The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 161

Sunday, Nov. 6, 1977 Philadelphia Inquirer 3-1 Fonzie making his big move into movies Sweet Charityx FONZIE, From 11 terns, you name it. Some of the scripts were pretty terrible. But with Heroes, I liked the character and the film's potential. And I liked the importance of the statement.

It's an antiwar theme without hitting you over the head with the message." However, Winkler made it clear that the project was not all a thing of joy. Asked if he was completely happy with the finished product, Winkler said, "Well, I guess if we were friends sitting around talking, I'd say a few things, but what counts is that I'm really proud of the film. "I learned one thing, though. I know why some actors are considered creeps and hard to get along with. You have to take a strong stand about some things or you'll get bulldozed into oblivion." Asked to be a bit more specific, Winkler said, "Well, these are things I can't talk about now." Winkler pointed out that an acting career is "something I dreamed about since I was 6 years old.

I knew almost from the beginning that this was what I was going to do with my life." However, had the big-time success not come, had there been a point when it was obvious that he would not be any more than a mere journeyman actor, Winkler said 4Heroes'-the acting is that his "Jewish guilt" would have turned him to an alternate course, probably child psychology. Does Henry Winkler have any "Jewish guilt" at the moment? "I guess so," he said. "It comes from my mother. She would give me Rice Crispies, some milk, a little guilt and a glass of orange juice." Winkler admits having a powerful desire to eventually return to the scene of his biggest failure to date, the Broadway stage. "I went into a show in 1973," he said.

"It was called '42 Seconds From Broadway' and it opened and closed on the same night. Sure, I want to go into another show when the time is right. I would love to do a musical, except I can't sing. But I'll be back on Broadway some day. Right now, though, I want to concentrate on becoming a movie star.

You have to take one thing at a time." Winkler's movie-star goal includes another film in addition to "Heroes." Four days after he completed work on that project, Winkler went to work on "The One, the Only," which was directed by Carl Reiner and is due for release later in the year. Winkler said when "The One, the Only" was being cast, it was regarded as the "hottest property in Hollywood." To date, Winkler feels that he has made all of the right moves. And this is important because, after all, "my characterizations are my paintings on the wall." Fonzie could not have said it with more well, style. Matid SpKah present 1 221 IiCKETS AVAIL ABU-Wonomolwrl Central City ticmton toeotioni cwctmc racTorv concern, utrn ummmni Academy Box Of flee Into Dial LOVE 222 Tu mm fc Fri-Nov11-8pm I $5,6,7 III 1 superior ly concerned with the latter, offering Winkler's derangement as a fait accompli at the film's beginning and explaining its consequences at the movie's eloquent conclusion. In the long interim we are left with such exchanges as Miss Fields earnestly telling Winkler, "I protested the war" and his curt response "I fought it." It is the beginning of a conversation that cries out for amplification and there is none.

The vacuum created by what is left unsaid in "Heroes" is filled by lurches across the ever present thin line between what is funny and what is unbearably sad. Nonetheless, this is a movie to be valued for its acting (Harrison Ford, the pilot in "Star Wars," is also quite remarkable as another irretrievably scarred veteran) and it directs our attention to an area where many people are not disposed to look. -Lmm mS, mism cm am (mm-- IUtS, WtU, IHUK5, rKI, SAT, SUN NITE DINNERS SHOW $13.95 FrI. Sun. $14.95 Sat.

Nite $16.95. Mjtj $11.95 RIVERFRONT DINNER THEATRE. ueuware River at Poplar St. PA. (215) 5-7000 rHtl rARKINS The RESTAURANTS SPAGHETTI PIZZA LASAGNA Other Things Italian PLUS A GREAT STEAK Lane.

Av. Buttleton Av. NE Plymouth Mlg Mall; Springfield Mall HdLU IHUIbtA. FRI nOU 18 '8 pm S6.50 in advance S7.50dayofshow $7.50 limited" I reserved seats UJED.THUnOU 23,24 8pm $6.50,750,8.50 QUEEN 4 monnou28 8pm $5.50,6.50,750 SPECTRUM THEATER JETHRO TULL mon dee 5 8pm $6.50,750 'mm Tiir nrm r.B; 56.50,750 HRVL HHUL jDHin nETUJCRU DEC 12,13 8pm $6.50,750 SPECTRUM THEATER TICKETS ON SALE SAT FRI DEC1B Spm $5.50,6.50,7.50 TICKETS ON SALE SAT spscial guest I nvS I monDE(19 8pm $750 in advance $8.50 day of show $8.50 reserved seats f-HOOUl-fcO PRfcStNTtD SPIVAK a MAGID mi mm mm mm i 9mm mm FOR MORE INFO CALL LOVE 222 TICKETS AVAILABLE SPECTRUM BOX OFFICE ALL TirETB0N LOCATIONS CONCERTS TICKET OFFICE. $6.50,750.3.50 DOOBII BROTHERS 1 1 7S SPECTRUM I KJ THEATER The ZTV 1 ERIURRfflElliw -jwar, rt I weaker in matters of overall control: The film is much too long, in constant danger of sinking into another "road" movie and laden with interludes like an embarrassing stint with a ventriloquist's dummy that Winkler essays on a cross-country bus ride that are a burden to the story and superfluous to its development.

The beginnings of Winkler's relationship with Miss Fields, who has boarded the bus to be alone with her misgivings about her imminent marriage, are neatly set out in James Carabatsos' sometimes windy script. "You're nuts" observes Miss Fields as Winkler discourses on the life-style of worms. You too, huh?" he replies in a tone of withering resignation. What causes madness and derangement is usually of more interest than its consequences in personal conduct. "Heroes" is large- ATP C-m.

1, auaswi eiirSi tnlnriljtmii 11 mm From 1-1 a portrait of an unhinged mind. There are few challenges more daunting to an actor than depicting madness and obsession in a way that attracts fascination and sympathy and Winkler manages it very well. He is complemented by Sally Field's touching and equally muted playing as his companion and eventual lover; it is her best work since "Sybil." The story of "Heroes" (a true one, by the way) is outwardly off-putting. Winkler, gathering funds and support from other veterans, escapes from a Veterans Administration hospital in New York and sets out for the Pacific Northwest where he plans to establish a worm farm. This is an obsession, an alternative to a reality that he cannot face and one to be pursued with paranoid intensity for that very reason.

That intensity never leaves Winkler, who uses his charismatic screen presence to sustain it at a level that carries the film through its erratic changes of mood and tempo. Kagan made a very promising debut recently with "Scott Joplin," a theatrically released television movie, and individual scenes in "Heroes" bristle with talent. He is British play at McCarter The American premiere of "Old Flames," a drama by E.A. Whitehead, will be the third production of the McCarter Theater Company's season in Princeton, N. J.

The British play, about the confrontation of a man and the women in his past, replaces Eduardo De Fi-lippo's "Grand Magic." The McCarter said that "Old Flames" had been producing director Michael Kahn's original choice but production rights were held up until recently. Kahn will direct the production, which will play the McCarter Theater from Dec. 1 through Dec. 18. This is the one McCarter attraction that will not be seen in the Annenberg Center's Western Bank subscription series.

Altarpiece given in Callas' name Associated Press SIRMIONE, Italy Giovanbattista Meneghini, former husband of the late soprano Maria Callas, has donated a 16th-century altarpiece to a local church to honor the memory of the singer. The ailing 82-year-old Italian Industrialist, who lives here on a lakeside villa, was divorced by Miss Callas in 1971 but remained one of her most devoted admirers. He is now engaged in a dispute with the soprano's Greek mother, Evangelia Calogeropoulos, over the Callas inheritance. Mrs. Calogeropoulos questions the validity of a will under which Meneghini would become the soprano's sole heir.

Meneghini says that he wants the inheritance to use it for charities. Mon and Tue CHRIS HIlimRII Ron CRICK Wed thru Sat BETTV CRRTER BOB DUBQC Mon and Tue, Nov 14 and 15 JRCK BRUCE TOPAZ PERSURSIOnS SGRf.H DflSH Mon and Tue. Nov 21 and 22 CRTE BROTHERS jV, UREtlCE BOVLRIl thru Sat, Nov 23 to 26 mM nOEL POINTER 1409 Lombard St. 735-4444 concert ifUEnOU22 8pmi $5,6,71 TICKETS AVAILABLE' Wanamakera (downtown) Bag A Baggage Central City All tichetrbn Location Concerts Ticket Off ice (18th A Lombard) HgHgBBP, 7 vssm aV HUM wmmmm mmm ii ifinei'UMiiijiii mis wmrn EXCLUSIVE TWO-THEATRE ENGAGEMENT mm 925-7900 THTHSinMfinnnsr? LANCASTFB AVE BHTN MAWH I A 266? 214 WALNUT STREET gaassroiri.