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6 P,ntertainment ~'Twelve Angry Men" awakens senses •rhefilm's portrayal of justice and reason is still dramatic BY KENT ANDERSON Men" as black and white is not just to refer to the lack of technicolor. The lines are drawn, the .NEWS EDITOR ------------------· point is clear: the man 'in white, Fonda, is the On Monday, February 24, the second film in shining knight, stalwart against the forces of · a s.eries sponsored as part of a National Endow- narrow - minded prejudice and illogical think- inent of the Arts grant program was shown. ing. He will save the day. The series, arranged by Matt Dunckel, an Alpena Lee J. Cobb and E.G. Marshal, the former a Community College geography instructor, is belligerent father deep in denial about his son's being presented to communicate to its viewers resentment of him, and the latter a starched the elusive nature of the American experience. stock broker who "never sweats," as he says in Tlie <PoCemic/~arcli 12, 1997 'Twelve Angry Men," a tense drama revolv- the movie, give memorable performances. The ing around a jury's deliberation of a murder father is too subjective, seeing his son in the case, is the latest installment in the series. The accused, and thus a way to vicariously punish movie explores the reality of how difficult over- his boy for rebelling by passing a guilty verdict. coming one's own prejudices and preconcep- His emotions rule, often with apoplectic fury, tions can be. It also conveys the necessity of but are founded upon air, as we discover when To ease the long wait for seats to '"Star Wars" (left to right) Tony Rosado, Adam Dempsey, Jim Robb, Jon Mendel and CJ Bruski get involved with the display of stars. PHOTO BY BECKY BLACK surmounting irrational, he breaks down, in emotional, and prejudicial tears, tearing up a pie- impediments so that a lu- tureofhimself andhis cid understanding of those son. Cobb's perfor- A ne~ gener~tion experience the force -can around us, as well as our- mance is full of pas- selves, can be achieved. sion,fullofreality,and The setting is a jury totally believable. room, into which, at the Marshal's stock beginning of the movie, the broker is forced ·to re- jurors are sent after hear- alize that he has not ing testimony in the trial of been looking closely a teenager accused of slay- enough at the facts, ing his father. Except for a whenasoreonhisnose few moments at the film's leads to the realization beginning and end, every- that a similar sore on a thing transpires within the witness's nose proves confines of the jury room, thatthe witness wears as t:welve men of varied glasses, a fact not told backgrounds attempt to to the jury during the come to a unanimous deci- trial. Marshal is bril- sion as to the accused's in- liant in hfs subtle un- nocence or guilt. derstanding of his During the delibera- character's problem tion that follows, the theme and masters every nu-. is articulated: we must stand together, no mat- ance of handling the nose -piece irritation. The ter how far apart our differences distort us to meticulous attention to small parts produces a appear. This meaning is painted in all the believable whole. vibrant hues of the often irrational human con- All the acting in "Twelve Angry Men" is dition. Everyjurymember,exceptone,believes beyond doubting, yet the d~rector, Sidney the defendant to be guilty. Lumet, seems to have been decidedly unin- That singular juror forces the others to take spired when he came to work on this project. a closer and more objective look at the evidence. The camera shots are mundane, good, but not In doing so, many of the jurors are forced to worthy of praise. He keeps his angles clear, delveintotheirprofounddepths,learningmore matter - of- fact, and tries nothing elaborate. about that essentially unknown figure staring There is no room for the viewer to interpret, back at them in the mirror every morning. . no room to ponder, for the message of the film An excellent cast portrays the emotional is stark, open, and without significant insight. mechanics involved in the convoluted corri- This however, can be seen as a strength, though dors of their characters' minds. Henry Fonda, also as a weakness, and the movie will endure, the star and a co -producer of the film, is the one regrettably, as a "classic." Your mind will yawn, juror who believes that the others reach their but your heart will applaud. conclusion of guilt too fast. "TwelveAngryMen"willnotchallengeyou, It should be noted that the film was pro- but it will entertain, perhaps awaken, your sense duced in 1957, an era when the nation was told, of justice and reason: And, as the _movie dis- "Better dead than Red," and the good guys plays, sometimes those senses do need a wake always wear white. To describe "Twelve Angry up call. BY BECKY BLACK STAFF WRITER I recently embarked upon a strange journey "to a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away ... " Well not really, just to the opening night of the first of the three movies in the Star Wan; trilogy. In order to view the much talked about film, I had to pur- chase my tickets for the 9:20 p.m. show at 7:30. In order to get a decent seat, I arrived at 8:30. While waiting for the pre- vious show to conclude, I shuffled through the crowded corridors of the theater. At that point in time I had never been so glad I used Dial--at the same time I really wished everyone else did, too. But luckily I knew most of the other "sardines," so to speak, that were there as well. The excitement was high, and anticipation hard to bear as we waited for over 45 min- utes justto enter the theater. At long last the usher removed the rope that had blocked the crowdfromentering. Immedi- ately a flood of people gushed into the hallway to.the cinema. Upon entering, myself and my fellow comrades were faced with a problem--where to sit. "FIVE STAR" QUALITY SERVICE AWARD .DEALER, 0 · 'Ifie Law Office of LOUIS MOTOR SALES, INC. ~ $~ ~ ~ Wtce 1941" 832 WEST CHISHOLM STREET PHONE 51?•35"4•4154 ALPENA, MICHIGAN• 49707 Mark John Hunter (jenera[ Practice of Law (517) 356-3171 Hours: Noon to 5 p.m. Monday thru Friday Being the pillars of wisdom that they are, my friends blurted out, "FRONT ROW!!!!" Being ever faithful, I followed--quite willingly. We must have filled five rows. I soon learned that the fourth row from the frontis a prime spot to acquire a strained neck, and is very close to the speakers. As the movie started, the audience erupted into cheers and applause as the old famil- iar music audiences have loved "Star 'Wars" was a fegac!J, ancf m!J generation fiac[ never gotten tfze_ chance to e~erience it in tfze_ tkater. for the past-t:wo decades blasted through the sound system. The crowd experienced a new thrill right off the bat; the intro was actually large enough to read! The adrenaline was pumping and I even heard a friend whisper, "WOW! They have changed things." After the excitement of the prologue of "Episode IV" the . movie started. · The movie was pretty close to the same as it's always been. The plot didn't change at all. I noticed some changes, like new creatures running rampant through the entire movie. I sat in my seat, neck bent in a strange way it wasn't made to bend; and just watched in marvel...forabouttwentymin- utes. After awhile I started to think to myself, "I've seen this (not to mention avid Star Wars fans) were sitting. They were way too excited for my tastes. They had taken to reciting the dialogue from the film. But it wasn't that innocent. It had turned into a competition, a fight for superiority, who knew the most phrases and who could say them first, often be- fore the actors could. Their display of primal battle for dominance was en- tertaining as much as it was annoying. This was just prior to me falling asleep. After a quick cat nap the guy next to me nudged me awake and said, "What are you doing? This is 'STAR WARS'!" I quickly replied, "Yeah I know, Luke blows up the Death Star and that's the end. Oh yeah and by the way, Darth Vadar is Luke's father. Now for the love of God I had to go to a 7:30 a.m. English class this morning, I'm tired, let me sleep!" Needless to say he left me alone for awhile. But! didn't go back to sleep. I decided to stay awake for the finale. It was during this time that I pondered the real reason I had gone to see a movie that I had seen several times before. For crying out loud, I even own a copy. I realized that "Star Wars" was a legacy, and my generation had never got- ten the chance to experience it in the theater. ~-----------------------------------------------~ before--there are no real sur- Did we miss out? In my opinion, not really. But I am glad I went, it turned out to be quite a memorable experience, I will also faithfully attend the opening night shows of "The Empire Strikes Back", and "The Return of the Jedi." And most likely will do the same stupid stuff that my friends and I did at the first movie. Sao.e a pcl oj g,ofd · on ite»M~ at ~eee74.}WPUSBOOKsrionE Crossroads of our campus -New- Greeting cards Globes lj"CC 104 US & World Maps Nursing Supplements Calculators with Telephone Index · New Bar Charts Quick Studies Cliffs Notes Briefcases Art Sup_plies Pens Highliters &More Happy St. Patricks' Day from ROXY AUBREY• Manager BILL MATZKE • Assistant Manager JOAN MISIAK• Clerk/Cashier ~Jlt[{C{otfii 25'foo~· ACC Coffee Mugs ACC Steins Gift Certificates FLAGG's FLOPPIES Starting at $5 • 9 9 COMPUTER GAMES & sonw ARE $-all line ah,in ;l)Jtafling Supp~~ prises here ... " Then I looked to my left, where two dear friends of mine . -1 - \ :,...---- -, .,. Over $8 Million Shared. Throv~ our Save-Share oro~m. 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