St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 39

page fivespectator March 7, 1980 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Sellers In Serious Role; Spacek As Miner's Daughter the new movies By Joe Pollack Of the Post-Dispatch Staff 'Being There' Watching Peter Sellers in a perfectly straight, completely serious role is a fascinating experience. Those who know the variety of his Inspector no real country stars in the film, though Beverly D'Angelo is winning as Patsy Cline, who befriended the young Lynn. (Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes. Rating, PG.

At the Alton, Cinema IV, Cross Keys, Des Peres, Ellisville, South County) 'To Forget Venice' The arrival at maturity, one of the most difficult of human steps, receives a searching, bittersweet look in "To Forget Venice," an Academy Award (Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes. Rating, R. At the Tivoli, in Italian with subtitles). Coal Miner's Daughter' There's a slick, plastic feeling to most Hollywood biographies, especially when the subject still is living, and I a character will be surprised to see him without disguises, or heavy makeup, or strange The same thing is true for Douglas, nominated as Best Supporting Actor. He's highly entertaining, if that comparison may be made, as a dying old man, but the portrayal lacks the power that the same actor gave in "The Seduction of Joe Tynan," in which he also died.

MacLaine is delightful as Douglas' much-younger wife, a woman who sees Sellers as a sex symbol. And she handles the role with a lot of charm and good humor, avoiding the easy slide into silliness. Jack Warden is wasted as the president, but Richard Dysart is effective balance as Douglas' physician, and Ruth Attaway is just marvelous as the maid, especially later in the film when she watches his television appearance. Loretto-Hilton fans will recognize Arthur A. Rosenberg as the production assistant who ushers Sellers into the talk show.

Rosenberg, by the way, also was in Ashby's last film. (Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes. Rating, PG. At the Creve Coeur, Halls Ferry, Mark Twain) 'Orchestra Rehearsal9 A little old man takes us on a brief tour of a 13th-century chapel, pointing out that three popes and seven bishops are buried there, but that now it is a nominee as Best Foreign Film and the latest from Italian writer-director Franco Brusati, who while there are a lot of entertainment values to "Coal Miner's Daughter," the plastic feeling couples are in theirs. Brusati also inserts some flashbacks to the childhoods of the principals, indicating some of the reasons for their emotional development, and he handles it in an interesting manner, with the grownup often standing by, silently watching and remembering.

Erland Josephson, an Ingmar Bergman regular, is outstanding as Nicky, the brother who is most affected by the climactic moments of the weekend contact with a boyhood friend and lover who now is grown and celebrating the wedding of a pregnant daughter, and the death of his sister, which makes him stop and take stock of his life and future. Mariangela Melato is the older woman, and reveals a soul tortured by her childhood and her hatred of her parents. In one of the flashbacks, she even portrays her own mother, abandoned by her husband and filled with fear and hatred. The moment is impressive. Actually, all the acting is first-rate, including a winningly handsome David Pontremoli as Josephson's friend and Eleonora Giorgi as Melato's.

Hella Petri displays real style as the singer. If there's a scene-stealer, it's the maid, who is totally marvelous, injecting both humor and a touch of pathos, and it's a shame that she is not credited. Brusati's writing and direction are smooth and stylish, and the film moves flawlessly, with never a jarring moment to disturb the sensitive story of four basically nice people at a changing point in their lives. Some nudity is the cause of the rating. (Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Rating, R. At the Chesterfield, in Italian with subtitles) for the "older man," the World War II veteran returned to the coal country of Kentucky. The romance builds nicely, and there is some extremely effective work from Levon Helm and Phyllis Boyens as Lynn's parents, and there's a gritty, poverty-stricken feel to the footage that is outstanding. Tommy Lee Jones gives a strong performance as her husband in the early going, but like the film itself, he fades later on. It was his influence, however, that took the singer out of the mining country and to Washington State, then off the back porch and into the recording studio, and Jones shows it well.

He defends leaving Kentucky with a comment from a moonshiner who told him that people in Butcher Hollow had only three choices, "Coal mine, moonshine or movin' on down the line." For the actors, and for Tom Rickman, who adapted George Vescey's book for the screen, the later part is obviously the more difficult part. It is relatively simple to portray or to write about youth and romance and struggle to success, but as reality is approached, and Lynn is extremely real, there is a tendency to substitute plastic. The film sluffs over Lynn's adult problems with her husband, with drugs, with other real things, and even the brief lapse into the "Oh, it's so lonely at -the top," syndrome is offensive. With the exception of a brief appearance by Ernest Tubb and a briefer one by Minnie Pearl, there are also is responsible for the charming "Bread and Chocolate." It takes place on a weekend at the country home of a retired opera singer. Two women who call her "Aunt" and a slightly addlepated crone of a maid live with her.

The elder woman, in her 30s, runs the farm; the other, about 10 years younger, is a teacher. The singer's younger brother and a friend come to take the women to a weekend in Venice. The two couples are both homosexual, but Brusati, unlike William Friedkin in "Cruising," never leers. There are no overt sexual encounters, no pandering to the voyeur instinct. All four are adults.

All are gentle, thinking people who have adopted a certain sexual lifestyle, and they as comfortable in their relationships as most heterosexual remains. The story of Loretta Lynn is fascinating on two levels Lynn the country singer, of course, and also Lynn the woman who was married at 13, gave birth to her fourth child a week before her 18th birthday and did not begin her singing career until she was 22, taking a break a few years later to have twins. Sissy Spacek offers an interesting portrayal of Lynn, and also handles all the singing. In a switch from most cinematic procedure, the songs were recorded live, during the filming, instead of being added afterward, and while Spacek is not Lynn and will not fool the dedicated fan, she sings well enough. The early part of the film, shot on location in Appalachia, is the best part, as the 13-year-old mountain girl falls rehearsal hall for an orchestra, and that the television cameras are coming to film the rehearsal.

The musicians straggle in, complaining and arguing as they arrange their chairs. costumes, or different accents. But in "Being There," Sellers is one constant character, until a moment at the very end when he steps completely out of it and offers a jarring note that is extremely irritating. There are passing resemblances to Charlie Chaplin along the way the hat, the i umbrella, sometimes the walk but they are so slight as to be almost subliminal. Jerzy Kosinski's satiric novel, which he adapted for the screen, is a strange and simple story.

It's a comedy, but the sort of comedy that brings chuckles and grins rather than hearty laughter. It is pointed in its view of television, of the political process, of the instant celebrity status that is too-easily conferred these days, and the author avoids heaviness. Sellers portrays a middle-aged man named Chance who is the gardener at a Washington house where he lives, guided by an old man (perhaps his father, but never stated) and fed by a maid. He never has been outside the house, nor has he learned to read or write. He watches television and works in the garden, sometimes doing both at the same time.

All he knows has been ingested from the small screen, via a remote control tuner that he carries with him at all times. When the old man dies, Sellers is forced onto the street, totally unable to cope. He is bumped by a limousine and taken by its owner, Shirley MacLaine, to the palatial mansion where she lives with her immensely rich husband, Melvyn Douglas. He's a leader of political-economic power and an intimate friend of the president. By now, Chance the gardener has become Chauncey Gardiner and a man of great power for two reasons, his parroting of television phrases and his tendency to repeat the speaker's ideas.

After all, as Kosinski is saying, when we ask a question, we often don't want a truthful answer; we merely want our opinion confirmed, and that's what Chance does. Under the direction of Hal Ashby, in his first film since "Coming Home," Sellers gives an impressively disciplined performance, always taut and under control. The difficulty with the film, however, is that the screenplay is basically a one-joke story, and after a while, the joke becomes predictable and starts to wear thin. It also is about 20 minutes too long. Although Sellers' performance is very strong, it is pale next to those of Roy Scheider and Dustin Hoffman, to mention a pair of his rivals for an Academy Award, and it is not so exciting and all-encompassing as that of Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now," and Sheen wasn't even nominated.

I have a feeling that seeing Sellers in a disciplined role was such a surprise to Oscar nominators that it won them over. "'Coal Miner's Daughter' is an achievement in American 11161118.. Sissy Spacek gives an absolutely stunning it is breathtaking. I say: Sissy Spacek for Best Actress of 1980." Richard Grenier, Cosmopolitan Magazine The union representatives explain the forthcoming television interviews for no extra pay, of course and huddle in a corner, making their little deals. That's the beginning of Federico Fellini's "Orchestra Rehearsal," subtitled, "The Decline of the West in C-Sharp Minor," a sharply focused story that uses an orchestra in rehearsal as a microcosm of society that is fast crumbling under the pressure of leadership, as represented by the conductor.

The musicians are jealous, carping, mean, selfish little people, each focused on his (or her) own instrument as the most important part of the denigrating the contributions of others and scorning the conductor, using the television interview as a method of making a point. Balduin Baas portrays the conductor, almost as selfish as his musicians but at least cognizant of the fact that the entire orchestra must be disciplined, must play together, in order to produce music that sounds right. While Baas is being interviewed, during a break, and expounding his love for Arturo Toscanini, the radicals in the orchestra take over, scrawling graffiti on the walls and refusing to listen to Baas when he returns to the podium. Eventually, he takes control again, perhaps even more solidly, as the "rebellion" is quelled. Fellini's metaphors are clear enough, but he becomes so obvious so soon that interest tends to wane, and even his relatively short statement seems too long.

There's some strong language, which is the cause of the rating. "A total joy from beginning to spirited, honest and life affirming. Sissy Spacek and Tommy "Sissy Spacek makes a quantum leap to major Tommy Lee Jones has the strongest part of his screen career, and plays it with strength and subtlety. The entire cast is perfect." Bruce Williamson, Playboy "'Coal Miner's Daughter' positively shines with freshness Lee Jones are mesmerizing. Beautifully directed by Michael Apted.

You'll be rivited to the screen." Rex Reed, New York Daily News "Movie of the see 'Coal Miner's Daughter' and you'll be won over." Edwin Miller, Seventeen Magazine and power." Lynn Minton, McCall's Magazine "Sissy Spacek gives a Academy Award Nominee i (- I if I i virtuoso performance." David Ansen, Newsweek Magazine BEST FOREIGN FILM "ONE OF THE YEAR'S MOST DISTINGUISHED FILMS! A BEAUTIFUL AND IMPORTANT WORK." -Re "FRANCO BRUSATI HAS GONE FAR BEYOND BREAD AND CHOCOLATE'! A LOVELY AND LYRICAL Crist "A haunting, delicate, complex film with excellent performances." William Wolf, Cue New York "TO FORGET VENICE' PROBES SECRET, SENSITIVE HOLLOWS OF THE HEART, THE LIBIDO AND IT IS ALWAYS Lerman, Vogue "BRUSATI t)UITE SURPASSES HIS EARLIER WORK IN THE POPULAR 'BREAD AND CHOCOLATE'. The performances are splendid in a film of insight and intelligence." David Slerritt, Christian Science Monitor SISSY SPACEK TOMMY LEE JONES "COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER" also starring BEVERLY DANGELO LEVON HELM Screenplay by TOM RICKMAN Based on the Autobiography by LORETTA LYNN with GEORGE VECSEY Executive Producer BOB LARSON Produced by BERNARD SCHWARTZ Directed by MICHAEL APTED a Bernard Schwartz Production a universal picture 4 inmninnriiihmwiiiriJiittii iiirmi'i im MiniJtfc mmmm PG PARENTAL GUIDANCE SUGGESTED Original Soundtrack On MCA Records and Tapes. Now a Vforner Book. 1980 UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SOME MATERIAL MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN WW Franco. Brusati's STARTS TODAY! ENGLISH SUB-TITLES ITALIAN ACADEMY AWARD 7:00, 9:25 7:00, 9:20 lof Show 12:10 Tbporgetyerdce WINNER BEST FILM Rroii fiim prreWTo Forget Erland Josephson.

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