Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 81

-nrw-r-yi-n-r- titi i 'vi republic -mail. The Arizona Republic Friday, May 1,1981 and the Arts Horror films go hand in hand in mediocrity THE HAND An Orion release through Warner Bros, of an E.R. Pressman-lxilan picture, produced by Edward R. Pressman, directed by Oliver Stone from his screenplay based on the novel The Lizard's Tail by Marc Brandel. Cinematography by King Baggot.

Starring Michael Caine and Andrea Marcovicci. Rated R. THE HOWLING An Avco Embassy release produced by Michael Finnell and Jack Conrad, directed by Joe Dante from a screenplay by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless, based on the novel by Gary Brander. Starring Dee Wallace, Patrick MacNee, Dennis Dugan, John Carradine and Slim Pickens.

Rated R. l' A i r- fc i i i i rt i i -foil '4 If is II' r- i. I W'-- if 4 Uv-s it I ijf'VZh- ill i t-f LmniiiiWfliiihifiTiiiTfTT 4mii Ta.mr were done recently in Scanners, the one about making people's heads explode. If Scanners was a bang, The Howling is a whimper. Dee Wallace stars as a TV reporter whose efforts to interview the killer who has been mauling Los Angeles women puts her in the clutches of a band of werewolves.

For some reason, once there, the John Sayles-Terence H. Winkless screenplay shoves her into the background to focus on her husband's dalliance with a lady wolf and a co-worker's interrupted file-filching. The man-becoming-wolf scenes are far. more graphic, than those in the old horror pictures. But they're "also endless' and scored with the same ligament-popping, bone-crunching sound effects that accompany the tearing out of one poor victim's throat.

These, along with the generous daubings of blood, argue against seeing the movie with either an empty or a full stomach. On the other hand, The Howling is sometimes a howl, because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Example: The esoteric bookstore owner who gets hero Dennis Dugan onto the right track, complains about how hard it is to kill werewolves. "They're worse than cockroaches," he grumps. By the end, the picture has about dissolved into comedy, which is fitting.

Aside from the special effects, there was no real reason to make it. By Michael Maza Republic Staff The Hand and The Howling both are departures from the meatcutter training films that continue to dominate the horror genre. Just because they're non-contestants in the dismemberment derby, however, doesn't mean they're good. What is the sound of one hand clapping? You could measure it on an applause meter at The Hand, which stars Michael Caine and Andrea Marcovicci, both formerly class acts. (For example: Caine in Alfie, Ms.

Marcovicci in Martin Ritt's The Front.) He is a successful comic strip cartoonist, she's a dancer and his wife. A move to the country from New York City has made him happy, but she feels cut off. Driving into the city to look at an apartment she wants to rent and he doesn't, they get into a marital tiff that ends in an auto accident He loses his drawing hand. Flung into a roadside meadow, the mitt remains among the missing. "Mommy went to look for it," Caine tells his daughter, "and it ran away." What follows is, of course, a lot of hand jive.

Screenwriter-director Oliver Stone uses multiple startle responses and the usual something's-sneaking-up-on-the-hero points of view to tell his "handsome" story, but also cuts in some short, sharp insets to give the picture a psychological tang and break up the slow spots. But the hands-down centerpiece of The Hand is the special effects the hands. An old hand at hands came up with 30 hands for The Hand. Carlo Rambaldi, who designed the huge paw for Dino DiLauren-tiis'8 King Kong remake, did a walking hand, a strangling hand, a crawling hand, a hand crawling with bugs. Just think what such effort might produce on a project of less preposterous proportions.

Special effects also are central to The Howling. Unfortunately, very similar things Angry cartoonist, played by Michael Caine, assaults his wife, Andrea Marcovicci. Jerome tour takes in historical sites ft piiiiplpi llltflf i ''V I'. i 1 4" A lt i "i Jerome's 16th annual home and historical structure tour is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

May 17 and 18. Sponsored by Jerome's Community Service Organization and Chamber of Commerce, each two-hour tour will visit sites of interest in the historic mining town located in the Mingus Mountains about 100 miles north of Phoenix. Admission price is $3.50 for adults, $2 for children younger than 12 and "nothing for babes in arms," according to Menica Peterson, president of the Jerome Historical Society. Tickets will be on sale in a booth in front of the Verde Valley Art Gallery on Main Street both tour days. Visitors should park wherever convenient; they will be driven to tour locations in cars belonging to Jerome residents.

Tours will be continuous. Stops will be made at the following: Jerome post office: Originally the New State Garage, the current post office building was constructed in 1917. All furnishings are from the original post office, which was operated in the 1883 Miller Building. Open pit area: Copper was the primary ore mined during the early part of the century here. Small amounts of gold, silver and taconite also were taken out.

Catholic church; The present structure was built in 1899 and restored in 1980-81. Talley house: The home of the general manager of Phelps Dodge mining operations has been visited by kings, heads of state and other officials. Tour spokesmen claim the home contains the world's "most beautiful staircase." The house is beiug restored. Alfredo and Ava'a apartment: The location once was part of the Revello Apartments, a boarding house. It has been remodeled and is now the residence of Alfredo and Ava Gutierrez.

James Rome home: Artist James Rome and family live in this restored house that includes elements of a Phoenix bar and windows from Jerome houses, since destroyed. The Inn: Built about 1885 as a J' Catholic church in Jerome in 1899 and restored in 1980-81. Tim Rogers Republic Parfc improvements store is owned by the Jerome Historical Society. Art works by the Verde Valley Art Association members will be on display. Free punch and cookies will be served at the end of each tour.

Proceeds from the annual tour are used for municipal needs including; the local fire, library and sanitation departments. "We don't like the image of being ts ghost town anymore," said Mrs. Peterson, speaking for the town whose 1980 population has been counted at 411. Jerome was incorporated in 1899. "We'd rather be referred to as historic old Jerome." residence, the building housed a bootleg still in the 1930s.

Later it was turned into an art gallery. Current owners David Mueller and Don Thuesen are remodeling the downstairs for a restaurant and bar and the upstairs as bedrooms. Owners claim a female ghost lives here. The mortuary: A number of families resided in this circa-1902 house until it was turned into a mortuary in 1930. After the mortuary closed in 1967, Carol Wittner purchased the property and began restoring it in 1980.

Lawrence Memorial Hall: Known as Spook Hall, the former J.C. Penney Co. The Phoenix Parks Department celebrates May Day today with the opening of three newly landscaped parks in the Paradise Valley area on Sweetwater Road. Mayor Margaret Hance will be among the city officials on hand at 10 a.m. for ceremonies at Sereno Park, 56th Street and Sweetwater, featuring a May Day dance by children of Desert Shadows Middle School.

Neighboring parks, Sonrisa, above, a 10-acre recreational area at 52nd Street and Sweetwater, and the 19-acre Sweetwater Park at 44th Street, are part of a development effort financed by public and private funds. i fiH -riffP-rr omm Jazz razzmatazz in Roots series couid convert skeptics Irl Today Alves May 13th presents country music fans with a quandary because Joe Stampley plays the mammoth Graham Central Station on the very same night that Chuck Wagon and Tonight's the night jazz-blues-gospel singer Delia Reese performs at Celebrity Theater in a benefit for the Phoenix Urban League. Tickets are $10, $11 and $12 at Diamonds Box Offices. the Wheels return to the modest confines of the Blue Goat Pub Don Williams slides into Symphony Hall on the 16th BOOK PARADE China Men, an author's look at her Chinese ancestors who came to the United States, was among winners of the American Book Awards. G2.

(ffi Mike I Ives Also happening this weekend is the Uptown JazzDowntown Style concert at Alwun House (12th Street and Roosevelt) featuring the Charles Lewis Quintet 1. Tickets are five bucks at Diamonds, starting time is 8 p.m., and you can't miss the place, it's the biggest peach-colored house in the neighborhood. For thope who refuse to believe that Phoenix has its share of first-class jazz musicians, the Roots of Jazz Series (Part II) may change their tune. The second segment of Roots debuts Sunday evening at the Boojum Tree (Second Avenue and Osborn) and features some heavy-duty local musicians, including the likes of Emerson Carruthere, Schoolboy Porter, Prince Shell, Fred Forney and Lewis Nash. The show is titled "Bird Bebop" and features the music of Charlie "Bird" Parker and his contemporaries who originated bebop in the '40s and '50s.

Porter, Carruthers and Shell were alive and working during that era. Shell wrote all the arrangements for this particular segment, and if there's such a thing as a "Phoenix sound" in FALL TELEVISION CBS announced a fall schedule on Thursday that indicates the network is reluctance to tamper with success. G1 1. Meanwhile, out at The Pointe, some of the! most astute journalists in the nation are quietly gathered for the annual meeting of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.) Serious seminars are expected to topics such as "Expense Accounts: An Exercise in Creative Writing," along with "Coping With! Deadline Pressure Through Alcohol" and! "Coping with Alcoholism Through Mind' Roots represents one of the last chances locals will have to catch Lewis Nash on drums before he shuffles off to New York to study under Max Roach. Reducing Drugs.

Trade of the week: Small Paul for Big Pete? Big Pete Pearson, front man for the Drivin' Wheel blues band, had to check in for some repairs on his previously indestructible pipes. Small Paul Hamilton is now steering the Wheel. Alice Tatum and Pyramid play Marilyn and Harry's this weekenl, hard on the heels of Jack G3 G12 G9 G10 G6 G8 Gil G12 Gil Bookin' it Bridge" Cinemafare Movie guide Namesfaces Nightlife Radio log Square dance Television Tormins ofA the nroeram will be a frank discussion of Ten-Fineered Typing vs. Two-i Speaking of splitting, songwriter Brent Burns (Cheaper Crude or No More Food) is blowing town to seek notoriety in Nashville. He's staging a farewell concert at noon at Metrocenter.

jazz, Prince is the man who invented it. If can't make the Roots performance Aiis Sunday, it will be repeated next Sunday, same time, same place. fisted Drinking" led by Sam Lowe, a twcTflstecT typist of some repute.