University Daily Kansan
Monday, Sept. 21, 1970
5
Movies:
s: Playing a Game, not Music
By STEVE SHERMAN Kansan Reviewer
Sometimes tense, sometimes humorous and always gay, "The Boys in the Band" is an excellent portrayal of people who are homosexuals, not homosexuals who are incidentally people.
Although the actors give great performances, the story itself demands, and gets, almost the full attention of the audience. It is the story of the homosexual, his anxieties, his happy moments and his despairing ones.
The setting is a New York apartment, the event is a homosexual birthday party. The guests arrive. Despite the many fag jokes and references to homosexuality, the conversation is similar to that which might occur at any friendly gathering. However, the persons taking part in the conversation obviously feel different.
Barbed and profane dialogue flows freely, as well as talk of unhappiness, despair and jealousy. Often it gives insight into the individual's feelings. They speak of their guilt: "If only we would learn not to hate ourselves so much." They speak of terrible repressing pasts: "Failure is the only thing I feel comfortable with because that's all I was raised to feel comfortable with."
There are amusing moments too, especially when Harold receives his birthday presents. Among them are a pair of knee pads and a young stud who is attired as the Midnight Cowboy.
Harold, the guest of honor for the evening, reflects upon his life by saying, "run, borrow, run, waste, waste, waste, and why, why?"
After many drinks and dinner on the patio, which is spoiled by a sudden rain, the entertainment turns to a strange, revealing masochistic examination of each man's life. Invented by Michael, the host, it is a game in which each guest must phone the person whom he really loves, identify himself and say he loves the person.
Each person is forced to examine his life as he endures bitchy beratings from the rest of the group as they dare him to go through with agonizing admission that he is not the same as other men.
Examination does not end with the person who is making the call. It also extends to those who are playing the game and to those who are watching. The tension is unbearable and it eventually drives Michael to the point of having an emotional breakdown. He discovers that in spite of all his self-deception, he is a homosexual who cannot reconcile his plight or rid himself of his homosexuality.
It is hard to think in terms of individual performances by the actors, who recreated their original Broadway roles, in a film whose story is so absorbing and compelling. This is a credit to actors and director alike. Each actor has rendered a performance
Young Raiders, Red Dogs, T.I.D.E. And Together will each play two 30-40 minute sets of numbers.
Five well-known rock groups will be featured. The Flippers,
A free rock concert, sponsored by the KU Board of Class Officers, will be presented Tuesday from 3-10 p.m. in front of Allen Field House.
arts & reviews
The ships, with an average age of 21 years, will be phased out during the next 12 months.
each group switch off, performing on as many as three or four instruments.
The groups concentrate on producing a "heavy" sound, and the Flippers and Young Raiders have gained fame for arrangements of "It's Your Thing," "Raindrops," "So Very Happy," "These Eyes," and a medley of songs from "West Side Story." All the groups have toured extensively.
T. I.D.E. was started in Law-
All five groups have performed at the Red Dog Inn in Lawrence. They feature large horn sections, numerous and versatile vocal selections, and several members of
The Flippers and Young Raiders are each made up of eight performers. Together is a sixmember group, and there are four members of T.I.D.E.
The Red Dogs were picked from several other groups to perform at the Red Dog Inn. Together is a local group which first appeared last year.
Groups to Give Free Concert
that is in absolute harmony with those of his fellow actors. They have all allowed the total effort to supersede individual performances.
The film is more than a story insight into their lives, showing of several homosexuals. It is an that they are more often than not the victim of forces which they do not understand and with which they cannot cope.
Pianist Van Cliburn To Perform in Topeka
Retirement of the Shangri-La will reduce the total number of U.S. attack aircraft carriers to 14, the lowest since 1960, the Navy said. A Navy spokesman said the retirement action was taken to drop the U.S. fleet to about 700 ships, rather than its present 760.
WASHINGTON (UPI) — Navy officials announced Thursday the retirement of 58 more ships—including the World War II aircraft carrier Shangri-La now serving in Vietnam—because of the shrinking defense budget.
Navy Fleet Cut to Match Budget Slice
Pianist Van Cliburn, who rose to fame after winning the 1958 Tchaikowsky Piano Competition in Moscow, will perform in concert at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Topeka Municipal Auditorium. The concert is sponsored by the Midwest Performing Arts Association of Wichita.
Cliburn's performance in Topeka is part of a tour that has included concerts in Parsons, Tulsa, Okla., Salina and Wichita.
Cliburn was born in Shreveport, La. He has been performing in public since the age of four. At the age of 12, he won a statewide young pianist competition in Texas, which led to a debut performance the same year at Carnegie Hall, as the winner of the National Music Festival Award.
Cliburn's mother was an accomplished pianist at the Julliard School of Music in New York.
He has performed with the New York Philharmonic and other major orchestras. He has received many international awards for his performances.
rence, and some of its members are KU students.
Under the plan, any student from grade school through college, may apply at the box office as early as an hour before the performance for a standby number. Ten minutes before the performance, after all guaranteed admission customers have been seated, the students will be admitted to fill remaining seats in the sequence of the standby numbers they have been given.
Midwest Performing Arts Association has announced a standby ticket policy that will enable students to attend Cliburn's concert for $1.
The Young Raiders have recently cut a record including such numbers as "Tree Frog," "River Boat Larry," "People," and "She's Gone."
Tickets for the concert are priced at $7, $6 and $5. Seats in the second balcony may be obtained at $4. They are on sale at the Municipal Auditorium box office.
But most important, it is a reminder that homosexuals are people and people above all. Perhaps it also reminds us that we must take the trouble to understand things before we judge them or make an effort to change them.
AN OTTO PREMINGER FILM
Starts WEDNESDAY
photographed in released by technicolor' paramount 'GP'
On Columbia Records
Records & Stereo Malls Shopping Ctr.
Midwest Performing Arts Association presents at Topeka Municipal Auditorium 8:30 p.m. Friday, September 25
Tickets: $7, $6, $5 Students; $4 Send orders to:
"Van Cliburn." Topeka Municipal Auditorium, Topeka, Kansas
(Burst stamped, self-addressed envelope)
(Make checks payable to MPAA)
Looking for a Little Extra Cash?
Gather up those Dust Collecting Items of Quality and Sell Them With a Kansan Classified Ad.
Rates
1 Time —25 wd. or Less—$1.00—Add wd. 1 c ea.
3 Times—25 wd. or Less—$1.50—Add. wd. 2 c ea.
5 Times—25 wd. or Less—$1.75—Add. wd. 3 c ea.
111 Flint Hall
UN 4-4358
or
4359
daring GOOFREY RAYMOND CALVIN COLOR by DeLuxe R
CAMBRIDGE · ST. JACQUES · LOCKHART United Artists
Mat. Daily 2:30
Eve. 7:15 - 9:10
Varsity
THEATRE ... Telephone 91-3455
A YOUNG MAN'S ODYSSEY INTO MIDDLE AMERICA
"ADAM AT 6 A.M."
Technicolor* A National General Pictures Release - A Cinema Center Films Presentation
Starts Wednesday
GFP