—The Dally Collegian Friday, April 11,1975
if they had sent someone out
to hunt for the missing wit. As
it is, we have to put up with a
Search for Truth on the
above-mentioned Dark and
Stormy Night, and the con
clusion of the film is very dull.
It is redeemed only by fhe
final showdown with Paula
Prentiss, a scene which is
almost enough to justify the
entire motion picture.
Almost.
The whole business is a bit
difficult to take seriously,
particularly since it is never
established why the men
would want to change their
wives into dull galley slaves
anyway.
I suspect that there is a
_ message lurking here.
........ . . ‘ Indeed, the film could very
work of two filmmakers, or of easily be considered pro
a scfuzophrenic. feminist if it did not handle
The plot, from a novel by the women’s liberation
Ira Levin, is almost as cliched movement so tritelyi Early in
as Snoopy s It Vitas a Dark the film, Ross refers to
and Stormy Night .vet the “Maidenform bonfires" that
film contains quite a few curdles the air. The "women
witty a °d imaginative are-people-too” message dies
sequences The characters It might have made a more fight (here. The ' body is
are largely one-dimensional, it migni na\e maaea more d (d with f,
but most of the performances interesting mystery sequence references iQ con g ciousness
i _ _ _ _ _ _ _raising and other drolleries.
www w wVVVVw w wwwW w w 9999 wWw W ww wit verv
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'Stepford' movie
lacks character
By PATRICK SOKAS
Collegian Staff Writer
“The Stepford Wives" is a
movie with strangely little
character—it never quite
decides what it wants to be.
The film contains good and
bad elements in such striking
contrast that it seems the
Impressions
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are excellent, particularly
those of Katharine Ross and
the always marvelous Paula
Prentiss.
The quality of the script
ranges from wooden dialogue
to very witty lines. And so on.
In most respects, "The
Stepford Wives” 1 is astound
ingly uneven. 1 j
Many of these irregularities
stem from the peculiarities of
the story itself. And an odd
little story it is.
Ross and husband Peter
Masterson move from grimy
New York to the pristine
suburb of Stepford. in order to
protect the kids and so on. It
quickly becomes apparent
that most of the women of
Stepford are abnormally!fond
ot housework arid somewhat
oversolicitous ' of their
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husbands.
The situation has wildly,
comic possibilities, which
only partially are fulfilled. In
one excellent scene, the
women of the town attend
a
‘ ‘consciousness-raising’ ’
session, only to sing the
praises of Easy On Speed
Starch. For once, almost
everything clicks
Other than Ross and
Prentiss, the only "normal”
woman in the town is bitchy
Tina Louise, the movie star
from "Gilligan’s Island.”
When she is suddenly con
verted into another Suzie
Homemaker., the suspense
begins. '
It soon becomes apparent
that the unusually dull men of
Stepford are somehow
fashioning themselves
equally tedious mates, under
the direction of Patrick
O'Neal, a refugee from
Disneyland. At about this
point, most of the humor in
the movie mysteriously
vanishes.
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9:30 Morning Worship
10:30 Coffee Hour
10:45 Post -Hi
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Screening area movies
Downtown
“Alice Doesn’t Live Here
Anymore’’—Ellen Burstyn
just won an Oscar for her
performance in, tfiis movie
about a woman's attempt to
capture the singing career
she abandoned years ago.
“Alice” was directed by
Martin Scorece, who made
last year’s terrific “Mean
Streets.” Almost every critic
liked this film and it’s turning
into one of the year’s biggest
hife.
“Amarcord” —Fellini's
nostalgic look, at his youth
picked up this year’s best)
film Oscar. This is a|
’lovely, wistful movie,!
especially the scene in which
the entire village goes out to
,watch the ship passing.
“Brannigan” —John
Wayne’s latest and he’s a city [
detective this time. Despite'
his growing paunch and
stubborn refusal to give up his
ratty hairpiece, he’s still the
Duke to us.
“Harry and Tonto" —This is
really a very nice movie. Art
Carney, who just picked up
his - Oscar for best actor, plays
DELTA GAMMA
welcomes aboard
Bob Riegel #
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a senior citizen who travels
across the country visiting his
mixed-up children. He’s very
good, Ellen Burstyn tears into
her small role and the rest of
the cast is also fine. Sally
Mars, Lenny Bruce’s mother,
plays the woman on the beach
at the end of the film.
“Sheila Levine is Dead and
Living in New York”—Taken
from Gail Parent’s best
selling novel of the same
name, this movie stars Jeanie
Berlin (“The Heartbreak
Kid”) in the title role. This
film has gotten bombed all
over the place and Para
mount has yet to open it of
ficially in New York. If you
loved the novel, and ap
parently a lot of people did, be
forewarned. Sheila gets her
man in the movie.
“The Stepford Wives”
—Bryan 'Forbes’ film,
taken from ira Levin’s novel,
runs from good to bad, more
of the bad, and ends up
leaving you indifferent.
Katharine Ross and Paula
Prentiss, who’s funny, star as
the wives whose husbands try
to turn them into robots. This
film, contrary to Columbia
Pictures’ hopes, is not very
popular with feminists.
“A Woman Under the In
fluence’’—John Cassa
vetes’ movie about a woman’s
breakdown is very moving.
It continues to grow on
you for days afterwards.
Gena Rowlands is dynamite
and Peter Falk is more than
competent as her husband,
j “Young Frankenstein”
—Mel Brooks puts his
personal stamp on the kind of
horror film Hollywood made
in the '3os. Wonder of won
ders, it even has a fairly
Icoherent plot. Peter Boyle is
( the monster. Gene Wilder is
the skillful surgeon' and
{Madeline Kahn is once again
side-clutchingly funny.
I On Campus
I “Deep Throat”—Every
body should see Linda
Lovelace discover., the
pleasures of love once, just
so you can tell your grand
children you saw it.
“Garden of the Finzi-
Continis"—Vittorio De Sica’s
film about an upperclass
Jewish family in Italy at the
time of Mussolini’s rise to
power. A very good movie
and a beautiful one to look at.
“Johathan Livingston
Seagull''—What can you say
about a bird who insists on
snubbing his fellow seagulls?
For ornithologists only.
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"Mr. Majestyk"—Charles
Bronson has to fight some bad
guys and he has to do a lot of
shooting. Our favorite scene
(the only one we liked in the
entire film) was the one in
which the bad guys machine
gun a room full* of water
melons.
“Portrait"—Another dirty
film. You get a free "F’orn is
Fun” button for attending.
“The Producers"
“Blazing Saddles" Brooks’
first feature film. It stars
Zero Mostel, a truly crazy
man, and Gene Wilder
as two theatre producers
determined to produce a flop.
Therefore, -they put on a
musical called "Springtime
for ftftjer." Worth seeing at
least once
“The Thief Who Came to
Dinner’’—An attempt, a
couple of years back, to make
a classy crime picture with
Ryan- O’Neal and Jaqueline
Bisset. It was not all of that
classy. Produced by Bud
Yorkin and Norman Lear, the
same guys who gave you "All
In the Family "
“Thunderbolt and Eight
foot"—Clint Eastwood, with
his usual wooden demeanor,
stars with Jeff Bridges
Satisfactory but not much
more
”2001: A Space Odyssey"
—Here we go again. Fasten
your seatbelt.
SUBSHACK
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238-1465
8:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.
3s' per delivery .
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