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MAY 1t~ft~~.;-~~ .. r~-e~~~"'ii,tl.!.,. ~ pITCH ~ the loose i v-'CJ[~ ~ ~·~,f.>i..:l4or.;f.t~r"i1'i:t~.'$?;~~~~~ On ~1~1'1'!4.~~7:~~,!'v:w:.~~~~~~~.~Gt::<..i~:~~~ May 1987 • Issue 77 JACK CASHILL monsters, tecbnolqgy, adventure, and in­ ~: ~~ genuous pride in things American. ftG.~.i;~':j~0~!~~...it;""~~~~b~~~i'\1!:l!:e)'I;:·.'..... Bellwetber films bere include George Lucas' ~ 4128 Broadway ~ <S The Death and life of tbe structure of its criticism. I say "irony" ''American Graffitti!' Francis Ford Coppola's ~ Kansas City, Missouri 64111 ~~ because tbis same community ignored just "The Godfatber,' Lucas' "Star Wars" trilogy, ~ (816) 561-1580 ~ Saturday Afternoons about everytbing tbe "Cabiers" crowd bad to Stepben Spielberg's "Raiders of The Lost Ark" k1 Publisber Hal Brody '-li.t~ say about tbe American film. Tbe American and "ET" and Micbael Cimino's "The Dear ~~ Executive Editor Donna 1hIsseil .. n the Saturdays of my youtb, my accepted the concepts of tbe "auteur" and of Hunter"- aU of them Saturday matinee films ~oi Managing Editor Soott O'KeIley .( "0'.·. "mise-en-scene" as tbey were divinely inspired, raised to tbe level of art. Indeed, if there was ~ AdvertiSing. Hearne Christopher • -. ,. brotbe... r. a.. n... d. I would religiOUSlY... I'. '/:. make our way to our but tbey ref~ to examine tbe post-silent one film tbat signaled tbe reversal in tbe ti 'JYpesetting Graphic Specialties n . .' ..... ';: Printing Neff Printing .. .'.. neigbllorbood movie theater,·the Hollywood movie in light of tbese concepts. American critical environment it was "The nvoli. There, we would watcb in awe as some It was as if sound and size and color and Deer Hunter.' Fornot only was tbisan epic ~ Distribution Sau) 1Ueker, i ~ "~ugeand borrifying reptile - the unfortun~te cinemascope doomed a movie to critical adventure f11m about Vietn/UIl, but it provided ~ CoDBie Yukon ~~ resultof some otbqwise laudable nuclear oblivion. a welcome return to ari old tradition - tbe i~ lIit~ ~ Contributing writers: ~ testing, - would ravage still anotber major During this epocb, scant attention was paid American as good guy. Its effect on American ~ Ur~BUt Blast, . ~ to tbe likes of Frank Capra, Howard Hawks audieIl<::es.even on t~ critical COmmunity, was worl~capital until b~asted to smithereens· by '1' Joe Bob. Briggs, Jack Cashill, . ~ the. :u.s. Army. and Jobn Ford, all of wbom were .exalted in catbartic. Indeed, "Deer Hunter" won tbe ; Fred. Douglass,. Rev. Dwight FrizzeIt, "I' On. tbe Sundays of my youtb, my brothel' Europe. And no attention was paid to Frencb academy award as best picture in 1979. Yet, '. Larry Fry, Judy-An_ GoldlnaD, ~. , ancUwould religiously make our way to the favorites like Samuel Fuller,Nicbolas Ray and tbere was no way it could bave won this award ~ Jolin Henderson,. Jay MaDdeville, ' .. ~ Ti\!oli again. There, we would watcb in awe a$ Jerry Lewis. "Jobnny Guitar"? Tbe Nutty Pro- ten years earlier, even five. In fact, it probably ~ Art Mayo, BUt Marks, . ~ sqmebugeand horrifying band of indians­ fessor"? Be serious! Instead, tbe American could notbave been made. ~ BUt Shapiro. Walter StaBford t{f. t~ unfortunate victims of some otberwise academic community Jurned to "true" auteurs In the" last several years, tbe American . ~! Saul Theker, Steve Walker ~.~ laudable Caucasian land grab - would ravage like Fellini and Bergman and gobbled up tbeir critical environment bas continued to liberalize ~. Cover illustration: ~ ~ Douglas Jasso ~ stillanotber wagon untilblased to smitbereens films as indiscriminately as tbey would a bag and democratize. Retrospectives on Ford, bytbe US. Calvary~ of popcorn. Hawks, Hitcbcock and Capra are as common r-~A~~~~f~~R!~1i!,t~~t>..l I cite these patterns. to establisb tbe context There were two fundamental reasons for tbe as tbose on Godard and 1tuffaut. European ~ KC Pitcb is sponsored by PennyLane it. in whicb 1- and many of my generation-' American failure to appreciate its own work. films, even tbose by Bergman, are being sub- :\~ Records. Copyright • 1987 by Brody ~ Records. All rights reserved. Subscrip- learned about movies. For us, movies were a One is tbe national sense of cultural inferiori- jected to closer scrutiny. Clint Eastwood, at i ~ tions are $5 for one yeat or $9 for two ~~ .total experience, an epic one. They bad to ty tbat bas existed,as long as tbere bas been long last, is being taking seriously as an auteur. :i be. ~i years. PennyLane mail order customers ~ For wben a movie f4illed to capture our im­ a nation. As far back as 200 years ago, men And who knows? Maybe one day soon, we'll . i; aDd Preferred Customers get a .free ~ aginatio!land toJlo,I~:'\lJ:attention, even for like James Fenimore Cooper and Thomas Jet- see a doublebeader of "The Nutty Professor" ~ subscription. '. ... ' a moment, we rebelled. Ai;tively. We tbrew our ferson were lamenting this pbenomenon. but and "Jobnny.(Jnjtar~' at our own Tivoli.· IdeaI- :~mv~:i'f.::iI;~~N~~':~. Jujy Fruits at tbe screen (hoping, of coune. they lamented in vain. The obsequiousness bas Iy, on a Saturday afternoon. • ~. " ..... _ ..... , .....t;:; ••!:f.;~ .. :..... itit"'i!fXD.~.~ d stick)..,'lQld booted derisively persisted .. ..•... A.'·.... .... •.'.'.... ttoms ~of the empty boxes. we EuropetoW.~ll$to.and.~~ pe~i~t~}On~.~"!'~~ .., if?:.L~S.=-,!,;.f;;; .. ";~;> .~:~. •. ~"i~..,,:~"'~ ~ may not bave been a sqpbisticated audience, Tbe second reason was botb more intense but we were a tough _ And we did bave our and more epbemeral- tbe political self-hatred standards. rife in tbe sixties and the seventies. For instance, These standards would go unexamined and at a 1969 screening of tbe film "Z", Costa­ uncballenged for about a. decade, tbat is until Gavras' popular but empty-beaded parable WESTPORT I took my first official college course on tbe about fascist Greece (read America), my au­ 4128 Broadway movies, or sbould I say "f11m~' For my teacbers dience violently booed an innocuous Kansas City, MO 64111 would not even discuss "movies~' To' tbem, travelogue on Buscb Gardens for its innocent (816)561-1580 "movies" were implicitly too big, too vulgar, implication tbat the USA was a swell place to too popular, too colorful, and mucb too live. on anotber occasion; I watched in awe American .. No, tbey preferred "films;' whicb (borror?) as an academic audience cheered a LO were implicitly small, black and white, esoteric, small film tbat compared Tbe Ellis Island ex­ avant· garde LAWRENCE and very European. perience to Auscbwitz. The political-cultural 844 Massachusetts I generalize very little bere. Tbe attitude I enyironment was truly this distorted! Needless Lawrence, KS 66044 describe above was pervasive. I t dominated to say, tbese audiences were not about to ap­ (913) 749-4211 almost all academic discussion of tbe film dur­ plaud a f11m in whicb Jobn Wayne sbot Indians ing tbe 19608 and early 1970s. Its propogators - no matter wbo made it. eitber actively disliked tbe American movie, But, bappily, tbings began to cbange in tbe SOUTH KC were totally ignorant of it, or botb. I recall one '70s. And tbere is an irony at work bere too. 1201 W. 103rd University film teacber wbo could not Young directors - like Lucas, Coppola, Kansas City, MO 64114 distinguish between Clark Gable and cary Spielberg and Cimino - wbo bad learned tbat (816) 941-3970 Grant. The similarity of names confused him. auteur tbeory in tbe academic environment of Worse, be was not at all disturbed by tbis con­ the sixties, began to apply it to tbe kind of fusion. After all, what could Clark Gable or films tbey bad grown up on in tbe '50s. Cary Grant bave to do with "mm" - its Hollywood films. Big, colorful, action packed OVERLAND PARK Ihe only cool salon in north kansas cily tecbniques, its psycbology, its bistory? From films, films filled with good guys, bad guys, 9641 W. 87th bis perspective, Gable and Grant weren't even Overland Park, KS 66212 great actors like, say, Olivier. In fact, tbey The Classic Cup (913) 341-5255 weren't really actors at all. Tbey were "per­ 221-9590 sonalities:' "Hollywood personalities!' And rest JUST 5 MINUTES FROM DOWNTOWN assured, to an American "devotee" of "film;' take 1'35 north across the PASEO tCl Records • Cassettes there was not more severe a pejorative tban the ARMOUR RD.