The very best of friends .U-TE A-RTS David Robinson \\ccccdv Allc -.the persm;n), that cN. 1 nit lie invents vrites. acts ac,jkid dc\ I l -: t1 nost MLlthell- tit (C i Ct D I "u of ouL times. M1 X Riii. I onx jesw with sparse (.cccicn. I.ii . 01 itsi/C h1orn-r'ims, cl I ocllic 1ii cular oiiider- dt '.i ,Plceill anild thirsIV cUIi- tilu li ixpiril cisls i i11 cotWith- sicitadilcg cic' lc specific racial U nci "COiiap Ic ic;aIi oI'ieit atiOlis, Fvcr 11011 tI- r ;c St'eieties. He I),! iOiited til: wvorld of lyn- d.)n o,ii' oln and Richard \ci cil ooI licali assassination a;:u iMIIc lci!cCi acid Sunday sitppccicCllet CIiciure. o! linger- in"g c'tlt I Cii tlXietv OVer c1cr ly cv acio ViCilie t anld thle li':cio ."I'i Mi jilvnl M\Ionroe. iV .ItIllyllcn, t -,p.ctLs him froion ri:., ;re. it ix ;I dSe"iter.ate iln fIc)iiii\ to k'SCt.cpc into fantasy. li0. t Irugi-c,o;nei of i hc Allen c:lic:c ci''c ,x c.i hc a1 reist in 1ii :liicc 11uh/-ii ''iaCi'xolilc ro:iiiii ti. -nle cloxes in mucht n!ii'tlc rhalu hInt'foe on truth anld rea liiv. :IC ii still tdil same 'i'pY tuo!l tioicinm to kleep step 1:tcl i: ciz tilct'rislic f:cOls bjicc hci , It ith life ilcd loxve ccc;ci .,icichc iii 1)11 Il ure lie de. Ict'~lxcud ' .x o1! ti- COmii .iVper- liccIut ili:ici icc t'c(ljcit'' t clii-.. '[hli't a fi ii choccc ci itle i'vltiolu- xci p. ivicitic , iih . ccuihliL(eS the inl- ouulcihl. prc;)idLn i)t al ii (lintlact ii oui .,,lcipx. Fli, xrlncc. stise 1 ht' ! ;> ..) I Ciclisideralble it ccccxccccit;cd( titip i. ULOuiogr'a- ccc ut t(t'e 1li;, iii ct-al life ci u cci I D)icce Kt'ccucc :'ealiv Ci ii lihtiC.Illt' illlill'l!c'. like Aixv; 'c-c i''t' cod \ccUc:c Il;:ii iln die !1,11 s Kt'.caIc' actcd inc tlle ciiJiiic~ 'ii2 i)lprloductioni of Alec's PIUcic Ii .:li1n. Samii. ITe i.'scci tlIe fi1.mi ix thlat relait uccilci;isl e ctllct sci tttuci] IP,Wh,he on cld 11Impa1;blili;I\jl *e1 , 11iClthd), ci cit ii ti. liUI: acxI c(Ic e 'cc ccci it';llcraile a-, %Vitll chc liOU i t':)pit. 'S cil tc1ii clcr 11(i 'io c 1x ;Ais' l aci isId (cuii itv i cit :hl], w'hr l it' akre Il) %i iirli acllollil, gr,I lit' xlalals ic's bet-Ull jiltev ccc's- Ice gixe lip smoking. "How long wias that ? " "Sixteen years ago." Ainnie vouild undetstand at once this girl screechies dis- belief and wants him to explain. Anniie might have fantasy phobias about spiders and lob- sters; but rhey talk rhe same lanlguage. Although-perliaps because-- thet e are no longer the visual extravagances of Allen's earlier fillms (if we exclude the mar vellous flashbacks of his child- hood in a wooden hlovel which nestles under the Coney Isladicl roller coaster), both Keaton and Allen are at the peak of the)r comlic form. Keaton if mistress of the sort of verba.l concusions that turn) a proposal to escort her home after a tennis match into a Mlad Hatter diaiogue. Standing in line to see The Sorr0'otw ancrd the Pity for the fifth time, Allen be.omes a small, red.hajt-ed volcano of rnumbling anger at the movie- ctulture chat of tihe man behidnd, an d finally, permnitting himself momentary release into fantasv, produces the real-life Marshall MIcLuhan out of thin air to put dowvn the offender. If only r eal life were like that ", he sighs to the audience. Such moments of detiritium apart, Annie Hall is as good as it is because its comedy is always ou the brink of the minior tragedies of real life and love. Truth and comedy and fiction are in another permutation in P'umnping Iron. This wvill be a very annoyinig film for those vho thinik that documentar-v is about facts, because actuality and iiivenition arc mixed in very teasing style in its evocation of hlie strange world and coni- nlunitv of body-builders. The film was conceived and dir ected hv a 34-year-old Eng- lishmall, teorge B3utler, who wanted to make it after cover- ing the Mr East Coast Contest of 1972 for Sports 1Illnstrrated hut could n't raise the mioney!. Instead he wvrote a hook. Pump- ingtl Iron. ['li e Art of Sport and Bfoldvbtiilding xvhich has suI)S - quelitlv acquired a considera)le Ildclgrgoill- d reputation illnd which, broadly o;pekeahig. pro- xvidedl the scenario of the film. Tlhe fi In is built around repoirta'.e of the 19,73 contests fot MI;x t'Universe anI N1r O)lvmtnia. and the training anidl pl'cpali';tilOIl that goes ilito thelim. Butler goes deeper than thle popular stereoltpc (of hodv holildlers as mnUscle -hedled i'sltihititionists s lie explores the suljIe minigliing of ambitioti dc'licition, aesthetic instinict. tnd (least of all) vtinity that NsUtatills these enthi;siast s hltouglh thei tntutl-inIg trainitig r uttnlees. not to speak of ballet rl tsses to mi prove their poshig six 1.. TI'er lis Mike Kat/_ a sclool tI kchel itn private life. w\ho's fat- too nice to ma;ke it in a 'p)ortt l'ee t lie foLl play of "i ; ychI(g '' (rnit oi aiiztinh) V,url opp)olielit is alpproved; thete is thle ebhullient Franco Columbo, a miniature Apollo who arrived frtom a tiny Italian village to become three times Mr Universe; there is Louits Fei r igno, a deaf boy from Little Italy who hias to lip-read the sliglhtly demented inspirational lharang ies of his father, ful- fitling his own ambitions througi the boy. FIirst and foremost, hiowever, thlere is Arniold Schwarzeneg- ger, six times Mir Olympia, a lHving comic-strip superman, and a star by any standaid you care to apply. Schwarzenegger is intel!igent and unstoppably art iculate (hie was in London last week to prove it was niot just a film illusioni). He is also outspoken, outrageous and very funny. Mischievouslv he ex- plains in the film' that the experience of " pumping iron" (the body-builder's mystical techiniqtue of forcing blood into tile muscular structure) is like a permanient orgasm. He shame- lessly demonstrates hiis owni s;ubtle tecilniques of demor-al- izing his opponents oni the eve of the contest: acts out the fictions of the film (a stor'V of missing ie's owvn father's funieral so as not to spoil his traininig) With total credibilitv; and explains convincingiv that body- building is just anotiler form of creative sculpture. Schwar-zenegger is able to cariv off the unflinching self- confidence and unlyieldinlg ego- centricity that alone can ac- count for a career like his. by reason of utter ly ir riesistible chiarm and wit. Having now given tip competitive body- buildinig andi established him- self as a successful business man. he hias a clearlv fulfil- lable amnbition to be a film star. His 43erformarice in Bob Rafel- Gon's Stlp In1mi-r' earned him a Golden Globe awai-d for best male acting debut; anid he is now set for a film series about a Seventies supernman. Jloseph Stiick persists it adapting Jlames Joyce to the screen. A (lecade after Musse., lie pays hiz Itoniage to :I Por- jr1Uil Of Ille -A ri ist uSa You ing .A I an. 1I is an affectionate, devote series of illustratiojis. Wi h anitilentic Irishl locales, soitte gifted fridh players (1'. P. McKenna. Rosco llogain, Mlaureen Potter). one or two vivid tableatIx from jloyce (tlte Chlistmas dinner t. a thi-illing (,ielguic canmeui (ithe ltell-fire Nernion aIt the retreati) BuLt a pictoriali7ation is a pictorializationi. and where ilite words are paranrotunt,t as in ,lovce, it can only be a subtiac- tino. Nor. as a pictorializ.atioj-. i, it verv certailt that it will also be a pol)ti!aizzation (which would he no had thing). Thlough an undoubted labour of love. ile enterpiise looks a bit nis- gtuided. 0111wlM B!IeW is a Vou1.th filmll N%ithl a vettgeance. antd if itq r eflectioni of total disillusion and mistrust in the face of the Mi r Olympia andc adimiirers adu.lt and the establishment are half way true, it is a poignant socio-cuIrutal commelit. Peter FIonda plays Robin Hood or Sir Percy Blakeney in the world of "outlaw " cOLuntry and western muisic that centr es on Austin, Texa., A long-term prisoner (mainly due to manifestationis of his un- governable temperamenti) he is r eleased from .jail. to discover that his best song has been \tolen bv a grey-lheaded couniltry anid wester n star. He injurX es the thief in a confronitation, and is on the r-unI wiheni he is b-s- frienlded bv a girl from the r ecording studios who skilfully plromotes his owil r-ecording to the top of the charts, by appro- priating the police man-hunt as a publicity stunt. Under tbe noses of the police and their Publicity-hunting chief, a can- didate for political office, the couple engineer a seriec of hit- and-run appearances at concerts and( radio stationls. It is directed bv Richar d T. Ileffy-oil, who despite the under- lying pessimism an(d the obli- gatory car aiid boat chases, sustains the humour and charm of the film. T'o these qualities Peter Fonda and Susan Saint lames. who makes the girl be- lievably steelv as well as attrac- tive. contt-ilbute significantiv. Pelvis. whatever the adver- ticing might suggest. isn't porn nor, as its title might imply, is it ati unhappily timed squib at the expense of the Late Great. IL is a bit of high- spirited, inconsequential r ude nonsense about the lower deprhis of the rock world, vaguely styled o01 The WVizard Oi Oz. As "Pelvis", Luther * Bud " U'haney, an attractive bumpkin wiho sings well, dreams his wvay to the big city, where he is confronted bv nightmare distortions of theattrical agents and impre- sarios and fans. The cleverest part of it is the songs, with titles like " All Dressed up in Rubber and No Place to Go " and lines which, when audible. are witty perversions of the sentiments of r ock lyrics. The very best of friends Aninie Hall (aa) (inecenta/Screen onl the (ireen/IOdeoni 3), S\\is.s Cottage Pumpingr Iron (a) StLudio 2 ! ABC FullaI Roadm'dABC Bayswater IZ cnn I .A Portrait of the Artist as a YouI3g Nian (aa) A.Caid.'lv Onec Outlaw Blues (aa) \Wirner \Vcst Enid Pellis (\) Sttuio 2 Solho Cinelmaa! .i aCC\ .ITraa c 1ar Square