The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, March 29, 1985 Page: 7 of 20
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WRESHER FINE/1RTS
Detectives, bullets and murder provide entertainment in Blood
Blood Simple
Directed by Joel Coen
Though you can't always be sure
what might happen next in Blood
Simple, there is never any doubt
that whatever it is, it will happen
quickly. The film's pace is
breakneck, virtually from start to
finish, following the relatively brief
period in which we are introduced
to the characters. "Blood simple"is
a Dashiell Hammett term
describing the state to which one
can be reduced after a murder, a
dazed and irrational state youll see
more than once during this film.
Plotwise, it's detectives, bullets
and murder; nothing terribly
unconventional, though the film
does provide its share of surprises.
Marty is married to Abbey. Abbey
falls into a typically detective-
In the meantime, watching this
pandemonium is an absolute blast,
never dull, never slow.
Blood Simple is the work of Joel
and Ethan Coen, two guys fro^
Minneapolis who have produced,
written and directed their first
feature film. They certainly know
their film history, and Blood
Simple is a dense conglomeration
of sixty years of film styles, mashed
together under the guise of a basic
film noir.
The Coens use pieces of
Hitchcock, John Carpenter,
German expressionism, and even a
touch of the French new wave,
wrapping them all up and into
their own flamboyant brand of
moviemaking. It's a slick-looking
piece of work, constantly using
travelling shots and tricky angles;
these guys never run out of ideas.
EIHEIH
story-type affair with Ray. Marty
finds out from Visser, his sleazy
private eye. Marty hires Visser to
dispose of the two lovebirds while
he goes fishing, and the fun begins.
As the plot unfolds, we know
who is doing (and has done) what,
while the characters remain utterly
confused, never figuring out what
is going on right down to the end.
In that respect, it reminds me of
another directorial debut: Orson
Welles' Citizen Kane. Though the
two films share few narrative ideas,
they do share a self-consciousness
that comes from perhaps trying a
bit too hard. Yet Citizen Kane is
still, if slightly arrogant, a terrific
flim. and so is Blood Simple.
though I wouldn't call it a
Raksin at Media Center
David Raksin
Rice Media Center
March 31
Preview
David Raksin, a Hollywood
film composer who has scored over
100 films, will be appearing at the
Media Center on Sunday night,
March 31, at 7:30 p.m., along with a
special screening of the movie The
Bad and the Beautiful, for which
he composed the music.
The appearance is being co-
sponsored by the Shepherd School
of Music, the Rice Program
Council, and the Undergraduate
Teaching Committee, with the
Media Center. Mr. Raksin will
also be giving a seminar on
Monday, April 1, in conjunction
with Professor George Burt's class
on film composing for the
Shepherd School.
Mr. Raksin was born in
Philadelphia in 1912. After
studying at the Univeristy of
Pennsylvania, he studied under
Arnold Schoenbergand composed
orchestral and chamber works as
well as music for ballet, stage,
television, and films. On
recommendation from George
Gershwin, Mr. Raksin went to
Hollywood to assist Charlie
Chaplin on the score for Modern
Times.
Although perhaps best known
for the 1944 film Ijaura, Mr.
Raksin has composed scores for
over 100 films, including Carrie, AI
Cap one. Invitation to a
Gunfighter, Glass Houses, What's
the Matter with Helen, and
recently. The Day After.
The Bad and the Beautiful,
made in 1952, is a melodrama,
directed by Vincente Minnelli,
about a "bad" megalomaniac
Alone and
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masterpiece.
What the Coens need is a little
restraint; save some of those wild
tracks and angles for the places
where they will really punctuate
and accent the action instead of
merely being a continuous fabric
through which to weave their
story. That's where they could
stand to review some more
Hitchcock.
The performances by John Get?
and Frances McDormand as Ray
and Abbey are adequate, though
the parts don't really command
much sympathy, which is just as
well because one of the pleasures of
this film is that is doesn't rely on
standard identification with the
characters. It doesn't matter who
Ray is — he exists because the
Coens want us to be entertained;
his believability is irrelevant. Dan
Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh are
fabulously sleazy as Marty and
Visser; real vermin.
Blood Simple will get you to
make noise, and its oddball humor
is refreshing. As far as its "artistic"
qualities, 111 go along with Ethan
C'oen: "The movie is a no-bones-
about-it entertainment. If you
want something other than that,
then you probably have a
legitimate complaint."
— Ross Waldorf
Hollywood producer (Kirk
Douglas) and a "beautiful"
alcoholic star (Lana Turner).
The film won several academy
awards for M-G-M, including Best
Supporting Actress (Gloria
Grahame), Best Screenplay
(Charles Schnee), Best Cinema-
tography, Art Direction (Cedric
Gibbons, et al.), and Best Costume
Design (Helen Rose).
Pauline Kael wrote that the
"structure is all too reminiscent of
Citizen Kane... but there are also
flashy, entertaining scenes and
incidents derived from a number of
famous careers. And director
Vincente Minnelli has given the
material an hysterical stylishness;
the black-and-white cinematogra-
phy (by Robert Surtees) is more
than dramatic — it has
temperament."
Apart from Mr. Douglas and
Miss Turner, the film also includes
Dick Powell, Walter Pidgeon,
Gilbert Roland, and Barry
Sullivan.
For more information, contact
the Media Center at 527-8101.
— Trevor Schelbourg
Delia Stewart's Dance Co. exuberant
Delia Stewart Dance Company
Tower Theater
March 22
The Delia Stewart Dance
Company gave its spring series of
performances at the Tower
Theater last weekend. The
company is a local jazz troupe
founded by Stewart four years ago.
She made a brief speech before the
performance on Friday night,
exuberantly welcoming the
audience as if they were old
friends. Much of the audience did
seem to consist of loyal fans, who
were vocal in theirapproval forthe
entire evening.
The company has about twenty
dancers, all unusually attractive.
Included are several graduates
from the High School for the
Performing and Visual Arts, as
well as Rice student Caitlin Carter.
The dancers are slick, polished
performers, with a full attack tc,
their movement. They all seem to
have caught the exuberance of
Stewart, and kept the audience
enthralled during Friday night's
performance.
The only disappointment of the
evening lay with the choreography.
There were ten pieces on the
program, and few of them kept a
central concept or sought to
explore movement much beyond
the idea of bump and grind.
Shimmies and pelvic thrusts seem
daring and erotic when they are
seen amidst contrasting steps; to
see little else amounts to sustained
vulgarity. Jazz wouldn't be jazz
without a certain dose of vulgarity,
but these dancers were certainly
capable of a more eclectic style of
movement.
Fortunately, there were some
numbers which showed the
dancers off to advantage. "Bogey's
Revenge" by Delia Stewart was the
highlight ofthe first act. Theaction
loosely revolved around a group of
gangsters and their molls, and the
music was of the Cotton Club
era, including bits by Cab
Calloway and Duke Ellington.
The dancing utilized most of the
popular social dances of the time.
Marcie Yardas had an especially
witty touch as the Mae West
character, forever trailed by a slew
of men.
In the second act. Marcus
Alford's "Grand Prix" was a
memorable number. Eight dancers
represented various types of sports
cars, accompanied by music which
had a voice-over description of
each model. Victoria Taylor was a
sleek and understated Jaguar, and
Keith Cross and Michelle Smith
hit an elegant note in their
Mercedes Benz pas de deux.
The evening concluded with a
glittery and energetic piece for the
entire company by Julie Stewart
entitled "I love Men." thus
concluding the concert on the same
note as it started: exuberant.
— Nancy Collier
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The Rice Thresher, March 29. 1985, page 7
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Havlak, Paul. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 35, Ed. 1 Friday, March 29, 1985, newspaper, March 29, 1985; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245597/m1/7/?rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.