Films NEIGHBORS: Directed by John G. Avildsen. Produced by Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown. Starring John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Cathy Moriarty, Kathy Walker. The death of John Belushi will probably result in a recycling of his films, including his most recent Neighbors. While his perfor- mance demonstrates his potential, the film isn’t worth the time or money. In Animal House, the Blues Brothers and 1941, Belushi was an out-and-out comic. Anything and everything was alleged to be funny. But it depended more on the audience’s sense of what constitutes a joke. Some people think jokes about quadriplegics are funny. Tacos and watermelon, minorities, women, even murder and starvation can be made ‘‘funny’”’ by some. - ae Neighbors found Belushi ina straight role; an uptight suburba- Ba nite with bizarre neighbors, one is his sidekick Dan Aykroyd. What happens in the film is supposed to represent middle- America’s nightmare. The only real nightmare is the film. If you've ever seen a stand-up comic who didn’t have the sense to shut up and walk off the stage because the jokes were lousy, you'll have an idea of what Neighbor’s is like. I haven’t dozed off at a film in ages, but this one did it to me. I wasn’t tired, the film was. You have Dan Aykroyd chasing after Belushi’s wife, Ayk- royd’s wife throwing herself at Belushi, Aykroyd walking into Belushi’s house and making himself at home, borrowing every- thing in sight, raiding the refrigerator and so on. And on and on. Perhaps Neighbors is a reflection of our collective immaturity. We do our comedians and other artists a disservice when we allow them to continue without critical feed-back. Somewhere along the line, Belushi may have been helped if all stopped laughing. It is unnecessary to say that John Belushi’s death was tragic, untimely, etc., because all of those things have been said. They are certainly true. It is high time we began a bit of introspection. ON GOLDEN POND: Screenplay by Ernest Thompson, di- rected by Mark Rydell, produced by Bruce Gilbert. With Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman, William Lanteau. At the risk of being run out of town, I gave On Golden Pond my vote as best film of the year, among the other films that had been nominated for that distinction (not that it really means anything, being nominated): Reds, Chariots of Fire, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Atlantic City. For the first time in a long time, I’ve seen all five. While there are partisans of each of these films — and, again, for the first time in a long time, all of the films are excellent in their own ways — On Golden Pond merited at least a tie for best film. (The British film, Chariots of Fire won.) This film will do things to you and for you that most modern U.S. productions won’t. It will make you think. It may make you cry. It will make you laugh. It will allow you to take your children to an “‘adult”’ film, although you may want to note that the dialogue is colorful. : Although some will say Fonda and Hepburn won the top acting awards through nostalgia, Golden Pond will renew your faith that there are still a few good actors left. The theme of aging and death is a universal one, by definition. It doesn’t make that much ofa difference that the individuals here can afford summer homes in the hinterlands, summer vacations in Europe, and motor boats. Everyone dies. All ‘‘married’’ people, with or without certification, have to deal with the death of their spouse. Children have to deal with the deaths of their parents. Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda are the elderly couple. It is slightly past 11 p.m., as far as her day is concerned, while it is more like 11:45 p.m. for him. He is celebrating his 80th birthday on Golden Pond, where the summer home is. Chelsea, their daughter, makes one of her rare appearances, and takes the opportunity to bring along her new companion, and his son. Fonda and Hepburn don’t know it yet, but Chelsea (this movie was a family affair as Chelsea is portrayed by Jane Fonda) plans to leave the thirteen-year-old with them while she and her friend — a dentist — go off to the continent. Chelsea has always believed that her father wanted her to be a boy (which he did), and she feels alienated. They don’t commu- nicate. She has a hostility that may have been appropriate twenty years ago, but it has to be reconciled while there is still an opportunity to do so. Thackery, for his part, openly displays his discontent with Chelsea, but she has always read the signals wrong. Sure, he wanted a son to follow in his footsteps. He also wanted his daughter to get her act together, to take a stand in life and fight it out. To be strong. Caught between them is the mother. She has to make them fight with each other to establish a relationship. She has to fight \ with them individually as well: she can’t stomach her husband’s Golden Pond, wise and L 4. Mayhe if we hadn’t always laughed What are we doing to our artists? Why are they running in the fast lane? Do talent and self-destruction go hand and hand? I don’t think so. It is said that somewhere towards the final days of the Roman Empire, the captain of the fleet asked the emperor whether his ships should carry grain to feed the people, or sand for the coliseum. The emperor told him bring the sand. Maybe we’re not happy unless our artists are also gladiators, doing battle with themselves, trying to stay one step ahead of the booze, the drugs, fast cars, and 29-hour days that lead to their ‘untimely’ demises. — Ronald Tyson JOHN BELUSHI ... what led to his “‘untimely demise’’? ¥ @ — Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn won top Academy awards for. their roles in On Golden Pond (r) Jane Fonda in the first movie she ever made with her father. preoccupation with death, and she finds her daughter’s self-in- dulgence a bit much also. This might sound like a rehash of Ozzie and Harriet. No way. As mentioned earlier, the language is graphic. Especially en- joyable is the exchange between the elder Fonda and Dabney Coleman, who portrays Chelsea's friend. Here comes this guy, a laid-back Californian, who thinks he knows what's happening. He more or less tells Fonda that Chelsea and he are going to sleep together in the same bed. He thinks that he is laying down the law. He is in for a surprise. The old man turns out to be more laid back than the younger man. Then, there is the teenager, who thinks he is cool. He comes out of his face talking about what he is and is not going to do. That's what he thinks. He also thinks he is going to have a boring summer — stuck in the middle of nowhere with a pair of fossils. That’s what he thinks. He learns something about life and about himself, especially when he and Fonda get themselves in deep. water. He also learns that he isn’t the only kid on the block, and we're not talking about *‘second childhood,” either. The old man still has a little boy inside him, as symbolically evidenced by his love for Stevenson’s Treasure Island. J enjoyed this film for several reasons, one of which has to do with its advocacy of the idea that octogenarians are people too. The even kiss! — Ronald Tyson PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 9, 1982— Page 10 _ gaged houses in order to care for Reagan really isa ‘nice’ guy 1 — He doesn’t try to put God down. 68% of those interviewed if Natchez, Mississippi, agreed that Ronald Reagan was a nice guy be- cause he feels that God is smart enough to have created man if one operation without having t0 try him out first as a series of apes, as the evolutionists suggest. Typ ical of this majority opinion is Nero C. Bilbo, president of the Mississippi Creationist Society, who said: *‘Mr. Reagan, like my- self, believes that God is an American and, as an American, likes things done fast. The idea that He’d take millions of years to create something that He could easily have created in five mi nutes is putting God down. Mr. Reagan never tries to put God down. 2 — He’s kind to animals. 99% of those interviewed on Wall Street were impressed by the way the President stands up for animals. ‘‘Look at how he stood up for Alexander Haig when everybody castigated the Secretary for saying that thos¢ nuns who were murdered by Sal- vadorean soldiers had brought it on themselves,’’ said Merton Fullpockets, chairman of the Napolean Duarte Animal Preservation Society. ‘‘My vote for nice guys will always go to anybody who stands up for ani- mals.” 3 — He’s kind to fruit. 83% of the ketchup manufac- turers interviewed in’ Pittsburgh said that Ronald Reagan’s efforts to save the tomato was why they considered hima nice guy. *‘ What did the President do when the fruit fly was endangering the orange and getting ready to do the same for another threatened fruit, the tomato?’’ emphasized H.J- Heinz, chairman of the Commit tee For the Present Danger [0 Fruit. “He moved immediately t0 protect the endangered tomato by declaring ketchup a national veg etable. In my book anybody wh? is kind to fruit is a damn nice guy.’’ (He had ketchup declared 4 vegetable for school lunch pro- grams.) 4— He cherishes the idea of home. ~**Any man who has such a high regard for the American home has got to be a nice guy.”’ This sentl- ment prevailed among 99% of the bankers who repossess mort them until the owners can move back in. : 5 — He’s concerned about art. _ ‘‘What I like about this Pres! dent is his enormous concern for man’s artistic treasures,”’ sal Oscar Wrigglesworth, co-il- ventor of the neutron bomb. 110% of the Pentagon (this. includes 2 — number of retired generals, noW presidents of binary nerve g@5 companies) agreed. ‘Before he signed the order authorizing prO; duction of the neutron bomb, said Wrigglesworth, ‘‘President — Reagan made us convince him te? times over that, no matter what else it did, it would in no way damage the Louvre, Hermitage British Museum or any other art istic landmark. Now, isn’t that @ real nice guy?””. ~ — Bernard ‘Livingsto”