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Screenward Bound: ‘Mickey’ and ‘Last Woman’Fragmented StudyOfComic’s FlightHAT OLD and nagging paradox—that a greatbrilliant(“Mickey One/’ the film discussed in this article, comes Wednesday to the Embassies.)By Giles M. Fowler(The Star's Motion Picture Editor)T1 many brilliant parts don’t assure a brilliant whole—is illustrated in the strange and strangely titled “Mickey One.”It is a film I yearn to praise, if only because it’s an American picture made with such obvious sincerity of artistic purpose What’s more, so much of it is exciting, compelling and genuinely creative that no one should miss the experience of seeing it.And yet, for all its fascination, ‘‘Mickey One” in the end doesn’t quite satisfy, and I’ve been bruising my brain all night to decide why.Certainly the acting is superb from top to bottom, beginning with Warren Beatty, as a luckless comedian on the lam from his past, and descending through hosts of ex-c e 11 e n t supporting actors. Then too, Arthur Penn’s direction is truly inventive, penetrating and gloss-free, and its one fault (one I’m willing to forgive) is occasional pretentiousness.So we come to Alan Surgal’s script, also praiseworthy in many ways. Though his dialogue at tinges is stagy or contrived, he is a master at dreaming up scenes and vignettes that touch, grip, delight or startle us with breathtakingfrequency. It’s almost as though the writer had set out a series of ingenious nightclub bits—some funny, some sad, some terrifying — to keep us out here at ringside constantly bedazzled.And there it is—the reason why “Mickey One” barely misses success. The film has less value than its parts because Surgal seems to have been more interested in theparts. He stresses short-term effects, neglecting the total impact. There are too many things in his script—fascinating, evocative things—that just don’t fit, that seem thrown in for kicks instead of enlightenment. And seeing all the pieces together, we’re left with the gnawing thought that we’ve just seen something profound, the meaning of which eludes us.NOT THAT line itselfTHE STORYis too puzzling. Mickey, a comic in a Detroit supper club, is in trouble with the mob and knows not why. Is it the $20,000 gambling debt run up one boozy night? Is itthe cutie he seducedfrom her influentialawayboyfriend? What does it matter?Mickey’s on somebody’s doomlist, and he decides to run for his life.Burning his I. D. cards behind him, he flees to Chicago and loses himself on the skids. But he’s still the compulsive comic. Like the reformed lush who takes one teensy drink to test his cure, Mickey takes one crumby job in a flyblownnightery, and from then on it’s up, up, up again, with the whole world pushing him onto the stage and under the gun sights (he has no doubt) of the gang.Along the way, we are drawnirresistibly into Mickey’s adventures—his terrors and delusions, his moments of respite with a girl he loves, his finai effort to face his enemies and take his punishment. We are drawn in through sheer cinematic skill and most of the scenes—even obscure and pointless ones—are stunninglyconceived.Mickey winds up in a junkyard where giant, menacing machines crush wrecked cars into ugly steel wads. He stumbles into a skid row mission and eats his soup while a preacher stutters painfully through a Bible reading. Drinking in a strip joint, Mickey can’t resist stealing the punchlines from the gags of a has-been emcee. Fleeing through a honky tonk area, he is chased by thug doormen costumed as Arabs, Chinese and Indians.At an off-beat art exhibit,(Continued on Page 2E.)TouchDeMilleIn Asian Spectacle(“The Last Woman Shang/’ reviewed in this ticle, opens Friday atRockhill theater.)ofar-theBy Nancy Miller(A Member of The Star's Staff)0 M P L E T EwithC bloodshed, torture,beautiful dancinggirls, casual decapitation and hara-kiri, “The Last Woman of Shang” is a thundering Eastern melodrama that spreads lavishly across the screen for nearly two hours.Its setting is Ying Shang, China, in 1100 B. C. The Shang Dynasty, weakened by war and the excesses of King Chou, the current ruler, is crumbling about the edges. The people are starving and the court is populated by sniveling, toadying advisors.Obviously, the situation can’t last—and it doesn’t. Into the decaying monarchy comes a beautiful woman bent on avenging her father’s death at the hands of King Chou. She captures Chou’s heart, is made empress, and proceeds to weaken the foundations of the dynasty so that when the handsome Lord Chi rides in with his army to restore theempire, he faces nothing more than a paper tiger.sortTHE WHOLE STORY has aof Oriental fairy tale quality, punctuated with splashes of violent emotion and glazed with a generous use of color. And, like most fairy tales, it ignores depth in order to concentrate oneadth in the form of battle enes (strangely reminiscent scenes in American Westerns here the Indians attack thefort)court(onealmost expects Cleopatra to ascend the throne). The entire movie, as a matter of fact, could probably be set in any other country at any other time and have the same effect.No one will have any trouble telling the good guys from the bad—the bad guys laugh senselessly (evidently a sign of depravity) and stroke their beards while quaffing huge quantities of wine. The good guys are intensely somber and never drink (neither does the empress, marking her as a good guy after all). The badguys are money-mad and tryto bleed the people. The goodguys are for the people and could care less about tribute. The bad guys whine and the good guys speak only in the most heroic tones.But despite all the surfacepageantry, there are several moments (rare, to be sure) in which the movie becomesquite subtle. They are fleeting and anyone taking a sip of his soft drink when they occur will miss them, but they are there—a shot of water dripping from a branch after a storm, for instance, or the hollow echoing of the laughter of a nobleman driven mad.And there is also a bit of humor, probably unintended, in the subtitles—after Lord phitries to assassinate the empress, King Chou screams at(Continued on Page 3E.)THREATENED WITH MURDER, an empress of ancient China (Lin Dai) flees through a burning tower in this scene from “The Last Woman of Shang.” Th« film, produced in Hong Kong by the Chinese moviemaker, Run Run Shaw, was written by Wang Yueh-ting, directed by Yueh Feng and reteased by Frank Lee International Films.Arts EntertSECTION ETHE KANSAS CITY STARSunday, October1965FinancialFarm J^ewsAMUSEMENTS3ART4BOOKS6MOVIES2-3MUSIC4STAGE5“Mickey One.” with screenplay by Alan Surgal. was produced and directed by Arthur Penn and released bv Columbia Pic-tures with the following principal players:Mickey .. Warren Beatty Jenny .. Alexandra Stewart Castle . Hurd Hatfield Ruby Lopp . Franchot ToneBerson ....... Teddy HartFryer Jeff CoreyThe Artist .........Kamatari Fujiwara The Girl Donna MichellePolice Captain ......Ralph FoodyThe Evangelist ......Norman Gottschalk
Newspaper Details
Kansas City Star
Kansas City, Missouri, US
Sun, Oct 31, 1965
Page 120
Full Page
Clipped by
Rotten T.
USA 22 Jun 2020
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