'Harry and Ton to,Jnicest experience
"The strangest thing about
being old is that all your friends are
dead."
So says the aging, gray-haired
Harry Combs (played by Art
Carney) in Paul Mazursky's new
movie, "Harry and Tonto". Harry
is a lonely but content New Yorker
who lives in a small dingy
apartment and who spends most of
his time shopping and having
one-sided conversations with
Tonto, his 1 1 year-old cat.
Harry has a lot of spirit left in
him, but no motivation. It's only
after he is forcefully evicted from
his soon-to-be-torn-down apart
ment that he comes, once again,
into his own. He becomes an
overnight existentialist, moving
from city to city, living with his '
relatives from New York to Holly
wood, and having a wonderful time
in between.
"Harry and Tonto" is a marvel
ous octogenarian odyssey, a string
of beautiful moments, both happy
and sad, all flowing together to
create the nicest experience of the
fall movie season. .
Harry's friends
Actualiv. Harrv's friends are not
all dead. That statement was one of
the few self-pitying, sentimental
lapses for the congenial Harry, and
the movie doesn't concede to those
brief melancholy feelings. Harry
has many friends, be they hippie,
hitchhiker or hooker. They may not
always be his peers and he may not
know some of them for more than a
day, but he has his friends.
But Harry's statement still has a
ring of truth to it because it points
out, if not the rejection, at least the
Isolation of the old: For Harry it's
not so much an interpersonal
isolation since he has a complete
ly captivating personality as it is
an inner, more personal feeling of
loneliness with himself. What this
geg lukow
movies says best is that while old
age can be an active, fulfilling
experience, it is also a one-way
street that gets shorter every day.
We will never be able to remember
what it was like to be old; we !i only
be able to look back on what it was
like to be young.
Director Paul Mazursky's film
career has been somewhat of a
surprise since the release of his
first big success of the late '60s,
"Bob and Carol, Ted and Alice".
Instead of sharpening the force
behind the movie's moral disil
illusionment and biting satire,
Mazursky's touch has softened. He
has since made the tame, but kinky
"Blumein Love" and now "Harry
and Tonto" is his mel lowest work
yet. It's a touching work that
depends on feeling and fine
performances from a host of actors
in varied characterizations.
Varied characters
Art Carney is nearly perfect as
Harry, as arc Ellen Burstyn, as his
daughter who loves him but
doesn't really like him, and Joshua
Mostel (Zero's son) as a grandson
vowed to silence on a spiritual kick.
As for Chief Dan George, who has
a brief part as an aging Indian
medicine man: if his part was any
bigger he would have stoien the
show.
!n Harry's New York, Mazursky
shows the aged as feeble dodder
ing relics, who may carry a roll of
toilet paper around with them, lose
their dentures when they are
mugged or worry about over
excitement and heart attacks when
watching Ironside on TV. Everyone
talks about their long dead spous
es, their lost virility or their first
affair.
For most of our aged, "Harry
and Tonto" doesn't present a very
realistic outlook, but would to God
that I have Harry Combs' attitude
when I reach that point on this
one-way' street. It's a marvelous
movie, sentimental and touching,
yet unburdened by excesses of any
sort. The more I think about it, the
more I like it and considering some
of the other pablum we're being
fed these days, it is a huge favor. v
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UUUL
Photographic equipment can
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The Canon F-1 can help you
forget about equipment and
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vision. It s responsive in a way that
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And since it was conceived as a
system camera, every part works
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ness, from the mJre than 40 Canon
FD and FL lenses to the over 200
accessories.
The heart of the camera is it's
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With it you can use anyone's
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central 12 of the finder area-
regardless of the focal length used.
So if you're spending too much
time lately worrying about your
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and took a good look at the Canon
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Gap Band
delightful
Review by Meg Greene
Before the Gap Band
found themselves under
Leon Russell's leadership,
they were beginning to
establish themselves as an
up and coming soul group.
"Magicians' Holiday"
proves to be a testing
round, f nothing else,
or different sounds and
styles. It unfortunately
ends on a rather precari
ous note, leaving one
wondering just where the
band plans to go from
here.
Drawing influence from
Sly Stone's avant-garde
boogaloo to Billy Pres
ton's quasi-spiritual
sound, the Gap Band
boasts a strong, consistent
beat intertwined with
soulful musical interludes.
All eight musicians strive
for and succeed in putting
forth good music, with the
core of the group seeming
to be Charles Wilson,
keyboard and lead
vocalist.
The band's harmoniz
ing vocals are a delight for
the ear and the album
overflows with energy and
a zest for the music the
Gap Band plays. Russell
even manages to stick his
fingers into a couple of
songs, alternating be
tween guitar and synthe
sizer. At any rate, it is to be
hoped that the Gap Band
will not be caught up in
Russeli's schizoid musical
changes. They can cer
tainly handle it without
him. 1 " ! ' ' t
.Mahangar':
Indian ideas
Film arrival permitting,
this week's Foreign Film
will be "Mahangar" (The
Big City), a 1964 film
made by noted Indian
director Satyajit Ray. In
the film Ray exercises his
gift for wistful comedy
drama to make some of
the recent changes of
customs, manners and
thinking in the Indian
middle class under
standable. "Mahanagar" focuses
on a three-generation seg
ment of a Indian family,
consisting of an old man, a
retired school teacher, his
son and the latter's small
family, living in genteel
poverty in a nameless
large city (evidently New
Delhi). Conflict is precipi
tated when the son's wife,
contrary to tradition, takes
a job.
Bosloy Crowrher of The
New York Times has said
of "Mahanagar": "One of
Mr. Ray's most potent
skills is his capacity to
convey the delicate traits
...and sensitivities of his
characters' fixations, com
plicated by the customs of
their caste and their
powerful emotional re
sponses. ..This film leaves
one with the feeling of
having spent time in a
heartwarming emotional
contact with a family In
India."
"Mahanagar" will be
shown at 7 and 9:15 p.m.
cn Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday evenings.
page 12
daily nebraskan
monday, novemberU, 1974