'Never Never'
not worthwhile
By STEVE CARR
Staff Writer
We of the Never Never isn't a par
ticularly bad film. It just does not possess
the distinguishing creative marks that
make a film worthwhile.
That seems to be the trouble with a lot
of Australian films. They promise so
much at the outset, but their resolutions
are completely conventional they hard
ly live up to the potential interest gene
rated by their scenarios.
We of the Never Never has quite a bit
going for it. Based on the classic
Austrialian novel by Jeannie Gunn, it re
counts Gunn's experience in an area
ominously christened "the Never
Never." When she arrives with her hus
band at his cattle station, she finds that
she is the only white woman there. In
stead of being treated as a rare commodi
ty by the men there, she is loathed by
them. Eventually she becomes fascinated
by an oppressed aboriginal tribe and wins
both their and the men's respect.
Review
Despite the many possibilities they
could have explored, director Igor Auzins
and screenwriter Peter Schreck treat the
material in a simple, pat manner. Jeannie
Gunn is always right and always wronged
by the big bad men, even her husband
Aeneas. Very little time is given to ex
ploring the aboriginal culture. Instead,
the Aborigines are displayed as being lazy
and are treated unfairly by the white
man.
Women were treated badly and British
Colonialism did manage to mess up entire
I- f
I .Stat- Fiio ;-"-
it 14?
3 - HI S i i V -
Angela Punch McGregor creates problems with her husband in 'We of
the Never Never' by interfering with Aborigines.
Waldheim to speak
The former secretary general of
the United Nations will speak here
Nov. 3.
Kurt Waldheim, the U.N.
secretary general from 1972 to
1982, will speak on "Peace: Do We
Have A Chance?" in Room 121 of
the Art Classroom Studio
Building. The free lecture will
begin at 8 p.m.
As secretary general, Waldheim
supervised peace-keeping forces in
Egypt and mediated conflicts in the
Middle East, Cyprus and
Southeast Asia and traveled to
more than 120 countries.
The lecture is sponsored by the
Ralph Clay Price Fund for World
Peace, which was established this
fall to honor the 1923 UNC
graduate and president of Jeffer
son Standard Life Insurance Co.
continents. People still feel the repercus
sions from both of these injustices. But to
reduce the situations and conflicts to a
goodbad dilemma does both the cause
and the characters a disservice.
So much is set up to be explored. When
Jeannie arrives at the post, she finds that
her traditional roles as a woman have
been usurped. A Chinese man does the
cooking and a group of Aborigines does
the housework. But this conflict is never
resolved properly. It just fizzles out of the
movie. Jeannie does not come to any sort
of realization about herself and passively
accepts her uselessness.
There are only one or two scenes that
really portray Aborigines as something
other than objects of injustice. A few
minutes are devoted to a ritual dance, but
as if director Auzins was afraid the film
was getting too much away from enter
tainment, he suddenly has the English
men shoot off their pistols, sending the
Aborigines scurrying away. So much for
culture.
The photography is the best thing in
the movie, and it is good by other movies'
standards as well. But Gary Hansen's im
pressive eye for sunsets and open spaces is
undermined by just about the worst thing
in the movie: the music. Only two
melodies are used for 1 Vi hours and every
bit of schmaltz is milked from each note.
The soundtrack is like an eight-track of a
recurring Sibelius melody. The absolute
musical lowpoint comes when Jeannie
and Aeneas profess their love to each
other and the melody comes in guess
what instruments? the violins.
But all in all the movie is relatively
harmless. It is the type of movie the
Australian film industry must love,
because the countryside is absolutely
beautiful even through a lens.
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'Grey Fox
provides
Monday, October 24, 1983The Daily Tar Heel5
warm entertainment'
By JEFF GROVE
Arts Editor
Cynics and nihilists, beware. The Grey Fox is not your kind of
film. For those people who still believe in the irrepressibility of the
human spirit, however, this quiet, unpretentious film will provide
a warm, uplifting evening of entertainment.
The premise of the film is simple. Bill Miner is released from
San Quentin after serving 33 years for robbing stagecoaches. It is
now 1901. The world has changed greatly and Bill must ad
just to a West which is no longer a frontier where outlaws have
considerable power.
The rest of the story is not so simple. Miner tries his hand at
gathering oysters in Washington state, but his sedentary existence
bores him. One night in 1903 he goes to a nickelodeon and sees
the first Western film, The Great Train Robbery. The coincidence
gives birth to a new career for Miner, who assembles a motley
gang and goes off in search of trains to rob.
Review
Miner and his gang botch their first hold-up and are forced to
separate. Miner finds shelter in Canada but again grows restless in
a factory job, so another gang is formed and another train is
robbed this time successfully. Miner seeks temporary shelter
with an old associate in the isolated town of Kamloops, British
Columbia. Here Miner begins to ease into a normal existence. He
even falls in love with a plucky photographer, an action which
shatters his complacency when the Northwest Mounted Police
and a Pinkerton detective begin to close in on him.
The Grey Fox operates at so many levels that it is possible for
people of vastly differing sensibilities to see it and enjoy it for dif
ferent reasons. Greater rewards, however, await the person who
tries to assimilate the different levels of the film.
On the surface, this is an adventure film with a twist. The Grey
Fox exudes all the good taste of a Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical, but the film's world is not cloyingly sweet; violence is an
everpresent force. Still, director Phillip Borsos has opted for a
refreshingly old-fashioned approach to violence. Instead of show
ing a bottle graphically lacerating someone's face in a saloon
fight, for instance, he uses careful lighting and judicious editine to
create a more horrible scene, since the audience can imagine worse
details than could be created by make-up men.
The starring role is a make-or-break proposition, since the film
is what would in other circumstances be called a "star vehicle."
Bill Miner is rarely off-screen. Borsos made the unconventional
but wise decision to cast a virtual unknown, Richard Famsworth,
in the part. Famsworth worked as a Hollywood stunt man for 30
years, then began accepting small speaking roles. In 1979 he was
nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Comes a
Horseman, but he remains relatively obscure. He sheds this image
in The Grey Fox, projecting a very natural, unforced style of act
ing. His first leading role is memorable for its humor, poignance
and pragmatism. Miner is a complex character and Famsworth
polishes every facet.
While Miner's romance with crusading photographer Kate
Flynn is not the focus of The Grey Fox, it does provide for the
film's most engaging sequence: a montage of these two older peo
ple discovering love for the first time in their lives, with all the ac
companying adolescent traits of shyness and awkwardness played
out while Miner's voice pleasantly rasps out a folk song. Cana
dian actress Jackie Burroughs sparkles as Kate, never letting her
fall into a suffragette caricature. She is every bit as touching and
believable as Famsworth.
John Hunter's script is both simple and profound in this
respect. It carefully delineates the characters but gives the actors
room to work on their own.
Visuals in The Grey Fox also impress. Frank Tidy's
cinematography captures the beautiful scenery of the Canadian
Northwest but is more than a picture postcard; a definite and suc
cessful attempt to play warm earthy brown and gold tones against
smoky blues and greens adds a sense of visual unity to the film.
Music, too, plays an important part in The Grey Fox. Tradi
tional Irish music composed and played by The Chieftans blends
well with Michael Conway Baker's moving original music.
There are several surprises near the end of the movie. What
director, cast and crew have carefully built over 90 minutes
reaches a highly engaging, appropriate finale that sends an au
dience out of the theater reassured that the human spirit is an un
conquerable thing it may suffer and it may see hard times, but
it always wins.
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Wednesday, Oct. 26
8:30 pm Great Hall
a Program of
Classical Music
I DRIES
SHAH:
THE TWO DEMONS
A junior devil said to a senior
one:
'If only we could stop man
from using sovereign intellect'
Can we not devise a scheme to
block his efforts towards self
development?' The elder answered:
'My child, it has been done
already! Man was aeons ago
convinced that he possesses
choice and sovereign intellect as
some sort of gift. He has long
. since with only a few in
significant exceptions ceased
to listen to anyone who says
that he has a real intellect wait
ing to be developed.'
Reflections
Octagon Press $7.95
Available at Little Professor Book Center
143 West Franklin
or promptly by mail from
ISHK Book Service, Dept C-1
P O Box 176. Los Altos. CA 94022
CAT'S CRADLE
320 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC
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The Apartment People
Now accepting limited applications
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Call today for full information. 967
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Get your smile in the
Yackey Yack. Sittings are
October 31-Nov. 4 (all
others).
Either call 962-1259,
2-?8Yl, or come b
Union for appointments