The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 27

rJf.Cxamtnrr-Page 27 friw'? 18, i 971 A Bracingly Funny Surprise II, PA i I The Film Festival came up with an unexpected treat from France on Saturday night in Claude Lelouch's eight-day comic wonder, "Smic, Smac, Smoc," Modestly made in just over a week tor the inconsequential sum (lor movies, that is) $30,000, it triumphed over evcryone'i skepticism by being a thoroughgoing winner. A bracingly funny and charming): spontaneous diversion, the film depicts the zany weekend adventures of three friends nicknamed Smic, Smac and Smoc who work together in a Toulon shipyard and go off on a spree when one of them marries a bakery shop-girl. The wedding celebration takes them to St. Tropez in a stolen or rather, borrowed Mercedes con- vertibln. Accompanying them Is a blind street accordionist, whose music adds a cheerful tonic flavor to the two-day party.

The bride and groom are engagingly played by Catherine Allegret (Sirnone Signoret's fetching daughter) and a spirited actor named Amidou. Their bachelor friends are superbly portrayed by two droll clowns Charles Gerard and Jean Collomb whose skill with largely improvised comedy is breathtaking. They're marvelously entertaining doing what amounts to revue-sketch satire, like their antics in a men's store, where Gerard cunningly tries to strike a bargain for two suits of clothes by threatening to expose the shopkeeper for his capitalistic prices "when the revolution comes." The blind musician who's taken under Gerard's wing in a capitalist plan to manage his career is exceptionally well played by Francis Lai (Lelouch's composer for "A Man and a Woman" and later, for the "Love Story" score). Lai delightfully spoofs his own well-known music in the sentimental wedding tunes that he plays for this film. All in all, Lelouch has turned out a very appealing, good-natured comedy which is more wryly amusing and far less syrupy than his previous work.

Despite obvious haste and certain flaws of careless exposition and thin, patchy, repetitious material, his new film is refreshingly and surprisingly enjoyable. Stanley Eichelbaum i i 4 SIDNEY POITIER overpowered by thugs in crime drama filmed here. Six 'New By PhiUp Elwood Just like Proud Mary herself, Crecdence Clearwater Revival keeps roll-in', rollin', rollin' on. The new Creedence trio recently completed a fabulously successful and encouraging European tour. They sold out houses at all thirteen concerts, broke records in most cities and climaxed the conquest with a pair of especially rewarding performances in London's It a 1 Albert Hall.

Saturday night Creedence came back to the home stomping grounds with a sold out performance in the Oakland Coliseum Arena. It was the trio's first local concert. After years of Creedence the quartet, it takes some adjusting to get used to the band without guitarist Tom Fogerty balancing the group's visual image and solidifying the instrumental support behind the great lead singer and guitarist, brother John Fogerty. It seemed to me on Sat- Today Night Club Comedian Pat Morita and vocalist Odia a tonight through Thursday at 9 and 11:30 at the Playboy Club, 736 Montgomery St. Theater "Gertrude," a mini-musical and "Demon," a Noh play, tonight at 8 in Zellerbach Auditorium, UC Berkeley.

Film Series "King Rat," tonight at 7 in The Forum of the new library, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill. Cinematheque Canyon Cinematheque will present films by Mike Kuchar, Curt McDowell, Victor Faccinto and George Kuchar at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut St. IEVINE PRESENTS AN AVCO EMBASSY FILM Films Open This Week THE NEW CREEDENCE CLEARWATER trio (Fogerty, Cook and Clifford) rolled their rock with a hard '50s beat in Oakland on Saturday night. ceded Credeence.

They're a pretty raw bunch for the CCR fans but White's drawling lyric approach, his mouth-harp work, and his mixing acoustic and electric guitar into the set made the presentation quite entertaining and worthwhile. Tower of Power were blasting away when we arrived ten instruments, many out of tune, and loud, pounding rhythm, with shouted vocals to match. They provided a rowdy overture to the noisy evening. 8 40 "Lawyer" at 2Q. RICHARD BENJAMIN A Uwt net IvfffllA ftttn Tho ff1arrisgo of Young Stockbroker Barry Newman in THE LAWYER Bargain Matinee Wednctday $1.00 'till 3:00 LAST 4 DAYS MIA now NO KVIL ALAN ARKIN in WAIT UNTIL DARK" Original Road Show Version Preunted in FULL STEREO PHONIC Sound, COLOR and WIDE (70 MM) SCREEN DOCTOR ZIHlftGO Bargain Matineei Sat.4 Med.

SI. 00 'till 2:30 DOCTOR AGO -Tonight 1 at 8:30 Friday at 6:00 and Sun. Wed. at 1:30, and 8:30 To be followed in later weeks VGone With The Wind" "2001 a space odyssey" aai Tonight 10:00 A TRUE GIANT i -ar tkvnm ii -turn ft Johnny Got His Gun With Donald Sutherland CWCMATtON iNOUSTMiCS lf A5C (K 10 ZaISaiiIaCT3 Tonight "Summer" at 8:50 "Landlord" 7:00 10:40 Bargain Matinees Sat. tl.OO'tii' 2:30 In everyone's fife there's a SUMMER OF '42 LAST 2 DAYS GUYS AND DOLLS AHC STARTS WEDNESDAY Little "Dead Emf'i "ABSORBING! THE FIRST DISRESPECTFUL SATIRE OF AN INCUMBENT rwronnr "UNFORGETTABLE! A WARNING OF THE FLAWS IN THE DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM AS IT EXISTS TODAY IN THE U.S." -S F.

Chronicle EMILE de ANTONIO'S MILLHOUSE "IENNY BRUCE ON TV" AllStATSHOO 1 PRESIDIO THEATRE (tiolr.t 4 fk. 1 1 Shawl e.4i, l.li 4 IS.I 1' tl 1Irn i iAN h- fT'Biau Br'idgetN af'XheLandlordV' TTT Hi-" turned-on by playing with CCfl but now he's contributing immensely to the musical excitement. His work on "It Came Out of the Sky" (like a boogie pianist's left hand on "The was imaginative and forceful. The 15 selections were mostly standard-Creedence "Lodi." "Bad Moon Rising," "Fortunate Son" (a beautyj, "Green River," and the extended ending-medley, "Chooglin." and "Pagan Baby." Cook sang an original, "Door to "Sweet Hitchhiker," and "Hey Tonight" were the only relatively new numbers included in the program. Fogerty looked rested and radiant in an apricot-toned jacket and pants ensemble, black shirt and chartreuse neckerchief.

Drummer Doug Clifford was sporting an aluminum sleeveless shirt. The audience also performed as expected like it was a Friday noon high school sports rally. The more than 14,000 young customers bounced and clapped and screamed and apparently enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Tony Joe White's Memphis -based swamp-rock band, with the tall, attrac-tive White singing like old-fashioned Elvis, pre- 4 MITINFFs CAT m. CUM tj eaaiyaaaiMi.jeMwi.i ni.

iim.m, if mm)' A nsw titm by 1 kttlATt I i Assuemy Award Wiiwtrir) 1 1 HUB AUM Ft A TVM llU 1 1 ikwihh niw low rnici! 99c cm- 49Ci UrHffi7ElT f-UENEVA "BLACK DRIVE-IN JLSUS" MHttoCav PLUS! "SLAV! fMISSION DRIVE-IN I Turn SiOCMwai W5IUTIS- PFW SPRUCE 2 "HANICIN drivc-in NEEDLE PARK' VANISHING PSYCHO-SUSPENSE that keeps you on the s.v-Veiv" eugeor on ahved ui i uu; of total terror! TECHNICOLOR An Amrrlcn International Rnlnase CARKOLLBAKER lno Keeps Rolling urday night that the bass was over-amplified as was John's guitar but this may have been an over-reaction on my part. I may have been trying too hard to find something "different" in the Creedence trio. One slight change of direction is obvious the noisy, straight-ahead rock roll beat. John Fogerty has always considered himself a hard-rocker and a fan of '50s music he's proving it with his music more than ever now. Bassist Stu Cook played wonderfully i Oakland, best I've ever heard him.

lie has always gotten Highlight Memorial Exhibition Wilfredo Aquino's paintings and photographs at S.F. State College Gallery Lounge, to Oct. 22. Graphics By Stephanie Weber, at Frame Shop Gallery, 542 Ramona, Palo Alto, through Nov. 24.

Paintings of Tuscany By Nicky Gioia Pes di Vil-lamarina, at de Wiles Gallery, 2201 Broadway, Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons until Oct. 28. Gould.uu iBibi Andersson Ingmar Bergman's mTheTouch'ir :15 at 8:35 statue' -M. Adjjcent free parking after 6 and all day Sunday I nrii)33jijnijnnonB unmutit: in a ESAB.E. 4 tm a a tn a itCHNiaiioR aCLV'WAIT UNTIL DARK" Tt OPEN 1 11 TODAY Donald Pleasence in "Outback" y-K uniiua httisis yJamai Garner liP.

SUPPOHT YOUR LOCAL.) GUNFIGHTER 'Outback' 1 support 3: JO anil 6:55 Snnnl or Dull Soviet Comedy Ends! Fest The Film Festival came to an end last night whimperingly with a dreary, so-called comedy, "The Debut," from the Soviet Those of us who find American TV situation comedies deplorably dull will salute the expertise of our own industry in comparison with this incredibly inept contemporary disaster directed by Gleb Panf i-lov. Inna Tchourikova plays a plain, relatively stupid factory worker who falls in love with a married neighbor, Leonid Kuralev. For some incredible reason, Miss Tchourikova, a devotee of amateur theatrics, is chosen by a famous director to star in a film epic about Joan of Arc, being assigned the title role. 'The film alternates between her performance as the Maid of Orleans snd her mounting passion for her foolish married lover. Those persons in last night's audience who ob-vjpusly spoke and understood Russian seemed to find the film amusing.

But for the rest of us in the it was an exercise in patience and courtesy, never lightened by anything but the most primitive kind of humor, lor ago rejected by the late late show. I Miss Tchourikova, around whom the entire film revolves, is inane and vapid as the aggressive, not very bright heroine. And Kuralev is a consistently oafish lover, whose behavior-makes a lyric romance more and more Vera Telichaina, as the betrayed wife, contributes thai only note of reality and tyarmth as she tries to salvage her marriage and family from a not very formidable adversary. rpanfilov's slow, detailed direction is perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of this extremely tedious and heavy handed exposition of the Soviet sense of humor. Jeanne Miller Troupe Asks Yolui inlccrs Mother Goose, a nonprofit theater, troupe in the Ilaight-Ashbury that brings tHe performing arts to confined youngsters, needs volunteers.

Started two years ago, the Mother Goose organisation now has 50 volunteer workers and eight paid staffers and works in over a dozen institutions juvenile halls, homes for unwed mothers, halfway houses, chlatric ditties. hospitals and psy-rchabililation fa- They hope to expand their field of operation to non-confining areas in the community, like schools, churches and clubs. Those wishing to work wild Mother Goose or to contribute stage materials may contact the headquarters at Jtrg I 'age, phone WM2. reunited under cumstances. tragic cir- "Bless the Beasts and Children," produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, opens Friday at the Metro I.

The film is a comedy treatment of a serious attempt by some teen-age boys to save a herd of buffalo from slaughter. Bill Mumy, Barry Rob-bins and Miles Chapin head the cast. of the Heart," Louis Ma lie's French drama, which was shown last night at the Film Festival, opens in a regular run Wednesday at the Larkin. It is reviewed today. ft JOSEPH AN AVCO I MBASSY RELfcASE COLOR BY MOWELAB Six new week i theaters: films open this San Francisco "Skin Game," a Western comedy starring James Garner and Lou Gossett, opens Wednesday at the Loew's and Coliseum.

They play a pair of pre-Civil War confidence men who pose as master and slave to swindle big money out of greedy slave holders. "The Organization," starring Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair andSher-ee North, opens Wednesday at the Royal, Empire and Geneva Drive-in. Poitier plays a San Francisco detective who becomes involved in an attempt to break up an international dope ring which pushes drugs in slums. Miss McNair portrays Poitier's wife and Miss North is the wife of a mur LEE KESSEL Presents 'LAUGHS, AND LAUGH YOU WILLI I got one hell of a bang out of 'Cry Uncle' -Bob S.lmagql, WINS (Group W) barring dered night watchman involved in the drug operations. The movie was filmed in San Francisco under the direction of Don Medl'ord.

"Catlow," a Western drama starring Yul Bryn-ner and Richard Crenna, opens Wednesday at the Al-hambra. Brynner plays a post-Civil War cattle rustler being hunted down by his Army buddy, Crenna, who has become a lawman. The cast also includes Leonard Nimoy, as a bounty hunter, Dalian Lavi as Brynner's fiery mistress andsJoann Pflug as a Mexican aristocrat. "The Anonymous Venetian," an Italian dra ma starring Tony Musante and Florinda Bolkan, opens Wednesday at the Music Hall. The film deals with a couple, separated after years of marriage, who are Stani Widmdau laugh tilhmi ALUN GARFtELO Madeleine le Roux THE FEMALE Adulti Only Luvinr A Mike Carnal Knovvlcdjjc Ar AtfCO HpltJiiSO 4k starring RICHARD BENJAMIN "THESTEAGLE" EXCLUSIVE SAN FRANCISCO ENGAGEMENT 7 DIRECT FROM THE S.F.

FILM FESTIVAL God must have loved love. I le made so many different kinds of it. ADULTS OKLY DirecTeil by JD C. AVILOSE A CAMBfST FHM in COLOR LU 5 Showi At 1 :30 10,6:50,9:30 THE HEART" (elusive Nirtheri enticement kAKKIN A Or AKNtll OPFN DAILY 12:00 NOON I SHOWS AT 6:00, 8:10, 10:20 SHOPPERS MAT. ALL SCATS tt.SO EVERY WED.

AT mm Maui "MURMUR OF Shocking. Beaulitul. Brilliant. Sonnual. Deedly in the end, only thy will survive.

in toumi mi coctni wi nmtut iin uuit mmmmonm ui in xru cxi.mioi oti ukmi ii)iwih iiHmiicMii.M nm mi Mum: acorn xa nuvca tuixjtw mx.iiBevotm MAUI QtAUOf NtDJAM WIVlTfN.IDfftCIIOANOraiiOutKiavLOUIBMAUt-HCaLOa THE HELLSTROM in 505 776-5505 CHRONICLE "LORD OF THE FLIES" "lotrlOt Thn I Imi" 00,10:15 "Hollmrom" 8.40 P.M. STARTS WEDNESDAY 7'jan.