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Show V Page B4 Thursday, May 7, 1981 The Newspaper Heel WnM by Rick Brough PRESTIGE HOMES REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT -PRICE GROUP Park Meadows Plaza Box 701, Park City, Utah 84060 649-8575 ti tKinw rtiTff TT-rr rmrr Mf S Tommv av w A shop full of treasure 1 carat diamond solitaire ring 34 carat diamond pendant 12 carat total weight diamond earrings .15 carat total weight diamond earrings 15 carat diamond wedding set Mother's Day Diamond Sale 40 off Regular $4,099.00 $2,250.00 $875.00 $287.50 $375.00 Now $2,459.00 $1,350.00 $525.00 $172.60 $225.00 Free ear piercing with purchase of select earrings Additional collection of unique diamonds on display Free Appraisals of your diamonds Come in and register to win a free pair of diamond earrings in time for Mother's Day! Hours Monday thru Thursday 10 Friday 10 -9 Saturday 10 - 6 Sunday 12 - 6 Holiday Village Mall y v ft rn c 1700 PARK AVENUE, PARK CITY, UT. 84060, 649-4949 'Excalibur' King's legend dazzles, but Arthur is dull A Classic Recommended Good Double feature material Time-Killer For masochists only Vz Excalibur According to legend, Merlin Mer-lin the. Magician existed backwards in time, so that he lived through the future before he saw the present. Audiences may get the same feeling as they watch John Boorman's new film, "Excalibur." "Ex-calibur." This is the movie that "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was meant to parody. Yet "Holy Grail" was filmed six years ago, and Boor-man's Boor-man's "straight" version of something already spoofed is enough to give you a backwards-in-time feeling. His central image the Lady of the Lake lifting Excalibur out of the clear, still water already, was thoroughly ridiculed in "Holy Grail" by a Bolshevik by Rick Lanman Appellation The term "appellation" refers to a region of origin of a specific grape. The use of the designation 'Appellation Controlee' in Europe has guaranteed for over one hundred years that wines from certain sought-after districts were, in fact, from the indicated areas. Many of the great French and German wines are bottled from designated vineyard plots; these wines fetch premium prices and are world reknowned. Knowing a wine's appellation tells the informed wine drinker something about the climate and chemical makeup of the vineyard from which the grape comes. While the appellation designation has been used for years in Europe, only in recent years have wineries in the United States begun to provide specific appellation information on their labels. Many of the wines grown in the Napa Valley of California have noted their location; a similar designation would be the term North Coast Counties. While helpful, it does not specifically pinpoint a grape's vineyard location, nor tell you what to expect of the wine. Each vineyard has specific soil combinations and microclimate. These factors fact-ors produce wines displaying a wide variety of acidity, dryness, sweetness, tannin, etc. Only a thorough sampling of the wines from each appellation will provide you with complete tasting information, yet once acquired the designation on the label allows you to use that knowledge in future years. An example of a very specific appellation is provided by Mirassou Vineyards for their Cabernet Sauvignon. One vintage reads "1977 Mirassou, Santa Clara, Cabernet Sauvignon, Home Vineyard, Lot No. 1." The labeling tells you the grapes were .grown in Santa Clara County, where the winery is located. In addition, the grapes come from the home vineyard, or vines immediately surrounding the winery. Finally, you know the grapes come from the first lot picked, assuring a level of quality you can depend upon. The Concannon Vineyard of California places the appellation "Livermore Valley" on their wines, since they feel that valley offers a unique climate for certain grape types, a climate they consider ideal. Early settlers felt that distinct similarities existed between the Livermore Valley and the French wine regions of Graves and Cote D'Or. For this reason, many of the earliest vines were planted in the Livermore area. As in many parts of California, viticulture began with the efforts of Franciscan Padres between 1769 to 1825. The vines grew beside missions along the El Camino Real, a PARK CITY highway beaten out of the wilderness between San Diego and the present-day Sonoma. As the El Camino Real passed through the Livermore Valley, grapes flouished and the area so reminded everyone of Graves, France, that cuttings were brought to the area from that European country. One of the greatest white wines in the world, a Sauterne named Chateau d' Yquem, was selected for the vineyards of Livermore. In 1880, cuttings of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscatel du Bordelais the three grapes used to produce the famous sweet, white sauternes of d' Yquem were brought to the valley and planted. They flourish there today. During the same period, many choice cuttings from other vineyards of Bordeaux and the Cote D'Or also were imported, and the results have paid off over the years. Other outstanding vineyards gradually have adopted more specific appellations for their wines. Chateau St. Jean, for example, frequently indicates specific vineyards on their labels. Their Cabernet Sauvignon is grown in the Wildwood Vineyards. Johannis-berg Johannis-berg Riesling comes from the Robert Young Vineyards, while the Fume Blanc is produced at Forest Cimmins Ranch. The. St.,uJean Chardonnay,. a product for which they are famous, is grown at two different sites Belle"' Terre Vineyards and St. Jean Vineyards. By drinking each of these wines, the consumer can identify which are favorites and use the appellation information in future purchases. Several states now are beginning to pass appellation laws. While some wineries have resisted this move, most of the reputable ones favor such legislation. Protective safeguards will in the long run establish a degree of quality and aid the consumer by clarifying an admittedly complicated subject. Eventually such legislation should eliminate "generic" labeling Chablis, Burgundy, etc. Many vineyards already have abandoned such labeling in favor of greater specificty. Some, such as Robert Mondavi, now simply refer to their bulk wines as "white table wine" and "red table wine." The label suggests the wine is a blend of four or five grapes that were quality pickings taken from available supplies. In many respects this would seem a more accurate description of wine than, say calling a white wine Chablis, even though it may contain no Chardonnay grapes at all. These efforts to designate appellation are applauded, and in time one can expect the wine selection process to be simplified. Each word added to a wine label should not be considered an element of confusion, but rather a helpful hint to what lies within. peasant who wondered why that entitled Arthur to be king. ("Just because some watery tart goes around flinging scimitars at people, that's hardly the basis for a system o' government!") But the image of a hand rising from the water also appeared in Boorman's biggest big-gest hit, "Deliverance." His eerie, extravagant style is always in evidence, and it makes "Excalibur" a feast for the eyes, even if the familiar Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot triangle is thin nourishment. Screenwriter Rospo Pal-lenberg Pal-lenberg has a problem. He' seems bored by the familiar Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot triangle there really isn't much to say about it anymorebut any-morebut it's still the central cen-tral event of the Arthurian mythos. Pallenberg seeks a fresh outlook and finds it by making Merlin the central character (Nicol Williamson, William-son, playing the sorceror as a moody old curmudgeon, easily outshines his stolid fellow actors.) He also leaps back a generation, to show how Arthur came to be born, when his father Uthor Pen-dragon Pen-dragon lusted for the wife of an enemy. Using Merlin's magic, Uthor assumed the form of his rival and stole into the wife's bed while her real husband was dying in the battle miles away. As a price for his services, Merlin demands the product of their union, little Arthur and the despairing Uthor was killed in an ambush soon after, dying as he plunged Excalibur deep into a bould er. The entire dark episode is a unique beginning for the idealistic adventures of Arthurespecially Ar-thurespecially as it reflects re-flects on medieval man's appetites, his gods, and his brutalization of women. The middle of the film, however, is familiar "Came-lot" "Came-lot" territory. The story of Arthur's Round Table is filled with rousing battles and elegant, lush court ceremony, but Nigel Terry as Arthur, Nicholas Clay as Lancelot, and Cherie Lunghi as Guinevere are medieval cutouts declamatory characters char-acters without much depth. Once again, the director and scriptwriter try to revitalize revi-talize the legend by peeking into unexplored corners of the Arthurian tales. In this case, they create a major character in the saintly Sir Perceval (Paul Geoffrey), who begins as Lancelot's squire and eventually becomes the kingdom's savior by finding and returning retur-ning the Holy Grail. , reowBly HUBS bay Mbiis Nioht No cover charge for gals. Discount drinks. Excluding concert nights. Closed for dinner .Sunday & Monday . till June The bar will remain -open. f)iIM if INT Tickets Available at: Cosmic Aeroplane, Salt Lake Wagstaff Music, Murray & The Cowboy Bar, 268 Main Street, Park -City. For more Information, call 649-4146. COW JAZZ May 5, 6, 8, 9 & 11 thru 15, 9-1 .$2.00 cover on weeknight, $3.00 cover on weekends. MARY MCCASLIN & JIM RINGER Thurs. May 7,9 p.m. - $4.50 Advance, $5,50 at door. ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL WITH COW JAZZ Mon., May 11,2 shows 7:30 & 1 1 $9.00 Advance, $10.00 at door. .JEFF LORBER FUSION Sat., May 16,9 p.m. $6.00 Advance, $7.00 at door. MISSION MOUNTAIN WOOD BAND Sat., May 23, 9 p.m. $6.00 Advance, $7.00 at door. JOE SUN Sun., June 7, 2 shows 8 & 1 1 - $7.50 Advance, $8.50 at door. RICKY SCAGGS Wed., June 24, 9 p.m. $6.00 Advance, $7 at door. .JESSE WINCHESTER , Sun., June 28, 2 shows 8 & 1 1 $7.50 Advance, $8.50 at door. The search for the Grail, which drags Perceval and the other knights to the four corners of their world, is one of the film's most haunting segments. At one point, Perceval Per-ceval spots a comrade praying at a Stonehenge-like pagan temple. (This is a time when the Christian gods are just beginning to supplant the old magic.) Perceval runs up to speak to him, and finds the knight has frozen to death in that position, his face almost is rotted to a skull. I made the mistake of enthusing en-thusing about this scene, and its grisly power, to a doctor friend who immediately spotted the medical im-plausibility. im-plausibility. If the knight had frozen, he cjuldn't rot; if he thawed out enough to rot, on the other hand, he wouldn't be stuck in a prayer position. The whole point, however, is that logic doesn't prevail in this world ruled by white or black magic. Merlin represents an era of spells, batwings, eerie ice caves, and mystic fog "the dragon's dra-gon's breath," Merlin calls it. This underworld, in Boorman's Boor-man's view, is the root of Camelot. It either fertilises Arthur's sun-dappled forests and cool streams or it decimates them, when the magic power falls into the hands of Morgana. The supernatural characters charact-ers in the film are the most gripping. Helen Mirren is a splended nostril-flaring Morgana. Her unnatural son Mordred born after she tricks Arthur into her bed-is bed-is played1 by Robert-Addie with cool mklevblenie.JnifH r. Boorman;s problem is ciw vincing you this Camelot exists. But his handling of the material is so inconsistent, inconsis-tent, almost every scene presents you anew with the choice of believing or not believing. You can succumb to the magic of the moment, as I would, or poke at the faulty logic, like my doctor friend. The "Lady of the Lake" device is sometimes extraordinarily extra-ordinarily beautiful, and sometimes ludicrous. (When she appeared lying at the bottom of a shallow stream, all I could think about was how the actress was managing man-aging to breathe down there!) The film's hallucinatory hallucina-tory sequences are often confusing (Lancelot fights with himself in a dream, and wakes with his own sword ' piercing his side! ) And some of the crucial moments in Arthur's life are handled badly. (In the legend, young Arthur removes the sword from the stone because he needs one on short notice for his older brother, and he is ignorant of the sword's significance. In the movie, he s already seen older knights straining and pulling at Excalibur, and so you can't believe Arthur when, later, he casually plucks it out.) I'm on the verge of recommending the movie. You probably won't see a more gorgeous film this year, although I still prefer "Hold Grail," which was hilarious, ruthlessly satiricaland satiri-caland beautiful! In describing "Excalibur," "Excali-bur," the words "breathless," "breath-less," "beautiful" and unfortunately, unfor-tunately, "bewildering" come to mind. $$$$ Newspaper Classified Advertising doesn't cost, IT PAYS! |