Family Plot. A pleasant enough film, as long as one isn't expecting too much. It's the bourgeois thieves vs. the working class thieves, and our sympathies range themselves accordingly. A couple of good moments, but basically you get the feeling that Hitchcock just doesn't care that much anymore.
Le Magnifique. Philip de Broca sets out to do to the spy thriller what he did to the World War I genre in King of Hearts. In America, Mel Brooks would be the likely candidate to take off on this secret agent silliness, one thinks--until one remembers that he did, with Get Smart on TV. And that's what this movie looks like at first, a French Get Smart, only with the added attraction of Belmondo's sexy grimaces and Jacqueline Bisset's--well, Jacqueline Bisset. But Brooks will joy-buzz you all night with this sort of thing (every week, in fact, for five or six years), while de Broca would rather tickle you, like a feather. So we soon discover that the he-man adventures of the hero, Bob St. Clair, all lie in the forlorn mind of a poor, put-upon writer who just scrapes by by churning out pot-boilers. The unhappy writer turns his chintzy publisher into an Albanian villain, and seduces the ice-cold grad student upstairs as the luscious female spy Tatania--all in books. The poor guy, awwwwwwww. But of course de Broca lets the foible-ridden writer get the shy student in the end. And while the whole spy-spook idea may be too worn to make this into another sleeper a la King of Hearts, this one is good for throw-away fun and an hour of those pretty faces.
Murder by Death. Much, much better than one might expect. These multi-star extravaganzas often turn into disasters, with an assortment of a dozen egos or so furiously stamping on each other's toes. But things are kept pretty much in control here--each star is given his own piece of the sky within which to shine. Particularly engaging are David Niven, Maggie Smith, and Peter Falk, while the only real gap is Truman Capote, who may have better luck in his current effort to become Marcel Proust. At the Cheri, in Boston, 1, 2:45, 4:30, 6:15, 8, 10.
Open City. The story behind this movie is as remarkable as the film itself--Roberto Rossellini made it while the Germans still occupied Rome in 1945. The plot anticipates the Historic Compromise; a priest and a Communist partisan cooperate to combat fascism.
HARVARD
SCIENCE CENTER B
Open City, Friday and Saturday at 7 and 9. $1.50, season tickets available.
SCIENCE CENTER C
The Godfather, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and 10:15. $1.25 with Summer School I.D., $1.75 without.
CAMBRIDGE
BRATTLE THEATER
Nights of Cabiria, 5, 9:50. La Dolce Vita, 7.
CENTRAL I
Seven Beauties, 7:30, 9:30 (Sun. mats. 3:15, 5:15).
CENTRAL II
And Now For Something Completely Different, 6:45, 8:20, 9:50 (Sun. mats. 3:15, 5).
THE GALERIA
The Man Who Skied Down Everest, 2, 3:50, 5:40, 7:30, 9:20.
HARVARD SQUARE THEATRE
Barry Lyndon, 2:40, 8:15, and Brother Sun, Sister Moon, 12:30, 6:05, through tomorrow. Family Plot, 3:55, 8 and Slaughterhouse Five, 2, 6:05, 10:10 (starts Sunday).
ORSON WELLES I
Citizen Kane, 4, 7:45, and The Magnificent Ambersons, 6:10, 10:10, through tomorrow. Shoot the Piano Player, 4, 7:25, 10:55 and Two English Girls, 5:30, 9:00, starts Sunday.
OW II
Dr. Strangelove, 6:10, 10:05, and Lost Horizon, 4, 7:55, through tomorrow Ulysses, 4, 8 and Tropic of Cancer, 6:20, 10:20, starts Sunday.
OW III
Le Magnifique, 4:15, 6, 7:45, 9:30, 11:10 (no 11:10 show on Fri. and Sat.).
MIDNIGHT SHOWS (Friday and Saturday)
A Boy and His Dog, at Harvard Square Theatre; The Harder They Come, The Rocky Horror Show, and The TAMI Show, all at the Orson Welles.
