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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1992)
‘White Men’s’ jump impressive, but film fails to reach potential “White Men Can’t Jump” By Paul Winner Staff Reporter Primarily two types of folks w ill want to line up to see the film “White Men Can’t Jump.” (Douglas 3) One group will be attracted by the star power, giddy charisma, and slang-strong hu mor of the film’s two stars, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, as they play two hustlers on the playground basketball courts of L.A. The other group will remember the writer director of the film, Ron Shelton, who made an instant classic revolving around a sports theme four years ago. “Bull Durham” established Shelton as being a fluid director and writer with an uncanny knack for stimulating dialogue. With his latest film, he makes an attempt to recapture the spirit and depths conquered with “Bull” in 1988. It’s a noble venture, but one Shelton does not fully meet. But that doesn’t mean that his film can’t be a mess of fun to watch. Woody Harrelson plays Billy, a goofy-look ing out-of-towner who shows upon the Venice Beach basketball courts one summer morning to see the show. Tensions and egos run high among guys who never want to give an inch, and who play the most sincere form of com petitive basketball. A guy can gel killed over a foul out there. Wesley Snipes is Sidney, the court’s current king, and a man with a mouth as flashy as his jump shot. He picks the geek Billy to fill in for another player, and watches in amazement as the white guy beats him and takes his 62 bucks. The two make a busi ness proposition to take themselves across the neighborhood courts, and play a scam that capitalizes on a basic rule of pick-up ball: never pick the white guy. If they play their odds right, they’ll scam every ball player they lock horns with in L. A., includ ing each other. So begins Shelton’s promising third feature. What “White Men Can’t Jump” lacks that its predecessor possessed was a storyline of Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson, left) and Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes) are running a fast, funny, sometimes risky con game on L.A.’s toughest basket ball courts in “White Men Can’t Jump.” deeper substance and dialogue. The movie’s script isn’t much more than shooting slang for two hours, and when it tries to tackle more personal subjects with Shelton wit, it is bla tantly half-hearted. As far as the playing goes, the game of pick- # up ball is never treated as something mystical and intriguing or as a stately way of life, the way baseball was for Crash Davis in “Bull Durham,” only a convenient backdrop for the two stars to shine. But on that they do. Harrelson sand Snipes on-court repartee is fast and loose, and they play ball surprisingly well for novice actors. (Nothing impressive, but the direction hides that.) When the film falters in discussion, it picks up in the court action. It’s hard not to smile at their finesse. “White Men Can’t Jump” isn’t a failure, but there is a part of it that leaves you aching for the movie that it could have been. At the least, its buoyant humor sends you home to work on your court moves. That’s finesse. J Lincoln Donor Center J Earn SI 5 for each donation 1 st ■ - 15th of the month. Enjoy * I prompt courteous treatment | | from our caring staff. Free I physical on your first dona tion, call for appointment. * Bring this ad in for S20 on your * | first visit & S20 on your second | I visit within 5 days if thisis your I • first donation, or if you have ■ not donated in the last two months. Expires 3/31/92. | 126 N. 14th St., Suite #2, 474-2335 j | Mon. - Thurs. 8-6, FrL 8-4, Sat. 8-21 Recruiters from the Clark County School District will be at the teacher recruitment fair to be held in Lincoln, Ne braska on April 13,1992. Applicants must meet all Nevada licensing require ments (completion of approved teacher educa tion program to include student teaching). BA/BS is a minimum; school counselors must be able to be licensed as a teacher, and must have a Master's degree in School Counsel ing. NO ALTERNATIVE LICENSES. Not accepting applicants with single endorsements in PE, SS, Home Ec or Business. Contact your placement office for recruitment literature. Send a resume with qualifications. Those selected will receive appli cation in advance of the fair!!! Teacher Recruitment Office Clark County School Dist. 2832 East Flamingo Road Las Vegas, Nevada 89121 EEO/AA Employer Mueller Continued from Page 9 up words in the dictionary. Mueller received help with the spelling and punctuation of her poems from Maureen May,a longtime friend “Ruby” Continued from Page 9 issue. What remains for us to develop in films like “Ruby” (and in books and poems and dreams) is the story qual ity of bare history, to gild the image of a politician who was probably a lot like other politicians — only better looking, and to mine what in all like lihood was a meaningless, senseless event for all the meaning we can find. S STANLEY H. KAPLAN Sm l ake Kaplan Or l ake Your Chances Classes are Starting for June Tests GREj March 21 LSATs March 29 GMAT: April 11 475-7010 I _ of Mueller. May printed the first two poems Mueller gave her on a computer. “When she brought them back, I looked at them and it was like, ‘Is this what I wrote?’” Mueller said. After she finished all of her poems, she said, she was encouraged to have them made into a book. At first she made the books, which were bound in quilled three-ring bind ers, by herself. Later, she said, she went to Serv ice Press in Henderson, where she had 500 books printed, which cost her $3,000. Since the printing, Mueller said she had been to Lincoln and Omaha to market her books at various book stores. In Lincoln, the books are available at the University Bookstore and Nebraska Bookstore. Fifth Continued from Page 9 Poukcr, well known as the boss of Roumania, is so obviously Jewish, and so well recognized as such, that documentation is unnecessary (p. 71).” The author, trying to establish the Communist-Jewish link outside Rus sia, turns to the governments of East ern European satellite countries, complains again that the (Jewish controllcd, no doubt) American press fails to note which leaders arc Jewish. Imagine news reporting today that observed the religious affiliation (or lack thereof) of each member of the Unicameral when covering discus sion of a bill on the state property tax. By the time Britton gets to Amer ica, his text changes. He simply lists names and asserts not only that all named arc Jewish, but that all are sympathetic to Communism or even active in the party. With section headings like “New York: Jew Capital of the World,” “Jews Own the Film Industr>,” “The American Politburo” and “Kosher Valley,” the tone is clear, as are the stereotypes involved. When individuals cannot be iden tified, association by group seems to suffice. Britton produces group pho tos and lists of names, and the impli cations of treason and treachery arc clear. Britton tells the reader of finding a “veritable hotbed of Communism” in Hollywood and suggests that “these wealthy and privileged Jcwsembraec Communism” because “communism is not an economic movement, but a racial movement (p. 92).” On the same page, Britton identi fies the following motion-picture executives as being Jewish (leaving unstated not only their alleged lies lo Communism but also the actual ex tent of their faith): Harry Warner, Louis B. Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn, adding that there arc scores of others. The extent of Britton’s lists and the number of people assaulted by such a climate is amazing: Oscar Hammerstein II, Moss Hart, Lillian Heilman, Ring Lardner Jr., Dalton Trumbo, Dorothy Parker, Irwin Shaw and so on. These names arc from a list of Jewish writers in Hollywood, only one of many such lists in this book. Here Britton becomes even more inflammatory, telling the reader, “In Hollywood many a blond Christian girl has found her way to stardom by marrying (or going to bed with) a hook-nosed Khazar Jew (p. 94).” The reader is presented with a list includ ing not only Jewish film stars, but stars who are married to Jews. The sheer idiocy and ignorance found in this book can almost make one laugh, but these things were (and are) taken seriously by large numbers of people. Were it not so serious and deroga lory, the following would be funny for how it reveals the author’s preju dice: “The film industry can take a pock marked, flat-busted little Jewess out of the ghettos of Poland and make her into a glamor girl, envied and aped by millions. They straighten her nose, pull her teeth, bleach her hair, give her a new complexion with make-up putty, paint on new lips, pad her bust and hips, and adjust the microphones to give her a pleasing voice (p. 95).” But there are more names from Hollywood: Charlie Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Betty Davis, Douglas Fair banks, Hedy Lamar, Danny Kaye, Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, George Bums, Grade Allen, A1 Jolson, Jerry Lewis, Victor Borge and on and on. And more, from a list of writers and musicians: Dashicl Hammet, Leonard Bernstein, Jascha Heifetz, MischaElman, Fritz Kreislcr, Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stem and soon. I will never hear a violin in the same way, knowing the Communist, Jewish strains of virtuoso performers! This little book is more than a piece of 1950s nostalgia. The disrup tion of lives that followed the politi cal purges of the era remains with us today, as does the same kind of igno rance and illogic. Its stereotypes and generalizations also remain with us today, as do the threats posed by ignorance masquer ading as scholarship. DIF LEPPARD 0-) ADRENALIZE FEATURING ''LET'S GET ROCKED'' Def Leppard "Adrenalize” THE NEW DEF LEPPARD Nr w on sale at Twisters Cassettes $6.77 Compact Discs $10.77 Trices effective through 4 14-92 I ^yjgyg£j£ggj^ I
