Violence aplenty

Press, 20 March 1978, Page 13

Violence aplenty

The Next Man, Regent, | Rl6; Cannonball, Carlton, | Rl«; Are You Being : Served?, Odeon, GA. Sean Connery as an Arab? It’s a little hard to believe, especially as he makes no attempt to disguise the remnants of a Scottish accent. However generalisations about Arabs helped the West ] get itself into the oil crisis J I “The Next Man” is, full of j

generalisations — about peace, terrorism and diplomacy — and a lack of specifics stops it being a firstrate thriller. For those who like violence and intrigue there is plenty available — about six bloody murders in the first 20 minutes, none of them with an obvious motive — and later on there are raids, bombings and shootings. The nace is fast, the locations varied — London, Riyadh, Nice, New York — and the acting professional. Connery is convincing as a diplomat, if not as an Arab, and Cornelia Sharpe as the beautiful woman who wants to kill him plays her part well. But the various parts of the film fail to come together and it is not as good

as “Black Sunday.” Richard Sarafian directed. We’ve had spaghetti Westerns — now its the chop suey car chase. “Cannonball,” about an illegal cai race across the united States, j was financed by the Shaw | .brothers of Hong Kong and) ■stars David Carradine as a I laconic but determined race-| car driver. Fortunately, the film has. been played for laughs although the humour of a multi-car pile-up on an expressway, with petrol tanks exploding every few seconds, was lost on me. It has some good lines, but j is much more murderous j than comedies should be. The, action scenes lack originality — in fact the whole film j could be seen as a copy of “Gumball Rally,” and not a very successful copv at that. Paul Bartel directed. A few months ago I upset an American colleague when I suggested that an American comedy, “The Big Bus,” lacked the subtlety of British humour. I take it all back because “Are You Being Served?” must be the worst comedy to be seen here for a long time. The television series was bad enough, but when the jokes have to be expanded to fill 90 minutes their weakness becomes painfully obvious. Tlu! the director, should be ashamed of himself for foisting such drivel on to innocent movie-goers.

CINEMA Russell Jones v