Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 43

I Chicago Tribune, Friday, May 18, 1973 Section 2 Weekend Movie review Of jungle gyms and soggy freaks 5 i TRIBUNE MINIRCVIEW Child's screenplay "CHILD'S PLAY" Directed by Sidney Luimt, Kmiwlty by Laoa Preclnitk beied an the Robort Men tea itato la, photographed by Otrald HirjcWeld, mule by Michael Small, produced by David Metric a Peraewunl fa-leau tt the Cameile Theater. Rated PO. THB CAST Jerome Melley Jamtt Mmopj Joseph Dobbj Robert Prattoa Paul Roil Beau Bridwi Father Moiled Ronald Wed Father Grltfin Charlee Waits fourth-floor office at The Tribune. We can split a toad. Rating: one star.

THE ADS for 'Toffy" at the Chicago Theater suggest that the film's heroine her name's Coffy is part Gloria Stein-em, part bazooka. The ads are half right. Upset because a drug pusher turned her 11-year-old sister on to heroin, Coffy decides to blow the junkie's head off with a shotgun. She then jumps into bed with a black legislator fronting for the Mafia, into a dress-ripping and a -exposing there goes Gloria Steinem fight with a melting pot of harlots, and into a shooting match witb the top mobster himself. This is a stupid movie, and seemed to please only a few women in the audience who had not seen their most aggressive fantasies acted out.

Pam Grier, who previously had bit parts in a series of Philippine prison pictures, is ludicrous as Coffy. And yet her wooden performance is superior to the shoddy movie. Rating: no stars. Gene Siskel 4 i WHAT WOULD yon do In a situation like this: You are the new gym instructor at your alma mater, a Roman Catholic boys boarding school. You have been told that all is not well at the school, that there have been six student-caused accidents in the last month.

And, sure enough, during your very first night on the job you catch three boys slamming the door of a gym locker on the hand of another child. Somehow it doesn't look like an accident. The next day you leave your kickball class alone for just a moment, and when you return the boys are kicking in the face of one of their classmates. When you try to rescue the battered child, he runs back to the ferocious students, apparently welcoming the beating. So what do you do? a Kick the kid yourself Change schools Call the police, the PTA, or an exorcist Nothing IN "CHILD'S PLAY," a film about possession yes, another one, and I suspect the popularity of the occult has to do with a desire to shift blame for an unhappy life to things invisible the new gym teacher does nothing.

In fact, no one at the school does anything. Oh, sure, the headmaster talks about prohibiting the kids from entering the school building after hours, but apparently he forgets to post a guard, because the kids enter at will theirs or somebody else's. Yes, the administration does nothing. Twenty minutes into the film a teacher 'V 1 Beau Bridges as the gym teacher in "Child's What would you do? The Game Room 'How I made a (simulated) fortune on Wall Street speculates, "Maybe there is an evil presence at work, driving the kiddies berserk." One hour later, another teacher recommends that the authorities "find out what's wrong and fix it." With reasoning like that, they ought to make him the headmaster. Director Sidney Lumet Is apparently more interested in presenting "horrible" acts of possession than attempts to solve them.

Because the look of the film is so artificial, and because the guilty party can be only one person the only one with a genuine motive "Child's Play" is a small disaster as both horror story and mystery. "THE LEGEND of Boggy Creek," at neighborhood theaters, attempts less and achieves less. The film's ad campaignwith a shaggy ape standing in an Everglades-type swamp promises a monster from the deep. But "Boggy" generates more laughs and yawns than screams. That's because it attempts to turn obvious fantasy into reality.

The opening titles boldly announce that "this is a true story with many real people in some actual locations." The "true story" has come about because a whole bunch of loonies in southwest Arkansas claim they have seen a "big, hairy thing" traipsing about their swamps, occasionally coming out of seclusion when, according to the narrator, it begins to long for civilization. Hey, monster, go back! They don't let you eat raw toads in civilization. So we get interviews with all manner of hick townspeople-played-by-actors. They stand in the woods and point to where they claim they saw "the hairy thing." Occasionally we get "reconstructions" of "real confrontations." Most of these involve women-away-from-tbe-menfolk cowering in their cabins while the monster growls at their porch or crushes their dogs. The monster is played by a man in a suit and looks to be half ape, half weeping willow tree.

Crucial to enjoying the movie on its own terms realism is believing the monster exists. I remain skeptical. Therefore I Invite it to come up to my i on me. The market went up and up. Stryker hit 150, split two-for-one, and continued to rise.

As did Uranium Enterprises. I grew cautious, anticipating a downturn, and bought into Valley Power; it promptly gained 26 points. I sold 60 shares of Stryker adding nearly $5,000 to my account and still owned enough various stocks to assure me a tranquil retirement. And when the game's ten years were up, my assets totaled $35,310. I had actually won.

It was a warm and comfortable feeling. The story doesn't end here. Still to be attempted was another variation on playing the market, but the account of the trials, tribulations, traumas, and perhaps triumphs attendant thereon will have to wait until another day. Will the Dow Jones continue to smile upon Our Hero? Will he move from strength to strength, braving the risks and defying the odds to successfully challenge the Wall Street jungle? For the answers to these and other questions, equally inconsequential, tune in to next week's exciting episode of "The Terrified Tycoon." Roger VerKulst their way down. Pat rolled the dice: boxcars.

I checked number 12 on the Calculator; the figures were all red. Growth Corp. lost 16 points, United Auto 30. And Stryker was down 20. It was not a very good year.

SURE, I earned $30 In dividends. The old bank book, however, looked a little green around the gills. But it was too late to back out now. Dick was taking a flyer in uranium, and I decided to join him. After all, it was down to a mere $76.

Things just had to look up. And they did. The next Situation Card indicated a bull market, with advances for Growth Metro Properties, Pioneer Mutual Fund, and United Auto Co. What's more, the dice were good to us: Everything on the Calculator was in the black. Good old Stryker was on its way.

There was still a considerable distance to go, of I picked up another 10 shares of Uranium, leaving me with less that $1,000 in the kitty. And I indulged in a little more wishful thinking. Maybe, with a little bit of luck INCREDIBLY enough, fortune smiled choice: The municipal bonds and the mutual fund seemed safe enough but were hardly likely to make me rich overnight; Stryker Drilling and Uranium Enterprises, alternatively, had a lot of potential for big profits and for big losses. Or maybe real estate was the way to go Shady Brooks Development offered a 7 per cent annual return, tho the long-term prospects were a little uncertain. I sneaked a look over the top of my Record of Transactions.

Pat was staring into space, a glazed look in her eyes; across from me, Dick was scribbling on a piece of scratch paper; and Ange, meanwhile, was studying the Securities Review before committing any funds. Ange has always been very careful where money was concerned. Play it safe, I decided; diversify. So I bought 10 shares of United Auto at $101, 10 of Growth Corporation $98, and added 10 of Stryker only $85, and bound to go up maybe. That left me with $2,160 in my account and an incipient case of nerves.

I turned over the Situation Card and discovered that we were up against a trear market meaning that both Growth Corp. and United Auto were on YOU READ about them mostly in magazine articles the people who have made suddenly stunning fortunes on Wall Street. The typical story involves a guy who sells his motorcycle and invests the proceeds in some obscure company that manufactures, say, laser beams. A few paragraphs later he is discovered on his yacht in the Bahamas, a cigar in one hand and a blonde in the other, dispensing advice or maybe writing a book on bow to beat the market. Ordinarily, I prefer not to read stories like that.

Things are bad enough already; who needs to bear about 24-year-old tycoons? Besides, it could never happen to me. I don't even own a motorcycle. Every now and then, however, I find myself engaging in a little wishful thinking. I'm sure it's not the cigars they've never been all that special to me but there is a certain appeal connected with the Bahamas. And just maybe, with a little bit of luck SO THERE I was.

with $5,000 In my account, considering the 10 Investment opportunities offered by "Stocks Bonds" 3M, $9. It was not an easy 1 1 Pam Grier: All bazooka. -AMUSEMENTS- -AMUSEMENTS- -AMUSEMENTS- -AMUSEMENTS- -AMUSEMENTS- -AMUSEMENTS- -AMUSEMENTS- -AMUSEMENTS- MOTION PICTURES MOTION PICTURES NEAR NORTH NEAR NORTH 'irftitit" (HIGHEST RATING) UAMLYHH PRESTON CHICAGO TODAY "CLEVERLY DIRECTED, ARTFULLY PERFORMED, A TRULY STUNNING EVENING III THE THEATRE." DAUID BintlEY (Star of TV's "Iridgot Loves MIRACLE rt mmwB 1M NOW THRU MAY 27 rW sU. II I FRENCH-QUARTER RESTAURANT NIGHTCLUB and all tL faff! I I VT Shaw's "Plaasanf" Comedy "YOU NEVER CAN TELL" Also Starring J0I1I1 CARRADIIIE -of rta.i-.-O Now starring: "Sugar Blues" CLYDE McCOY and his orchestra. jazzy Jazz beautiful booze fancy fixin's Chicago's most posh nightspot fc.

ri oj I ii DINNER and THEATRE from $6.50 PREVIEW MAY 3 OPENS JUNE I DON liNOTTS "THE MIND WITH THE DIRTY MAN" by JULES TASCA Ticket (without dinner) from $4.00 Tel: 496-3000 with gals who have a redheaded-burning-desire to-please-you-alll Phone 427-4300. 'j-' SONGS Nightly but Mon. 2 shows Sat. Sun. 5620 S.

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DiRECTEO BY OAVIO GREENC am fiina Soundtrtch Album On DILL BlCOD WHO ME? A HEW. HILARIOUS, ADULT COMEDY 8 SUMUllWOKD i i aiTTii il i 1 i IWils Today Ot 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00 Reduced rete perking Oik For sroupi and specie! school shows 4 can Lillian larun ai ut -inn. SATURDAYS: May 19 June 2 At a price you can afford only $1.75 FOR GROUP DISCOUNT RESERVATIONS AND INFORMATION, Call 798 MM RETURNING BY POPULAR DEMAHDl JULY 10 THRU AUGUST 5 LOUIS JOURDAII BARBARA RUSH In Noel Coword's "PRIVATE HYES" PARAMOUNT PICTURES prrnl, A tWD MERRICK FTOOJCTON SHOWTIME: 1:00 P.M. ii Weekday Mornings Roiorvationt Hoqulrodl CHI now (or Matt. FOR TICKET INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS, PHONE 392-6300 the PHILFORDshow with DIANE MASON I MILL RUN Children's Theatre 600 Golf Mill Shopping Center, Niles Illinois MOTION PICTURES MOTION PICTURES OJ NEAR NORTH NEAR NORTH HcCormicklnn II 23rd St.

at LakeShore Dr. Ail cross from McCOrmlck Pisco (axlt Lake Shore Dc at 23rd otl 12-30 9 Rooorvotlono coif 791-1900 BIT" FIRST-RUN in OPEN DAILY 10 AM. 1P.M. I. MAY 25th I THRU LABOR DAY I at Amarica't moil fatcln TV" tlno notation groundi.

Than or hundred! of DMVtlt ut Tamo Door. Boar Cuba and olh.r onlmolt to foad ana pha. jjjmmpl). Sto Fancy Colorful Urdi. Trout Stroami, kaulKul Tropical Pith Dliplaya.

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