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Volume CXXXI, Number 23 |
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A vengeful weekend with the Film Society
JIM FLANAGAN
COLUMNIST
Once again Ivies Weekend is upon us. As always, there are many things
for you to do, but hopefully you'll consider joining us in the Film Society
as we present Vigilante Justice Night. We don't support a bloody revenge
tactic, but we do think it makes for an enjoyable film subject, especially
for a wild weekend like this one. So if you have some pent up aggression
or have loads of work piling up and it is stressing you out, come by Smith
Auditorium on Friday Night and relieve some tension with two explosively
violent movies about angry guys with guns. As always, these are free and
open to everyone.
Death Wish
Friday at 7:00 p.m.
If you were going to make a film about an architect with liberal political
views, whom would you cast? If you said Charles Bronson, you're in luck,
because that's exactly what we have in this wonderful artifact from the
mid 1970's. Bronson plays a peaceful architect whose wife is brutally
murdered and his daughter raped. Fed up with the system, he takes the
law into his own hands and seeks out those who hurt him, so that he can
make them pay for their crimes. Besides the four sequels to this film
that have been made, it has influenced a number of other movies. It should
also be noted that Michael Winner directed this film. With a name like
that, can this movie be a dud? I think not.
Falling Down
Friday at 9:00 p.m.
Like Charles in the previous film, Michael Douglas plays a simple working
man who is fed up with society and how it treats him. All he wants to
do is get home for his daughter's birthday party. Numerous problems stop
him, and he gets fed up. He begins a path of terror and destruction that
leads him to his home. Of course, Michael thinks he is doing good, for
he only attacks those who bother him. But then again, he is very irritable.
This movie is interesting in the fact that it shows that a man with a
good life can actually be miserable. It's like American Beauty in that
way; a peaceful, perfect suburban family is actually full of problems.
But don't expect a film like American Beauty in Falling Down. Come see
this movie because it is fun, not because it won a bunch of awards (which
it didn't).