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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 05/24/91 -- Vol. 9, No. 47
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
06/05 LZ: UBIK by Phillip K. Dick (Death and Hell)
06/26 LZ: ALTERNATE WORLDS by Robert Adams ("What If Things Were Different?")
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
06/08 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
06/15 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3B-301 949-4488 hotsc!tps
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Now it can be seen! Walt Disney Enterprises in cooperation with
Touchstone Films and Hollywood Pictures brings you *the complete*
_B_a_m_b_i. Newly restored, it includes the nine seconds that Walt
Disney DID NOT WANT YOU TO SEE! See the scene where Bambi looks up
smiling at his mother, and his mother licks him right on the nose!
[Well... actually it is on the far side of Bambi's face, but Walt
thought that it looked like she licked him right on the nose, and
he decided it looked perverse.] Cut from the original film and
thought lost for years, the missing nine seconds of _B_a_m_b_i has been
found without sound. A sixty-three piece orchestra, including
eight musicians of the original orchestra that recorded the score
for the original film will play the music for the scene. Special
audio techniques have been used to blend the music of the scene
with the surrounding music. The dialogue must be newly recorded
and impressionist Rich Little has been hired to speak the dialogue,
THE MT VOID Page 2
which consists of Bambi saying, "Mother?" Now you can see _B_a_m_b_i as
it was meant to be seen, complete and uncut. Remember the version
that you may now own is incomplete. It is not the REAL _B_a_m_b_i. If
you want to see the REAL _B_a_m_b_i, you have to pay new film prices.
Coming soon to a theatre near you. And coming next year is the
restored version of _T_h_e _S_h_a_g_g_y _D_o_g. We thought Walt was nuts to
cut those seven seconds, but now we are glad he did. Next summer
you can see the ONLY complete version of _T_h_e _S_h_a_g_g_y _D_o_g, playing at
a theater near you. [This ad has been paid for by Walt Disney
Enterprises.]
2. I want to thank the 44 people (!) whom Evelyn coerced to tie up
my terminal last Friday with birthday greetings. Just for your
information, Evelyn's birthday is November 21 and I expect all 44
of you and anyone else you can get to do the same to her in
November. We'll see how she likes it! (Oh, and thanks for all the
nice sentiments.)
3. _S_t_a_r _T_r_e_k: _T_h_e _N_e_x_t _G_e_n_e_r_a_t_i_o_n _#_1_6 "_C_o_n_t_a_m_i_n_a_t_i_o_n" by John
Vornholt was donated to the Lincroft Science Fiction Club library
by Laura Woodworth. [-lfl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
The history of the race, and each individual's
experience, are thick with evidence that a
truth is not hard to kill and a lie told well
is immortal.
-- Mark Twain
SWITCH
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This is a tasteless, sexist film
about why it is bad to be a male chauvinist in a strange
world that bears little resemblance to mine. A brainless
man is murdered and returns to earth as a brainless
woman. _S_w_i_t_c_h is Blake Edwards begin part of the problem
and pretending he is part of the solution. Rating: -1
(-4 to +4).
I think everybody knows that Blake Edwards is a successful
filmmaker. I get the impression that he retreated into Beverly Hills
some time around when hula hoops were in and he has not stepped out into
the real world since. That is fine by me. He writes funny movies like
the Clouseau films set in a never-Never-Land-Europe or set in his
hermetically sealed world where you can go to one store to buy clothes
and spend $41,000, and where if you catch someone by surprise she has
only $3000 in her purse. (These are plot elements from _S_w_i_t_c_h.) That
is fine. Edwards bragging about how much money people in his class have
is no worse than Bob Fosse bragging about how much sex he gets in _A_l_l
_T_h_a_t _J_a_z_z. Edwards has made a lot of people laugh and he is welcome to
his world. Where the rub comes is where he starts making comedies with
supposed social relevance. In _S_w_i_t_c_h, Edwards tackles the thorny issue
of male chauvinism in an Edwards-Never-Land among his usual assortment
of under-dressed buxom women and mannequin men. The sexism in his world
is the blatant stupid sexism of boors and is of an entirely different
character from the subtle and ambiguous sexism that occurs in my world.
Steve Brooks (played by Perry King) is successful in advertising.
("Advertising" is Hollywood shorthand for he isn't a policeman and he
doesn't make films. Ever notice how often advertising shows up as an
occupation in films. How many films can you name where the main
character is in plumbing supply or auto parts or has made a career of
software engineering? How many people work for a corporation with more
than one level of management above them?) Brooks is going about his
humdrum life--he is having a hot tub party with three naked women--when
he is murdered. Heaven, appalled by his sexism, sends him back to earth
where he must stay until he can find a woman to like him. But he is
sent back as a woman. This situation has a lot of possibilities, some
comedic, some silly, some interesting, some controversial. Edwards toys
with most of the possibilities, but flinches every time he gets too
close to ideas that might be interesting or controversial. Mostly we
see Amanda Brooks (Ellen Barkin as the female reincarnation) feeling
herself, feeling other women, and wearing skirts too short and sitting
with her legs apart like a man so the camera can get crotch shots. Most
irritating is the misfire running gag of her stumbling around on high-
heeled shoes. It is intended to get funnier each time and it simply
Switch May 19, 1991 Page 2
gets more and more annoying. Apparently high-heeled shoes are the only
kind women wear in Edwards-Never-Land. Barkin goes through the movie
oscillating between playing a really boorish male chauvinist and getting
fed up with men treating her the way she treats women. Edwards's idea
of what sexism is about seems to be more connected with men who get too
much sex or who proposition strange women in the street, actions more
common in Edwards-Never-Land than in my world. It does not seem to have
much to do with equal pay for equal work or even about filmmakers doing
films about naked women in hot tubs. Incidentally, equal pay is notably
_n_o_t and issue in this film. The main character is paid more as a woman
than she was as a man for the same job.
_S_w_i_t_c_h is a film that leaves a very bad taste in your mouth, and
more so the more you think about the film. _S_w_i_t_c_h this one off. For
the sake of a good, if not very well-chosen, acting job by Barkin and
for some competence in being entertaining I rate this film a charitable
-1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
OSCAR
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A delightful surprise. _O_s_c_a_r is a
throwback to manic screwball comedies of the 1930s that
takes chances and has them off. Undemanding as a star
vehicle for Sly Stallone, _O_s_c_a_r is packed with eccentric
weirdos, funny hoods, and lots of nutty dialogue. It has
been a good long time since I laughed so much at a
comedy. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4).
Fifteen years ago Sylvester Stallone became a major star with a
single film, _R_o_c_k_y. Since then he has made nothing but macho action
films. But surely now he realizes that he cannot keep playing low-
personality action figures on the screen. Even John Wayne discovered he
had to put some acting and character into his roles. And Wayne was
considered more charismatic on the screen than Stallone. So the time
has come for Stallone to cross over into comedy. His choice of comedy
shows unexpectedly good taste. It is not only a very funny comedy, but
it is a comedy unlike comedies that have been made for many years.
Although originally written in French in 1958, it is very much in the
style of some of Frank Capra's screwier comedies, such as _A_r_s_e_n_i_c _a_n_d
_O_l_d _L_a_c_e and _Y_o_u _C_a_n'_t _T_a_k_e _I_t _w_i_t_h _Y_o_u. It also takes some chances in
that it has the claustrophobic feel of a filmed stage play: 95% of it
takes place in one house and much of that is just in the course of one
morning. But it is such a gem of a stage play that it may just do the
trick for Stallone.
The plot defies describing in any detail, since a big part of the
fun is just making the plot more and more convoluted, until the
characters themselves are totally bewildered about what is going on.
The film opens with a surprisingly unfunny scene between mobster "Snaps"
Provolone (Stallone) and his dying father (played by Kirk Douglas).
Almost undoubtedly this scene was written just for the film, since it is
poorly written and it does not take place in the Provolone house, as
most of the rest of the film does. Poppa makes Snaps promise to go
straight. Flash to a charming credit sequence featuring what looks like
a Puppetoon opera singer singing the "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's
_B_a_r_b_e_r _o_f _S_e_v_i_l_l_e. Flash to a month later and Snaps's morning starts
with an unexpected meeting with his accountant, who admits that he has
been embezzling from Snaps but explains it is all okay because he will
soon be one of the family since he wants to marry Snaps's daughter.
Except it turns out to be a daughter that Snaps does not happen to have.
Well, sort of. If that sounds a little strange, you ain't heard nothing
yet. That is just how it starts. Give the film another five minutes
and stranger will happen still.
Oscar May 18, 1991 Page 2
The heart of this film is an incredible array of minor characters,
some very funny, far too many to mention. The film is well chosen to
let the bit parts do the most to pull the film along and place small
demands on the leading man, who appears to be up to the small demands
that are placed on him, and even if he were not, the pacing, the script,
and the minor characters would still make this film worth seeing. _O_s_c_a_r
makes it as one of the funniest comedies in a long time. I give it a +2
on the -4 to +4 scale.
A KISS BEFORE DYING
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Matt Dillon plays a man trying to
prove that in America you can make yourself the heir of a
financial empire if you are willing to buckle down, work
hard, and kill people who get in the way. Sean Young
plays dual roles as sisters, each of whom is courted by
the killer. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
One of the better thrillers of the 1950s was the 1956 _A _K_i_s_s _B_e_f_o_r_e
_D_y_i_n_g, based on the novel by Ira Levin (better known for _N_o _T_i_m_e _f_o_r
_S_e_r_g_e_a_n_t_s, _R_o_s_e_m_a_r_y'_s _B_a_b_y, and _T_h_e _S_t_e_p_f_o_r_d _W_i_v_e_s). This was quite a
nice little film with Robert Wagner as an ambitious man anxious to marry
into an industrialist's family and willing to commit multiple murders in
order to make his dream come true. Having courted one daughter (played
by Joanne Woodward) only to see his plan endangered when she
accidentally becomes pregnant, he murders her, makes it look like a
suicide, and under another name starts courting his victim's sister. _A
_K_i_s_s _B_e_f_o_r_e _D_y_i_n_g has become one more classic thriller remade in the
1990s.
Matt Dillon stars as Jonathan Corliss, just a poor humble boy who
has decided to marry one of the two daughters of copper magnate Thor
Carlsson (played by Max Von Sydow). He is all too willing to murder
anyone who gets in the way of his becoming an accepted member of the
Carlsson family. Having murdered the pregnant Dory Carlsson, he makes
his move on Ellen Carlsson. (Both Carlsson daughters are played by Sean
Young.) Ellen is convinced that Dory's death could not have been
suicide but has no reason to suspect her lover, who now calls himself
Jay. Bit by bit, Ellen unearths more information about Dory's death and
other apparently related murders, not knowing how close at hand the real
killer is.
Corliss is no Hannibal Lecter, but the viewer does have to give
grudging admiration for the cleverness of his unscrupulous plan and the
single-mindedness of his purpose. Although Ellen made the
understandable mistake of taking this man as her lover, one must also be
a little impressed with her Carlsson's detective work. We have a clever
amateur detective and her clever, murderous quarry sharing the same bed.
And screenwriter James Dearden has given the Levin story a harder edge
this time than last with just a touch of social comment to ameliorate
the crimes. This is a pleasant, diverting little thriller, much like
the original. I rate it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
THE PSIONIC MENACE by Keith Woodcott
Book review by Frank R. Leisti
Copyright 1991 Frank R. Leisti
When the human species splits in its evolution when man has reached
the stars, this author proposed that it splits into a psi contingent, a
space-faring force, colonists and the original species on Earth.
Underlying this story is the future direction of mankind -- to which
offshoot will be the one that carries mankind's banner throughout the
universe in glory.
Philip Gascon starts out by having a nice night out with his
girlfriend away from civilization, far enough from both the maddening
crowds of the city and the open space of the psi community that lives
apart from humanity for their own sake of sanity. Then, with the
unnatural sounds of the wimpering, cowering child of the psi group, his
life is changed forever. His girl leaves him, takes his car, gets it
wrecked and he is left in the middle of a psi family trying to control
their child from the unnatural fear that the universe is going to end.
Unfortunately for the family, they also have felt this fear or
warning that the universe is going to end, so they also are edgy and
concerned. Philip is quite shocked when he encounters this group,
especially when the child runs directly into him. He fears the psi
elders reading his thoughts, about what he has done, mainly the guilty
feelings that he has. His fears are put to rest when he is told that he
is a rare person -- a psi-nul, one who's thoughts can not be read. From
that moment on, his life is changed. He is arrested and then selected
to head Earth's claim on the universe against the Starfolk.
With Philip's background in cosmo-archeology, he becomes the pawn
in a deadly game where he needs to save a planet, and solve the end of
the universe. Not a small task for anyone special.
This book, written in 1963, brings together interesting aspects of
science fiction -- the evolution of a psi capable species -- and
nature's response with a psi-nul being, as well as interplanetary travel
and an encounter with fully evolved beings. The plot, although simple
is enjoyable and the characters that support the plot are both tragic
and human in many terms. I would rate this story as +1 on the Leeper
scale.