The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 47

Sentinel Star (rliinilo. Hiiriilu Saturday, February 5, 1977 0 SECTION Comics Television A Return To 'Roots': The Good, Bad, Ugly ft- '5 M. People it-t pathetic character in the movie. With his solid performance as Tom, Chicken 1 George's blacksmith son, Georg Stanford Brown, veteran of "The Rookies," pointed up once again how many fine -actors television underemploys. Lloyd Bridges' shouting, "Are we gonna whup them The "Sea Hunt" veteran was a fish out of water in "Roots." Though he can almost always be depended upon to turn in a respectable performance, Bridges, with his overacting and phony Southern turned his arch-bigot character, one-dimensional as.

written, into a cartoon. In smaller roles, Doug McClure, as Bridges' equally vile brother, was way out of his league; Burl Ives didn't enhance his reputation a whit; George Hamilton reminded us that looks alone aren't enough sometimes; and poet Maya Angelou, miscast as Kunta Kinte's grandmother, couldn't help making what should have been a toothless, wrinkled old woman seem to be an ancestor of Pearl Bailey. Massa William Reynolds (Robert Reed) unbuttoning the corset of his brother's wife (Lynda Day George): This was one maddening example not only of altering Haley's narrative, but of gratuitous sex in the movie. In the book, William Reynolds dotes on his niece Missy Anne because he lost his wife and daughter in childbirth. In the movie, it was strongly suggested that Missy Anne was the product of his clandestine affair with his brother's wife.

Similarly; the pandering and unresolved scene wherein a half-naked young black woman was ushered into Capt. Davies' (Ed Asner) quarters was invented for the movie. Two quietly devastating closing scenes: First, there was old Fiddler revealing the bitterness he'd for so long made himself hold in check as he cradled the brutally beaten young Kunta in his arms and vowed there would be "another day." It was the high point in Lou Gos-sett's splendid characterization. The other was the scene in which Kunta Kinte, helpless to stop his daughter Kizzy from being sold away, wept as he gathered up the dust from her. footprints and then, realizing that performing this Mandinka ritual would never bring her back, let it slip from his fingers.

The Hollywood finale: At no time during the 12 hours of "Roots" was the inability of the producers to resist embellishing Haley's story with melodrama-Continued on Page 7-D 1 llll HHWWl 1 I i ft Vs. 4 4. if1' i Mil I 5 i By NOEL HOLSTON Television Writer A television presentation that an estimated 130 million Americans saw all or part of has to be certified a major cultural event, a shared experience of enormous significance, so perhaps it's senseless to regret "Roots" wasn't a dramatic milestone as well. Perhaps the two are mutually exclusive. It's good that "Roots" attracted the largest audience in television history.

Far better "Roots" than "Helter Skelter," now displaced as the highest rated made-for-TV movie. Better "Roots" than its predecessor as the most widely watched program of any kind, "Gone with the Wind," an artistically superior epic marred by prejudices of its BUT THE phenomenal mass appeal of "Roots" says a great deal about the roman-ticization and. oversimplification Alex Haley's mdnumental "nonfiction novel" underwent at the hands of producer David Wolper and ABC's programming executives. As surely as an extensive, diversified promotional campaign helped insure "Roots" would be widely sampled on opening night, the melodramatic flavor and form given Haley's story Jielped keep that audience growing night after night. I can't help; recalling that, uncompromised and underpublicized, "Ceremonies in Dark Old Men," a black drama of greater depth, subtlety and insight by Lonne Elder was the least watched program of the week it was televised two years ago by ABC.

Television llvi'v While I was watching "Roots," the thought crossed my mind many times that it was a shame Haley's book couldn't have been put into the hands of a truly gifted writerdirector, say Francis Ford Coppola. If Coppola could turn Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" into a pair of masterpieces of American cinema, what might he have done with BUT IT'S pointless to speculate what might have been. What was wasn't' bad. On the contrary, "Roots" was superior to "Rich Man, Poor Man" and all the other serialized novels the commercial networks have served up to date. I didn't miss a minute of "Roots," and not because it was part of my I'll remember "Roots," not just the dramatization as a whole, but specific parts as well, some good and some bad, and these are some of both: The look in the eyes of young Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton), conveying confusion, terror and scalding hate at once, when he was examined like a horse or mule at the slave auction in Annapolis.

The hold of the Lord Ligonier: Though not as horrifying as described by Haley, it was horrifying enough, a physically and emotionally sickening glimpse of hell on earth. On the other hand, the shipboard slave revolt, a frenzied, desperate attack as Haley described it, came off as something out of an old pirate movie, with Kunta even throwing a knife to kill the sadistic first mate. I halfway expected to see Errol Flynn swing down on a rope. John Amos: This underrated actor had the dignity to walk away from his role in CBS's "Good Times" because the character emphasis was being shifted to Jimmie Walker's clownish "J.J." character, and that same dignity quietly shone through when Amos took over the role of Kunta Kinte from LeVar Burton. When it comes to delivering lines, especially some of the pretentious ones he was given in "Roots," Amos is still learning.

But there's more to acting than saying lines. There are facial expressions and body movements, and in these Amos seems to be a natural. He was masterful. Massa John Reynolds (Lome Greene) diligently studying the Holy Scriptures while listening half-attentively to the plea of Fiddler (Lou Gossett) that Kunta be spared a beating for attempting to escape. Ben Vereen: Vereen, as Kunta's grandson Chicken George, was brilliant, but then, I expected as much from a man who just may be the most versatile young talent in show business today.

Just for the scene in which he tried on the black derby that would become the trademark of Chicken George, Vereen should get an Emmy. Surprising performances: Richard Roundtree was excellent as Sam, the gambler's slave, and all the more so because the role was such a contrast to his "Shaft" image. Sandy Duncan twisted around her flighty, cutsie persona to 'r mi i ir 1 i It's nol easy Win" a Hun. Al first, Inert' shame. But laler there's pride, engendered li the ImhiW 'World of the Huns, wliiel routes to the Huns' defense, sort of.

While neer Mr. Niee (Ju.s, lite author the Huns were never as had as has heen made out. they hadn't, my friend Batchelor would be speaking in Latin. And living in Bulgaria. 7 -nan 1 That Old Son Of 3c" I i -1 -MfY -fwt A Hun So, look askance at my roots if you will; they at least made most of your roots possible.

My Saga: By MICHAEL KILIAN Chicago Tribune Dispatch Inspired by Alex Haley's splendid book and the movie "Roots," I went back to dig around my own. Alas, I found what my family has always found: Huns. The family line goes back directly to East Prussia, but, unfortunately, it keeps on going back all the way to those fun-loving horsemen who made life in Europe such a gas in the fourth and fifth centuries. As one less-than-joyous correspondent described their arrival in the neighborhood in the year 396: "EVERY DAY unrest, every day new reports of misfortune, every day new blows, nothing but fights. The East has been carried into captivity, and nobody lives in the destroyed cities.

The West is being punished Dead are the merchants, widowed the women." It has not been easy being a Hun, especially when I had for a neighbor an English news correspondent named Ronald Batchelor. When he in his Ford would pass me in my Volkswagen, he'd shout to the world: "Look who's driving that Hun car!" Other times, such as when we were dining in a restaurant in Milwaukee, he'd exclaim: "Gawd, you even eat Hun mustard." I felt shame. BUT NOW I feel pride, sort of. I've discovered a book, written by the late Professor Otto Maenchen-Helfen and entitled "World of the Huns," which comes to the Huns' defense, sort of. While never Mr.

Nice Guys, Professor Maenchen-Helfen asserts, the Huns were never as bad as has been made out. For one thing, the use of the term Huns to describe the Germans of World Wars I Weekenders and II is in error. While some eastern Germans like my folk were descended from Huns, most Germans evolved from Franks, Vandals, Visigoths (who, I think, wore visors), Ostagoths, and other Goths. (Which reminds me, if we call New York "Gotham," why don't we call New Yorkers Nor was Attila the Hun such a monster, the professor says. He may have kept lines of reclining young girls outside his tent (just like any of today's rock stars) and been keen on beheadings, but who wasn't in those earthy times? THE REAL terror of those days, according to the professor, was a greedy Goth named Theoderic the Squinter.

I suppose it was just that 'Theoderic the Squinter" doesn't sound quite so menacing, especially when shouted from horseback. The Huns did not spend all their time raping, pillaging and slaughtering. Their economy was based on cattle and sheep; the capture and sale of whole nations of people; and threatening the Goths and Romans with rape, pillage, and slaughter if they were not given huge amounts of gold. Thus did they establish the prototype of both the street gang and the Internal Revenue Service. Outdoor-lovers, they destroyed cities because they thought them evil.

They called cities "tombs" and buildings "cages." What a boon they'd be today in the case of New York. AND, THOUGH they didn't hold sway for very long, the Huns made an extremely significant contribution to world history. By driving terrified hordes of Franks, Goths and the like before them into the Roman Empire, they brought about the destruction of the Roman Empire and assured the settlement of Europe by what are now Europeans. make Missy Ann the most despicable and Alex Haley's 'Roots' Excerpts Begin In Sunday's Sentinel Star iiT11.11!! S. demonstrations and lectures will be held from 1 to 9 p.m.

today. At Altamonte Mall, Greg Mullavey, star of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," and his wife, Meredith MacRae, will headline the Cerebral Palsy Telethon from 11 p.m. today to 5 p.m. Sunday. The telethon will be broadcast live byWDBO-TV.

V. The Opera Gala Guild's production of "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "Pagliacci" will continue at 2 p.m. Sunday at Tupperware Auditorium, Kissimmee. At Rollins College, "Death of a Salesman" will continue at 8:30 p.m. today at the Annie Russell Theater; and at the Abbey Theater, 4 10 N.

Orange Blossom Trail, "Fortune and Men's Eyes" will continue at 8 p.m. Sunday. The Travelventure Series showings of "Incredible Iceland" will be held at 2 and 8 p.m. today at the Lakeland Civic Center. Bikel, on behalf of Soviet Jewry, has been active with the American Jewish Congress, and has produced a recording, "Silent No More," the freedom songs of Soviet Jews.

He was recently seen in the television production "Victory At Entebbe." The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus will continue at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. today and at 1 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Lakeland Civic Center. Circus highlights include the re-creation of the wedding of the world's smallest man, to his lilliputian love, Juliana.

And, for the first time in 30 years, performing polar bears will be part of the "Greatest Show on Earth." Ice America, a 50-member ice skating ensemble, will perform at 2:30 and 8 p.m. today at Orlando Sports At Colonial Plaza, a flower show featuring displays, Thousands of art enthusiasts will be descending on the small town of Mount Dora today and Sunday, to attend the third annual Mount Dora Art Festival. The festival which last year attracted 35,000 people will be held in Mount Dora's Donnelly Park, off old U.S. 441. Mount Dora is located about 25 miles northwest of Orlando.

Hours of the festival, in which 240 artists from around the nation will display their works, will be from 9 a.m. to 5:30 Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Prizes totaling more that $4,000 will be awarded. Broadway singing star Theodore Bikel will perform at 8 p.m.

today in the Winter Park High School auditorium. His appearance is part of the Central Florida Jewish Community Council Cultural Series, and is the substitution for the Inbal Dancers, who canceled their Sunday show due to a strike..