LA Weekly from Los Angeles, California • 18

aer r.l;A 1980 ITTTTnrTTTnTTTTTTTT TTTTTTTTTTT fc. A X. center as she places it. Colin Higgins directing Patricia Resnicks feisty script keeps things moving, but he might have given some thought to shaping. But whats a' little sloppy comic drive when theres Tomlin to steal the scenes and Parton to steal the whole show? With these two thats grand theft indeed.

(GV) 1 daring, brains, and a basic unconfused courage about whether you land on your ass or But this is a comedy, and solemn statements should take second place to praise' for the funny stuff. First off, theres Dolly Parton. She gets along beautifully with a comic line. Her talent for timing and dialogue delivery are a sweet, easy watch. Then there Lily Tomlin.

Since shes only America finest comedienne, it simply has to be said that she never misses the absurd mark. Finally, Jane Fonda, who is entirely too earnest vfor her own good. Luckily, the movie needs her girlish anxiety as exactly off- HIM continued from page 17 trip v'' Whatever next new thing Altman, has up his movie-making sleeve, I. hope he holds off long enough for me to see Popeye another two or three times. Its that full and that fresh, an amusement park movie uniquely, merrily made.

At times its even Charlie Chaplin taking a little enchanted twirl through the jumbled, lovely dreamscape of The Kid. As always, angels will play in the strangest places. (GV) 9 TO 5 A good rowdy time. Reflection tells me 'Airplane has more jokes. Any Which Way Xou Can has less plot, and both have better structure.

But 9 to 5 has Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. It also has values. Its my bet that those values will have far more effect in womens working lives than any and all other honorable but unfunny arguments ever offered for equal rights. Parton and Fonda and Tomlin look at the way they work, and laugh at what they see. All the time theyre losing big chunks of their dignity whenever the boss (Dabney Coleman) decides it suits him.

This is the reality the fantasy presents. This and' how the hazards of dignity are no small thing unless you have I Lily Tomlin. Nine to Five ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN It made me laugh as much as Airplane. What else can I say? Airplane is a better movie as cinema and all that, but this sucker is just as funny. Funny, vulgar, blasphemous, witty (which is different from funny), great sight-gags, not afraid of good shit-jokes, not afraid of good fuck-jokes, not afraid of much of anything.

If Mack Sennett and his vulgar, wild gang were making films today, this is the sort of thing theyd do. And there isnt a more appropriate place to register a profound respect for Mr. Clint Eastwood. His character is central to the movie, but this is an ensemble film he lets himself be upstaged and equalled by almost everybody, even the damn monkey. Especially the monkey.

Or orangutan. Or radiation-doused giraffe. Or whatever that, thing is. Eastwood shares the screen not because he has to, but because in this sort of com- Clint Eastwood. Any Which Way You Can edy it makes a better film'.

And because, for all its mayhem, Any Which Way You Can a far better film, by the way, than Every Which Way But Loose the film has an ethic. It is a very libertarian, very old-timey pioneer ethic, the best of the Old West: a'rough and ready live and let live, with a sense of generosity, a sense of humor, a sense that the sinners and the straights need each other so they ought to try and like each other and then let be. Eastwood is definitely on the side of the sinners and with the excellent direc Hon of Buddy Van Horn and a funny out-there cast hes inviting us all to come J.along.(MV)fcO,. LeSportsac LcSportoac Uostwood 914 Westwood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90024 Santa Honicb Place 2nd Level Center Court Santa Monica CA 90401 213 394-7027 4 213 473-9676 rw1-'w i -i.