The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 114

Movies THE KANSAS CITY STAR Sunday January 26 1975 Arab Oil Dollars For Anthony Quinn Epic Trish Van Devere star in a Georg Scott and controversial film produced by directed by and starring Scott "The Ranch Mart TheSavage is Loose" Savage is Loose" is at the Quinn os Hamza in Mohammed ney Saturday Night" plays Bilal the most beloved character in the story of Mohammed a black slave who became one of the prophet's earliest followers and survived everyone else to become the first "he who calls the faithful to else is noble a powerful warrior or as Irene Pappas the implac-cable enemy" Sekka said The film is not short of enemies Bankrolled with Moroccan Kuwaiti and Libyan funds through a Lebanese-based firm called Filmco which plans to follow up with other "internationally oriented shooting started near Marrakesh Morocco last April Despite the effort to keep the lowest possible profile it was halted Aug 5 following pressure from Islamic religious leaders Saudi King Faisal whose realm includes Mecca was the chief opponent of the film and allegedly brought direct pressure on King Hassan II Retaining the 200-member cast and crew (the latter largely British) on salary Akkad managed to bring Col Mu-ammar Khaddafi behind the project by screening several hours of unedited film for the Libyan leader Khaddafi who since his bloodless coup in 1969 has tried to establish socialism according to the Koran in this oil-soaked nation invited Filmco to finish the film in Libya despite opposition from his own religious hierarchy A week before filming started Oct 22 the grand mufti of Libya Sheikh Taha el-Zawy said Islam was in no need of an (ike Anthony Quinn to make a film out of the story that is sacred to nearly 600 million people Two days later Khaddafi told Akkad to answer the mufti on Libya television "To some the message is said the 42-year-old Akkad a University of California at Los Angeles cinema school graduate classmate of Francis Ford Coppola whose first job was writing the High for Sam Peckinpah Mohammed said that any man who has more than another and share it is not a Molsem he is a revolutionary as was Jesus when he preached Love thy neighbor' In A 622 teachings were so revolutionary that he and his followers were driven from Akkad who will be filming until mid-April is surrounded by top technicians for his directorial debut Andrew Marion who gave us the chariot races in "Ben and the battle i By Axel Madsen A Special Correspondent The camel train glides majestically across the dunes and a figure in black the only man on horseback waves slowly toward a second caravan coming toward a geometric meeting point over the next ridge On camera A they are tiny specks in the void of the desert and the eternity of God In the telephoto lens on camera the figure on under turban and black veil protecting from the is Anthony Quinn The re-enactment of the Flight to Medina is a scene that is sacred to one-fifth of humanity: The low point 1352 years ago of struggle to establish Islam It is also Scene 119 of "Mohammed the Messenger of God" a $10-million retelling of the life of the prophet the only movie shooting today with a cast of thousands It is the first petrodollar epic and a movie that like Mohammed has had to flee persecution in one Moslem nation to find support in another you know it is an affront to Moslems to depict the likeness of Mohammed" said Moustapha Akkad a Syrian-born Hollywood producer-di-rector never show the prophet of course but there are people who fear a kind of Islamic "Jesus Christ Super-star" and people who feel any movie on the prophet is We are on the location on the edge of the Libyan desert In a dried-out riverbed the polyglot crew is preparing Scene A 119 the Flight of Medina shot this time filmed with Abdullah Gaith an Egyptian actor who looks surprisingly like Jack Pa-lance taking place on the horse The film is shot in English and in Arabic with two sets of actors in the 30-odd speaking parts While Akkad films A 119 we talk with Quinn and Johnny Sekka who together with Irene Pappas star in the heathen (English-language) version As Hamza Quinn is nephew and powerful defender What intrigues Quinn in the film he said is the abstraction of religion the fact that the film's principal character can never be shown or heard size do you play to Quinn asked mean do you look straight eye to eye so to speak or do you look up when you speak to him" Akkad has solved part of the problem by having cinematographer Jack Hildyard place a tiny light bulb on the Panavi-sion camera just above the lens In all scenes where characters and crowds act or react to the prophet the 6-watt bulb is immanence Sekka a Senegalese-born London actor last seen in Sid Colonel Khaddafi would want him to film the story of Libya's national hero Omar Muktar who would have won his guer ilia war against the Italians in 1942 if he hadn't lost his glasses in the middle of the battle The siren of petrodollars is swaying others Several Hollywood producers are making overtures to the new imperialists One of them is Elmo Williams (the producer of Tors who has managed to persuade the shah of Iran to invest in the Seventh Art sequence in Longest is staging the historical Battle of Uhud The screenplay is by A Craig an Irish Catholic who also wrote and 'Airport Every single line of the 300 pages was approved by Tewfik El Hakim a leading Muslim scholar at Cairo's A1 Azzar Uni versity The arable version is being shot in classical language and will run three hours Nei ther versions shows seven wives or his daughters or even their husbands All are too sacred Akkad has not yet tackled international distribution although during the hiatus between Morocco and Libya he was in Hollywood talking to Columbia Pictures He and his oil backers are in no hurry If need be they can buy Radio City Mu sic Hall to premier their film Akkad said with a smile And after Akkad would like to do a lightweight romatic story but FESTIVAL PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS Freddie Hubbard McCoy fyner SUN FEB 9 8:00 PM KC KAN MEMORIAL HALL Ba PRICES: $6 50 550 4 50 ALL SEATS RESERVED TICKETS NOW ON SALE: MEMORIAL HALL FOSTER RECORDS 31st Brooklyn CAPERS CORNER 46th Mission Rd KIEFS in Lawrence Michel Piccoli embraces his mistress Stephane "Weddina Audrane in a new film by Claude Chabrol "Wed ding in Blood" about murder hypocrisy and po-in Blood scandal in France will be the next attrac tion at the Festival Films This Week Music Hall 8 pm Next FRI EVE Jan 31 NOTE NEW DATE! Tickets dated Jan 24 will be honored for the Jan 31 performance He is the greatest pantomimist since Chaplin and in his special way the funniest comedian in the world If you haven seen him already -go and see him now If you have go and pay your respects He is marvelous CItveBam9SljNjrTlmgsj Tlvi kiJITL-i I HURRY OR CHOICE SEATS: $750 650 550 450 NEXT SAT EVE FEB 1 Music Hatl 8 pm documentary The old-time airplanes are always good fun and the film offers some nostalgic glimpses of rural Americana Unfortunately Bach cannot resist infusing the written passages with some mystical claptrap 'THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE" Scott as producer star and brings to the screen a parable about savagery civilization and the kind of adaptability needed for survival Scott plays a scientist who is shipwrecked on an island with his wife Trish Van De verei and small son (Lee Montgomery i While the film is a respectable effort Scott the filmmaker isn't in the same class as Scott the actor -R Art Institute Angry Red 7:30 pm Wednesday program of short films 7:30 Thursday Both pro grams in Epperson Audito rium on campus 4415 War wick timely subject matter car theft) and many other pluses this action melo drama winds up being one long car chase which goes no where PG THE GROOVE Tl'BE" -Television from top to hot tom is raked over with mer ciless wit and sometimes merciless bad tastei in this satire bv Ken Shapiro its best the film simply carries the familiar banalities of TV' to their logical extremes producing some hilarious strokes of parody But other and grosser scenes may of fend some viewers -MURDER ON THE OR IENT -Sidney Lumet i of all directors' i has used Agatha novel to frame an amused loving celebration of the whole 30s whodunit genre and the kind of glamour Hollywood used to lavish on projects like this The film is grand droll fun a treat for mind and senses alike as Hercule Poirot probes a homicide aboard the most intrigue filled tram Albert portrayal of the sleuth is a triumph and the other play ers i star after star in glitter ing profusion appear to rel ish their roles as much as we PG NOTHING Richard Bach author of Jonathan Livings ton Seagull" is chief pilot of the Great American Flying Circus a group of amateur barnstormers whose Midwestern tour is recorded in this agreeable if contrived There Have Been Three Noted Actors Who Have Presented Re markable Impersonation Performances of MARK TWAIN SAMUEl CLEMENS HAl HOLBROOK AND JOHN AND I Honestly Don't Know Whkh Was The Best! Columbia COME SEE AND JUDGE FOR YOURSELF! The following films are among those regarded by The reviewers as being of more than routine interest See ads for theaters and showtimes AIRPORT l7S- -Karen Black lakes the wheel of a pi Intless Boeing 747 following on air collision bui neither she nor a cabin full of fellow stars can keep this mein drama from diving into pu rest absurdity PG KARTHOt Very special special effects make this movie unusual Although there is an attempt to make the audience feel vibrations as well as watch buildings tumble it is the extraordi nar visual effects which work best Starring Charlton Hestori the melodrama is about Los Angeles in the midst of a violent earth PG "THE KRONT Based on the Hecht MacAr thur pfay about newspaper ing in l20s Chicago this film Billy Wilder is reasonably true to fhe rumbustious spirit of the original Jack lem mon and Walter Matthau are in fine form as the ace re porter and his fire breathing boss while Austin Pendleton is all screwball sweetness as an anarchist on the lam The film hds its anachio ntsms a weak performance Carol Burnett and some jarringly intrusive farce But it is rich enough in gibbet wit loving causticism and narra tive snap to entertain most of the way PG GONE IN SO SEC Despite its unusual THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER In Cooperation with Metro-Action! announces A grant awarded from the Missouri State Committee for the Humanities to present: EDUCATION TODAY: RIGHTS ROLES RESPONSIBILITIES" SOCIAL HALL 7:30 PM Monday February 10 1975 UDQ -PUBLIC-SCHOOLS HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO TEACH MORALS AND ETHICS?" Monday March 24 1975 OUR GOVERNMENT HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE EDUCATION FOR SENIOR ADULTS?" Tues April 29 1975 IS THE GOVERNMENTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR EARLY EDUCATION?" NO CHARGE RESERVATIONS: 3615200 ex 80 JOHN CHAPPELL first time in Kci recreates America's Greatest Humorist Library Area library programs: Noon Tuesday Kansas City Public Library Downtown 2 pm Tuesday North Kansas City Library 2 pm Thurs day Plaza Library and 7-30 pm Friday at the Corinth Library They rose spontaneously in ovation A marvelous illusion It was a pleasure to watch Twain's cleverness and satire were re-created by a master of the art NASHVILLE BANNER 'He kept a really big crowd thakmg Inserting with alertness splitting out sides and making shtvnrs go down out backs Indeed Beau ort had Mark Twain this Reclaimer oi true morals bis analyst o( man He is ageless Thank you lohn Chappell thank you Mark Twain GA HEART DRIVE-IN SWAP SHOP EVERY SUNDAY MUMY FOR CHOICE SEATS! $650-600-500-400 ZETTE jPECALJ-NEPARTYANDSTjJDENT GROUP RATES AVAILABLE COMPANY of 40 mm am Friday feb 7 music 'Inrtsness JERRY FOLEY ancI TURK MAY PRESENT SCHUBERT VARIATIONS MICHTs3Im influenced by Rodin Sculpture HE YORK PEOAL UWE PARTY AND' 6'50 5'50 4 50 EVE FEB 21 MUSIC HALL 8 PM TfrE MOST BELOVED CHOIR DINNI I 4TH4II7I IN IM IIYII WA ON STAGEIN PERSON! "The most acclaimed one-man show in the history of American Theatre" IN PCX SON I HAL HOLBROOK MARK TWAIN TONIGHT! MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM MUSIC HALL FEBRUARY 17 PM Strip Steak Show only Mail orders send addressed envelope 50c mailing charge per person FRIDAY EVE Feb 28 Music Hall 8 pm jaeauayfiHiL Lt bt A I bODU 0 9 A Mall Order aend stamped addressed envelope or 50c mall chq I fliiSli! now showing THE MOON IS BLUE" jjVj hat I 474167 ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY! IMPORTANT tickets tor hal holbrook as mark iwaw tonight are NOTICE: AVALAflLEONLVATTMEMUligPALAUOCrORmBOXOFflCS 550 750 ON SALE NOW AT MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM BOX OFFICE SEUFERT CELEBRITY ATTRACTIONS 1203 Waldheim Bldg GR 1-2789.