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Show The Tfiunderbird Page 9 Monday February 4, 1985 Cotton Club not worth picking Film Review by Doug Christensen Francis Ford Coppola likes phony things. Phony explosions, phony gunshots, phony sunsets, even a phony reflection of rain on the window. And, of course, all this adds up to a phony movie. Coppolas The Cotton Club is as bogus as a Howard Hughes will. How can this be? How can a man responsible for The Godfather and author of the script for Patton give us such a trashed movie? Its been a steady decline for Coppola of late. Now, with this n dollar flop on his hands it may be a long time before anyone is willing to bankroll another film for him. multi-millio- The Cotton Club is a gangster movie set in Harlem, circa 1928. It deals with the lives of dancers, molls, a cornet player, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, ruthless gangland killers, the kitchen sink and just about everything else. The movie is crowded, convoluted and dull. The plot is thin and the characters are unredeeming and unsympathetic. The movie stars Richard Gere (some day he may lose his cocky American Gigolo walk), Diane Lane, James Remar (his Dutch Shultz is one of the few good things about this movie), Fred Gwynne, Bob Hoskins (the star of The Long Good Friday is always a pleasure to watch), newcomer Lonette McKee (beautiful, slinky and with a pearly-swevoice) and Gregory Hines. The fact is that even though some of the acting is pretty good, it doesnt make a difference. The rest of the movie was so el stinko that nothing could save it. The only really good moments were when Hines and his brother Maurice were on screen tap dancing. What plot there is seems to want to concern itself variously with a romance between Gere and Lane, a romance between Hines and McKee, s and a whole lot of singing gangster and dancing. But none of these get enough attention to make us really care. At movies end we are left with a hearty so what? feeling. A lot of talent was wasted in this film. Coppolas included. I know he can do better work, but I fear hes more concerned with his image as an artistic film auteur than as a good director. Mores the loss. sV 'TJ et (SALAD BAR B LOUNGE) EXPIRES FEB. i YE OLDE shoot-em-up- ts Acting makes The Crucible work (continued from page 8) Miller created the character he knew that without the humor Corey provides, this would have been Gibson did a an unrelievedly bleak message-play- . good job keeping The Crucible out of that particular pit. Other actors had their moments too Tiya Coleman as a probably insane servant woman, Karen Witzel as Mary Warren, who is unsure which side to take, and Lisa Berger as Proctors wife come quickly to mind. Of course, there were a few problems one actor slurred his speech so badly in the final scene that a lot of vital information was lost, and another didnt speak so much as whine his lines. I also found the music coming from the sound system at the beginning and end of each act nothing more than a disturbance, making it hard to concentrate on the lines. And while the blocking was usually good, in one scene David Palmer, who plays Danforth, ends up giving one entire speech with his back to the audience; Palmer has a good enough voice that he could carry it off, but.... Naturally, the fine acting wasnt the only element to contribute to the productions success. The latex masks created by Phillips (who also played Hale) were very pleasing and realistic looking. They allowed some of the actors to look much older than they actually are, but they werent intrusive. The same cant quite be said of some of the other makeup, which was often poorly blended. The set, designed by Debbie Grimshaw, was imaginative and eerie. And, of course, the costumes were of high quality, but were getting so that we expect that from Sandra Stiglinski and her crew. To my mind, Arthur Miller is Americas greatest living playwright. The Crucible is, I believe, one of his three best plays. And this production was good enough to bring a smile to Millers lips were he lucky enough to watch it. Your princess deserves the reed expression of your Cove Corsages that say u I Cove youV , discount 10 The future of typing is inyour hands. IHM Mill- H mt m W H1 ki h H mi IBM W lit nn M W HI m hi I uh H I IBM yl IHWKIHH im w 7 hi i t k us for a free demonstration of the new generation of IB VI typewriters. . . the IBM Seleetrie System2000 Typewriters. Were an Authorized IBM Typewriter Dealer . Well give you some hands-o- n experience with the most technologically advanced IBM typewriters ever . Visit LJ RENT A VCR AND THE BEST ONE MOVIE FOR $5.00 AND GET THE SECOND MOVIE FREE! 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