The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 73

i 7 Television ntl jExamfacr Friday, December 14, 1984 SECTION L3 Cotton Club: good picking ft IJJl tjy i A GTOtVlfiig TO By Barbara Shulgasscr Examiner staff critic FRANCIS COPPOLA does not have another disaster on his hands. In 'The Cotton Club," which opens today at the Regency III and Scrramonte 6, he is playing to his strengths again his gift for creating character as in his screenplay of "Patton" and direction of 'The Godfather." After the financial profligacy of "Apocalypse Now" and the tepidly received "One From the Heart," this Is good news. 'The Cotton Club" reportedly cost $47 million to make. This time Coppola delivers something for the money. "The Cotton Club" sprouts with quirky, gristly personalities which give the film its considerable hum and drive.

The famous Harlem speakeasy where blacks performed and whites applauded is the backdrop for this moral tale. Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere) is a cornet player sucked into the underworld when he inadvertently saves the life of bootlegger and killer Dutch Schultz. James Remar plays Dutch like a young Edward G. Robinson. Fury is his natural state.

His rubbery lips wiggling in anger, he looks like someone who used to get beat up in high school, which is as good an explanation as any for turning to a life of crime. Dutch repays Dixie by making the musician his reluctant but well-paid slave. His primary Job is as the hands-off escort of Vera, Dutch's mistress (Diane Lane), to whom Dixie is also drawn. Dixie escapes Dutch's control by nearly unbelievable serendipity. Actress Gloria Swanson likes his face and suggests Cotton Club owner Owney Madden arrange a screen test for Dixie.

I Ie becomes a star. Coppola, who replaced another director on this project and rewrote the screenplay with novelist William Kennedy, has made the film stunningly real. The elaborately staged numbers at the club bring back the frenzy and PM's best weekend bets GORILLA MY DREAMS Dont forget about your other primate friends as the S.F. Zoo holds Its annual Gorilla Christmas Party Saturday In Gorilla World. Bwa-na and his family get their presents at 9:30 a.m.

Call the Zoological Socletv (661-2023) for more Information. ENVIRONMENTAL JAZZ Wolves and whales and Paul Winter's tales told in Jazz combine for an unusual "Winter Solstice Whole Earth Christmas Celebration," 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Davies Hall, with the Paul Winter Consort. PM hears the concert is sold out; however, disappointed fans who want to meet this venerable Jazz musician, who combines taped animal sounds with his music and supports environmental causes, can do so at a shipboard reception, presented by the Whale Center, 3 p.m. Sunday on the Balclutha, Fisherman's Wharf (654621).

TROT FOR TOYS: Try singing and running at the same time a true aerobic workout as the S.F. Firefighters present a Christmas Carol Charity Run to benefit their toy program. The starting line is at the Bay Club, Greenwich and Sansome streets; starting time is at 8:30 a.m. Sunday (393-2745). PRETTY MARVELOUS MUSIC: Grammy-winner Queen Ida and the Bon Temps.

Zydeco Band, with' Gryphon Quintet, perform at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Marina Middle School Auditorium, Fillmore and Bay streets (648-1177). Proceeds will be used to help KALW-Radio continue its broadcasts of "Pratrie Home Betty Carter celebrates 35 years in Jazz and sings up a storm at 8:30 and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, at Great American Music Hall (8854750); more rock 'n' roll with England's U2, sold out, but you never know if you can cadge a ticket, at Civic Auditorium, 8 p.m.

Saturday; Windham Hill's mood-setter, pianist George Winston, solos at 3 and 8 p.m. Sunday in Davies Hall (431-5400 or 893-2277). PM's about town column runs Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday in The Examiner. PM's canlmiss events are in TCIF. IK 'f -t 'TT ''i A Art Malik, Susan Wooldridge and Tim Plgott-Smlth the triangle of 'The Jewel In the Crown' Friday December i ft By Michael Dougan Examiner broadcasting columnist mmmmmm The San Francisco sym-.

1 phony and vocal soloists 1 present Handel's "Messiah'' 1 at 8 toniaht in Davies Hall. r. and at 8 p.m. Saturday at Flint Center, Cupertino. Vance George conducts.

ERIIAPS IT would be hyperbo-JJ le to proclaim that "The Jewel i' in the Crown" is the best tele- 1 vision series ever made. After The San Francisco Battel 1 dances its "Nutcracker at 2 and 8 D.m. today and Satur British miniseries as a measure, the comparisons come more easily. "Jewel in the Crown" deserves to become the next "Upstairs, Down-stars" or "Brideshead Revisited" that is, in terms of popular acceptance. But, even there, measurements falter because "Jewel in the Crown" is better than either one of those near-flawless presentations.

And if that doesn't describe, the best show ever on television, it comes reasonably close. f- "Jewel in the Crown" is a 13-parter poised for a two-hour launch on Masterpiece Theater (8 p.m. Sunday, Ch. day, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, in the Opera House, the Oakland Ballet presents the classic at 8 tonight.

2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 D.m. Sunday in the Paramount Theater. Paninaula Ballet Theater's "Nutcracker" Dlays at 7:30. tonight, 4 p.m.

Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the San all, who could have seen every one? And by what standards can such a statement be made? Would fans of "Dukes of Hazzard" or "Three's find this entrancing? Probably Hot. So let us compare it with shows of its own ilk. "Jewel in the Crown" is British. Also, it's a miniseries.

Using 60; 9 p.m. Sunday, Ch. 8 p.m. Monday, Ch. 54).

It is about many things. At its most basic level, it's about a rape. The rape is of one woman by many men. It is also of several social classes by several other social classes. Mostly, though, it is of one large sub- See Page E13, col.

1 Mateo performing Arts Kevin Reilly stars in the Illustrated Stage production of MA u.iij...i. tA.I. Ulk huUn TkAmaA" At A titninhf A Kir. and Saturday at the Zephyr Theater, 595 Mission St. Nehemiah Persoff stars in "Handy Dandy," a new comedy by William Gibson, previewing at 8:30 tonight, 5 and 8:30 p.m.

Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Theater on the Square. Pop: Dead Kennedys, MIA and Burning Image rock the Stone; Jackie and Roy sing at Kimball's. Friday and Saturday; Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra is at Ashkenaz, Berkeley; Southeide Johnny and the Asbury Jukes are at Keystone Palo Alto tonight, the Stone i Saturday. December The San Francisco Bach Choir, directed by David Babbitt, performs Mozart's Mass in Minor at 7:30 p.m.

at St. Ignatius Church, Parker and Fulton streets. Paul Dresher, Diamanda Galas, Anthony Davis are featured in the S.F. Symphony's New and Unusual Music -lit- I Ik Kyle MacLachlan leads the Fremen across the deserts of Arrakis in 'Dune' concert at 8:30 p.m. at Japan Center Theater, 1 881 Post St.

(431-5400). The Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys presents its annual Christmas Concert at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the cathedral, 1051 Taylor St. The Marin Ballet's "Nutcracker" can be seen at 2 p.m. Saturday and 2 and 7 p.m.

Sunday in the Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, Marin Center, San Rafael. The Berkeley Conservatory Ballet performs "The Nutcracker" at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Zellerbach Auditorium, UC 6orkoloy Winifred Baker conducts the San Francisco Civic and Winifred Baker chorales in Mozart's Solemn Vespers and Norman Dello Joio's "A Psalm of David" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church, San Anselmo, and at 3 p.m. Sunday at St.

Dominic's Church. The Ina Chalis Opera Ensemble presents Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at 2 p.m. at the Community Music Center, 544 Capp St. Opera San Jose offers "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Montgomery Theater, San Jose.

The Church ot the Epiphany, 845 Vienna presents free Christmas concerts, "Hear 0 Israel," at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. South San Francisco's third annual "Live Singing Christmas Tree" is presented at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the First Assembly of God Church, 100 Ardn Avt The Master Sinfonla orchestra and the Santa Clara Chorale perform Hector Berlioz' "The Childhood of Christmas at 8 p.m. Saturday at the University of Santa Clara Mission Church, and at 3 p.m.

Sunday at the First Methodist Church of Palo Alto. Pop: Guitarist Michael Hedges solos at the Noe Valley Ministry: Jeffrey Osborne sings at the Warfield Theater, Saturday through Monday; Sharon McNight sings at Mame's; Weslia Whitfield and Mike Greenslil entertain at Buckley's Bistro; Stu Blank's Nasty Habits boogie at Last Day Saloon; Ron Thompson and the Resistors and Pamela Rose and Wild Kingdom hold forth at the Cotati Dune adapts to film Richard Gere and Diane Lane in 'Cotton Club unreality of Prohibition days, but, in a wearying conceit, Coppola intercuts dramatic action with fantasy musical sequences. People break unexpectedly into dance, Busby Berkeley-style. Clever as these tributes to Hollywood's heyday are, they are jarring in an otherwise naturalistic film. Imagine Marlon Brando slipping into an aria about revenge in "The Godfather." The movie's greatest weakness is the relentless emphasis on pet themes the myth of free will, the similarity ibetween gangsterism and show business, and the decep-tiveness of appearances, all repeated to numbing effect It is, after all, Dixie's appearance rather than his of character that saves him from the treacherous benefactor Dutch.

And when Madden, owner of a club named for the plantation days, has to spend a few months in prison for parole violation, well-placed bribes have fixed it to be a cushy stay. "The way we got Sing Sing set up," a cohort tells him, "freedom will be a letdown." Freedom is already a letdown for Dixie and Vera, who squander theirs by hooking up with the oppressor of their choice, Dutch. The blacks, of course, haven't the luxury to choose their oppressors. Theirs are pre-selected in this film, a collection of the most feckless, unscrupulous and amoral whites possible, while most of the blacks are good-lookihg, philosophical and routinely talented. At the breakfast table of Sandman Williams (Gregory Hincs), for example, everyone, including his old mother, can do a little tap routine.

To Sandman, Hines brings more than just his Broadway appeal and fast-forward feet. He has mastered the movies: his basset hound face droops with cinematic sincerity. Vera, another unpalatable white, is as coldblooded as her sugar daddy. She watches a gory murder and then asks the nauseated Dixie to take her for something to eat. Played by the 18-year-old Diane Lane, Vera has that pudgy-faced unformed look.

So does the performance. But small favors abound: Gere manages to keep his shirt on for most of "The Cotton Club." While his pectorals are covered, however, the full menu of his mannerisms is generously exhibited. He still slouches coyly and speaks with that nasal, oinky snap. And in a Frank Sinatra imitation, he calls the cornet, on which he plays his own solos, a "hawn." Most remarkable is that no director has yet told him to keep his mouth closed when he isn't talking. He hangs it open as if to register perpetual astonishment at the incompetence around him, like a 16-ycar-old meaning to look tough.

i British actor Bob Hoskins, in fluent New Vorkese, 'portrays Madden, a delicious mixture of ruthlessness and ifeudal virtue. A gruff bulldog of an actor, he brings a Sec Page E4, col. 6 By Barbara Shulgasscr Examiner staff critic 4 Padishah Emperor, played by Jose Ferrer who is more and more coming to resemble Sigmund Freud lives in gold-leafed Egyptian splendor. His spaceship looks like something that was buried with a pharaoh. The evil emperor is consumed with preserving his cache of the valuable See Page EM, col.

1 According to Lynch, the future is apparently the past thrown in a blender. The sets and costumes might have come from warehouses for every Hollywood costume epic ever made. Members of the Bene Gesserit a cult trying to selectively breed a savior with super powers look like Elizabethan courtesans with shaved pates and elaborate headdresses. The Cabaret. Sunday December Tho Aasnrintion for Re- tarded Citizens' 18th annual International Wine Tasting Festival and Wine Auction J-wX runs from 1 to 6 p.m.

Sunday, SIOR THE UNINITIATED to fol- low the intricate action in "Dune," so much background J. is necessary that director David Lynch took the coward's way out. The movie opens with a character addressing the audience in a hopeless attempt to compress milennia of history', introduce cacophonous names and Clarify incestuous connections, Biit do not panic. Surrender to the confusion. Anyone who'does so will be Invited Into a place even stranger than the mind of Frank Herbert, author of the popular science fiction books: the Inlnd of Lvnch, director of "Eraser-head" and "The Elephant Man." Unlike most chrome-plated, dust-free science fiction worlds, here everything looks old, exactly the way the distant future ought to look, since by then it will have been around for a Vhlle.

I nan oi nuwoio, wviuou unio ft III Park. I II 111 The San Francisco Boys I Chorus' 11th annual Old Fashioned Christmas Feast beams at 5:30 o.m. in the Grand Ballroom. St. Francis Hotel When sand turned gold By Mildred Hamilton Examiner staff titer WHEN Frank Herbert first began shoveling literary sand for his novel "Dune," imaginative as he is, he never dreamed that every grain would one day turn to gold.

Today those golden "Dunes" stretch almost as far ahead as his science fiction vision of tomorrow. The former San Francisco newspaperman he's one of The Examiner's most successful alums was back in town this week to autograph copies of the now five "Dune" books and to herald today's See Page E19, col. 1 1 sJlt a (664-5033). A Traveling Jewish Theater, Roger Nieboer, Harriet Schiffer, John O'Keefe, the Overtones, Fred Curchack and Duck's Breath Mystery Theater lend their talents to a benefit for Intersection at 7:30 p.m. at 756 Union St.

The Committee for National Theater Week sponsors a Bay Area Theater Fair, "Let's Share it at the Faire workshops, demonstrations, lectures and an evening program (with Jane Domacker, Will Durst, Bologna Brothers, others) at the Nova Academy, 347 Dolores St, Phone 863-9176 for more Information. Opera Variety Theater presents its Christmas Concert at 3 p.m. at 3944 Balboa St. The Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church choir and musicians, perform a Christmas program at 3 p.m. at 31st Avenue and Clement Street.

The First United Lutheran Church, 30th and Geary, presents its own version of a medieval English miracle play, "Ye Stewards Nativitye Playe," at 6:30 p.m. Pop: star Etta James is at Erie's, Albany; John Cordonl's Big Band plays jazz at Roland's; Hot Links plays Louisiana at Miramar Beach Inn. It REVIEW, highlights "Dune," a Dino De Laurentlls film directed ind written by David Lynch, with Kyle MacLachlan, Jose Ferrer, Sting, Sian Phillips end Linda Hunt. A painterly film by the director "The Elephant Man" from the Frank Herbert science fiction classic. The story is the usual: me88iah saves the universe, but the Images REVIEW highlights "The Cotton Club," directed by Francis Coppola and written by William Kennedy and Coppola, with Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, James Remar, Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins.

The Prohibition era Is evoked when a jazz musician Is pulled Into the gangster world of bootlegger Dutch Schultz. The famous Harlem speakeasy that boasted the best black performers in New York is the setting for much of the action. Attention to period detail Is up to Coppola's usual standards, but this isn't his best work. Rated R. Top admission: $5.60.

the Regency III and the Serramonte 6. 1 ExaminerKim Komenlch are arresting. Rated PQ-13. At the Regency at Van Ness and Sutter. Top admission: $5.60.

Author Frank Herbert at his Emporium autographing party V. I i.