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The Barb 6 ©AY-IN© TO THE! MOVIES With Steve Warren I “We have a moral bar rier in this country that al lows us to think that what foreigners do possibly is alright for them, and we won’t frown on it quite so much as if we did it our selves.’’ Those are the words of Robert Aldrich, director of “The Dirty Dozen,.’’ “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’’ and more than 20 other features, who stopped by to promote his latest, “The Longest Yard,” which stars Burt Reynolds. He was talking about yet another of his pictures, “The Killing of Sister George,” the story of a lesbian relationship be tween an aging soap opera star and the youngish girl she calls “Childie. ”Mt was based on a play, and the story was set in England. “We thought, quite obvi ously,” the director says, ’’about translating the nat ionality oi' the ladies invol ved to Americans.” Be cause of the “moral bar rier,” he says, he couldn’t do that. “I think the moral pro blems--or the deviate mo ral problems--of that pic ture wouldn’t have been ac cepted if those ladies had been all-Americans. It would have been thought not in the spectrum of accept able behavior. Whereas we could maintain our provin cial prudism and say, “It’s alright for the English or French or whoever, but it’s not alright for us. So we could disassociate oursel ves from what happened and be voyeurs and watch and not necessarily approve.” As it was, the film was released here with an “X” rating. But that was in 1968. Things are dif ferent today, aren’t they? Not according to Aldrich. “Burt Reynolds and I are making a picture in the fall,” he says. “It’s a very ordinary cop story...with one major exception: Burt is in love in this picture with a $500 hooker.... “To play that part, we were fortunate enough to get Catherine Deneuve- - because if you superimpose over an American scene a relationship between a peace officer and a lady of questionable repute, and make her an American, people are going to dislike her. They’ll reject her as a being and think of her as an entity, as a commodity. However, if she’s Europe an, we don’t forgive her but we think we understand her.” He dismissed my argu ment that the same story had worked with American characters in “Klute,” saying that Reynolds will be a more down-to-earth, less sophisticated cop than Don ald Sutherland played oppo site Jane Fonda’s call girl. ‘ ‘The Longest Yard’ ’ was filmed in Georgia, at Reidsville State Prison, but the story is set in Florida. Burt Reynolds plays a prisoner who was once a professional football play er. Warden Eddie Albertis a football nut. His guards have a team that plays semi-pro; and Albert ob sessed with finding new ways of demonstrating his power, compels Reynolds to assemble a team of in mates to play against the guards--with the idea that the cons will be human tackling dummies. The last 45 minutes is devoted to the Big Game, with the Warden’s various threats and counter threats influencing Rey nolds’ quarterbacking, and Burt Reynolds in "The Longest Yard" TWO FACES OF LIV-- Swedish Actress Liv Ull- man in a- rare glamour shot and in new, film “The Abdication” drag cheerleaders doing their thing. . Because “The Longest Yard” doesn’t present the most positive image of our penal system, I asked Aid- rich whether the Florida setting had been stipulated by Georgia officials in re turn for permission to film here. “I think it was happier and healthier for every body,” he says. OTHER FILMS TO WATCH - - AND WATCH OUT- - FOR Garbo made “Queen Christina” in 1933. “The Abdication,” which stars Liv Ullmann, is about the same historical figure, the woman who renounced the Swedish throne in 1654; but there the resemblance ends. In “The Abdication,” Christina travels to Rome to convert to Catholicism; but the Church is suspici ous of her motives, and the Cardinals are involved in their own intrigues to see who will succeed the ailing Pope. Cardinal Azzolino (Peter Finch) is given the job of interrogating the former queen, which he does in the manner of a Freudian psy chologist. The more she reveals of her intimate se crets, the more emotional ly involved with him she be comes. There are hints of Les bianism among the various debaucheries she is accus ed of, but nothing ever hap pens. Barely has soap opera reached such heights of artistic pretention as in “The Abdication.” “Shanks” may be the best picture you don’t see this year. It’s a delightful, macabre fairy tale with a brilliant performance by Marcel Marceau in a dual role. It’s the kind of film that develops a cult follow ing if enough of the right people see it. But because it doesn't fit easily into a commercial category, it will likely be ignored--if it’s released at all. Distri butors don’t spend a lot of money informing the public about\ pictures like “Shanks,” because they don’t foresee a huge re turn onl their investment Marceau plays a deaf- mute puppeteer who lives with his campy bitch of a sister and her drunken husband. Shanks (Marceau) goes to work for an old man (also Marceau) who is ex perimenting with ways to make dead things move. When the old man dies, Shanks carries on the ex periments with his body- - and a few others that hap pen along. Marceau’s movements as a human puppet are a revelation, beyond anything he has done before! And de spite some lapses into triteness, the film has a definite charm. It was di rected by William Castle, who started out as a third- rate Hitchcock in the 40s. If “Shanks” opens at a theatre near you, run to see it--it won’t be there long. The year’s end will bring its usual quota of movie di sasters--figuratively speaking- - but we’re in for Some literal disasters, too, beginning with “Jugger- nut” and “Airport 1975.” “Juggernaut” is about bombs planted aboard a luxury liner, and the team --led by Richard Harris-- racing the clock to defuse them. It builds up quite a bit of suspense in the sec ond hour, but the first is virtually wasted by intro ducing a lot of characters without making us feel any interest or sympathy for them. Richard (“The Three Musketeers”) Lester was the third and final director to work on “Juggernaut.” His contribution is more functional than creative. “Airport 1975” is, nominally, a sequel to the original “Airport.” It doesn’t include all those interesting bits of inside information that Arthur Hailey’s novel was cram med with, but concentrates on telling a story of pure suspense. There are so many stars in the cast that there’s no time for character devel opment, but they’re effect ively sketched in with broad strokes. Gloria Swanson playing herself playing “Norma Desmond' ’ playing Gloria Swanson. But for excitement, there’s a big hole in the cockpit, and stewardess Karen Black trying to fly the plane herself-- and Charlton Heston (who also happens to be her lover) to the rescue! LAST BUT LEAST... “The House on Skull Mountain” plans a festive World Premiere at Loew’s Grand Theatre--“just like “Gone with the Wind.” But there the resemblance ends. A poorly made horror/ voodoo film, “The House on Skull Mountain” was shot at Callanwolde Estates in the Atlanta area. Our city has things to be prouder of. For sheer camp, there's Marcel Marceau pushes buttons to make the dead Tsilla Chelton light his cigar in "Shanks"