Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 28

EVENING STANDARD PRTDAT MARCH 19 1971 SYDNEY EDWARDSnews of the arts Three Apache Indian chiefs called on Kirk Douglas at his home in Palm Springs Revenge finally for all those Western films of his in which the Indians always lost? The reason was rather more sophisticated They wanted to invest two million dollars in a Douglas film The film has now been made is called Gunfight and the Indians own it and are waiting for their money back MR DOUGLAS one of the first of the star tycoons is a gilt-edged investment Most of his films ranging from those epics like The Vikings and Spartacus to the Westerns like There Was a Crooked Man have made money He was in London this week for a few hours He explained about the Indians They are a good example of the outside financing of films now Not all Indians are poor Some tribes are very wealthy and have oil on their land They have become sophisticated in their investments had heard Johnny Cash and I were going to make this film and they are interested in developing New Mexico for filming When they called up I thought they were putting me on However they turned up ait the 1 think the leader was called Chief Charlie Lightfoot in their suits and had a drink and I made the quickest easiest deal ever" He adds gently I suppose if the film does not mike money get scalped This would suit some of the people who know me I suppose" Years ago Mr Douglas had the reputation of the most disliked actor in Hollywood To call him a nice guy would have been an Insult He once said is not photogenic What is it to be a nice guy? To be nothing that's what A big fat zero with a smile for everybody" His profile still resembles an eagle and the jaw works for him like an excavator The dimple disarms the tight jaw muscles The smile tends to be thin He looks lean and muscular in a black sweater which has a hole beneath the arm and grey slacks The hair brushed weld back off the forehead is greying But there is a litheness about him that is still youthful surprising at 55 He could not have been easier and more charming to talk to rather like one of those nice guys lie was passing through on his way from Spain where he has just completed a picture to Oban Scotland where today he began work bn another film called Catch Me A Spy directed by Dick Clement His co-stars in Scotland are the French actress Marlene Jobert Trevor Howard and Tom Courtenay He was installed in a luxury apartment for brief stay in London giant colour TV set paintings everywhere thick carpet and entirely' impersonal "They just told me I cannot go up to Scotland until tomorrow morning because the first class seats on the flight are all booked Hell I told them I'll go economy Why waste time? When I left Madrid airport this morning some youngsters asked for autographs and seemed surprised I was travelling alone I told them I was a big boy now 1 travel alone most of the tme i don't like the film star D1 Pi This kind of Independence has-been there through his film career never been under contralto a studio" he says and sounds proud of it He did have it tough in his early days as the son of Russian peasants who emigrated to America His name was Jssur Danielovitch He admits he has made a great deal of money in producing his own films but claims money was not the prime motive A lot of elements were mixed up but primarily I like to be able to control what I'm going to do" I asked if he now wanted to direct films Back came the sharp reply: Ive been accused of doing so from time to Ume" I praised his performance in Elia Kazan's The Arrangement Yes I was good" He says: "It has become more important for me to enjoy making a fiiiture I don't mind working hard but in the fearly days there was a of desperation about what you did Now I think I should enjoy it more I'm sure that if you do enjoy it then vou do better We talk about Burt Lancaster and John Wayne with whom he has worked a great deal finally got awav fP Burt Lancaster My luck has changed for the better I've got nice-looking girls In my films i He recalls the film Lust For Life ln whch he played Van Gogh Pai'yf afterwards a very annoyed and said 'What the hell Kirk What's a guy like vou playing a weak guy like thatfr There's only a few of us left' 'I explained to him I was trying to become an actoi" DOUGLAS Scalp-hunting in Palm Springs Picture ROY JONES Jack and the infant Superman FROM 24 MARCH at tht ALDWYCH THEATRE WC2 the governors of tht ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY prasant WRITE NOV ALDWYCH THEATRE OR CIU PBtSMLLY: SEATS SliU AVAILABLE NICHOLSON Escape McENERY Goodbye to PAYJE Mercutio moves into an office Jean Meyer's production an unprecedented success is now in its fourth yearin Paris Because of its theme Montherlant will still not allow it to be staged by anyone 0 else or in any other language 41 from Paris LA VILLE DONT LE PRINCE EST UN ENFANT: Montherlant March 24 25 26 27 (M E) 29 30 31 (M E) April 1 2 3 (M E) 5 6 7 (M E) 8 10 (M E) ONE WEEK FROM 12 APRIL Return visit of the THEATRE BIND 1 SCHIllER JACK NICHOLSON looks more -like an international tennis star than a man who has just established his place in the front rank of American film actors alongside George Scott Dustin Hoffman Elliott Gould Paul Newman Alan Arkin (writes MICHAEL OWEN) There is a sunburst vitality exuding healthy wholesomeness about the man suggested by the clean-cut tanned face the neatly trimmed hair shirt collar carefully turned down over his jacket and the muscular physique Mr newly-found eminence has been achieved with just one performance which had London's film critics acclaiming a new star in their reviews of his film Five Easy Pieces this week But as several noted the promise of such achievement was there for all who saw Easy Rider and were impressed with his portrayal of the alcoholic hick-town lawyer Five Easy Pieces a skilful examination of roots and relationships in contemporary America is very much his film The Easy Rider production team recognising Nicholson's ability decided to give the actor his own starring film After Five Easy Pieces Mike Nichols chose him to star his new film Carnal Knowledge On a writ to London he has turned out to be a relaxed intelligent man but allowing disturbing symptoms of a current American (especially Californian) affliction which I would call overspeak but he w'ould call over-articulation "I think Five Easy Pieces is an honest statement about where a lot of people are who cannot act out their crisis to a successful conclusion You are trapped in a situation you cannot extricate yourself from You dont know how to put things right see a lot of people in that kind of fix had a lot of unsuccessful relationships You feel good while it is on but when it's time to end it it is emotionally gruelling separation of self from family is hard to reconcile and I could identify with that I'm not frustrated in the way some people are As on actor I have an escape I can express it more creatively" He has just directed his first film Drive He Said which is likely to be an official entry at the Cannes Film Festival is about the Infant the younger generation of America who nave this abundant technology at their disposal but are too young to handle its influence They still react to it with infantile THE GATE from Czechoslovakia THE THREE SISTERS: Chekhov April 12 13 14 (M E) 15 IVANOV: Chekhov April 16 17 (M E) from Sweden THE DREAM PLAY: Strindberg April 19 2021 (M E) 2223 24 (M E) so special about Harrods food tomorrow? Tomorrow and all next week is a great chance to savour at home the flavour of German regional fare from Rhineland-Westplialia A German inn and in national costume set the scene for your gastronomical voyage of discovery in the Food Halls ground floor A wide range of fine wines from the Rhine and Moselle will be featured in the Wine Department ground floor Beautiful roses by the hundreds are being specially flown in from Germany by Lufthansa Airline Come early tomorrow you may be presented with one in the Food Halls German Specialities in the Georgian Restaurant Tomorrow fin'd delicious German soups meats and sausage addition to the normal Georgian Carvers Table And next week from Monday to Friday a menu of specialities from Rhineland -Westphalia jjufessen-jufffijiKp from West Germany YVONNE: Gombrowici April 26 27 28 (M E) KRAPP'S LAST TAPE given with ENDGAME: Beckett April 29 30 May 1 (M E) WHEN John McEnery was in the National Theatre company he lived in a £7-a-week furnished cupboard in Earls Court and on tour up North spent late hours playing Black Jack ln the clubs He was one of that new generation in the National five years ago: hard working un-actorish inteflligent original They were a fairly tough lot on tour and made the off-duty life of the National' Theatre seem like a rugtay club tour I know I once spent a week with them McEnery had a fair share of success at the National then Zeffirelli chose him to play Mercutio in his film of Romeo and Juliet After that he deci-to quit the National and try fllma Last nJght was the opening of his latest film Bartlebv in which he otars with Paul Soufield He has a French film Le Batu still to be shown here ONE WEEK FROM 3 MAY First visit to this country of the ONE WEEK FROM 10 MAY First visit to this country of the is in Brighton John became an actor after being sacked from a Brighton estate agency for borrowing the office car on Guy Fawkes night and getting stopped for speeding along the front He says he got cold feet after deciding to leave the National I was terrified I thought I had stuck my neck out too far I thought I did not have the impetus to cany through a new career I thought I'd made ano-wier wrong decision For the first time in my life I was freelance and no PAYE" The part he plays in Bartleby is a washed-out young office worker in a tatty suit and worn-out Hush Puppies who suffocates in his office job loses the will to live and dies Scofield plays his reasonable but uncomprehending older employer Drop-out McEnery paints out the story written by Herman Melville in 1870 yet Bartleby is very much a am temporary drop-out Despite his success the film McEnery says he has no work lined up putting in for the dole" ONE WEEK FROM 17 MAY First visit to this country of the SEAT PRICES: Evenings and Saturday matinees: Stalls and Dress Circle £200 £170 £140 £100 70p: Front Tcp Circle £1 00 Top Circle 70p 50p Wednesday matinees: Stalls and Dress Circle £140 £100 70p BOd Front lop Circle 70p: Top Circle BOp At all performances a limited number of the cheaper priced teats are available to personal applicants (maximum 0 two per applicant) cn the day of performance only from 10 a TELEPHONE EOOKINGS (01-836 6404) MAY HAVE TO BE SUSPENDED AT TIMES NURIA ESPEBI 0 and he has just returned from Spain where he played Kerensky in the fikn at Nicholas and Spain where in the fli Alexandra He has one of those pale faces that reflect immediately what he is thinking He has blue eyes fair hair with the regulation un-tidyness and a beard to hide the double chin esterday with his for a new He spent girl friend Will he return to the stage fer Ti Yes if I get a nice offer TIIE SMALL Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court In Sloane Square tends to be on tlie intimate side and this week you will be lucky to walk out without sand in your shoes They have shovelled in seven tons for A Whitehead's The Foursome I saw a rehearsal this week for the benefit of photographers and I cannot remember a more pleasant afternoon spent in the line of duty The foursome of the title strip down for some racy goings-on on a beach The gathered photographers also there In the line of duty busy afternoon Commrndahly conscientious 4 tour some are twp girls Sharon Duce (left) and Clare Sutcliffe and their friends Paul Angelis and Philip Donaghy Mr Whitehead whose first play this is has written some truthfully funny dialogue about a sexually frustrating day on the beach near Liverpool Lord Errles one imagines might not approve The girls who peel oranges and examine their bruises from the night before give two excellent comic performances recruit to the Royal Court from the Bristol Old lie School and Clare from a London drama school Applications already made for tickets may now be collected like a nice classical series on TV too Mention that please in a dithering state about what to do next I make up my mind But I must get my oaefcside off the sofa" We walk along the Road with the girl friend looking for the new suit and the silk apple He finally gives up because he cannot get the trousers altered in time "God I'm a ditherer" JANE FONDA paid a rare visit to London this week for a few hours from Paris She flew over to address a press conference held in Fleet Street to condemn atrocities being committed in the Vietnam war No one apparently told her there would not be any newspapers the following day because of the AEU strike She is living in Paris following the completion of a raw film called KLUTE suit to wear to the premiere last night He had left it late but that is like him She was looking for a silk apple to sew on her blouse I asked why and foolishly exposed ignorance of the latest King's Road fashion His brother is actor Peter MttEneiy and the family home SHIRLEY MacLAIXE arrived bills week with a bad cold adS ready to settle into her new country house and film the first three episodes of a TV series she wll make foe Sir Lew Grade They will be made at -utar episodes will be in Hongkong and Japan She has just made two feature films for him in New York On April 16 her book Don't Fall Off The Mountain will be published The season is sponsored by the Financial Times and bv the Greater London Council A SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION SYSTEM IS INSTALLED DURING THE SEASON Harrods have time for people-open till 5 pm tomorrow Ilarrods Ltd Knightsbridge SWi 01-730 1234.