Most Sportsfilms

psgoB daily nebresken Kaplan movie breaks away from most sports films the By Peg Sheldrick York rather than play follow the leader gence than the TV series. are exciting, hardly resembling pitched basketball-obsesse- battles are in fact. Members of the with her d spouse. The casting of the team itself could not they shout as Fast Break is like Dr. Pepper: though it Sandor Stern's screen play is not without have been easy, but it is highly successful. audience have been moved to lacks the sophistication of champagne or stereotypes but he avoids some of the Harold Sylvester, Michael Warren, Bernard enthusiastically as they would at an actual the wholesomeness of milk, it is none-the-les- s more obvious schtick and gives his chara- King, Reb Brown and Mavis Washington all game. bubbly, cool, and refreshing under cters at least a semblance of dimension. have sports in their backgrounds, but not the circumstances. are not the unreal buiTooms of all of them have acted before. Yet, Fast Break is not to be confused with right m They they Kotter country. Stem contents himself come off as natural and believable as the Citizen Kane, but for what it is, it's very with chuckles instead of belly laughs (al- plot permits. good. For the sports fan it offers laughs though there are a number of those) and And by all appearances, they aren't a and action, and for the rest of us it offers FGUE3UJ the result has a bit more grit find intelli bad basketball team. The game sequences an engaging cast in a fine comedy. It's another in the recent slew of "athlete-with-a-crazy-drea- movies, and it chooses to emphasize the comic potent- ial of the fable rather than the melo- dramatic aspects. Fast Break is the story of David Greene, a delicatessen clerk who has a chance to realize his dream of coaching basketball. He decides to "go for it," forsaking wife and job, and heads for rinky-din- k Cadwall- - ader University with a band --picked team V taken from the streets of New York. pVfI J His team includes a hood on the run, a pool hustler, a former evangelist (evading cultists who want to punish him for getting the leader's daughter in trouble), and a . '; i ... a young woman who has to pose as a young - 21 man to play on a team worthy of her o $ off, w :u talent. ttj) In addition to his motley crew, Greene copes with a piece rate salary ($60 per victory), an amoral team manager (who thinks Nixon got a raw deal), and the knowledge that he must get a game with top-rate- d Nevada State and beat them if he ' is to continue coaching, Not exactly cinema verite. but it works despite all of the improbabilities. This is Gabriel Kaplan's first movie, and it is a good choice for him. David Greene is not unlike Gabe Kotter, Kaplan's TV image, but Greene is more of a human being than the paragon of understanding Kotter is. The TV series was a natural extension of Kaplan's stand up comedy act, and the movie is something of an extension of his TV role (although the film was not written to be a vehicle for him). The contrivances of the plot could easily turn the movie into an inane farce, but thanks to a good supporting cast and a well --handled script, the story never goes too far afield rather, off court). (or, Photo courtesy ml Columbia Picturtt. Inc. Randee Heller is especially good as Jan Greene, the wife who elects to stay in New Gabe Kaplan, of TV "Welcome Back, Kotter", takes time off from teaching to portray a coach in the movie "Fast Break' Conductor complements Concordia Choir sperformance By Scott Miller Part two of the concert included con- Perhaps the best piece on the program and sang with richness and warmth which temporary pieces, by Benjamin Britten, was Four Letters of St, Paul by Christian- complemented this subtly exciting piece. The Concordia College Choir from Richard Feliciano and Gustav Schreck. sen which used much more useful harmon- The subtle expressiveness and even phras- Moorehead, Minn, skidded into Lincoln The choir showed nice ensemble balance ies than the piece done earlier by Christian- ing ofher voice was exceptional; , r . in fine .: Concordia deliberate Saturday night style. They present- on the Five Flower Songs by Britten as sen. ; The Choir takes a -- ed an of to ; its music . exceptional program acapella well as an excellent fed for dynamic unity This seemed show approach making. Every music from a Bach motet to the piece to off every Christiansen is definite and each ranging throughout the selections. Of particular choir diction feel 'gesture by of the choir's own con- aspect of the from and noth- contemporary style note on this piece was the alto section for movement signals a musical thought, Paul Christiansen., .ensemble, to the soloists. ductor, which sang with almost perfect ensemble ing is wasted in his conducting technique on was Christiansen showed flair as a conductor and a rich, warm sound. Everything seemed to come together and it rubs off the choir. Nothing music: and the as the choir seem- here. A baritone solo ras featured in this wasted in. the performed the throughout program Tight harmonies was memorized ed to mirror the musical piece, and was sung dearly, and articulately entire program by choir expressiveness Two Liturgical Songs by Feliciano were and conductor alike. 5 conveyed by his conducting technique. with the choir doing a nice job ofadjusting . ; ; quite enjoyable as the singers straightened The Concordia Choir is a well disciplin- the for the soloist. Christiansen has conducted the choir out the tone and sang with fine control ed group of fine young singers under the harmonies of the and closed it - since 1937, and has written a large number tight piece Another was an command of an exceptional leader. ; was balanced and highlight American, of compositions and' choral arrangements, with a pianissimo that Winds the Olive almost inaudible to the hymn, Through iTrces, widely performed throughout the country. exciting, yet which featured a soprano soloist who sang humanear. with a good line and consistency through- al- out the Back-u- p the choir ; The choir has an unusually mature, .The Advent Motet by Schreck featured piece. by was Praised film most dark quality, as an ensemble, which a small section for mixed which un- splendidly done. One could have shut his' quartet and but it was too worked quite nicely on the opening piece, fortunately was covered the rest of the eyes dreamed, exciting by to miss a second the and With Thy Spirit Uphold Me," from Opus choir during the entire piece. What was of precision with which this was done. 29 by Brahms as well as on the next two heard of the soloists on this piece was en- delicacy piece to be shown one Hermann Schien and the and a mature sound. pieces, by joyable, again Encore numbers Celine end Julie Go Boating will be other a Kyrie Eleison, based on a plain Among the encore uumbers performed shown through Thursday at Sheldon Art - song melody. The final section the consist- Rock-A-M- of program was the spiritual y SouL It seem- Gallery. ed Christiansen himself and Diction suffered of pieces by ed as though the choir regressed a bit here The Foreign Film theatre product- various arrangements by his father F. as sound a and the feel directed featur- However, when the choir performed the the got bit shouty, ion, by Jacques Rivette, Melius Christianson as well as a few crowd for ensemble lacked The es Juliet Berto as Celine and Bach motet," Thy Also Helpeth Us, unity. soprano Dominique Spirit pleasers thrown in an encore numbers. soloist did Labourier - the darkness seemed to obliterate the in- a nice job on this piece and the as Julie. tenor section as a whole showed flair Celbte Julie Go dividual lines in this contrapuntal style and a for cii Bozir.z m this shown at the New York Film Festival even the motet was sung in English, From He&en Above, arranged by F. style. though and was credited with the diction seemed to suffer on this piece. Melius Christiansen, is worth mentioning "delightful slap- stick" the New York Times. It Is to note here that the haS because of the unidentifiable soprano solo- Closing the was by fcnpcrttst program Beautiful No series tickets is -- nrtf-Ryraoui- h tm-usual- necessary. at Church b exceptionally ist who sang with t vehrety tone and ly Sarbr arranged by F. Melius Christiansen. Eve which could account for the Admission Is $2. Screenings are at 7 part of controlled evenness throuiout the This beautiful piece was done superbly. ' vagueness ofindividual lines. , range of the piece. The alto soloist was remarkably controlled pjn..

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