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THE BARB - 6
TCTHE
MOVIES
with Steve Warren
“Ann-Margret ‘75,” her
night club act seen recently at
the fontaine-bleau in Miami
Beach, is a non-stop flow of
energy, with some of the
livliest dancing you’ll see on
any stage. The chorus of eight
men, chosen more for talent
and stamina than beauty, do a
joking lament, “It’s Tough to
Be a Dancer in the
Ann-Margret Act,” dressed in
jackets from various motor
cycle clubs, a mocking
reference to some of the star’s
old movies.
Ann-Margret
But what’s tougher, as any
of the dancers will tell you, is
to be Ann-Margret in the
Ann-Margret act. She gives
her all, physically in such
numbers as “I’ve Got the
Music in Me,” and vocally
in—among others—a standout
medley of Paul Williams’
songs, “Let Me Be the One”
and “I Won’t Last a Day
Without You”; and the finale,
her father’s favorite, “When
You’re Smiling.” The way
Ann-Margret sings, it makes
you wonder why Olivia
Newton-John is selling record!
(Allen Carr, who has guided
the “superstar” phase of
Ann-Margret’s career, credits
Marvin Hamlisch with bringing
her voice to its newfound
maturity; but he also takes
credit for Hamlisch: “We
discovered him. He was her
rehearsal pianist.”)
“Ann-Margret ‘75” has too
much external motion to move
you inwardly the way, say,
Liza Minnelli does; but
offstage, A-M admits to being
“a very emotional lady.”
The star’s husband, Roger
Smith, who produces her
show, says he likes Gays to see
it: “Gay people make the best
audience for her. They stand
up and cheer, they start
standing ovations; they’re
terrific!”
Ann-Margret’s annual
Miami visit took on extra
significance this year, when
the Swedish-born actress
attended a benefit preview of
her new film, Ken Russell’s
“Tommy” (reviewed last
month).
She wore a red dress which
she’d had made especially for
the New York party at which
she received After Dark
magazine’s “Ruby” award as
“Entertainer of the Year.”
“What a thrilling evening!”
she recalls. “I had such a
happy time that evening.
When my manager told me a
few months ago that After
Dark was going to. give me the
award, I was so thrilled and so
honored that they would
choose me!”
But she doesn’t think
Hollywood will ever give her
an Academy Award, although
she could be in the running for
“Tommy.” It’s easily her best
performance since “Carnal
Knowledge,” for which she
was nominated.
“I’m not a tragic figure,”
she explains, at least half
seriously.
A tragic figure who never
won a “Oscar,” Marilyn
Monroe, plays a role in
“Tommy.” At least, a plaster
image of her does. “St.
Marilyn” is the object of
worshop at a healing service to
which Nora Walker (Ann-
Margret) brings her deaf,
dumb and blind son, Tommy
(Roger Daltrey). “Commu
nion” is served in the form of
pills and Scotch whitskey.
Also in the sequence are
some 200 handicapped extras
who, according to studio
publicity, “loved being in the
movie.”
It wasn’t Ann-Margret’s
most demanding scene—she’s
mostly in reaction shots—but
the feelings it generated took
their toll. “I couldn’t speak for
two days after we did that
scene,” she confides. “Ken
(Russell’s) like that—he brings
out the best in you, and then
he brings out the worst.”
Ann-Margret never met
Marilyn Monroe, althoqjgh she
came close on the set of “The
Misfits.” But the woman who
worked as Monroe’s stand-in
has been Ann-Margret’s
stand-in for eleven years
now-why do I think of a torch
being passed?
The Ann-Margret Show only
plays Miami Beach and Las
Vegas. She had planned to
take it to New York this
summer for an engagement at
the Uris Theatre, but film and
TV commitments intervened.
Still, she hopes to get to
Broadway in a book musical
before long.
She also wants to have
children: “I would like if, Lord
willing, it would happen; but it
hasn’t happened yet.”
Ann-Margret says Gay
Liberation is having an impact
on show business: “Each year
I see more and more
freedom.”
She doesn’t aim her work at
any single segment of the
audience. “I do whatever I do
completely honestly,” she
says. “I never do it halfway,
and I do it for whoever wants
to hear it.”
* * *
As for current films, there
aren’t many worth talking
about. Look for big batches to
open just before Memorial Day
and the Fourth of July.
Meanwhile, one of the best
around is Frank Perry’s
“Rancho Deluxe,” which stars
Jeff Bridges and Sam
Waterston as a modern-day
cowboy and Indian (respec
tively) who rustle cattle for
want of anything better to do.
There’s not a hint of
homosxuality in their relation
ship. The director insists he
didn’t want to make a
“Newman-Redford picture.”
But he suggests that you
might look more closely at two
ranch hands, Curt and Burt,
played by Harry Dean Stanton
and Richard Bright.
Charlene Dallas is introduc
ed in “Rancho Deluxe” as the
niece of Slim Pickens, a
detective on the rustlers’ trail.
She says she thought of her
character as “a man-hater and
probably a Lesbian” when she
played the role. She’s
responsible for too many plot
twists to discuss her in any
more detail.
Undertones aside, “Rancho
Deluxe” is a fun Western. See
and enjoy.
“Sharks’ Treasure” is less
enjoyable, but its gay
undertones are closer to the
surface. You might see the
whole second half of the film
as a gay love story.
The first half is a “B” movie
about a search for sunken
gold. It’s written, produced
and directed by Cornel Wilde,
who also stars. Wilde, who
turns 60 this year, still has a
good body, and does a few
tricky pushups to show it off.
After the treasure is found,
five escaped convicts hijack
Wilde’s boat. Their leader,
“Lobo” (Cliff Osmond), seems
to have a strange power over
“Juanito” (David Gilliam), the
youngest of the group. It
develops that Lobo was
Juanito’s “protector” in
prison, and is bent on
maintaining their relationship
on the outside.
When Lobo, to humiliate the
boy, forces him to don drag
Bronson fights off Mexican police in “Breakout.”
Charles
and do a strip number, Juanito
revolts, and a lovers’ quarrel
ensues. It’s all too obvious for
even the straightest action fan
to ignore.
* * *
On the motion-and-mayhem
front, there are two films
about legendary gangsters,
and two about fictional men
imprisoned unjustly.
To start at the bottom, Joe
Don (“Walking Tall”) Baker is
“Framed.” After four years in
prison, he gets out and cleans
up Nashville. Conny Van Dyke
is the girl who stands by him
all the while. A bloody bad
movie.
Charles Bronson stars in
“Breakout”; but he’s the
breaker, not the breakee.
Robert Duvall was framed by
his grandfather, John Huston.
Duvall’s wife, Jill Ireland
(actually Bronson’s wife,
off-screen, which is why she’s
in most of his movies,
although • she’s hot a bad
actress- and I think I just
invented the “run-on paren
thetical phrase”), hires Bron
son to get him out. It’s good
entertainment, but it could
have been a lot better.
“Capone” and “Lepke” are
the gangland figures getting
the treatment this season.
Neither is especially good or
bad; both are quite violent. If
you can only see one, you may
want to choose on the basis of
the stars.
Ben Gazzara gives the
better performance as “Ca
pone”; but there’s so much
“ham” in it that Rabbis
should advise their congrega
tions to avoid it. Instead, they
can see Bemie Schwartz-oops!
Tony Curtis-as “Lepke,” the
man who started “Murder,
Inc.” As an actor, Curtis is
still every bit as good as he
was in “The Black Sheild of
Falworth.”
I hope I’ll have better news
for you next month.
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