The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 20, 1975, Page page 8, Image 8

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    entertoinment
Announces
A DSSC JOCICEY TO
SPSftI YOUR FAVORITES
REQUEST ANY RECORD YOU
WANT OR BRING DOWN YOUR
FAVORITE SELECTION
DANCE IF YOU WISH
EFFECTIVE ALL THIS WEEK &
SELECTED NIGHTS EN THE FUTURE
WE SELL PEANUTS AT COST
'Front Page'-press has stopped
Desoite a host of reservations, I am convinced
that Billy Wilder's new film, The Front Page, is
not a complete waste of time. It works well on
some levels (it is, at times, a very funny, though
slow-witted movie) and fails pathetically at
others. This Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau
teamup in a classic relic of '30s Hollywood
playwriting by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
was eagerly anticipated. Yet as disappointing as
the picture is, it's easy to want to defend it in
view of some of the other movie debris that's
been hurled down on us (literally) as of late.
The plot revolves around a cynical, blustery,
big-city newspaper editor named Walter Burns
(Walter Matthau) who is trying to hang onto the
services of his star reporter, Hildy Johnson (Jack
Lemmon). Hildy wants to get married and is
about- to wash his hands of the whole reporting
business.
The story occurs on the eve of the hanging of
a harmless little, runny-nosed runt (Austin
Pendleton) who has somehow scared the
paranoid, Chicago authorities into thinking he's a
greg
lukow
BEGINNERS
WELCOMEI
U of N THE KWON D Slob II
Second session classes begin
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dangerous Communist agitator. Carol Burnett
completes the list of principal characters, playing
a floozy prostitute who is revered by the runt
and ridiculed by the reporters (and the audience,
since Burnett pathetically overhams her part into
a best forgotten embarrassment).
The play's been done on film twice before,
most notably in Howard Hawks' wonderful His
Girl Friday (1940). That version starred Cary
Grant (as Walter) and Rosalind Russell as Hildy,
and is, along with Hawks' Bringing Up Baby
(1938), one of the greatest screwball comedies
ever made. (This Grant-Russell match-up is a
perfect example of what Molly Haskell was
talking about this past weekend when she
mentioned the now extinct, balanced
commeraderie of male-female teams in that
bygone era.
AmnnD the admittedly overstocked tableau of
what are considered all-time great movies, at least
a small handfull of them, located somewhere on
the outer fringe, belong to director Wilder
His reputation is that of the great Hollywood
comic-cynic. He is a master at inserting
underlying bitterness, satire and muted
grotesqueness in the personality of his films. Yet
it is worthwhile to note the inconsistency of how
this cynicism manifests itself. Two of Wilder's
pantheon films, Sunset Boulevard (1950) and
Stalag 17 (1953) are great because of it. The
Oscar winning The Apartment (1960) comes out
ahead in spite of it, and Some Like it Hot (1959)
is a just-right combination of ingredients that
gloriously transcend it.
Film critic Andrew Sarris aptly described
Wilder as a man too cynical to believe his own
cynicism. He cites the example of William
Holden's loner figure in Stalag 17, when he "bids
a properly cynical adieu to his prison-camp
buddies. . .ducks into the escape tunnel for a
second, then quickly pops up, out of character,
with a boyish smile and a friendly wave and then
ducks down for good. Holden's sentimental
motion in a tensely timed melodrama
demonstrates the cancellation principle in
Wilder's cinema."
. In The Front Page, Wilder disastrously trys to
contemporize that cynicism through
unwarranted, forced vulgarity. And with the
Carol Burnett character, he has also replaced his
stabs at the bittersweet with moments of
downright cruelty. Critic Sarris also commented,
some years ago, that Wilder was enjoying a
fruitful period of movie making in the mid-'60s
"not so much because of the films themselves,
but rather because Wilder had chosen to remain
himself while almost everyone else has been
straining to go mod."
Now, however, Billy Wilder has tried and
failed to catch up with this, the most cynical of
ages. Matthau's performance (he's been
incredibly hot property the last few years) and
what's left of the original play (including, for the
first time on screen, the famous last line) are the
only highlights in The Front Page. I appreciate it
for being somewhat in the right place at the right
time, but I suspect that Wilder, now pushing 70
years of age, has just about served out his time.
M
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got
Served with baked potato ond
crisp salad, with a choice of dressing,
and Texas Toast.
4 ,
4
Practice up! The Dynamo Foosball Champs from
Texas are back and taking on all challengers. If
you beat 'em 2 out of 3 games you'll win a
''Mystery Prize" from the Dynamo Corporation.
Contest will be held on Dynamo Tables!
Come early and practice! It all happens at
THE TOWN TAVERN
1115 "P" Monday Nite, 8 to 11
Good wholesome American food
at right neighborly prices.
"No tipping please.
Just leave us with a smile."
831 S ss Sftreed;
Uo- EZTg m,
i icivo i ui i1
Try Dancing
Arthur Murray Dance Lessons
every Wednesday evening at 7:30.
Three hours of dancing to Bobby Lane
and his orchestra from 8:30 1 1:30
Free snacks Onh.$1 50 per person
Come alone or with your friends
Over 1 9 Dressup No Jeans
Pla-Mor Ballroom
ph. 435-941 1
Also
RR6
PoSka Dances every Sunday 6pjn. 10pm.
8
daily nebraskan
monday, January 20, 1975
page