The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 43

TIIC. tWSTON GLOME KIQAY. OCTOCKK 9. I'ISI Was (Not Was) know their funk REVIXW I MOVIZ RSVIIW I ttUSM 'Watcher' uses all the cliches ii -r- 'J 14I H-IUIIM II .1. i I takes the romantic lead vocal; David McMurray plays a smoldering sax line; violinist Dave Mason slides under itj.

Small cuts across with rippling percus- sive chatter and the whole thing pulsates with an ebb-and-flow funk drive that doesn't quit. Was (Not Wasl's debut album hints at this, but like Kid Creole, the magic really happens in performance. Spit, Incidentally, has a new soundboard and the sound sketchy for many past shows was excellent. The show climaxed with the first encore, "Out Come the Freaks," a smart song about dread in the singles bars. More impressively.

Was (Not Was) locked into the best funk groove I've heard this year, with Kramer and McMurray taking euphoria into overdrive with their leads. David Was screamed out an unintelligible, angry vocal segment worthy of the Dictators' Handsome Dick Manitoba and the whole thing hit 100 miles-per-hour when all singers launched into a "Let me out" coda. On the the contrary, the structure built by Was (Not Was) is one from which you don't want out. WAS (NOT WAS) In concert at Spit, Tuesday night. By Jim Sullivan Globe Correspondent The reference points for Was (Not Was) tell about half of a pretty wondrous story.

During their Boston debut at Spit Tuesday, the 1 1 -person aggregation that is Was (Not Was) recalled Fun-kadelic. Steely Dan, Roxy Music, the English New Romantics, mid-'60s Motown, Frank Zappa, Kurtis Blow and, most obviously. Kid Creole and the Coconuts. A list can seem academic and, in its rigidity, confusing. But hold on.

Was (Not Was) Is neither. As incongruous or Jolting as their hybrid may appear in black and white, it's entirely apposite in the flesh. Was (Not Was) makes synthesis a philosophical point and a musical success. And so, when ex-MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer cuts into the taut, slapping, funk rhythm of "Go Now!" with a screaming hard rock lead break, it fits naturally another form of tension from a different kitchen. Was (Not Wasl's pastiche Is primarily dance oriented.

It's eclectic, funky dance music that moves bodies first and minds second. Don Was' bass work and percussion from Carl Small and Ron Morris lay the groundwork while other members let fly with a well-timed flurry of spare parts. Though witty and sharply cynical In places, Kramer's admonishment In the reggae song "Shake THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS Directed by Jack Hough, starring Bette Davis, Lynne-Hol-ly Johnson and David McCallum, at the Sack Saxon and suburbs, rated PG. By Michael Blowen Globe Staff "The Watcher in the Woods' Is a disappointing movie that conjures up ghost story cliches that I thought were buried years ago. Sour-faced Bette Davis plays the wizened landlady of an English mansion whose daughter mysteriously disappeared 30 years ago.

An American family, featuring David McCallum as Dad, Carroll Baker as Mom, and Lynn-Holly Johnson and Kyle Richards as the daughters, decides to rent the place. As soon as they move in, strange things begin to happen. Windows shatter and windstorms whip around the gargoyles. Eventually, the phone goes dead; the car won't start: lightning flashes; thunder cracks and the watcher in the woods appears. Everything in the film direction; acting, writing, music arrangements and editing is as transparent as Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Each camera movement, from the point of view shots of the Watcher to the close-ups of Davis' wrinkled cheeks, reinforce the film's reliance on convention. Even Bette Davis, armed with an enviable reputation, can't overcome the deficiencies. The only revealing moment occurs when a minor character says: "It's important to live in the present and forget the past." Lynn-Holly Johnson and Bette Davis. She was referring to her own guilt, but the statement addresses the current state of Disney Studios. The Disney imprint was formerly synonymous with G-rated movies good, clean, ail-American fantasies that featured absolute good vs.

absolute evil. But. after Disney's death in 1966, the studio changed. The official word was that the studio was "In transition." Fifteen years later, the studio still hasn't decided where they want to be or how they're going to forge ahead. Except for the success of the G-rated "The Fox and the Hound," Disney Studios has floundered.

Their excursions into PG-rated movies such as "The Watcher in the Woods" and "The Black Hole," have created an identity crisis. If the Disney executives want to regain the integrity established by their founder, they'll have to do better than producing stale movies starring actors whose names have outlived their talents. VOCALIST DAVID WAS Continually shifting emphasis GLOBE PHOTO BY BILL CURTIS. a Beat" seemed appropriate: "Don't try and analyze these words we speak." With Was (Not Was) sliding from one steamy groove to another and accenting the stew with every spice on the shelf it was not difficult to surrender to the beat. Though the band is led by Don Was and his brother, flautistvocalist David Was (who, incidentally, as David Weiss writes jazz criticism for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner), the two function more as parts of the human machine.

The emphasis shifts continually. Dawn Silva and Lynn Mabry (The Brides of Funkenstein) take over the lead vocal and focal role during a roaring cover of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number." They drop back for Small's droll rap in "Tell Me That I'm Dreaming." In "Where Did Your Heart Go?" male singer Sweat Pea MI METRO REGION News From Your Area Inside The Boston Globe Every Day. ur uti wows nt, stttsuN CHARLES: FRCNCH L1IUTIMNTS WOMAN MOMMII DfARCST CINEMA 57: snoci niATMrar AND All FEATURES IN DANVERS, NATICK JSOMfSVIllE A montage of haunting images BARGAIN MATINEE TODAY 1ST SHOW ONLY AT STARRED FEATURES AN ARTHUR 1 00 WEREWOLF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE fH J0 5-B 00-10 00 IN LONDON. IB SO FINE 1 30-i 30-5 30 7 45 ') 45 M. THE tH.MH tion center consists of the opportunity of witnessing the homosexual gang rape of a boy approximately his own age.

He's also forced to drink from a glass In which another tormentor has spit. The two most riveting and symbolic Images occur, however, after Pixote has made his es-' cape from the center. The first sequence, set In a prostitute's filthy bathroom, starts out as Just another transitional episode and gradually transforms itself into something incredibly grotesque. Pixote discovers that the bloody remains in a wastebasket belong to an aborted fetus. The scene's power derives from Pixote's reaction to what he's looking at.

In the second sequence, Pixote suckles the breast of the prostitute in a desperate effort to attain the love he's spent his life looking for. The sequence is the loveliest In a film with few lovely images in it. The scene Is also a small glimmering of hope in a bleak, chillingly barren, landscape. "PIXOTE" i Continued from Page 40 juvenile detention center to which he has been consigned In the wake of one of the periodic "cleanslngs" of Sao Paulo's streets of what turns out to be more than 3 million homeless children. The second part of the film describes Pixote's experiences as a free man after he's escaped the detention center.

I use the designation "man" advisedly because Pixote's horrendous experiences as a child effectively deprive him of his innocence and naivete and turn him into a cold, cunning, calculating thief and, eventually, instrument of death. In his brief span on earth, he seems to have lived more and experienced more extreme kinds of situations than most adults. "Pixote" is a montage of haunting, occasionally repellent images attesting to the crime and tragedy adhering to the practice of breaking the human spirit. Pixote's introduction to the deten LIEUTENANTS WOMAN THE MONSTER MOVIE A Jv is? MOMMIE DEAREST CKAHIB1 1 00-3 5O I01O-n 5 OtAWESJ- 1, 30-1, ID- 4:054 PolyGram Pictures iR. A Universal Release A 11 Itl 1 wufwU Iu (NIT WHEN I LAUGH BACK CINKMA OANVERS 1-2 SACK PI ALLEY 1-2 OC NIHIL CINEMA BRAiNTREE OUTM IHOCI KM 848-1070 BODY KEAT OAir BDCVfRli rVi KU EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT LATI SHOWS ONLY 200 Stuart ncf Park Sq 48? RICH AND FAMOUS pPRINCE OF THE CITT rg) 1 15-10 J5 HQfAJMl HAIDERS Of THE 10ST AM MAJOR STUDIO SKTEAK PREVIEW TOMORROW 8:00 P.M.

AN AMtKICAN EIINULf IN LONUOH 15-10, PATERNITY of the City is exploding wih ideas, talent, energy -Treat Williams charges the film with emotional vitality and physical brute forco." Rex Reed "A RELENTLESS akd TEr.nir KOVIE! The director has often been able to elicit electrifying performances front his lead actors, and hero Treat Williams joins the likes of Al Pacino in 'Serpico' and Peter Finch in 'Network'. "POWERFUL! Inst when it seemed that American movies had abdicated all claims on the real world, along comes 'Prince of the CUy, a heavyweight contender unafraid to take on some of the most harrowing moral and social dilemmas of the David Ansen, Newsweek TRUE CONFESSIONS Altnt I 11 1 Richard Schickel, PATIKMiTY I 35-3 35 5 KfthV If If 1, Time Magazine TTTWniJAMSIS A CERTAIN OSCAR CONTENDER" 4 ONLY WHIN I LAUGH 1, MOMMIE DEAREST Rona Barrett, Today Show, NBC-TV ARTHUR 1 30-11 ,30 i TRUE CONFESSIONS i 1, RAiDEIS 0FTME LOST AM WQ KRICH AND FAMOUS 25 15-12 15, I 'I MOMMIE DEAREST VQ I 00-3, IAIDEK OF THE LOST All 1 -00-3 105, ,) RICH AND FAMOUS gj l-00-3, 10-5, 20-7 0-t, 45 (fe-IVAfe ttliUtM mil -fhli) TRUE CONFESSIONS 'J6 120-3 20-5 20 7 30- 30 HAICMtl IN TnE ItwwtlS Bi 00-9 30-11 35 BODY HEAT ONLY WHEN I LAUGH PATERNITY 1 1 .30 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK TRUE CONFESSIONS 9.4S-II.50 IRSM THE GREAT MUP7ET CAPER 3 7 15-9 15 AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON 30 Based on the terrifying best-selling novel by Peter Straub xshost STOirr FRED ASTAIRE FIELVYN DOUGLAS DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JiL JOHN HOUSEMAN CRAIG WASSON PATRICIA NEAL ALICE ICRIGE a BURT WEISSBOURD ProductionJOHN IRVIN Him Screenplay by LAWRENCE D. COHEN Director of Photography JACK CARDIFF Co-Producer DOUG GREEN Produced by BURT WEISSBOURD Directed by JOHN IRVIN Based on the novel by PETER STRAUB Music by PHILIPPE SARDE A UNIVERSAL PICTURE Copyright 1981 by UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS, INC. 5 SO FtnE 75-5 25-9 45-11 3S Hi MOMMIE DEAREST 1 1:55 ARTHUR 1 05-3 05-5 05-7 15 V35-11 15 rW 1 CONTINENTAL DIVIDE EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT 10-3 IQ-5-1Q-7 WATCHER IN THE WOODS 4 KRICH AND FAMOUS Dalton opp Sheraton Bos 536-2870 200 Stuart near Park Sq. 482-1 222 NO PASSES.