Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 70

eiifeilaiiiRisn DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSOAY. SEPT. 27. 1979 8F Movies clean house, and viewers set the iunk GOLDENGIRL Area Theaters GAME OF DEATH Area Theaters Lee Billy Lo. Jim Marshall.

Coldnglrt Drvben SeraHn Dr. Lee Susan Anton James Coburn Curt Jurgens Leslie Caron Gig Young Jagger O'Brien Camp Dr. Land Steiner Ann Morris Hakim. Essclton Robert Culp Karim Abdul-Jabbar Released through Avco Embassy Pictures. Produced by Danny O'Donoven; screenplay by John Kohn; phoiograohed by Steven Larner; directed by Joseph Sargent.

Color. 99 minutes. PARENTS' GUIDE: Rated PG, with topless nudity and occasional vulgar language. Released through Columbia Pictures. Produced by Raymond Chow; written by Jan Spears; photographed by Godfrey A.

Godar; directed by Robert Clouse. Color. 104 minutes. PARENTS' GUIDE: Rated with vulgar language and characteristic kung fu violence. IM mini Him nun iimiiiii SAMMY STOPS THE WORLD Area Theaters Sammy Davis Jr.

Marian Mercer Presented bv Select Entertainment Enterprises. Produced by Mark Travis and Del Jack, Directed by Mel Shapiro. Color. 104 minutes. PARENTS' GUIDE: Rated PG, with a few sexual references.

LOVE AND BULLETS Area Theaters Charlie Congers-Charles Bronson Jackie Prull till Ireland Joe Bamposa Rod Steiger Louis Monk AAartln Released through Associated Film Distribution. Produced by Pancho Kohner; written by Wendell Maves and John Melson; photographed bv Anthony Richmond and Fred J. Koenekamp; directed by Stuart Rosenberg. Color. 103 minutes.

PARENTS' GUIDE: Rated PG, with moderately violent action and vulgar language. Susan Anton stars in "Goldengirl," which fares a little better than "Game of Death," which uses footage of the late Bruce Lee. By MICHAEL CLARK Frt Prtu Film Critic This Is the time of the year when local exhibitors clean out their backlog before the rush of prestigious fall releases. Consequently, they end up with such painful films as "Game of Death," "Love and Bullets" and "Sammy Stops the World." And with the audience potential for this deadly quartet of films, exhibitors can clean out more than their film backlog they can actually clean the auditoriums while the films are playing. "GOLDENGIRL," making a belated appearance after being pulled at the last minute from an early summer opening, Is the best of the lot.

This debut vehicle for singer-goddess Susan Anton is yet another sports movie. If anything, this one outdoes "North Dallas Forty" in cynicism. Ms. Anton plays the adopted daughter of physiologist Curt Jurgens, an actor who made a career out of playing the "good Nazi," but who is cast here as one who stops hist short of creating a Master Race. Instead, he opts for a Master Person by 'shooting Ms.

Anton full of growth hormones that turn her into a 6-foot-2 knockout capable of winning three sprinting gold medals at the 1980 Olympics. Because Ms. Anton is playing a real-life mannequin, it's difficult to gauge her acting ability, though her occasional fits of temper do exhibit more passion than the standard All MacGraw-Candice Bergen performances. Her mid-movie vocal which will probably be in the discount bins quicker than the latest Julius La Rosa is a total drag because It accompanies one of those slow-motion transitional sequences that haven't been seen for five years. "Goldenglrl" also suffers from shoddy lab work, anemic crowd scenes and a camera that wanders around aimlessly like a little boy lost in a beauty parlor.

EVEN WORSE is "Game of Death," an unusually morbid kung fu opus which has no aspirations beyond satisfying the Bruce Lee cult. Lee is only featured in roughly 20 minutes of footage, three sustained sequences, in this patchwork of leftover shots taken before Lee's death in 1973 by director Robert Clouse (who did the wonderful "Enter the Occasionally, Lee's all-too-obvious stand-in is photographed in shadows or in long-shot to camouflage the fact he's really someone else. Or sometimes the character wears a beard. And in one macabre action shot, Lee's head is superimposed on someone else's body, which makes a bizarre, unintentional effect when the head starts wobbling back and forth across the torso's shoulders. But most of the time, the producers just put a pair of dark glasses on the imposter.

As If all that weren't enough, a sadly dissipated Gig Young is around in what turned out to be his last picture before his death last year. He plays a reporter who helps Lee crack a mob consisting of kingpin Dean Jagger (who is not, alas, Involved In any kung fu sequences), a cane-wielding Hugh O'Brlan and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a thug who stumbles through about 10 words of dialogue when someone asks him if he can handle "the situation in Detroit." We never find out. In fact, the only thing we DO learn about Kareem is that he has an unusual habit of picking up his: enemies by the neck and shaking them. "LOVE AND BULLETS" doesn't even have the advantage; of being outrageous. A considerably mellowed Charles Bron-i son plays a Phoenix detective who is sent to Switzerland by the) FBI to bring Rod Steiger's backwoods moll (Jill Ireland) back! to the States.

Chuck gets to be sincere, Jill changes her wigs a lot whllej Tammy Wynette sings "Stand by Your Man" on the sound-l track, and Rod gives one of those hammy "Amltyville like performances that make you wonder why so many people' who should know better take him seriously as an actor. The film's most intriguing moment comes in the first 10 minutes when a cop who looks suspiciously like an aging Billy' Gray (who played Bud on "Father Knows gets blown upi in a car explosion. The interminable 90-minute wait for the end credits Is almost worth it, just to see the name "William Gray" in the cast. Maybe next time he'll listen to the old man and quit hanging around with such a fast crowd. "SAMMY STOPS THE WORLD" would not even be worth a mention here if it did not mark some kind of nadir in the history of motion picture exhibition.

Even someone with 202,000 eyesight has to be aware that "Stop the World, I Want To Get Off" is as unf ilmmable as any musical can be, but promoter Bill Sargent (who gave us the superb Richard Pryor concert film earlier this year) doesn't even have 202,000 hindsight. He's had the effrontery to film it twice. This frail and largely unendurable Anthony Newley-Leslie Brlcusse parable about the pitfalls of blind ambition was an Electron-o-vision flop back in 1965, but even that didn't make audiences suffer through nearly two hours of Sammy Davis Jr. Don't get me wrong there are few things more amusing than Sammy in small doses. It's great when he tells me how beautiful I am for being in his audience.

Or when he offers to sing a song for me "with my kind permission" even though I know he's been rehearsing it for six hours. Or when he imitates Robert Newton doing Long John Silver. And especially when he tells Jerry Lewis that he's greater than Chaplin. But nearly two hours of double-knit entertainment in full close-up is more than even the most amused fan can take. "Sammy Stops the World" may not be a movie because it is wholly conceived in terms of the stage, with a few obligatory optics and camera angles thrown in.

And "Sammy Stops the World" is obviously not a live revue because transferring the production to film has robbed a stage performance of all its immediacy. It makes for one of the half-dozen most humiliating and embarrassing times any fllmgoer can ever hope to spend In a motion picture theater. That may not be much of a distinction, but it at least gives this "Prophecy" of movie-stage play hybrids a place in the sun that "Golden Girl," "Love and Bullets" and even "Game of Death" will never attain. 27 KENWOOD KC850 automatic belt-drive wPickering cartridge 89 TOSHIBA 451 automatic, belt-drive, variable speed, less $1 49 CASSETTE DECKS AIWA 1260U top load $229 TOSHIBA 2460 front load $1 59 SONY TCK-1 A front load $1 69 TEAC F300 front load $239 RECEIVERS PIONEER SX450, 1 5 wch 98 HARM AN KARDON 340, 20 wch $1 99 TOSHIBA 725, 25 wch $199 TECHNICS SA400, 45 wch $206 $329 PIONEER 780, 45 wch $199 $189 SONY V4, 55 wch $299 TECHNICS SA200, 25 wch $159 LOUDSPEAKERS (EACH) EP1 1 00V top rated, 2-way 69 KENWOOD 200B, 8-inch, 2-way 79 ADVENT NEW UTILITY, 1 0-inch, 2-way $1 29 PIONEER T-300, 1 0-inch, 3-way $1 40 KLH CLASSIC 3, 1 2-inch, 3-way OHM 8-inch, 2-way, real walnut INFINITY Qe, 8-inch, 2-way 99 JBL 431 1 1 2-inch, 3-way $21 9 ACCESSORIES DISCWASHER SYSTEM 7 CLASSIC ONE record cleaner 9 AUDIO-TECHNICA 100E deluxe elliptical cartridge $29 MICRO-ACOUSTICS 282E electret 25 foot headphone extension cord $2.99 DISCWASHER SCI stylus cleaner $4.99 KOSS PRO 4AAA headphones 39 AKGK1 40 headphones 39 Quantities limited. Some items not available In all stores.

Many, many more unadvertised specials in every store. Rainchecks available on new merchandise. SYSTEMS $169 Roberts RX1 15 receiver Collaro 1251 turntable Studio Design 26 loudspeakers $299 Sony V2 receiver KLH Classic Jr. loudspeakers Kenwood 850 belt-drive, automatic turntable Shure cartridge $339 Kenwood 3090 receiver Pioneer XD6 loudspeakers BIC 20Z, belt-drive, automatic turntable Pickering 220E cartridge $479 Pioneer 680 receiver Advent New Utility loudspeakers Sanyo 636 belt-drive, semi-automatic turntable Audio-Technica 90E cartridge TURNTABLES PHILIPS COLLARO 1251 automatic wbase, cover, magnetic cartridge 29 BIC 20Z automatic belt-drive wShure cartridge 79 SONY PST-1 semi-automatic, direct-drive, less cartridge $1 29 radio Herman Lear On the AM dial: 'jr Jack McCarthy: Plastic surgery discussed; 9 a.m. WCAR (1090), Dave Lockhart: Women and Investments; 9 a.m.

WXYZ (1270). Shirley Conran, author of 10 a.m. WW (950). Dr. Sonya Friedman: Producer Norman Lear; noon WXYZ (1270).

"Afternoon Postal consumer protection; 3 p.m. WXYZ (1270). "Sears Actress wants to kill herself; 8:08 p.m. WWJ (950), "Mystery Murder Investigation; 11:07 p.m. WWJ (950).

Da the FM dial: Los Angeles Philharmonic: Works of Mozart, Including Overture to Don Giovanni" and Requiem Mass In 9 a.m. WDET (101.9). "High Music of Cream; 11:50 am WRIF (101.1). lunch with Eric Clapton featured; noon WABX (99.5). I Israel Philharmonic: Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra; T1 rro Brahms' Symphony No.

8 p.m. WQRS (105.1). Foghat featured; 11:35 p.m.WWWW (108.7). im: mi VISA' In town all that azz BRUNO LEONARDO GELBER, pianist, In a concert of Beethoven with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at 8:30 p.m., Ford Jefferson at Woodward. Call 632-2730, aany.

Quality components at the right price. FINANCING AVAILABLE DEARBORN 430 No. Telegraph Road ROYAL OAK 4526 No. Woodward Ave. LANSING 5924 S.

Pennsylvania Ave. EAST DETROIT 2071 5 Kelly Road MT. CLEMENS 35927 Gratiot Ave. ROCHESTER 1 25 Main Street DETROIT 14615 West 8-Mile Road LIVONIA 35555 Plymouth Road SOUTHGATE 12755 Eureka (near Northland Shopping Center) EAST LANSING 61 9 East Grand River Ave. ANN ARBOR 605 E.

William Street Our "HIFI BARGAIN FARMINGTON 28007 8-Mile Road (near Grand River) (Some advertised equipment and guarantees may not be available in the Hifi Bargain Center.) 8AM SANDERS and the Pioneer Jazz Orchestra close the Jazz at the Institute series at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Deborah BROWN does a commendable lob singing an Annie Ross ong at Michigan Inn, 16400 J.L Hudson Southfield. Call 559-6500, 10 p.m. aauy. "THE FIFTH OF JULY," post-dissent drama at 8 p.m., Attic Theatre, 525 E.

Lafayette. Call 963-7789, 1-9 p.m. dally. LOW JACOBS sings songs of and by herself at the Raven Gallery, Greenfield at Twelve Mile, soutmieid. can anytime.

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