The Troy Record from Troy, New York • Page 40

40 -The Sunday 29, 1975 Review's The Movies: Two More Smashes For The Hot Summer The abundance of movie riches congesting the TrlCity area is almost without precedent, "Jaws," "Day of the Locusts," "Return of the Pink Panther," the list goes on and on. Now two new films opened this week. I went trepidation. It just couldn't be. Two more films that were going to be smashes? Never happens.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. "Ixve and Death," now playing at the Colonle Center Theatre and "French Connection II," now playing at the Cine 1-2-3-4, are both, in highly different ways excellent films. In "Love and Death," the slightly warped comic mentality of Woody Allen takes on the convoluted twists of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace." The final score is: Allen -1 Tolstoy 0. Aided by the classy antics of Diane Keaton, Woody has written and directed his best, funniest, most cohesively progressive movie to date. To analyze a film that has a chuckle every five seconds, a laugh every minute and a fall on the floor, almost make yourself sick outburst every three minutes is Impossible.

So, now 1 will do It. Thai's not ego speaking, that's the result of listening to the twisted, Illogical logic of Woody Allen. The film has everything. War, love affairs, plagues, love affairs, famine, love affairs, in short, everything that makes life worth dying. Priests and doctors arguing over the deathbed of a herring merchant over the best delicatessen in town, swords that won't go anyplace they should, Angels of Death given to telling libs, all take on manic proportions.

A sudden thought has just crossed my mind. Diane Keaton and our reckless hero have hatched an immense plot. They are seeking to destroy the world with mirth. Where extended portions of many of Allen's films fell flat, "Love and Death" is rich in cinematic knowledge. The graphics, costuming and scenery all have the same skill shown in the humor.

At last, Allen's direction has caught up with his wit. The lines in the film are pearls. "Then there was the village priest. He had a black beard, a black cap and always dressed in black. For years.I thought he was an Italian widow." Or, "Death is a terrific way of cutting down on expenses." I won't quote anymore, they need the Allen delivery, and I don't want to spoil the fun of the show.

Mel Brooks watch out. Now that Allen is technologically improving in leaps and bounds, there is a new contender for chief lunatic of the silver screen. "French Connection II" is worlds apart from "Love and Death." It is a gritty, steaming picture that seethes with volatile energy, erupting into spasms of thrilling excitement. "French Connection" ended with ace narcotics detective, making the largest heroin arrest in history. For this role Gene Hackman won an.Oscar.

This film picks up in Marseilles, France where Popeye has gone to capture the elusive mastermind of (he d6pe operation who escaped in the earlier picture. Gutsy realism makes the film abrasive, almost too much to watch. When Popeye becomes addicted to heroin, the scenes depicting his withdrawal are brutal life brought to the screen. Gene Hackman outdoes himself. At times, the incessant profanity becomes wearisome, but the total conception is masterful.

The smell, colors and sudden brutality of the French port city are captured with-uncompromising verity by director William Frankenheimer. Explosions, rampaging fires jar She screen, project heat into the theatre. on the aisle" doug delisle Some may be totally turned off by the coarseness of the film, in lesser hands I know I would have been. But given the cast and director "French Connection II" tells the unpretty story of an unpretty subject in a corrosive way, etched in the acid of truth SARATOGA CHANGES If you are keeping track of the spccial.events at SPAC this summer, several changes must be made in the original brochures. Joe Cocker has cancelled his show, but Dave Mason will still be on hand.

Phoebe Snow won't be there on the 20th of July, but Emmy- Lou Harris will tak her place, while the Carpenters have added an Interesting opening act to their show. His name is Neil Sedaka. Fans are in for. one heckuva double bill. WOODY AL'LEN AND ALFRED LUTHER 111 IN 'LOVE AND DEATH' Music Reigns Supreme Thh Week i This week you have the largest selection of Jive pop and country music shows of the entire year to see.

TONIGHT. Stephen Stills appears at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Original member of country rock innovators, the Buffalo SorinElield. one of the most commercially successful synthesizers of folk and rock ballads, founder of Manassas, guitarist and vocalist of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and moving toward mainstream rock with his new Columbia album, STILLS. At the Saratoga Fair tonight Lynn Anderson appears at 8 in the grandstand.

Able to lead an active family life on a ranch with her husband and several children, Lynn has set the middle class standard typified by country music. Winner of many music awards, best known for "Rose Garden," she has a long list of country hits. 1 MONDAY. Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie will donate their artist's fees from the SPAC concert to The Hudson River Sloop Restoration, Inc. Their recent TOGETHER IN CONCERT album shows the kind of enthusiasm two legends can generate together on stage, not to mention a repertoire that spans decades.

Seeger defined the term protest singer and founded one of the most "successful folk 1 groups of all time, The Weavers. Arlo is best known for his fantastic lalking blues, particularly "Alice's Restaurant." Mac Davis, variety show host and crossover country pop singer songwriter begins his Saratoga Fair appearances at 8 p.m., TUESDAY. Mac Davis performs again at 5 and 8 p.m. Gordon Lightfoot is at Tanglewood. It took pop audiences almost 15 years to get into the pleasanUolk ballads of this- prolific singer songwriter.

A polished stage performer pleases fans and bores sceptics looking for extended improvisations. WEDNESDAY. The best bet of the week, the Pointer Sisters al SPhC with Jimmy "J.J." Walker opening the show at 7. June Pointer is well and back with the go skat go girls who gave one of SPAC's best'ever concerts to a half empty house at last year's American Song Festival. They their repertoire into country music with the same flair they show on Andrew Sisters numbers from (he 40's.

Walker is hilarious on his KID DYN 0 MITE album that pokes' fun at the insanity of racial prejudices from both sides of the color line. iu Ttiomas and With'People appear at the Fair Wednesday. The "Raindrops" kid dropped out recently to conquer a drug problem, returned with "heavier" material and a try at a new image only to score with "(Hey Won't You Plav) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" typical of his hits for the last decade. Up. With People are 36 ypung peo- pie who are everything your mother wants you'to be sweet clean cut, safe and dull.

THURSDAY. Teen temptress Tanya Tucker joins Red Skellon at the Saratoga Fair. Tanya almost stole the show from headliner Merle Haggard last year at SPAC with a varied set of vocals backed by a.tight touring band BUT ON HER NEW ALBUM FOR MCA she seems to have overdone the gimmick of 16 year old singing songs meant for an ex- Dented woman teice her age. -When she says "Lay with Me in a Field of Stone" my mind registers Jail before I score erotic fan-i contemporary music dona Id wilcock oriented talent that's just breaking plus folkies not seen locally for years. Old favorites Phil Ochs and Doc Watson join Emmylou Harris and Tracy Nelson for the opening.

Emmylou's debut PIECES OF THE SKY on Warner Brothers Records, gained critical praise for the Linda Ronsladt soun- dalike. She's paid her dues on the coffee house circuit and with the late Gram Parsons. This is her second try at national fame and she's going to make it. Tracy Nelson has been trying to make it without her many versions of Mother Earth for the last two years and she isn't going to make hours in the sun are 1 past. Roger Miller, the Mills Brothers and the Duke Ellington Band offer the strangest combination of talents for the week.

Miller, of course, is pop country. The Mills Brothers have been singing close harmony for almost five decades, having originated songs Worm" and "Lazy River." The personable Mercer Ellington, meanwhile, carries on the message of his late father's renowned work in jazz. Almost as strange is the coupling of Blood, Sweat Tears with Return to Forever at SPAC Friday nighi. Both play jazz rock, but BST sold out to the public's lowest common denominator when Kooper left them in '67. Their latest claim to fame is the return of David Clayton Thomas who realized that the world was full of singers who sound just like him and that the only way people were going to recognize him as the original was to return to the group that brought him fame.

Chick Corea, on the other hand, just keeps getting farther and farther out as he grows with his audience and his Return to Forever. SATURDAY. This Lenox Twilight Concert Special beginning again at 2 p.m. is the other standout of the week. Tom Rush returns for his fourth area appearance in a year.

Orphan backs him with basically soft country rock. Joan Baez's sister Mimi Farina will -surprise familiar with Joan's work. Mimi cuts her. Leon Redbone, the charismatic folk enigma, makes his second Lenox appearance. Wendy Waldman, surprise smash hit of RPI's Jackson Browne concert, will be there.

And so will Orleans, a hard driving dance band a had Union's Memorial Chapel shaking earlier this spring. The Bee Gees appear al SPAC Saturday with a new sound aided by synthesizers and mealier guitars as they cash in on the disco craze. And for the youngsters there's the Hudson Brothers with Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods at the Saratoga Fair al 8 p.m. From Tuesday through Saturday the Colonie Coliseum will feature the Broadway hit musical, Grease. The show lakes the outrageous fads of the first rock decade and carries them to an extreme.

Discovering The Rainbow Room THE POINTER SISTERS FRIDAY. The Twilight Concert Series opens with a 2 p.m. extravaganza at their all natural setting in the Berkshires at Lenox, Mass. My favorite concert site continues the most imaginative bookings in the area with a strong emphasis on folk The other night I discovered one of the most smashing, romantic spots in New York, and I'm happy to report that my capacity to be Impressed is not jaded out of shape. I sighed, 1 stargazed.

I didn't want to go home from the Rainbow Room, some sixty five floors atop Rockefeller Plaza. A press release boded incredible news, that members of the Stuttgart ballet, Ihe German based troupe currently in town, would be at the Rainbow Room.to learn the "hustle" from Arthur Murray dancers. I wouldn't carp at being hoaxed into the Rainbow Room, so late on a foggy night I caromed into the sky to watch prima ballerinas jive. When I debarked on the sixty fifth floor, everything was dark save a sign pointing toward the Rainbow Room. I thought 1 had the wrong night, but gingerly pushed through a revolving door, only to meet the spectre of a waiter.

"Is the Slutlgart affair here tonight?" I asked. He headed me out of Ihe darknces (caused by a power failure, I laler learned) toward lone lights in whal looked like a cocktail lounge's wing space. The illumination came from the itself, a sudden heaven. Its ceilings arc raised; nearly Twice as high as you might have been in during the day, and you step down Into something discreetly palatial that New Yorkers cail a "room." Immense panes of glass reveal New York up, across and down, for Rockefeller Plaza is in the dead center of town. Hugh mirrors on Ihe wall bounce light onto the ceiling that gathers into rainbow puddles glancing off stone.

The decor is. all cold gold, an effect somehow elegant, not frigid, since radiant chandeliers plumb down from the corners and cushy new york. pat lamb 1 t' La7lb rali Wt ard ccrjespoxsm aiowrl-limti-M'er crnk fcr TMTIrFNlecord. ir-o or oi Friday 1 a higl lajlion rtorren 1 rragaiire in New York Cllr erd fim.liliWMiy lor i nailer's ifealw Irixn Calieit Univef 'V- Sfe cticnbti Kricli ri "a-i aipiriog, icong li.l ths-D'anl Looking Back At Harry James Looking more like a business man than a bandleader, Harry James led his 15 piece orchestra through a program of his hits of the Forties last Monday evening at the Colonic Coliseum Summer Theatre. The band sounded bland most of the (ime during the first part of the concert, but they seemed to come alive in lha second half probably because the audience of 1,100 loved it.

They greeted each staple of the James repertoire with enthusiastic applause. Opening with "Don't Be That Way," the band played Harry 1 James' familiar book of light and bright tunes such as "Tuxedo Junction," "Jersey Bounce," "Sleepy Lagoon," "Two O'clock Jump" and several Ellington compositions, which pleased my guest Mercer Ellington. They sounded best on two blues charts they offered. Corky Corcoran has a good share of the solo work. His best moments came on "That's All," on which he was featured at length.

The tenor saxophonist was a soloist with James in the early 1940s, when he was a teenager, and has been with him, off and on, ever since. Drummer Les DeMcrlc came on as a featured attraction. His long solo on "The Sheik Of Araby" was the high point of the evening. Over the years, the Harry James bands have done some satisfying things behind singers including Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest, Jeannie Thomas, an attractive I vocalist who was with Sam Donahue's band a few years ago she also married (he leader sang the Helen Forrest tunes such as "I'm Beginning To See The Light" and "Don't Gel Around Much Anymore" plus a few newer ones. Just as he was on the recordings he made in the early '40s which featured his horn, Harry James is the vital element in this band.

His trumpet Is the strong solo voice. An endurable veteran who still has the chops, his lone remains big and beautiful. The band has a generally good sound, but does not capture the sparkle of the band that played the originals. In March of 1950, Erroll Garner performed his first full fledged concert at the Music Hall In Cleveland, Ohio. It was also the year he signed with Columbia Records.

To commemorate Garner's 25lh anniversary as a concert artist and hli vears with the company, Columbia Records has releas- jazz georgia urban The delightful Pointer Sisters will perforrri at SPAC on Wednesday al 7 p.m. their jazz oriented act, tliey do tunes such as "Straight No Chaser," the Miles Coltrane version of "Round and the Massey Hall Concert version of "Salt Peanuts." Blood, Sweat and Tears appear at the Performing Arts Center on the 4th of July at 7 p.m. Chick Corea, a musician with solid jazz credentials, who has a big following among young people, will also be on hand with Return To Forever. The same nighl, over at the Saratoga Fair, Mercer Ellington leads the Duke Ellington Orchestra in a tribute to the Maestro. ed a two volume set titled PLAY IT AGAIN, ERROLL.

Next Sunday tenor saxophonist Sal Nistico and reedman Nick Brignola combine their energies for a session a( the liamada Inn in Schcnectady, Tonight The Abbey in Guilderland has the Sal Maida trio, The collection, from the early to the mid Fifties, has the remarkable, pianist playing in his unique style with three different rhythum sections. Many selections have here- tolore been available only on singles and others were only issued on 10 inch LPs. Included among the 21 selections are such Garner classics as "Avalon," "Dreamy," a a "Lover" and "The Man I Love." Many fine vocalists have sung with the swinging Count Basic band including Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Joe Williams and Lambert, Hendrlcks and Ross. Helen Humes was associated with Basle from 1938 until 1M2. After that, she did mainly rhythm and blues material and gave up slngine altogether In 1967.

In 1073, Stanley Dance Invited her to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival in New York and with his and Nellie Lutcher's help, she began working in New.York again. Last year, she appeared at the llalfnole and at Barney Josephson's Cookery. In February of this year John Hammond recorded for Columbia Records, with the Ellis Larkins' All Stars Larkins, piano; George Benson, guitar; Major Holley, bass; Oliver Jackson, drums and Buddy Tale, clarinet and tenor saxophone. The session, THE TALK OF THE TOWN, includes a great reading of "If I Could Be With You," "I Don't Know His Name" a traditional 12 bar blues, a delightful "Deed I Do" which has Rood solos by Benson and Tale, plus seven more. Albany Gallery Opens Monday ALBANY-The University Gallery of Albany Slate University will open its summer season Monday with several.varied exhibits.

at the gallery are 9 a.m.- to 4 p.m. weekdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. 55 Mercer, works in various media by 20 members of the New York City cooperative gallery. Is the name anil address for a loose association of New York City artists whn rent space in the Sollo district of the city.

55 Mercer, mounted by its members and circulated by the Gallery Association of New York State, will remain through Aug. 8. Art Council Collection, an exhibition of works on paper collected In the 60s by A a State students, features works by such American artists as Robert Rauschenbcrg, Edward Giobbi, Richard Lindner, Robert Motherwell, Ellsworth Kelly a a A a rugs warm up your feet. To boot, each table had a wax candle with a taffeta lamp cover. lingered solo at a ringside table, enjoying the doting and dotage of the waiters, until I was yanked over to sip white wine with the publicists.

I fell like the Rose Princess in "Beauty and the Beast;" and I never wanted to go home. One reporter, making a fast exit after downing oysters on the half shell, asked if 1 was leaving. "Like hell," I growled, "I'm having a high, dainty lime of it." When Pierre Delaney of the Arthur Murray school look the Sioor I ended mv scrulimzirje and began tq'want to dance more exactly to Oliver arid his'band played the disco music and they were a smooth treat, showing off their real stuff later in Ihe evening with "Dancing in the Dark" and "Begin the Beguine." Delaney was a dancing concoction of charm and malapropisms, such as, "Excuse your drinks for a minute and come up on the floor." Dark and handsome in an insinuating way, he put four pro dancers through their paces. The hustle rhythm is "step touch, step step step for the life of me, it looks like the jitterbug and the cha cha had a child, and Ihe godmother was the Unless people really surrender to the beat, I expect Ihe hustle will retain a dogeared ballroom look, but as Pierre said "Look, the couples are touching, carrying on a conversation or able lo carry on a conversation." That remark spoke volumes about the resolution of alienation in dance. Meanwhile, one Italian waiter was aghast th 'd never been to the Rainbow Room before "That's harne ort you!" and ran fetch more chablls.

From the-next table a fledgling movie star and two tough'broads rose to do the Latin hustle. It's sexier south of the border more touch than step. The Arthur Murray gang sporled constricted grins, since their business was being undercut by the Pierre recouped at our table. "I'm half English, half'- frcnch, he head is English, but my heart is He then beat his chest wildly In 8 gesture actors call Indical on. He also told us that Arthur Murray receives twenty six Information calls a day about Ihe hustle, and they are all recorded.

Just ihink, any banal inquiry about the fox trot is commlllcd to tape. No wonder I was startled when Pierre asked Mr. Kissinger lo come onto the dance floor. Visions of sum'- mil meet ngs dissolving into polkas danced through my heaj 111 I realized he'd said "Mr. Kesscnger," a red -haired, gangly youth who resembled Archie.

II was lime to go but I was hanging on. demurely. No Stuttgart dancers had arrived bul I met their ballet master, Alan Bcale, who was urbane and knew lo order dashing food One of the dancing girls at Ihe Latin hu'sllo table was overheard saying I) i lcll y' lerm ls an 'lophanl. The animal; an elephant. As made to leave I saw one couple stomping the floor in a slolld dance that appeared lo be penance tor matrimony.

It was a note out of harmony with the puffery and much ado ness of Ihe evening. Bul It just proved one of rriy Siicreci maxims: Money makes you happy and maney makes ii? 1 kfs you lailgh Es la al a swell joint like (be Rolnbow Room..