavory aspects of his
day-to-day routine, convinces him that it’s
time to retire from the force (after 20 years
of service). He’s worn out, depressed, and
tired of dealing with low people in low places.
He wants to settle down and marry his
longtime girlfriend, played by Lee Remick.
Subsequent parts of “The Blue Knight”
explore Bumper’s further depressions and
involvements with the wrongdoings of others
and his own transgressions, official and
personal. Holden, Ms. Remick and a
supporting cast that includes Joe Santos as his
superior officer are alt top-notch
professionals; Wambaugh is a tough action
writer who knows the police scene because it
is his life —and if this series is as good as it
sounds, it will pay off for the mature
audience at which it’s aiming.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 — 8:30
p.m. (ABC) - BRIAN'S SONG - It’s the third
time around for this poignant, frankly
sentimental drama based on the real-life
friendshop of former Chicago Bears star
running back Gayle Sayres and the late Brian
Piccolo, who died of cancer on the advent of
a promising football career. The story
explores the development of the players’
friendship, which was not unusual because
one was black and the other white, but
because their personalities were so different.
But the men grew close, and the final wrench
of Piccolo’s death provides one of television’s
most genuinely moving moments. Billy Dee
Williams and James Caan are superb as the
two football teammate-buddies. This is a fine
family viewing experience, especially if
parents and children take the time to discuss
some of the film’s values after its screening.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15 — 8:00 p.m.
(CBS) - THE WALTONS - This special,
|two-hour presentation amounts to a TV film,
so we’ll approach it that way, and strongly
recommend it for family viewing. In this
drama, tragedy strikes close by the Walton
family, living in the Blue Ridge mountains
during the Depression years, when John-Boy
(Richard Thomas) is injured in a mill accident
- an accident, it turns out, which father
Ralph Waite might have been able to prevent.
Complicating matters is the fact that the
accident forces John-Boy to miss a crucial
scholarship exam as well as the family’s
Thanksgiving dinner. Will Geer, Michael
Learned, and Sian Barbara Allen are also
featured.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16 — 9:00 p.m.
(CBS) - ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF
THE APES (1971) - This was the third in the
popular PLANET OF THE APES series of
science-fiction-adventure movies based on the
writings of Pierre Boulle. This one casts
Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter as the
upright apes from the future who whisk
through the time barrier to land in the good
ol’ USA circa 1973. The chaos resulting from
man’s inhumanity to apes -- once U.S.
officials realize that the primate pair are
superior in intelligence to humans and can
speak, even - provides a so-so adventure
which ends in tragedy (but hope for the
future, and another sequel, since the apes
managed to produce and provide for a little
baby). The appeal here is not in the
production of writing, which are dreadful, but
in the possibilities of the appealing story and
in the zesty performances of the leading apes,
especially Ms. Hunter. (A-l)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17—9:00 p.m.
(NBC) - THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
(1971) - Unnecessarily complicated and
technologically cluttered storyline puts a strain
on an otherwise tense not-so-sci-fi movie
based on the Michael Crichton best-seller
about deadly microbes brought back from
outer space. After wiping out an entire New
Mexico hamlet except for two inhabitants —
an infant and an elderly alcoholic gentleman -
the Andromeda Strain is isolated in an
elaborate, multi-layered underground lab,
where the government has enlisted the
country’s top scientists and medical specialists
to analyze the bacteria and come up with
something to destroy it before it wipes
mankind off the face of the earth. Despite
being overdone in many ways, the story itself
is gripping and its impact is sharp. (A-ll)
SYNOD OPENS WITH SIGNS -- Sign language tells deaf parishioners interpreter is Riccardo Gonzales, an instructor at the California School for
what is being said at a concelebrated Mass opening the second synod of the Deaf, Riverside. Bishop Leo R. Maher (center) was principal
the San Diego diocese in St. Catherine’s Church, Riverside, Calif. The concelebrant. (NC Photo)
BOOK REVIEWS
THE LIVING FAITH IN A WORLD
OF CHANGE, by Carl J. Pfeifer, S.J.
(Ave Maria Press, 126 pp. $1.65) THE
SACRAMENTS IN A WORLD OF
CHANGE, by Father Joseph M.
Champlin (Ave Maria Press, 141 pp.
$1.65) THE MASS IN A WORLD OF
CHANGE, by Father Joseph M.
Champlin (Ave Maria Press, 142 pp.
$1.65)
Reviewed by Sister Anne Marie
Gardiner, SSND.
(NC News Service)
Changes in doctrinal language and
liturgical practices have raised many
questions among adult Catholics.
“What are the essentials, anyway?”,
“Where is the content of teaching we
learned?”, “Why are lay people doing
things previously done only by the
priest?” These are queries too often
heard that arise from an educational gap
and a confused adult Church of today.
These three volumes address the issue:
faith in a world of change. A
compilation of “Know Your Faith”
columns of national circulation, these
books present the whys and wherefores
of faith expression in a rapidly changing
world.
“The Living Faith in a World of
Change” begins with the central
problem: “making sense out of
contemporary experience in the light of
tradition. In the clear, developmental
approach of a religious educator, Father
Pfeifer puts the life of faith in the
context of mystery, the context of all
living experience. With the reverence
due life and mystery, he establishes the
need of development of doctrine and
guides the reader through the stages of
development of particular doctrinal
truths: Church, original sin, grace.
The author notes core issues involved
in morality, sacraments and Christian
spirituality. Father Pfeifer shares the
insights and ramifications the Church
now enjoys from “rediscovery of
biblical and theological traditions of
earlier centuries.” The reader has the
sense of being put in touch with the
roots of faith, the heart of the tradition,
of finding new meaning there and being
challenged to take personal
responsibility for its further
development.
The book provides an excellent
approach for discussion groups on the
trends and content of educational books
and doctrinal teachers. Father Pfeifer
offers an exceptional guide for parent
groups, renewal seminars and adult
education programs.
“The Sacraments in a World of
Change” gets to the heart of ritual
matter. Priests doing different things
these days confuses the adult Catholic.
Father Joseph Champlin offers excerpts
from the texts of several sacramental
rites, and quotes from the Holy See
allowing the reader to find the basis of
the changes that have occurred in the
way sacraments are celebrated today.
Part of Father Champlin’s style is to
share many of the experiences he and
fellow priests have had with “new rites”
and the helpful prayerful effect these
have been for the families involved. The
author speaks from a pastoral
viewpoint, and shows how meaningful
the Church’s signs can become when the
priest is sensitive to the needs of his
parish. Speaking from his rich academic
liturgical background, Father Champlin
assures the reader of the Church’s intent
in, the revisions promulgated for the
rites of the sacraments, and one can see
these revisions as compatible with the
rich liturgical tradition of the Catholic
Church.
With a warm, sensitive style, Father
Champlin clarifies what the rites of the
Mass are all about in “The Mass in a
World of Change.” His historical
perspective lends much insight. What
parts of the Mass have “always been”
and in what form is made clear. The
author raises the issues of Communion
in the hand, and the role of women in
liturgy, while being careful to show the
Church’s position enunciated ip various
documents to date, and noting the
principles on which the Church must
evaluate present practices and form
future directions.
Intended for liturgy committees and
pastoral planners, these two columns
offer the basics of celebration for
liturgical rites, and the excerpts from
official documents which give the
juridical bases of much of the ritual
changes of today.
(Sister Anne Marie Gardiner, SSND, is
religious education coordinator and
member of pastoral team of St. John
the Evangelist, Columbia, Md. Her
graduate work has included religious
education and liturgical studies.)
fi ^ LIFE IN MUSIC
BY THE DAMEANS
Just You and Me
You are my love and life
You are my inspiration
Just you and me
Simple and free
Baby, You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of.
Give me your own special smile
Promise you’ll never leave me
Just you and me
Simple and free
Life is so easy when you’re beside me.
Come hold me close, never release me
Open your arms, let my love in
Love me tonight, love me forever and ever.
Just you and me to carry on
Simple and free my lovely
To go and find our love sweetheart
Lovin’ you girl is so damn easy.
You are my love and life
You are my inspiration
Just you and me
Simple and free
Baby, you’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of.
(c) 1973 CBS, Inc.
J. Pankow
I’m sure you are aware that each person brings something different to a
situation. Two people describing an automobile accident will have two different
stories on the details. Two people sharing the same objective experience will
react in different ways because of their personalities, age, or social background.
Teenagers complain about their parents using the line “when I was vour age .. .”
These young people are correct in saying that times have changed, and you can’t
use the exact approach now as was used then (which from their point of view
was around the Dark Ages). To view things differently certainly holds true in the
reaction to songs as each person views it from his own eyes and uniqueness. If
you are interested in trying an experiment why not test out different people’s
reaction on this song sung by Chicago, JUST YOU AND ME?
Look back at the words. They seem rather simple and come across almost as
truisms, that is, as undoubted or self-evident truths. They tell of a relationship
where there’s love - a love which is simple, free and inspiring. The person is
“everything I’ve ever dreamed of” and there is the wish to live happily ever after
- “love me forever and ever.” Now probably everyone would agree basically that
this is the ideal of love but check out a few individuals’ personal experiences.
For example, get the reaction to these words from a fifth grader who is usually
going through his “hate girls” stage. Try it on the young teenager and then an
older teenager. Get the response of a young adult who’s “with it.” Probably the
most interesting reaction would be from the adult who has been married for
several years. Try the words on a person who has been jilted, or one who has
never really been in love, or even the person who doesn’t feel as though he or she
has anything to offer to anyone.
Let us look at the different aspects of the relationship mentioned in the song.
Is your relationship “simple”? Is it without all kinds of hangups and
complications? Is the relationship “free,” that is, not confined or restricted?
Does it allow for growth or has it become possessive and full of jealousy? How
about the “inspiration” mentioned in the song? The word inspiration is
described in the dictionary as “to affect so as to enliven, animate, or especially,
impel or stimulate.” This is usually the case with the engaged couple but
compare their response with that of a person who has been married for ten
years.
In “Just You and Me” we read the words “you’re everything I’ve ever
dreamed of.” Ask the question of a teenager: What are your dreams of a perfect
relationship? Ask a married person to compare his dreams before marriage and
after marriage. Finally, the song states “love me forever and ever.” Considering
the ever-growing divorce rate in our country, this should provide some
interesting reactions. Do you think modern marriage is actually resulting in
lifetime commitment? One conservative estimate states that of the marriages;
today, 35 percent end in divorce, 15 percent end in separation, 25 percent are
just existing and only 25 percent are actually good and happy encounters. With
this in mind, how realistic are the words “love me forever and ever”? Ask a
couple who has been married over 30 years and then a divorce.
“Just You and Me” is certainly a nice song. There is no doubt that we all want
to have a lasting love relationship and achieve the ideals of love. However in
looking at the marriages of our friends and families and in reviewing the various
statistics on marriage, to love someone for any length of time makes us doubt
those words in the song - “lovin’ you girl is so damn easy.” There is more to it -
loving someone is a precious thing that deserves and requires constant attention
if it is to last “forever and ever.”
(All correspondence should be directed to: The Dameans; St. Joseph Church; 216 Patton
St., P.O. Box 5188; Shreveport, La. 71105).
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