Ba
i

es

THE FORMULA. Starring Mar-
lon Brando, Marthe Keller and
George C. Scott. Directed by
John Avildsen. Screenplay by
“Steve Shagan from his own
novel. At the Capitol 6, Vancou- .
ver and Guildford, Surrey.

In the world of corporate
crime much has already been
said and written about the greed
and general bad citizenship of
the oil conglomerates. But there
has been little, if any, attempt to
tell the story through the med-
lum of film.

Now MGM has come up with
the movie The Formula, a valid
if flawed effort that arguably
hits the mark more than it
Misses it. In making its points, it
often scores politically but suf-
fers from stylistic failings, weak
Spots in the screenplay and in-
frequent but telling lapses into

Los Angeles detective B

MGM thriller scores points.
against oil multinationals

arney Caine (George C. Scott) compares
notes with West German police inspector Hans Lehmans (John}-

reactionary political attitudes.

The theme is basic enough
and is drawn from some histori-

cal fact: During World War II ©

the Germans, lacking natural
deposits of oil, develop a syn-
thetic fuel derived from coal. In
the final days of the Third
Reich, the formula falls into the
hands of the American forces
and subsequently becomes the
property of a major oil concern.
Naturally, this corporation, en-
joying the profits of the petrol-
eum business, decides to sit on
the secret for the next 50 years or
whenever conventional fuel re-
sources run out.

_ Enter the present: our hero, a
middle-aged Los Angeles cop,

Barney Caine (George C. Scott) -

is called to investigate the violent

Van Dreeland) in The Formula.

untimely demise. To keep things
brief, after some investigation,
Caine discovers his friend’s con-
nection with the secret fuel and
with some bigwigs in the oil
business. It appears that the cor-
poration will resort to anything,
including murder, to keep its
secret from leaking out, a point
which is violently reinforced
throughout the film.

From here on, things get in-
volved as Caine: flies to Ger-
many and hops around Europe
first discovering and then inter-
viewing those involved with the
initial creation of the formula.
As the assassinations mount, he
gets a clearer picture of the na-
ture of the beast.

met)

death of an‘ old friend and
former colleague who has left,
in the best tradition of detective

One of the film’s more sig-
nificant moments arrives when

thrillers, a partial clue as to his Caine realizes the link between

Fall drive closes
with 185 new subs

The eagerly-awaited results of the 1980 Tribune fall circulation
drive are in, and we are pleased to announce that 185 new
subscribers joined the paper’s growing readership during the three-
month drive, that began in late September and ended December 22.

The over-all picture was complemented by the 558 renewals that
come into the Tribune offices, right until the last day.

Although the number of new readers fell short of the 200 goal, the
marked increase in renewals over previous circulation drives, com-
bined to make this year’s drive one of the best ever.

The success of the campaign was due to the collective efforts of
the press clubs, and their press directors, who mobilized members in
reaching out into the communities where they lived and places
where they worked, for new readers.

This year, the Kamploops club won the 1980 provincial circula- —

_ tion shield for the most outstanding performance by a provincial
press club, while the Kingsway Club mustered the best performance
by a Lower Mainland club. :

The Kingsway Club, i the middle of the drive, readjusted its new

~ subscription goal, and then went ahead to surpass that figure. bythe
end of the drive, it had sold 31 new subscriptions and brought in 55
renewals.

The Nikos Beliogiannis Club provided spirited competition for
the Lower Mainland drive honors. Its final tally, 17 new subs and 12
renewals, placed it in the runner-up position. e

The provincial winner, Kamloops, went well over its new sub
target with 8 new subscriptions, while the Comox Valley Club, in
another solid effort, was nudged out in the battle of percentages. It
achieved 11 new subs and 18 renewals.

Nikos Beliogiannis press director, Yannis Batsakis set the pace
for his club, selling 10 new subscriptions. As it turned out, that was
the most new subs to be sold by an individual in the drive, making
Batsakis the winner of the 1980 individual competition. He was

~ followed closely by Roger Perkins, who sold 9 new subs, and
Dimitrios Agelidis and Mona Morgan fought it out for third place,
with 7 new subs apiece.

The winner and runner-ups will each receive book vouchers
worth $60, $35 and $15-respectively - good at Co-op Books.

Our thanks to everyone for their support during the drive.

terrorists — an utterly baseless

Hollywood’s current offerings.
Ne —Dan Keeton ,
ez =|

el

the large corporations and the
Baader-Meinhof-type terrorist.

But the best scenes, from
both an artistic and political per-
spective, are those with Marlon
Brando as the oil corporation’s
chief executive.

In a first-rate performance
which contains the film’s best
lines, Brando reminds us of the
big lie which blames the Arab
nations for astronomical and
criminal increases in fuel prices.
‘We (the U.S. oil multination-
als) are the Arabs,’ he tells
Caine. At the climax of The
Formula Caine himself tells
Brando that it is his kind “‘who
are responsible for old people
and children living out of gar-
bage cans.”

Unfortunately, not all the po-
litical message gets through so
clearly. Like other films of its
genre, the host of characters and
their complex interconnections
can be confusing if one doesn’t
pay the strictest attention to the
dialogue. This can be a problem
in the best of films but The For-
mula makes things more diffi-
cult by giving sparse treatment
to some of its political points.

At times, however, this is per-
haps preferable considering
some of the political points that
are made. There is a brief and
routine putdown of the OPEC
nations (at seeming odds with
Brando’s remark) and we are al-
so expected to believe that the
German Democratic Republic
gives sanctuary to West German

lie.

Still The Formula is worth
seeing for its political message _
which is carried effectively by
fine acting by both major and
minor stars. If it werenot hamp-
ered by some stilted dialogue,
stock scenarios and a tendency
to oversimplify certain situa-
tions, it would be first-rate. As it
is, it is better fare than most of

OK Corral

Country swing music
six nights a week
across from the
Royal Columbian
New Westminster

Eigin Neish, Victoria, writes:
I think your report on the reso-
lution about raising the level of
the Ross Dam (‘Resolutions
take back seat to reports at B.C.
Fed meet’ Tribune Dec. 5)
missed three very important
points. ;

One, it was considered im-
portant enough to warrant an
emergency resolution which was
passed unanimously.

Two, it is of such importance
that the B.C. Federation of La-

A.C.L. Hughes, Vancouver,
writes: It amazes me how the as-
sassination of one world-known
person, John Lennon, can stir
such demand for gun control
when we accept the death of po-
licemen, prison guards and or-
dinary citizens and say little
about controlling and/or regist-
ering guns.

Gun control, from to time,
has been suggested and even leg-
islated but, like so many laws
that restrict the mighty, is sel-
dom put into effect. The police
look the other way when an in-
fluential citizen is found guilty

More added to report
on Skagit resolution

bor endorsed direct. job action
— on an environmental issue.

Last but not least, Jack Mun-
ro, president of the. Interna-
tional Woodworkers, pledged
to the convention that the mem-
bership of the WA “‘will not cut
‘a tree in the Skagit Valley if the
government goes ahead with
this project.’”

{ think the IWA is to be con-
gratulated for being in the fore-
front in advocating job action
on this very important issue.

Gun control for all

of-an infraction and only when
the miscreant has a previous
criminal record is any attempt
made at enforcement made by
the courts.

Unless we have discipline at
the top of our society, we cannot
expect it at the bottom. When
people whose tempers are short
or whose hatreds can only be ex-
pressed by violence are allowed
firearms, murders are par for
the course. And until politicians

‘value law more than they do
hoped-for-votes, we will have
more of the same fateful inci-
dents as we had in the death of
John Lennon.

(— CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING )

521-9763

~ COMING EVENTS

JAN. 9 — YCL volleyball has
resumed (every second Friday),
7:30 p.m. at 2200 Charles St., Van.

Adm. $1. All welcome. Social
following.
JAN. 24 — Burns Night. See
display ad.

FEB. 14 — Keep this date open for
Valentine’s banquet and dance.
Fed. of Russ. Canadians.

COMMERCIAL

CONDOR’S PAINTING & build-
ing maintenance. Free estimate.
Phone 433-1145. A progressive firm
owned and operated by Chilean Ca-
nadians. Reasonable rates.

GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS.
Complete printing services. 1595
W. 3rd Ave., Van. 733-6822.

ROOF REPAIRS — Reasonable.
New roofs and alum. gutters,
277-1364 or 277-3352. :

ELECTRICAL, plumbing,

appli-

ance repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287.

LEGAL SERVICES

RANKIN, STONE, McMURRAY,
Barristers and Solicitors. 500 Ford
Building, 193 East Hastings St.,
-Vancouver 682-7471.

CONNIE FOGAL, lawyer, #8 —
Gaoler’s Mews, Vancouver (Gas-

town), B.C. 687-0588.

HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME —
Available for rentals. For reserva-

tions phone 254-3430.

WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL —
Available for banquets, meetings,
etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or

685-5836.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL-

TURAL CENTRE

— 805 East

Pender St., Vancouver. Available
for banquets, weddings, meetings.

Ph. 254-3436.

: 1981 Annual

ROBBIE

BURNS
NIGHT

Sat., Jan. 24 at 6:30

- Haggis @ Baron of beef @
Entertainment @ Dancing

Tickets $8

Russian People’s Home, 600 Campbell Ave., Van.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JAN. 9, 1981—Page 11