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Kaplan movie breaks away from most sports films
By Peg Sheldrick
Fast Break is like Dr. Pepper: though it
lacks the sophistication of champagne or
the wholesomeness of milk, it is none-the-less
bubbly, cool, and refreshing under
the right circumstances. m
FGUE3UJ
York rather than play follow the leader
with her basketball-obsessed spouse.
Sandor Stern's screen play is not without
stereotypes but he avoids some of the
more obvious schtick and gives his chara
cters at least a semblance of dimension.
They are not the unreal buiTooms of
Kotter country. Stem contents himself
with chuckles instead of belly laughs (al
though there are a number of those) and
the result has a bit more grit find intelli
gence than the TV series.
The casting of the team itself could not
have been easy, but it is highly successful.
Harold Sylvester, Michael Warren, Bernard
King, Reb Brown and Mavis Washington all
have sports in their backgrounds, but not
all of them have acted before. Yet, they
come off as natural and believable as the
plot permits.
And by all appearances, they aren't a
bad basketball team. The game sequences
are exciting, hardly resembling the pitched
battles they are in fact. Members of the
audience have been moved to shout as
enthusiastically as they would at an actual
game.
Fast Break is not to be confused with
Citizen Kane, but for what it is, it's very
good. For the sports fan it offers laughs
and action, and for the rest of us it offers
an engaging cast in a fine comedy.
It's another in the recent slew of
"athlete-with-a-crazy-dream" movies, and
it chooses to emphasize the comic potent
ial of the fable rather than the melo
dramatic aspects. .
Fast Break is the story of David Greene,
a delicatessen clerk who has a chance to
realize his dream of coaching basketball.
He decides to "go for it," forsaking wife
and job, and heads for rinky-dink Cadwall-
ader University with a band -picked team pVf V
taken from the streets of New York. I J
His team includes a hood on the run, a
pool hustler, a former evangelist (evading
cultists who want to punish him for getting
the leader's daughter in trouble), and a
young woman who has to pose as a young
man to play on a team worthy of her
talent.
In addition to his motley crew, Greene
copes with a piece rate salary ($60 per
victory), an amoral team manager (who
thinks Nixon got a raw deal), and the
knowledge that he must get a game with
top-rated Nevada State and beat them if he
is to continue coaching, ' Not exactly
cinema verite. but it works despite all of
the improbabilities.
This is Gabriel Kaplan's first movie, and
it is a good choice for him. David Greene
is not unlike Gabe Kotter, Kaplan's TV
image, but Greene is more of a human
being than the paragon of understanding
Kotter is. The TV series was a natural
extension of Kaplan's stand up comedy
act, and the movie is something of an
extension of his TV role (although the film
was not written to be a vehicle for him).
The contrivances of the plot could
easily turn the movie into an inane farce,
but thanks to a good supporting cast and a
well -handled script, the story never goes
too far afield (or, rather, off court).
Randee Heller is especially good as Jan
Greene, the wife who elects to stay in New
. '; i ... a
ttj) o $ off, w - :u 21
Photo courtesy ml Columbia P icturtt. Inc.
Gabe Kaplan, of TV "Welcome Back, Kotter", takes time off from teaching to portray a coach in the movie "Fast Break'
Conductor complements Concordia Choir s performance
By Scott Miller
The Concordia College Choir from
Moorehead, Minn, skidded into Lincoln
Saturday night in fine style. They present
ed an exceptional program of acapella
music ranging from a Bach motet to the
contemporary style of the choir's own con
ductor, Paul Christiansen.,
Christiansen showed flair as a conductor
throughout the program as the choir seem
ed to mirror the musical expressiveness
conveyed by his conducting technique.
Christiansen has conducted the choir
since 1937, and has written a large number
of compositions and' choral arrangements,
widely performed throughout the country.
; The choir has an unusually mature, al
most dark quality, as an ensemble, which
worked quite nicely on the opening piece,
With Thy Spirit Uphold Me," from Opus
29 by Brahms as well as on the next two
pieces, one by Hermann Schien and the
other a Kyrie Eleison, based on a plain
song melody.
Diction suffered
However, when the choir performed the
Bach motet," Thy Spirit Also Helpeth Us,
the darkness seemed to obliterate the in
dividual lines in this contrapuntal style and
even though the motet was sung in English,
the diction seemed to suffer on this piece.
It Is fcnpcrttst to note here that the haS
at nrtf-Ryraouih Church b exceptionally
Eve which could account for part of the
vagueness of individual lines. ,
Part two of the concert included con
temporary pieces, by Benjamin Britten,
Richard Feliciano and Gustav Schreck.
The choir showed nice ensemble balance
on the Five Flower Songs by Britten as
well as an excellent fed for dynamic unity
throughout the selections. Of particular
note on this piece was the alto section
which sang with almost perfect ensemble
and a rich, warm sound.
Tight harmonies
Two Liturgical Songs by Feliciano were
quite enjoyable as the singers straightened
out the tone and sang with fine control the
tight harmonies of the piece and closed it
with a pianissimo that was balanced and
exciting, yet almost inaudible to the
humanear. .
.The Advent Motet by Schreck featured
a small section for mixed quartet which un
fortunately was covered by the rest of the
choir during the entire piece. What was
heard of the soloists on this piece was en
joyable, and again a mature sound.
The final section of the program consist
ed of pieces by Christiansen himself and
various arrangements by his father F.
Melius Christianson as well as a few crowd
pleasers thrown in an encore numbers.
From He&en Above, arranged by F.
Melius Christiansen, is worth mentioning
because of the unidentifiable soprano solo
ist who sang with t vehrety tone and tm
usually controlled evenness throuiout the
range of the piece.
Perhaps the best piece on the program
was Four Letters of St, Paul by Christian
sen which used much more useful harmon
ies than the piece done earlier by Christian
sen. .:
This piece seemed to show off every
aspect of the choir from diction and feel
for .ensemble, to the soloists.
Everything seemed to come together
here. A baritone solo ras featured in this
piece, and was sung dearly, and articulately -with
the choir doing a nice job of adjusting
for the soloist. .
Another highlight was an American,
hymn, Winds Through the Olive iTrces,
which featured a soprano soloist who sang
with a good line and consistency through
out the piece. Back-up by the choir was
splendidly done. One could have shut his'
eyes and dreamed, but it was too exciting
to miss a second of the precision and
delicacy with which this piece was done.
Encore numbers
Among the encore uumbers performed
was the spiritual Rock-A-My SouL It seem
ed as though the choir regressed a bit here
as the sound got a bit shouty, and the feel
for ensemble lacked unity. The soprano
soloist did a nice job on this piece and the
tenor section as a whole showed a flair for
this style.
Closing the program was Beautiful
Sarbr arranged by F. Melius Christiansen.
This beautiful piece was done superbly.
The alto soloist was remarkably controlled
and sang with richness and warmth which
complemented this subtly exciting piece.
The subtle expressiveness and even phras
ing of her voice was exceptional; , r .
; The Concordia Choir takes a deliberate
-approach to ; its music making. . Every
'gesture by Christiansen is definite and each
movement signals a musical thought, noth
ing is wasted in his conducting technique
and it rubs off on the choir. Nothing was
wasted in. the music: performed and the
entire program was memorized by choir
and conductor alike. . ; 5 ;
The Concordia Choir is a well disciplin
ed group of fine young singers under the
command of an exceptional leader. ; -
-
Praised
film
to be shown
Celine end Julie Go Boating will be
shown through Thursday at Sheldon Art
Gallery. - -
The Foreign Film theatre product
ion, directed by Jacques Rivette, featur
es Juliet Berto as Celine and Dominique
Labourier as Julie. -
Celbte cii Julie Go Bozir.z m
shown at the New York Film Festival
and was credited with "delightful slap
stick" by the New York Times.
No series tickets is necessary. -Admission
Is $2. Screenings are at 7
pjn. '
