—The Daily Collegian Monday, May 10, 1976
Emigrant film has simple
By LARRY CIIARLES in Russia) results in Jake's
Collegian Staff Writer wife, Gitl, and son, Yoselle,
"Hester street" is an ut- journeying to America to join
terly charming tale of the him. Old customs and
difficulties faced by Russian superstitions are ingrained in
Jews trying to adapt to the Gitl (Carol Kane) and she
ways of the New World. It finds the transition to New
illustrates universal human World ways most difficult.
dreams and frailties with "I can ' t go around in my
such simplicity and grace own hair, I'm a married
that it should delight any woman!" Gitl cries, in
audience. • Yiddish, when Jake suggests
Jake (Stephen Keats) is a _,„,, Jgge b. that she stop wearing the
recent emigrant from Russia, traditional wig. MU is so
working in New York's Lower confused with America that
East Side in 1896. He has
shaven his beard and at one point she asks "Where
are the gentiles .
Americanized his name everywhere Jews, the gen
( from the original Yankel.) tiles keep some other place,
He considers himself "an eh? ,,
American ... a Yankee, that's
Gitl asks a local merchant
aM "
The death of his father (still for a love potion and still fills
Dialogue makes, breaks
By SUSAN FROETSCIIEL gossip, the weak plot slowly Cavanaugh knows that the
Collegian Staff Writer develops. candidate is a loser. The
A CITY ON THE HILL. By situation runs parallel to
George V. Higgens. Ballantine The story is set in late 1973 Cananaugh's life. His wife
Books, 213 pp. $1.75. against the shambles of divorces him, he has no
George Higgen's novel Watergate and the Nixon ., .
about Washington D.C., "A administration. Hank book review
City on a Hill," is a con- Cavanaugh is a young, am
tinuous string of gossip about bitious pulic relations man career future, and no savings.
wiley politicians, their love working ruthlessly to re- Likewise, Cavanaugh sees•
lives, and failing careers. establish a 1972 Democratic all of his friends and
The book is primarily presidential candidate for the acquaintances' careers
dialogue with little action. 1976 election. crumbling the same way and
Through the characters' Despite the hard work, each are constantly
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Yoselle's pocket's with sand
to "keep the evil eye away,"
much to the chagrin of her
"Yankee" husband. Jake
succeeds in demanding that
Yoselle be called Joey and
even manages to get Gitl all
done up in Yankee•style
clothing once in a while, but
these superficial changes do
not alter Gitl's deep-rooted
Old World ways and this
enrages Jake. His desire to
abandon his heritage and
Giti's desire to keep it alive
result in an inevitable con
frontation.
As the waif-like wife, Kane
is an absolute joy. Wasted for
five years in tiny roles in
major films ( "Carnal
Knowledge," "The Last
Detail," "Dog Day After-
noon,") she finally emerges
as an actress of great talent
with this touching charac
terization. Her Oscar
nominated transition from
the bewildered, apprehensive
immigrant to the
Americanized woman who
develops a mind of her own
and finally masters
"Enkelsh" (as she calls the
language) is completely
disarming. Keats (another
actor wasted for years in
small roles in films like "The
Friends of Eddie Coyle" and
"Death Wish") is also quite
good as Jake. The supporting
parts are uniformly well
played down to the last street
vendor and nosy friend.
The atmosphere of the film
has been wonderfully
political novel
scrambling for better
positions with more prestige.
The plot drags because
of the confusing and
digressive dialogue. Five
characters do all of the
talking and intimacy is
preserved by never having
more than Cavanaugh and
another character present at
a time.
Although the characters
are not prominent or in-
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charm
created. Filmed in black and
white, the entire movie has
the look of an old brown
'daguerreotype of one's great
grandparents. Two sequences
in the film, a dance and an
impromptu baseball game,
are handled in silent movie
style with exaggerated ac
tions, no dialogue and a single
piano for musical ac
companiment. These scenes
are extremely well-done and
help to convey the time period
very nicely.
Practically bursting with
warmth and enthusiasm,
"Hester Street" is an ex•
perience everyone should
share. It makes life look like a
grand and glorious ad-
venture.
fluential themselves, their
conversations are represen
tative of stereotyped Washing
ton power-plays.
The book depicts
Washington as a place where
anyone involved with its
politics is dissatisfied and
unhappy. However, some of
the conversation is effective
in its realism and credibility,
especially when the
charadters stop gossiping and
analyze their own problems.
~:,Collegian arts
'Lipstick' has its
but faults aren't
By JOANNE McLAUGHLIN
Collegian Staff Writer
"Lipstick" is a violent, fast-paced film
about a fashion model who is raped. It can
hardly be called a boring film, but it can
hardly be called a very good one either.
The rape occurs almost immediately after
the credits pass, when the audience has
barely had time to figure out who the
characters are, let alone be able to follow the
motivations behind their actions, And no
sooner has the model ( Margaux
Hemingway) been violated by her younger
sister's music teacher (Chris Sarandon),
when the scene shifts to a courtroom and a
farce of a rape trial.
Director Lamont Johnson really let this
film get away from him. There's nothing
even resembling control.
"Lipstick seems to gather momentum so
early that it can't slow itself down long
enough to allow anyone to become involved in
what's going on.
David Rayfiel's screenplay is awful and
never gives the characters enough time to
become any more than caricatures. It's a
shame, too, because the film contains some
fine, though stunted, performances.
Chris Sarandon is frighteningly diabolical
as Gordon, the rapist who strikes once and
gets away with it, only to return to Haunt the
model again.
Anne Bancroft does a fine job as the assts•
tant district attorney who tries to keep the
rape trial from turning into a circus:, It just
goes to show that not even the worst script,
and this one is pretty bad, can keep, some
actresses down.
"Lipstick" marks the movie debut of a
very promising young actress I named
Hemingway but it isn't the highly touted
Margaux. It's her little sister Mariel, The kid
has Margaux outclassed as an actress all.the
way. "Lipstick" is worth seeing if only to
enjoy the younger Hemingway's per
formance. . ,
- Margaux, on the other hand, will make a
fine actress only if silent films come back
into vogue. She looks gorgeous, but once 'she
opens her mouth, everything falls apart. •
The film's electronic score, composed by
Michel Polnareff, is so good one can almost
overlook what's wrong with the rest of the
movie. Unfortunately, a good score can't
replace a good script, which "Lipstick"
sorely lacks.
Essentially, "Lipstick",
now playing at
Cinema Two, lives up to its name. All the film
really is is a touch of color smeared up on a
drab white screen.
The EQUESTRIAN CLUB Will
meet Tues., May 11th at
7:30 p.m. in 111 An. In. Bldg.
gloss,
hidden