pago 8
friday September 2, 1977
daily nebraskan
'Roxy Theatre creator thinks dreams came true
By Casey McCabe
For most people, making dreams come true is just a
tired cliche. For Patrick Callahan it has been a rewarding,
though not exactly profitable venture.
Callahan is the creator-owner-manager of the Roxy
Theatre, 12th and Q St., in the Glass Menagerie. There you
can be entertained by some of the most interesting and
exciting films in movie history.
Callahan, 26, moved to Lincoln from Chicago in 1973.
He said that after examining Lincoln's cultural events, he
was disappointed and decided to do something about it.
"When the Hollywood & Vine theatre went out of
business, I was lucky enough to hear about it the day
before it was to be torn out," he explained.
"Little did I know what I was getting into, as it took a
month to fix it back up. But in the process I've met hun
dreds of wonderful Lincoln people.
Alternative entertainment
"I wanted to provide Lincoln with an alternative,"
Callahan said. "Good movies, decent food, good music
and smiling faces."
Callahan chooses the schedule from a request bowl in
the theatre's lobby.
The concessions are what Callahan terms "healthful
munchies," such as natural corn, chips and fruit Juices.
Tapes made by local musicians are played during inter
mission. There is a bulletin board that posts announcements,
business cards and ads. Roxy's clientele return the favor
by posting the Roxy's schedule in their business.
"We opened the season with a free concert by Earth
works," Callahan said.
"It was a very, very happy night as the group played
until 2:30 ajn. to a most contented crowd. It is what the
Roxy dream is all about to be-alternative, comfortable
entertainment." ... .
Double feature
The Roxy currently shows double features for
$1.50 admission on Thursdays through Mondays, with
A Thursdays.
Callahan said the Roxy is wide open to Lincoln.
He said he now is considering staging live theatre produc
tions, and in November the world-renown Africa explorer,
descendant of Charles Darwin and commentator Quentin
Keynes will narrate expedition films.
While the Roxy does not make a profit, Callahan
said he considers the theatre worth overcoming all the un
pleasantries of the business world. He said he enjoys work
ing with creative, talented, and thoughtful people in the
project. , . ;
"Over the past few weeks, I've become aware of the
fact that Lincoln is finally beginning to be the cultural
center it can be," Callahan said.
"If the people of Lincoln are careful, they can have
one hell of a city. I'nrproud tobe part of it."
The Roxy schedule:
Sept. h2;Sons and Lovers (1960)
Virgin and the Gypsy (1970; R)
Sept. S-l9;Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
The Time Machine (I960)
Sept. 22-26; The Walking Stick (1970)
The Young Lovers (1964)
Sept. 29-Oct. 3-,Lolita (1962)
- Schedule is subject to change. There will be a
10-minute intermission between (rouble features.
arts Bi entertainment
ETV features bluegrass, folk sounds
List will be published
A listing of this semester's cultural events at UNL
and in Lincoln now is being prepared. Any group or
organization sponsoring speakers, musicians, plays, danc
ers, films, art exhibits or other arts and entertainment
events should contact Cheryl Long at 113 Westbrook
Music Building, phone 472-2997. If successful, the publi
cation could later be incorporated in a magazine .
The sounds of music become country western, folk and
bluegrass when Nebraska ETV airs "Sounds of Country"
tonight at 8:30.
The 30-minute special is hosted by Nebraska folklorist
Roger Welsch, who is a UNL assistant professor of English
and Anthropology. The concert was taped at the Stuhr
Museum Railroad Town near Grand Island and features
Lincoln guitarist and vocalist, John Walker; a country
bluegrass group from Springview, The Kenaston Family;
Broken Bow fiddler Charles Pettis and North Platte gui
tarist Nels Clang.
Walker, a Nebraska Wesleyan associate professor of
philosophy, calls his brand of music country blues.
"Basically I'm a folk singer," Walker said. "All the
music I do is acoustic."
He said most bluegrass and folk music is acoustic while
country is more electrified.
. "Folk music is music that is created naturally and"
spontaneously without a desire for commercial publica
tion or performance," he said.
"Bluegrass is a species of country music. Country
music is much broader. It's like a dog and an animal; not
all animals are dogs," he said.
In the show Walker sings "Wabash Cannonball" and his
original composition, "Sand Hills Rag." His first album
"John Walker, An Okie Boy and Other Tunes" will be
followed by a new release within the next two
months.
Walker said he has no problem balancing his role as
professor and singer.
"It's the best of both possible worlds."
Newest Bond flick more like sophisticated cartoon
By J.MarcMushkin
Several years ago, I happened across a copy of Pauline
Kael's Deeper Into Movies. At the time I could have been
considered one of those "I don't know much about art,
but I know what I like" types. To me, that seemed a fool
proof form of logic and I was happy making judgments of
films with virtually no concept of the art of cinema. If a
movie tickled my fancy, that was enough.
Skimming through the table of contents I found a
movie I liked, Straw Dogs, and checked what she wrote.
Even though most of it passed right over my head, I
slowly realized there was more to that film than I had
imagined. Kael discussed Dustin Hoffman's performance,
how it related to his character in The Graduate, and Sam
Peckinpah's powerful direction of the film's complex
plots and sub-plots.
Most people never get the luck to have this level of
criticism fall into their laps. This is unfortunate because
that naive noncritical approach taken by most is the
natural state for movie-goers.
It has no relation to age, education, or intelligence;
movies are simply too new an art form to have a popular
traditional standard. Movie "reviewers" only worsen the
problem, in my mind, because they tend to highlight the
sensational aspects of plot without judging its merit.
Harrowing experience
This is not to say that reading a movie critique need be
a harrowing intellectual experience; rather, .a good critique
should help bring out the best in good movies and expose
shallow, weak, or exploitative films.
movie review
First-rate criticism, such as Kael's, John Simon's, or
Dwight MacDonald's-to name' a few-can open one's
mind to all the richness and depth of a good film. This
level of criticism is contagious. The reader soon becomes
a more discriminating movie-gocr.
I can't pretend that I could match'the critics I men
tioned; they have the wealth of experience and knowledge
of cinema history I am only beginning to work on. But I
hope to lend some insight into the good -and bad
movies that come to town. Well, I'd first like to look at
one of the summer's biggest films, Vie Spy Who Loved
Me. . . - -
James Bond movies hold a special appeal for me per
sonally because they evoke memories of a time when
fantasy wa3 perfectly justified. Those mid-sixties Bond
films were often a delight replete with gadgets and
sdvcntnre. In the seventies, though; and particularly when
Roger Moore stepped in, I hey tufned stale and somehow
became even more frivolous than the oldies.
But Bond No. 10, Vie fry Who Loved Me, breaks
from this Ucnd and proves funny and, above all, enter
taining. There are many old Bond standbys: a helicopter
chase and plenty of voluptuous women. But this movie
rises above its vapid stars with spectacular stunts and a
fresh new foe for 007, a seven-foot, steel-toothed
hitman. (This popular character, Jaws, swims into the
sunset at the end hinting at some sequel. But what would
they call it?) Bond's carsub is another great effect and
the underwater laboratory and tanker are similarly im
pressive. '.Classy sets
It is unfortunate, however, that the classy sets and
effects in the film, instead of complementing its stars
substitute for them.
Barbara Bach, the Russian agent is pretty enough, but
her girlish manner makes her rather unconvincing as a
spy. Any time she would rattle off some facts to impress
Bond, it reminded me of a snotty junior high girl after
memorizing her lesson.
I was hoping Bond would get fed up with her and slap
her around to get serious, but that would call upon a little
more character than Roger Moore could muster;
With this performance he adds new meaning to the word
"stiff," It seems that they removed whatever twinkle his
eyes might have had. The scene at the bar illustrates both
characters' shallowness.
The old "shaken, not stirred" Bond drink used to sym
bolize hi; aristocratic suaveness, but when Bach points
this out to the bartender, the drink acts as just another
point she scores in trying to impress Bond. Moore quickly
matches her by ordering her drink-it plays as more of a
game than a character.
Snappy comebacks
Furthermore, Bond's traditional sardonic wit mani
fests itself exclusively in the form of snappy comebacks
which get downright infuriating after a while.
Inspite of all this, the magic of fantasy survives, and
The Spy Who Loved Ate succeeds. Perhaps Moore and
Bach perform a valuable service by keeping our attentions
on the gadgets and stunts, because no other film of the
summer, including Star Wars, can match them.
The effects make it seem like a sophisticated cartoon.
This feeling is a special form of exhilarating entertainment
that so few movies can provide. Whatever the reason, this
film brings James Bond out of the sixties and into the
seventies to give us an adventurefantasy that we don't
mind oohing and aahing at.
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r.ioto courtesy of United Attistj
Barbara Bach unconvcntionaly opens thechampagne for Roger Moore in Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me
