i ■
Film archivist advocates
movies’ educational value
By Gerry Beltz
Senior Reporter
Back in the 1950s and ’60s, teen-agers
didn’t have television shows like “Saved
By The Bell” and “Beverly Hills 90210”
to show them
how to behave or «
deal with social
issues like preju- They (films) helped
dice, conformity
and dating — teen-agers to be
they had ephem
erai rums. come better citizens,
Si*1?' — ,he better consumers,
Sheldon Memo
Auditorium''^ better gender-based
-e$.1ofS role models. They’re
wm'te'feltold!8 really hilarious to
P a u 1 4i\n*rtU ”
Eisloeffel, curator UJUvCfl.
of manuscripts
and audio-visual PAUL EISLOEFFEL
collections at the
Nebraska State curatw
Historical Soci- _
ety, said ephem
eral films were shown to teens to help them
become better people.
“They were social training films,”
Eisloeffel said. “They helped teen-agers to
become better citizens, better consumers,
better gender-based role models.
“They’re really hilarious to watch.”
These films are presented courtesy of
Rick Prelinger, a film scholar who sees the
educational possibilities for today’s soci
ety in these films, Eisloeffel said.
“Rick’s take on these films is that they
tell us about how this post-war society
worked.”
Some of the titles include “Are You
Popular?,” “More Dates For Kay,” “What
About Prejudice?” and more that most
likely will tickle the funny bone, Eisloeffel
said.
“They will tickle our ’90s sensibilities,
though they were not made to do so,” he
said. “They will display the rampant con
sumerism of the time and the cookie-cut
ter way of life.”
Eisloeffel said Prelinger’s appreciation
for these films runs much deeper and fur
ther than that for just another movie.
Prelinger also has been transferring these
films to CD-ROM and videodisc, he said.
“He’s committed to the film as an arti
fact.”
Admission is $4, or $3 for members of
the Nebraska Independent Film Projects.
Mxrr Haney/DN
IIS, has six films
at Cannes festival
PARIS (AP) — Six American films, including Johnny Depp’s
directing debut “The Brave,” led the list of selections announced
Tuesday for the 50th Cannes Film Festival.
Also in competition in the May 7-19 festival is “The Ice Storm”
by Ang Lee, whose last full-length feature film was “Sense and
Sensibility.” It stars Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline.
For the festival’s milestone celebration, a panel of past Cannes
Golden Palm directors voted Ingmar Bergman to receive a special
“Palm of Palms” award.
French actress Isabelle Adjani headed the 10-member jury,
which included directors Tim Burton and Mike Leigh (who won
at Cannes last year with “Secrets and Lies”) as well as actress
Mira Sorvino.
Along with Depp, whose film stars Marlon Brando, other di
recting debuts in competition include Britain’s Gary Oldman for
“Nil by Mouth” and Australia’s Samantha Lang for “The Well.”
Wim Wenders of Germany also is in competition with “The
Bid of Violence,” starring Andie MacDowell, while Bosnia’s mark
was not lost on the festival with “Welcome to Sarajevo” by Michael
Winterbottom.
France has four films, while Britain and Italy both have three
in the official selection of 28 films.
Opening the festival will be “The Fifth Element” by France’s
Luc Besson, director of the shoot-’em-up picture “Leon.” Closing
out the competition is Clint Eastwood’s “Absolute Power,” already
released in the United States.
Organizers plan special celebrations marking the festival’s 50th
anniversary, including a birthday cake to be blown out by veteran
directors and the presentation of the Palm of Palms.
The festival’s delegate general, Gilles Jacob, said he doubted
Bergman was coming to receive the award. “I hope he still comes,
but we’ll give it to someone he designates,” he said.
Jacob promised major star power at the festival, including Robert
De Niro, Anjelica Huston, John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve,
Michael Jackson, John Travolta, Jeanne Moreau and others.
Directors expected to attend include Martin Scorsese, Claude
Lelouch, Robert Altman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Constantin
Costa-Gavras, Steven Soderbergh, David Lynch, Joel and Ethan
Coen and Quentin Thrantino.
The four other American films selected were “Call it Love” by
Nick Cassavetes, “LA. Confidential” by Curtis Hanson, “Black
Out” by Abel Ferrara and “Ghosts” by Stan Winston.
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MattHaniy/DN
‘McHale’s Navy’ moors alongside top dog military comedies
_ Photo courtesy op Universal Pictures
TON ARNOLD stars as Qahrtee NcHafe, a retire* sailer wbe Is ferce* back lets service,
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By Patrick Kelly
Film Critic
It’s time to add to the ever-growing list of
1960 s TV-shows-tumed-films.
This time out it's the military-comedy
“McHale’s Navy,” which carries on in the slap
stick genre of “Stripes,” the “Police Academy”
series and the original “M*A*S*H.” Surpris
ingly, the film turns out to be better than it looks.
The film stars Tom Arnold in the title role
of a retired sailor on San Ysidro, a Caribbean
island adjacent to a naval base. McHale wins
the acclaim of the villagers there and the mili
tary personnel by selling a wide array of con
traband ranging from ice cream to beer to his
own swimsuit calendar, and coaching the local
little league team.
All of this changes when an eastern Euro
pean terrorist named Vladkov (Curry) plots to
use the island as a missile launching site, nearly
killing McHale in the process, thus bringing
-The Facts-—
Rim: "McHaie's Navy'
Stars: Tom Arnold, Tim Curry, Dear
Stockwell and Ernest Borgnine
Director: Bryan Spicer
Rating: PG(Language, Violence)
Grade: B
Rve Words: Arnold manages to stay afloat |
him out of retirement.
Arnold proves to be a strong lead with this
role and shares the screen well with the other
cast members, including “In Living Color”
alumnus David Alan Grier, “3rd Rock From
the Sun” cast member French Stewart and
Bruce Campbell, who is best-known for his role
as the chainsaw-wielding hero from the “Evil
Dead” trilogy.
Please see NAVY on 13
