Boxoffice-May.21.1979

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HOUSTON
"The two day film festival. TEXPO 79.
which was postponed by the Rice Media
Center because of flooding and subsequent
power failure during a recent storm.
was rescheduled. The fifth annual festival
originally presented films by Texas filmmakers
and films of Texas but has been
enlarged to include films from the Southwest.
Arkansas and Louisiana.
Writers/ producers Kevin Hartigan and
David Garber were in Houston to scout locations
for "A Night at the Ballet." Other
cities where the film will be shot are New
Orleans, Washington and San Francisco. A
budget of between $3 million and $4 million
is set and is being financed by United
Artists. The Houston Ballet Co. may appear
in
the film.
Eric Gerber of the Houston Post reviewed
"Picnic at Hanging Rock" and slated
that on the basis of his recent success with
"The Last Wave," Australian director Peter
Weir's earlier film, "Picnic at Hanging
Rock" has now been released in America,
"It is a brilliant and exasperating work and
most assuredly one that any serious filmgoer
has to see" ... He wrote that "Phantasm"
is "long on gore and laughable short
on logic and pace. With no credible plot
and only the flattest of characters, there's
no suspense generated, just an awkwardly
spaced series of special effects for the Grand
Guigonol fans" . . . Gerber wrote that
after the "qualified disaster" of his last
outing, "Interiors," Woody Allen's "Manhattan"
comes as a "refreshing return to
comedy, though this film makes it abundantly
clear that the serious side of Allen
is growing in importance."
New film titles on indoor and OLildoor
theatres marquees include "The Silent Partner,"
"Ashanti," "Dawn of the Dead,"
"Dreamer," "Last Embrace," "Manhattan,"
"Old Boyfriends," "Picnic at Hanging
Rock," "Star Crash," "The Dark, "A Lhlle
Romance," "Wives," a double bill of "National
Lampoon's Animal House" and the
Marx Brothers' "Animal Crackers," "Here
Comes Mr. Jordan," the 1941 comedy recently
remade as "Heaven Can Wait," plus
"Down to Earth," "The Cycle," and Andy
Warhol's "Flesh and Women."
SAN ANTONIO
Organizers of the Fourth Annual Chicano
Film Festival, San Antonio CineFestival,
have begun soliciting entries. The festival
will accept film and video programs
produced by Hispanics or relating to (he
Hispanic community in the United Stales.
The deadline for receiving all entries is lulv
15. The dates for this year's festival are
Aug. 24-25. The two day festival has chosen
downtown locations for its film exhibition
and conferences. Daytime events will be in
the El Mercado Square and large evening
screenings at the Theatre for the Performing
Arts.
Estrellita Lopez, star of the film "Only
Once in a Lifetime," currently showing at
the Northwest Six and Century South Six,
appeared in the Northwest Six to sign autographs
for three hours.
Don Huff in his column Weeksworlli in
the Herald reviewed three films. He said
"Hurricane" was set in Pago Pago "where
their chief means of sustenence was breadfruit
but the chief commodity of this film
is a torrent of corn. But this film's idea of
south sea island adventure and romance is
largely as exciting as the bieadfruit, wilh
Mia Farrow as the improbable blond seductress
and Jason Robards as her father.
Not surprisingly, this story was adapted
from a work by Nordoff and Hall, the same
duo who wrote "Mutiny on the Bounty.' This
version has two Fletcher Christians, one
white and one brown, both anxious for the
blonde. Quite a meretricious, racist, Freudian
mix." . . . "Director Milos Foreman is
still quite the noble immigrant. His movie
version of the musical 'Hair' still has people
dancing in Central Park, even if the
choreography is by Thyla Tharp. The film
is neither enchanting, poignant, radical nor
nostalgic. It merely serves to mark the passage
of time. So will a calendar." . . ..
"Sally Field turns in an excellent perform-*
ance in 'Norma Rae.' which is an excellent
little film besides. She is the protagonist of
this slice of the textile workers union movement
in the deep South. Aside from Norniii
Rae, the majority of the characters aren't;
J
//iwesiern Jneaire bauidmeni (do.
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they're functioning stereotypes. But it's
teresting to see a film predicated on male
stereotypes for a change, and director Martin
Ritt provides an' -easy pace for everyone
to fulfill their obligations and still have the
movement to carry the film along. A well
intended, mostly successful yarn."
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