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August t976: THEBARfi - 6
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YV ith Steve Warren
Comedy is queen this
month. (I hope that’s not a
sexist statement.) With a
few significant exceptions,
most of the new films are at
least trying to be funny most
of the time.
The only one that suc
ceeds totally is Mel Brooks’
Silent Movie. It’s the story
of a washed-up director
(Brooks) who attempts a
comeback by planning a
modern-day silent movie.
Not only is his own career
riding on it, but the future of
Sid Caesar’s studio. Brooks
goes after six big names, all
of whom play themselves, to
star in his film.
Brooks, Marty Feldman
and Dorn DeLuise make a
campy trio of friends. A
running gag has a woman
catching them in com
promising - though innocent
- positions, and calling them
“fags”! At the theatre
where 1 saw Silent Movie,
some kids picked up on the
joke and started yelling
“fags”! whenever two men
touched each other - on
screen.
Bernadettofeters plays a
vamp sent to sabotage the
project. Her dance numbers
were choreographed by Rob
Iscove, who staged most of
Ann Margaret’s current
night club act. Silent Movie
proves that Hollywood can
still make a picture that’s
funny from start to finish.
Nuff said.
Whether you prefer
Murder by Death or The Big
Bus depends on how silly a
mood you’re in. Murder is
more - though not very -
sophisticated. It’s the Neil
Simon lampoon of Murder on
tile Orient Express and other
such films.
Truman Capote (in his
film debut) invites rive
famous fictional detectives to
his mansion to solve a
murder that’s about to be
committed. Although the
characters are specific, the
jokes are general. Mystery '
fans will be disappointed, not
only by the missed op
portunities to spoof-the-
sleuths, but by the
denouement, which cops out
in absurdity.
Simon fans, however, will
adore the usual plethora of
one-liners; and everyone will
admire the acting of a star-
studded cast. My favorite is
Alec Guiness, as the butler.
The detectives are played by
David Niven and Maggie
Smith (Dick and Dora
Charleston), Peter Falk (Sam
Diamond), Peter Sellers
(Sidney Wang), James Coco
(Milo Perrier), and Elsa
Lanchester (Jessica Mar
bles). Estelle Winwood
plays Lanchester’s invalid
nurse, and Nancy Walker is
Capote’s maid.
The Big Bus, on the other
hand, is determinedly silly.
Most of the sets are in
tentionally tacky and the
dialogue purposely cliched.
It’s advertised as a take-off
(Mi disaster films - which it is;
but it’s also about the “B”
movies ever made, using
lines and scenes from most of
them. Even the music (by
David Shire) sounds like
you’ve heard it before.
It’s not easy to be so bad
so well; but The Big Bus has
an expert cast, even if
they’re not as well-known as
the stars of Murder by
Death. Joseph Bologna is
the bus driver who can’t find
a job since he was accused of
cannibalism after a mountain
accident (when all he ate was
“one lousy foot!”) He’s
hired to pilot the world’s first
nuclear-powered bus by its
designer, Stockard Chan-
ning, with whom he was once
Marty Feldman, Don
DeLuise and Bernadette
Peters In “SILENT
MOVIE”
involved.
Ruth Gordon is among
the passengers, which is
reason enough for seeing the
picture. Two constantly-
bickering couples are of
interest: Sally Kellerman
and Richard Mulligan, just
divorced, are riding the bus
together. Their quarrels
always end in sex, wherever
they are. Back at mission
control, project director Ned
Beatty fights with his
assistant, Howard
Hesseman. Nothing is
spelled out about their
relationship, but you can
draw your own conclusions
from lines like, “I know who
left the bathroom window
open last night”! .
Buffalo Bill and the
Indians or Sitting Bull’s
History Lesson is another
kind of spoof. Paul Newman
plays Buffalo BUI as a 19th
Century superstar who made
tile mistake of taking his
image seriously. There’s
some serious stuff about
racism, too, shown in our
mistreatment of the Indians.
*
*
s&Bm I
IS COMING...
Everyone from Annie
Oakley (Geraldine Chaplin)
to Grover Cleveland (Pat
McCormick) gets into the
act; and act it is, taking place
in and behind the scenes at
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, the
traveling show that per
petuated his legend.
A good percentage of the
funny stuff in this Robert
Altman film works; even
more of the serious stuff
doesn’t, and they don’t blend
well.
The Great Scout and
Cathouse Thursday tries to
be funny all the time, and
almost never succeeds. Lee
Marvin plays a legendary
scout witn no more frontiers
to conquer (it’s 1908). Oliver
Reed is his sidekick, a
Harvard-educated Indian.
They’re out to get even with
politician Robert Culp, who
robbed them when they were
all partners some years
before.
The woman of the titlp is
Kay Lenz, kidnapped from
madam Sylvia Miles as part
of Reed’s plan to infect the
white race with gonorrhea.
Some momentum is built
toward the end, with a few
laughs resulting; but it*s
mostly slow and witless.
On a more serious note,
Glynn Turman gives a great
performance in J. D.’s
Revenge, as a law student
possessed by a long-dead
gangster. The picture is
standard blaxploitation fare,
heavy on the blood; but
Turman makes it worth
seeing.
Nothing quite makes
Logan’s Run worth seeing.
Michael York, Richard
Jordan and Jenny Agutter
are attractive, as are most of
the extras in this 23rd
Century world where no one
lives to be 30; Peter Ustinov
is funny, if you like your ham
cut in thick slices; and most
of the special effects are
excellent, although the
scenes with the much-
publicised hologram (3-D)
photography is a dud.
Wnat’s missing is
originality in the plot. Some
good ideas are established in
Michael York and Jenny Agutter in “LOGAN’s BUN”
the beginning, but they’re
jettisoned in favor of the
“Man against the System”
story that turns up in at least
one sci-fi film a year; and
melodrama takes the place of
thought for the final hour.
The Omen also uses
special effects, this time for
m
shock value; but its story is
compelling and well-paced.
Gregory Peck and Lee
Remick adopt a child who, at
age 5, turns vicious and
causes several deaths. Just
when you think there’s no
logical reason for his
behavior, you find out that
he’s the Antichrist!
A lot of the shocks
depend on deafening sound
(Thank God they didn’t have
Sensurround to play with),
which becomes monotonous
after awhile. Director Robert
Donner hasn’t the subtlety of
a Hitchcock or even a
Friedkin (The Exorcist); but
if you believe that the ends
justify the means, you have
to give him credit.
Finally, Gint Eastwood is
back in the saddle, as The
Outlaw Josey Wales. He
rides through the Gvil War
and beyond to avenge the
death of his wife and son.
Although he’s the last
unreconstructed Confederate
soldier, the reason for his
“outlaw” status is a little
fuzzy. We never see him kill
except in self-defense, and
his victims are always on a
lower moral plane than he.
All the good people, inr
eluding Giief Dan George,
flock to his support.
Although it runs a little
long, a good script keeps The
Outlaw Josey Wales en
tertaining, especially for
Eastwood fans.
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