Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1983)
i wwii movies to Ì Film class head telecourse Huston’s World War II as seen through the lens of a camera will be the structure of a telecourse offered this winter by Social Sciences Chairper- son Fred DeWolfe and the College. The course has been designed to allow students to view films at their conve nience. Nine films will be broadcast on Liberty Cable channel 9, with 10 more shown via the Audio-Visual Depart ment of the College. The cable showings will be on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. They may also be viewed by ap pointment through the Col-- lege’s A-V Department. The films will include: “December 7th,” 1943: Directed by John Ford, this is a combination of documen tary and studio footage of the day that will live in infamy. “With the Marines at Tarawa,” 1943: A look at the coral atoll in the Central Pacific and the battles between the Marines and Japanese. Filmed entirely by Marine combat photographers. ' “Sillwell Road,” 1945: Narrated by Captain Ronald Reagan, this film was produc ed by US, British and Indian ^film units and documents the building of the Stillwell- Burma Road from India to China and casts dark foreshadowing at the perils of jungle warfare that would haunt US military actions in Korea and Vietnam. “Report from the Aleu tians,” 1943: This movie is a cross-over with DeWolfe’s Films of John Huston movie class (see story, this page). “The Battle of San Pietro,” 1945: John Huston again, focusing on the in fighting between American and German forces in Italy’s Liri Valley in 1943: A dark and horrific statement on war. “True Glory,” 1945: Oscar winner for Best Documentary, this was edited from footage of 1,600 Allied photographers, more than half of whom were killed in action as they pushed across Fortress Europa, from Normandy to the Elbe. “Memphis Belle,” 1943: Director William Wyler’s look at the last flight of the flying fortress “Memphis Belle,” and the “Right Stuff’’-style experiences of the US flyers on bombing raids over Germany. “The Thunderbolt,” 1945: P47 fighter bombers ver sus Nazi ground troups in Ita- ly‘ ) By J. Dana Haynes Of The Print John Huston, one of the most enduring, endearing and versatile directors in the history of Hollywood, will be the focus of a winter term film class offered at Clackamas Community College. The class will be held on Tuesdays from Jan. 3 - March 6, with showings at 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. The instructors will be Fred DeWolfe, social sciences chairperson and Richard Ramsperger, an- thropology instructor. The cinematic offerings will include: Jan. 3, “The African Queen,” 1952: Classic flick starring Humphrey Bogart as a bedraggled, besotted river boat captain and Katharine Hepburn as a moralistic spinster, plus scores of crocodiles, leeches and Nazis. This is considered by many to be Hepburn’s best and/or most famous role. Jan. 6, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” 1948: Is there such a thing as gold fever? Huston asks that ques tion in the story of Fred C. Dobbs, a down-and-out gr ingo prospector and his part ners, (one of whom is played by Walter Huston, father of Terms of Endearmentf good news/bad news flick By J. Dana Haynes Of The Print There is a very good com edy playing around Portland now. There’s also a very bad tragedy. They’re both called “Terms of Endearment.” “Endearment” stars Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger as a mother and daughter who love each other dearly and drive each other crazy. It is also the story of Winger’s marriage to an English professor, Jeff Daniels, and MacLaine’s af fair with an over-the-hill astronaut, Jack Nicholson. Within those three story lines, “Endearment” is pretty good. The accent is on comedy and how people react to love and I laughed out loud several times. However, the last 45 minutes of the film are, as John Cleese used to say, something completely dif ferent. Without giving away too much of the plot, someone dies and the rest of the cast at tempts to deal with it. Unfor tunately, the movie dies as well. It is almost as if Writer/Director/Producer James L. Brooks sat down Wednesday, November 30,1983 with his production team and said, “All right, what are some sure-fire tear-jerkers? How about Untimely Death, Unrequited Love, Infidelity, Aging, and Nuclear Holocaust?” To Brooks’ credit, there is no nuclear holocaust in this movie. The rest we get in steam shovels- full. In. all honesty, this is a better movie than Brooks had a right to make. It is his first feature film and surprisingly well written and directed. Your first flick isn’t supposed to be this clean and snappy. On the other hand, he is a graduate of MTM produc tions, makers of the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Bob Newhart,” which taught him his comedic pacing and respect for simple, human foibles. If the movie fails, it’s probably not his fault. Nor can the blame go to the actors. I have never seen MacLaine better. She plays Aurora, a fifty-ish widow who clings to her self-respect and her daughter with the tenacity of a wolverine. The character is terrific and MacLaine plays it for all it’s worth. She’ll most probably be up for an Oscar. Winger is also quite good as Aurora’s daughter Emma. She is constantly pregnant and unsure about her marriage, driven insane by the incessant telephone calls from her mother and yet still in charge of her direction in life. Emma is probably the most human character in the show and thus the funniest. This comes as no surprise. Winger was good in “An Of ficer And a Gentleman” (con sidering the Harlequin Romance script she had to work with) and terrific in the over-looked “Cannery Row” with Nick Nolte. She’s a solid character actress. Now if we could only see her in something wherein she doesn’t play a lower-middle class young woman with horrible grammar and a big heart. Like Mary Steenbergen, Winger is on the verge of becoming per manently type-cast. Jeff Daniels is fine but hardly outstanding, and his role is unfortunately over shadowed by Winger. Nicholson, on the other hand, is top notch as Garrett Breedlove, a sleezy, boozing astronaut with a taste for jail bait dates. Nicholson is the work featured the director). This movie looks closely at a protagonist turned antagonist. Jan. 17, “Annie,” 1981: Based on the Broadway musical, based on the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” this is a change of pace for Huston. Starring Albert Fin ney and Carol Burnett, many movie-goers felt disappointed in this mega-musical. Jan. 24, “Fat City,” 1972: A boxing movie starring Stacy Keach, focusing on the fight against other boxers, alcohol and life in general. Jan. 31, “Moulin Rouge,” 1952: Jose Ferrer in a mostly-fictional account of French painter Toulouse- Lautrec. This flick is most famous for its sets and costumes, which were ex travagant. Feb. 7, “The Misfits,” 1960: A gutsy, hard-as-flint movie starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. DeWolfe describes this one as “a moody, modem western.” Feb. 14, “Beat the Devil,” 1964: More or less a spoof on “Maltese Falcon (also a Huston film)” starring Bogart, Gina Lollabridgida, Peter Lorre and Jennifer Jones. Adapted by Truman Capote. Fred DeWolf Feb. 21, “Night of the Ig uana,” 1964: Based on Ten nessee Williams’ play, this one stars Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr. Set in a Mexican coastal town, this is the archtypical Williams morality play about salvation of the human spirit. Feb. 28, “The Man Who Would Be King,” 1975: Sean Connery and Michael Caine were terrific in this vastly underrated flick set in the fic tional country of Kafristan. Connery and Caine (as Daniel Dravit and Peachy Trafalgar Carnahan; great names!) leave His Magesty’s India corps to seek fame and fortune on the far side of the Himilayas. Bas ed on a short story by Rudyard Kipling. master of over-acting and in the past few years has leered his way through any role he was handed. In “Reds,” Nicholson (as Eugene O’Neil) made an honest attempt to not look half-psychotic. Now, in March 6, “Victory,” “Endearment,” he has thrown away the “Cuckoo’s 1981 and “Report from the Nest’’/“Shining” evil grin Aleutians,” 1943: This double and relies on his considerable feature spans Huston’s career, acting talent. What a welcome showing one of his first films and one of his most recent. change! As I mentioned earlier, “Aleutians” is a military when Brooks and company set documentary about men deal out to make you laugh, they ing with hardship and the an sail full speed ahead and the ticipation of violence on a movie is just fine. When they lonely outpost during the war. set out to gut at your heart “Victory,” with Michael strings, the flick hits a sandbar Caine and Sylvester Stallone, and lists, finally hobbling into is a classic story of good guy port on the merit of standard, POW’s and bad guy Nazis, around a Movie-of-the-Week gimmicks. revolving Oh-Lord-I’m-trying-to- propaganda-based soccer be-brave-while-I-croak movies game. Spiffy performances by are tough enough to do for Stallone (who doesn’t play a seasoned directors and writers, Rocky clone) and Max von let alone a rookie. Suffice to Sydow as a Nazi colonel say the woe-is-me parts of scared by the direction Hitler “Endearment” are about on a has taken his country. Worth par with “Love Story,” seeing. ■ Each movie presented in outclassed by “Brian’s Song,” the film class will be preluded and far below “Bambi.” “Terins of Endearment” by a lecture. The class is worth is currently playing at the . three credits. For more infor Eastgate and Westgate mation, contact De Wolfe, ext. theaters. 328. Page 5
