I_■_1 - i_jj_I
Robert Townsend s “Hollywood Shuffle” will play at the Sheldon Film Theatre this weekend.
“Shuffle” lampoons stereotypes...
on a wing and a MasterCard
By Scott Harrah
Senior Editor
Hollywood rarely does minorities any
political, ideological or social justice.
Blacks are often cast as pimps, hookers,
street thugs or Uncle Tom-esque slaves
who perpetuate the watermelon-chomp^
ing, welfare recipient stereotypes.
Indians are cast as warriors and squaws;
hispanics are portrayed as your average
Tijuana greaseball or Cuban refugee.
Film Review
And homosexuals, until recently, were
either cast as lavender limp-wristed
poofs doing their hair in powder puff
salons or as hardcore Castro Street
leather monsters. The idiocy and hatred
imbued in Tinseltown casting tech
niques is wonderfully and hilariously
lampooned in Robert Townsend’s critical
ly acclaimed satire "Hollywood Shuffle.”
In order to understand the polemical
magnitude of "Shuffle” one must first
look at director/writer/producer Town
send, who plays the lead role of Bobby
Taylor. Townsend’s "A Soldier’s Story”
earned him enough bucks to buy the
Porsche he always dreamed of. But
when he decided he had little use for
one, he instead invested in the produc
tion of “Shuffle." According to an
inteview in The Village Voice, Townsend
started to run out of funds when he
discovered something in his mailbox:
new Visa and MasterCards with large
credit lines. He used numerous cards
to finance the remainder of the film
and eventually charged up $100,000. He
used what credit he had left to throw a
huge premiere for the film, which
brought the film to the attention of its
distributors, the Samuel Goldwyn
Company. The studio then sank a
million dollars worth of publicity into
the film, critics raved and box offices
went wild.
The plot revolves around Bobby Tay
lor, an actor who lands a stereotypical
jive-turkey-street bro-rappin-slice ’em
up-blood role in a film that resembles
an apisode of "Starsky and Hutch.” His
producer thinks he’s not black enough,
the NAACP thinks he’s too typical and
he starts to believe the black Hollywood
creed: "We will never play Rambos
until we stop playing Sambos.”
The thought of being cast in a msyor
production has some ambivalence
attached to it. Bobby has just left a life
of working at a seedy hot dog joint
called Winky Dinky Dog, so things
seem sweet, but criticism from friends
and a possible job at the post office
looms large over his conscience.
As he ponders the situation, he
starts to imagine numerous surreal
vignettes that display the racism of
Holywood throughout the years. Such
as "The Black Acting School," where
one can learn to play pimps, thugs and
hookers with the inimitable "cool black
dude” shuffle walk. In another scene,
Bobby dreams of a black Siskel and
Ebert-type review show entitled “Sneak
in’ into the Movies,” in which two
streetwise ‘‘mo’ fo’s” criticize films
like "Attack of the Killer Pimps.”
Although the vignettes are often
hilarious, Townsend sometimes gets
too carried away with his message and
starts to metaphorically hit audiences
over the head until even the most
brain-dead viewer is able to compre
hend the premise of "Shuffle." This is
especially true in the end when a sort
of political rap is performed by the
cast. (“We’re tired of playing pimps
and hos/We just want better roles.”)
"Yes, we do understand that, Mr.
Townsend — sir,” you want to say.
One of the m^jor controversies
surrounding "Shuffle” has been its
treatment of homosexuals. One critic
lambasted Townsend’s, “unattractive
homophobia.” On the contrary, the
film’s portrayal of homosexuals is in
tentionally offensive. In one scene,
Bobby calls a queeny hairdresser “girl”
and later talks about "some fag 1 met at
a party" in a vignette satirizing detec
tive films. If it’s necessary for Townsend
to eviscerate negative stereotypes about
minorities in general, then it only
seems rational that he chose to illumin
ate the Miss Clairol view of gays.
“Hollywood Shuffle" runs Thursday
through Sunday at the Sheldon Film
Theatre with screenings at 7 and 9 p.m.
Matinee shows: 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday
and 3 and 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is
$4.00. Running with the show is "Bang!",
a 10 minute short featuring the draw
ings and short gun surrealism of artist
Breer.
■ "» -■ —*
Winston returns to Omaha Orpheum
Solo pianist George Winston will
return to the Orpheum Theatre on
Friday, July 10, at 8 p.m. with a new
summer show.
His recordings began in 1980 and
include three solo piano albums:
“Autumn” (1980), “Winter Into
Spring” (1982), and “December”
(1982) on the Windham Hill label.
His most recent project is an album
of the children’s story, “The Velve
teen Rabbit,” in which he plays
piano to narration by Meryl Streep.
Tickets for George Winston are
$14.75 and $12.75 (includes $.25
user’s fee), and are on sale at the
Civic Auditorium, Brandeis and TIX
or charge by phone by calling 342
7107.
Join Mr. Winston in support of
The Omaha Food Bank by bringing
a can of food to the concert. There
will be collection boxes at the
entrances.
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