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JWpvie s—^ o Calculated tears » a. Television, that great equalizer, does unwholesome things with emotions. Always appealing to the lowest common denominator to hawk the ware of sponsors before the largest possible throng, TV must level its effects to brute fundamentals: sex, violence, righteousness and sentimentality. The special, idiocyncratic qualities that badge the work of an artist and that require of the audience the exertion of appreciation get rubbed down to a mean statistical norm. TV, instead of presenting feeling and drawing us in, will more often than not lunge out to wring from us gross palpitations. The Hurricane' blows over Dino loses again with big one The film’s failure is not solely Semple’s fault. Director Troell chooses to highlight the hurricane at this \tragic” moment response Troell did not intend Simply, Troell completely fails u ABC’s production of Friendly Fire (aired last Sunday) was infected by this electronic debility. Dramatizing an Iowa farm family’s stubborn search for the truth about their son’s accidental death in Vietnam, Friendly Fire seizes us by our tear glands and squeezes by Harvey Shapiro Dino De Laurentis has been as well, devoting the last thirty minutes to show the “fury of the Consequently, Troell alienates the audience from his create any realism Hurricane does not fare much attempting to entertain the public with his multi-million dollar productions for awhile now and each time he seems to bore the audiences a little more. His new $20 million investment, better on technical matte hard. Director David Green and telewriter Fay Kanin pull hard punches. The son, Michael Mullen (Dennis Erdman), is a blonde, clear-skinned boy with tender blue eyes and a fine jaw. The camera gives us big closcups of his face as he dutifully docs his chores. Why the storm Troell’s transition from see leaves the am characters. As wave after wave of water slams on the island paradise, the viewer loses sight of the characters and becomes absorbed in the spectacle of seeing money washed away. scene confused throughout the m In editing Hurricane, Troell It Teal pmiccrcs Hurricane, is no exception, leaving one to wonder whether De gaps betwen scenes and expects us to guess at what happened. Many times, we are left wondering how Laurenlis can keep affording these flops. the plot progresses. Watching Hurricane is much like reading only alternate chapters of a novel Friendly Fire' is a tear-jerker in a literal sense: it is Jerklng-off our tear ducts. I must resent this appeal to my near-involuntary responses . . . Also, Troell and Semple create this ridiculous scenario during the storm. We have all heard of the De Ldurentis’s Hurricane is a remake of the 1937 John Ford film of the same name. The story is altered for the worst, with the Miscast storm given top billing over cultural and generational conflict. In this production (set in the 1920’s), a Navy captain’s daughter (Mia Farrow) arrives at American occupied Pago Pago to visit her father (Jason Robards). Within a day she meets and falls in love with the High Chief of the local natives (Dayton Ka’ne), much to the Captain's distaste. Had the film been made properly, generational and cultural drama could have been explored in Hurricane. Unfortunately, the potential fiery conflict is doused by the conclusion’s actual hurricane. As for De Laurentis’ all-star cast, it would be better if he casted for the part rather than for the star. Jason Robards seems confused as the father angered by the romance between his daughter and the native Chief. At times he is a ruthless Governor, at times he closeups? We know. We saw the ad and we know this is a story of a boy who gets killed in Vietnam. These closeups are our first and last look of a doomed child and when mother Peg (Carol Burnett) comes out in the yard to ask him if he’s all packed for tomorrow, the lumps are already forming in our throats. Later, after they learn of Michael’s death, they open the tackle box where he kept his favorite things. Father Gene (Ned Beatty) shatters into tears. The lump thickens. When Michael’s body finally returns, Peg approaches the casket in a shaky, subjective tracking shot until she (and we) sees the pallid but still boyish countenance. By this time, our eyes brim. is the compassionate father and at other moments, he appears to be more interested in his daughter sexually than parentally. Robards' confusion results from Troell’s ineffective direction. As the daughter, Mia Farrow is limp. Newcomer Ka’ne is as stale as week old bread in the native lover role. Two other stars, Max Von Sydow and Trevor Howard, are lost in the Hurricane. Oh yes. Green and Kanin play the calculus of tears exceedingly well Now I would be a liar if I said that Friendly Fire did not disturb me far and away beyond the moist eyes of the duration. Even now, two days later, it upsets me to think back on it. But the question for me as a critic is: am I moved because I came in contact with real suffering (not my own) or because of some incidental signification on my part? I must admit to the latter. Vietnam was the boogie man of my childhood. Some feared the dark or the late night \creature feature;\ I found my fetid, unreasoning fears in the evening news. My bad dreams were jagged constructions of uniformvbayonets, bullets and bombs. Often they still are. thus anything made and not utterly botched about Vietnam lends to disturb me profoundly. But if I subtract this purely subjective clement I brought into the experience of watching Friendly Fire, what is left in the way of honest feeling? Something to be sure, but not much. First, we must distinguish between the feeling impressed upon the medium by the artist and feeling which arises almost as an automatic reflex to manipulative stimulus. A dead puppy or an old woman falling down a flight of stairs can’t help but produce certain responses in most of us. An artist who deliberately uses these is massaging our tears from us, forcing them rather than earning them. This happens much too often in Friendly Fire. It is a tear-jerker in a literal sense: it is jerking off our tear ducts, I must resent this appeal to my near-involuntary responses, presented as if I were a tear-anger-fear-arousal machine. Thinking big names will do his work for him, De Laurentis, as usual, has signed an \all-star” cast and director Jan Trocll (The Emigrants, The New Land). In addition, he assigned Lorenzo Semple Jr. (most famous for the Batman TV series) to write the script. Semple's major problem is the failure to end his story convincingly. He infuses a somewhat interesting plot with dramatic possibilities; but the Native chief carries Mia Farrow The question is: 'who carries the film?' captain sinking with his ship, but Hurricane has to be the first instance in which the captain, during the height of the storm, wades out from the shore to go down with the ship. Equally unrealistic is the photographing of the hurricane which we can tell is the same shot repeated. The net effect is a very dull and blown out storm. Finally, Troell and Semple turn the drama into a sick joke. When a boat inexplicably crashes into a building where people are taking refuge, the audience laughs De Laurentis could have saved money by letting Troell and Semple concentrate on the conflict between the native and the Captain instead of wasting the bucks on the staging of the storm. Some beautiful photography and scenery of the tropics is all that is enjoyable in the film. Trevor Howard unwittingly sums it up when he says in the hurricane’s midst, \What have they done. Why are these lambs being punished so much.’’ resolution of the conflict never comes when De Laurentis shows off his expensive hurricane (which, incidentally, comes out of nowhere). At the Eastern Hills Cinema. Fortunately, not all the sorrow I felt arose from push button responses. At many points, the writing and the actors were able to communicate what, by process of elimination, must be something of the real grief felt by the Mullens: the obsessive, consuming sense of loss. Quietly, unobtrusively, Peg or Gene makes some casual remark as if Michael were still near and when they (and we) remember that he is dead, the sorrow is real. \If Michael saw this lawn,\ Peg says frowning at grass trampled by renegade pigs, \he’d just die.” Carol Burnett shakes her head lightly, then remembering, ducks her eyes down a bit. That hurts. SOFT CONTACT LENSES • BAUSCH & LOMB $95°° But most of the time, by strenuously trying to choke us up, Friendly Fire chokes off all but a few moments of the Mullens true life sorrow. And this is a fault with all tear-jerkers and with television in general: by reaching for those readily accessible responses/it passes up the real emotion seen in art that sticks with you long after the tube has gone dead. So I would say in regard to Friendly Fire: don’t confuse tears on your part with the transmission of feelings on their part. —Ross Chapman • A. O. SOFT • HYDROCURVE Price Includes: OLD RED MOLL INN • Lenses • 90 Day Money Back Guarantee On Lenses • 6 Month Service Contract • Cold Sterilization Kit • Carrying Case • Solutions for Cleaning and Sterilizing BY APPOINTMENT ONLY BUFFALO CONTACT LENS GROUP 2777 Sheridan Dr ive, Tonawanda,N.Y. Only a 5-minute walk from Northtown Plaza, 834-4336 8326 MAIN ST. oiZ^EfSai Professional Fitting Fee - $35.00
