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Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Inc.
Zach Galligan and Phoebe C&tes, two stars in "Gremlins."
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By Lisa Rcnr.cr
Sitting through "Gremlins" is like
watching two hours of a perverted
Muppet show. This movie is a little too
cute to be scary, and Just too gross to
be funny.
Like Er, "Gremlins" is loaded with
special effects and centers on a rela
tionship between boy and hb creature.
Steven Spielberg attempts to combine
humor, suspense and the mystical. It's
not only that Spielberg bit off more
than he could chew, he just does it
with his mouth wide open.
There's just something about ugly
green little monsters destroying a town
that doesn't strike me as funny. The
audience is asked to believe that this
really is humor, and there were a lot of
people laughing. In fact, I may have
been the only person that wasn't. Had I
lost my sense of humor? It wasn't until
I was walking home that it hit me.
"Gosh...gross mutilation and murder
really are funny, I must just have been
in a bad mood." -
The movie begins with Rand Peltzer
in Chinatown searching for the perfect
Christmas gift for his son Billy. Peltzer
is an unsuccessful inventor with a gadget
for every occasion. To make a long
movie short, Peltzer more or less steals
a Mogwai (later named Gizmo) and
returns home in time for Christ
mas. Hoyt Ax ton plays Peltzer, and his
off-beat humor is genuinely funny. It's
too bad the audience doesn't get to see
more of him.
Everything isvgoing along fine with
Billy and his new pet until Billy breaks
the explicit rules for caring for his little
friend. First, Billy accidently gets him
wet. As a result Gizmo (the Gremlin)
reproduces bunches of other little fuzzy
things that are almost identical to the
Original Mogwai except for the evil,
mischievious look in their eyes. Later
they all turn into horrible monsters
(all but Gizmo) because they acciden
tally got fed after midnight.
This Is where the fun begins! Grem
lins multiply and take over the town,
murdering and destroying everything
in their path. But don't think that the
helpless humans don't have their mo
ments of glory. They seem to enjoy
eliminating'the Gremlins in torturous
ways almost as much as the gremlins
enjoy killing humans.
Perhaps even more offensive than
. all the violence is Spielberg's preachy,
moralistic spiel at the end of the movie.
The wise prophet makes a surprise
visit to take the Mogwai back where he
belongs. He tells the Peltzer family that
America is not yet r eady or abje to bear
responsibility, that in affect we misuse, .
abuse and exploit nature and its inno
cence. Well, it was just a little too hokey
to make any kind of real political
statement.
If the makers of "Gremlins" were so
conscious about exploitation, why
didn't they take into consideration
their viewers? You can bet that little
kids all over have been saving their
money (probably since the last time
they saw ET) to see "Gremlins." Not to
mention buying T-shirts, dolls and even
gooey green Gremlin toothpaste. So
while Spielberg sits back and makes
money, kids are learning that mutila
tion is funny, and that murder and
violence is all right and funny too.
Thanks a lot, Steve.
The prophet from the Orient should
have said, "He who spends $3.50 on
"Gremlins" must have yen for bad
movies.
. Shorts
Th-ee guided public tours will be
offered at the Joslyn Art Museum in
Omaha during July. The tours will
cover different aspects of the muse
um's temporary exhibitions and per
manent collections.
The tours include: "Artists By Them
selves: Artists' Portraits from the Nat
ional Academy of Design" on July 11;
"A Highlight Tour of the Joslyn's Per
manent Collections" 6h July 18; and
"Artists by Themselves..." once more on
July 25.
Each of the tours will begin at 1 p.m.
in the East Foyer. The tours are free
with regular museum admission of $2
for adults and $1 for senior citizens
and children under 12 years of age.
John Brownlee, a native of Lincoln
and a 1969 UNL graduate, has been
named manager of corporate employ
ment for Walt Disney Productions.
In the new position, Brownlee will
coordinate overall employment and
recruiting policies throughout the corp
oration. In addition, he will continue
to be responsible for all Walt Disney
World employment.
The Omaha World-Herald has pledg
ed up to $50,000 to the Nebraska ETV
Network's $2 million campaign to re
place and maintain aging television
production equipment and establish a
.humanities program endowment. The
World-Herald invited the state's radio
and television, stations to match the
newspaper's "challenge pledge."
The World-Herald will match the
contributions of the three Omaha
based commercial television stations
up to a total of $30,000 and the contri
butions of all other Nebraska televi
sion and radio stations up to a total of
$20,000. .
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1
Daily Nebraskan
Friday, Juno 29. 1934