man of astounding talent and mis chievous bent "Cocky and contented," Photoplay called him. He won a Hol lywood contract by using all his ac cumulated Army leave time to venture to the German location of director Douglas Sirk's A Time to lave and a Time to Die There he won a small part, that of a neurotic army officer He also got busted, around the same time, for arranging a gag in which he and some cohorts invented a mythical American film star named Rex Wrayne and — through elaborate play acting — made that imaginary an or front page news at the Berlin Film Festival of 1957 Jim Hutton’s career peaked with a string of light comedies He was memorable alongside a very young Jane Fonda in Period of Adjustment, a 1962 release He and Maryiine Poole Adams. Tim's mother, divorced when Tim was three Most of Tim Hutton's growing up was in Connecticut and in Berkeley, California He lived with his mother, quite apart from shew business influ ences Exception came when young Tim and friends staged a barnyard production Oliver It was great," Hut ton recalls i got to sing 1 had this little, high voice " When he was sixteen, Tim Hutton moved to Los Angeles to live with his father He enrolled at Fairfax High, where he took the role of Nathan De troit in a production of Guys and Dolls He visited his father now and again on the set of Ellery Queen, a TV mystery series starring the elder Hut ton Then the two starred together in a dinner theatre production of Haney Finally, Hutton the younger decided acting was definitely what he wanted He dropped from high school, scored a General Equivalency' Diploma, and auditioned for made-for-TV movies His widest notice came for Enend/y Eire, co-starring Carol Burnett and Ned Beans Beatty praised Hutton to writer Bruce Ccxjk for American Etlm maga zinc "I myself tend to be an actor who makes broader choices," said Beatty, so I appreciate an actor who can do the same thing making more subtle choices, working more or less inter nally " Robert Redford, who directed Ordi nary People, has said that he saw something that was natural in Hutton, rather than something that was acting The two spent a lot of time taking walks together, tossing a football around, establishing intuitive trust Similarly, Hutton and George C Scott built a rapport through the early days of Tafts' shixiting schedule They heid marathon chess games, all of them won by Scott Chess spread like a fever, lasting long after Scott had filmed his short segment Just before I walked in on Hutton, twelve of the young cadet extras were at the same long table, intent on six separate chess matches. "George doesn't like to sit down to play just one game," Hutton says "You keep going with him until you’ve played five, six games in a row. It’s re ally intense concentration 1 never beat him. But by the time he left I was play ing chess better." The Stones tape has given way to Weather Report Hutton is mouthing percussion accents to "Birdland " The press agent arrives at this point, holding three naked cigarettes upright "These are from your usual nicotine supplier,” he says, and re-assumes his horizontal position. "You know," I comment, “Johnny Carson and Chevy Chase also have backgrounds in drumming. They’ve said that it helped build their timing." “Really’" Hutton's face flashes with a nanosecond of delight, then levels off again He genuinely likes to converse, but he doesn't like the feeling of being set up to talk about himself personally I brought some drum pads along and set them up in my hotel room so I can play along with the tapes I wanted to bring along a snare and a floor tom, but I think that would drive people crazy Anyone want a Snickers?” he asks, offering from a small stash of candy bars on the table Do you have any particular notions of what your strong points in acting are? Say, timing for example?" “Um ... I don't know. It’s sort of tough to be objective about that. I just sort of work from instinct. And not really from any method I've learned.” Instinct plus research, make that Hutton is a voracious reader when preparing a role. For Ordinary People he read The Catcher in the Rye, A Sepa rate Peace, East of Eden and a book on psychological problems of the chil dren of wealthy parents. He also spent time talking with patients at mental hospitals for teenagers, even posing as a "trial" patient for a day. He says the experience was “moving,” especially when other patients un-seifcortsciously checked his wrists for suicide-attempt scars. Taps motivated Hutton to read American Caesar, a biography of Gen eral George S. Patton, Herman Mel ville's Billy Budd, and other books fo cused on authority and conflict. In ad dition, he spent four weeks living at Valley Forge Academy before filming began. I ask if Taps is a story of social processes or a private, individual story. "I'd say it was more private,” Hutton comments. "Moreland doesn’t know anything more than this private world he lives in. He doesn’t have any broad scope, any overview. So it’s more pri vate, a world in which he is the com mandant It appears almost certain that Hut ton’s influence will extend beyond the gates of this fictional military academy. But exactly where it, and his career, will go, Hutton isn’t prepared to guess. “1 don’t know," he says at the inter view's close, "I can't really think in the future, never really have been able to. Cause it’s a very moment kind of thing, from role to role. I mean, Ordinary People and the success of that film has given me the opportunity to, I’m sure, for the next couple of years, find work. But beyond that, I don’t know. I mean, things just sort of happened. I was very lucky.” QN CCREEN Reds starring Warren Beatty , Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson. uritten by Warren Be atty and Trevor Griffiths, directed by Beatty Radical journalist John Reed was born in Oregon and was buried in the Kremlin That quantum leap in ge ography and the political polarity it implies sum up Reed's extraordinary life Although he was dead just a few days after his 33rd birthday, his life was crammed with more adventure than most people ever know or want to know He went to Harvard, wrote plays, organized with the Wobblies, became a journalist, lived with one of the richest and most controversial women of her day (Mabel Dodge), wrote poetry, broke hearts, traveled with Pancho Villa and immortalized the Russian Revolution in Ten Days That Shook the World, a piece of reportage that is now more notable for its drama than for its truth. John Reed was a star of his generation and a legend in his own time. Warren Beatty first discovered Reed more than ten years ago and became obsessed with putting his story on the screen He ultimately spent more than two years in production on Reds, and between 133 and $40 million. The film lasts three hours and nineteen minutes and is a kaleidoscopic vision of Reed and his times The film is audacious and often startlingly successful, while at the same time faint-hearted and predictable. Beatty, who wrote the screenplay along with British playwright Trevor Griffiths (with reported assistance from Elaine May and Robert Towne), chose to focus on Reed's affair and marriage to Louise Bryant, a tempera mental and tempestuous woman who craved the spotlight but was never cer tain she could win it on her own. When she met Reed, she not only found a lover, but a ticket to the fame and fortune (not in the monetary sense) she coveted. She was, without too much of a stretch, Bianca to Reed’s Mick. Diane Keaton plays Louise, and at times it’s a very daring and amazingly subde performance. She's not afraid to let the audience think she's frivolous and unlikeable. She never stoops to woo the audience By die end, when her maturity and commitment to Reed are tested in the extreme, her anguish and strength are all the more compel ling At times Keaton seems a bit too modem; some of her political spout ings sound as if they were left over from Woody Allen's Love and Death Beatty is a fine producer and an in teresting director, but he's a limited actor. He’s best at playing men who are so slow that life eats them up