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BEST ACTIESS OF THE YEAI
II
Singing and Dancing
n the Pub of
Cather-Pound and WRH
7:30 p.m. March 7
FREE
by PAT diNATALE
Zachariah is billed as the "first electric
western." With a cast that includes Country
Joe and the Fish, the James Gang and the
New York Rock Ensemble, it's not High
Noon. But it's not Woodstock either.
Zachariah concerns a young westerner,
Zachariah (John Rubenstein) who"...learns
to draw at home in his spare time" with the
aid of a mail-order Colt. Zach and his best
friend Matthew (Don Johnson of The Magic
Garden of Stanley Sweetheart) set out to
become gunslingers and find adventure.
It comes in the form of the Crackers
(Country Joe and the Fish), the most
bumbling, bungling bunch of outlaws west
of Mississippi.
DECIDING THAT THERE'S more to
gunslinging than botched holdups, Zach and
Matt set out to hit the big time, meaning Job
Cain (Elvin Jones) and his boys (the James
Gang). Zach finds the price of success far
too high for his liking and leaves Matt to
become top gun.
Zachariah wanders the prairie and finds
truth at the hands of an old man(William
Challee) who has a desert, a mountain and a
garden full of marijuana.
The friends' paths inevitably cross for a
final time as Matt seeks out the now
peaceful Zachariah to prove he is the fastest
gun. After a tense interval, Matt understands
at last the futility of a life of hate, and the
two ride into the sunset in true westerr
fashion.
Zachariah is a true western, following tht
time-tested good versus evil premise. But the
viewer might wonder if Zachariah wasn't an
expression of really contemporary values in
a western guise. Perhaps the reverse would
be closer to the truth.
Zachariah is more than Tex Ritter
with rock music and grass added.
IT IS A SIMPLE statement of unchanging
lust for power challenging the eternal love of
life. And Zachariah, written by the Firesign
Theater ("Waiting for the Electrician" or
"Someone Like Him") is a simple movie. It
lacks the subtitles found in more ambitious
productions.
Nevertheless, Rubenstein and Johnson do
their jobs adequately. William Challee, who
played Jack Nicholson's father in Five Easy
Pieces, is a high point as the old man. Cajun
fiddler, Doug Kershaw, lends an eerie note
from his electric violin.
THE MUSIC OF Zachariah is bland, with
the exception of Elvin Jones, whom the New
York Times called the world's greatest
rhythm drummer, Kershaw and white
Lightning, two oldtimers who play real
backwoods country.
Camera work and color are passable and
many of the sets have a surrealistic touch
which adds to the ethereal quality of the
6how.
Zachariah will garner no Oscars, but it is a
good, entertaining flick.
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The Crackers (Country Joe and the Fish) . . . preparing to holdup the bar.
The body of a victim of the
Vietnam war (Jim Brummels)
arrives at his parent's house in
Bringing It All Back Home, one
of two laboratory plays which
will be presented Sunday,
March 14 and Monday, March
15.
The other play The Happy
Journey From Trenton to
Camden, directed by Lon
Dormer, portrays the human
need for love and acceptance
and the fear of death. This
show begins at 7:30 p.m. in
Room 201 in the Temple
Building.
The second show, Bringing
It All Back Home, directed by
Lynn Martindale, in the Arena
Theatre, Room 303 of the
Temple Building, immediately
follows the first show.
Admission is free.
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PAGE 6
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THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1971
