i-naay. ruse. 7, 1984 .
Movies
Thar Lap' better than usual horse film
By MARCY BASILE
Staff Reviewer
Take a horse that looks like a
camel, teach it to run, name it
"Lightning" and after it has be
come a national hero, make a
movie about it. What a great
idea — or so the makers of "Phar
Lap" apparently decided.
"Phar Lap," the much antic
ipated movie from Australia, fo
cuses on the training, and over
training, of a racehorse in 1930
Australia. Originally from New
Zealand, the horse is often re
ferred to as 'the galloping cam
el" due to his laziness. Even the
name "Phar Lap" begins as a
joke. ("Farlap" means "light
ning" in some Asian language.)
The unusual spelling of the
horse's name comes from the
trainer's insane desire to have a
horse with a seven letter name
since the last few Australian
champion horses had seven let
ter names. Pretty tricky, huh?
If you go to this movie hoping
to see a movie as beautifully
filmed as "The Man From
Snowy River" you won't be dis
appointed. Something about the
Australian countryside lends it
self to wonderful, scenic photog
raphy. Someone has to be a
really awful photographer to
mess up with that country. The
race scenes are incredible, utiliz
ing camera angles The Wide
World of Sports hasn't even
tried. In fact, the photography is
the star of the movie.
Another plus of the movie is
Tom ("The Man From Snowy
River") Burlinson's performance
as Tommy Woodcock, Phar
Lap's groom. Woodcock con
trols Pnar Lap, or Bobby as
Woodcock called him, through
out the movie. From the time
Woodcock finds Bobby in his
stall wheezing after a long,
strenuous workout, to the final
scene in the movie, Tommy
stays with the horse. (Bobby
even went with Tommy and his
wife for a walk — man, woman
and horse.) A classic line is bom
from this strange man-horse
relationship, "That horse won't
even fart unless Woodcock told
him to."
Believe it. The horse refuses to
do anything unless Woodcock
has a part in it. Remember the
story about the lion with the
thorn in his paw and some really
nice guy comes by and relieves
the lion of his misery by pulling
out the thorn? Remember how
the lion was completely devoted
to the man after that? That's the
way Phar Lap is with Woodcock.
No one else can go near Phar
Lap without Woodcock being
nearby. Man has never had such
a devoted pet.
This unusual relationship
seems ridiculous when you
think about it, but in the movie it
is somewhat believable. Consid
ering the story of Phar Lap is
true, the buddiness between
Woodcock and Phar Lap ap
pears even more bizarre.
Anyway, the film opens with
the lowering of a scrawny,
camel-looking horse from the
deck of a ship. Enter Phar Lap.
From the beginning, Phar
Lap's trainer, Harry, believes his
horse to be a winner. Unbek
nownst to him, Phar Lap is lazy
with no desire to exert himself
any more than is needed. Not a
good quality in a racehorse. But
Phar Lap has bloodlines that
won't quit, or so Harry tells Phar
Lap's owner, Dave Davis,
played by Ron Liebeman. Davis
doesn't believe that a horse as
doofy-looking as Phar Lap could
possibly be anything more than
dog food and tells Harry to sell
him.
But Harry conjurs up a plan to
save Phar Lap and begins train
ing him. The training is rigorous
but Phar Lap refuses to run. En
ter Woodcock. Woodcock de
vises a training method which
Phar Lap responds to. Enter
winner.
Boy, does Phar Lap begin to
win. And win. And win. Noth
ing stops Phar Lap from win
ning. The racing board adds ex
tra weight to Phar Lap's limit in
an effort to slow him down. No
go, Geronamo. They also block
an attempt by Davis to scratch
Phar Lap from a race. These
guys are ruthless.
Eventually, Phar Lap fails, but
not by his own choice. The rac
ing board put so much weight
on him that there was no way
any normal horse could have
finished the two mile race. Phar
Lap finishes and is even invited
to America.
"Phar Lap" is good if you
want to watch horse stuff. If you
want to watch people stuff,
however, the movie will be un
eventful. Most of the movie is
racing scenes, perhaps a few
races too many. The story line
between Woodcock and his
"girl" should have been devel
oped just a tad more. The music
is enjoyable, the scenery fantas
tic and the acting passable.
If you're in a "gee I think I'll
go to a movie" mood and don't
really want to think too terribly
much, go see "Phar Lap." If not,
find a camel and make your
own.
Give credit — it's due
By WALTER SMITH
Staff Reviewer
With Christmas only a few
weeks away, everyone is rush
ing around to finish their holi
day shopping. Or if you're like
me, you may just be preparing
to start.
In case you've decided to fol
low the advice of the record in
dustry and are planning to "give
the gift of music," your shop-
G can be simplified by the fol-
ng compilation of records
that can make the ideal present
for the connoisseur of fine mu
sic.
Don't bother looking for
Prince's or Springsteen's latest
releases because they won't
make the list, even though they
both are pretty good albums. Be
cause of the exposure that they
and others like them received,
you should know whether or
not you and/or your gift-receiver
would like them. Also, in the in
terest of space, any albums that I
reviewed this semester won't
make it either, even if I raved
about them.
Instead, the list will consist of
records that are worthy of
praise, but didn't receive it for
one reason or another (see MTV
story). The most equitable
method of arranging these "best
of the underrated" is alphabeti
cal.
Alphaville — Big In Japan —
This group's premiere 12-inch
single demonstrates a very lush,
but danceable, sound. Their up
coming album should be good.
The Art of Noise — (Who's
Afraid Of?) The Art of Noise —
"Beat Box" provided the needed
diversion on all the best dance
floors this year. Trevor Horn
produced them with his usual
electro-dancewave flair.
Aztec Camera — High Land,
Hard Rain — If electronics
doesn't interest you, then the
acoustically mellow melodies of
this U.K. group might.
The Group — Technology —
This 12-inch dance single was
produced by Thomas Dolby and
you can hear it in the mix. Some
one named Mrs. Julie Fletcher
plays drums.
Malcolm McLaren — Madam
Butterfly — "What do you
mean, 'A dance version of the
aria from Giacono Puccini's Ma
dam Butterfly?"'
New Order — Power, Corrup
tion and Lies — This quartet
provides a unique blend of elec
tronic sounds that will captivate
you. The Fantin-Latour still life
painting on the cover is a pleas
ant touch.
The Parachute Club — The Par
achute Club — If you can find it,
buy it. It contains their semi-hit
"Rise Up" as well as "Boys'
Club." The best white soul-funk-
disco that I've ever heard.
Propaganda — Propaganda
Presents The Nine Lives Of Dr.
Mabuse — Trevor Horn has
been fairly prolific this year as a
producer. This 12-inch offering
is strangely sinister in its mes
sage, but most propaganda
usually is. "Femme Fatale"
sounds like it just defected from
an unnamed Eastern-bloc coun
try.
R.E.M. — Reckoning —
Athens, GA, seems to produce
more than its fair share of musi
cians. R.E.M. just might be the
cream of the crop this season
with this album.
Scritti Politti — Wood Beez
b/w Absolute — This 12-incher
is the first from this group as
well. If they can follow it up
with an LP of equal quality, then
we might be witnessing the. birth
of another success story.
Soft Cell — This Last Night In
Sodom — This, the last album of
the now-defunct Soft Cell, is
perhaps their best. It's a cyclical
return to the sounds of their be
ginnings.
Tin Tin — Hold It — Another
premiere single from a prom
ising group. If the album comes
out before Christmas, then get
it; if it doesn't, then this is cer
tainly better than nothing at all.
Is it Empty V?
By WALTER SMITH
Staff Reviewer
Yes, Virginia, there really
is music beyond MTV.
Isn’t Music Television a
godsend. We get to watch all
the popular performers in
the privacy of our own
homes. What more could we
want; after all, we’ve been in
formed that we are better off
now than four years ago.
But unrest does exist.
Some bands don't feel they
are reaping their fair share of
the rewards; they are the vic
tims of corporate prejudices,
racial or otherwise. Are these
claims substantiated, or are
they the claims of untalented
musicians trying to drum up
some free publicity?
While the spectrum of ca
ble subscribers ranges from
those who are venomously
spiteful of the dronings of
MTV to those who are irre
versibly spellbound by those
same dronings, the average
viewer probably looks at it as
a simple diversion. There's
no harm in using it as a must-
c/video backdrop to mask the
roaring silence of a dorm
room or apartment. Or is
there?
MTV dictates the musical
tastes of America. Lhider the
guise of offering idle enter
tainment to the masses, it has
become the most influential
advertising medium in the
music industry. If new bands
hope to capture the attention
of America’s music-buying
public, a video is almost man
datory, even if they don’t
really have the financial re
sources to do so.
This theorem of “you need
money to make money" is
further complicated by the
corollary' of “you need to fit
the program format.” If a vi
deo doesn’t appease the MTV
big decision-makers because
it doesn’t fit the program
ming style, the chances are
good that it won’t be seen on
the air; if it’s not seen, then
the band might not be able to
sell you an alburn that you
really might like to have.
That’s unfair to you as well
as to the band. One need not
meekly accept the bland of
ferings of MTV as being the
totality of the music world.
An may imitate life, but
music need not imitate MTV,
Act now and expose yourself
to new and different types of
music before we again face an
insidious musical homogene
ity like the one that plagued
America during the 70s.