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frlday, march 11, 1977
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Fitzgerald's
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Tycoon 1 too nebul
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By WEI Huffman
F. Scott Fitzgerald, like so many great
authors, has always resisted successful
transfer to the screen. The qualities and
style which make his writing great seem to
nebulous and unique to be captured on
film.
Both Tender is the Night and The Great
Catsby have been previously filmed, the
latter three times. However, all were con
sidered both artistic and commercial
failures. No matter the amount of talent
and money lavished, the end results never
quite measured up to the source material.
Sadly, the new film version of The Last
Tycoon (currently at the Cooper) must fit
into the above description. It's sad because
the film is a product of extremely talented
people who evidently spent a great deal of
time and care in adapting the novel.
. Producer Sam Spiegel, director Elia Kazan
and writer Harold Pinter from a trio that
literally radiates prestige.
The Last Tycoon, Fitzgerald's unfinish
ed novel (he died in 1941 after completing
approximately half the book) tells the saga
of Monroe Stahr, a successful young Holly
wood producer. Stahr is actually a thinly
veiled portrait of Irving Thalberg, the "boy
wonder" of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer before
Marionettes to perform
with adults in mind
His work has hold of him by the strings,
but Albrecht Roser, master puppeteer
does his work by manipulating his marion
ettes. He will perform his program "Gus
taf and His Ensemble" in the Nebraska
Union Ballroom Saturday at 8 pjn.
Roser's puppet carving career began
shortly after World War II. His earliest suc
cess came with a marionette clown Gus
taf. From Gus taf, Roser created the En-
out on the
weekend
Films and TV
Not a Pretty Picture and Rape Culture
3, 7 and 9 tonight and Saturday
Films on the Arts: Lichtenstein in
London and Art in Revolution, 3 p.m.
Sunday
UPC Foreign Films: Playtime, 7 and 9
p.m. Sunday
Howell Theatre
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Kimball Recital Hall
Symphonic Band, 4 pjn. Sunday
Other Events
Albrecht Roser, puppeteer, Union Ball
room, 8 p.m.
semble which include;: Professor Doctor
Friedrich Wilhelm Ambrosius, The Modern
, Singer Clown Punktchen and the Granny
from Stuttgart.
"Gustaf and His Ensemble" appeared at
the first International Puppetry Festival
19S8 in Bucharest, Hungary where Roser
received the gold medal for his perfor
mance. The two hour show is composed of 14
vignettes. Each vignette features one
marionette operated by Roser, who is
dressed in black.
Through his marionettes, Roser ex
plores human frailties and emotion by
using humor, pathos and drama. He oper
ates in full view of the audience on a slight
ly elevated platform.
His most famous marionette, Gustaf,
is an impish clown that embodies all kinds
of mischief.
The final vignette in the show features
Granny, the only character who speaks.
Granny sits in her rocking chair, knitting
and chatting with the audience. Her com
ments are pointed -so much so that when
Roser was invited to perform in Moscow
last year, he was asked to leave her behind.
Roser's performances are designed for
adults and it is recommended children
under 15 not attend.
Tickets are available at the Union South
Desk and Dirt Cheap: $liO Students and
$2.50 General admission.
his sudden death in 1936. ,
Stahr is presented as a. hard-driving but
compassionate individualist working in an
increasingly impersonal industry.
Fitzgerald describes him thus: "From
where he stood (and though he was not a
tall man, it always seemed high up) he
watched the multitudinous practicalities of
his world like a proud young shepherd to
whom night and day never mattered."
De Niro looks right
As portrayed by Robert De Niro (pro
bably the most versatile actor in movies
today), the Monroe Stahr of the film
comes very close to the Stahr of Fitz
gerald's novel. De Niro's performance is,
undoubtedly the best in the movie. He
even bears a strong resemblance to Irving
Thalberg and always looks exactly right in
the role.
We watch Stahr run the mammoth
studio with aplomb and skill. He plays
nursemaid to an aging-matinee idol worried
about impotence (Tony Curtis). He coaxes
a volatile English writer (Donald
Pleaseance) into injecting more action into
his scripts and efficiently but gently fires a
veteran director (Dana Andrews) who is
having trouble with a temptuous leading
lady (Jeanne Moreau).
Stahr chances upon a young English girl
named Kathleen Moore (Ingrid Boulting)
who reminds him of his late wife, a famous
movie star. Obsessed, he subsequently
pursues her.
And then the film begins to run into
trouble. Fitzgerald's brand of romanticism,
as interpreted by Pinter and Kazan, cbmes
across as soft and mushy on film. The long
sequences between De Niro and Boulting
just don't have the force of conviction to
give the film the center it needs. Boulting
possesses a unique beauty, but opposite
De Niro she comes off as too slight, quiet
and subdued to arouse any . intensity.
Matters aren't helped any by the in
sertion of a distracting and totally un
necessary 10 minute intermission right' in
the middle of the main De Niro-Boulting
sequence.
Pressures mounting
Stahr, a doomed and tragic figure from
the outset, begins to feel the pressures
mounting from both sides at the studio.
The tough studio chief (Robert Mitchum)
and his shrewd New York lawyer (Ray
Mill and) can't understand Stahr's desire to
make u prestige picture that may lose ,
money. Meanwhile the studio's writers are
aroused by a Communist organizer from
the Eist (Jack Nicholson).
Stahr begins to lose his grip on both his
personal and public lives, Kathleen leaves
him. Deserted and defeated, in the final
shot of the film we see Stahr quietly en
gulfed in the black shadows of a huge
sound stage.
Despite De Niro's performance and able
support from the other roles (the con
frontation between Stahr and Nicholson's
labor organizer is particularly sharp,
compared to the rest of the film) much of
The Last Tycoon seems to drift aimlessly.
The film is long on character and atmos
phere. What, it lacks is overall coherence.
The scenes at the studio and the scenes
with Stahr and Moore never quite gel, with
the result that the film seems fragmented.
The sets are elaborate, the photography
lush and the music evocative, yet only
occasionally does the film manage to truly
get inside Fitzgerald-usually when De Niro
is on camera alone. However, those
moments are relatively rare. Too much of
the time The Last Tycoon captures the
look and the feel of Fitzgerald, but not the
emotion.
Ml M
U UIVItJ
w
fidnigtit Movies
pressstt
"Zecharish"
Country Jo
and tht Fish
Friday and Saturday
Admission Just $1.C3
S ntHHUimr
fcf CC7l2,3 radio
R3AY CC3T VZiXZSn COVII
"BUFFALO BILL
AND THE INDIANS"
hwwaiwmwil liJ (PG)
u m 1 1 n n TT
(j3t)
Band highlighted
The UNL Symphonic Band will present two public
concerts in Kimball Recital Hall, today at 3 pjn. and Sun
day at 4 pjn.
Today's concert will feature Joseph Wagner's 4Con
certo Grosso", James Christensen's "Trombone Country"
and "Three Dance Episodes" from the ballet "Spar
tacus". Highlights of the Sunday performance will include
Moussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and Milhaud's
"Concerto for Percussion".
J
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500 V n. -464-7421
Today At 6:40, 9:15
Sat. And Sun. At 1:40,4:10,6:40,9:15
A Sam Spiegel-Elia Kazan Film
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Tony Curtis Robert Mitchum leanne Moreau
Jack Nicholson Donald FJeasence
Ray MSand Dana Andrews
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5p" Technicolor A Paramount Release
5 m I J Today At 5:45, 7:40. 9:35-
Jr J I Saturday And Sunday At 2:C5. 3:55,
5:45. 7:40. 9:35
NOMINATED FOR THREE ACADEMY AWARDS
including Best Actress
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