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
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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
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