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F 1 - A 777) rTTC Outland,' Lone langer' are westerns of two 'types By COD HAAS This summer's movie fare Includes a new western and a new space movie. These flicks, however, pose a dilemma. Which movie is which? In Outland, director-screenwriter Peter Hyams offers the classic western. Though the movie takes place on lo, the se cond moon of Jupiter, the action is a rehash of High Noon. Federal Marshall O'Neill (Sean Connery) is the only law on the mining colony of lo. Soon after his transfer to the moon, bizarre suicides and would-be homicides begin. It seems that the coJons head man, Sheppard (Peter Boyle), is selling the workers a super-amphetamine. The drug makes the miners dig like mad; unfortunately, it also makes them dangerously psychotic. Naturally, our hero, O'Neill, discovers the evil corporate plot and aims to clean up the moon. The marshal faces the task alone, since his staff deserts him. Unlike Gary Cooper in High Noon, O'Neill doesn't even have Grace Kelly to back him up. Sheppard calls in hired guns to take care of the lawman and the inevitable showdown takes place. If Outland sounds like standard fare, it isn't Superb direc tion and acting make the movie a pleasant surprise. Connery's close-to-the-chest, somber manner is a tribute to Gary Cooper. Driven by his wife's desertion and the need to prove his own identity, Connery's O'Neill is more than just another good guy. O'Neill is a man afraid of dying, unsure of himself, a hero we can identify with. Cinema Peter Boyle is entertaining as the slightly cracked and totally capitalistic manager of the mines. But the movie's biggest sur . prise is the performance of Frances Sternhagen. She plays Lazarus, an old batt!e-ax of a doctor who is O'Neill's only aid in his fight against Sheppard. Outland's special effects are also nice. The effects are spectacular, yet they don't detract from the basic plot. All in all, Outland is fun. a good quality in any movie. The Legend Of The Lone Ranger is a movie about space, not outer space, just dead space. It is hard to believe that Lord Grade and Jack Wrather have paid four writers to concoct such an empty and disappoint ing story. The majority of the film deals with the origin of the Lone Ranger. If it merited such attention, this would be fine. However, the story of the Ranger's beginning should have been told faster, thus leaving time for a meaty adven ture for the Masked Man. Director William Fraker also has to take his share of the blame for this mistake. Fraker doesn't know whether to play the movie straight or campy. A good example is Jason Robards as President Grant. At times Robards is a doddering, drunken fool; at other times he is a statesman concerned with the plight of the American Indian. Overall, though, the film is a tragic, if not costly, error in celluloid. If you want to see a fun shoot-em-up, check your television listings for a Hopalong Cassidy rerun. Summer reading offers variety By WILLIAM PESCHEL Diplomacy by Hindsight might be an alter native title for Debacle: The American Failure in Iran. This study of the Shah's downfall places the blame equally between the failure of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to appreciate the impact of his reforms on the old order, and the failure of the Carter Administration to develop a consistent policy toward Iran. oolis The book takes aim at several myths sur rounding the Iranian crisis. As a dictator, Pahlavi was no Hitler, Khomeini was exiled, not assassinated; Iranian secret police activi ties were restricted (although it did extensive work against Iranian students in the United States); and the Shah consistently tried to ap pease the clerical class. It is the contestable view of the authors that Carter's human rights policy can be effec tive only against U.S. allies and its implemen tation in Iran's case weakened the Shah's power " and clouded his perception. To the end, Pahlavi believed that the United States would solidify his position on the throne, just as it did in 1953. In sum, Debacle: The American Failure in Iran is an important book about a little under stood time. ooo The Yankees consists of four sportswriters' love letters on "the four fabulous eras of base ball's most famous team." Baseball books, written mostly by former ball players, sports writers and fans, are not known for their candor. The Yankees continues in that vein with four sections on Babe Ruth and Lou Cehrig, Joe DiMagglo, Mickey Mantle and Casey Stengel, and the recent era of Stein brenner, M3rtin, Jackson and Munson. It's a book for fans, with many old photos, and records and very few discouraging words. A nasty trick to play would be giving a fan this book along with a copy of Jim Bouton's Ball Five. OOO Light-Horse Harry Lee, the author says, "is a study of the effect of the American Revolu tionary War on the character and career of Harry Lee." It differs from the standard biogra phy by exploring several themes in Lee's life, rather than the man himself. Charles Royster begins with what Lee expected from the Revo lution and how his later career was shaped by it . Lee believed that winning the revolution would bring a new prosperity to America. An expanding population and an open West would bring commerce and wealth to the country. But his business plans failed, and he was jail ed for his debts. An attack by a mob for his op position to the War of 1812 affected Lee's health, and he died shortly after returning from a self-imposed exile. This sense of tragedy, however, comes out more through Lee's life than through Royster' s writing. The portrait seems one-sided. Surely there must have been something pleasurable in Lee's life. Instead, we have a biography of an unrelenting failure. Royster may have succeed ed in making his points, but he also robbed Lee of his humanity. -Jr 0 i i in 'ar' 4u -,- -, tea I TTS fTT7 11 O tbj V wot IrMkHa t nkcrM ckcl UH Cart's fttxw Dcitricfc't. jewelry A fllu rgl, cteMtc eort.w.M lPtri M.ytew r Really MorgM lWti Pywckt RimwmI B S.ai Gr.pHx. . rtoru& II. iMtltMCiMMtci I i I .if I ; . i Tf Center for Student Travel 1140 Droadway, New York. N.Y. 1CC01 (212) CZ:Z 03-223-7676 1 tmm f m- .r-, . m . . ffTTT -J-''l tTf f,l'f'f fT chould be returned to Suite C by 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, June 11. There will be tivo crcjnlzetlonal meetinn for all court members (cash meet ing ie mendetcry) on June 16 and 17 at 3:30. The Ioeeilen of the meetings along with a list of those applicants chosen will be posted on the door of Suite C by Monday, June 15. : Grand Opening Special . - I 'W J I j n!rcat a C!0t Dry $10 j l 1 J a v 1 5 r 5S7S7C3 J 516 17. Ttzn St. , I (acrot tern Chapct I L3 Kfwspsjser) Trlt sla rtlii3 ca slim c! CI'sj ? I I r I V; Thursday, June 4. lS'31The Tar Hrt!9
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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June 4, 1981, edition 1
9
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