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James Casa enjoys • lot of
Sports, but being interviewed
isn't one of them. He put up with
it for awhile lastmonth as part of
a promotional weekend for his*
new film, “Rollerball.” ,
Though apparently a glib talker
on a one*toone basis, Caan in
sisted that producer-director
Norman Jewison be with him on
all interviews.
The day started with a press
conference for the print media.
Caan made an “entrance” after
Jewison, writer William Harrison
and co-stars John Houseman,
John Beck and Pamela Hensley
were already Seated.
In the course of some 90
minutes, the only times Caan
seemed eager to speak were when
someone addressed a question to
Beck, who is slightly younger and
much hamnracr.
JM
The real Woody Allen (redirects
12-year-old Alfred latter, III, who
plays him ds a child in "LOye and
Death." /.
mm
u scene Trom Konertxsll/'
James Caan visits John Beck who,
after being injured in the game,
has been reduced to a vegetable
like existence, and placed in a
terrarium -
Jmniliir Warren, co-star of
'Wight Moves.'
oav# Piet and Geraldine Chaplin
Ore two of the 24 stgrs of "Nash
ville."
Three MEN ON A BOAT. (».-r.) Roy
Schekler, Robert Shaw and
RtJkord Dreyfus* are the shark-
chosers iri "Jaws."
They play teammates - in the
film, which deals with the world
t of the near-future. Corporations
control everything; governments
no longer exist. The masses are
given all their needs, and hostility
is kept in check through the
Vicarious enjoyment of the ultra-
violent sport. “Rollerball.”
. The game is played on a cir
cular, banked track, Each team
consists of 7 skaters and^ cyclists
who carry a silver ball around the
track*. trying to put it in a
magnetic goal. The other team, of
Course, tries to prevent this.
Caan and Beck do most of their
oVm skating in the film. They
practiced for weeks before the f
shooting started; and during the 8
weeks they»wqjrked in the stadium
(built for the Munich Olympics),
they often bad: their skates on for
12 hours a day. “We’re both,
kinda physical guys,” Caan said,
|”so We skated a ibt when we
weren’t working- We had races
and things. I’m glad I had the
skatej on otherwise,. I might have
hadtoriead!” /'• ;
As the press conference broke
up, a few of us got to talk to Caan
personally. He’s already finished
shooting “The Killer' Elite” for
Sam Peckinpah, we learned, and
has started growing a mustache
for his next picture, an 1890s
fomedy to be directed by Mark
(“Cinderella Liberty”) Rydell.
Broadway actress Jenifer Warren
makes a sensational debut.
It. was mentioned that he still
had an afternoon of TV interviews
get through, and Caan remarked,,
“I hope it doesn’t' take long'--1
want to get to the track.”
He faced two-thirds of the
scheduled interviewers before
taking off, leaving Jewison to face
the others alone;
On the way. out, he passed a
girl in the corridor and told his
friend, “I think I’m in love with
her.”/ Earlier he had (old an
interviewer that the woman who
oouid end his bachelorhoos would
have to be “a friend-a pretty
friend.”
John Beck has a wife and two
young children. They; live in
North Malibu. “1 hate Los
Angeles,” he says, “but we’re
about 50 miles out.” “Rollerball”
is his best role to date; but he’s
been in eight other movies, in
cluding “Three in the Attic/*
“Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”
and “Sleeper.”
We’ll review “Rollerball” next
month; but first, a word about
some current movies.
Gene Hackman fans are having
a heyday, with three of his films
in current release -“French
Connection II,” “Night Moves”
and “Bite the Bullet” All are
good} none is great; but you won’t
waste your time at any of them. :
, “French Connection II” is John
Frankenheimer’s sequel to
William Friedkin’s orginal. It’s
slower-paced and episodic, but
h**s moments of excitement.
humor and drama. It takes place
in marseilles, where “Popeye”
Doyle goes to stop drugs at the
source; and the milieu is well-
captured.
“Bite the Bullet”.is a Western
set in the first decade of this
century. Hackman, James
Coburn.; Candice Bergen, Ben
Johnson and Jan-Michael Vincenf
are among the contestants in a
700-mile endurance race for
horses. Richard Brooks has done
a better job as writer than
director; the characters are in
teresting but arty touches drag
the story put needlessly.
“Night Moves” is a character
.study interwoven with a detective
story. Hackman plays Harry
Moseby, a private eye so ob
sessed with his profession, he
can’t - stop being a detective and
start being human. He tries to
solve his marital problems and
the disappearance of a teenage
nymphet with the same methods.
Hackman’s performance are an
asset to all three films.
Another actress bowing ef
fectively is Stockard Channing,
who steals ‘‘The Fortune” easily
from Warren Beatty, and with
more difficulty from Jack
Nicholson. Unfortunately, Mike
Nichols’ flat .comedy of the
roaring (like a mouse) twenties
isn’t worth stealing.
For non-stop laughter, the
picture is Woody. Allen’s "Love
and Death.’’ Even in Russian
dressing, Woody and Diane
Keaton are hilarious. He wins her
after a 20-year courtship, when
old age or Napoleon’s armies
have killed off all his rivals; and
they wind up trying to assassinate,
the Emperor. The humor ranges
from low slapstick to intellectual,
discussions and takeoffs on
Rusian literature. In a fast 85
minutes, you’ll have to laugh at
least a couple of hundred times.-
You should also get a few
laughs from “Jacqueline
Susann’s “Once Is Not Enough.”;
No matter how seriously
you try to take it. There’s,
only one Lesbian love scene, so
the straights suffer most of the
embarrassment. Kirk Douglas
does his Frank Gorshin imitation.
Alexis Smith, David Janssen,
deborah Raffin and Brenda
Vaccaro maintain their dignity;
Melina Mercouri sheds hers, and
George Hamilton never had any.
The Goodyear Blimp has the best
lines in this two-hour soap opera.
But don’t be discouraged, the
best pictures of the. month
probably the summer and maybe
the year, are “Jaws” and “Nash
ville.”
If you just want to be amused,
entertained and absorbed in a
story, see Robert Altman’s
“Nashiville.” If you want all that,
plus to send your nerves on a
roller-coaster ride, try Steven
Spielberg’s “Jaws.” It left me
limp—and not just my wrists!
See “Nashville” and “Jaws,”
and I won’t have to listen to your
complaints that they’re not
making good movies anymore!
Need a eompanion fori; %
An evening at the theatre ; .
A dinner engagement
Just a night on the town
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