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Show Meell World Hollywood stars ain't what they used to be; and other thoughts A Classic Recommended Good Double feature material Time-Killer For masochists only Some random, rambling thoughts on the nature of movie stardom today : First, a question in the aftermath of the Reagan shooting. Who the hell would ever picture Jodie Foster as the center of a political-romantic political-romantic plot? If the whole thing were fiction, what casting cast-ing director in his right mind would give her the part? (The same one, I suppose, who would cast Ronald Reagan Rea-gan as president.) I bet people are still asking "Jodie who?" They can't tell her apart from her pre-pubes-cent sorority sisters Tatum O'Neal, Brooke Shields, and Kristy McNichol. None of these kids are stars. They're more what you might call mini-stars. The real stars today are in the rock 'n roll world. The people who attract our obsessions ob-sessions and fantasies are musicians. The most sickening sicken-ing recent reminder of that was the shooting of John Lennon. In their last issue, "People Magazine" interviewed one of those pop-sociologists on the question of celebrity worship. The good doctor explained that as the family and other social institutions broke down at the turn of the dDimicMeg Eyewitness William Hurt sets the tone for this bemused melodrama when he tells Sigourney Weaver, just before bedding her, "I'to had an apartment since I was 18, and this'is the first time I've had exactly the person I want in it." An janitor Daryl Deever, he finds that the murder of a Vietnamese businessman in his building brings him into contact with the woman of his dreams, TV reporter Toni Sokolow (Weaver), and he woos her with the promise of some inside info on the killing. The picture's premise prem-ise is based less on suspense sus-pense than that of simple wish fulfillment. The average aver-age charming American guy it says, can win his fantasy woman if he only gets the chance an endearing endear-ing idea that, nevertheless, should have been handled with more irony than it got. Czech-born scripter Steve Tesich, a writer of uncommon uncom-mon wit and freshness, is teamed with director Peter Yates (as he was on "Breaking "Break-ing Away"), and spins off his murder plot into a batch of sub-themes about post-Vietnam post-Vietnam tensions between white and yellow, the smuggling smug-gling of Russian Jews to freedom, parent-child has Local artists exhibit A new exhibit, "Changing Faces," will open at the Art Barn in Salt Lake City, April 26. The exhibit will feature pottery by resident Mary Barrena, and weavings by Sho-Sho Zipprich of Midway. Ms. Barrena's ceramics will include a variety of functional func-tional and decorative works. Ceramic faces, to be used as hanging planters, will be displayed. In addition, ad-dition, porcelin and stoneware teapots, bowls, platters and wall hangings will be shown. Ms. Barrena was a participating artist in last year's Park City Arts Festival. Geometric patterns and landscapes are often utilized in the weavings of Sho-Sho Zipprich. According to the artist, "My wall hanging weavings attempt to reflect the serenity and warmth of the Uinta and Wasatch mountain ranges through softly-woven images of intermingling in-termingling colors." An opening reception will be held April 26 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Art Barn at 54 Finch Lane. The exhibit will run through May 8. The Art Barn is open Monday through Friday from 8 :m a.m. to4:30p.m. century, figures from the entertainment world began to take on a special status of authority began, in fact, to assume god-like authority . Fifty years ago, the gods primarily were working in movies. As a result, undershirt under-shirt sales plunged when Clark Gable was seen without with-out one in a picture. Valentino's Valen-tino's death caused a near-riot near-riot when mobs besieged the funeral parlor where he was laid out in order to get a two-second two-second glimpse of the handsome hand-some corpse. Naturally, movie stars with that kind of impact could" sell their movies. The public would stay away only if they made a real stinker. Today, it's the rockers who have the power. The Beatles changed hair styles forever, the way Gable or Jean Harlow Har-low affected fashion trends. A few rock fans reportedly killed themselves over Len-non's Len-non's death, and Presley fanatics make the pilgrimage pilgrim-age to Graceland as if it were Lourdes. Movie stars can't sell pictures by themselves anymore. any-more. The idea is what sells the picture now, although a handful of people (Streisand, Jane Fonda, Redford, Eastwood, East-wood, and especially Burt Reynolds) are certified super-stars. I'm looking through the movie ads, and I can't see an awful lot of films that use the actors as the biggest selling point. There are movies where the star is one of the big attractions (James Caan in "Thief," Sally Field -in "Back Roads"). A movie sles and, the stardom of boob-tube journalists. Tesich often gives his main characters some priceless dialogue (and the actors rise to the occasion catch Hurt's dpuble-entendre speech about his "buffing tech-; tech-; hique")'r' He" also has that"'' rare'facility of using spare, off-beat dialogue to illuminate il-luminate the background characters (a cop who wants kids; the girlfriend with a phobia about lying). Yates can take a scene that looks like nothing and rev it up into violent tension. It's very entertaining, and almost enough to help you ignore the picture's central weakness. The talented writer and director have no solution to their mystery, except a coincidence that's as hard to swallow as a bowling ball. TheEarthling An old formula two people in the wilderness is revived, and its chances for survival are slim here. William Will-iam Holden is a cancer victim vic-tim returning to die alone at the isolated Australian ranch where he grew up. Ricky Schroder is stranded in the outback when his parents take a fatal plunge off a ravine in their van. The two stumble across each ther, and Holden subjects the kid I f in f i i M.r " f," '; ' riihirul one ol her manv faces. k HrmiK'li might sell because it reunites re-unites two stars who were a hit in another movie like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryorin"Stir Crazy." But more often, it's the idea that promotes the film. "Star Wars" is a phenomenally phenome-nally popular movie, but can you name anything else Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher have done? The biggest big-gest name in the new movie "Caveman" is a rock starr Ringo, that is. The Arthurian romance "Excalibur" has an English cast that is unfamiliar un-familiar even to fans of "Masterpiece Theatre." The movie stars these days are directors. People go to see the latest from Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Cop-pola, or Brian de Palma. (I noticed that director Michael Cimino's latest, "Heaven's Gate," has hit town with an ad campaign that emphasizes empha-sizes Cimino's name and the "epic Western" theme. Don't you wish they'd forget the B.S. and candidly play up the negative aspects that everyone is thinking about? Picture this ad line: "The fiasco they said could not be shown!") Anyway... In the old days, an actor was under contract to a studio that could keep him busy making three or four pictures a year. Failures Fail-ures didn't hurt as much. If Humphrey Bogart made one flop a year, he still had three better pictures to make you forget. They're making fewer pictures pic-tures these days, so the saying "You're only as good as your last picture," is more valid than ever. An to a crusty crash course in fend-for-yourself survival, while he, of course, learns the power of love from the orphan. The scenery is compelling, and Holden is a past master at playing the don't-give-a-damn character who is chal-' lenged to care for someone. But Ricky Schroder bawls and yells his way to the center of the picture, transforming trans-forming it into mediocrity. Schroder is one of those child stars who is programmed to be cute, or to turn out the tears like a flood gate. With his constant crying or screaming, you're inclined to assume, like Holden does at first, that he's a "whiny kid." And you're right! Vz Hardly Working Jerry Lewis reportedly fancied himself once as the new Chaplin, but in his newest film, he can't even evoke the spirit of the old Jerry Lewis. As Bo Hooper, an out-of-work circus clown, he bumbles through a series of normal jobs (bartender, disco host, gas jockey). As the film's director and co-writer, co-writer, he bumbles just as badly trying to put together a plot we can care about. Meanwhile, he clings desperately to the old comedy come-dy bits and rules that served him well in his old movies. in S.L.C. example: Richard Dreyfuss and Paul Le Mat both came to public attention in "American "Amer-ican Graffiti." Dreyfuss quickly solidified his reputation reputa-tion with "Jaws." But Le mat's follow-up movies "Aloha Bobby and Rose," "Citizens' Band" were flops. So he still is floundering. flounder-ing. What happened to the stars of yesteryear? They're used like soggy Kleenex. They make guest appearances on "Fantasy Island" and "Love Boat." Producers love to destroy them in disaster movies. Irwin Allen's "The Swarm" features Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Fred MacMurray, and Jose Ferrer and had them all stung to death by killer bees ! Where are the stars of tomorrow coming from? It's hard to tell, but it is virtually certain it will not be anyone whose picture makes the cover of "Time." (Ten years ago, the "Star of the '70s" was Ali MacGraw.) In particular, par-ticular, beware of anyone who is hyped as "the new Brando," a la Sylvester Stallone, Stal-lone, who instead has comfortably com-fortably settled into the mold of Grunt Hero; or John Travolta, who has yet to prove he can handle himself off a dance floor. Stars are rarely "new Brandos" or "new John Waynes" anyway. Real movie stars knock down the old definitions and set up new ones. But they are fewer and further between in this era. The days of mad funerals fu-nerals and Clark Gable are over. For instance: If it's fragile, drop it, if it's in a jug, spill it, and if it's stacked on a shelf, find a way to push it over. Then mug with embarass-ment embarass-ment for five minutes to milk the gag. Dream up an excuse to wear funny teeth (Lewis poses as a Japanese cook at Benihana 's for a spell ) . Show machines acting in funny ways. (A phone answering service scolds Lewis until he "strangles" it by kinking the cord.) If all else fails, do your little spastic glue-footed dance. The movie's comic style, music and actors all date back ten years. The Jerry Lewis who raises money for muscular dystrophy is an adult now, but he hasn't found a form of humour to mature along with him. , - V ' , i DON L 1 t -1 Interior Design, Residential and Commercial, Furniture Packages available starling at $5,000. Park Meadows Plaza Building, Park City, Utah, 84060, P O. Box 1678, 801-649-4044 ...... 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