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8- THE BARB, March 1977
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THE
CASSANDRA
CROSSING s
Director George Pan
Cosmatos could give
Greek a bad name; but
that’s what he is, not
what he does (as far as I
know).
After apprenticing
on such films as Zorba
the Greek, Z and the
campy The Day the Fish
Came Out (I’d rather
not talk about that
one, he says), he
debuted as a director
with Massacre in Rome,
which got him arrested
for attending a Pope,
albeit a dead one.
His second feature,
The Cassandra
Crossing, will offend no
one but intelligent
audiences. Cosmatos
refutes the “disaster
film’’ label that’s been
naturally applied to it,
preferring to call it
“science-actuality.”
I suppose we could
ignore the train wreck
that ends the picture;
but the story leading up
to it is one part science
and one part politics to
about ten parts
melodrama.
That would be okay if
it were good
melodrama. There’s an
intriguing plot about a
plague that’s isolated on
a trans-European train
and an attempt by the
U.S. military to cover
up the fact that we’ve'
been playing with
germs again; and an all-
star cast (Richard
Harris, Sophia Loren,
Burt Lancaster, Ava
Gardner, Martin Sheen,
Lee Strasberg, etc.)
looks appropriately
glamorous or whatever
and reads their lines
with a straight face.
But Cosmatos, who
boasts of his attempted
subtlety (“I don’t like to
hit the people in the
nose”) in an interview,
punctuates every point,
verbally and
cinematically, with
Burt Lancaster in Army drag for “THE CASSANDRA
CROSSING.” He’s in the Air Force in “TWILIGHT’S
LAST GLEAMING.”
Mario Thomas teaches at a tough school in “THIEVES.”
such obviousness that I
found myself laughing
all the way through The
Cassandra Crossing.
It’s too bad it wasn’t
planned as a comedy.
THIEVES
Mario
working
Thomas
harder
promote Thieves than
Cosmotos is on
Cassandra; but it’s
another case where
effort should have gone
into the product, rather
than the pitch.
She describes the
story, which she says
was written for her by
Herb (A Thousand
Clowns) Gardner, as a
romantic comedy for
today, one which con
siders the alternatives
open to people after
they’re married. These
include abortion,'
divorce and ex
tramarital affairs.
You’ve seen the
same thing happen to
your favorite comedies
on tv-they get so
bogged down in relevant
issues that they stop
being funny. In addition,
Gardner is trying for
pathos--you’ve got to
shed a tear for every
time you laugh. .
Charles Grodih plays
Thomas’ husband like
it’s amateur night,
while everyone else
tries to compensate by
overacting. There are
some good lines and
tender moments, but not
enough to justify all the
crap inbetween.
“I’m romantic,”
Thomas says. “I really
believe one person can
change the world and
two can do even better.”
That’s a nice
thought. Maybe she
should stick to writing
her own dialogue.
ROCKY
You must know by
now that Rocky is a
good picture-from the
reviews and the awards
and the talk; but if you
don’t know from seeing
it, you owe it to yourself
to make that final test.
It’s a contemporary
fairy tale about Rocky,
“the Italian Stallion,” a
part-time, small-time
boxer (“a ' jacket where
you’re almost
guaranteed to end up a
bum.”) He’s played by
Sylvester Stallone, who
aiso wrote the script,
and whom you should
have spotted by now as
a promising actor in The
Lords of Flatbushor one
of his supporting roles.
There’s a little too much
“method” to his
saneness, but he’s
IT'S THE REAL THING
Drawstring
Pants
100% cotton muslin
HAPPY'
BIRTHDAY
to He ":fiH
Sylvester Stallone and TaIJa Shire in “ROCKY.”
generally convincing
and thoroughly likeable.
He’s been carrying
on a flirtation with a girl
(Talia Shire) in his
South Philadelphia (the
pits) neighborhood. She *
spends one night with
him and comes away
with a new hairstyle and
never wears glasses
again. That’s love,
baby!
Rocky’s fairy god
mother, the
heavyweight Champion
of the world, gives him a
shot at the title as a
goodwill gesture-
publicity stunt.
It doesn’t sound like
much on paper; but
when you see it, you’ll
believe it. Most of it.
And believe it or not,
you’ll love it.
TWILIGHT’S LAST
GLEAMING
There’s at least one
survivor of The
Cassandra Crossing:
Burt Lancaster only has
to change uniforms to
get into a good all-star
suspense thriller.
The premise of
Twilight’s Last
Gleaming is
preposterous^-that, as
hungry as the press is
for Washington exposes,
a rebellious general
(Lancaster) finds it
easier to take over a
missile base and black
mail the President
(CharlesDurning) when
he wants some secrets
revealed.
That’s a lot to
swallow, but it goes
down easy. Director
Robert Aldrich -jumps
from one edge-of-your-
seat situation to
another, only pausing to
insert his political
message when your
doctor says your heart
needs a rest.
WIZARDS
.. .Wizards is animated
science-fiction, adult
but not dirty, from
Ralph Bakshi, whose
previous animated films
(Fritz the Cat, Heavy
Traffic, Coonskin) were
both adult and dirty.
This is more in a
league with Fantastic
Planet, set far in the
Continued on page 16.
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