The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 3

tsr cons AVAIUfflJ 2 COLOR 'ShekaiuitrSim SECTION i i i nm SOT You Asked Us: about that mellifluous telephone voice E3 Native Indian artists now command top prices El 2 Peter Wilson, right: philosophizing gumshoe is real E5 Wacky wit and wisdom hit CBC-radio airwaves E3 lEfin 51 SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1983 1 NAMES IN THE NEWS rn Cv ilp mf I ILM 1 4 'I) A'Ji J) tUJ 'VJJ il DISNEY animator Frank Thomas with deer he studied Ji wa "n.i.rrr,; 1 r. fr By JAMIE PORTMAN Southam News BURBANK, Calif. but the project kept being shoved to the "back burner" while the studio concentrated on other animated features. But for Thomas and Johnston, the peculiar chat-Please see BAMBI, E12 -T ALL happened more than half a I lifetime ago. But for Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston; the memories of making Bambi remain as evergreen tually made it into release at such a volatile time in the studio's history seemed a miracle.

But in retrospect, it seems even more of a miracle to have made Bambi at all. Artistically, it posed challenges Disney and his animators had never previously faced. "We needed good narrative, solid dramatic scenes, the sort of things there were in Felix Salten's book," says Thomas. "And we didn't know how to do It." Johnston says a major problem was the fact that "Walt had never worked with a real book before. "With Snow White, it If house.

It had done well with its short cartoons in the 1930s. It had gambled and won with its first animated feature, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, in 1937. But classic animation was (and still is) a ferociously expensive process, requiring maximum revenues to justify investment. After the profit-making Snow White, this wasn't happening. Pinocchio (1939) and Fantasia (1940) lost money on first release.

In 1941, Dumbo made a modest profit, but not sufficiently to ease the studio's fiscal miseries. In fact, the Disney studio had overextended itself at the worst possible time. On the domestic front, it had been hit by union problems which saw the departure of some top animators. But the biggest blow was the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, with loss of foreign markets killing 50 per cent of Disney's revenues. After the U.S.

entered the war in December 1941, the pressures intensi J' SHEEN: caused a stir MORE NUMEROLOGY. Martin Sheen picked up $320 at the B.C. Lottery Corporation office this week, causing the lottery people to become "quite excited" according to Gail Shaw. All prizes over $200 must be claimed in person. Sheen won $320 playing "The Pick," which, Shaw said, is "for people who are really into numbers." The winning numbers of 7-1 1-13-17 were chosen by the actor at a White Rock 711 Store.

He is in the area making a movie. SELF PITY: Actor Lou Gossett says when he failed to get a flood of movie offers after winning an Oscar in 1983 for his role in An Officer and a Gentleman, he blamed it on racism and sought solace in drugs and alcohol. "I expected a landslide of parts, but none came," Gossett told Parade magazine. "I became very disappointed, blaming it on racism. "I thought maybe I had chosen the wrong profession and had reached as far as I could go.

It set me on a path of self-pity. That's when I got into alcohol and drugs. "Sure, Oscars and Emmys are important," he said. "But more important is happiness inside me and inside my home." was lust a few pages from as the trees that sedately line the streets on the Disney studio lot. On this California morning in the spring of 1988, Thomas and Johnston are in the studio archives.

They're examining the new Bambi poster designed for this week's re-release of the classic 1942 animated feature about a young deer's coming of age. Thomas and Johnston are legendary links with a glorious past two of the famous "nine old men" who helped bring fame to the Walt Disney studio in the 1930s and 1940s. "We wanted it to have an impact, of course," says Johnston of the film Bambi. "But we had no idea that the impact would continue for nearly 50 years. We couldn't think that far ahead.

We simply hoped there would be another picture to work on." Bambi happened at a time of crisis in the studio's history. In those years, Disney was still essentially an animation various books of fairy tales. He could pick what he wanted to use and embellish it. But Bambi was a whole book with clearly defined characters and plot." A Bambi unit operated from 1937 on, fied. Disney no longer had control over his own studio because it had been taken over by the army.

That Bambi even HIGH NOTE: Dr. Whitney Houston? The pop singer liked the sound of it after receiving an honorary doctorate degree from Grambling State University for her contribution to the arts through music. "Wow! I'm a doctor now," said Houston, 24, after receiving her diploma on Friday. Houston, who never attended college, is a two-lime Grammy winner and has nine American Music Awards and an Emmy. AMBITIOUS PROJECT: Jane Fonda says her latest movie Gringo Viejo is an epic that "has everything." (rX If -vf' "''( A Jk -mVi 1 iV $-11 I 1 Pit hfoy.lr 1 J' iL" 1 I The fTcr movie, inspired by Carlos Fuentes' book about the lives of two North Americans who find themselves FONDA in Mexico in 1913 during the Mexican Revolution, is directed by Luis Puenzo, who also directed the Oscar-winning Argentine film The Official Story.

Fonda said the film will be released spring next year. Stupid title but Die Hard is fine flicM DIE HARD Starring Bruce Willis Granville, starts Wednesday at the Fraser. West Van, Coquitlam. Westminster Mall and Clearbrook. Restricted.

It has a great screenplay, superlative stunts and a musical score that keeps your nerve ends buzzing ft drawn. One difference between this and a Rambo movie is that John is no superhuman when he first encounters the terrorists he freezes from fear, and throughout the movie he acts like a man well aware of his own mortality. This hint of vulnerability (take notes, Sly and Arnio) gives the movie more tension, because we care more about the outcome. The screenplay, by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, rarely flags: (although at more than two hours; Die Hard could do with a 10-minuu? trim.) The special effects, hich include the blasting of at least three floors of an office building, are convincingly real.

Special mention also goes to Michael Kamen's compelling score which, among other things, uses Beethoven's Ode to Joy theme to cry ptic effect. and Joel Silver, who know how to stage a decent action flick. Die Hard may have a stupid title, but it also has a first-rate screenplay, superlative stunts, suspense and a musical score that keeps your nerve ends buzzing. For Willis, the first screen star to resemble Fred Flintstone, Die Hard is a career-maker. After two horrendous outings for Blake Edwards (Blind Date, Sunset), the man from Moonlighting needs a hit.

He has one here. Willis plays New York detective John McClane, who arrives in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to visit his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bede-lia) and his two kids. He catches up lo Holly at her office party on the 30th floor of a Century City tower, right at the same time that a dozen By MARKE ANDREWS Those who proclaimed the death of the action movie should see Die Hard before reading the last rites. Sure, Rambo III plummeted from theatres like a wounded helicopter. Sure, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Red Heat is fast turning blue (down from six Lower Mainland theatres to one in four weeks.) And now here's Bruce Willis' donning the muscle shirt and the automatic weapon to try his hand at super-herodom.

Lucky for Bruce he hooked up with producers Lawrence Gordon armed terrorists take over the building with a truckload of explosives. John escapes, and spends the rest of the movie making life miserable for the villains. He crawls through elevator shafts to stage peekaboo ambushes. He sabotages their explosives. When a terrorist screams in frustration, Holly smiles and says, "Only John can drive someone that crazy." We've seen this one-againsl-many story before, but not this skilfully BRUCE WILLIS in Die Hard: he has a hit on his hands 2 COLOR KST COPT fcAiLASUj.