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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1986)
CINEMA A small-scope look at a ‘Bountiful’ time Screen writer Horton Foote is the Midwestern legacy to the American cinema. After his Oscar-winning script "Tender Mercies." Foote embarked on a campaign to resurrect nostalgia with two films he wrote and co produced — “1918" and the current "The Trip To Boun tiful,'-' currently showing at the Bijou Theatre. "Bountiful” is most known for Geraldine Page’s Oscar winning performance, a character study of a country woman living in the city with her son Ludie (JohnHeard) and ; . daughter-in-law Jessie Mae . • (Calvin Glynf. The key conflict in the film is between Page’s Mother Watts and daughter Jessie Mae. a character reminis cent in some ways of Carol Burnett’s TV' character Eunice. • .Mae dislikes Mother singing hymns as she does the housework., and suspects Mother of hiding her pension checks so she can try to run away again. Mother Watts, however, needs to leave the stifling city and get back to Bountiful, her hometown. Thus she tries it again, but this time she actually gets away from Ludie and Jessie and makes it to the bus station, where she meets Thelma (Rebecca Oe MornayJ, a young woman who takes to Miss Watts and spends the hours riding the bus listening to her reminisce. "The Trip To Bountiful” is a small film, it's scope is small. it's cast centered on four characters and the conflicts sur mountable More than anything else it is a pleasant, easygoing character study with a tone and a pace harkening back to an easier time. Set in the crux period bet ween the move from the country to the city. Mother Watts yearns for the country while Jessie Mae loves town life. And poor t.udie is caught in the middle, forced into the city by economics, try ing to hold the family together through the bickering, understanding both Mother and lessie Mae and not knowing how to reconcile their differences. As we might expect, the film is hopeful and positive, finding the value of the country while understanding the necessity and potential of the city. Masterson and Foote prove the goodness of every character and ultimately Find America the land of promise and the family a source of inspiration. . This is Americana, well done, beautifully shot, marvelously acted. If the conflicts never, seem earth-shattering; vyell. why should they? Foote never claimed to save the world with this film “The Trip To Bountiful'' is pleasurable, a leisurely-paced bit of nostalgia that should please those looking for America circa 1940. Foote has captured the most romantic look at middle-class heartland seen in quite a time. ■ By Sean \\maker PIZZA ANSWER “THE DELIVERY SPECIALISTS” CALL 687-8600 4QUARTS OF COKE WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY 16* ONE ITEM PIZZA ONLY $7.00 Thf ] PIZZA Each additional item ONLY S1.00 extra For this otter only • One coupon per pizza Expires June 9, 1986 Pick a Paper that counts The Oregon Daily Emerald Remember them? The Smothers Brothers comedy team will be appearing at the Hult Center this weekend, and Tom Smothers is concerned that the present college generation doesn't know who they are. Gone are the days of the late 1960s when a majority of the families in America would ’■ gather around the tube tin catch Tommy strumm ing his guitar and* Dickie plucking his stand-up bass .on their, weekly .GBS-TV show. •bantering • good-hatunklly .in bet ween?.folk songs. . • . -''The severities lost us," Tom 'said'in a . . telephone.interview '".The twenty to twenty-two year-olds don’t know who we are. Back in the six- - ties, we were,the Robin Williams of todayH guess we should have done more Sesame Street . . .or something.'"' ° „ . . . ° ° .* *•. The Smothers Brothers began working as musicians amTsland-up comedians i*n 1959. They were oh television in different formats-from*1963 until the early 1970s. . arid wen; .most**widely known for "The. Smothers- Brothers Comedy Hour." ! •; The “Comedy Hour’- produced political, satire which led to increasing Headaches lor the management of CBS; which found-itself ,iii.cons tant''censorship battles with the brothers . . ■ . CBS abrupt ly canceled the show- in 196tf. The Smothers Brothers suer! and .-eventually won. a . $916,000 settlement; but never again attained.the limelight they once had «njoyed, even though ABC and NBC each gave-the* pair brief flings in succeeding years. The brothers' act 'split up.in; 1976. but got back together iii I960 Television offers come about every five years*. Tom said and presently; the brothers are consideriog-aii offer fromIJniver-. sal-Studios for-a TV sit-com. But they:re waiting for the rigKt offer. - ■ * "There comes a point in* life where if!you don't do it right -you aren’t.invited back to the dance. We're hoping a good ship and crew v)vill come together.” Tom said. The Smothers are hoping a good road tour and a hit record, will lead to another television variety show. But first. Torn said, the team has to be rediscovered again.. . When the Hult Center audience discovers the Smothers Brothers this weekend, the political satire that used to throw the 1960s college crowd roiling in the aisles will have evolved. Their time spent separately matured them. Tom said, and politicians and politics are not the base for their humor anymore, . "if we satirize anything, it will be economics and fundamental religions.” Tom said. "We don't do much political satire anymore — not because of pressure, but because of choice Publicans an* all clowns and it's hard to ridicule them.” • What the audience will see is the .emotional relationship between the two-brothers conically ~ at odds, amiably, arguing amidst '/the best of all kinds of music'- -folk.‘.Gilbert and Sullivan,. 14th • century madrigal and spiritual.'' Tom said-. "Our show is 30 percent musifc and-70 pendent comedy : We rarely finish a.’iong.” * . ' '• One of the difficulties the Smothers Brothers have encountered with the revival of their- brand of homor is the change in music styles in'lhe last ten years from folk songs to more emphasis on rock 'n' roll. Their act doesn't fit into the rock ’»' roll scene because. Tbm said. In- couldn't im agine stopping in the middle" of a rock song to proclaim, "Mom liked you. beat,’.' one of the team's most famous lines Tom typified the Smothers-.Brothers as .m older, unique form of to met iy I ia sed inmusic.‘dif fering from the .traditional standup comedians like the-currentiy.popular lay I>no "He's a fun ny guy because Ke says funny things Dickie and I say things funny,"-. Tom said "We're pne of the last-breed.** ' .’ v* ‘ *J' Tom has also added a'yo-yo song, complete with yo-yo tricks, as a centerpiece to the act After talking with the comedian." it was obvious that the yo-yo is not, just anot he r,gi tn mirk adqpted to arid variety to the show. Torn Smothers is serious about the sport: Along with the acquisition of . custom-built yo-yos. Tom has In-on taught tricks by yo-yo expert-Tom Kuhn. - - But more oppressive sire the philosophies built on yo-yo experience, that reflect a sometimes rough 27. years in the entertainment business. "Yo-yos are a.lot like life - you don’t always make every trick. And if you try It) get too tricky, you’ll get hung up and get into trouble." Tom said. The Smothers Brothers will appear with their longtime associate, guitarist and Oakridge resi dent Mason Williams in the Mult Center's Silva Concert Mall at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12 and $14 and are available at the KMl) Main Desk, the Mult Center box office and all Mult Center ticket outlets B> l.inda Hahn BIG SELECTION USED COLOR TV’S $49.00 and Up DEKA Electronics 390 W. 12th • 342-2488 small priced t I’.ml's Bit yt It* Shop t ( Aider ' i < 155