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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1984)
— — ^ ~ ■■ 1 ^ ■ — - 1 -> i m Movies Hitchcock festival: have a thriller weekend "Moscow on the Hudson" Robin Williams stars as a Russian defector. The film will be shown Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. By SHAWN BEHLEN Staff Reviewer The number one priority for MSC Aggie Cinema this semes ter is the success of this week end's Alfred Hitchcock film fes tival. In fact, club president Mike Gardner says the possi- bilty of more festivals will de pend on the success of this one. "If this works well, we'll bring others in the spring," Gardner says. "If it goes really well, we'll look at bringing in several Woody Allen films for later this semester." This weekend should be a winner. The six films lined up are "Vertigo," "Lifeboat," "High Anxiety," "Psycho," "Rebecca" and "Dial 'M' for Murder." "Rebecca" was made in 1939, when Hitchcock was working with producer David O. SeLz- nick. The film, based on the Daphne du Maurier novel, fol lows a shy, young girl (Joan Fontaine) who is a paid com panion to an American matron in Europe. The girl meets a handsome widower, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier), mar ries him and moves to his estate in the English countryside. Once there, she is tormented by the housekeeper who harbors a fanatical devotion to the first Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca. In 1943, Hithcock wanted to film a story in the smallest pos sible acting space, concentrat ing on facial close-ups and de riving more from character and situation than from plot devel opment. He chose to film "Life boat," the story of a group of survivors from a torpedoed freighter who take refuge in a lifeboat with a ship-wrecked Nazi officer. The film stars Tal lulah Bankhead and John Ho- diak. "Dial 'M' for Murder" was filmed in 1954 and is the only film Hitchcock ever filmed in 3- D. This was due to the extreme competition films were receiv ing mom the emerging medium of television at that time; 3-D was expected to bring in the viewers. Although it was never shown in that format, the spe cial camera did hamper Hitch cock's usual camera trickery. This film was also the first to star Hitchcock's favorite leading lady, Grace Kelly. Filmed in 1957, "Vertigo" stars James Stewart as a San Francisco lawyer-tumed-detec- tive who discovers he has a psy chological fear of high places during a rooftop chase in which one of his colleagues falls to his death while attempting to help Stewart escape the same fate. Because of this fear, Stewart then fails to save a friend's wife from jumping off of a church tower. But the jump is not as it seems. "Vertigo" also stars Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes. One of Hitchcock's most fa mous films, "Psycho," was filmed in 1960. This is the story of several killings at a lonely motel and the subsequent in vestigations and search for the killer. Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles star in the classic horror thriller, which in cludes the infamous 'shower scene.' The sixth film is not directed by Hitchcock, but is a spoof by Mel Brooks of the entire Hitch cock genre. "High Anxiety" was filmed in 1978. Brooks stars as a psychiatrist who takes over an asylum, but discovers a plot by a doctor (Harvey Korman) and a nurse (Cloris Leachman) to take advantage of the rich, drugged patients. One day passes for $3 and two day passes for $6 are avail able, as well as $1.50 tickets for each film. Gardner says film festivals are only one of the programs Aggie Cinema is using to in crease their services. Four nights each week, special types of films are shown as part of a series. International films are shown on Sundays, favorites are shown on Wednesdays, popular films (recent releases) are shown on Fridays and Sat urdays and cultish films are shown at midnight, also on Fri days and Saturdays. Choosing these films is a drawn-out af fair. A big transformation took place within the group this sum mer when the movie selection process was re vamped. Gard ner says that in the old system, the chairman of each series had final word on which movies were leased. "They got lots of input, but basically it came down to one person's taste," he says. "That wasn't considered very fair and I agreed. Ba sically, we tra shed the old one and got a new one." Gardner says the new system is much more democratic. "We created a film program ming committee, which con sists of anyone who shows up at the scheduled meeting," he says. "We started out by just throwing out titles and then cutting the list down until we got it to 21 films per series. "Then we had everyone rate the films from 21 to one and tried to get a group consensus. That first meeting took forev er." Gardner says that at the sec ond meeting they threw out films that were unavailable or too expensive or had other hold-ups and finally, at the third meeting, they plugged the films into the dates. The cost of films and their date of availability is something that Gardner says is important for every film considered. "Cable has hurt us and been a blessing all at the same time," he says. "Films are available much sooner, but they're also being shown on television and are available on videotape. "Our limit for a film is a thou sand, but our average is from 500 to 800 dollars. Most charge 50 to 60 percent of the gross as well." Gardner says another goal of the group is to bring more little- known, cult and specialty films to Texas A&M. "We want something a little, out of the ordinary," he says. "Midnight has gotten a little bland. "The recently released popu lar movies are obviously what brings the people in. That al lows us to try movies that are more controversial. "That's a step forward for us." 'Terms of Endearment" The academy award winner will be shown Nov. 9 and 10. Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine star. 'Bolero' gives new meaning to horrendous By DONN FRIEDMAN Guest Reviewer Bohhhhlerrrrowwww. From the wilds of Jane of the jungles and bitch of the beach, Bo Derek has done it again. This time, her sweet hubby, John Derek, is the one to blame. John has transformed the girl of our "10" dreams into a non- stimualting sexual object. How could any human have such a wealth of fine, purely feminine features and be so asexual? Well, as my mother used to say, "pretty is as pretty does," and what Bo does in this senseless film is not pretty. Her acting is atrocious. Yes, "Tarzan, The Ape Man" fans, she is still chewing her fingers — it really makes me wonder what's on them. And the gar bage that comes out when she speaks makes me wish for the days before sound. In some parts, even John seems to wish for those simpler bygone days. For a time, the sound track qui ets and the dialogue is replaced by poorly lettered title cards. Bo said in a recent talk show interview that she was trying to make the funniest, sexiest film ever. Sure, parts of the film are fun. The scene where the pseudo Arab sheik — who at tended Cambridge or Oxford rather than Egypt Tech — eats honey off of Bo's naked body is art in motion. But the former "10's" gyrating stomach is enough to make even the most avid pomofile puke. When the opiated sheik passes out. Bo's intellectual comment: "All dressed up and no place to go." And the part where she tells the matador who has been gored by a bull — you guess where — that she will make him whole again is almost as fun as watching the actual gor ing. ("That thing will work again," she says. "I promise.") In a brilliant directorial move, John Derek uses a slow-motion sequence to portray the acci dent. If he only would have used selective cutting to show the accident over and over again, the film's climax would have meant so much more. To help the poor guy along, Bo rides around the bull ring to tally nude. Not enough — he walks off. "You're a hard man to seduce!" she exclaims. "Bolero" is one of those mov ies that's so bad you have to go see it yourself to believe it. If you want to see Bo take off her blouse and put it back on, and take off her pants and blouse and put them back on, and have other folks take off her clothes and have Bo put them back on (after bizzare sexual rit uals), then this is the movie for you. Go for the bad acting. Go for the naked 13-year-old Spanish girls (who talk in English with British accents, no less). But mostly go for a naked Bo Derek. Or go so you can brag to your grandchildren that you actually lived through it the first time it was released.