Big Band Ball, concert planned for this weekend By J. Dana Haynes punch, coffee and cookies, will be served. Admission will be $5 for adults and $4 for This up-coming weekend students with student body will be a busy one for the identification cards. Clackamas Community Col­ On Sunday, May 20, the lege music department. On College choral and chamber Friday, May 18, the* annual orchestra will perform a con­ Big Band Ball will be held, cert in the mall, starting at followed by a concert on Sun­ 7:30 p.m. Admission for the day, May 20. show will be $2 for general The ball will feature the public, $1 for students, and Clackamas Community Col­ gold card holders will be lege Big Band, with LeRoy allowed in for free. Anderson, music department Choral Director Lonnie chairperson, conducting. Jean Marshall, music department Cline said the music to be per­ secretary, said the ball will in­ formed will be selected from clude much of the music per­ the music department’s up­ formed at the College’s Salute coming Canadian tour. “We’ll to the Big Bands, held May 6 perform a selected octavo at the Portland Civic Theater. from a variety of style periods, That concert featured music including some lighter music.” by such swing era greats as Cline said the selections Duke Ellington, Harry James, will include some renaissance Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and traditional classical pieces. and Glenn Miller. The Canadian trip will in­ The Big Band Ball will be held from 9 p.m.-midnight in clude concerts in Calgary and the Community Center Mall. Banff. The tour is slated for Light refreshments, including May 22-27. Of The Print BrotherSR ar HERS strike AGAIN—Blues man, took f'3S RannS‘Ored tl,e Associated Student ;‘The Brothers” were awarded “The Oinvn » e.nt eW°rts- Second place went to 8 “Boingos” and third to “Michael Jackson,” winning $50 and $25 respectively. Another group, “The Go’Go’s,” was dis­ qualified for having non-student members. However, the group appealed and a final deci­ sion will be reached at this week’s ASG meeting. Photo by Joel Miller Mn.™“,“ Haynes The Natural,” Robert Redford’s st movie in four years, is receiving me mixed reviews across the country, my opinion, it may be the best movie of 1984. , The show stars Redford and about u g°°d character actors in ollywood. Based on the novel of the name by Bernard Malamud, The Natural” is the story of a young man who wants to be the “best there ever was, or ever will be” in the game of baseball. Behind this dream is the talent to pull it off. Unfortunately the young man, Roy Hobbs (Redford), gets sidetracked by a strange and violent encounter (about which I may say very little) and spends the next 16 years in limbo. Un­ daunted,'Hobbs tries again to break in­ to the majors, at an age when most ball players retire. Lest I scare you away, be assured this is not a baseball movie, any more than “The Harder They Fall” was about boxing. Personally, I don’t much like baseball, but I sense, as so many writers and directors have, the folk-legend qualities and mythical essence of the game. To many people, baseball is America. Many movies and books have looked at baseball with an eye for fan­ tasy, including Ray Milland’s “It Hap­ Wednesday, May 16,1984 pens Each Spring” and the musical comedy “Damn Yankees.” “The Natural’’continues in this tradition, us­ ing elements of a classic fairy tales and folklore to tell the story. As a boy, Hobbs sees his father, (who taught him to play ball) die beneath a giant oak tree in their back yard. Later, a lightn­ ing bolt destroys the tree, and young Roy uses the wood to make his nigh- unbeatable bat, “Wonderboy.” The legend motif continues as Hobbs plays to perfection whenever he stays on the straight and narrow, and strikes out constantly whenever he varies or weakens. When seduced by the breathtaking Memo Paris (played by the breathtaking Kim Bassinger: “Never Say Never Again,” “The Man Who Loved Women”), Hobbs is a liability to his team, the New York Knights. After taking one glance at Iris, his childhood sweetheart (Glenn Close: “The World According to Garp,” “The Big Chill”), Hobbs hits homers galore. It would probably be a waste of your time and mine to say nice things about Redford. He is a quintessential actor, and although I have never seen him do anything I didn’t like, he’s much better here than usual. The rest of the cast compliments him nicely. Wilford Brimley (“High Road To China” and the only savable thing in “Absence of Malice”) and Richard Farnsworth (“The Grey Fox”) play Pop Fisher and Red Blow, the manager and batting coach of the Knights. Both actors have been around for a long while and know the value of good, soft-spoken, understated character acting. Consequently, Brimley and Farnsworth are wonderful in this flick. Robert Duvall (“Tender Mercies” and the original Frank Burns in Altman’s “M*A*S*H”) plays Max Mercy, a sleezy sports colum­ nist—there may be a redundency there, but never mind—out to find the secret behind this middle aged Natural. After Duvall’s phenomenally laid-back per­ formance in “Mercies,” seeing him play such a low . life is a shock. As always, he is marvelous here. The rest of the cast is as impressive and includes Barbara Hershey, Robert Prosky, Joe Don Baker, Alan Fudge and Darrin McGavin (who was so great in last winter’s “A Christmas Story”). Barry Levinson directed this show, and did a fine job. The pacing is slow but fine, the story engrossing, and the acting near-flawless. Whatever qualities each individual brings to a show, only a director can create this kind of chemistry. Another tip' of the hat goes to cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (“Black Stallion,” “Being There”). His work on “The Natural” is enchan­ ting, and worthy of Oscar notice. The musical score for the film was written by Randy Newman (“Ragtime”), who manages to create a wonderful feel for the era (twenties and thirties) by evoking memories of Erin Copeland and Scott Joplin. When all is said and done, “The Natural” (currently playing at the Southgate, Jantzen Beach, Rose Moyer, Town Center and Bagdad theaters) is beautiful and not-to-be- missed. Bravo. Page 5