The Evening Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 82

PAGE 12 THE EVENING SUN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1981 If been a very good summer for movie industry and fans, and many are still around I wL Brooke Shields, left, stars in the romantic tragedy "End- enormously popular "Raiders of the Lost Ark." "Raiders" less Love," and Harrison Ford and Karen Allen star in the has earned $96 million to date to lead the summer movies. are Burt Reynolds, Dom De Luise, Farrah Fawcett and Dean Martin, looking as though he is on his way to a funeral parlor. With their participation, the film is more than it might be, personalities carrying the day. If you're looking for a head movie, something that won't fix but mav serve until you can get one, "Heavy Metal" is still about. An animated spinoff of the magazine of the same title, the film is a collection of six stories, all of whose principals want possession of an orb that gives power to those who own it.

The first two stories are amusing, but the others ara almnct imrwrecihla its fnllnur nnlpcs nprhaiw By Lou Cedrone Evening Sun movie critic IT'S BEEN a long, profitable summer for both the film industry and the movie patron. Grosses are big and choices are difficult. Not since the days when Hollywood was king, when movies were indeed your best form of entertainment, has so much been available, so much variety, so many worthwhile films, We've had the bombs, of course, the commercial failures. Among these were "Honky Tonk Freeway," a $25-million pileup, and "Victory," a prison camp (World War II) caper. We also had "Student Bodies," a horror film sendup, a movie that deserved to do much better than it did.

But then, who wants to see a film that ridicules the things he loves? The commercial, and in most cases artistically successful, films that have pleased both critic and patron are still around at admissions that range from $2 to $4. The first a matinee price, in effect at most theaters. The pricing break has been a boon to many exhibitors because it has brought older patrons back to the film houses. Those who can make it to the matinees, however, will have to pay those evening prices. Regardless, here is a handy guide to the best movie bargains in town: The list begins, certainly, with "Raiders of the Lost the John Lucas-Stephen Spielberg adventure caper, a stylish tribute to the Saturday morning serials of the past.

The gross, so far, is $96 million, making "Ark' king of the mountain. Second. to it in both take ($91 million) and audience appeal, is "Superman II," a continously amusing followup to the first "Superman." Don't look for matinee bargains on this one; there are none. "Superman II" is one of those "exceptions" the exhibitors make now and then. Want laughs with your horror? Try "An American Werewolf in London." The film, done by John Landis is a refreshingly comic parody of the werewolf legend, but, sadly, the director has marred the film with excessive gore.

Those' looking' for sophisticated comedy might want to try "First Monday in October" in which Walter Matthau is the Supreme Court justice who opposes the nomination of the first woman justice, played by Jill Clayburgh. Nothing much happens here. All we have is smart dialogue and superior performances. Suitable for the entire family are "Condorman," "Fox and the Hound" and "The Great Muppet Movie." The last, the best of the three, is available at the Rotunda and parents are advised to attend with the ON THE COVER Scenes from the summer's bumper crop of films Include, clockwise from top: Brook Shields and Martin Hewitt in "Endless John Travolta in "Blow Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the Lost Dudley Moore in Miles O'Keeffe and Bo Derek in "Tar-zan" and who else? Christopher Reeve in "Superman." kids. This is a movie that works on several levels, and is a joy on all.

"Fox and the Hound" is irresistably cute in the Walt Disney tradition, but "Condorman," another Disney feature, is a listless James Bond parody. In the mood for martial arts? If so, Chuck Nor-ris, reigning king of the chop film, can be seen in "Slaughter in San Francisco," which, in some cases, is being with another Norris feature, "An Eye for an You don't know Chuck Norns? Well, don't feel bad about that. Most people don't. Fortunately for Norris, the karate enthusiast (does, and his new films, like the others, are doing smash tno pun intended i business i Novelty can be had in "Comin'At a 3-D mishap. The film is disgracefully and brutally sexist, but that hasn't taken from the draw.

I don't know that the next 3-D film is going to do anything, but this one is successful commercially if not artistically. "Cannonball Run" is still around. Like "Honky Tonk Freeway," this is another road movie, a film that focuses on an assortment of eccentrics as they gas about the countryside. Unlike "Freeway," it is moving up the road, to an estimated gross of $56 million. The cast has something to do with that.

Included you are on something. If you want romantic tragedy, well done, try "Endless Love." If you want espionage, "Eye of the Needle" will do. And if it's laughs you need, humor in the '30s mold, get thee to "Arthur," but quickly. And "Blow Out" is back. It hasn't done all that well, but don't let that put you off.

Apart from a rather perverse ending, the film is a very tight mystery, one in which John Travolta is a movie sound technician who witnesses a murder. Missing, at the moment (it should return for a subrun), is "Tarzan, the Ape Man," a film that stayed only a short time. But don't feel sorry for the Dereks (Bo and John). The movie, made in Sri Lanka and looking as though it had incorporated, outtakes from "Apocalypse Now," did $20 million in its first 17 days, so there is no need to send roses, not even to the orang. Then there are the durables, "Stripes" and Four Seasons The first is a service comedy with Bill Murray subbing for Lou Costello.

and the second is a domestic comedy, served up with some wit and sensitivity by Alan Alda, who wrote, directed and stars. Coming up: "Prince of the City," "Body Heat" and "Mommie Dearest." The first is the film version of the book recounting a scandal in the New York City police the second is a murder mystery in which a man and a woman conspire to murder her husband." and the third is based on the posthumous love letter" Christina Crawford wrote to her mother, Joan. In acid:.