— The Daily Collegian Friday, April 30,1976
Bicentennial play
lets
By M. F. MUNDAY
Collegian Staff Writer
OK. First off, don’t go see
this one. Cause if you do, you
might like it.
Some high speed energy let
loose at the Pavilion Theatre
last night, and at the center of
it all was your favorite state
and mine, Pennsylvania.
“Unruly Children,” billed as
a “bicentennial vaudeville for
adults," spans the state and
200 years of history with a lot
of songs, a lot of bad jokes,
and a lot of legs.
For a buck and a half you
get to see a resurrected,
woman-chasing Ben Franklin
drag his kite into the 20th
century, giving an electric
charge to Lucky Lotto! And,
where do we go from there?
Well, to the Battle of Gettys
sCollegian arts
New Disney film opens
Downtown
"All the President’s men” Fine film
about investigative reporting and
newspapers. Redford and Hoffman play
Woodward and Bernstein, the team that
cracked Watergate, with quiet efficiency.
Jane Alexander stands out in a small role as
a secretary who's afraid to tell all she knows.
Cinema one
"Dixie" So, who’s whistling? Rated X
Screening Room
"Love and Anarchy” Another film by
Lina Wertmuller, this year’s hot shot
director. Giancarlo Gianini (“Swept Away”
gnd “The Seduction of Mimi”) 1 stars as an
Italian peasant who heads for the big city,
where.life becomes increasingly complicated
after he falls in love with a prostitute. Flick
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest" Good direction and moving per
formances make this movie version of Ken
Kesey’s novel successful. Jack Nicholson and
Louise Fletcher give especially well-thought
out portrayals of R.P. McMurphy and Nurse
Ratched. Garden .
"Ride a Wild Pony” and “Dumbo Walt
Disney movies. The former stars a horse but
also features humans. The latter stars a
cartoon elephant who flies with his ears.
Cathaum
' / “Robin and Marian” How can you miss
with stars like Sean Connery and Audrey
Hepburn in the leading roles, playing Robin
Hood and Maid Marian, ho less. Romantic
parts of film are lovely. Cinema Two
"5.0.5." Film from Screw magazine.
jokes, legs fly
burg, where General Pickett
and his Prussian sidekick
lead the boys. in grey in a
charge to get some “Penn
sylvania poontang.”
play review
Sound good? Well, there’s
more. Like some cheap shots
at just about everyone from
the Indians to Polish tourists
spouting “Pennsylvania
jokes.” Then for a serious
note, we watch some coal
miners gasp their last, and
William Penn finally returns
to see what’s been happening.
The pace is fast. The
singing is good. And the raw
talent in this bunch of players
appalachian outdoor house
324 w. college ave. beside Roy Rogers
is abundant,
The scenes change so fast
the audience doesn’t have
time for applause. We’re led
through 200 years in less than
two hours, catching the high
points and some pretty low
jokes.
There’s never a serious
moment in this show that lasts
for long. Just when we get to
feeling for some Indian who
got ripped off by the white
eyes, he laughs and we laugh
with him. Just when'Pickett’s
charge gets blown into the sky
by Yankee guns, they get
up off the ground and do a
dance. Somehow, we’re left
laughing at ourselves.
If you’re not doing anything
this weekend or next, stop by
the Pavilion and buy a ticket.
Rated X, naturally. State
••Taxi Driver" Robert DeNiro stars as a
New York taxi driver about to go berserk.
Well-paced, with dark, shimmering shots of
the city at night. Cybil Sheppard and Jodie
Foster also star. Martin Scorsese directed
this mostly successful film. Movies
On Campus* '
“Cdbaret” Bob Fosse made an exciting
debut as a film director with, this musical
version of the play, "I am a Camera," which
in turn was based on Christopher Isher
wood’s “Berlin Stories.” Liza Minnelli gives a
< frenzied, but somewhat affecting per-,
formance as Sally Bowles. Joel .Grey,
Michael York, Helmut BergeF and Marisa
Berenson also star. HI Forum LONDON (AP) —, Paul
"The Last Detail" Very funny film McCartney and Wings, the
about a couple of Navy lifers excorting a group he formed after the
• ‘ young prisioner. Jack Nicholson gives Beatles broke up, begin their
another of his tremendous performances, .delayed tour of the United
helped by Otis Young and Randy Quaid. Hal States May 3, and McCartney
Ashby (“Shampoo”) directed. 108 Forum , won’t be surprised if the
“Sleuth" Laurence Olivier and Michael audiences include John
Caine star in this dazzling thriller. Likely to Lennon, George Harrison and
keep you guessing right up until the last min- Ringo Starr,
ute, unless you’ve already seen it. Plot and And maybe the four Beatles
acting are all here. FUB Rec Room will even come around to
“Sodom and Gomorrah" We’re going to performing together again, a
level with you. We’ve never seen it. Rated X. spokesman for McCartney
102 Forum . . , said last Tuesday.
.Waring Huge festival of films, including - “If the-former Beatles' do
“College Swing” with Burns and Allen, “Star meet up with one ‘ another
Spangled Rhythm” with Crosby and Hope,, again, it would be no surpise.
and “Ivanhoe,” starring Elizabeth Taylor They tend to turn up at one
and Robert Taylor. Free admission. another’s concerts', ” the
Attack!
Beatles may discuss reunion
Dave Garfield, as critic Gene- Shalit, lies helplessly on the
ground after being scalped by Steve Thompson, as Chief Sas
soonan, in a rehearsal of “Unruly Children." The play, which
is a Pennsylvania Bicentennial vaudeville, will be presented
at'B p.m. tonight and tomorrow and May 4 through 8 in the
Pavilion Theatre.
spokesman said. “Paul would
be delighted to see them.
They are all friends despite
their old disputes.’’
McCartney was not
available for comment, but
the spokesman indicated that
if the Beatles do meet again
during Wings’ tour, it’s a safe
prediction they will discuss
the possibility of a reunion on
stage.
“Paul McCartney’s answer
to the question: ‘Will there be
a Beatles’ reunion on stage?’
is 4 a definite maybe,’’- the
spokesman said. ’
In New York, however,
McCartney’s American
lawyer and father-in-law, Lee
Hooray for blue denim
;. and comfort.
Hooray for Scholl sandals.
Eastman,, cautioned Beatles
fans against counting too
heavily on seeing' the. four
play together again.
“At this point there is ab
solutely no plan of any kind to
get together,” he said. “That
may , vary tomorrow, but at
this moment there is no
decision by any of the four to
get together”
McCartney and the other
former Beatles have been
offered millions of dollars,
primarily for television! radio
and recording rights, to play
together on stage again, even
for a single evening. The
Beatles broke up in 1972.
Kids' film won't
bore older folks
ByLARRYCHARLES *
Collegian Staff Writer
“Ride a Wild Pony,” the latest offering from the Disney
studio, contains a refreshing amount of realism and a
measure of emotional subtlety that is unusual for a Disney
film.- The story should please tnel2-and-under set and it won’t'
annoy adults with large doses of sweetness and fantasy.
The main character in the film is actually the pony of the
title. Given to a poor farmboy (Robert Bettels) so he won’t
have to walk seven miles to the local school, the horse even- v
tually breaks out of its yard and the rebellious boy leaves
home to find it. t
Meanwhile, a little girl (Eva Griffith) confined to a
.wheelchair as a result of polio asks her wealthy father for a
wild pony to pull her carriage. The pony her father provides is
identical to the farmboy’s and before long he encounters it and
attempts to steal it.
The battle over the ownership of the horse is taken to court
where one of the attorneys suggests that the court should
allow the pony to decide who is its owner. The judge agrees
and the children are placed at opposite sides of a yard into
which the pony is led. In a suspenseful and nicely handled
scene, the pony makes it clear to whom he belongs.
The screenplay by Rosemany Anne Sisson (based on the
novel "A Sporting Proposition”) carefully avoids the cliched
simplicity that makes so many children’s films intolerable for
.adults. Neither the boy nor the girl are perfect angels, but
neither are rotten to the core either. Furthermore, both have a
realistic amount of hardship in their lives.
Don Chaffey directed the film with admirable restraint,
avoiding the broad overplaying that ruins many Disney films.
With its realistic characters and nicely controlled emoting,
< “Ride a Wild Pony” more resembles a film like “Sounder”
than the recent crop of juvenile Disney fantasies.
Betties and Griffith, both making their film debuts, give
nicely subdued as the children, but still manage
to steal most of their scenes from the rest of the large all-
British cast, all of whom perform quite well.
The best thing about the film is Academy Award-winner
Jack Cardiff’s cinematography which makes excellent use of
(he beautiful Australian countryside. The prison sets and
costumes are also first-rate and John Addison, another Oscar
winner, has composed an an attractive score that is both
dramatic and melodic.
While not a Disney classic, "Ride a Wild Pony” makes an
enjoyable anough companion feature , for the delightful
"Dumbo” which contains some of Disney’s'most imaginative
animation outside of “Fantasia.” Together, the two films
should provide something to entertain young and old
filmgoers alike.
Poet's lyrics \rock'
There always is someone weren’t going to like
being talked about ,in poetry. They love it. They
popular music circles appreciate spontaneity,
the hot, new act of the'' They watch me struggling
moment. for a sound or a, word and
Right now it’s Patti
Smith, poet as well as rock
’n’ roller, early impressed
by the French mystical
poet Rimbaud, who
sometimes declaims her
poetry from . the stage
without turning it into song
lyrics. She was visited by
Bob Dylan during a.New
York performance last
summer, at which time it is
believed he gave his ap
proval.
Look who's going together now. •
Scholl sandals and blue denim. How
comfortable can you get?
The jeans-look strap has contrasting
white stitching, studs (actually studded
screws) on the side and foam-padded,
soft leather underneath. ■
'• The'sandal itself is 'cool, carved
beechwood. With exclusive toe grip
And nonskid sole. !
Only Scholl, the original exercise
sandals, feel so good and look so good.
Try on a pair and see what comfort
is all about.
Better barefoot.
Also in leather—Bone, White, Cherry and Tri-Color.
Look for them on the Scholl Sandal Display.
By the AP
"People said they
they know we’re going
through' something
together! I always- im
provise a lot, maybe half
the show.” ~
When she was young,
Smith wanted to be a
missionary■ or a ballet
dancer or a school teacher.
She was a Jehovah’s
Witness and says she found
that what was wanted was
for her to learn the
catechism from a book.