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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1981)
QN CCREEN Ragtime starring James Caymi Hr cut IkninJ \lar\ Steenburyen written h\ Michael Weller Jrom the noiel In F I lk>c toruu directed h\ Milas Forman Ragtime is dizzy kitsch anti lots of fun It's also a colossal twoand-a half-hour-long take Nim even a con struction crane could suspend the necessart disbelief One well intentioned miscalculation follows the next until there s so much wrong it’s hard to keep it all straight How can we give ourselves over to a him whose sets and locations lixik like sets and locations, and whose cos tumes ltx>k like costumes? The\ have been carefully chosen, but like the rest of the film, with the exception of some performances, thev exist onlv as con cepts. In short nothing looks lived in Compare the Lower hast Side se quence m Rayttme with a similar re construction in Godfather II and the difference becomes obvious In the lat ter we are there and in the other well, we’re not EJL Doctorow's novel was .1 master fully satisfying entertainment A liantl fill of figures from the early years of the 20th century (some famous, some fictional) were made to represent cer tain political, social and aesthetic forces struggling to Ik- lx>rn, e g black rights, women's lib and motion pic tures. As the narrative hopscotches! from character to character their paths (and concerns) constantly crisscrossed The pacing was brisk, the prose style uncluttered A leisurely epoch was limned in quick sketches It was like watching some secretly shot movie of bygone lives — both public and pri vate Just enough descriptive detail was provided for us. the readers, to till in the rest This may Ik- why the book us more immediate than the Milos For man him Not only has all the work been done for us up there on the screen — it also hasn't been done nyin Not onlv production design, but script and direction are at fault Most importantly, the store ls lop sided The climax ot aggrieved blacks occupying New York's J.P Morgan Li brarx is drawn out wax tixi long (pis sibh to allow James (ugtiev as Police Commissioner enough screen lime to justify his star billing) The other characters are thus deprived ol impor tant scenes thal would make mans ol the actions more comprehensible The acting is fine — Mars Steen hurgen Robert Jos Uriel Douril, Mauds Patinken and (agues art great to watch So is lovely Iilizaheth McGovern. She's as natural here as she was m ()rciltuiry /'eop/e It's a deft and charming jierformance lull ol humor the only problem is that it's in the wrong movie It has as much to do with lhtX) as Deborah Harrs has to do with Scott Joplin This contemporars viewpoint is buili into the film and is its second most serious tlaw It comes out in dialogue mannerisms and motivations (or lack ol same) In llXX) blacks may have called each other brother, voung ladies may have been upfront about sex and money middle class white Inns may hase In come disillusioned with their hypocrit leal dads anil joined black terrorist groups It's |M>ssible but the burden is on Runtime to make us liehese u li doesn't A‘aytimi- should have been a T\ mini series witii aii ihe nim.li needed explanations the movie lacks, or k should have been draslii alls rethought tor the screen It s a shame Hie him n high spirited and, lor the lirsi pari, very entoyablc in spite ot its errors Vet alter wo hours there have Ix-en too mans manipulations and it finally col lapses under them Kichartl Hlackhum Who?* Life Is It Anyway? Hu!Hint Ihvylnss. Int’ii faavwt left's <nut' unit hihti untten hy Hrum (.lari' i hi ymahl hiisr ihmli’il by Inhii tUutharn The choice ol Drevtuv. to star as a sculptor parals/cd In an auto acci dent is a mixed blessing he is so si tal, so irrepressibly alive tltai lie ris ets our attention and Mjueeze.s even laugh and tear tlut can lx- st|uer/ed Hui this sets energy aimosi (but |tisi almost l negates the hojxdessnev ol hts condition n i> difficult to lielieve ttun someone so intelligent and |>et ceptive would want to end Ins lilt -r*r lust a feu mure days full of dread exams atul last minute plans alxjut llou t< Get Home Clxapiy — and then. at last, tlx? biy winter relief of The Holidays llxtnksyii my turkey, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce Christmas turkey f maybe a Ixtrru a{)[)te pie and //resent-. Auld Ititiy Syne atul tlx Rose hotel atul potato chips atul beer Small wonder tlxtt tlx- eartl) seems to mot e m early /anuary it’s lust our annual national jxjst Ixtliday belch Hut enough of these culinary slaiennys We re Ixre to write about movies and another distinctly American tradttion tlx- sudden appearance of dozens of bhxkbuster films every December, at which time the film studios hofx- to change their year-etul ink from red to black and maybe influence an Oscar nomination or two Here tljert is a rundown of those movies tlxtt will light up screens across tlx country trelease dates vary wildly from region to region) tins holiday season And don ’t forget moi le tlxaters are full of /jopcom, cokes Jujubes Milk Duds DimC stars Warren Beam as American journalist John Reed, Ix-st known KeJJo RAGTIME, •for his eyewitness assessment of the Russian Revolution in Ins 1919 book Ten lJays tlxtt SIxxjk the World. Diane Keaton plavs the love interest author Louise Fletcher, and Jack Nicholson is playwright Eugene O'Neill The whole thing took five tears and an estimated Jib million to complete more than the Russian Revolution itself the long-delayed film version of I L Doctor!>w s bestsel ler, brings us tliat innovative mix of fictional and real characters, played bv James Cagney Mars Steenburgen, Brad Dourit, Norman Mailer (reportedly excellent; and Howard K Rollins as Coal house Walker TtI)C stars Timothy Hutton as an upright do-right cadet ai an eastern mill 1/\1 Otars academy, George C Scott is the head man, and conflict aliounds MODERN PROBLEMS. 5E Zz TZLZZ controller who develops telekinetic powers Bui does he develop acting talent' \ 11 'T/^T TT)ADC from the Thomas Berger novel, pits quiet subur 1 x|Xal.VjnLL/V^J\t3j banites John Belushi and Kathryn Walker against tfie New Couple mg hull) weird and wacky Dan Aykroyd and Cathy Moriarty (from Ray WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY?,:; play for the past lew years This version stars Richard Dreyfuxs as a sculptor who loses the use of his arms and legs after an auto accident Hts decision to end Ins life meets with strong resistance from doctor John Cassavetes, and with emotion ally charged sympathy from doctor Carol Lahti In spite of the grim subject, Drevfuss is funny, engaging, and compelling (see review this issue) PENNIES FROM HEAVEN. ZZZZZZ months, ever since MOM teased the press with clips and set visits back in the spring Steve Martin departs from hts jerky comedian persona and plays a 1930s song .salesman who dreams of living out tin sweet songs he sell as an esvajx Irom his harsh Depression reality Though married, lie tall m lose with hard luck lieautv Bernadette Peters Christopher Walken iwho won an Academy Award tor his supporting role in The Deer Hunter) plays a dancing pimp who know a good thing Peters when he sees het The sets are lahuioics an old fashioned bank turns into a Bushy Berkeles dance scene while Martin and Peters are watch mg the movie Tollou the Tleet. they imagine themselves doing the same In i s Pace the Musk and Dance number ai;d sure enough we see Steve and Her nadette in the same Astaire and Rogers costumes, on tin same set doing tin same dance BUDDY, BUDDY: ts the American remake ol a line Prciich y e ca av a comedy (originally translated as A I‘am m the Ass), with Jack Lemmon and Walter Mattliau in place ol Jacques Brel and lain Ventura It s about a hit man, Mattliau. hired to assassinate a government witness, but lies constantlv interrupted by tin- suicidal bozo in tin next hotel room (Lemmon) Its directed In Billy Wilder who's lieen away too long 11,m Neynoids1 111 Minna vi<< Ol l/lXVIY I O LT JL/jLsjl JJLI iXa. detective investigating a series ol 1 all girl murders Mtxlel Rachel Ward in her lirst screen role is a call girl and were promised that S faulty \ Machine wallows in every possible seedy element T R|V,‘ us Jane Ponda as the chairman ol the board ol a IVV/laiaV/ V IJIY large cor)Miration, and Kris Krixtollerson (wearing a suit, but not a lieard) as the head ol a tailing New York bank It s billed as a thriller/love story shows how three generations inlet aci emotionally one summer, and it stars Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn as Jane Fonda s parent , It open m two theaters in December, countrywide in late January LS J" m,r'caUe lliriUei in which the ghost ol a YJ11V./OX Ol V/l\l murdered woman returns to haunt (and wte.ik revenge upon) the four pillars ol the community who did het in Stats Fred Astaire, Patricia Neal the late Melvyn Douglas Craig Wasson (as Douglas son), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr and Alice Krige as a mysterious beauty Sl ,rS Kaulman and Bernadette Peter, as llLarirVl JUlil J1 O roUtis who yearn to be free And so they wandet oil and have many adventures LYV ID I7RTFNTK IS screenwriter S|eve < break my. Away 1- N-/XJX\ X XVLLlil JvO Eyewitness) Tesich's autobiographical liaik at lour close friends, the Sixties and last Chicago, with Craig Wasson, Jodi Thelen, Jim Metzler, and Michael Huddleston ON GOLDEN POND I'iea.se remove hats, how heads, and /fonder the, lass t/jere is no Clint liastwood movie this Ixfltduy season There has always been a holiday last wood Is this the end oj the world we've Iteen hearinn sit much about lately Judith Sims simply Ikh .iuv he < ;im i move Ins arms and le^s Ami that Is tin- story lie wants to dir Inn tin- diKtor in charge ((aLssa vetes) reluses to atretic to this wish. Instead threatening to have lirevtu.ss committed to a home where he'll In kept alive loi vears Drevluvs is not easily defeated. hut the him is not simpls then roiilroiitaiion li deals with lirevtu.ss eilert on the lives of another doctor, Lahli. who is drawn to him emotionallv a reggat lied orderly arid a [iretty young nurse among others On the surtare, a him about a paralyzed man who wants to die is not exact Is i heertul hnlidas tare lint u is a KihmI movie not an ex|n-nsise one not a garish one lust good H makes us think and led laugh ami cry, and there's not much more we ran ask in this or am other season JutUth 'tints Absence of Malice sItimtw I'tntl Svwnum tttul Stilh / It’Ll trnllfii /n A urt l ttrdli'i tllYi ’ilrti h\ Inrriii I‘tilIt tit 'WKJ i icalls dr In l neetl tin a 'll fl (using uupid ntovii at rout |our nahsiii ethics or lark thereof Sails Held |x>rtrass a Miami rejxmer who prints a false stors (leaked to her in a m>.si <|iiestionahle manner) claiming dial businessman Newman is under mvesiigahon In a strike lone in the ihsap|>earamc ol a local longshore men s union leader Newman is inno cent naturalls and pr<x reds to set (In record straight In die process he- and I leld liasc a lew go-rounds, and almost everyone gets his or her conic uppano in (hi- end Vtell. line ex ce|X that U all Iramed in pretentious pre-.n I is muddled blather altoul the public's riglu to know and revealing oi not resealing sources and using the press lo ads.mei one s own ambitions, hi.ill hi.ill \h\4’H(r of Mulin' in.in to .Kid tucl uml ,i wet blanket (o tlit llaming topu <>l journalistic etlms Parts ol (lit film lie [list IikiIisIi Nrwnuii, hurt asks lield 'IXiiii you know mt vet' Meaning how could slit think I mi i a hood when (lievve I>ern going Meade tor two night.'' in .i row Much worse are the scenes at the news|*i|K-i where lield has to In re minded In the pallet's attorney to get a quote Iroin Newman (when Newman does ill answer his phone she doesn i lx idler to tall again Ciive me a break) l ield shows no c|ualnis .iIkiui printing stories Ilased on the most tenuous or oil the record sources, then turns around and prints the name and alxir (ton date ol a timid source who re sponds to the public shame with suicide lint the \Xorst lane of the Vear Award goes to wrilei laiedlke lor the lollowiug exchange l ield in reply to Newman s comment that she wears no wedding ring, therefore must lie single You evet hear ol lilieratioti'' Newman Yeah, but they it all ugh Nothing rings true ’lilts was obvi oiisly intended as a serious look at the sometimes shoddy practices reporters use to get their stories lull the mien lion dealt a mere glancing blow to the execution l.uedtke, according It) the prtxluciion notes, has been a journalist lor more than twenty years, at the Miami Herald and the Detroit I'tee Press [’here is very little evidence ol that experience on the screen Judltb Sims
