PAGE 4 - N.C. ESSAY
Reviews
Films, Films, and more Films . . . but not "Love Story"
Brewster McCloud
A Review by Fred "Aviary"
Director Robert Altman has
managed to magnificently outdo
his first internationally-
proclaimed ■comedy- M-A-S-H,
with his latest success: Brewster
McQoud. Very simply, Brewster
is a perceptive boy in his late
teens, dedicated to liberating
himself from the cages of con
temporary society by con
structing a pair of fool-proof
wings and then flying away. This
role is played aptly and in
nocently by Bud Cort.
Brewster is probably first
exposed to a dream of birdlife by
the character that opens the film-
-the lectiirer, an all knowing bird-
freak who begins lecturing under
a blanket of academic terms but,
as the movie progresses,
becomes increasingly more bird
like in habit until finally we see
him as “discombobulated mass
of squawks and flutters”. Rene
Auberjonois, (chaplain in M-A-S-
H), is a delightful evolution of
subtleties, acting the part quite
convincingly.
The film becomes more in
tricate, however, as we learn that
Brewster is mothered and
sheltered by a homicidal fairy
godmother or guardian angel-
Louise - acted with gratifying
results, “ladylike sensuality”,
and as much depth as the plot
permits by Sally Kellerman
(“Hot-lips” in M-A-S-H).
The plot of the film is a key to
its humour; the shape of the door
and lock within which fits that
key belongs to the director;
Altman perceives America as
divided between a materialistic
mainstream and the idealists,
between the humanists and the
crazies of the counter-culture.
But he dramatizes this division
and the insanities on both sides
without once resorting to the
poster and protest conventions of
cliche cinema. Instead, to ex
press his disgust, he creates a
metaphor epitomized in the
figure of a defecating raven, plus
an entire carnival of decaying-
but energetically portrayed-
characters; a superpatriotic
dowager, Daphne Heap, in red,
white, and blue that croaks the
National Anthem before each
baseball game at Houston’s
Astrodome; a vicious narcotics
cop who beats his wife, ridicules
his son, spews racial slurs, and
shakes down pot smokers; a
decrepit long-haired millionaire
exploiter of old age homes,
Abraham Wright, who is last seen
streaking down a freeway, dead,
in his wheel chair. They are all
killed off in a volley of bird
droppings. Stacy Reach, whose
strong inclination for offbeat
roles is unique, gets a good spot
as A. Wright.
These mysterious murders
Elvira Madigan
ELVIRA MADIGAN - Directed
and Written by Bo Widerberg.
Photographed by Jorgen Rer-
sson.
“Elvira Madigan” forces us to
project our own emotional
detailing into the lovers’
situation. The dialogue con
tributes some information
necessary for grasping how the
world is closing in, and how the
lovers are unfit to cope with it.
Sixten is a count; he is
unequipped to survive in or
dinary life. Although Elvira could
earn money, doing so would
destroy their relationship and
they cannot return. Widerberg
could have built conventional
dramatic machinery to drive
home these points - it is easy
enough to contrive incidents at
the border, to have Sixten
recognized as a nobleman when
trying to find work, to heighten
the suspense of the chase.
instigate a humorous sub-plot-
an investigation that satirizes the
“dragnet” establishment of
America. Pitting against one
another a Houston Police-chief, a
private “die” brought in from
San Francisco who arrives with
several suitcases of turtlenecks,
and his Texas police flunky, a
half-wit, all-American porker
who reads Captain American
comics and also tries to raise a
family-this role was com-
mendably portrayed with many
grins of blissful stupidity by John
Shuck, the frustrated dentist in
M-A-S-H- and finally a local
liberal, the type who treats his
black chauffeur like scum; all of
them bumping into each other’s
selfish interests.
The fairy tale ends on the
inevitable and right note of
Sorrow and Tragedy: Shelley
Duvall, who makes her lively
debut as Suzanne, a bopper-guide
at the Houston Astrodome, not so
accidentally seduces Brewster
into losing his virginity and, in a
moment of illusive manhood and
trust, he confesses involvement
in the murders. Suzanne lets her
patriotic neuroses take over and
dismissing Brewster’s
justification that the victims
stood in the way of his total
liberation, rats to the porkers. We
find Brewster McQoud alone,
hurriedly leaving his secret
workshop deep in the bowels of
the Astrodome, now deserted
workshop deep in the bowels of
the Astrodome, nowdeserted in a
symbolic exit by his fairy god
mother, as the police flood the
enclosed stadium. He is airborne,
flying...the wings work! But
Brewster is trapped within the
dome and finally, exhausted, he
plummets to the field below,
experiencing quite a different
liberation: death.
The actual ending of the film is
a beautiful surprise: the cast
comes onto the Astrodome field
as circus characters in the
Greatest Show on Earth.
Brewster McCloud spares
practically nothing in our society.
All in all, there must be literally
hundreds of gibes and pokes at
contemporary society and they
can’t all be seen or heard at one
sitting. Even MGM’s Leo the lion
doesn’t escape the treatment: the
beast’s trademark roar is
stepped on by the first line of
dialogue.
There is an overdose of bird
dung and an apparent waning
cause for liberation in the film,
but these are small failings
within a clear triumph of the
imagination. Go and see
Brewster McCloud. You won’t be
surprised that Judith Crist has
rated it among the Ten Best
Films of 1970.
by Robin Kaplin
Many aspects of the emotional'
side of the film are conveyed
chiefly through miming and
music: the close-ups of
diminishing money in hand,
sinister fortune cards, the dagger
and the gun, Elvira’s secret
scene on the clothesline, the
eating of berries and mushrooms,
and of course the many love
scenes. This curiously antique
quiet extends to “action” scenes -
as Elvira and Sixten steal away
from a hotel where they have
been spotted, they hide in
breathless silence while a man
strolls past; Sixten wins their last
meal by a wordless game of
strength. Their escape on hor
seback, their quarrel and
boatride, even the suicide itself,
are basically silent scenes.
Widerberg deals only with
peripheral matters through
dialogue: Sixten’s role as soldier,
Elvira’s selling of the Toulouse-
Lautrec turn out to be weak
spots.
Films
:* “Trash” - Starring Joe
Dallesandro, HoUy Woodlawn,
S Jane Forth. Written & Directed
S by Paul Morrissey. Produced by
■$ Andy Warhol.
“Gimmie Shelter” - Starring The
Rolling Stones. Filmed by Albert
& David Maysles and Charlotte
Zworin; A Cinema V Production,
by mjf
A unique segment of con
temporary American Cinema is
moving quickly in new directions.
It is becoming bolder, more
daring in its approach to
presenting reality. And the
emphasis seems to be shifting -
radically - from entertainment,
or at best, moralism, to as close
to experience as one can get via
cinematic medium. The two films
listed above provide real con
frontations for the viewer; they
are deadly proficent in their
ability to absorb him.
This occurs primarily because
of the cinematic techniques
employed in the two films. These
are primitive and crude films,
photographed by hand-held
cameras (with the exception of
parts of “Gimmie Shelter”) and
as such, offer a limited, but
striking and gripping sense of
realism. Because the focus is so
narrow and usually singular, we
are forced into perceiving a
myopic, but engaging, viewpoint.
It’s contrived gimmickry, of
course, but it works and with
astounding results.
This process doesn’t always
make for great art or even good
film, however. But that almost
becomes a secondary con
sideration, so strong are the
engaging qualities of these films.
Almost. What prevents them
[rom being absolute In their
{lower is basically a dreadful lack
of craftsmanship and a matter of
taste.
New Hero
It is also significant to note the
emergence of a new hero (for the
screen; he’s been drifting around
the American Novel for some
years now) - the confused,
existential hero thrust into a
mad, mad world who emerges,
often in spite of his own nature,
still possessing a kind of purity or
innocence. In their own distinct
and separate ways, the main
people and characters in these
hlms are appealing, God knows,
even charismatic. (This has to do
with the kind of reality
established by the film itself; in
“Trash”’, Joe, a junkie, comes
out pretty normal and likeable in
the face of the people who
surround and use hi>m).
“Trash” is the latest epic from
the Warhol Factory. Warhol and
Morrissey (artistically, the two
are synonymous) seem to be
moving forward in their attempt
to recreate (re-define?) the
American Cinema; they are into
the Thirties now. “Trash” is
certainly the best (i.e., it has a
plot, there is a semblance of
dialogue, a touch of what might
be acting, etc.) of Warhol’s films
that I’ve seen. It is, if nothing
else, engrossing.
It is “about” a junkie and his
inability to get an erection.
Despite this deficiency, Joe isn’t
very hassled. But the chicks he
encounters are - and Joe spends.
much of the film being seduced. Altamont. The Angels show and-:
AU Joe wants is his next fix. assume their roles asi
Within this thin plot, Warhol and. “policeman,” a portion sp*:
Morrissey demonstrate how all of parently assigned them (for;:
society is a junkie looking for the quantities of acid and beer) by
next fix someone.
^ t 1 * * w The Airplane play. A fight
There s lots of ^x, lote of skm, (the Angels are
lots of perversity, and lots of pool cue sticks as
dope. “Trash is really an arty anj igad singer Marty
skin flick. But it s sonraefting else ggjjjj jg jgjjj oyj trying to stop it.
too - a view, an outlook a" en- vibes are manifesting
counter with a reality that pjjysjcaUy brutal results,
repulses us and yet forces to ^Vatching the film, I grow tense,
watch, even mvolve ourselves. £ggjjj,g gg jf j am there and, like
Dallesandro mumbles and helpless,
stumbles his way toough the Stones finally saunter on
film, not acting, but bemg. He is gtage. It is late, dark and hazy,
funny, tragic and in rnany ways, campfires illuminate
very ordin^. I liked him, felt gj,Qgtly Angels and a nervous
sorry for him, empa^ized with Jagger. They play
him. Sometimes, he just makes ijj-jniantly, but something is
you relate to hm. In one scene happening. Scuffling in the
he has just shot up and is bemg jagger is shaken and the
observed by a weird mairied ^ggjg openly despise him and
couple who flip wlten mey thmk faggy dancing. Their faces
he is going to OD. They throw him ggyit “If I could get my hands on
naked out onto a fire excape. Joe, ^^g ggj. .. gtones
spaced, throws on his clothes and playing. Jagger : “Who is
mutters a perfectly timed fjghting and what for?”
“Shit!” m a splendid Brooklyn ^..gympathy for the Devil.”
accent .. , T More disturbance. The Stones
Holly Woodlawn, the c^k Joe ^.an’t see but their instincts warn
lives with, is great. She is them. “C’mon people, get it
played by a female impersonator together!” The music begins
who is ...incredible. again. Suddenly, screaming and
“Trash” IS trash, ^at see^ chaos. A black man dressed in
to be the whole pomt. I didn t like fluorescent green is charging the
it. I don’t thi^ I was supposed to. g^„g jjg j^as a gun, we see it.
But I steyed untd the end and I pj.Qjjj the cold, black night, a
feel as if I’ve . . . lived through jjgjjig ^ngel crosses his path and
something very strange, yet down with a shining
l^enGficidl. ^ dssser
The first half of Gimmie gj-ji yjjgyre of what is hap-
Shelter” offers a rsre chance to pgjjjjjg^ the Stones plead with the
see the Rolling Stones as they xhey are doing all they
blew across America in late 69. (-lajm that "werej
We watch them traveling nnmg “jn-ggponsible” is bullshit. Keith
in motel rooms, playing sheer angered and aware that
dynamite music at their con- something bad is /tapp&il/ngy
certs. The focus is naturally on gj-gbs the mike from Jagger and
Mick Jagger, as he seeiM to p^jjjtg into the crowd; “That cat
embody the Stones legend otq stop fuc\tin’ around'.”
myth, and he is astountog. The pjj^ally, the commotion subsides,
shots of the band performmg are stones finish and split, still
• superb, the sound incredible, and aware that a man was killed.
they forcefully show you why Soeechless
they are the best rock and roll 5>peecn e
band to ever take a stage.
Inevitable Gloom
Despite all this, the film moves
with an aura of inevitable gloom
surrounding it. The Maysles have
edited the film with a purpose; to
show the events leading up to the
disaster at the Altamont
Speedway, where a man was
killed by the Hell’s Angels during
the Stones's free concert. The
tour section of “Gimmie Shelter”
is ominously spliced with grim
omens; the faulty, uncertain,
uptight planning sessions, the
legal hassles involving lawyers
and sheriffs, the typical wheeling
and dealing operations of har
dened promoters like Sam Cutler.
Also, we see a pensive and ap
prehensive Jagger watch the
rushes of the film, flinching when
a Hell’s Angel leader calls him an
idot and sordid as the horrific
spectacle of death unfolds before
him. ...again. All of this shrouds
the action with a sense of tragedy
and despair.
“I Hate You”
Altamont comes, a gray, cold,
sullen day - much like the people
who came expecting an “instant
Woodstock.” Tension crowds the
day. Jagger is hit by a young man
screaming “I hate you!” as he
steps off the plane arriving at
In the cutting room, Jagger,
looking unlike the same man who
danced in front of America wito
his mocking Uncle Sam hat, is
shaken and speechless, his eyes
dim and remorseful. The camera
freezes and Mick’s icy stare is
captured as the credits roll up
and we hear “Gimmie Shelter.”
An astonishing experience. It
seemed like a script, that
couldn’t have happened.
Despite their many flaws and
oversights, these two films are
landmarks of American film
making. They are undeniable in
their force. Both are documen
taries, even “Trash,” and they
leave behind a record, an epistle,
of the life and times in the
modem world. Perhaps we are
beyond the point when we can
refer to “good” and “bad” .
“Trash,” and “Gimmie Shelter”
very nearly transcend that. These
films are, they exist, not as art,
not even as cinema, but
ultimately as experience. And as
such, they may have discovered
for the medium its most fuctional
and vital purpose.
NOTE; Both “Trash” and
“Gimmie Shelter” will be
playing in Greensboro, at the
Janus 1 & 2, next week.
Large parts of “Elvira
Madigan” are actually silent film
in style; we must piece for
ourselves the underlying
psychological drama of oblique
developments and under
currents. Widerberg asks us only
to follow the slow tightening of
the ring of consequences which
follow from their action. When
the world most seems to shinmier
in the summer sun, dues are
running up that must be paid. The
mystical union of lovers can only
exist outside of life.
Postscript; Pia Degermark of
“Elvira Madigan”
Pia’s story is just as romantic
as Elvira Madigan’s; she was
discovered by director. Bo
Widerberg, who couldn’t stop
looking at a newspaper
photograph of Pia dancing at a
palace ball with young Crown
Prince Carl Gustaf, her friend
from childhood. Widerberg lured
the sixteen year old girl from her
sheltered boarding school life to
spend her vacation as love-struck
Elvira; the role paid her $1,270.
Then she returned to school while
her gentle, flowing-gown Elvira
floated out to the movie public.
Shocks and rewards came to Pia
with “Elvira Madigan;” her too
easy success provoked hostility
from schoolmates and Stockholm
actors. She began to feel so
isolated that she was emotionally
ill for a year. By the time Pia
went to Cannes for “best actress”
award, she was down to seventy
pounds and had to be wheeled
about as an invalid.