J ae ERTL A a moet | INE LLL LUN || RE TTT REVIEWS The streets never felt so good Nolte making with the simple joys of the poor in Down and Out in Beverly Hills. DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS. Directed by Paul Mazursky. Starring Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss. Back in 1932, René Fauchois’ story of an unreconstructed bum was turned into a charming film at the hands of Jean Renoir (Boudu Saved from Drowning). Rescued from the Seine then taken in by a shopkeeper, Boudu spurns his caretaker’s liberal guilt by upsetting every middle class convention the man possesses from table manners to sexual morality. By the time Boudu returns to the road, he leaves his host bewildered yet regenerated. Enter 1986 and American satirist Mazursky does a remake that shows Beverly Hills is a long way from Paris in more than just kilometres. - Mazurksy’s down-and-outer is Jerry (Nolte) fished out of the swim- ming pool of nouveau riche coat hanger baron Dave Whiteman (Dreyfuss). Jerry takes up residence, is rude, arrogant and insulting and eventually beds every woman in the house, through to the maid. The purpose in all this is for the have-nots to deliver to have’s an unorthodox lesson in living more freely and happily. Not that this family couldn’t use a shaking up. For Mazursky, the Whitemans are a caricature of what happens when too much money hits those who were not born into it. They have as much depth as their pile carpet. The closest relationships they’ve ever developed are with their respective psychiatrists. Barbara Whiteman’s (Bette Midler) host of problems centres on too many headaches and not enough orgasms; the children are neurotics plagued with sexual identity crises and meaningless rebellion. The only A message from the stars CONTACT. By Carl Sagan, Simon & Schuster, New York. 1985. 431 pgs. Hardcover: $21.95 A message from the stars — how would it change our world? In Contact, Carl Sagan gives us a .. view of the possibilities for hu- mankind when it discovers it’s not, alone ‘in:the universe. The story focuses on a woman radio-astronomer, Eleanor Ar- roway. She directs Project Argus, a radio-telescope system de- signed to seek out signals from extraterrestrial intelligent life. Just as the project is threatened with cutoff of funds because no- thing is happening, a signal is re- ceived. The message received is not your usual, threatening, ““We’ve come to take over the Earth’’. However this message can only be received in full if nations around the globe cooperate. Co- operation, overcoming national boundaries and prejudices for the sake of humankind and _ the planet, is what. Sagan stresses in- this novel. Despite a few brief swipes at the socialist world (e.g., the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, the KGB and actions of the Viet- namese government), Sagan’s work is refreshing for its lack of the virulent anti-Communism. He gives credit where credit is due by acknowledging Soviet advances in science and space exploration. -. Through Eleanor, Sagan says nations can put aside their differ- ences in the quest for knowledge. Sagan’s optimism about human- kind’s future is obvious. In Con- tact, the nations that possess nuc- lear weapons, especially the U.S. ‘and the Soviet Union, have signed a disarmament treaty and have begun to destroy their nuc- lear weapons. Sagan envisions a world where Soviet and U.S. scientists can be friends. One of the chief charac- - ters — a good friend of Eleanor — is a Soviet physicist, Vasily Lunacharsky. Although he’s not Books (Da Se i a a Se your. model Marxist, he’s not a dissident either. Through Eleanor, Lunachars- ky, and the other scientists in- volved in the worldwide message project — the woman astronomer from India, the Nigerian Nobel Prize-winning physicist, the “Chinese politician and ar- cheologist — Sagan makes a case for peaceful operation. Z The science in this fictional novel is exceptionally believable and exciting. This is to be ex- pected, considering that Sagan himself is an atronomer. His de- ‘scription of the decoding of the message, and then following the instructions it contains, kept me in blissful suspense. We hope for timely paperback release so that this book can be enjoyed by. a broad audience. : — Elizabeth Bowman Daily World Springsteen sings for hometown FREEHOLD, NJ — Rock singer Bruce Springsteen ap- peared at a benefit concert in his hometown for 450 audio-visual workers who will lose their jobs when the 3M Company Closes down this spring. The concert took place on the USIA bans films Not only does the U.S. state department insist on censoring and labelling films coming into the country (If You Love This Planet, The Acid Rain Story) it also decides what films may leave. The U.S. Information Agency (USIA) has banned the export of three U;S. films because they are pro-disarmament and criticize administration policies. ; The films ‘‘Peace, a conscious choice’’, ‘Save our planet’ and “Out of the ashes ... today’s Nicaragua’’, were not officially approved at the beginning of December 1985. Censorship of these films by the USIA has led to the Centre for Constitutional Rights — an American public organization — filing charges against Charles Wick, the director of the agency, and other officials, in the name of the films’ directors and producers. They accuse the USIA of being politically prejudiced in giving the seal of approval to the export of American films. ‘Such a policy represents a violation of freedom of speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Moreover, this is not the first time such a thing has happened,” the indictment says. 10 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 26, 1986 Pe stage of the Stone Pony, where: ‘Springsteen began his singing: career. Several local musicians had volunteered their talents in support of a bid by the Oil, Chem- _ ical and Atomic Union local to keep the plant operating. _ Last December, Springsteen and country singer Willie Nelson had placed an ad in four area newspapers asking 3M not to ‘*Abandon our hometown’’. One of Springsteen’s songs, My Hometown, depicts the impact of a textile mill shutdown in Free- hold. It has become the rally song of the workers. In addition to appearing at the benefit, Springsteen donated money to save the union’s cam- paign. The marriage between a community and a company is a special thing,’’ Springsteen said. ‘‘What happens when the job goes away and the people remain? 3M company, it’s their money and it’s their plant, but it’s the 3M workers’ jobs.” scientific ¢o-. ‘the homeless who the media insist prefer to live on the streets. , Films | : sane inmate is Dave’s loveable mutt, Matisse, who nevertheless & dragged off to the shrink. : : , Obviously there are all kinds of things money can’t buy and : embodies them all — freedom, honesty, friendship and good sex. B kind of poverty Nolte’s character is supposed to represent also malnutrition, disease, violence and premature death. This (unamusing) reality is as far removed from Jerry as it is from mentors. Evidently Nolte went two weeks without washing or brust his teeth to prepare for his role. It wasn’t preparation enough. sn garbage cans of southern California are stuffed with the making ° generous, well balanced diet,-out of his clothes (which he frequently Jerry’s body doesn’t betray his years on the streets. . In his clothes, this rubbie would have been picked up by the sw squad the second he stepped foot on the Hills, let alone made his ¥ into anyone’s pool. As for his sexual prowess, real street life wo have left Jerry with enough energy to seduce himself. While centering on the wishful stereotype of the gay, carefree 0” otherwise known as ‘‘street people’’, Down and Out also takes sho! Chicanos, revolutionaries, women and Iranians. There’s the 1 heeled Mexican American, turned ‘‘Marxist’’ who spouts slogans larger-than-life sized portrait of Nicaragua’s Ortega, tacked to h room wall. Ever prevailing is the (I thought outdated) notion that nothing the matter with a woman that a good man wouldn’t cure, course there’s the token Black, the Whiteman’s neighbor Little Ric who gets to toss off his ethnic one-liners about events next doo! Down and Out has its moments, plenty of them. Directed at thé 4 of the bourgeoisie, Mazursky’s satire is biting and insightful. Drey’ has finally found his niche — he wants to be a comedian, and the 1! Miss M is her outrageous, ranchy self. : You'll laugh all the way through and then wish you hadn't. Outs Beverly Hills, three million Americans really do sleep on the streets a very sobering thought. : — Kerry McC! into the villain MURPHY‘S ROMANCE. Directed by Martin Ritt. Screenplay by ; riet Frank and Irving Ravetch. Starring Sally Field, James Garner Brian Kerwin. Martin Ritt must have caught a whiff of the new strain of Com! bashing coming out of Hollywood and decided it would be prudesl! step in line. The prize-winning director who brought us such worth! projects as The Front and Norma Rae has done a turnaround Murphy’s Romance. . : Since this is lighthearted comedy, the Reds and the Soviets are -but the jobless, feminists and rabble rousers are lined up for a th Sally Field remains in what is becoming her standard role as the put upon woman. This time she’s Emma, a divorced mother strug make ends meet on her newly-purchased ranch. However this is no Places of the Heart. The dilemma of fema* households and the accompanying poverty is only a backdrop for fof tic rivalry. Her suitors include ex-husband Bobby Jack (Kerwit) unemployed drifter who pimps off the women in his life. Bobby is no victim. For him, joblessness is a chosen lifestyle, much around guzzling beer while his wife sweats it out over the chores; * from her purse to finance his favorite entertainment — splatter mo cheering at the blood and gore and he cheats at cards while playing own kid! He looks up Emma again, not out of much affection. because he’s on the lam from a teenaged girl he left pregnant with? back in Tulsa. a Out to save Emma from this good-for-nothing is Murphy 6; Garner) in the hero’s role of all conservative politics — the small dp nessman. He’s sympathetic to Emma’s martyred attraction for het”, less ex. She reminds him of his mother who used to feed B0 historical counterparts at their back door during the great dep: Outside Emma’s back door, is the great outdoors, inhabited bys old boys who tamed the West through pulling up their ° bootstraps — never a foreclosure, plant shutdown or shantyt0™ sight. ai The only break in this hard working tranquility are troublem (i drifters and uppity women. “If you want consciousness raising, 8° we don’t have that here,” Emma is advised. : Murphy’s Romance hankers after those good, solid values so Pp? in Reagan’s America. It’s a call for men to be men and for wom stand by them. If you’re down on your luck and your toes are through your cowboy boots, it’s your own fault.