Putney Swope. Robert Downey's film has, with age, lost quite a bit of its bite, but it's still entertaining. It was made at a time when blacks were almost universally regarded as fearsome creatures, and derived a good portion of its punch from that premise. A black man becomes the president of a large Madison Avenue advertising agency by mistake, and proceeds to turn the company on its head. Particularly hilarious are the television commercials that Swope makes up, which put real people in stereotypical ad situations.
Hi, Mom. The same problems plague this early effort by Brian de Palma. Robert De Niro plays a young filmmaker in Greenwich Village who becomes involved with a group of black actors from the "living theatre." The group invites white audiences to experience "being black," then terrorizes them. The guilty whites exit from the nightmare proclaiming how interesting the evening was--now they really know what it's like to be black in America. De Niro is alright here, certainly better than Jack Nicholson was in his one major comic role (The Fortune), but one leaves with the impression intact that De Niro should stick to dramatic acting.
The Producers. Mel Brook's first feature, and an absolute must. Flawed by an overly sentimental ending, but the basic premise is golden--a Broadway producer on the skids (Zero Mostel) figures out that he can make more money on a flop than he can on a hit. He searches for the worst play ever written, and finds "Springtime for Hitler," a drama about Adolph and Eva at Berchtesgarten by a crazed ex-Nazi living in the Village. Mostel is brilliant--wooing funds from adoring septuagenarians, manipulating his timid bookkeeper (Gene Wilder) into compliance with his scheme--the man is a genius.
Blazing Saddles. More from Mel. A slicker effort than The Producers, but no less insistent. Brooks plays on our prejudices, particularly about blacks and black sexual prowess. He revels in bawdiness of all varieties--no one else has been quite as successful in eliciting the comedy inherent in a fart--and in incongruities--outlaws slugging horses and old women, black cowboys with Gucci saddlebags.
HARVARD
SCIENCE CENTER C
Paper Chase, 7:30 and 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday.
CAMBRIDGE
BRATTLE
Women in Love, 5:30, 9:35, The Third Man, 7:45.
CENTRAL I
Manson, 7:20, 9:30, wknd mats at 3, 5:10.
CENTRAL II
Jaws, 7:30, 9:40, wknd mats at 3, 5:15.
THE GALERIA
The Man Who Skied Down Everest, 2, 3:50, 5:40, 7:30, 9:20.
HARVARD SQUARE THEATER
Blazing Saddles, 1:30, 4:50, 8:10. Putney Swope, 12, 3:15, 6:30, 10. Through Sat.
Lawrence of Arabia. 2:45, 8. Walkabout, I, 6:10.
Tommy, midnight, Friday and Saturday.
ORSON WELLES I
Une Partie De Plaisir, 4, 6, 8, 10 (Sat and Sun 2 p.m.)
The Harder They Come, midnight, Friday and Sat.
ORSON WELLES II
Gone With The Wind, 4, 8.
Fillmore, midnight, Fri. and Sat.
ORSON WELLES III
The Producers, 4, 7:25, 10:40, Hi, Mom, 5:45, 9:10.
Blue Water, White Death, midnight, Fri. and Sat.
