VOLUME 25 - NUMBER 06 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1989

Woody's 'Crimes' Prince's 'Batman' Branagh's 'Henry V' Critics' Choices: Whatta Buncha Characters 12 with the man from Flint: page 16 1 64796 2

• Wxohuicwhewroeuthldiiysotyuacnhdoohsaedif trouble making quick dedsions? MH\"\"'.,• ~,'ll r'''u~'''' J'n~UQ·~r. :<1l'. ~ '. ~ f't,ltleJ II!.\" \" Ullllt.\" I:fill'B ktt \".,,:.,,1, I'rr1l11~1 pnh t~'., pruJ. 4'.: _l\\\\fllJ td,·'\" IN a ft.\\S fj(1\"~D«I The choice is simple. TM America chooses the less filling beer iliat tastes great.Miller Lite.

•Sl•SSUe published bimonthly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center Volume 25, Number 6 November-December, 1989 Flint Mobile ................... 16 Midsection: In Characters ........31 Not Roger Moore, Michael Creating reality out of person- Moore directed Roger & Me, the documentary sensation of ality, the character actor is the the Eighties: in which our hero, Moore, wheels about star-even in the celeb-satu- his hometown, Flint, Mich. chronicling the devastation rated Eighties. We asked crit- wrought when General Motors' Roger Smith closed ics and writers to word-process up shop and moved it to Mex- ico. In response, Flint chased th e ir odes on a yearn for fantasies, Moore chased Smith, and our autodidact, their favo rite non-household Harlan Jacobson, chased Moore around the New York names. Their paeans to peons Film Festival to address so me problems in the transmi ss ion . appear throughout the section. Eighties Bye-Bye ...............60 Above the line, David Thom- The Eighties belonged to one son reflects on what exactly man-a movie start-Ronald \" We begin bombing in five we mean by \"character actor\" minutes\" Reagan. Gregg Kilday charts the indu stry's (page 32). Beverly Walker unpoliced return to oligopoly, and Greil Marcus picks a traces the arc travelled by char- score of pictures and cinema- bilia that tried to either tackle acter actors from potted palm or outrun the Gipper. to super-star (58). Acting men- tors Jeff Corey, Brad Dourif, and William Hickey reveal the methods to their mood s to Pat McGilligan (40), i,;~~ Marlaine Glicksman (44) and Gavin Smith (52), respectively. Len Klady has the dope on acting teachers (41), while Jack Barth hails the ri se of a new bree d of celebrity-actor who gets paid for being him/herself. (46). Also in this issue: like Woody, finds peace of mind in the which looked verdi goo d to H arlan ritual visit to the mov ies. Kenned y. Journals ....................2 The King is dead , long live the King: The Atom Boom ............27 Prince and the Show-Bat. .....76 Graham Fuller eyes England's young- Young-Armenian (by way of Canada) Prince's Batdance and Partyman vid- est king , Kenneth Branagh , who director Atom Egoyan has made his eos are smarter and more fun than th e mounts a Henry V not for the Olivier third feature, Speaking Parts, which afi- Bat-pic that spawned them. Armond court but for the Batman bratpack; and cionados at the New York Film Festival White hangs upside down to turn it all Everett Mattlin recalls a chat with called the true sex, lies , and video- inside out. Cary Grant. tape. Amy Taubin cuts to the chase. Letters ....................79 Shtick 'em up ............... 11 Festivaliana ................68 Responses to Do the Right Thing , In Woody Allen's age of the victorious Reports from the 27th New York Film Country, and TNT. shlemiel is over; the bad guys really do Festival by Lisa Katzman , the 14th win in the end. But Marcia Pally pays Toronto Festival of Festivals by David Back Page: Quiz #40 .........80 Crimes and Misdemeanors a call and, Chute, and the 46th Venice Mostra, Cover photo by Harlan Jacobson. Editor: Harlan Jacobson . Editorial Director: Richard Co rliss. Senior Editor: Marlaine Glicksman. Assistant Ed itor: Gavin Smith . Art Director and Cover Design: Elliot Schulman . Assistant Art Director: Em il Wilson. Advertising and C irculation Manager: Tony Impav ido. Business Manager: Doris Fellerman. Production: Deborah Dichter Edmonds. West Coast Editor: Anne Thompson . European Editor: Harlan Kennedy. Research Consultant: Mary Corli ss. Controller: Domingo Hornilla, Jr. Executive Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center: Joanne Koch. FILM COMMENT (ISSN 0015-119X) is published bim onthly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, 140 W. 65 th Sr. , New York, NY 10023. Second-class postage paid at New York , NY and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send address changes to FILM COMMENT. P.O. Box 3000, Denville. NJ 07834- 9925 . Copyright © 1989 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in FILM COMMENT do not rep resent Film Society of Linco ln Center policy. Publication is made possible in part by support from the New York State Coun cil on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts . This publication is fully protected by domestic and international copyrighr. Subscription rates in the United States: $ 14.95 for 6 numbers, $26.95 for 12 numbers. Elsewhere, $37 for 6 numbers, $70 for 12 numbers, payable in U.S. fund s only. New subscribers should include their occupations and zip codes. Distributed by Eastern News Distributors , Sandusky, OH 44870. 1

ounlals Two Kings Kenneth Branagh with Emma Thompson in Henry V. \"My greatest desire cedent. Henry V was never likely to be was to take the curse accepted fo r co mpe tition at Cannes in K ENNETH ofmedievalism offit, th e year of France's big bash (it fetched so that the Batman up in th e market in stead), no matter that \"Small time: but in that small , most it portrays the F re nch with great d ignity g rea tLy Lived/ This sta r of EngLand \" audiences could or th at Branagh's is, by a long chalk , the (He nry V, II; ii) see it.\" most eloque nt British directori al deb ut of the year. K e nneth Branagh was 23 whe n co in c ides w ith th e 75 th a nd 50 th he fi rst played Henry V fo r the ann ive rsa ries of the outbrea ks of the Ta king its cue fro m Dere k Jacobi's Royal S hakes pea re Company F irst and Seco nd World Wars and the C hor us, who stroll s through th e d is- (RSC) in 1984. T he 20-m onth run at bi cente nnial of the Fre nch Revolution. carded p ro ps and e lectrica l pa raph e r- Stratford and Lo ndo n's Barbica n co nse- C ritics are eagerl y comparing Bra nagh's nali a of a dese rte d S he pp e rto n c rated his tro ubled warrior-king-a pac i- $8 .2 m ill io n film with the e pic Laure nce sounds tage, invoking a purely cine matic fi st w it h thu g te nd e nc ies - as th e O li vie r (a 36-yea r-o ld H arr y) shot in \" mu se of fire, th at wo uld ascend th e definiti ve H arr y of the Fa lkland s dec- 1944 as a patriotic fi llip for the approach brightes t heave n of invent io n;' Branagh ade. Last year, at 27 (the age at which of D-Day, alth ough stu de nts of Anglo- was ob vio us ly e nraptured with th e H arry massac red the French at Agin- F re nch te nsio ns mi ght rega rd Jo hn noti o n of fi nd ing a pos t-PLatoon-era co urt), he direc te d and starred in hi s Phil ip Kemble's poi nted 1789 rev ival of mise-en-scene to match S hakespea re's o,,, n screen adap tation of the play for his the p lay at D rury Lane as its true ante- poetry -by turn s, proud , be lli cose, compa ny, Re naissa nce. It is a ga lva niz- affec ti o nate, te rribl e, a ngui shed. Th e ing and accessibl e vers ion but also a film's gu iltiest pleasures are H arry's fero- darkly am biguous conft ation of intoxi- cious call to arm s at H arfteur and the cated jingo ism and mournful di sgust at nationalistic fervor of the St. C rispin's th e foulness of war. D ay speech-qu alified by the image of the D uke of York vo miting blood as he T he release of Branagh's Henry V (o n the eve of Veterans' Day in America) 2

\"A thupendouth thur\"htal guide to a desthpicahle husiness.\" -Daffv Duck Chuck Jones, creator of Pepe Ie Pew, the Road Runner, and Wile E. Covote, winner of three Academv Awards and director of scores of Warner Brothers cartoon classics, relates the ups and downs and ins and outs of averv laughable business. \"Chuck Jones is acomic genius, up there with Keaton and Mack Sennett.\" - Steven Spielberg Available at bookstores evervwhere, or call 1-800-631-8571.





is skewered o n French swo rd s; H arry's Branagh's modulated perfo rm ance - as ca l iso lati on whe n preparing H arry for sile nt howl of grief in the quagmire; and an offi cer decorated fo r his bravery, the n Stratford. Branagh may yet be knighted hi s carrying of the murdered boy (C hri s- os tracized for hi s homosexuality- and befo re he is 30, but cut away the cliches tian Bale) across a mil e of carn age - o ne the si ngle scene of F irth fl ailing around and sta nd him bes ide his peers (beside of the lo ngest trac king shots in ci ne m a in the mud forges a link be tween O 'Co n- Gary Oldman , beside Daniel Day hi sto ry, Tarkovs kian in its post-apoca- no r's film and Henry V, bot h ph oto- Lewis), and he emerges as the mo st lyp tic sweep. g raph ed by Kenne th MacMillan. cheerfull y provincial of heirs appare nt to Though we ca n expect a greater the- the thro ne- the o nl y o ne w ith the vision The full panoply of med ieval vvarfare, m atic and s ty li stic co ns isten cy in or, as far as we know, the drive and ver- g ild ed by th e Malorian trad iti o n of Branagh's screen career, \"out of fear,\" be satility to write, direct, and run hi s own knights in shining arm or, was o n display ad mits, \"q uite a lot of Henry was story- show. in Olivier's Henry V. Branagh's film , no boarded in my head . I felt I had to be less co mposed , is harsh and visceral, its bold with im ages whe n I tried to per- B o rn in Be lfast in 1960 and raised mud, slaughter, and gore more redo le nt suade people to part with money or to away from th e Troubles, in run-of- of the Somme or Goose Green than joi n the crew. When yo u're try ing to pick th e- mill Read ing, Bra nag h s p ea ks Came lot. \" M y g reat desire;' says a c ine m atic style for so mething that's unplummily, proleing up his woodwind Branagh, \"was to make it loo k like a film come out of the theater, people get very vo ice with ple nty of me's (\"I th ought the of today, to take the curse of med ievalism worried, but I dug my hee ls in and said , bold stateme nts in the film should be off it, so th at the Batman audie nces 'This can wo rk-how do we do it?' And me ow n\") , an d ain 't's , like th e lowe r- could co nce iva bly be persuaded to see it. the crew rose to those challenges-even middle-class hearty he is. A junior boo k th ough it might m ean laying 500 feet of rev iewer for the Reading Evening Post in '1\\ 11 the eyew itn ess accounts make it track for a single shot.\" hi s earl y teens, he opted fo r amate ur so und like a dreadful sc rum. Thirty th ea tricals and The Roya l Acade my of th ousa nd French died largely because If this is a eulogy, the n it is not the th ey fell over in the mud and were bur- ied by othe r men and falling horses. It wasn't a great Arthuri an ad ve nture at all . They mu st have shit the mselves with fear, and I wa nted to co nvey that te rror. It was wo rth doing thi s piece now, to sugges t not an obscure medieval battle but a time less conftict- beca use clearly we have n't see n e nough wars to sto p us from fi ghting:' T he Co ld War might be o n ho ld, but The battle against France: adreadful serum. Dramatic Arts (RADA) rathe r th an slog o th e r wars sca rce ly recede, still through local papers , and made a quick she ll shoc kin g o ur co ll ec ti ve m emo ry, first Branagh has received . Actor-writer- breakthrough as the Marxist schoo lboy, still shaftin g us in the head . Paralleling manager of the upstart Renaissance Tommy Judd , in Juli an Mitchell 's H ollywood's fi xati on w ith Vie tn am vets Theatre Co mpany, hero of TV drama , Another Country in the West End in '8 1. is a crop of ge nerati o n-stradd ling British bridegroom of the excellent actress- His renditions of Tennyson's 1400-line m ov ies abo ut the cas ualties of 19 14-1 8 co medienne Emma Thompson, and \"Maud\" in lunchtime theater led to his and '82: Derek Jarman's War Requiem re lu c tant autobi ograp he r, he has, just (Olivier's las t film) , a sile nt accompani- rece ntl y, in spired a thesauru s of populist cas tin g as H e nry V. He had his own me nt to the complex mu sical piece Be n- hybe rbo les, most tiresomely as the new play, Tell Me Honestly, produ ce d in jamin Britte n based on Wilfred Owen's Olivier. In Britain , the media are spoil- frontline poetry and th e Latin re quie m ing for a Bran agh backlash ; they ca,nnot Newcastle, ap pea red in C lare Peploe's mass; Changing Step , a BBC film abo ut cope with success, espec iall y so meo ne film High Season, the n sunk $50,000 of WWI in va lid s writte n by ac to r/ novelist e lse's . And Branagh is prod ig iou sly suc- Antony S he r; Rich ard Eyre's Tumble- cessful. hi s earnings (raising $425,000 m o re down, abo ut maim ed Falklands vet Lt. from private in vesto rs) into Re naissance. Robert Lawrence (Colin Firth); Martin Olivier's rece nt death and Branagh's S te llm an's For Queen and Country , ri se pro mpt s an e pigram : th e king is Co nceived as a players' theater, the ab o ut a soc ia ll y maltrea ted bl ac k dead , lo ng li ve th e king. But despite co mpany has enabled acto rs Judi Falklands vet (Denzel Washington); and critical acclaim and a pe nchant for crea- Dench, Geraldine McEwan, Jacobi, and Paul Greengrass' Resurrected , the true ti ve auton o my, Branagh ve ntures that he Branagh him self to direct Shakespeare. story of a Briti sh so ldie r (David is the man who wo uld not be king; like It hasn't carried all before it- Branagh's Th ew li s) w ho we nt mi ss in g in th e Harry, he is m odes t in hi s constant play Public Enemy, about a Cagney- Falklands and was lynched as a coward reso lve. H e did , however, write to Prince obsessed Belfas t e ntertaine r, made sub- by hi s \"mates\" back in Blighty. C harl es, w ho beca m e Re nai ssa nce's stantial losses, but it has thrown down patro n, for an in side track o n mo narch i- the gauntle t to the staid , director-ori- Also part of thi s group is Pat O 'Con- ented, bureau c ra cy-steeped RSC and nor's e legiac film of ],L. Ca rr's A Month in the Country , in which Branagh and Firth pl ay two so ldie rs traumati zed in th e tre nches and healing the m selves in the ir wo rk at a Yorkshire vill age c hurch . 6

National T heatre. Branagh's critics have SCHOOL OF THE ARTS disparaged his e ntrepre neurial te nacity, dubbing him a model of T hatcherite Film scholarship demands free e nte rpri se, but he says he is com- the finest resources. mitte d to seeking public fundin g fo r Re naissance. We provide them. Branagh is an inte llectu al acto r, not The Department of Cinema Studies at yet at th e full range of hi s power. H e the Tisch School of the Arts, New York could cut it as a dithering yo ung hubby University, offers graduate students the in a BBC sitco m about v icars, dogs, and resources essential to the scholarly mothe r-in-Iaws; he was n't far fro m th at studyof film. Our MA. and Ph.D. pro- as the acade mic G uy Pringle, who loves grams in cinema studies provide: but neglects his wife in Fortunes of Wa r, • Rigorous studyof history, criticism, a full-fl e dged evocati o n of E ng li sh and aesthetics woo lly-minded ness. Comedy may prove • Exposure to new methodologies- Branagh's trum p ca rd : Pepl oe und e r- semiotics, psychoanalysis, structuralism, stood the funn y si de of th at res idual pro- historiography, and post-structuralism v in c iali s m whe n s he cas t him as a • Personal viewing/study facilities-flat- priggish, bungling civil servant te mpo- beds, analytic projector, and video raril y e nli ve ne d by seas hore sex with equipment Jacq ue line Bisset in High Season; and • Access to materials-the department's he re in ve nted Touchsto ne as a cockney own holdings; rare material fromthe spi v in McE,va n's As You Like If. William Everson Collection, the Museum of Modern Art, and New York As fo r hi s sc ree n H arry, ve lvet- City's manycinemas, libraries, and wrapp e d hamm e r of th e F re nc h , archives. Branagh is gende r and more psychotic Our faculty includesAntonia Lant, Olivier's recent death Annette Michelson, Richard Allen, and Branagh's rise William K Everson, Robert Sklar, prompt an epigram: Robert Starn, and William Simon, chair. the king is dead, long For information, return the coupon live the king. or call (212) 998-1600. th an O li vie r's ste nto ri an warlord . Him- nsch School of the Arts Please send me information on the Cinema Studies self a puritan ro mantic with dirt unde r Program. his fin gernail s, he plays the king with New York University D Graduate D Undergraduate the co mmon touch , a We lsh wa rri or (o r 721 Broadway, 7th Floor D Junior Year in New York D Summer Sessions te rri e r) fo r th e wo rkin g d ay, m o re NewYork, NY. 10003 Name _________________________ R ic hard Burto n th an Dirk Boga rd e, Attn.: Dr. Roberta Cooper more Neil Kinnock th an C hurchill. And Address ________________________ less G ie lgud th an G uinness: thi s H arry, New York University is an affirmative action! yo u wa nt to buy him a pint. equal opportunity institution. City_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ \"I wanted to make him as hum an as Fe IJJ1J89 State/Zip Code _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ poss ible, but as vulnerable as poss ible. Because it was part of a film th at wanted Telephone_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ to boost morale, Olivie r's perform ance pre se nted a tre m e nd o us ly reso lve d , Soc. Sec. No. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ glam orous, handsome hero. But the text indicates a man of doubt who has to suppress his own innate vio le nce, who is volatile and unpred ictable. I wa nted to cl ose in with th e ca me ra, to see the un settl e d inn e r m a n , th e fli c ke rs of uncertainty in hi s eyes. T he me dium allowed me to release th at bit of th e pe r- form ance, whi ch was much harde r to do at Stratford. H arry just ain't bl ack and white : ' -GRA H AM FuLLER 7

Cary Grant: Mr. Elegance. ing me, \"Marilyn was abandoned when sment with LSD. As editor of GentLemen she was two. Her ego was destroyed. All ...AND CARy the psychiatrists in the world can't save Quarterly, I often interviewed male fash- the orphan:' ionables while photographers grimly T here he was, Cary Grant, idol wielded their Nikons, and Grant was, of the Western world, in khakis It was 1964 and Grant had been sev- after all, as The New York Times pro- and green-striped sport sh irt, era l years in therapy, treatment that claimed in its obituary headline, \"the seated on a hassock beside his pool, tell- included his widely publicized experi- ep itome of elegance.\" I had actually done a story on him earlier about his suits and city clothes; this time was to be his casual wardrobe as photographed at his home in Palm Springs. There were five of us in the car driv- ing to the Springs from Los Angeles: myself; the photographer Hal Adams and his assistant; a hired driver; and Norma, my cousin, who had begged to come along and whose request, against all professionalism, I had agreed to. We headed straight for Ken Johnson's Smoke Tree Ranch, outside the Springs, where Grant hired his horses. He was waiting for us, in Levis, deeply tanned , looking great-he was just shy of 60-and smiling warmly. Indeed , he greeted us as though old friends. I got my questions out of the way about Grant's desert wardrobe, the time he spent in the Springs (about a month a year) and his riding. He said he rode every morning, and though he had been at it only a few years, had come to love the \"therapeutic\" value of being alone in the hills , the quiet, the beauty, the feel of the horse between his thighs. He also extolled the virtues of an activity in which men of power and their under- lings share the bustle of the ranch house in the early morning and help one another rather than compete, as in sports. It was a theme I heard often dur- ing the day-the virtues of camaraderie and bonding, the sad waste of competi- tiveness and strife. During the morning shoot he was endlessly and contagiously enthusiastic and cheerfu l, laughing often, joshing with Ken , totally cooperative. He was happy to change shirts and western-style vests for us, to let Hal take as many pic- tures as he wanted, suggesting others himself and falling into the best poses, without direction. As Norma pointed out, he enjoyed being photographed- not, as one might think, common to those who are used to being on stage or set. Most celebrities we photographed for the magazine despised the whole business and wanted it over with as quickly as possible. Rex Harrison, I remember, was testy, and Fred Astaire impatient and sulky. Grant was so gracious and charming, I began to wonder if the man was natu- rally that warm and outgoing or whether 8

he was putting it on. Then I realized if to tip too much, that I'd spoil the \" he were acting, the role was now second Springs. His house-Spanish style, nature to him. He once said-and it was quite modest-was almost devoid of fur- widely quoted at his death-that he cre- niture. He explained that his last wife, ated his screen personality and \"became Betsy Drake, had taken most if it, but that man in life. Or he became me. Or they had been divorced for two years. we met at some point:' Everyone Grant came in contact with, from the rich and When the picture-taking was over, we celebrated to shopkeepers and wait- all lazed around the pool and chatted. resses , commented on his charm and He was most solicitous , fetching drinks cordiality. If he manufactured that per- and snacks and asking each of us about sona, it was an extraordinary achieve- ourselves with an interest that seemed flatteringly genuine. He didn't seem to ment. want us to pack up and be off. We were When Hal finished, Grant drove his certainly in no hurry to leave Cary Ford station wagon to the Pancake Grant. House where we had lunch, Norma and T he psychology continued: we all I with him. He asked if she worked. want to get back into the womb, When she replied she taught design at a to oblivion. During the sex act we come California college, his response was part way. The love act that is quick is sharp: \"Oh, you're one of those people unhealthy; we should stay as near the who try to force your tastes on others, womb as long as possible to fulfill eh?\" People should develop their own tastes , he said, and he didn't much care instinctual needs. LSD, he said, had for colleges anyway. He would never given him something like a mystical send a son of his; the way to be success- experience. It had taught him accept- ful was to get out and learn about the ance and the unimportance of things. world-look at all the people of little ')\\ccept\" was an important word for him. education who got to the top \"out here\"! It was the source of his projected con- More opinions were offered over tentment with life. When I protested (TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR YOU) lunch, most pop-psych inspired: that that some things need be resisted, war is the result of sexual repression- fought rather than accepted, he smiled we hold back our orgasms until they and said, ')\\nti's only build up more explode in one big orgasm. If there were anti's:' And, what is there to resist, since Give a little attitude with this years New York Film Festival T-Shirt. unfettered, polymorphous lovemaking, \"all opposites are really the same\"? He Opening Night Film title \"Trap Belle Pour Toi!\" there would be peace and harmony. I also mentioned that he believed in rein- is printed on the front, english translation and asked about nationalism as a cause of carnation. 27th New York Film Festival on the back. war, and political and economic rivalries, He talked about an operation that Printed in two tres chic colors but since that didn't interest him, it had he'd had for the removal of a cyst on his on a white, 100% pre-shrunk cotton T-shirt. Available in sizes nothing to do with war. He admitted he forehead. He said he'd hyp notized him- S, M, L, XL. Children with attitude, one size only, 2-4. seldom read the newspaper. self before and needed no anesthetic. That he then healed the incision more G rant's many opinions were offered rapidly by taking deep breaths, directing not with the intensity of an ideo- the purifying oxygen to his forehead logue, but in hearty good humor-the and, when exhaling, concentrating on bonhomie seldom lapsed-yet with cer- the fact that he was ridding his body of titude all the same. He conveyed the contaminated air. He claimed he learned impression of a man who had discovered such mysteries during his vaudeville the secrets of the universe and had days from Sufis, whose act had con- Available in limited number. price includes thereby learned to live wisely. sisted of driving nail s, painlessly, postage and handling. He once told a reporter that he never through their palms. I enclose for T-shirts at $12 each dieted, ate everything, then mopped up He asked our whole crew to join him I enclose for T-shirts at $9 each others' plates-dubious statements, for dinner, at a Mexican restaurant, and Adult size S M L XL since Grant never turned fat, like, say, this time he treated. He had beer, then James Cagney. But at lunch he had a wine, and again ate a very large meal, Children stack of pancakes rich with butter and mopping up guacamole with chips. Din- Name syrup, eggs and bacon and several ner over, he was off to Will Wright's for Address glasses of iced tea with lots of sugar. In ice cream and asked if we'd join him. City/State Zip the afternoon, after we went back to his But everyone was too full. After affec- Daytime Phone house for more pictures in non-riding tionate goodbyes, we drove off, stopping Mail coupon. check or m .o . payable to: casual attire, he had at least three beers to fill up at a gas station. To our surprise, The Film Society of Lincoln Center. -Coors, not imported. He did seem to Grant's wagon pulled up alongside. He 140 West 65th Street. New York . NY 10023 be, as reputed, careful about money. was worried we might take a wrong turn or use postage paid envelope in this magazine. The stable, he mentioned, was \"very and miss the highway. Allow 6 weeks for delivery. reasonable:' He warned me at lunch not -EvERETT MATTLIN 9

New York Boston Chicago Dallas Houston Los Angeles Philadelphia San Francisco Washington London Corporate Headquarters: Julien J. Studley , Inc . 300 Park Avenue New York, New York 10022 212-326-1000

For He's A Jolly Good Felony rimes' No ne of thi s is ove rt in Ha nnah Aa ron), a wa rm , depe ndable but lo ne ly by Marcia Pally wo man, is di sturbingly mi streate d by a beyo nd the wink of th e unlike ly e nding; boyfri e nd. In th e co urse of th e film , T hough it's take n a few yea rs, I've none of th ese wrangles co me to a rea- co m e to so m e sa ti sfac ti o n it is explicit in Crimes . While many of so nabl e o r ju st so luti o n . T he s iste r about th e e nd of Hannah and d oes n't find a nice guy; C liff (as Alle n's Allen's film s in th e las t te n yea rs have charac te r is ca ll ed) rips up hi s m arriage Her Sisters. As much as I ad mire d th e broache d thi s fun c ti o n of film (m o re o nl y to have Farrow reject him fo r an broa dl y, th e fun c ti o n o f fantasy a nd affa bl e but s upe rfi c ial produ cer (A lan film , I could never swa ll ow th at rosy roll im agin ati o n), none has so ambitiously Aid a) . M os t gro tesq ue ly, Jud ah (L an- of Th anksgiving dinners whe re pass ion pitche d th e ass urances of c ine m a again st d au's o phth alm o log ist) murd e rs th e and security blosso m togeth er and guide th e freq ue nt inju stices of li fe. Next to c1 ingingly despe rate stewardess in so me eac h co uple thro ug h th e yea rs in th e co nfu sed , egoce ntri c effort to avo id fess- boso m of the ir gracio us family. Woody Crimes, The Purple Rose of Cairo is a ing up to hi s wife (Cla ire Bl oo m)- and ge t s away w ith it. As if thi s we re n't Alle n's Crimes and Misdemeanors sug- prime r, a first ru n. e nough, C liffs me nto r- a professo r who Set am ong loosely co nnecte d fri e nd s taught an optimi stic phil osophy des pite gests a way out of the treac le. hi s experie nces und er th e Naz is-s ud- G ooey fin ales, Alle n says , are what and families in conte mporary N ew York , de nl y and inexpli cably co mmits s ui cide. T he fi lm's m ost deserving and ge ne rous mov ies are for. Th ey permit us to rid e Crimes begins with sm all betraya ls and c harac te r- a rabbi , no less (pl ayed by challe nges and dangers through to th e Sa m Wate rsto n) - suffe rs from an intrac- satisfy ing end s th at do n't pan out in life. infidelities sneaking through th e verite table eye d isease and goes blind. All th e In this light, Allen winks at his viewers dialogue th at ha s warmed All e n film s best guys fini sh las t. with th e very imp robability of Hannah's since Annie Hall. A happily m arried and e nding: he and we know th e soothing well-respected ophth alm ologist (Martin fin a le is sus pec t- c ert a inl y we ca n't Land au ) has an affa ir with a fli g ht expect th e likes of it in life -but we wa nt atte ndant (Anje lica H ouston). An ear- it anyway. We suspe nd di sbe lief, and the nes t d oc um e ntary filmm ake r (A ll e n) , balm he lps us alo ng no matter how co n- bored with his wife Ooanna G le aso n), cocted or preposte ro us. tries to seduce a yo ung te lev ision pro- ducer (M ia Farrow); hi s siste r (Ca ro line You can'tfake faith, T hro ug ho ut thi s g raves t of All e n pl o t s, th e c ha rac te rs p o nd e r and ifyou don't believe whe th e r good is eve ntu a ll y reward e d and ev il pun is hed. Ca n we re ly o n God , in God you have to. o r at leas t o n so m e preva ilin g m o ral ll, you have to go to another mOVle.

1 Anjelica Huston (I.) overshadows Claire Bloom and Martin Landau (r.) in Crimes and Misdemeanors. fo rce? All en is agnos ti c; it ce rtainl y Allens 20-year body of ate but a legitim ate salve - and Crimes is does n't appea r th at good and ev il get work is a kitschen sink Alle n's mos t fo rcefull y re ligious work. the ir d ue. T he ophth alm ologist, Alle n's ofJewish storytelling, Mos t at peace at th e e nd of th e film is most poi nted example, prospers in th e the rabbi , who co nfide ntly says that faith face of his cr imes, co nte nt at home and with self-mockery, in an ove rrid ing justice makes life not work. To rub it in , the fin al shot of Judah paranoia and o nly bearable but joyous; he dances at captures him embracing his adoring wife hypochondria his daughte r's wedding, dark glasses not- un der an archway that echoes the chu- thrown in. with standing. Judaism here is not the pah , th e Jewish wedding canopy, thi s nostalgia of Radio Days but a pe rtine nt fil m's most pote nt symbol of happy e nd- war or, in the case of Crimes , C liffs doc- sys te m of th ought and a pe rsuas ive way ings. Yet agnosticism , however realistic, umentary on acid rain . Such film s have to orde r o ne's life. Like (othe r) myth s is too harsh a vis io n for living. Cynicism , us flirt with chaos ; th ey ev ince an and fi ctio ns, it offe rs an unde rstanding accord ing to All e n, is in suffi cie nt, and unju st, irrational universe-like Judah's of th e world th at is ultim ately reli able we co nstru ct o ur fantas ies to avo id it. mov ie, where malice goes unpuni shed. and just, and so comforting. It doesn't Yet beneath th e brutality lie s th e matter, any more than it matters ~h at W he never C liff needs a lift fro m life's ass umption that we are grounded and mov ies are not real, that doctrine cannot di sappointments, he spe nd s afte rnoo ns protected by co nsiste nt principles, and be proved. If yo u jump into the swim of at the mov ies, and in a roundabout way so we leave the theater feeling very good a sto ryline or re ligio n, yo u have already at the e nd of the film , expl ains the \"fi x\" about how bad we feel at the sight of leapt into fa ith . Suspe nsion of disbelief to Ju da h. Crimes closes with the mar- suffe ring. Th e world seems an orde rl y is, afte r all , be lief, however intermitte nt. riage of the rabb i's daughte r whe re, in pl a c e. one of th ose ''I'm o n the groom's side, All e n recogni zes th at re ligio n and yo u m ust be o n the bride's\" co nversa- A murde r and frequ e nt misde mean- c in e m a are no t inte rc ha ngeabl e pre- ti o ns, Jud a h offe rs C liff a pl o t fo r a ors comprise Crimes's \"reality\" and in it , cisely, and gives the rabbi a buoyed calm mov ie whe re a man co mmits a murder no score is settled ; ne ith e r the small th at el udes th e film ma ke r, C liff. But yo u and is never found out. C liff rejects the misbe haviors nor tragedies get the ir des- can't fake faith , and if yo u do n't believe sto ry, in sisting th at the murde r affect the serts. But the fin al chat betwee n C liff in a pres iding God yo u have to. .. well , man's life lest the re be no tragedy- at and Judah ass ures us that we have th e yo u have to go to anothe r mov ie. botto m , no film. For C liff, Jud ah has right to comfo rting cl osure, at least in m issed th e point of fi cti on . fantasies and myth s - and that is a happy H ardly a film has go ne by in the last e nding all its own . decade in which Alle n has n't co n- In the myth s and fa ntas ies we create, si de re d th e uses of fi cti o ns . Stardust ac ti o ns w ith o nl y ra nd o m effec ts are Alle n risks o ne mo re point in Crimes , Memories (1 980) is devoted e ntire ly to q uite useless. We co nstruct fi cti o ns pre- s ugges ting th at soo thing clos ure is a th e di sc rep ancy be tween the lark we cisely so th at we may slip - if o nly fo r prope r purpose of religio n- not an opi- be lieve stardom to be and the e mbar- th e d urati o n of the novel or film-into a rass ing tumult th at it is. Ye t as Alle n wo rld th at adhe res to some ratio nal, eth- co nfesses to his viewers th e \"real\" disar- ica l fo rm . Pate ntl y c lea r in m ov ies , ray, he te ll s a tale of anti-glamour in whe re th e bad guys are das hed and the w hi c h he sta rs as th e anti-h e ro -in he ro gets the girl and the gelt , it's also short , he spin s a seco nd fi ctio n. Audi- true of, say, film s about th e ho rro rs of 12

I A witty, sed.uctive peek into the days and nights of a woman who, fo~ a livin~ brings life, love and laughter to her clients.

ences are as much assuaged by identify- frequentl y playing the fool , as Allen does) would likely lose both women in a ing with Allen, sc rambling away from does, for their audiences' pleasure. In bloody divorce, but in Hannah the tan- Felliniesque crowds and failing to get a fact, Broadway Danny Rose is itself a gles pan out in the best of all possible handle on things (who hasn't had days tall tale-the rosied reminiscences of a. worlds, which includes the equally like that?) as they would be identifying bunch of comics gulping pastrami sand- improbable marriage of the third sister with the Barrymores. As the film winds wiches between gigs, telling (again) the: with the first sister's former husband to a tidy close, they're given the sense of one about the two-bit manager named \" many years later;' as Allen lyrically puts having a grip on their own hectic lives. Rose (Allen) , as though his incompetent it. If this isn't a vote for happy endings, fumblings were grand adventure. He nothing is. Those who criticized Stardust as even gets the shiksa (Mia Farrow) in the egregious self-aggrandizement on Allen's final reel. The 1987 September was most nota- part also came away massaged by it: if ble for its murkiness, but on one point it you can't join the rich and famous, beat In 1985 , Allen followed with The is clear. Of all the friends and relations 'em. Allen's critics were offended that he Purple Rose of Cairo , perhaps hi:5 who wee kend in Vermont, only the -their smart-alecky buffoon-dared to sweetest homage to fantasy. In the show-biz mom , with an overactive portray himself as a romantic lead but Albany, N.Y., of the Depression , an capacity for fantas y, has any clue to hap- seemed to condescend to them . Want- abused, whimpering wife (Farrow, again) piness. Played by Elaine Stritch, this ing him to remain jester to their court, takes to the movies to get away from her mom believes what she tells herself and they mocked his filmm aking when they loutish husband , and who should walk tells herself what she needs to hear, a couldn't mock the character. In the end, into her life but the hero (Jeff Daniels) of strategy that makes her cheerful and those who laughed at Allen , the director, her favorite melodrama (titled \"The Pur- energetic. Her new husband finds her a gave th emse lves the sa me boost as ple Rose of Cairo\"), literally off the boon. those who laugh at Allen's many roles. screen and into her arms to save the day He is someone ,ve can feel better than . -in the movie in her mind . In Crimes, In a candid bow to the Lana Turner In hi s scripts that toe the line, he obliges Allen simply asks the question: who's to story, Stritch's onscreen daughter (Far- by doing the mocking himself. The row) years ago shot one of mom's boy- 1983 Zelig , for instance, set him up as In Crimes, characters friends, or perhaps mom shot him and clown and the brunt of every joke. wonder out loud how daughter agreed to take the blame to to grapple with evil keep her mother out of jail. In either Inserting the made-up character of thatflourishes and case, Allen more than raises an eyebrow Leonard Zelig (played by Allen) into the good that's punished; at this twist of plot. Mom was able to great photo-ops of the 1\\\",enties, Zelig Allen answers that heal old wounds by imagining a happier becomes our representative who on one fiction is the only way \"rest of her life\" (perhaps one needs an hand, joins the elite (and takes us with he knows to get by. overactive imagination to survive such him) ; and on the other, acts the ridicu- trauma) but never saw to it that her lous twerp- we feel quite superior to say her solution is any worse than the daughter has as buoying a vision. this nebish rubbing shoulders with rabbi's? No wonder they called those Grown, the daughter limps from one Freud and Mussolini. Best, we feel chivalrous gents matinee idols. Two unsuccessful love to another, incessantly superior to Freud and Mussolini, who years later in Radio Days , Allen did for blowing her nose. The rest of the become ludicrous by association with Forties radio what Purple Rose did for humorless lot (Dianne Wiest, Sam Zeli g's t wea ky figure and are finally studio-era romances, pitting his noisy, Waterston, and Denholm Elliott) also reduced to farce. lowbrow family against the (imagined) love mournfully in performances with glamour of radio stars who dangle ebony the emotional range of post-nasal drip. Beneath all this play, Allen exposes cigarette holders against slinky lame the sweep of ficti o n. The mom e nt we gowns, as they slide through deco halls Tvvo unhappy women become foils- cram events (in thi s case, those between and the likes of the Rainbow Room. or films-for each other in last year's the world wars) into newsree ls, evening Most of all, Allen pays tribute to the jazz aptly titled Another Woman. Gena TV, or memory-much less movies or of hi s yo uth that no doubt lured him into Rowlands plays a successful but rigid books -we make stories of them·. With hours of lavish fantasies . college professor who one day over- arbitrary beginnings, middles and ends, hears, through her apartment heating we mold them to the meanings we wan t. Unlike these earlier films , Hannah vent, a young woman (Farrow) telling In sinuating the fi ctitiou s Zelig into his- and Her Sisters (1986) is set in contem- her story to a therapist. When the tory remind s us th at we regularly make porary Manhattan among characters women meet, Rowlands shares her own \"reality\" into lo re that su its and soothes who resemble the audience, and marks story, and Farrow reads out of Rowland's us. Zelig and Rashomon end on the Allen's shift to composing gratifying past the \"movie\" that she needs. With same note. A mino r character in Crimes fin ales even for realistic plots . In worka- steadied co nfidence, Farrow leaves ther- says it thi s way : in a flashbac k to Judah's day New York, a man who was reckless apy; in turn, Rowland's spirit improves yo uth, an aunt rem arks that had Hitler enough to have an affair with his wife's as she watches Farrow's tale to its end. won the war, the Nazis would've pre- sister (as the Michael Caine character She return s to her life with an ease and se nted the Holocaust as a hou se gift , generosity she hasn't known in a long wrapped with their own happy e nd. time-resolution that smacked of unre- ality and suggests a finish rigged for the A lie n continued to explore fiction photo. and fantasy in the 1984 Broadway Danny Rose, a sa lute to th e stand-up Though no one could have seen it at comics of the borscht belt. These guys the time, \"Oedipus Wrecks;' Allen's seg- made funny sto ries out of life's lump s, ment of the New York Stories triptych, now seems like a kitsch .rehearsal for 14

Crim es . Th e e mph ati c Jew ishn ess is late ly) uni ve rsal underd og wo uld relish joke fall fl at. th ere along with the in sistence o n happy chew ing this bo ne. N eal Gabl er un derstood thi s tas te for ends - in fa c t , bein g Jewish is the happy end . Allen's inimitably neurotic Jew ish lo re overfl ows with tales of fantasy in his recent book, An Empire oj Sheld on Millste in has no peace till he righteo us me n bl essed in th e afte rlife Their Own: How the Jews invented Hol- gets rid of th at shiksa (Farrow, again) afte r hav ing been beggars in thi s one. lywood . W ith th e ir skill s and appetite and settles down with a wife his moth er T hough thi s simple soothing developed for storytelling, immigrant Jews went to c o uld love (Julie Kav ne r). H owever into th e mo re e laborate heave n, purga- tow n in th e e ncaps ul ate d wo rld s of th e ir nebishy, he gets the (nice Jew ish) girl in to ry and he ll und e r Cath o li c ism , th e studi o lot s, co ncoc ting happy-e ndi ng the end. Millste in m ay not have found Jes us who p ro mi sed th at th e mee k extravaganzas out of th e ir m ovies and faith but he has tu cked into the fold , a wo uld inhe rit th e Earth was a Jew talking lucky lives. T hey m ade H ollywood into security as sure belief. And audie nces to Jews und e r R o me's boo t. Co ntras t the gran dest drea m m ac hine o n ' the roared at \" O e dipu s Wreck s,\" w hic h thi s w ith th e Pro tes ta nt no ti o n o f pl anet because they had such lo ng-un- delightfully assured the m th at , however \"grace;' born am o ng the ric hest coun- requited dream s. No d oubt, much of the trouble d , they're not as meshugge as tries and cl asses of 16 th-ce ntury Europe, Pollya nish tone of Ame rica n cine m a in Millste in . whe re wo rldl y wea lth indicates post the studi o yea rs was a response to the Jacto o ne's spi r itu a l good ness. O nl y M otio n Picture Produ ction (or H ayes) A passage in th e Passover Hagga- Jews, in th e ir unique sp irit of fantasy, Code (pressure for which cam e m ostl y dah , or prayerboo k, tells the story wo uld say yea r afte r yea r at the Passove r from Catholics, especially the L egio n of of fi ve rabbis who, one Passover night , meal, \"Next yea r in Je ru sa le m\" (whe re D ecency, th e m se lves a min ority w ith became so absorbed in discussing the presuma bly th ey'd be free of ghe ttos and the ir own interests in red emptive e nd- Exodus of the twelve tribes from Egypt pogroms) whe n , except by expul sio n, ings) . Ye t the Jewish studio head s, who that they stayed up till dawn, whe n their m os t had n't left th e ir shtetls in centuries. mollified Mr. W ill H ayes, did not have to students nudged them to stop for morn- go to such giddy le ngth s to avo id his ing praye r. The m oral of this short tale, Se lf-deprecating hum or of the Zelig sc issors. H aving been unde r the gun for the Haggadah te ll s us, is that whoever mille nni a, they were go ing over th e top. elaborates the story of the Exodu s shall Aida enchants Farrow in Crimes. be heaped with bless ings. A li e n's 20-year body of work is a so rt b oos ts its audience as mu c h as kitschen sink of Jew ish storyte ll- Th e rabbi s who snu ck this bit into happy e nd ings. S to ryte lle rs made self- ing, with se lf-m ockery, p arano ia, and th e Haggadah were no t e nco uragin g d oubting foo ls of th e m sel ves so th e ir li s- hypoc ho ndr ia throw n in , along with a the ir co ngregants to reco unt th e Exodu s te ners - oth er Jews who had no reaso n tas te for e ndings whe re ev il is tro un ced for rote's sake -but to re mind that th e re to fee l better than anybody- co uld have and th e goo d guys win - even spectacled is pl easure in th e te lling itself. Exodu s so meo ne to feel one-up o n, if onl y for shlemiels li ke Alle n. Th ese tro pes bend has a glori ously happy e nding for a peo- the span of the joke. S imil arl y, Alle n's th e co urse of th e sec ul ar Hannah and ple who, by th e time of th e Haggadah's viewers m ost like ly feel as insecure an d Another Woman as sure ly as th ey do co mpilati on, were into th e ir seco nd dias- inept as hi s charac ters, but as he exag- Danny Rose or Radio Days, but in th e pora and loo king at centuries of pe rsecu- gerates his gaffes and lets us laugh at hi s form e r, th e trad iti on and moti ve be hind tion . No doubt these Biblical chapte rs expe nse we're ass ure d we co uldn't be as Alle n's impul ses are n't expli c it. No one serve th e traditional re ligious fun cti on of awful as th at. If yo u've ever wo nde re d turn s to th e cam era in Hannah and says, in spiring faith in a just God who, hav ing why so mu ch grief and tsuris fl ood Jew- \"This adulte rous mess m ay e nd he lli shl y baile d the Jews out of th ei r oppress io n ish humor (or why th e H olocaust pep- in life but I need a happy e ndin g in Egypt , wo uld save th e m aga in , even- pe rs so m a ny of All e n's sc ript s), it's o nscree n so I'm go ing to co njure o ne tu ally. But the story qua story is an up. because, next to all th at trouble, how up .\" Th e rabbi s, the n, offe red two balms to bad could yo ur life be? T he Jew ish tale nt the ir suffering: faith in God and the res- fo r exaggerating life's bump s is th e oth e r At o ne of th ose beaming Th anksgiv- pite of happy e ndin gs. O ne mi g ht s id e of fabricatin g imp oss ibl y sm ooth in g dinn e rs, All e n ho ld s hi s new believe the Almighty wo ul d ultim ate ly e ndings. Eithe r way, audie nces sigh a lit- onscreen wife (Dianne Wiest) and , chat- reward goo d and puni sh ev il , or o ne tle in relief. Should so me dour ne ighbor ting into a mirror with hi s face refl ected might suspe nd di sbel ief and be lieve it or relati ve sigh too deeply, as if to say bac k at th e audi e nce, mu ses: isn't it for the durati on of th e tale. Crimes and life is indeed th at bad , the sto ry and th e amazing that a co uple gets di vo rced , and Misdemeanors co mes to the same po int. much loneliness follows, and yea rs late r the m an meets his ex-wife's siste r and Though Alle n has looked at th e uses they fall in love and get m arried ? Such of myth and fi ctio n in both hi s Jewish an e nd ing is preposterous, but in Han- film s and hi s secul ar o nes, his inquiry is nah , Alle n does n't say why he goes for it most serious \"vhe n he is most Jewish . anyway. The idiom suits. Crimes is bette r devel- oped th an Hannah , for in stance; Danny T hree years late r, in Crimes , he does. Rose be tte r th a n Purple Rose; a nd The charac ters wo nde r out loud how to Radio Days mu ch better than Septem- grappl e w ith ev il th at fl o uri s hes and ber or Another Woman. Casting myth s good that's punished , and Alle n answers that co unte r wo rldl y co rruption with that fiction is the o nly way he knows to eventual justice is lo ng a Jewish traditio n get by. C inema provo kes, challe nges and - co mme nting on the m , an even lo nger di scomfit s as well as it soo th es. But o ne. It ca n be no surpri se th at the (until so m e tim es, ca ll it fa ith o r film , o ne nee ds a fantasy track . ~ 15

A leader on the Left meets a follower of the Left Behind: ae Roger &Me is a comedy by the Marx Brothers-Groucho and Karl-or a nightmare on all the Elm Streets ofOur Town in America, when all our sonsfind out they've been double-crossed by the dirty-dealing boss. .. Michael Moore interviewed find out they've been doublecrossed by I n Roger & Me , Moore's opening by Harlan Jacobson the dirty-dealing boss (straight from montage sets the stage with a bit of Dickens), in this case Roger B. Smith, history: GM and Flint have until an M eet the white tornado of chairman of General Motors. eyeblink ago been master and willing 1989, Michael Moore, the slave. The good people of Flint believed man who sold not only his When I started out to see Moore, first in the Buicks and Chevies they pushed house in Flint, Michigan but his bed to in Toronto, and later in New York, I'd off the assembly lines for 80 years; in make Roger & Me , the documentary had a few questions I wanted to ask vintage newsreel film they march down phenomenon of 1989. Since the film Moore about things not in the film- main street mid-'SOs and sing about played the New York Film Festival at the about anger and scapegoating, about the teamwork; why, everybody has always end of September-and no documen- Klan and Posse Committatus, about the worked there, including Moore's entire tary has so stirred the media from that rage that lies under the surface when family, led by his father who did 33 years venue in recent memory-Moore has people are shamed for a failure they on the AC Sparkplug line. Even when lived out some crazy dream of Frank didn't commit, as in the inflation years of they fought-GM workers sat down for Capra's: Mr. Moore Goes to Detroit or the Weimar Republic, or the Depression 44 days in 1937 in what is called the maybe State of the Unions . year~ of Hoover and FOR. And I was Great Flint Sit-Down Strike, out of uncomfortable with a few cheap shots which came the United Auto Workers- He's gone from being some obscure Moore took in the film at people who Flint and GM seemed as inseparable as little guy from nowhere-first the didn't deserve it. But my asking about miners and Wales. smalltown muckraking editor of the Moore's sequencing of events in the film Flint Voice, next a Rust Belt boy triggered a dogfight that overwhelmed Until late 1986, according to Roger bounced out of a big city job as editor of those discussions. & Me , when Smith closed eleven GM Mother Jones in San Francisco when he plants and left Flint with 30,000 less wanted to run a picture of a Flint buddy Roger & Me is too good to be true. jobs and the city in shambles. Though and unemployed autoworker on the While glitteringly smart in his analysis GM was already immensely profitable, magazine's cover-to a modern David, and arrestingly right in essence-the Smith's \"brilliant plan\" was to move pro- flinging the Flint stone at the Goliath of photos of Flint's destruction at Smith's duction to Mexico, where the wage rate GM . hands are testimony enough that what's is 70ft an hour. This squeezes the life good for GM is not necessarily good for out of Flint. The crime rate soars, the Roger & Me is no stately dirge to bury America-in Roger & Me, Moore has jail is filled to bursting until a new one is the American Dream. It's a comedy by created the impression of a direct built, the city lands plop on the cover of the Marx Brothers-Groucho and Karl- sequence of events that didn't happen in Money magazine as the worst place to or a nightmare on aU the Elm Streets of Flint in the one-to-one causal fashion his live in America. It became Moore's gall- Our Town in America, when all our sons documentary implies. 16

ing task to document not only the opat \"Chevrolet\" Boone, who all dur- City's South Street Seaport). calamity but the fanstasyland that Flmt became. Truly, this is a portrait of Amer- ing the years he sang \"See the U.S.A. in The Hyatt , which brings to Flint its ica without the too ls to understand how to fix what's gone wrong. your Chevrolet. ..\" annually got gratis a first escalator and atrium , manages to There are two Flints in Roger & Me Corvette and a stationwagon. He thinks attract only Michigan Scrabble players -both of them fiefdoms of Detroit, an hour's drive and a million miles away- Roger Smith is not a quitter but a \"can- and a ready-mix co ncrete trade group one of them the boarded-up bowery of workers wiped out by the closings, the do kinda guy: ' and fizzles ; AutoWorid lasts six months oAnita Bryant , who brought in to sing and fails; the mall creeps along at two- \"You'll Never Walk Alone; ' invokes Mar- thirds rental capacity, with a store turn- garet Thatcher's advice: \"Cheer up , over rate that rivals the flips in America .\" tiddly-winks. In short, all fiascos. Signs of life in Flint? oMiss Michigan, about to become But when the body politic goes daft, Miss America 1988 , Kay Lani Rae it's for a reason. Roger & Me pays visits other the pastel hamlet of country clubs Rafko of Monroe (home of Monroe to all strata of the locals, who cope with and theme parties attended by middle Shock Abso rbers and my favorite com- Flint's Depress ion in a variety of ways: management and service professionals. They exist cheek-by-j owl, know each pany. The C lawson Electric Supply and oThe Rabbit Lady raises rabbits other by myth or rumor, and cross on ly when the latter try-stupidly, in Roger School of Baton and Dance) , who tells (\"Pets or Meat; ' reads the sign scrawled & Me-to app ly magical band-aids to the cannon Smith shot through Flint's Moore she's a big supporter of emp loy- outside her door) and provides the film's heart. Moore's genius may be in his comic eye for how cracked analysis and ment ... but two weeks before Atlantic emblem when she conks one on the cuckoo behavior has replaced the one quality that made America great, horse City she's trying to stay neutral. head and skins it; sense. °TV evangelist Robert Schuller, who oThe Amway Woman , who Moore A nd so begins Moore's parade of lunacies . gets paid $20,000 by the city to inspire says bills herself as a former feminist , is To help Flint recover, the city brings in a string of cheerleaders: Flint to straighten up, get with God and now an Amway convert and practitioner opresident Ronald Reagan , who buys fly right. of seasonal color-analys is of personality; a pizza for 12 unemployed locals and tells them to move to Texas . During The grand prize fo r grandiosity in °Flint's society matrons who golf in lunch, the cash register is stolen from the pizza joint. Roger & Me , however, goes to City Hall the afternoon , blame the unemployed oBob \"The New lywed Game\" and the Chamber of Commerce for the for laziness, and go off to Great Gatsby Eubanks returns to his old home town to do a special county fair edition of his usual Official Bozo analysis and remedy: soirees or Spend A Night in Jail fund- show (which doesn't hold a candle to some diving donkeys) , and proceeds to a plan to refashion Flint as a tourist raisers. And so on, and on, and on . tell Moore's behind-the-scenes camera a career-ending joke: \"Why do so few Jew- mecca under the slogan \"Our New Meanwhile, Roger & Me braids two ish women get AIDS? Because they marry the assholes, they don't fuck 'em:' Spark Will Surp ri se You! \". We hear strands together throughout: Moore's about th<tir spending hundreds of mil- follo w ing around the Little Evictor, lions of taxpayer dollars to erect a Hyatt Deputy Sheriff Fred Ross , \"\"ho does 24 Regency hotel and convention center; ev ictions in one day, and the leitmotif AutoWorld, a themepark filled with that gives the film its title-Moore try- antique cars, a fau x downtown Flint in ing to bulldoze his way into Roger its pre-layoffs heyday (not to mention an Smith's consciousness to bring him to autoworker puppet singing a love song Flint to see the consequences of \"his to the robot replacing him); and a new brilliant plan .\" Like Lech Walesa in War- mall, Water Street Pavilion , developed saw from Gdansk , twice Moore tries to by James Rouse a la his Faneuil Hall , wo rm his way up to Smith's 14th-floor Boston, prototype (subsequently repli- office at GM headquarters in Detroit- cated everywhere, including New York once offering his Ch uck E. Cheese card 17

as I. D. to security guards. He chases attrition and the closing down of Buick and two associates-and wanted them Smith hither and yon , finall y to a stock- City's second shift. GM cut back from a along for the interview over lunch. Well, holders' meeting, only to have his mike high of about 85,000 Flint employees in we had a nice lunch. Around the FILM shut off before he collars him at last for the late '60s to about 45,000 in '89, with COMMENT basement, our dance three brief seconds. the watershed occurring around 1974 became known as Michael & Me. following Detroit's downsize panic in the Smith has just delivered his annual wake of the first OPEC oil embargo. Michael always called me, always closed-circuit employees Christmas stayed in touch . Eventually, we sat down message, quoting Dickens: \"It is a good Moreover, there is some question- one night in the office of his lawyers time;' Smith waxes, \"the only time dur- though not in Moore's mind-about the (who were busy not only doing the deal ing the year when people open their genesis of the Hyatt, AutoWorld, and but thinking their way through the hearts freel y...\" Here, Moore's editors, Water Street Pavilion complex. There thicket of threatened lawsuits , not the Wendy Stanzler and Jennifer Beman , in appears to have been so me discussion in least of \"\"hich was Bob Eubanks'). And the cheekiest craftsmanship of the year, the early 70s by the Mott Foundation, if had at it. intercut this section with a scene of the no one else, to create a combination Little Evictor throwing a family out of auto-amusement (sic) park that would M ichael Moore is no folk sy Mark their house the morning of December celebrate GM and parallel Henry Ford's Twain from Hannibal, nor Garrison Keil- lor from Lake Woebegone. And he's not \"Until we, as workers, see ourselves as part of the worldwide labor force and not as Us vs. the Mexicans or the Japanese, then we are not going to get anywhere. \" 24th-tree and all . self-glorification in the Ford Museum at S ince you have shown your film in Greenfield Village, outside Detroit. It Toronto , and now New York, what B ut wait. Without doing too much would be preceded by a hotel to house has been Roger Smith's response homewo rk-reading a story by tourists and , later, a mall to take their to date ? reporter John Foren in the Flint Journal , money. The Mott Foundation put seed and talking to Douglas Wieland , a Mich- money into a design study in the late First week it was no comment, the igan political pollster-I discovered 70s-by which time it began to take on second week it was a one paragraph pre- some disquieting discrepancies in Roger the caste of an economic band-aid-fur- pared statement. Which was \"We have & Me. ther augmented by federal and state no comment.\" Urban Development Action Grants ·The Reverend Schuller hadn't come (UDAG), as well as by Capital Realty The third week he came out and to Flint after the Great Gatsby society Inves tors CRI , a Rockville, Maryland, said, I haven't seen the film but I know I party in '8 7, as it appears in the film , and tax-shelter investors group. don't like it. The fourth week they went certainly not after the '86 layoffs, but in on a p.r. binge and had an early opening '82, two city administrations earlier; W hen I started making appoint- of this engineering center in Flint. ments with Moore-who was ·Ditto, Ronald Reagan , who wasn't crazed with making personal appear- The Great Lakes Technological president but a candidate on his 1980 ances and cutting a distribution deal in Centre. visit-and the cash register had been the most dizzying round of talks any swiped two days earlier. independent filmmaker has ever under- Right , which does not create one taken (culminating in a deal with Warn- new job in the city of Flint. It merely Nit-picky, perhaps. But not so the ers for some $3 million for all rights and transfers a thousand engineers from worst of the lot: the three principal com- requiring it to bu y four hou ses for Detroit to Flint. mercial development projects had all evicted families plus give away 20,000 opened, run their course and either tickets to the unemployed) -I was And then Smith said. . .. failed or closed before the massive 1986- hardly surprised when either he, or I for \"We have no empty facilities in Flint:' '87 layoffs: the H ya tt Regen cy had that matter, broke the dates. Sometimes Because they ~ore it down [Iaughsl. opened in '82; AutoWorid opened in Michael wouldn't show up, sometimes Although it's still not a true statement. mid-1984 and closed in early '85; and I'd show up too late to accomplish an There are three empty or semi-empty Water Street Pavilion opened less than a interview inside the hour he had cut me. year later. Once, he met me on the steps of St. factories, [includingl one where one of Patrick's Cathedral-along with his mom the two lines has been mothballed. And the number of lost jobs Roger & Me imputed to Smith's '86 layoffs did Would you call it a manipulation of not number 30,000 but about 10 ,000 - the facts . .. ? 3500 from GM's truck plant, 5300 from Fisher Body #1, and about 2000 from [ call it a lie. Just a lie. It's printed as 18

THINK INTIMACY. THINK DESIRE. THINK BETRAYAL. THINK FOREIGN. UNDER THE SUN OF SATAN Gerard Oepardieu and Sandrine Bonnaire star in this powerful drama about faith and the ancient battle between good and evil. Winner, Best Film , Cannes Film Festival. In French with English subtitles. CVC-1031 /Color/$79 .9S DEMONS IN THE GARDEN The saga of a family damaged by rivalries and wasted by corruption as seen through the eyes of a small boy. Starring Angela Molina and Ana Belen. In Spanish with English subtitles. CVC-1032/Color/$79 .9S VINCENT, FRANCOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS Enduring friendship is tested over time in this warm comedy starring Yves Montand , Michel Piccoli and Gerard Oepardieu . In French with English subtitles. CVC-1033 /Color /$79.9S RED DESERT The first color film from director Michelangelo Antonioni (L'AVVENTURA, THE ECLIPSE) concerns the crisis faced by a modern woman adrift in the world. Starring Monica Vitti and Richard Harris. In Italian with English subtitles . CVC-1034/Color/$79 .9S Send check or money order to: Connoisseur Video.Collection , 8436 w. 3rd St. , #600 , Los Angeles, CA 90048, 213-6S3-8873 Please add $3.00 shipping. Florida residents add 6% sales tax. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Think International Films on Video from Connoisseur Video Collection.

fact because the media generally accepts A couple of years before maybe, I out of state. People who were laid off what a corporation says as face h think. I don't know. The first I heard were not given jobs to build these accepts what the government says as of it was probably, oh, the year before.. . things. fact: \"Unemp loyment is at five percent;\" '83 .. .they announced it and started it's printed that way, as fact. Michael building it. When Jim Rutherford was mayor of Moore says it cost $160,000 to make his Flint 1975-'83, why wasn't he held movie, the article reads ' ~ccording to If I said that it went back in the dis- accountable for making sure these jobs Moore . . .\" ; or \" Moore claims .. .\"; or were filled by Flint locals? \"Moore says that hi s movie cost him cussion as far as 1970, would that make $160,000.\" sense to you? Why ask me that? I mean, we wrote about it. They're even opening up AutoWorid No. I wouldn't know th at. I know for six weekends at the holidays to coin- what they say, th at Harding Mott said at What did you write? cide with the opening of the film there. I one time he was watching TV, and they don't know why they think that is a were burying a car, and he got all upset We wrote that whatever they were smart p.r. move; it'll just reinforce my and wanted to build some monument to doing they never provided real jobs for point and the point of the movie. the people who were laid off in Flint. We the automobi le th at wou ld set the coun- wrote about that all the time. Which is? try right about the contribution of the Which is how ridiculous it was to Is it possible that these three projects build this thing in the middle of the dev- GM automobile. I wasn't privy to any were conceived as a unit to rival Green- discussions back in 1970. field Village, Ford 's \"museum\" town near Detroit, to express local pride There was money put into it for before there was any perception that architecture and design as early as '78 astated area and think that a million and '79, through a combination of UDAG Flint was in trouble economically from tourists a year were go ing to come. See, grants, the Mott Foundation and CRI? cutbacks that had not yet either been people could on ly go on my word or on Is that true? contemplated by GM or were not yet the few images I give of it in the film . I never heard of it in 1978. I never publicly known ? Now, they'll actually be able to see this That's not true. monstrosity. You're saying that there were plans to build AutoWorid in 1970 . To the best of HI know where I live. ILet's talk about that. When did it open originally? live in the United States my knowledge that's not true. Auto World opened July 4, 1984. ofAmerica. .. okay? A There was seed money in 1978. And it closed? Bullshit. There was no money from Ahh , it closed January 6, 1985 . snation that been And the Hyatt? CRI in '78. CRI didn't even exist. Let me tell you \"\" hy AutoWo rld , and Water The Hyatt opened in 1982, I think. numbed.\" Street and Hyatt were really built, okay? And did not close but. .. . T hey were built to basically help a group Hasn't closed. h 's up for sale. of sma ll investors based in Rockville, The underwriter foreclosed. heard of it until just a year or two before Maryland get away with murder. Fo reclosed, right. it actually opened. Doctors, lawyers , dentists. And Water Street Pavilion opened Let's take one or two possible sce- Exactly. Wea lthy individuals who when? needed a tax she lter. And under the Water Street opened December of narios with respect to that whole devel- Reagan tax plan of 1981 or '82 , they 1985. And just recently last week it was opment: it was not developed piece by were ab le to accelerate the depreciation piece but as a concept, a unity. Auto- announced that all the stores would be World was meant to bring in, as you at three-to-one over three years and then closed and turned into offices. Or so said, a million tourists a year supported get out of it. And that's what they did. they hope. by a hotel and a place to spend money at They raised abo ut $10 million for Auto- The truck plant in Flint was shut the retail level, Water Street Pavilion. World-then roughly an $80 million when? No, there was never a plan th at had project, but which became a $100 mil- May of 1987. all three of those things connected. lion project-and by essentiall y putting And Fisher #1 ? Granted, Flint was totally in a stran- in one tenth of th e actu al cost they were December of 1987. gleh'old by GM, but when GM began given the deed so they could then get And there were a total of eleven relocating, or laying off by attrition or the tax breaks. plants that were idled. outright in the late '60s, was this three- Tax shelters for this existed prior to What's happened to th e plant has part complex a legitimate government 1976, when the government eliminated taken place over a ten-year period. response to help? the multiple write-off. Are you saying Or longer? No, you can't take away jobs that are that they were doing this anyway? It's all connected, everything is con- paying people a decent wage, where No. Part of th e Reagan tax law nected. There were terrible depressions they can buy a home, a car and raise a all owed for development in depressed in the '50s and '60s in those plants. family, and replace them with minimum areas, and so that's way they came to Net loss of32,000 jobs since 1974. wage jobs.... F lint: CRI did the same thing in St. Right , give or take a coup le thou- Who built them? Louis, Baltimore and other depressed sand. Auto workers did not build th ese cities . All these things went belly up-so In the November '86 reduction, a buildings. it just didn't happen in Flint- and then total of something like 10,0000. Why was that not a local issue? the deed was turned back to the ci ty Roughly. Well, that's a good question. In fact, which was stuck with abou t $ 19-20 mil- How far back was AutoWorld a dis- th ey hired a con tractor to come in from lion in bonds they'd financed to pay for cussion? Indiana . They brought in people from their portion of AutoWorid . T he Mott 20

Real Video Limited Home Video Being with John F. This landmark film presents a burdened President in crisis , \"... an absorbing production , Kennedy unique, candid look at JFK on and concludes with the world- deftly edited and intriguingly the campaign trail and in the wide impact of his death . nostalgic. \" Calling the Shots Oval Office . Employing exclusive footage available \"... 'Being with John F. - The Hollywood Reporter Nobody Listened nowhere else, this intimate Kennedy' is an essential portrait traces Kennedy 's viewing experience.\" Produced by Nancy progression from young Dickerson and Robert Drew senator to winning candidate , -Tom Shales in association with through the glories of the The Washington Post Golden West Television New Frontier, to heavily 100 minutes B&W/Color 1983 who are directing dramatic 1/2 \" VHS Video $59.95 Calling the Shots is the first feature films throughout the film to focus on the accom- world today . The participants \"[An] accomplished and plishments of women in front include Chantal Akerman , detailed documentary .. . of and behind the camera. Martha Coolidge, Lee Grant, pungent, probing and witty.\" Using archival footage and Amy Heckerling , Katherine candid interviews with direc- Hepburn, Sherry Lansing , -Daily Variety tors , producers, screenwriters Jeanne Moreau , Susan and actresses, this compel- Seidelman, Joan Micklin A Cineplex Odeon Film ling documentary presents a Silver, Penelope Spheeris, Produced and Directed by comprehensive and heartfelt Agnes Varda and many more. Janis Cole and Holly Dale look at contemporary women 118 minutes Color 1988 tive experiences the film 1/2\" VHS Video $79.95 Winner of the Special Jury re~eals the circumstances in Award in Houston and the re- Cuba on various levels- \"Nobody Listened could very cipient of international historical , political and well be the single most impor- acclaim , Nobody Listened emotional-offering an tant film of 1988.. .\" presents the candid and often eloquent and moving per- disquieting testimonies of spective on a controversial -Michael Medved some thirty people who were and difficult topic . Sneak Previews/PBS direct or indirect victims of oppression in Fidel Castro's A film by Nestor Almendros Cuba. Through their collec- and Jorge Ulla 11 7 minutes Color 1989 1/2 \" VHS Video $79.95 Sweet Sweetback's Sweet Sweetback is the this is perhaps the most film survives today as both an Baadasssss Song story of a professional sex- controversial black film ever important historical document show stud who kills two po- made , the film that started the as well as a still powerful and licemen who are beating up a black cinema boom of the relevant motion picture black youth . Using his street- 1970s. Black Panther Huey experience. wise survival skills , he eludes Newton called Sweet A film by Melvin Van Peebles his pursuers and escapes to Sweetback 'the first truly Music performed by Earth , Mexico. Written, produced, revolutionary black film .' Wind and Fire directed, scored by and Rated X by an \"all-white jury\" 97 minutes Color 1971 starring Melvin Van Peebles, at the time of its release , the 1/2\" VHS Video $59.95 Thomas Hart Benton During his lifetime, Thomas ken ways and his dream of \"The best damned painter in Hart Benton became the best- instituting a distinctly Ameri- America.. .\" known American artist of his can art form enraged the es- generation . With the detail of tablished art world . This fas- -Harry Truman a social historian , Benton cinating documentary juxta- recorded the vitality and poses interviews with Benton Florentine Films variety of American life and and his contemporaries to tell A film by Ken Burns strove to make his paintings the story of this distinctly Produced by Ken Burns and murals accessible to the American artist. and Julie Dunfey general public. His outspo- 86 minutes Color 1988 1/2 \" VHS Video $39.95 photo by Scott Dine All orders must be pre-paid by check or Order by phone, fax or mail from: ~'iReal Video Limited credit card. Please add shipping charge of $5 .00/first tape , $2 .00Ieach additional Post Office Box 69799 tape . Foreign shipments add $3 .00/tape. California residents add 6.5% sales tax. Los Angeles , CA 90069-9976 cinema Phone (213) 652-8000 I\\} Telefax (213) 652-2346 limited.

Foundation paid for a large portion of sequencing. son's did to this country, to people in our this. But this was all done in '83 or '84. What would you rather have me do? generation, people we know that died. That's really insulting, Harlan. This was not 1978, Reagan wasn't even Should I have maybe begun the movie President. with a Roger Smith or GM announce- I'm sorry you feel that way. ment of 1979 or 1980 for the first round Yeah, well, I don't think you are sorry. IfAutoWorld opened up in '84, and it of layoffs that devastated the town, Think of a different example of how you which then led to starting these proj- have to sometimes deal with chronology was preceded by the Hyatt in '82, these ects, after which maybe things pick up a and order, when you are trying to make things had to be on the planning stage little bit in the mid '80s , and then boom a movie. under Democratic administrations in '86 there's another announcement, Are we talking about a fiction film or before. and then tell that whole story? a documentary? Then why didn't I deal with the Japa- No. Where now there are Son of Auto- nese? Why didn't I deal with the oil How do you open something up in World and the Great Lakes Technology embargo? Why didn't I deal with all the 1982.. .. Centre and all these things I call \"Dance other factors that aren't in the movie? Bands on the Titanic;' the diversions, Did I tell a true story by not telling You can open up a hotel pretty quick. the distractions , the things that are used those parts of the story? You don't need years of planning-that's to tell the town \"See, we're gonna come bullshit. I don't know why you want to get into UDAG, the Mott Foundation, or CRl. I don't know what this has to do with the movie. T he impression that one has from the movie is that there was a sin- gle felling blow, directed at Fisher Plant #1, which cut loose 30,000 people from employment, resulting in immediate and massive devastation to which the local government responded with fantasy projects. There is no mention that those projects existed on the boards back to 1970. .. maybe/maybe not; back to 1978 ... maybe/maybe not; but certainly no mention that they opened up, ran their course, and closed prior to the cutbacks which form the spine of your movie. Right. Well, first of all the movie never says that 30,000 jobs ... that this Unemployed Flint inhabitant (center) hired as living statue for aparty for the elite. one announcement eliminated 30,000 back, things are going to get better\"? You've bought into their bullshit, to jobs in Flint. The movie is about essen- Then it's a three hour movie. It's a movie, you know; you can't do every- their lie about UDAG grants in '78. tially what has happened to this town thing. I was true to what happened. I haven't bought any. ... during the 1980's. I wasn't filming in Yeah , you have. The who le basis of Everything that happened in the movie 1982 ... so everything that happened happened. It happened in the same your argument here with me is that you have bought these things as fact. happened . As far as I'm concerned, a order that it happened throughout the I didn't talk to Roger Smith. Roger period of seven or eight years .. . is pretty '80s . If you want to nit-pick on some of Smith wouldn't talk to me. immediate and pretty devastating. those specific things , fine but. .. . No, I'm talking about the people of You may be right in spirit but you're It 's not a nit-pick, and I'll tell you Flint that you talked to. This bullshit playing fast and loose with sequence why I don't think it's a nit-pick. You call about 1970 is total bullshit. I don't know -which viewers don't understand is it a movie; it has the form of documen- where you got that, that's a Mott Foun- happening. tary: We all know that documentaries dation lie. That's Harding Mott sitting in have points of view. .. what goes into the his chair watching a TV show. It was an I don't think so. documentary, even down to the camera '80s response to the declining auto angle, has a bias. But we expect that industry in Flint. Tell me why you think Why? what we are seeing there happened, in Hyatt, AutoWorld, and Water Street I just don't think so. I think it's a doc- the way in which it happened, in the were built? way in which we are told it happened. ument about a town that died in the We all know the doubt that arises and I came here to ask you that, because the actions that come from the reporting you're probably a far better observer of 1980's, and this is what happened. of an event in which the sequence is the local scene than I am. I think that's true. And I think that it screwed around with. You and I are both old enough to remember the Gulf of Ton- They were built for the very reasons I is incredibly powerful and makes its kin-we were told by a president that we had been attacked. .. . stated in the filrn: as the layoffs began in point. the late '70s and early '80s, the city Good. turned toward these goofy ideas as a It is unquestionably true that you means to divert public attention from made a film about a town that died in the real issue. the 1980 's, a town that was in one com- pany's hip pocket, just like all of the towns that have ever been in one compa- ny's hip pocket back to the railroads which built company shacks and com- That's an insu lting thing to say. et's go to the fantasy issue. When fantasy doesn't work, what Lpany stores. But 1 think that its also use- That's really insulting. That's an insult- ful to address the question of the ing comparison. What that lie of John- happens? 22

I don't know. Answer your question. that we were filming. Scapegoating. It's happened histori- cally in the past. When people see that So I don't say, \"Well, this opened in government response to an economic depression is illegitimate, and they've '86, but that happened in '8 7.\" The been told that they are a proud and wonderful people, then they believe it. point is that at the end of the Carter For awhile. Then they get angry. administration factories started to close, When they realize that they've been and jobs started to be eliminated. You fooled . Do you see that happening in Flint? would be happy if I had said in broad- Do you see that happening across the cast voice \" In 1979 ...\" If I had said InlVf~~t ••• country? Is there an anger welling up? something like that. ur newest catalog is 48 Yeah, I think so. I think you could have established pages (8% \"x 11\") , illustrated Where does that go ? that with an insert or a crawl, that with over 300 photos & ac- Well, in Flint, in the presidential pri- there wasn't a single blow. ... com paning text. 100 photos in full color, including front & mary last year, the city votes nine to As far as I'm concerned, everything back covers! Mailed with out- one for jesse jackson. Now, they that took place in the '80s was a single side protective wrapper on wouldn't have done that eight years ago: blow. We are talking about an 80-year receipt of $7.00 U.S. funds history of this company and during the for each copy. Our location, the county went four to one for Jackson Reagan years this was a single blow... .If a gallery at 1932-FC Polk St. and it's 82 percent white. you're using the Gulf of Tonkin as a (near corner of Pacific Ave.), metaphor, then you're really hung up San FranciSCO, CA is open That's one example. At the Great with this .... Mondays through Saturdays Lakes Technology Centre opening last That's what happens when one 11 AM to 6 PM Pacific time week-it hasn't really opened, it's the manipulates sequence... and that's the core credibility of the documentary. ~ Orwellian opening for people like you 1932-FC POLK STREET to believe that something is happening All art, listen, every piece of journal- SAN FRANCISCO, here-protestors showed up, retirees ism manipulates sequence and things. CA 94109 just the fact that you edit, that certain showed up to picket. There were no things get taken out or put back in. pickets at the opening of AutoWorld, or That's just a ridiculous statement. the Hyatt. The pickets were there last week. It wasn't in the news but they It goes back to the issue of the belief were there. in the integrity of the information. Why ? Because the local paper, the Flint Uh-huh, yeah, sure. Journal , is the public relations organ of General Motors. You ask anybody, any Do you see a problem with the inclu- family, that has lived in Flint all their lives and they know this paper was on sion of the Reverend Schuller footage, the side of GM from the sit-down strike which happened in 1982, and the 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - in '37. It has always been the GM paper. It's nothing new to any of us. impression you give that it was done I grew up in Toledo, an auto town as post-1986? Shock Video well, and when my father died we sold I didn't say it was done post-1986 ... . his house for nothing because it was an auto town. I have seen what happens to It happened during the same dec- £ The Best in Si·Fi and Horror, with a city that went through an identical ade, when after thousands of people fantasy process as Flint 's. It 's wiped were laid off, they brought in Reverend -~.'.- ..Jli:. - Hundreds of Titles to Choose From. out and people construct pyramids. Schuller. ... . Ask for our Huge List of Movies with They construct junk, and it doesn't ,,' Your Order. VHS ONLY ONLY $19.95 work, and I understand the economic You are trying to hold me to a differ- [ ~~ Each. Plus $2 .00 Shipping and consequences. ent standard than you would another t\\ 0.'. film . .. as if I were writing some kind of I don't think that you should be college essay.. .. -- . Handling Each. angry with me when I question your methodology-it's going to come up No, I hold you to documentary film 1. Black Scorpion-1957 sooner or later- because you are deal- standards. 2. Black Sunday-1960 ing with people's perception of truth. 3. Earth vs . The Spider-1956 You and I are both journalists-that's Because you see this primarily has a 4. It, Terror From Beyond Space-1958 the only thing that we take into the documentary. 5. Attack of the Crab Monsters-1959 marketplace. That's why you function 6. Last Man on Earth-1959 as a co-equal to Roger Smith. It 's not in any category I know as 7. Invasion of the Vampires-1963 fiction. 8. Invasion of the Saucermen-1959 Okay, so you can say that the chro- 9. The Crawling Hand-1962 nology skips around a bit. That's why I It's not fiction. But what if we say it's 10. The Slime People-1960 don't use dates in the film. I just didn't a documentary told with a narrative 11 . Target Earth-1954 style. I tried to tell a documentary in a 12. Zontar, The Thing From Venus-1964 want to Ideal with] how to compact way they don't usually get told. The rea- 13. Invisible Invaders-1959 eight years into the two-and-a-half years son why people don't watch documenta- 14. Beast From Haunted Cave-1965 ries is they are so bogged down with 15. Horror Hotel-1960 \"Now in 1980 .. .then in '82 five thou- 16. Monster From Green Hell-1959 sand were called back ... in '84 ten thou- 17. Cape Canaveral Monsters-1960 sand were laid off.. . but then in '86 18. The Brain Eaters-1960 three thousand were called back... but 19. The Giant Claw-1957 20. Not of This Earth-1958 21 . Attack of The Giant Leaches-1960 22. Carnival of Souls-1962 23. Brain From Planet Arous-1957 24. She Creature 25. Burn Witch Burn-1962 26. The Ghost-1963 later il'l '86 ten thousand more were laid Make Checks Out to: off.\" If you want to tell the Flint story, there's the Flint story. ACC Promotions I'm not against documentaries hav- P.O. Box 2088, Dept. G Stone Mountain, GA 30086 or cali 404·879·1505 for more information 23

ing a bias. They don't have to remain Yeah. taining movie. \"objective\". ... To galvanize people? That's being coy. Yeah. Well, that's asking a lot from a No, I don't think so. It's an entertain- We are not talking about objectivity. film. But maybe people cou ld think We are talking about a style that you about it just a little bit, you know, ing movie that hopefully will get people don't seem to like. instead of just passing it by when they to think a little bit about what is going see the unemployment figures in the on. L et's go fo where this leads.... If newspapers ... or the line in the TV news. GM has sold out America, how do Do you think that your film functions An entertaining movie like K-9? you see the '90s? as a political manifesto? An entertaining movie like Sophie's No, not really. Choice. Well , I hope that people will respond. Do you think of it as a documentary? Like Sophie's Choice? In what way? [Maybe) politically. No, I think of it as a movie, an enter- An entertaining movie like any Char- lie Chaplin film that dealt with social Is that what you wanted from the commentary, the problems of the day, film? but also [let) a lot of people laugh a little SCREENWRITERS \"[ think GM knows who they are dealing with; Is VOur scree~'av readV to send Ross Perot to HoIIVWOod. had a price.\" NEW! ASCRIPT EVALUATION SERVICE created and directed by bit, [and did) not numb them, [did) not totally depress them. SYDflfLD\"the most sought-after screenwriting Do you think that the response to teacher in the world,\" author of Chaplin 's little dictator was that people were supposed to go home and laugh screenplay, The screenwriter's Workbook about Hitler tossing the globe up into the air and playing with it? Or do you and soon, Selling ascreenplay: The think that it was meant to galvanize pub- lic opinion? screenwriter's Guide to Hollywood It's not one or the other. You can't If you have aco~tstleotepdinsiocnre,ebnuptladyon,t separate them. People can not be galva- nized without being allowed to laugh aksnnyrooddWfewFsiwasenl!hodtanaatanntlosdhWdoh~~I ~0~r.etawafdhf teoahrfneeidnstdoaeumvtsauetlrurnyma,t~ethods and to feel the humanity of it. YPour screenplay uSdlns[udiOS executives, We do want to laugh, we do want to HollywOO ' feel the humanity. But I can't believe used by dproducers. that you would separate yourself from agents an the political content of your own film. Fori'ntormatl.on contact,, screenwriters Inc , PO Box 69799 Los Angeles,GA 90069 No, you're trying to say it's a political manifesto, or whatever. Name I'm trying to get from you how you see it. How do you see it? That your film is essentially an extraordinarily angry film .. . that uses humor coupled with anger-those two qualities do go together-about the political selling-out of the working class of America. [You] mean to lay the plat- from for a basis of thinking about gov- ernmental and corporate actions that says \"Stop! Stop right here.\" That is the reaction that went to sleep in the 70s and '80s, and it was not the reaction that you and I grew up with in the '60s. Maybe it's where we're headed in the '90s .. .. Well, that wou ld be nice. I know where I live. I live in the United States of America .. .okay? A nation that's been numbed. Whatever 24

happens is going to happen with just a ing with; Ross Perot had a price. about five years. So Harry asked him, few people. I guess you can say that is The Mott Foundation was in Auto- \"Why is it that you're from Flint, you're a the course of most history... 1 don't see great supporter of rrogressive causes people rising up to march in the streets. World, the Hyatt, Water Street for $40- and you don't do anything to help this 50 million. That wasn't mentioned. Was little paper?\" And then three months Do you see yourself as closer to Tom that just an arbitrary decision, too? later Harry died [in a car crash]. Then Paine or Sidney Lumet? Mott called up and said \"I've been think- Yeah . If I was writing an article then I ing about it since I met Harry on the Sydney Lumet has made some good would explain that. I wasn't writing an plane a few months ago:' So he and his films. That have helped people to think. article, I was making a movie. sister started giving money to the news- That's my answer. paper. How do you know Stewart Molt T ell me about the Mott role in Auto- [grandson ofGMfounderJ? Back to when? World. The year Harry died , '80. What do you think about that, never He sat next to Harry Chapin on a mentioning the Mott Foundation in the plane, and Harry'd done concerts for us in Flint and funded our newspaper for film? Bookshops Tell me, I don't know. Well, it was just a decision. Hollywood: Why? 7623 Sunset Blvd. People wouldn't know who it is. It's (213) 876-0570 an irrelevant point. Studio City: Charles Stewart Mott. .. the founding 11963 Ventura Blvd. partner of General Motors? (818) 762-0535 Yeah. Samuel French, Inc. And if you educated them. ... Play Publishers and Then it's a three hour movie. There's Authors Representatives a lot I needed to educate people about in that film. Why didn't we deal more 25 with the UAW? But you did deal with the UAW You showed Owen Bieber... . For a few seconds .... But why didn't we deal with those signs on the UAW parking lots that say: \"Park your Japa- nese car here and we'll smash it in .\"? Why didn't we deal with Ross Perot and Roger Smith? Now there's a story. That's a big part of the Roger Smith story. That's probably one of his big moments -when he had to pay Perot three quar- ters of a billion dollars to shut up. So, how come GM hasn't tried to buy thefilm? I think they know who they are deal-

Was he a large contributor? until we, as workers , see ourselves as people. The only people who buy that Yeah. Well, not a large contributor, part of the worldwide labor force and are the people you talk to who want the maybe $3 ,000 a year... out of a $70,000 not as Us vs. the Mexicans, or Us vs. rest of us to keep thinking that way. budget. the Japanese, which is exactly the way Was he involved in the production of they want it, then we are not going to I have already heard these questions. the movie? get anywhere. I already know the line... it's the only Not at all. defense they have. Why? Well, they are all getting into bed I don't know. Neither he or his sister with each other-it seems like it's all the I'm not making a case. . . I'm trying to would give me any money for it. same company. see how you analyze the world and why You asked.... you put what you put into your film. Yeah. Exactly, because they see themselves . . .and they said no. as worldwide entities and part of a I have nothing else to say. I gotta get Yeah. worldwide economy, not American goin'. corporations . How do you' explain his public mea Well, thank you for finally meeting culpa in New York? Mott stood up and There's no such thing as an American with me. It was hard for both ofus to do expressed shock after two New York economy, anymore. this , but I'm glad wefinally did. screenings for harm done to Flint. \"This is what happens W ell, it was great to talk about the Maybe he is bothered by it, I don't film. know. Maybe he was affected by this when you lay people lVu don't think we did? portrayal of what essentially his family No. Yesterday's conversation was and the foundation had done to the off: people are thrown about, \"Isn't it funny how Mr. Anti-Cor- town. porate Filmmaker is going to now be in out on Christmas Eve, bed with one of the corporations selling You remain personal friends with the film: ' him? and the President Is that what you thought that I was Well, yeah, not close. comes to town [to tell asking? But you're staying in his apartment. No, he has a separate place where he people to move]. ~ No, I just think that you were lives. It's a guest apartment- I'm not amused by the irony of it. Are you say- staying where he lives. If I was real donev'tesnel.engthnaetwosn. the ing that you are not amused by the irony close, I'd stay in that guest apartment of it? [laughs]. \" Is he at loggerheads with the Mott No. I asked, in fact , now that you family? Only among the American public . had firsthand experience, whether or I think that the world pretty much We are still fooled into believing that not you thought Hollywood was any bet- knows that Stewart's father essentially there is an 'f\\merican\" economy, and an ter than Detroit? disowned what he stood for and cut him \"American\" workforce, a \"Japanese\" out of the will. Not cut him out entirely Now, how would I know that? . .I've but essentially restricted him. He is not workforce. .. it's all bullshit. lived with Detroit all my life. I've seen allowed to be a member of the board of Do you think the movie implies that Hollywood for six weeks. That's why I the Mott Foundation. still haven't made the deal. it is the Mexicans' fault, because of that L et's take this elsewhere. Manufac- lVu wanted to know who would do turing goes to Mexico. So? one little bit where I say the factories are the best job for the picture and not sim- So, what? ply offer you the most money. Goodfor the Mexicans. going to Mexico? No, not good for the Mexicans. No. Maybe this country can't manu- Right, that's right. Eighty percent of the GM workforce in It's refreshing to hear a filmmaker Mexico are women between the ages of facture anymore, maybe that's not what say and feel that. 16 and 21; they don't hire male heads of we do. Manufacturing is always exploit- That's why it's taken so long, because households. Mainly because they think ive and always leads to a collision, to I have to get to know these people in a that these women will be less likely to workforce resistance; it's a drama that brief period of time-only to be married keeps playing itself out, in the same way to them forever, as far as this film goes. organize. They build the factories way that the censorship battle keeps coming That's a scary thought. outside of town. It takes three hours to back and we have to fight that fight I know General Motors, I know.... get there and three hours to get home at every goddamn time some halfwit sena- Stewart Mott, I know the Flint Journal. night. They have to feed people tor doesn't understand a photograph. . . .Those people I've known all my life. I breakfast because the people are so Your film is about capitalism, about don't know Steve Ross. malnourished .... manufacturers shifting away from Amer- So the reason you undertook doing ica into far less legally sophisticated this film is.. .. Because it's how they avoid the work- parts of the world. How do you put the So that people could see what was place laws that have evolved here over brakes on that? happening in this country, specifically in the last 100 years. this one city-that this is what happens Well , that's a good question. I don't when you lay people off: here's the city's And eventually the Mexicans will set response, here it is on the human level up their laws, and they'll organize and know. with people being thrown out on Christ- GM will have to go someplace else. And Do the people of Flint blame the mas Eve, here's the President coming to town [to tell people to move to Texas]. Mexicans? Do they think that Mexicans We don't see that on the evening news, are international scabs, and are they we don't see that on PBS. We don't see it angry at them? in this fashion. ~ No, I don't think so. Not the average 26

Speaking Parts: entombed in Technology. by Amy Taubin tap e, a lth o ug h it's h ard to im agine a to re late Egoyan's in siste nce o n holdi ng more appropri ate titl e for not o nl y this bac k ve rbal inform atio n at th e ope nings T he very vo luble Atom Egoyan is film , but Egoya n's e ntire oeuvre. Speak- of hi s film s to this childh oo d expe rie nce hes itant to say how s mall th e ing Parts was screened in th e Directo r's of alie nati o n. In Sp eaking Parts , e ig ht budget was for Sp eaking Parts, Fortnight at th e 1989 Ca nnes F ilm Fes- minutes e lapse b efo re th e first bit of dia- his third fearure. H e has a th eo ry about ti va l w he re sex, lies, and videotap e wo n logue occurs, and it's twice th at befo re rece nr in depe nde nr fil ms- th at by co n- th e co mpe titio n; Egoya n admits th at he o ne begin s to gras p th e situ atio n. The forming to H oll ywood produ cti o n stan- was so up set by Sode rbe rgh's title (i. e. beginning of Family Viewing, Egoya n's dards, they've begun to atrrac t a broade r th at he hadn't th ought of it himself) th at prev io us film , is e qu ally e nigmatic and aud ie nce. Broader, th at is, th an th e audi- he's ye t w see th e film . di sorie nring . Egoya n asc ribes hi s idi o- e nce for grimy, grainy 16 mm . W ith it's sy nc rati c exp osi ti o ns to hi s des ire to g raceful ly arc in g ca m e ra m ove m e nr , Egoyan was b orn in 1960 in Egypt of brea k \"th e H o ll ywood rul e ab out need- sp ookily lumin ous inre ri ors, and arres t- Arm e ni an p are nrs . His famil y e migrated ing to gra b th e audie nce in th e first te n ing, th o ugh w ta ll y unkn ow n , acto rs , to Ca nad a w he n he was three yea rs o ld , minutes.\" Speaking Parts loo ks a lot mo re expe n- but he didn't lea rn Engli sh until after hi s sive th an its \"well unde r a milli o n do llar grandm oth e r was pl aced in an o ld-age While majoring in inre rn atio nal affairs budget ,\" whic h is as close to spec ifi c as ho me four years late r. \" I resenred her at the U ni versity of Toro nw , Egoyan Egoya n's w illing to get now th at the film b e ing se nr away but th at's w he n m y m ade several short film s , o ne of w hich is making th e festi val c ircuit and a U.S. ass imil ati o n b ega n ,\" Egoya n re m ark s , was broadcast on the Ca nadi an Broad- ope ning is likely around th e New Year. savo ring th e co nrradicti on . It's te mpting casting Co rporatio n (C BC) . H e used the TV sale to p artiall y fin ance N ext of Kin , It's q ues tio nabl e whe th e r yo ur ave r- hi s first inde pe nde nr fearu re, w hich CBC age viewer will find atrrac ti ve vis uals and also te lev ised , leading to hi s be ing hire d subtl e ac ting a s uffic ie nt reward , give n to direct In This Quarter, a o ne-h our TV Sp eaking Parts' evasive, fragme nred nar- s how a b o ut a n IRA te rro ri s t w h o rati ve, s hift y-eyed , narc iss isti c c harac te rs beco mes in volved with an Iris h-Cana- and mo rbidl y c hill to ne. Actu all y th e di an boxer. \"The ac ti on seque nces in In film's m ost ap pea ling qu ality is its ga l- This Quarter caught the eye of som e co mm erc ial produ cers and I was hired to lows hum o r, w w hi c h th e New Yor k direc t e pi so d es o f Alfred Hit chcock Presents and The Twilight Zone, two Film Fes ti va l audi e nce made frequ e nt , A me ri ca n TV se ries s h ot in To ro nto,\" audibl e res p o nse. In s ho rt , Sp eakin g Egoya n expl a in s, adding th at at thi s Parts is not exactly sex , lies, and video- 27

recording something, they make it a possession . It has an effect on the proc- ess of memory. We give away responsi- bility for memory to a piece of technology. I don't think film was so insidious:' Aidan Tierney (r.) shelters Arsinee Khanjian in Family Viewing. T he phrase \"fam ily viewing\" evokes both the 6pm-8pm broadcast time point his career became totally schizo- young woman who works in a telephone slot and a funeral parlor ritual. Speaking phrenic. sex establishment (where Stan is one of Parts opens with a video image of a her clients) , Van rescues the tapes from woman wandering through a cemetery. \"My exposure to Hollywood film- Stan's clutches, his grandmother from Several shots later, we see the same making taught me what I was up against the nursing home, and his mother from woman sitting in a mausoleum watching and clarified my direction. In main- a videotape of her late brother walking stream production, what's onscreen is a homeless shelter. He sets up a new toward and away from the camera, home the budget-you know that Hollywood household with the three women, while movie style. In both films, video is asso- expression, 'The money's all on the Stan, in frantic pursuit, collapses of a ciated with desire (incestuous and there- screen: What's on the screen in inde- heart attack. fore guilty) and loss (abandonment or pendent filmmaking is spirit, an idiosyn- death). cratic vision . So instead of coming Family Viewing is remarkable, not up with a more mainstream script, as on ly for its multiple layering of satire and \"In terms of the technology-video most people expected, I wrote Family creepily intimate realism, but for its use mausoleums, videophones-Speaking Viewing.\" of video technology. Stan's bedroom Parts is set about five years in the diary and Va n's baby pictures were future; ' Egoyan explains adding that he's B udgeted at $160,000, Family View- recorded on consumer VHS: the living heard that they already have videotape ing was financed with private room scenes involving Stan, Van, and mausoleums in Japan. money and state-funded arts grants . the girlfriend were shot TV sitcom-style Egoyan stayed away from Canadian film with three studio cameras linked by a His insistence on a medicalized, production entities like Telefilm because switcher. Broadcast images from omni- mediated body and a nightmarishly he wanted to retain complete control. present TV sets and surveillance camera technological future/present environ- FamiLy Viewing was Egoyan's first film to footage are frequently intercut with the ment connects Egoyan to filmmakers win recognition outside Canada and in a action. Transferred to film, the like David Lynch, Peter Greenaway, and well-publicized incident at the Montreal degraded, degenerated video images his fellow Canadian, David Cronenberg. Film Festival, Wim Wenders asked the function both expressively and meta- Speaking Parts is, to state the story in jury to turn over his first prize for Wings phorically and depart from the usual the crudest terms, about the making of a ofDesire to Egoyan. 16mm look. movie about organ transplants which takes the form of a TV talk show. \"It's Relentlessly claustrophobic and \"Video images are suggestive of the preposterous,\" he shrugs . intentionally ugly, FamiLy Viewing is images that go on inside people's heads;' about the oedipal struggle between Egoyan remarks, adding later that, The main setting of Speaking Parts is Stan, a video equipment salesman, and \"there's a profound difference in attitude a hotel which also functions as a movie his son , Van. Having driven his wife toward the two mediums video and film. production office. Lisa (Arsinee Khan- (Van's mother) away and placed her In terms of home movies, everyone jian) a zealously truthful, mopey cham- mother (Van's grandmother) in a nursing using film knows in the back of their bermaid is in love with Lance (Michael home, Stan is dedicatedly taping over minds that they are going to have to pay McManus), an aspiring actor and Rob treasured home video recordings- for a roll. That means no matter how Lowe look-alike who also works in the replacing idyllic images of young Van obsessive they are about recording, they hotel as a steward-cum-hustler. Every and his mother romping in the grass have to chose. With video, the process night, Lisa rents videotapes of the films with clinically-depicted sexual encoun- can be indiscriminate. You can record an in which Lance has been an extra and ters between himself and his li ve-in entire day in real time without any form watches his scenes on a kind of TV girlfriend, who not-so-secretly also has of selection. That experience of time is shrine. Lance and Lisa never touch or the hots for Van. With the help of a extremely dangerous. Some people make eye contact. When they cross never look at what they record but by paths, they look as furtive and gui lty as actors in a Bresson film. Occasionally Lisa begs Lance to let her love him. Lance discovers that Clara (Gabrielle Rose), one of the hotel guests, has writ- ten a film. Clara is obsessed with her brother who died after donating his lung to save her life. Her script is about their relationship. Shes struck by Lance's resemblance to her dead brother and angles to get him the part. Clara and Lance begin an affair and when C lara goes out of town, they engage in mutual masturbation via videophone. 28

Egoyan says that while Family View- brother's POV or from th e POV of the hi s employees, over whom he also exer- ing was about the absence of familial mys teriou s seco nd camera which has cies droit du seigneur. Simi larl y the love, Speaking Parts is about the with- taken over the scene? Then Clara slowly hotel's head housekeeper is also the holding of romantic love. Which doesn't lowers her camera to her side. (Egoyan madame of its prostitution service, in mean that it's any less an Oedipal story. says that for him , thi s is the mos t mov- charge of sched uling and regul ating the The Producer (David Hemblin , who ing moment in the film .) Sister and sexual activities of both staff and guests. also played the father in Family Viewing) brother gaze directly at each other in is Speaking Part's evil genius. His beefy what, for a split second, we naively The festishized scraps of home video face, with its congealed expression of believe is unmediated intimacy. Then (of Van and hi s mother/C lara and he r self-aggrandizement, spreads across the the presence of the camera reasserts broth er) , in scribed with incestuou s long- videophone screen, as he supe rvises the itself, and we understand that, like the ing and the pain of lo ss are not only proceed ings from some remote location . characters, we've been set up. \"fel t\" images, they are the springboard The Producer has secretly written Clara for narrative. Interestingly, they also are out of her own story, so that now the I t's telling that when Egoyan discusses the place where the son emerges as film's about two brothers rather than a technology, he focuses so heavily on leading man . In that sense, Family View- brother and sister. its domestic use. In both Family View- ing resolves positively-Van saves both ing and Speaking Parts , the social struc- the women of the household and the Arresting though they are, the char- ture is imploded so that the famil y tapes (cultural history.) Speaking Parts is acters in Speaking Parts are too self- becomes the only operative institution. a much darker film. Clara's brother, in absorbed to invite identifi cation. Nor A claustrophobic immigrant culture is saving her life, has abandoned her to the does Egoyan intend for them to do so. displaced onto a technological one. The whims of the Producer. And Lance, the His basic editing design (repeated recording apparatus is the object of a tug brother substitute, has no investment in throughout the film) involves subverting of war between the younger generation the integrity of Clara's story; he's only what at first appears to be a point of who need it to preserve childhood mem- too willing to betray it (and her) for the view shot-the traditional device for cre- ory (incestuous yearnings) and the bad advancement of his own career. ating audience identification-by follow- fathers who employ it to display and ing it , not with the usual 180 degree extend their power, rewriting personal Egoyan comments that, although Van reverse angle, but with a moving camera history in the process. The VC R is a sex seems like a savior, \"he's still his father's shot, 90 degrees off to the si de. The toy which fuels forbidden fantasies . All son:' Speaking Parts' ironic hall of mir- second shot is not identified with any the characters in Family Viewing are rors suggests a similar complicity character. Rather it functions as an bound by blood or marriage, except the between Egoyan (the absent presence intrusion in the scene, as if the camera two women who fun ction as concubines behind the camera) and the Producer were not only coming between the char- for the father (one of whom is rescued (who \" phones in\" his picture.) Both acters, but going out of its way to make and then claimed by the so n) . Sexuality derive power from the manipulation of the audience aware of its gaze. This is either incestuous or venal. In Speak- images. moving camera, in Egoyan's term s, \"is a ing Parts, p arental relationships are character\"-the absent presence of the superimposed on the workplace. The \"If I have a set of concerns and a set filmmaker. Producer, who's away on busine ss, of conflicting attitudes , the n I have a asserts his authority via a closed circuit film ;' Egoyan says. \"I don't sub scribe to While encompassing the Producer's TV image, dominating not only produ c- a messianic view of filmm aki ng and I film, Speaking Parts is also its dreamlike tion meetings, but the wed ding of one of d on't disgui se the fact th at I haven't subtext. '1\\ movie that takes the form of reached a co nclu sion. I e ncourage the a talk show is very original;' the Pro- Lisa loves Lance in Speaking Parts. audie nce to be aware that I am photo- ducer says. \"I'd watch it and people have graphing people and to be deeply suspi- always watched what I like to watch:' ciou s of my reaso ns.\" ~ Speaking Parts gleefully satirizes the Producer's (mainstream films') banality and also offers another way of telling a story. The lynchpin in the film's construc- tion is a sequence toward the end in which the suicidal Clara revisits the mau so leum to , once again , wa tch the video of her brother. One has, until this point, tacitly assumed that C lara shot the tape-that when the brother smiles at the camera, he is , or rather, was, on that happier occasion, smiling at C lara. But this time, the tape runs past its usual cut-off point, and as the shot widens, we're surprised to see Clara, herself, in the upper right corner of the frame, film- ing her brother with a super-8 film cam- era. A cut to a head-on close-up of Clara's camera lens adds to the disorien- tation . Should the shot be read from the 29

© 1989 Andrews and McMeel For five years now, Roger Ebert's Movie Home Companion has been your VCR's companion of choice. The 1990 edition shows why: fuli-Iength reviews of hundreds of the most interesting films of the last twenty years, interviews with stars like Shirley MacLaine and Robert De Niro, and a special section titled \"Why I Love Black & White\" that includes an essay on \"colorization\" and a checklist of great B&W films on video. This winter, end video-store vacillation once and for all: Before you select that movie, ask Roger. In paperback, $12.95. ANDREWS and McMEEL A Universal Press Syndicate Company

• ection sst

The Lives of .. Supporting Players Sydney Greenstreet takes central focus in The Maltese Falcon. by David Thomson What is leftfor those M ay I as k a question ? H ow many of weightier actors, the you reade rs are, in life, me rely th e sub- L e t us wo nd e r for a m o me nt alleged stars? What sidi ary/supports for othe rs? H ow many wheth er we have a shared could there be beyond of you, on the other hand , are the cen- unde rstanding of what a charac- character, except some ters of your known world? You don't have inane, ghostly glamour to be as assertive as Buddy Love in The te r ac to r is. A c h arac te r acto r pl ays that we have come Nutty Professor. Tactful preeminence is in orde r. Still , are n't we the subject? And so meo ne who is not at the hea rt of a to worship? in th ose cases where, as yet, ow in g e ntire ly to unruly circum stances, our film , or, if at the center, not someo ne pl ayers .\" T he edifi ce of a pi cture has ce ntr alit y has not yet been full y stars for spires, and such as Walte r Bren- acknowledged , how great is the need , whose dec is ions are th e c ru x of th e nan, Thelm a Ritte r, M . Emme t Wal sh th e hurt , the anger and the e nergy that and Stockard C hanning are their loyal, build beca use of obscurity? drama? Thu s, Walte r Bre nnan is a char- sturd y and obedie nt buttresses . Aren't they? Except who ever me t a supp orting Put it another way : in the horizo n of acter actor in Red River, the narrator actor who didn't serve in the belief and life th at surrounds The Maltese Falcon , expectation th at they could and would , does Sydney Greenstreet's Casper Gut- (eithe r on the page or on the so und and also should , be a star? Every H arry ma n rea ll y be li eve th at the mo ro se, D ean Stanton has his Paris, Texas, or blunt Sam Spade is at the ce nter of track) , its observer, but not a protago- deserves it. Ju st by virtue of their color, things ? D oes n't Sam go back to bitter eccentricity, vivacity and fid elity, don't sleep whe n the story is over? Wh ereas nist. Walter Bre nnan's Groot does very our most bel oved characte r actors sug- Gutm an has a miss ion, a calling, a veri- gest a logic, or a pass ion, in whic h the ir table EI D orado -Oh yes, sir! you can little in Red River except to ss knives or characters are at least as important as hear him hiss. D espite his bulk he is a any others on view? driven soul , burning with quest for the feed lines into the plot whe n required . falc o n, a nd exerc is ing th at un spe nt , coiled rapture in droll , serpe ntine con- H e is a fond witness, a m odel for us. versation. As John Huston found , it was very hard to put Gutman in a composi- Moreover, he lets the film make fun of tion and not have him take the eye. He is, you see, th e shining idealist in the his fal se teeth : stars are edgy about such film . He is full of hope, love, need and scenes. But a characte r actor is not obliged to appear all through a film. H e or she may need only a few mome nts; pe rhap s one drop-dead scene will do. The re is not a lot of Lee Strasberg's Hym an Roth in The Godfather, Part //, just a weary, fragile man watching the ' foo tb all game on TV in Miami , and the old fe ll ow sur- pri sed and briefl y de lighted by be ing met at the airp ort . Wh e n O scar tim e co mes ro und , these people are kn own as \"s upp orting 32

des ire - and desire is always beautiful Soothing Thelma Ritter in Rear Window. script a few days or hours before shoot- in th e mov ies, fo r it re mind s us of ing, never m ind , fo r th ey know what o ursel ves. They all set out hoping they do, and th ey k now th at's why to be leads; they live yo u've hired the m . T hey are auto matic, s o, where are we in our defi nition? with disappointment, axiomatic . So the director ca n give all C haracter actors play ro les of co n- draining struggle, and hi s ti me to pry the star out of his tra ile r side rable im portance in pictures , yet not the lie that they are and o ut of a bad mood /bad hig h/bad the biggest. And just because the actio n happy the way things ome n cul-de-sac lo ng e no ugh to be glo- seems to e mploy the m in the service of ri o us. So me t imes if th ere isn't any the gods, they may sometimes thrive, worked out. script , a characte r acto r may be loo ked fl ower and linger in our me mories more to as the pe rso n who knows best how than the stars. Is it just because th ey e nd ured a T ie rney who coul d thin k and Be n Jo hn so n or Marie W ind sor talks . So have charac te r ? But if th ey have th e talk , and who was n't e ndless ly pliant to characte r acto rs are movie buffs. character, the n what is left fo r th ose ma le d rea ms a nd wishes. (That still weightier acto rs, the alleged stars? W hat goes o n: Rh ea Pe rlm an's Carla in Cheers T hey have to love th e medi um , for could the re be beyo nd characte r, except utte rs the wisec racks of roma ntic dis- they are not p aid on anything li ke some in ane, ghostly glamour th at we abu se.) the sca le stars e nj oy. Nor do character have co me to worship ? W hat does it say acto rs come in fo r resid uals if the ir pic- about our film s, and ourselves , if we put C haracter actors don't get script or tures turn in to hits o r c lass ics. T hi s anything so mys te ri o us, so ph anto m , directi on in the way stars do. (I know I he lp s the m , th ey are told ; for, with o ut ahead of character? am begging the q ues tio n whe th e r e ith e r security, th ey have to keep on working- of th ese co mm odities is really curre nt. and does n't eve ryo ne kn ow th at a n Th e re are many p racti ca l, p rofes- But bear with me, e nte rtain th e fa ncy actor's craft needs to be ho ned every s io nal diffe re nces be tween c haracte rs th at th ey he lp a pi cture.) C harac te r day, just the way Kirby Pucke tt likes fo ur and stars that may he lp us appreciate th e actors are hired to be Warre n O ates or at-bats every day? It's o nly the stars who mixture of natu re and myth in our mov- Spr ing Byingto n, Elisha Cook or Eve ca n get away wi th taking a year off. ies. The matte r of com positi o n is no Arde n. Casting is th ought to settle an T hey're secure. F ro m a tax point of view small matter. Stars live th ro ugh close- ide nt ity and re move furth er pro ble ms. they may need to res t for the next te n ups; it is there that they exist, rad iate Such tried-and-tru e pl ayers can turn up mo nth s. An d at $6 m ill io n a p ic ture, and pres ide. C haracte r acto rs do some- and del iver to orde r. If they onl y see a who wants to work ju st for th e sake of it tim es get cl ose-up s, but o nly so th at and ri sk a dog th at co uId drag th e ir th e ir characters may explain , lie, liste n, stock down? T hey do n't have to hit, th ey threate n, make jokes, go mad or be th e onl y need to be the des ignated hitte r. kind of small , vain fu sspot not worthy to rul e over film s. Stars so me tim es ju st C haracter actors m ust feel unu sually wait , reflect and dwell in th e mselves in isolated. They do not have an e nto u- close-up s. C haracter actors never get rage, and th eir fo ll owings mu st be taken that time: they have to be bu sy; that o n tru st. Even amo ng th e readers of a engine once known as story has to earn m ovie m agazine, how ma ny peo pl e the ir time and intim acy. (We may love today coul d p ut the right name to t he characte r acto rs because th e ir scenes face if th e pictures were of Jo hn Maho- te nd to tell th e sto ry- as opposed to suf- ney, Da n Seym o ur, Ri c h ard Bri g ht , fer ing from it.) Mercedes Ru ehl , Tom Noona n, C harl es Nap ie r, Barbara Baxley, Verna Bl oom , It fo llows th at character actors do not Margaret Wyche rley, James Villiers? Ju st get the sa me kind of light. T hey do not because they all set out hoping to be have stand-ins, and so the ir lighting is leads , th ey li ve with d isappoi nt me nt , arranged quickl y; it is done so that th ey dra ini ng struggle, and th e lie th at they may be visible, not e motio nal or atmo- are hap py the \"vay thi ngs worked out. spheric. More or less , fo r 50 years, char- Televisio n is th ei r best chance of fulfi ll- acte r actors had the same lighting: it was me nt , fo r th at is where natural characte r o n. T hu s, they do not look as good as actors - fro m Ed As ner to Betty W hite, stars-but, the syste m says, they never from M ichael Tu cke r to Bl air Brown- did ; th at's why they are character actors, may get series, p romine nce, work and not stars, with fa t, scars, li nes and q uirks res id uals . TV is certainly the are na in to prove it. T hey are the system's co ncil- w hich th e mos t inte rest ing e nsemble iatory gesture to the unlovely masses; acti ng is to be seen in Ameri ca . It is also they are meant to be like us. So we th e me diu m in w hi c h press ures of sho uld defe nd the m and urge th em to budget and schedule fi ght the last battle keep the faith with fl aw and defect. Syd- aga in st th e prevaricat ing w him and ne u- ney G reenstreet would have bee n ill- rotic hesitati on of stars. advised to lose 150 pounds. Was n't it di e ting th at k ill ed L aird C rega r ? If Nor is the re any ev idence th at Ame r- T helma Ritte r had wo ke n up o ne morn- ica is suffering in its supply of character ing looking like Gene T ierney she'd have acto rs; Hill Street Blues and L. A. Law been lost. For no o ne co ul d ever have have been rich prov ing grounds, even if 33

many of the Blues seem to have died Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas. po rt and aSSOC IatiOn, befo re slipping with the series. In the selection that fol- away from o ne anothe r. This is a view of lows, there is am ple evidence of quality Americas life that respects both so litariness and and daring. Moreover, we still have a few movie-making has respo nsibility, and which sees how pri- so-called star acto rs who hono r the atti- excelled when it has vate li ves and actions ca nnot help but tudes embod ied in characte r acting - I been founded in affect public expe rie nce. It leads to a am thinking of Gene H ackman , Alec something like a stock kind of film th at sp reads beyond the Guinness, Robert Duvall , Meryl Streep, company, a group of frame or a set storyline; it in vo kes a co n- Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon. actors for whom tinuity and a crowded co ntext th at go human and social o n, seem ingly, forever. Needless to say, But the most important point that an character has seemed it und e rsta nd s how fa r th e co mm o n introductory essay like this can make is more interesting state of experie nce is th at flu x of farce to remind us of how often America's and tragedy in which we would all like to movie-making has excelled when it has than clout. be at the ce nte r of the wheel. But can- been founded in something like a stoc k not be. Any objective observer sees a co mpany, a group of actors for who m there are th ose in hi s real exte nded fam- wheel, but subjectivity ins ists there are human and social character has seemed ily who have be he ld not just a patriarch , as many wheels as the re are spo kes. more interesting than clout. but a lo ne r, a user and a prince of dark- This is a way of seeing that confronts a ness to match Michael Co rleo ne. F rom factory of wheels; it is the c ine ma of Co nside r th e wo rk of Griffith, Capra to Co pp o la, th e re are film s Re noir and Mizoguchi-it is not e ntirely Lubitsch, Welles, Preston Sturges, that rhapsodize over co mmunity yet plot American . Hawks, Ford , Coppo la and Altman. Not dictatorship. that any of the m have proved he lpress or For examp le, such a view does not fit intransigent with stars and starry shows T here is a more challe nging ideal in well with tid y, co nclusive and uplifting -so lo ng as o ne rem em be rs Welles' mov ie-m aki ng, which is to show us e ndings , o r wi th any notio n of so me insinu ating and G utm anesque need to the group as a natural , helpless arrange- roles or lives be ing grande r than others. be th at star himse lf, and Altman's preoc- me nt , not so much a unified tea m as the The panorama of many small lives-of cupied but cas ual urge to knock th e inev itable gath ering together of lonely, character actors -produ ces doubt, dis- s hin e off bi g-n am e ac to rs. G riffith suspicious, unhappy individu als who will may and ca uti o n. Whereas so ma ny he lped define stard o m as a narrati ve occas io nally rise to states of love, rap- America n films want us to feel good. device; Lubitsch cherished the vanity of all actors, espec ially the po mp of small Let me propose three film s which do me n; H awks made so rare an ico n of pass thi s tes t with honors: The Shop Lauren Bacall that no othe r director Around the Corner, Th e Magnificent could ever rediscover it; Jo hn Fo rd is Ambersons and Nashville. In th e largely respo nsible for what we think of Lubitsch picture, the title signals how as Jo hn Wayne; and Coppola has draw n far the place is the subject, even if it is a extrao rdinary, dominating pe rformances C ul ver City Budapes t: James Ste,vart from AI Pacino, Gene H ackman and and Margaret Sull ava n are stars, and the Marlon Brand o. discovered love between th ei r characte rs is the destination of the story. Yet it is a But th ose starry triumphs can not be mov ie about misunderstanding and off- detached fro m the aura of the group that setting co ntext, of many diffe re nt things pe rvades The Godfather, Only Angels go ing o n at o nce, of chance reve lati on Have Wings, The Shop Around the Cor- and unexpected benefit. And it is in the ner, Th e Magnificent Ambersons o r co mpany of Frank Morgan , Josep h Nashville. In so me of th ose cases, it Schildkraut , Felix Bressart , Sara Haden may be argued th at the com munity of and William Tracy that we see a collec- actors has produced a sentim e ntality tio n of sto ries and a climate of co nfu sion th at hinde rs the acti on or the mea ning such that Stewart and Sull avan pass as of a film; the re is a false clubbiness pos- eq ual charac ters, noble fools li ving in sible in such film s. In Jo hn Ford, the th e sa me lig ht as eve ryo ne e lse. In rh eto ric of team spirit can serve as a Ambersons, love and happin ess ca nnot blith e cove r fo r military obed ie nce. be ac hieved anyw he re without so me There is so much more dispute, co ntra- co rrespo nding loss (!Isewhere: a kind of diction and everyo ne-talking-and-think- emotional boo kkeep ing is at work , and ing-at-o nce in the gro up s of H owa rd no accumul atio n of assets or se ntime ntal Hawks. Further, in The Godfath er, it is cred it is proof again st failure. It is that th e very inte nsity of famil y feeling that rare Ame rica n film in whic h every c har- leaves the be hav ior of the Co rleones so ac te r fails - no wo nd e r th e sys te m ambiguous. We have such a good time lacked the heart to finish it. Nash ville is watching th e feeding inte rplay of Pacino, the apotheos is of thi s way of loo king: it Duvall , Jam es Caa n , Ri c hard Cas te l- is a film about the crowd, maybe the lano, Abe Vigo da and Jo hn Caza le, th at first Ame rican film about us, the audi- we so metimes forget what it is th e team e nce, th at throng of unn amed character does . The process of the mov ie reveals acto rs. ~ th e beguiling Don in Co pp o la-yet 34

e a t u r le n g••• Victim-the regular drover who, through a series of preposterously willful misun- derstandings , runs afoul of gunman Geoffrey Lewis . Lewis badly needs to kill somebody to shore up his self- esteem, and Clark knows he hasn't a chance against him. CYRIL CUSACK BONNIE BEDELIA A man-sized elf with dubious eyes At nearly 80 , Cyril Cusack remains and a perpetual wince, Clark flourished Barefoot and pregnant, and singing during the last, elegiac era of the West- so very promising an acto r that who ''The Best Things in Life Are Free; ' she ern. In Huston's The Life and Times of wouldn't want him in a film , or go back stole They Shoot Horses , Don't They ? Judge Roy Bean , he was the Judge's man and redo the screenplay to make a place from Jane Fonda. Butched up and raring who invariably posed for the daguerreo- for him? Reckoned as star material in to go as Shirley Muldowney, she gave typist, pistol aimed head-high at the lat- the Forties (Gone to Earth) , the young the heart to Heart Like a Wheel . Toned est victim of \"law West of the Pecos\"; it Irishman was too reticent, too full of down , but not much , she snapped to was a moot question who looked more dreaming character to be just, emphati- husband Fred Ward in The Prince of terrified. In Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett cally, romantic , or a lead. He would dis- Pennsylvania, \"Sometimes I feel like I and Billy the Kid (the last roundup and married Jimi Hendrix, and he turned elephants' graveyard of the Western solve before being emphatic. When into Oliver North.\" A lot of us wanted to character actor) , he was Bell, the deputy Truffaut made Fahrenheit 451 , he marry Bonnie Bedelia when she was the whom Kris Kristofferson's Billy would doubted Cusack could be frightening as most intelligent ingenue on the block; regretfully kill-but not before playing the Captain , but the actor offered so now that she's longer in the tooth and poker with him and asking, \"What do even brighter in the brainpower, we wait you believe in, Bell?\" \"I believe;' says much more, bringing such sweet reason for her to divorce her constant career Clark with due circumspection, \" I'll to the Captain's sinister outlines, that companion-that creepy guy known as raise you two:' the film changed. Here was a Fireman Nearly Anonymous. But Bedelia herself from a child's story-not a Gestapo man isn't waiting for star-power to liberate her Clark didn't need the Western as but an uncle full of decent but incendi- from lists like this one. \"I began acting at badly as it needed him. His south-of- ary urges . There are more disturbing the age of nine;' she says, \"and the work the-picketwire twang and a certain phan- things than putting on the frighteners. is a great joy. But I just go to work and tom frontier scruffiness beautifully do the work and go home. Die Hard , enhanced his offbeat casting as a laid- And so Cusack goes on: whimsical, with Bruce Willis? It seems to mean back EEG specialist in Michael Crich- not handsome or commanding, always a something to people when you're in a ton's medical thriller, The Terminal Man. little absent-minded, a voice of such sly, movie that makes money. I like Bruce, His masterpiece remains the shifty sidelong-glancing intelligence he could but he's just an actor, like the rest of us.\" clerk-trusty at the Southern prison in carry off the monologues in the TV Brubaker-an encyclopedically defini- adaptation of The Golden Bowl, convey -JAY SCOTr tive character turn. More recently, he the pained silence of Alec Guinness' made haplessness sinister as Jamie Lee brother in Little Dorrit, rising to several MArrCLARK Curtis' father in Love Letters , then went of hi s mo st eloquent , phi.losophical on to gild the character-actor lily direct- sighs. No one has ever sighed better The Culpepper Cattle Company , an ing Barnard Hughes in Da. than Cusack. The li st of wonders anomalous 1972 Western , was notable includes Odd Man Out, Chauvelin in chiefly for convening a much-needed -RICHARD JAMESON The Elusive Pimpernel (where sighs new generation of Hollywood character explode as firework sneezing), The Waltz actors. Matt Clark drew the generically of the Toreadors , The Spy Who Came in indispensable role of Designated Early from the Cold, the gunsmith in The Day of the Jackal, the father in Harold Pin- ter's The Homecoming , and the taut , nervewracked , stammering booby~trap expert in The Small Back Room . There 35

might be some perfect, endless movie in ades before his indelible face became his alcoholic in The Stone Boy, needs to which, say, waiting for starry melo- fortune. Davis is an open secret among worry about letting down the side. His dramas to elapse, Sydney Greenstreet, the inner circle he's worked with- work has had its ups and downs-the Peter Lorre, Claude Rains and Cusack among them directors Jonathan Demme fiendish baby-napper in Where Are the play bridge. And Cusack would sigh (Melvin and Howard) or Alan Rudolph Children? and the scalp-crazy renegade over every \"No bid :' (Roadie) or pokerfaced Texans like Wil- Blue Duck in TV's Lonesome Dove. He lie Nelson (Red Headed Stranger) and -DAVID THOMSON BEVERLY D'ANGELO Tommy Lee Jones (Lonesome Dove)- in the Coppola boondoggles, One From . She wasn't nominated for an Oscar and almost unknown outside of it. the Heart and especially Hammett, for playing Patsy Cline, the lacquered lady legend of country music, in Coal It may be a Texas trademark, but which sank in spite of him. His genius: Miner's Daughter-and Beverly DAn- gelo, unlike Jessica Lange in the follow- Davis' characters have a natural obsti- the ordinary man with a spark of some- up Cline bio, Sweet Dreams, did .her own singing. \"My career;' DAngelo nate dry humor to them, and they exist thing extra. laughs , \"has been an inside joke:' But there have been innumerable punch- well before and after they walk onto a I think of Forrest when I read an lines. She;s great with good material (the deb in Hair, Stella in the Ann-Margret screen. Stampeded, accidentally hanged Elmore Leonard novel, and he'd make Streetcar Named Desire) and good in mediocre-to-messy (the surrogate and riddled with machine-gun bullets, an ideal Hoke Moseley, the late Charles mother in Paternity , the all-too-real mother in National Lampoon's Jilca- Davis' cowboys , gangsters and not-quite- Willeford's definitive lumpen-cop in the tion). Her biggest dream, Sweet Dreams, went sour when Lange picked honest aldermen never entirely die; they classic-of-the-future Miami Blues and its up the property. Looking back, DAngelo can only laugh: \"They told me leave behind a tangible vitality and an three sequels. In the film adaptation, the the project wasn't dead. I told them I would be, before they'd let me do it.\" incandescent rogue's smile. That was part went (0 Fred Ward, a solid second Best and most significant line read- the hallmark of Cowboy in Eagle Pen- choice whose vicious streak may be too ing: in Honky Tonk Freeway, driving a pink Cadillac convertible, her mother's nell's Last Night at the Alamo. A charis- close to the surface; Moseley's hard- ashes in an urn on the front seat, she visits the International House of Pan- matic dreamer-which is a kinder word boiled violence is buried deep, like the cakes whenever she can because, she drawls, \"It's been the only constant in than blowhard-Cowboy's fate was most compulsions of a bland-looking play- my life: ' certainly Hollywood stardom ... until he . ground sniper. Forrest could play that in -JAY SCOTT took offhis Stetson. (Davis unabashedly his sleep. Willeford's writing, too- SONNY CARL DAVIS shares a hairline with Robert Duvall, straightforward but with a continuous Droll and understated, Sonny Carl Davis is in roughly the same pen that almost 20 years his senior.) How long fizz of tiny mostly unpleasant surprises held Harry Dean Stanton all those dec- before we see what Davis can do with a - is a pretty fair equivalent of a peak few 'of the roles Duvall turns down? Frederic Forrest performance. -SHEILA BENSON -DAVID CHUTE FREDERIC FORREST A matchless naturalistic actor, Fre- SAMUEL FuLLER deric Forrest resists pulling out all the stops, and turning hambone. In the early Is Samuel Fuller a character actor? Seventies, he was a rising young lead in Or an actor at all? By his own testimony, flicks as disparate as The Conversation and The Don is Dead, and looked on the Continued on page 48 verge of breakthrough in The Rose , as Bette Midler's favorite soldier-boy. Star- dom hasn't panned out, but not because he has failed to fulfill the promise of that early work. Nobody who can swab the screen with Robert Duvall, as Forrest did playing an incandescently bitter 36



by Pat McGilligan How did you begin as an actor ? Stani slavs ky says th e fl es h is access i- I began drama schoo l in New York ble, th at the acto r mu st re late to the D irectors say: \"G ive the part to the day Roosevelt closed the ba nks- p hys ica l e nviro nm e nt. Hi s co nnecti o n Jeff, he'll do something with th e very de pth of th e D e press io n . I to faces, people, things-to an atmo- it. ..\" went to the Feagin Schoo l of D ramati c sphe re - is more important th an trying C haracte r actor Jeff Corey, one of the Art and also pl ayed in Shakespearean to get to the psychological truth. All of repe rtory at th e old Jolso n T heate r. thi s uu e feeling, really fee ling the part , live and kic king relics of H ollywood's Were you schooled in the is bullshit. Stanisla vsky Method? Go ld e n Age, is re nowne d for a lo ng No, I learn ed th e De lsa rte c hart , T he actor ought not to co ncern him- w h ich de m o nstrated th e ap propri ate self with the nature of the e motio n of screen career, dating back to the early gesture for e ither an e motio nal, phys ica l the scene. D on't think in term s of adjec- o r me ntal condition. It was taught in this tives and adverbs, only in verb s. What Forties , of credits two or three times the country and in Europe at the turn of the do I have to do right now? century. Even ILeel Stras be rg paid trib- nu m b e rs li s te d in th e b es t film o- ute to th e Delsarte chart. I u y to get actors to stop thi s god- I'm so glad I had that kind of training damed fee ling so mu ch and to think graphies. Aided by th e vi brato of his - whe re th ey to ld yo u if yo u had an about the part . W hat is the play about? expository passage yo u should look out If yo u understand th at the story is o nly vo ice, a grand phys ique, and a craggy th e illusu atio n of a very cogent human '''Kid, I want you to go the me, the n yo u can play the part . face, Corey has de livered a life time of to the Bronx 'Zoo and Wh e n I played Tom C haney in True scene-stealing perform ances, whethe r as spend a morning Grit, I tried to make clear how danger- watching a wart hog o us stupi d peo pl e are. A co mmunity a heavy in a Republ ic pot-boiler, W ild and catch its voice.'\" th at just says . \"Well , he's dumb , le t him Bill Hickok in Little Big Man , or more be...\" puts itself in danger because stu- fo r the brass rail of the seco nd balco ny pid people ca n des troy glori ous people. I rece ntly, a m es m e ric Sa nta C laus o n and be transported. Since th e n we've lea rn e d t hat exp os ito ry p assages are TV's Night Court. H e's also H ollywood's rea lly a pa in in th e ass, and what yo u have to do is give the m an immediacy. .. premiere acting me ntor, the only teacher I started Meth od classes in about '3 5 apart from Este lle H arman to have been at the T heater Co llective, a kind of left- wing theater. I was intrigued by the way acti ve in H ollywood since the Fifties. th ose peopl e acted . O f co urse, th ey were barely audible. Th ough unq uestio nably a p atriot-he Why barely audible? was a co mbat ph otographer of the ka mi- Well , they were searching for truth . ILaughs]. But I always had e ne rgy and kaze atte mpt o n the Carrie r Yorktow n in could be heard . I got very excited about the Me thod. Wh en we did L ope de O ctobe r 1945, deemed by naval citation Vega's S p a ni s h Re naissa nce co me d y, The Pastry Baker, Bre tt Warre n, who as \"o ne of the great p icture seque nces of had been an amate ur pr izefighte r, now a Meth od director, sa id to me, \" Kid , I the war\" - he refused to slime in front of want yo u to go to the Bronx Z oo and spe nd a mo rning watching a wart hog th e Ho use U n-Am e ri ca n Ac ti v it ies and catch its vo ice.\" It was supp osed to be a wart hog with an acute case of dys- Co mmittee (H UAC) . Hi s bri e f, tig ht- e nte ry-th at was the nature of th e farce. What is the Method? lip ped app ea ran ce b e fo re H UAC was Most people who talk about it do n't know anything. notable fo r its crit ique of the acting per- form ance of a stoo lie who had preceded him . Blackli sted , Corey became an acting g uru and ma ny acto rs c re dit hi m fo r influ enc in g th e ir ca reers. H e taug ht .l ames Dean , .l ack N ic holso n, and many of th e Corma n sq uad, incl uding Roger h im se lf, H arr y Be lafo nte, A nt h o ny Perki ns, Dick Van D yke, Do nna Reed , C yd C hari sse, D iaha nn Ca rro ll , R o b Re ine r, Penny Marshall , Sally Struthers, Ca ndi ce Be rge n, Ann-Margre t, Richard C ha mb e rl ain , E ll e n Burst yn , C he r, Steve n Spie lberg, Taylor H ackfo rd ... in all , abo ut 10,000 stud ents in 40 years. Afte r the bl acklist, Corey returned to acting with a vengea nce, making Mickey One, Seconds, In Cold Blood , Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Little Big Man , and True Grii. Now, in hi s mid-70's, he co ntinues to act and teach acting - not \"screen acting\" - m ixi ng an indi v is ibl e bl e nd of c lass ica l th eo ry, S tani slavsky, hard working craft and Jeff Co rey. -P.M. 38

was not trying to be high-rone and pro- In 1940, I came ro California with my went into the Navy for three years. I was fessorial. As an acror I question: what's wife just to visit. Jules Dassin, a direc- in The Devil and Daniel Webster , My the meaning of this? tor-in-training at RKO, asked us to stay at Friend Flicka , Syncopation. I was a his house while he went on location . In pretty good actor as a kid. I like looking What is the proper way to employ the a very naive way, I walked Sunset Strip at myoid pictures. Method? and went from agency to agency like you do in New York. I got an agent and Did you continue to study acting? Well, it ought not ro be employed like began to work. In late '40 , we started the Actors a ritual. [Stanislavsky'sl only an influ- Lab. We wanted to get the taste of the- ence in my life, just as Bertolt Brecht Many friends had come out to Cali- ater we missed from New York . Dass in and Peter Brook are. I say: you find your fornia, people in the Group Theater- and Roman Bohnen of the Group The- own Method. Mike Gordon, Dassin, Howard Da ater began to teach . A lot of Group The- Silva. We rented a house with a tennis ater people-Ruth Nelson , Mary W hat was the progress of your court and they all used to come to play, Virginia Farmer, Morris Carnovsky- career before films? including [Elial Kazan , who was really a were in Lab productions , or teaching for I did Broadway. I roured in Leslie sorehead on the court. Many times I had the Lab. Ultimately, people like Marty Howard's Hamlet. On radio I had a run- him 5-4, and he beat me 7-5 because Ritt, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Vin- ning role in the \"Philip Marlowe, Detec- he'd get so angry. cent Price and Karen Morley got tive\" series and did a lot of Lux Radio involved. Theater. I got a good deal of film work until I PRACfICE MADE presences. At his best in Spellbound, friend in My Girl Tisa. PERFECf Chekhov was a sly, seemingly doddering Herbert Berghofs bulldog mien professor who, in fact, allowed nothing T hey coulda been contende'rs to elude his gaze-a psychiatric served him well as a Nazi officer in Five but remained coaches behind Columbo. The diminutive Ouspenskaya Fingers and a Soviet scientist in Red the scenes, for actors from proved naturally regal whether playing Planet Mars. He was finally given a royalty in Dodsworth, or the title charac- more meaty role as Art Carney's New Marlon Brando to Lily Tomlin. Naysay- ter's mother in The Wolf Man . York neighbor in Harry and Tonto. Berghofs wife, Uta Hagen, had loudly ers will quote the old adage: \"Those Strasberg also came to screen acting voiced her disdain for screen acting. Yet after decades at the Actors Studio. An her haunting performance in The Other who can do; those who can't teach; ' but inspired choice to play Hyman Roth in was Oscar-nominated, and her forth- The Godfather, Part II, he affected a coming portrait of a maid in Reversal of when pressed to duty, the most revered wheeze, which did little to mask his Fortune is her first screen performance acting teachers, like their students , have demonstrated that their theories work character's ferocity. Like Houseman, his in a decade. outside of workshop situations. first screen incarnation echoed and Paul Mann's two screen roles-Amer- diminished in all his subsequent work. John Houseman's owlish , withering Similarly, Michael Gazzo: poignant as ica, America and Fiddler On the Roof- gaze in The Paper Chase or Bill Hickey's demonstrated his power and charisma. outstretched hand entreating Anjelica the doomed Frankie Pentangeli in the Physically bearlike, he nonetheless Huston to have a cookie in Prizzi 's second Godfather, ill-used as a crime invested his parts with intelligence, Honor have become indelible movie goon ever since. grace and humor. Similar in type to moments, prime evidence that it's possi- Less conspicuous are the film Mann, Eli Rill portrayed a blustering ble to jump the fence and practice what appearances by Strasberg contempo- radio station owner in the award-winning you preach: so have Maria Ous- raries Sanford Meisner and Robert Canadian film Slipstream. However, penskaya, Michael Chekhov, Uta Lewis. Meisner was lured to Hollywood unlike Mann, he eschewed the \"less is Hagen , Michael Gazzo, Peggy Feury by producer Buddy Adler in the early more\" dictum in a wildly uneven per- and Lee Strasberg. Sixties to act and teach. He did little of formance. None of them are stars, but they are either (his most notable credit was Clif- Sandra Seacat, now a film director, characters of distinction and power. ford Odet's The Story on Page One, was ably used as mother to Kiefer Suth- Their teacher's authority has been used 1960) and returned only once to the erland in Promised Land. As a farm wife to portray military leaders, professors, cameras in Mikey and Nicky, as memo- in Country, she conveyed flinty spirit in clergy, lawyers, doctors and gangsters. rable mob honcho Dave Resnick, the the face of foreclosure and , ultimately, One can imagine Juilliard graduate brooding, phlegmatic boss who puts the the suicide of her husband. James Bridges searching for an actor contract out on John Cassavetes' life. The most substantive careers from reminiscent of his old teacher John A contract player in the Fonies, these ranks belong to Jeff Corey and Bill Houseman to play Prof. Kingsfield: fail- Lewis left film forever following his role Hickey, who are both most closely asso- ing to find an appropriate facsimile, he of neighbor and friend to Charlie ciated with playing marginal types. See simply went to the original. Or Jessica Chaplin's M. Verdoux . It was an amusing profiles. I Lange taking delight in recommending turn in a career otherwise shamefully Hickey's filmography is more limited her coach, Sandra Seacat, for the screen under-capitalized, as when he applied than Corey's , but he never fails to bring role of Frances Farmer's acting teacher heavy makeup and emerged Chinese in a sense of fun to his roles-most memo- ~ in Frances. Dragon Seed beside Katharine Hep- rably as the childlike Don Prizzi. It was These are not simple instances of art burn. Hickey who blubbered a thank you to • imitating life. The great Russian teach- Stella Adler also fled Hollywood for Zero Mostel when he toasted to failure ers, Chekhov and Ouspenskaya, came the richer rewards of Broadway. Her trio in The Producers, and so articulated the to Hollywood after illustrious coaching of credits was truly undistinguished , cul- wisdom of the craft: such failures teach careers and evolved as distinctive screen minating in a role as Lilli Palmer's best valuable lessons. -LEONARD KLADY 39

From stages on Broadway and BEGIN WITH Off-Broadway to leading repertory ANY companies and even the sound stages in Hollywood-The Fireside FORS Theatre brings you a world of great entertainment! with membership ~iiiiiiSThe Ciiiiii~ -=ire§ide !fheatre America's only theatre book club! ::=;.- . :---~:; 0059 0919 i~::-~- == :.~~.:¥. 0240 1 . . . . . ~.'''.N tlOTttlOr ......... \"'.. 1222

j HERE'S HOW MEMBERSHIP WORKS! ~-=~I-'l11~'de-~~::~;-~:~:;1~e~1NY 11530 numbers here. YOU GET: • 4 books of your choice • A FREE :T\".h,ea3tw.iie I Hirschfeld Calendar· A bill for $1 (plus shipping and YES! Please I handling) . If not satisfied, return the books within 10 days at our expense. We 'll cancel membership and enroll me in I the bill. Keep the Calendar, free . ! • •• The Fireside ALSO GET: • Our Club bulletin about every 4 weeks (14 times I a year) . It describes the Featured Selection(s) plus Alternates . • Twice a Theatre according to the terms outlined in this ad and year, you may also receive offers of Special Selections. To get the Featured Selection(s) , do nothing. They'll be sent auto- send me the 4 books I have indicated for $1 , plus ship- I matically. If you prefer any Alternate(s) or no Selections, return the ping and handling , and my FREE Hirschfeld Calendar. Reply Card by the date shown. WE GUARANTEE: If you ever get unwanted Selections because ES 742 your bulletin arrived late and you didn 't have 10 days to decide, you may return the books at our expense. Mr. lMrs . YOU AGREE : As a member, you need buy only 4 more books at Miss/ Ms. _____________________________________________ regular low Club prices during the coming 2 years. You may resign membership anytime after that, or may remain a member without any Address __________ _____ ______ Apt. _____ obligation . WE PROMISE: The Fireside Theatre offers a wide range of top City ___________ _______ State ___ __ Zip ________ plays and theatre-related books to choose from , sometimes altered in size to fit our special presses. ALL SAVE YOU UP TO 40% OFF HARD- If under 18. pare nt must sign. _____________________________________ COV~R PUBLISHERS ' EDITIONS. Members accepted in U.S.A. only. A shipping and handling charge is added to all shipments. We reserve the right to reiect any application. Send no money now. L _________________________ ~ FREE HIRSCHFELD CALENDAR with membership

What was the response of the motion not exaggerating-came to my house Do you encourage actors to develop picture industry? and I heard them out. I asked them their own personas? They loved it. They sent students to study under contract at the Lab, includ- what they visualized- I had very limited I recommended Ellen Burstyn for ing Marilyn Monroe. It was the \"in\" place, and the Hollywood community experience as a teacher-and we started Mickey One, a film I did with Arthur used to come see Lab plays. I remem- ber some Universal pictures where half a class of about 12 or 13. Carol Burnett Penn. She did a test and I couldn't the cast seemed to from the Actors Lab. was in it. I though-t it was just temporary. believe it. This girl who did lovely, Ultimately it was red-baited out of existence, and one of the charges put up That was in '51. I renovated our two-car inventive, astonishing stuff in class, was by [California] State Senator Jack Tenny garage, which became my theater for terrible. She said she was trying to be was that the Lab did the plays of O'Casey, Chekhov and Shaw. That was seven years , until somebody in the Grace Kelly. just a reflection of the idiocy of the times . neighborhood complained it was a zon- There is always the danger of an T he Tenny Committee, and HUAC ing violation. Then I began to rent actor relinquishing his or her own per- were right in the sense that the Actors Lab was the Barney's Beanery of places ... . sona. I tell them, \"No! What you are its day, at least amongst the left-liberal community in Hollywood. My theater became an important doing absolutely opaques you! There is So what? We're nesters and we like to place for people-Dean Stockwell, Bob no you! \" nest with people we like. Towne, Richard Chamberlain , Robert It took forever to get kids to stop act- Did the blacklist come in quickly, or with ominous slowness? Blake, Jim Coburn, Carole Eastman. ing like Jimmy Dean, particularly when Ominous slowness. I knew it was Blake and Nicholson, who came from he was in my class. That was after I coming in '47 , a time when my career was really in ascendancy. working-class New Jersey backgrounds, finally had gotten them to stop acting Did you have any feeling that it used to come into our house, where the like Brando. When I was a kid, we all would spread so far and so deep? only available john was, and look wanted to be like Leslie Howard. I thought it would be worse. It was only 12 years [for me]. I thought it through the French doors into our din- I screentested with Gary Cooper for would be forever. ing room. They were astonished. That Bright Leaf, with Michael Curtiz direct- Why did you refuse to cooperate with HUAC? family sits and eats together! It was out- ing. Coop was apologetic. He saw how I had no impulse to defend a political side their experience. hard I was working to get the part, and point of view that no longer interested me. The only issue was, did you want to Roger Corman came, to his credit, said , \"I've been away for a year on safari just give HUAC their token names so you could continue your career, or not? I because he was tired of all these surly with Hemingway.. .1 just feel so stale.\" I always thought I was a good, patriotic American. I got three citations for characters from New York with their told him, \"Oh , I really enjoyed working WWII. The Committee was not inter- ested in my making a statement about damned Stanislavsky mystique and on the scene with you:' He said, \"I only that. They just wanted two new names so they could hand out more subpoenas. wanted to know what the hell the have one or two tricks at best. That isn't Why did you decide to teach acting? - - ..---Method was . He met these talented enough, is it?\" I was like Nina in The Through convoluted circumstances: I didn't know what the hell I was going to Jeff Corey and Dorothy Patrick in Follow Me Quietly (1949). do. I was teaching at the Stage Society, but wasn't being paid. It was a very good kids, and put them to work. That was Seagull telling Trigoron, the establish- group of people-Arthur Kennedy, John when Bob Towne, Carole Eastman and ment writer, \"No, you're good ... you're Ireland , Akim lamiroff, Jack Laird, the Nicholson began to write for him. really good!\" playwright Richard Nash, Janice Rule .. . [Russian actor] Michael Chekhov taught My class helped Bob and Carole as I said , ''There are a whole group of in tandem, on Monday nights. writers , I think. The discipline in the snobby New York actors who look down There was a kid in the first class who improvisations was to give them a lot of on what they call 'personality acting: was not a very good actor, so they story and then have them not mention it They say, 'Well, Gary Cooper is always dropped him. He asked me if I would while dealing with its implications. In an himself But, unconsciously, they're all start an acting class. I said , \"I really have improvisation , an actor should engage, imitating you!\" no conscious wish to do that.\" He said, say, the subtext and esche\"\" the text. \"What if I start it for you?\" But to find out what subtext is, you O ne of the legends is that even So, one night, about 45 people-I'm ought to have the discipline of playing a though you were blacklisted, stu- situation's implications. It's much more dios sent their people to study with you. economical and, ultimately, much more riveting. They did. Half of the people under contract at Fox- Rita Moreno, Sheree What do you look for in a striving North , Virginia Leith, Diane Varsi, AI actor? [David] Hedison. When Spartacus was being prepared, ]producer] Eddie Lewis Intelligent and healthy people. I have called me and said he wanted me on the no wish to uplift waifs, because that set-except the studio said they couldn't would be pretentious . 42

have me. So I we nt to some sto ry co n- SCHOOL OF THE ARTS fe re nces at IDalton] Trumb o's ho use, and I he lped Kirk IDouglas] pre p are for Invites Prospective Film Students the role. to Apply for a Unique Fellowship How did the blacklist end for you? Each year the Tisch School of In '62, w he n Joe Strick offe re d me a the Arts in cooperation with parr in The Balcony . But in Janu ary of the Willard T. C. Johnson '60 I was offered a parr in The Untouch- Foundation offers emerging ables Io n TV ]. The New York Times and filmmakers a limited number UPI called me. I knew if I m ade a state- of full -tuition fellowships at me nt that I wo uldn't wo rk aga in , but I Tisch. d idn't wa nt to wo rk o n thi s te nu o us level. So I told the m ab out th e Comm it- ForUnde~uateand tee's hanky-panky. T hey printed arricles laud ato ry of me, co nde mning the stu- Graduate Film Students dios and HUAC. I didn't wo rk aga in for two years and my feeling was, well , fu ck NEWYORI( Candidates will be judged 'e m . RSIlY on the basis of creative The n I worked for Iproducer] Ray work, academic standing, Stark in L o nd o n fo r t wo yea rs w ith and leadership potential. actors he had under co ntract. I read scripts; I saw plays in L ondo n for him . Graduate deadline: Buzz Kulik was directing The Yellow January 15, 1990. Canary 11963 ], a Rod Ste iger story. Pat Boo ne got me a p arr. Undergraduate deadline: What appeals to you about a part? March 15, 1990. Is it about something? W hat kind of revelatio n is poss ible ? It m ay sound a lit- For more information and an tle prete ntious and arrsy, but Iw he n I application, call Dean Elena played ] the part of the she riff in Butch Pinto Simon at (212) 998-1900 Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , it or return the coupon below. occurred to me that this she riff had to Tisch School of the Arts Please send me information and an \"[ was a pretty good NewYork University application for the W. T. C. Johnson Film 721 Broadway, 7th floor Fell owship. actor as a kid. NewYork, NY. 10003 [ like looking at Attn.: Dean Elena Pinto Simon o Undergraduate 0 Graduate my old pictures. ' , New York Unive rsity is an affirmative action/ Name ________________________ say the truth , like a G reek choru s. H e equal opportu nity institution . co uldn't indulge his own subjecti ve feel- Address _______________________ ings ab out th ese kid s; he had to te ll th e m th e ir time was over, th ey d idn't City ________________________ know it , bur they were go ing to die. StatelZip Code ___ _ _ _ __ _ _ I think an actor should feel he could pl ay any parr. If yo u're limited , it's like Soc. Sec. No. ____________---\".,,...,..,..-____ anyo ne who opts to utilize o nly a very sa fe a nd c irc um sc rib e d p art of hi s Fe Nov.!Dec. '89 nature; it's what Stani slavs ky ca lled the despotis m of acquired habits. Were actors better then or now? Th e re are p ro bably more good ac tors aro und now th an in the Forries. Th ere are so many pl aces w he re th ey ca n train , in acad e m e, in ne ig hb o rh oo d pl ay- houses, and in classes aro und tow n. I'm pre tty impressed with a lot of the pe r- form ances. Even in sitco m s, so me tim es. I love the stuff th at goes o n in Night Court . Jes us! John L aroqu ette wo uld have been sensatio nal in th e Forries ! 43

Brad Dourif interviewed In Ragtime (I.) and Wise Blood. When I was young, I wanted to be a by Marlaine Glicksman character actor. My heroes were Dustin Dourif, \"was scary-I was not prepared . Hoffman and actors who could do a vari- S everal years ago, during his acting ety of things . class at Columbia film school, I just buried myself in work.\" He took Brad Dourif was teaching a les- Some actors draw people in , are son about \"si mple reality\" -acting truth- Meisner's professional classes and did trusted immediately and deservedly fully under imaginary cimcumstances- become stars. Like Jack Nicholson. an exercise taught to him by Neighbor- scene study with Marshall Mason and Then there are people who have an hood Playhouse founder Sanford edge-like I think I've got-who can Meisner. It goes: make a simple obser- Lanford Wilson. In three years, Dourif playa lot of different roles. vation about your acting partner which he/she in turn repeats verbatim and became a successful actor. What attracts you to a role? which you repeat, incessantly back and Different things at different times. forth, until something spontaneously Now transplanted from New York I'm trying to get out of these killers. grows and alters the repetition, a change When I take a role, the criteria is which you repeat, ad infinitum. To dem- and his upstate goat farm , Dourif seems feeding my family. That comes first . I onstrate, Dourif chose a student. He have to work with what's available, like fixed his eyes on Dourifs face, then assimilated to life in Los Angeles, with everybody else. slowly said, \"You have a very pointy Is there a difference in training to nose: ' his wife and two daughters. So far, he become a character or a lead? Fundamentally, no. There are certain Though Dourifs looks are distinct, has little desire to return to theater. \"I things yo u need to know. You must they don't prevent his complete transfor- understand what is habitually off in your mation-sans makeup or elaborate cos- just like movies. I always liked rehearsal character. Because each is different in tume . This is the actor who played some very clear way. You need to know stammering, vulnerable Billy Bibbit of when I did plays , and doing movies is what it is that you're doing differently Milos Forman's One Flew Over the that's second nature. Cuckoos Nest; the preacher-naif in John just like rehearsal.\" -M.G. But leads must be more universal Huston's Wise Blood; the lovestruck about their peculiarities? Younger Brother in Forman's Ragtime; D id you intentionally pursue a They're certainly more accessible and the hyperactive, watusi-dancing Ray- career as a character actor? And mond of Dennis Hopper's amoeboid what do you think is the difference likable. A good character part should be entourage in David Lynch's Blue Velvet; between a character actor and a lead? accessible, not necessarily likable, but plus roles in David Lynch's Dune and certainly people should understand him. Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate . You Well, character actors get a lot less cannot forget the performance. Or the money. How is it different to playa character pointy nose. who's over the edge, as opposed to someone who's more \"normal\"? Dourif plays both teacher and charac- ters hot-wired, implosive and intense. Well, it can be more taxing emotion- Like a tightly coiled watch spring, he ally to play somebody who's really off or finally flies apart. Dourifs characters extreme in some way. Suppose you're attempt to control their inner certainty playing a rapist. You're carrying around a that they are out of control. lot of anger and hate. Home was Huntington, West Vir- Character actors specialize in deal- ing with our negative emotions? ginia, where his grandparents estab- lished a color factory (\"Ultramarine blue Yeah. I mean, there is an exception. was the big color\"). Dourifs dad died Othello has to deal with jealousy. Now, when he was three and his mother, an that's a pretty agonizing lead. actress in local theater, remarried a golfer. With six kids, Dourif recalls, \"We Are character actors really a meta- led a typical, middle-class kind of life:' phor? He decided to become 'an actor at 16, American cinema has always been while working sets and bit parts in sum- about melodrama. We like very clear mer stock, and after a year he quit his good guys and bad guys. The murderer hometown college for New York City, where he joined the budding Circle Rep is the kind of guy we want to hate, so we theater company. \" New York,\" says feel good when he's killed in the end. We have returned to seeing life only as good or evil, right or wrong. The Eight- ies was the decade of Rambo and high entertainment. and good-versus-evil melodramas. 44

It was a marketing era. We wa nt bag, you know. Oddly enough, he was say that there was less prejudice in Chi- things that are predictable. Marke ting is the one who left me alone the most. cago, Boston, C leve land , Watts or any- a big influence on which film s get made where else was bullshit. T here was n't. It and which don't. At some screenings And what about Milos Forman on was just easy with Mississipp i. they ask audiences what they think C uckoo's Nest? about final cuts and then go back and Did you like Deputy Pell ? accordingly re-edit . I think that's hugely Oh, Milos is stubborn , charming and I had to understand him. stupid. It's like polling janitors on how to very determined. So yo u kn ow whe n I know what it's like to feel like a make shoes. Janitors don't know how to you're th e re, you're goi ng to do the best piece of sh it. I know what it's like to make shoes, they know how to clea n you can. And he won't quit until yo u have low self-esteem. I think we all do. something. If you want to find out how have. But I know. And th at's the way he feels . to clean something, you poll janitors. That's why he was a bigot. You want to find out how to tell stories , You've worked with several actors The great thing about pain is that it you go to people who tell stories. time and again. Does this alter your levels you. It makes yo u human , hum- relationship with them? ble. If I can feel a bigot's pai n th en I feel How do you see the Nineties ? more compassionate toward him. Now, I I was talking to Timothy Leary, who Actually, it's always a pleasure when may not be ab le to do anything about his said the future would be mind-alteration yo u work with someb ody more th an bigotry. But I might not feel such right- or mega-brain-powe r stories- like o nce. You ca n begin to rea ll y lea rn eous indignati on toward him . I mean , Medium Rare , a film I wo rked on things. What they do th at rea lly makes he's loo king down on so mething, and recently, in which a man's brain is altered them good . Some are ab le to let go of I'm looking down on him. There's no after he's been microwaved in an oven- things better and be fresher, newer each differe nce. because computers and art seem to be time. Somebody else takes more ri sks . moving toward high tech. You learn ab out determination and W hat role would you love to play? I always thought there was going to wo rk. St. Francis of Assisi. I think he be a heavy emphasis on magic. And I saw some thing. still think that some problem s have How is it working with an English never been solved: no one's really ever director like Alan Parker? Are you religious? been able to tell King Arthur or the In a certain sense I'm deeply reli- Holy Grail stories well. But they wi ll . English directors believe in th e direc- gious. There is so mething fund ame n- tor's con tro l ove r th e project. For tally spiritu al about people, even D o you feel that directing has instance, in Mississippi Burning I gave atheists. We relate to so me thing larger changed? th e exact performance Parker wa nted than ourselves. Everybody does in some There's something fund amental th at way. People just express it differently. will never change about dire ctin g . ':Asking test audiences Do you carry that sense of relating to Maybe the way directors talk will be dif- to choose afinal cut is something bigger into your characters ferent , but the way is always the same. like polling janitors on as well ? And the way everybody understand s is how to 11Ulke shoes.\" Yeah. When I was teaching, one of the same. th e things I sa id was, it's in your co ncept me to give. But he didn't say much, you of God, no matte r what it is-eve n if You don 't see directors being influ- kno\\v. He wanted it kind of thrown away you're an athe ist , or reject the who le enced by these changes, or by market- and real simple. idea of God. But it's somewhere in the ing? struggle around th at idea that there's a Shoot- it was n't just Parker, I was lot of power in people's be hav ior. There's We will tell different kinds of stories , working with Gene H ackman, who is a lot of e nergy. You begi n to see people so we'll need new images. But if you're one of the greatest acto rs this country really come alive. going to create tension , the basics won't has. It's rea lly exc iting doing a sce ne And that's what I want to say: check change. And won't, until we transcend with thi s guy beca use he beco mes so that out whe n yo u're stumped on a char- the way we belong to the world. Con- involved in what's going on. H e's ju st acter some time. Because there's life in sciousness is based on the idea of \"I\" in right there. The better you are, th e bet- there. You want your stories to be alive, time and space, with a cause-and-effect ter he is. And th e bette r he is , the better don't you? Well, look whe re the life is. relationship. Somebody says, 'What'd you are. It just grows . Look to what makes people feel alive. you do today ?' and it's a story. You can't But I be lieve that I don't have the change that. In Mississippi Burning, what moti- answer, or that anybody does. Once it's vated your character's prejudice and the answer, it's over. ~ Do you have a favorite director? brutality ? I love David Lynch. He's the purest, FILMS: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 75. most original of all the directors I've Underneath, prejudice is the need to The Mound Builders (TV) 76. Gruppenbild Mit worked with. His vision is so uniqu e. fee l good about yo ur se lf. That's the His thing is trul y hi s own. He's power be hind it. To prej udge with out Dame 77. Sergeant Matlovich vs. the US. Air extremely lovable and the least defen- consideration is not a n inte lli ge nt Force (TV) 78 . Eyes of Laura Mars 78. Studs sive. Not that the others are so defen- choice. It's th e need to scapegoat. That's Lanigan (TV) 79. Wise Blood 79. Guyana sive-I'm defensive. why we h ave wa r, w hy people get Tragedy: Th e Story ofJim Jones (TV) 80 . What was it like working with John divo rced. That's the tragedy of child Heaven's Gate 80. Ragtime 81. I, Desire (TV) 82. Huston on Wise Blood? ab use and rape. Dune 85. Impure Th oughts 86. Vengeance: The I was very scared and uncomfortable. Story of Tony Cimo (TV) 86. Blue Vel vet 86. Rage I was the lead . I was insecure. I didn't America scapegoated Mississippi. All of Angels: The Story Continues (TV) 86. Faral think I could act my way out of a paper the co llective guilt, th e way we loo k Beauty 87. Child 's PLay 88. Mississippi Burning down on people, was shoved onto Mis- 88. Terror on Highway 91 (TV) 89. Spontaneous siss ippi . Because it had the Klan. But to Combustion 89. 4S

CELEBRATING THE ted their stuff. Rarely would the musical CELEBACIDR guest interact with the film's stars. Sometimes the whole bit was an insert. C haracter actors-ptuuiii! How Dick Cavett. (Of course, sometimes it was because many times have yo u tried to fol- many of the performers were Iowa movie only to have yo ur attention of the Yankees and Harold Lloyd's \"Negroes :') Nowadays, however, musical sidetracked by the appearance of some Speedy, to Kareem Abdul Jabbar in Air- heroes glide effortlessly offstage and into supporting mug you just know you've plane!, great sports figures have always the storyline: Rock 'n' Roll High School seen recently on cable, or was he in Bull made the cinema a figurative domed sta- would be unimaginable without the off- Durham, or, wait, isn't he that yodeling dium of dreams . stage hijinks of the Ramones. Robert weather guy-ooh, what just happened? Goulet cheerfully evokes the character How did Nicholson's face get all white Spin the rolodex of a top-notch cast- of a cheesy singer named Robert Goulet like that? ing agent and you're sure to find the in Scrooged. names of many an inexplicable media Fortunately, many fine filmmakers entity. For example, the celebactor Dr. Actual movie stars can be celebac- are sympathetic to this plight. Instead of Joyce Brothers appears in The Man With tors if they play themselves. This gener- wasting their time and ours with obscure Two Brains and The King of Comedy, ally requires a self-deprecating sense of faces , they have found that they can bet- capitalizing on her syndicated, Gabor- humor, or an obliviousness bordering on ter convey the essence of a character by like ubiquity to gain even more of the coma. Mel Brooks, playing a filmmaker, casting a celebrity in that role ... as him- same. Likewise Dick Cavett, who strug- needs big stars for his movie within self gled many years before grabbing the Silent Movie: Brooks in real life figured brass ring of spokes-model, contributes no actors could convincingly play super- A celebactor is not a cameo, which is a bemusedly witty presence to Robert stars as humongous as Burt, Liza and a director's chance to show off all his Altman's Health (his appearance in Anne (Bancroft-you know, The Gradu- cool friends. No, a celebactor is an inte- Beetlejuice, as a horrible New Yorker, is ate) , so he got the genuine articles to gral part of the mise-en-scene, a signifier not celebacting, because his character is play the pivotal roles of Themselves . of verisimilitude that helps to set the not Dick Cavett, horrible New Yorker.) Smoothly segueing to another Brooks, film in the \"real\" world. For example, Albert, we find him requiring a quintes- Marshall McLuhan's materialization in Decades after The Jazz Singer fea- sential grade-B actor for the space film Annie Hall not only placed this film tured Al Jolson , directors were still try- within Modern Romance. George Ken- unquestionably in mid-Seventies North ing to figure out how to insert popular nedy pulls off this role, as a grade-B America, as Allen intended , but McLu- musicians into their films. In the past , actor named George Kennedy, with han's \"character\" also deflated a movie- they had the leads go to a nightclub great, or at least very good, aplomb. line pedant like no AFTRA-canle-call where the plot would idle for five min- discovery could have. utes while- the onstage musicians strut- When Frank Tashlin sought an ultra- desirable, unattainable movie goddess Athletes and sportscasters are popu- for Jerry Lewis to worship in Hollywood lar celebacrors, presumabl y because or Bust, he snapped his fingers and actors cannot simulate their grace and thought 'f\\nita Ekberg\" as naturally as a bearing (and not just because pseudo- director today would have his personal jock film nerds like to hang out with trainer snap his fingers and his student sports guys). From Babe Ruth , in Pride intern think \"Bette Midld' So he got Ekberg to play herself, and she's infi- Presented by nitely more effective than, well. . .. the Urban Council, Hong Kong Actually, this brings up a few draw- backs to the celebactor. Nobody can play himself as convincingly as he can play somebody else. It's always hard to be believable when you're reading lines, but when you have to summon a self that has already been exposed with moderately pre-scripted sincerity on a Barbara Walters special, the task becomes as unnatural as the Tom Cruise-Kelly McGillis love scene in Top Gun. If the film is not a comedy, which unfortunately Top Gun was, the pres- ence of a celebactor can, paradoxically, destroy credibility rather than build it. But to those of us who would rather see Donald Trump in I'll Take Manhattan, or Evel Knievel in Viva Knievel than Meryl Streep playing... anybody (espe- cially Nora Ephron), the celebactor is as real as we want it to get. -JACK BARTH 46

47

Continued from page 36 sing. (Lucky PBS.) Sinking deeper and Jeffrey Jones may become a mass-mar- he is incapable of memorizing lines , and deeper into Marlow's broiled skin, his ket commodity at last. Up to now, his it would be hard to imagine him playing flayed psyche, and Potter's stratified nar- most marketable vehicles have featured a character completely unlike himself. rative, so Gambon elicited Marlow's self- his most forgettable roles- if you don't But whether he's literally being himself remember him from Beetlejuice or in Pierrot le fou, The Last Movie , and loathing and paranoia, but also his Ferris Bueller's Day Off, you have a lot Falkenau, the Impossible , or playing tenderness and mortified filial love. TV's some fanciful variation thereof (a cop in finest hour, maybe. of company. Give him a role with heft, both House of Bamboo and the recent though , and he'll do something special. Street of No Return, a gangster in both There is a breed of middle-aged His Austrian emperor in Amadeus was The America.n Friend and Thieves After Englishman (he stands you a half in superb-the autocrat as CEO, registering Dark, a general in 1941, a cinematog- West End pubs and inter-city buffet each bit of input with a subliminal \"Um- rapher in The State of Things, a Holly- cars) who defines the national condition: humm\" and giving a phrase as straight- wood agent in White Dog, or a Nazi bluff, sarcastic, lived-in, his libido forward as \"Let's have some fun!\" the hunter in Return to Salem's Lot), he jejune, his dreams mislaid, his wife most joyless affect it's ever had. More projects a solid, feisty presence and \"doesn't understand\" him, yet somehow unexpected was his performance in the juicy personality every bit as unmistak- vulnerable and avuncular, like an out- otherwise rotten Hanoi Hilton, where able as those of William Demarest or size, long-abandoned Teddy bear. With he turned a dubiously optimistic plot Lionel Stander. As sharp as a string of his sandbagged eyes and slob aura, his twist into a brief but electric moment of sputtering firecrackers, this live-action rueful wisdom and seedy-posh voice, ecstasy. Sure, he was demolished by the Yosemite Sam automatically enlivens Gambon slips easily into this particular awfulness of Howard the Duck, but it any scene he finds himself in, onscreen heavy overcoat. Not that he has a lim- would have taken a dowsing rod to find or off. ited range, but he has brought a touch of privileged moments in that misbegotten that world-weariness to his greatest roles swamp, especially with destructo-rays It's time to retire the myth of Fuller -Marlow, Lear at Stratford, Oscar shooting out of your eyes. Jones is a as inspired primitive-whether as writer, Wilde for the BBC, Jerry in Pinter's first-rate pro, and smart directors are director or performer. His punch and Betrayal, the ironic narrator in Tales leaning how to use him. Stay tuned. charisma as an actor are almost indistin- From Hollywood at the National The- guishable from his geyser-like gifts as a atre, even the broken husband of Char- -DAVID STERRITT script doctor, nonstop idea man, and lotte Rampling's Tory MP in Paris By journalist-gifts that contributed the Night. PETER RIEGERT drive-in theater climax of Peter Bogdanovich's Targets, the hallucinatory In Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Not many actors have taken \"Play shots from under the typewriter in Wen- Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, Gam- thyself\" as their first commandment, ders' Hammett , and the character of bon plays god as a merciless racketeer- Short Round in Indiana Jones and the restaurateur exacting ferocious sexual Temple of Doom. and scatological revenge on his erring wife. Gary Oldman has been widely According to Fuller, when invited to tipped to play John Self, floundering act , he identifies the script's holes with film director and self-professed addict the director, and then improvises a char- of the 20th century, in the film of Martin acter to plug them up-to garnish the Amis' Money, but surely that role story with whatever element it lacks . An was made for the gambling man, that outsider to each film's world, his mem- Michael Gambon. ory links him to the historical past more firmly than the drifting heroes that he -GRAHAM FuLLER counsels. His Old Testament sense of truth, justice, and rhetoric implicitly cri- JEFFREY JONES tiques their relative lack of direction and purpose. Now that horror maven Wes Craven (!) has made him a sitcom star in the -JONATHAN ROSENBAUM hugely unpromising People Next Door, MICHAEL GAMBON The thing about Michael Gambon is, he makes you sleepy with a capital Z. He makes Bogart look carefree, turns water into whiskey (sour), and sends New York film critics into raptures over a TV miniseries. Am I right? A TV miniseries? Lucky Dennis Pot- ter and Jon Arniel , to have found Gam- bon to play Philip Marlow-psoriatic pulp novelist and crooning gumshoe- in The Singing Detective. Lucky Michael Gambon to have Potter's thoughts to think, his feelings to feel, his songs to 48