{ title: 'The Spectrum (Buffalo, N.Y.) 1955-current, July 06, 1979, Page 7, Image 7', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/np00130006/1979-07-06/ed-1/seq-7/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00130006/1979-07-06/ed-1/seq-7.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00130006/1979-07-06/ed-1/seq-7/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/np00130006/1979-07-06/ed-1/seq-7/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: University at Buffalo
' ■| mm Mf mm m mr~mm M| m — _ J • ( ■/ mW / B m ■ ■■ # F mu m * I I ■ / h ■ / ■ ■ V H H m ■ ■ ■ ■ \ f Hv H yl v I I jpf J M /B ■ H . the opposite end of The SptCTiyiAj 1^,^ * 4i \ntrnt Moonraker' tarnishes James Bond's sparkling image, shortchanges audience Legacy dies by Ralph Allen her. This erosion of his bravado seems to have affected him adversely. Can you imagine him, after having sent a bad guy flying through a glass clock face and crashing into a piano, snickering, \Play it again, Sam?” There is nothing left to do after a line like that except groan — which the audience did. His self-effacing humor seems to affect even his resitency to danger. James Bond is having its. Costing about $25 million, Moonroker still looks second-rate. The armies of arch fiend, Drax, seems to be outfitted in Lost in Space castoffs and Bells $2.88 cheapo sneakers. Though I don’t expect a Bond picture to compare with Star Wars or 2001 in terms of special effects and set design, the crudity of the space scenes was disappointing, especially when you have an audience accustomed to sophisticated depictions of outer space. “My name is Bond. .. James Bond. \ —Sean Connery To see a james Bond film is to enter a contract where you promise to temporarily suspend your sense of reality in return for an irresistable yarn. Moonraker, the latest in the Bond series, exploits every clause of this contract but fails to deliver its promised yarn. Poor Mr. Bond; chalk up his demise to rising expectations. Some-viewers take their Bond seriously. So when a self-satirizing Roger Moore is united with the wan dialogue of Moonraker, there is bound to be some who are dissatisfied with the final product In the Moonraker, Bond traces a mysteriously hijacked space shuttle, travelling throughout the world and into space to find it. In other words, standard Bond fare. The Bond formula, as one writer observed, is as stylized as a Japanese Noh play. There is, for example, the element of the awe-inspiring stunt that precedes the picture's credits and theme song. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond skis off the edge of a snow cliff and, in what is one of the most suspenseful sequences ever filmed, manages to prepare a soft landing for himself. Yes, the mothod was ludicrous, but remember the contract — never allow reality to intrude upon the film’s credibility. What this sequence does, and does most successfully, is weld our hearts to Bond’s tribulations. We want to see him survive certain demise, but we don’t see how he will. In Moonrakers, the opening stunt is at least equal to its predecessor in terms of ingenuity, but the alfessential weld is not complete. The sense that the whole stunt sequence was played for the joke of it undermines the basic Bond demeanor of a cool man in, so to speak, boiling water. beginning to operate more and more like Batman. And this simply will not do. The James Bond of You Only Live Twice or Thunderbird was a man extricating himself with sheer skill from what seemed to us impossible situations. The new Bond prefers to open his watch up and blast his way out instead of stretching the limits of his ingenuity. Where is the cleverness that 007 so magnificently typified? With all his specialized accouterments the new Bond probably has to strip everytime he goes past a metal dectector. Unless, of .course, he happens to be packing a metal dectors jamming device. Bond pictures, like the Planet of the Apes or the- Pink Panther series, have a loyal audience who see every film in the series. Over a billion people have seen Bond — that’s a pretty big following. For Bond fans, though, this film will flick in and out of their minds they way the film flickers on and off movie screens the country over. “We’re out to make entertainment,” producer Albert Broccoli stated in a recent interview. That Moonraker does. However, it would have been nice if it had advanced the Bond legacy, if only a little, while entertaining us. Castoffs and cheapo sneakers While Bond is having his problems, the film is A chilly liberation Lois Childes, the latest femme fetale to join Bond, is touted by the director of the film as the liberated Bond woman: please, spare us. Yes, I agree she doesn’t fling herself immediately at Bond’s crotch like her earlier counterparts, but with a name like Holly Goodhead can she really be that far ahead of, say, Pussy Galore? All that Miss Goodhead is liberated from is the warmth without which beauty is cold. James Bond is becoming an embarrassment to the mystique of macho men. Why even Moneypenney, the secretary who intercepts Bond before his briefing seems to mock him, smirking in disbelief as he relates his latest brush with death. In the old days, Moneypenny would swoon just to have Bond brush by The 1979 UB Summer Poetry Festival will continue next week until Saturday, July 13. The festival features seminars, lectures, and public readings all held free and in Clemens Flail. This year's theme is ‘Trailblazers and Masters: Cross-Generational Exchanges In Contemporary Poetry,\ and the focus is on the work of 11 poets. Readings by William Stafford and Raymond Patterson have already pleased listeners and more is in store. , Today — Gerald Stern, author of three books and recipient of the Lamont Poetry Selection in 1977, will give a reading of his poems at 3 p.m. in room 438. , Tuesday - UB’s Irving Feldman, author of five „ books, will read from a forthcoming work at 3 p.m. in room 438. At 6:30 p.m. in room 322, a seminar with David ignatow, Virginia Terris, John Frederick Nims and Max Wickert will be held. At 8:30 p.m. David Ignatow, recipient of the Bellingen Prize, and Virginia Terris, author of the book Tracking, will read' from their work in room 438. Poetry Festival Wednesday — John Frederick Nims, editor of Poetry magazine, will give a reading at 3 p.m. in room 438. A seminar with Anselm Hollo, Allan Kornblum, John Frederick Nims, and Wickert will be held in roon 322 at 6:30 p.m. At 8 p.m. in room 438, Hollo and Allan Kornburn will read from their work. warms summer Accomplished poets visit UB Friday — At 2 p.m. John Frederick Nims will give a reading followed by a reception in his honor. For further information call Max Wickert at 636-2579 or at 875-0910.
