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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.