friday, february 17, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 7
Brooks 'High Anxiety is giant leap to comedy nowhere
r . .' I W M LI.!..
By' J. Marc Mushkin
Mcl Brooks must think he is the
funniest man on earth.
Why else would he cast himself in his
new movie, High Anxiety, with virtually no
funny lines? I guess he thinks that by just
being there on screen he will bring the
house down with laughter. Well, Brooks is
on screen plenty, but the laughs don't
conic.
This is his sixth film the very point in
Ins career when one would expect his work
to be maturing but I think it represents a
riant leap nowhere in his development as a
comedian.
movie
review
Brooks parodied the western in Blazing
SuJdlcw the horror classic in Young
I ninkcnstcin, and the silent comedy in
that bomb Silent Movie. Now surprise!
anoiher parody! This time Brooks works
over Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thrillers
Brooks fantics probably will look at
Hkh Anxiety and say "Oh boy, he's at it
again," but ' I say, "Oh NO! Not again?"
The plot centers ;i round Dr ThrnKlfA
(Brooks) who takes over the Psycho
Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very
Nervous.
It is a simple-minded and uninteresting
view of psychiatry. Brooks seems limited
to setting up gags as if they were in a short
TV sketch, not a feature length movie.
The rest of the plot is just a series of
events designed to put Brooks in locations
and situations reminiscent of Hitchcock's
films.
That is why the film seems so soggy and
uninspired. Brooks just shows up under the
Golden Gate Bridge (no joke, he just
happens to be there) and expects us to say
"ooh, yeah. Vertigo, right?"
At least his references to 77ie Birds and
Psycho have jokes attached, but they still
arc just references. Arc we supposed to be
impressed that Brooks, too, has seen those
movies?
What really hurts is the hotel clerk's
mentioning that a Mr. MacGuffin (referring
to Hitchcock's term for the object of
pursuit in a thriller) had changed Dr.
Throndykc's reservation. That did it. What
does Brooks think comedy is anyway?
Should we laugh because Brooks tells us
that he is familiar with Hitchcock? Is that
funny?
Brooks dedicated High Anxiety to "the
master of suspense," Hitchcock, but the
1. f lH. i '? i' 'f "i r f 8 r - ,
SI IV rf.riWv c Aw. -
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Photo by Ted Kirk
Members of the UNL Dance Ensemble rehearse "Salt Lake City Rag," choreo
graphed by Bill Evans of the Bill Evans Dance Company in Seattle, Wash.
Dance ensemble's program
features guest choreography
l!'C I'NL Dance Ensemble, a student
iation formed to offer performance
pi t Hce for dancers, will present its third
animal concert tonight and Saturday. Both
Pi-"!irmances begin at 8 in Kimball Re
ciial Hall.
(avlc Kassing and Barbara Mason, co
(JiriMors of the company and dance in
st r-! ' -rs at UNL, said the program this
i' ' msists of seven dance arrangements
uui i.img works by two guest chorco-
H
( ntcrence of the Birds is a Donald
urn romnmitinn rlonr in Noveinncr
1 tor the I'NL Dance hnsemble.
"f his- other works have been done
",! ''c NBC. CBS and lSB television nel
v' including ballet, modern and a
'icuLTaphy.
B:H I vans choreographed the second
'-'' arrangement. Salt Lake City Rag. in
aider commission for INI. At that
I vans was workinu in Salt I jke ( ity
1 1 that was the reason for the title.
N "A Ivans is director of his own group.
Kill I vans Dance Company, in Seattle.
H'c other pieces were choreographed by
''Mrig and Mason. The Kassing choreo-P'-iphv
is Sonatine and Reminiscences of a
"h: Mason's works are Temporal
Matters, Idegy in Grey and Epilogue.
The concerts this year feature the
talents of sixteen dancers: Julie Boyum,
Amy Critchfield, Maureen McKeena,
Stephen S. Cholka, Shawn Farley, Jolaine
Kaminski, James H. Flynn III, Dan Blythe,
Edson Gibson, Patty Hofmann, Cheryl
Moody. Connie O'Nele, Michael A.
Thomas, Taffy Wrighton. Gifford Bett's
and Barbara Ball Mason.
Costume designs are by Robert Hillestad
(a I'NL professor of textiles, clothing and
design), Linda Schrincr, Donald Bradburn
and Barbara Mason. Lighting design is by
I'NL theater student James Ryan.
Bill Frankhauser is the stage manager
and Crystal Craft is his assistant. Catherine
Lohmeicr is the sound operator.
Original music for Temporal Matters
will be provided by the Lincoln Improvisa
tion Ensemble. Members of that group are
Randall Snyder. Tom Malone, Mike Berg
stracsser and Warren Shaffer.
Tickets for the concert cost $1.50 for
students (elementary school through
college) and senior citizens; $2.50 for
general admission. Tickets are available at
the Kimball box office (room 113 of West
brook Music Builcing) and the Nebraska
Union south desk.
film makes nonsense out of the idea. In and aura of the Frankenstein movies to be
Young Frankenstein Brooks knew that he effective in parody.
had to reproduce some of the atmosphere Continued on page 8
the r
( ) -
Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Mel Brooks runs for his life in High Anxiety.
2
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o
o
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Jazz Society
Master trumpeter Woody Shaw
third in Lincoln's concert series
An innovator in the field of jazz
trumpeting will be the guest performer
tonight in the third concert of the
Lincoln Jazz Society Concert Series.
Woody Shaw and his jazz quartet will
perform at 8 p.m. in OT)onneIl Audi
torium on the Nebraska Wesleyan Uni
versity campus.
Shaw's musical style encompasses
several influences. He mastered the
trumpet by the time he was 1 7, and dur
ing his teen-age years learned the
dominant music style, bebop. He also
gained experiences with the late Eric
Dolphy. Other influential poeple in his
life were pianist McCoy Tyner and saxo
phonist Dexter Gordon.
However, his reputation still is rising.
He won the "Talent Deserving Wider
Recognition" award in the trumpet
category of the 1977 Downbeat critics
poll.
Tonight's concert also marks the
homecoming of Lincoln native Victor
Lewis, a drummer who left the city in
1972 to pursue a professional music
career. The other members of the Shaw
quartet are Carter Jefferson on tenor
saxophone, Ginton Houston on bass
and Onaje Gumbs on piano.
Iickets tor the concert are $4 -
are available at Dirt Cheap Recc
at the auditorium before the;
The final offering of the
Society Concert Series
16 performance
Trio. Additional
Lincoln Jazz Soci
available at Di
N. 11th St.
ef
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