4
Steinbeck
comes alive
.. .almost
‘Cannery Row’
Nick Nolle
Cinema World
The scene is a Monterey waterfront of
the 1940's Amidst the abandoned, rusty
sardine factories lies a town of misfits
and has-beens that reality has somehow
passed by
At the sound of a bugle call and the
God-like voice of John Huston, a
kaleidoscope of bizarre characters awa
ken to begin a day of surrealistic mer
rymaking
This is "Cannery Row," a crazy town
of down-and-out “floosies'’ and bums
who coexist in such a fun atmosphere of
mutual respect and cooperation that is
hard to believe, vet amusing to watch
A combination of two John Steinbeck
novels, "Cannery Row" and “Sweet
Thursday," the film is a tribute to the
soulful, searching characters filled with
quiet pathos that Steinbeck is famous
for
Doc (Nick Nolte) is an offbeat ex
baseball player who finds refuge from a
troubled past in a deadbeat town, while
searching for the Ultimate Discovery in
his work as a marine biologist Suzy
(Debra Winger) is an ingenue drifter
turned unsuccessful prostitute, a heart
of gold floosie.
When these two meet, there is an in
stant attraction, but the rest of the film is
spent in their trying to find a conection.
Doc is too restrained and intellectual
while Suzy is too extroverted, making for
an abrasive attraction of opposites as
they try to find a meeting point
Winger and Nolte work well together,
but it is Nolte who stands out as Doc
Steinbeck described Doc as “a guy
that's wide open a real guy with a
window in him.” Nolte plays that vulner
ability with a quiet roughness that’s very
appealing
With crazy situations like a frog
round-up and a "Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs” costume party where
everyone comes dressed as trees,
“Cannery Row” is so far-fetched and
off-beat that the viewer is forced to ac
cept it because it all looks like so much
fun Ultimately, it is this craziness and
kaleidoscope of characters that gives
“Cannery Row" its charm, and the heart
of Steinbeck's work
by debbi roberts
‘Personal Best’
(Continued from page 6B)
for the competition, only to be
told they couldn't compete
"Personal Best gives this sad
event only a passing footnote,
as if it was too late to fix up the
script, making for a lot of build
up and a jumbled ending
Then there's the Eugene
sequence The most important
scenes of the film were shot
during the 1980 Olympic Trials
at Mac Court with a limited
amount of time During part of
the Olympic Trials, it rained,
changing all the shooting con
ditions and making a profound
impact on the movie s continui
ty The audience sees some
nice artsy shots of the rain, only
to find the sky sunny and clear
three shots later
Another continuity problem
presents itself in some irrelevant
dialogue regarding Cahill's In
dian heritage People keep ask
ing what percent Indian she is,
which side is Indian, etc with no
visible tie-in to anything mean
ingful This silly flaw in the script
is just one more hurdle that the
film gets hung up on
One of Towne s major down
falls was in trying to show a
reasonably realistic portrayal of
women's athletics By all
reports, Towne failed miserably,
showing instead a group of
doped-up, partied-out, over
sexed athletes under the direc
tion of a beer-guzzling, lecher
ous, impossible coach (played
by Scott Glenn). Even a cameo
appearance of Vic Atiyeh
doesn't save the movie
All in all, the movie starts out
with an interesting idea, adds
some great camera work, but
gets hopelessly tripped up and
finishes a dead last
by matt meyer
FRISCO
(Continued from page 3B)
and said, "maybe next time you
should try the Neapolitan Sau
teed Squid."
We wouldn't want to miss
that, would we?" I said, I felt a
sharp knee jab me under the
table
Once we got out of the city,
the trip home was pretty quiet.
We stopped for a nap when I
started seeing the little white
lines fly by with my eyes closed
My handy dandy little watch in
formed me it was 3:40. Classes
started at 9:30 and we still had
110 miles to go We'd need to
get up at 6:30 to make it home in
time to get ready for classes. I
set my watch, and joined my
wife in dreamland.
It seemed like five minutes
later when the Revolutionary
forces were attacking, the siren
piercing in short blurts — I woke
up, and finally found my watch
where I had left it, hooked
around the turn signal lever
“Menace to society, these
stupid digital contraptions!” I
grumbled
Soon we were rolling through
the gray hills south of Eugene.
My wife was furiously rushing to
get her homework done, and I
watched as the eternal Oregon
drizzle hit the windshield. The
countryside grew more familiar
as it grew lighter, and soon we
found oursleves on Franklin
Boulevard, heading towards our
dreary little hole-in-the-wall.
"Isn’t it great to be home?”
my wife yelled from the shower.
"Hurry, we've got to eat and get
ready for school Will you get
breakfast ready?"
I grinned as I carefully poured
the remaining Sicilian-style
Squid from its cardboard
container into a cereal bowl.
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