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Tucson Daily Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • Page 20

Location:
Tucson, Arizona
Issue Date:
Page:
20
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

PAGE 20 A I I I THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1972- A Keating review 'Centurions' too heroic to be true By MICHELIXE KEATING Citizen Mevtt Critic The film "The Kew Centurions," which opened las! sigh; at Showcase 1, is based Spon a popular novel written by a Los Angeles police ser- It purports to be a realistic view of the tough and heroic life of the men in blue. It shows them risking their all throughout the perilous night they break up gang fights, mend marital mishaps, rescue battered babies. It shows the men of the vice squad picking through garbage cans in search of bookie tickets and it takes half the squad to pick up one soliciting homosexual in MacArthur Park. I suppose it is only human for a police sergeant to depict the sunny side of the police image and overlook the mention of graft or the heroin traffic, which coald not continue in big cities without the complicity of the cops. Instead of showing the police shaking down the pimps and prostitutes, a veteran police sergeant and his rookie buddy round up a bunch of black prostitutes and get them so drunk they can no longer ply their trade.

The film runs the gamut of violence anci the major action highlight shows a desperate hooker driving crazily through the Los Angeles traffic with a terrified cop clinging to the door. Since Steve JicQaeen did his bit for San Francisco, it seems every action film, foreign and domes- tic, has to scene. have its chase George C. Scott plays the veteran sergeant who makes his own laws like beating up a venal landlord who is cheating his wetback tenants. He is shown as a kind of folk hero to the young rookies he introduces to the basics of being the street." Halfway through the film he retires, then, unable to cope with leisure, he shoots himself.

The rookies are left to fend for themselves. There is Stacy Keach who intended to be a lawyer but finds police work more to his liking. There is Scott Wilson, who just wants to "be a good cop" then shoots an innocent man his first time out. There is Chicano Erik Estrada, who joins the force to escape the ghetto, then finds himself assigned to patrol it. Keach gets shotgunned, but recovers only to have his neglected wife walk out on him with their daughter.

After Scott's suicide, Keach turns to alcohol, but an affair with a black robbery victim brings him around. Just as things are looking up for him again he gets killed investigating a routine domestic squabble. Scott and Keach both struggle gamely to create flesh-and-blood characters. Jane Alexander is effective as Reach's neglected wife, and Rosalind Cash is an understanding sweetheart. In a bit, Dolph Sweet scores as a cynical desk sergeant.

Richard Fleischer has directed the film in a pe- destrian way. He apparently is satisfied that violence serves both art and entertainment. The main fault of the film is that it doesn't ring true. "The New Centurions" seems more like boy scouts than law officers. Underneath all the violence, it seems more fantasy than fact.

Childbirth lectures start 4 Hanna-Barbera projects bigger, better than ever By WAYNE WARGA Angelei Times News Service HOLLYWOOD There is an adage about film-making --'shared exclusively by Creative people which states that film-makers impose art on an essentially industrial process. At Hanna-Barbera Productions, home of the'Sat- urday morning television monopoly, the adage is reversed: The industrial process is imposed on the arcane art of animation. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera met 35 years ago in. the now.extinct animation department at MGM. While there; they created the endr- mousiy successful Tom and Jerry series.

In 1957, in an economy drive, MGM them. The two men then pooled their resources -some $5,000 and formed Harina-Barbera Productions. They went after the television market which then'was vir- taally virgin territory for animation. Their first series was called Rough and Ready and it was neither a success nor a faflure. It was, however, encouraging enough so that a second series was created.

This was called Huckleberry Hound. "That." says Joe Barbera, "was the start of it all. It really took off. There was a character in Huckleberry named Yogi Bear. Yogi attracted the most attention, so we spun him off in his own series.

After that came the Flintstones. "Plintstones was a first -the first animated series in prime time. And now Pebbles and Barn-Bam, their little children, are teen-agers on NBC 10 years later." In 1968 the Taft Broadcasting looking to diversify, bought Hanna-Barbera Productions and the services of its founders for $12 million. This year, in their 15th season of television, they tripled their sales to network television. So clever are the economics at Hanna-Barbera that while the number of shows tripled, the budget merely doubled to $12 million.

Once again they are in prime-time with Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, a thinly drawn copy of All in the Family which makes up for what it lacks in animation with some highly energetic writing. Meanwhile, the company is putting the finishing touches its first feature film, the beloved E. B. White novel. Harpist performs tomorrow The Chamber Orchestra and harpist' Susann McDonald will appear in concert at the University of Arizona tomorrow.

Works of Mozart, Debussy, Haydn and Italian composer Casteliaievo-Tedesco will be featured in the 7:30 p.m. program at Crowder Hall. Tickets at $1.50, and $3.50 are available weekdays in the central ticket office of the main auditorium from 8 a.m, to 5 p.in. "Charlotte's Web." It will be released worldwide at Christmas, but not in the United States until Easter. Barbera, a swarthy, handsome man who speaks in a near whisper, is in charge of generating projects.

He is also a community activist, serving as president of the Greek Theatre Association. His partner, William Hanna, is a pleasant man with a wavy gray mane. He is as private as Barbera is public. He gives few interviews and confines his extracurricular activity to his yacht and a passion for barbershop quartets. "Right now I'm working on 24 new projects for Saturday morning television," Barbera says.

"When they have been agreed upon by various networks and film companies, I turn them over to my partner. His job is getting production through the plant. is responsible for the actual" physical work. OCK iwi "And let me tell you it's something. We have a Xerox- type production line now.

Previously every drawing had to- be done by hand, but now we can photograph them onto a cell. With all the red lights and machines, the place looks like Dante's Inferno." Presently there are 600 people working' in the company's cramped headquarters. "We're working around the clock, but we'll slow down by Christmas. The business is seasonal and unfortunately ends just before the holidays, which I really don't like; We hope to start a feature so we can keep as many people working as possible. I personally want to see people employed all year." Copyright 1972 The Childbirth Education will sponsor a lecture series for expectant parents beginning Oct.

4. The series, costing a couple, will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for seven weeks. Topics to be covered are pregnancy, nutrition, labor and delivery, breastfeeding and contraceptives: newbora care, first year growth, and how to be a parent. Exercise classes, also offered by CEA, meet for four weeks at local hospitals and cost $7.50.

For more information about the lecture series or exercise classes, persons have been asked to contact Mrs. Robert Feugate, 4301 N. Columbus Blvd. Taken tdgetiier the series and classes are a coupled Sophia expecting GENEVA Loren is expecting a baby-at the end of December or early in January, friends have announced. "Sophia will remain in until the baby is born," the friends said.

It will be her second child. It's The Jdtjger, for comfortable action 1 Cradles your.fpot injbe softest leather on a flexible crepe sole. For the i most in good time comtoft. fry'The Jogger! SSSSS iHS te J-SiS iH tm il35 1 i -V'- block, brown, oats, or white Sizes: to 11 Widths: AA, $18.99 3M mm fifewgfe. smm 1 vfX 5512 E.

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Quadraphonic sound is in its infant stage and perhaps it is unfair to out one LP among the scores that have been issued in four channel sound but this one cannot ignored, For one thing it has clean separation in all four channels and the engineering is so keen that the various instruments come through in unified fonn. rt The result is realism, and that is what four-ebannel-sound is all about not his spreading middle. A Sole so so vnusuol. we've gone all out to memorable one for you and for us! Everything our store reduced OFF Shop early for best selection! Here is partial iisi fiM thousands! Boies Miniatures Bar Accessories Desk Accessories Imported Toys Games Stationery Home Decorations FINAL SALE ENDS SEPT. 30TH 2930 EAST BROADWAY TEL ft Master Open Won -Sal.

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Pages Available:
391,799
Years Available:
1941-1977