Movie review THE BATTALION Page 3THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1975

Hoffman triumphs again

wr

By JOHN COWDEN Staff Writer

Lenny Bruce started out as a two-bit comic. He ended up dead of an overdose of harassment. He made money telling dirty jokes in smoke filled nightclubs and lost it to lawyer fees. He was the devil’s advocate in the fifties and sixties, and he is still a counter-culture hero.

“Lenny” is a movie based upon the later life of Lenny Bruce. Ju-

n Barry, who did the play by the same name, wrote the screen play. The movie is done in docu­mentary style, with flashbacks laced with commentary from

Ilia:

Bruce’s own monologues. The film was made in appropriately hazy black and white.

The documentary style is ac­cented by the abundance of tape recorders. An off mike/off camera interviewer questions the people who were close to Lenny, always in the presence of a tape machine. Lenny was obsessed with tape re­corders and used them to record his nightclub acts and court bat­tles. The movie ends with cuts be­tween the scene of his death and the noisy shut down of a number of tape machines.

Dustin Hoffman is Lenny Bruce and completely convincing

in the role. Under the direction of Bob Fosse, noted for his choreo­graphy, Hoffman stands alone in the spotlight. He characterizes a man both harassed and obsessed. It is probably his best role since “The Graduate.”

Honey Bruce, Lenny’s ex-wife, is played by Valerie Perrine. Hon­ey was a stripper and a junkie. She was other things as well. Most of all, she was an emotional burden for Lenny. Perrine does an excel­lent job of acting.

The background of the movie is the nightclubs and strip joints of America. The jazz musical score blends with the tempo and

atmosphere of the film. The switching from interviews to night­club acts to Lenny’s personal life is done with the same rhythm.

The message that Lenny Bruce tried so hard to impress upon his audiences, both in nightclubs and in court, was that the suppression of thought by the suppression of words is a greater evil than the worst language or thought. To­wards the end, his act consisted of reading transcripts of his trials. It is ironic that much of the material for which he was harassed is today considered relatively harmless.

“Lenny” is showing at Cinema I&II for $2.50 for two weeks.

GRAND OPENINGFriday & Saturday — Free Gifts while they last

Political involvement?

DPS campus actions questioned ■

UNCORK WINE BOTTLES WITH EASE. Per­fected corkscrew stops bottle-opening pro­blems. No more torn or broken corks! 6" brass from Italy. Works with H 69finesse. Ends cork-y wine............ |

MBBH

■'

DALLAS (AP) — A college stu­dent from East Texas says a state police intelligence agent aided in the student’s campus poUtical campaign in return for intelligence data on student activist groups.

the Dallas Times Herald reported Wednesday.

The newspaper said it had ac­cess to a memorandum related to a 1974 state senate investigation of state police surveillance activi-

g in the

rost ’73

doom as ere (see att).

is have Aggies

■ath de- ing. It 'ait and s. One, ears re- t mem-

crying 'ho has u were sets of Vorth, out the ing the k. The nories. ture— e’s an Tange, iter to ons of ist not

duster

mem-Aggie

crease or 600

A&M,

) wear i?

Is, ’64

c^rg’-war’srva

| MERLE NORMAN COSMETICS %f \ * Complimentary Makeup Lessonst *Gi,,sI T * Jewelry

* Ears Pierced with Purchase of 14 Kt. Gold Earrings

University Square 846-5629ffCsJ

BILL S BARBER & STYLE SHOPLayer Cuts,

Wash & Wear Cuts, StylingFOR MEN AND WOMEN .

INTRODUCING BEA AYALAFormerly of Wilson’s

Walk-inor

appointment 846-2228215 University

Across from AAM Next to Campos

Theater

ing

Prof. Rodney Hillwith a slide show and talk on

\

/GOD IN ART

FREE LuncheonTime & place: 12:30 April 20th

A&M Presbyterian Church (301 Church Ave.)

Sponsored by UCCF

£ £

MSC TRAVEL COMMITTEEPRESENTS

WE’VE NEVER BEEN LICKED’’

RUDDER CENTER AUDITORIUM

FRIDAY, 7:30 P.M.

ADMISSION $1.00

MON . THIMS , FRI , MB *MANOR EAST MALL

MOM WILL CH€RISH OUR RING OF LIF€*

A birthstone for each of her loved ones.

.j;#'

Ring of Life®. Holds up to 8 stones in 10 karat gold. Mounting only, $27.88. Made while you wait with synthetic stones. Each synthetic stone, $2.95. Custom-made* with genuine stones or diamonds.Each genuine stone, $4.95.Each diamond, $9.95.

HZmmmjtvmefts

EIGHT CONVENIENT WAYS TO eUY•Custom-mW* ord*« must fe* mod# by Ajwli 30, 1975,

to into re delivery by Mother** Day. tlfottro+lon entorjjed.

ties.Bahrum Nouyan, a student at

East Texas State University, said David Dimick, a Department of Public Safety intelligence officer, told him he had been involved in other political campaigns, the Times Herald said.

Dimick is the same officer who admitted his surveillance of airline

pilot Robert Pomeroy last year in connection with Pomeroy’s oppo­sition to construction of a nuclear power plant near Glen Rose. The DPS said later Dimick’s spying was unauthorized and the agent was reprimanded and was trans­ferred from the intelligence sec­tion to the DPS narcotics divi­sion.

Peacocks at plainly pared prices

Romantic, elegant peacock chairs! A plumage of rattan lace-work blends gracefully with curved arms and legs. Fine Victorian design. Handmade by craftsmen in British Hong Kong. Plume your room at a very low cost! 46V2” tall. 18” diame­ter seats.

Budget your bedstead.

Twin size headborads. Fresh, romantic, and frivolous — in everything but price! These are finely woven rattanworks! Full of heart!Full of ideas! You can paint them to grace your bedstead!

Double 199# i

NOW OPEN!Pier 11nports PLANTERS! FOR TAMING BONSAI. Hex­agonal planters from the Orient. Use them for growing miniature bonsai trees. Terra cotta with drainage holes. .3 sizes............... ...............1#t IQ 4**

3200 TEXAS AVE.Associate

Across From Manor East Mall MON-SAT 10AM - 9PM SUN 12 - 6PM 822-7600

Space for the futureby Chris Svatek

Dr. W.R. Downs, from Johnson Space Center, was guest lecturer in the Library Week series.Downs spoke on the role of the space program in the future emphasizing the use of photography in spiace, satellite solar cells for energy on earth, and air pollution detectors in satellites.

Texas Appeals Court rules for SW Bell

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Judges of the Texas 4th Court of Civil Appeals reversed Wednesday a lower court injunction prohibiting Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. from wiretapping plaintiffs in a $29.2 million lawsuit against the utility.

The injunction also had banned Bell from destroying documents pertinent to the case.

District Court Judge Peter Mi­chael Curry issued the injunction last January after a day-long hear­ing on a motion by plaintiffs’ law­yer Pat Maloney.

Ousted Bell executive James H. Ashley and the family of T. O. Gravitt, former head of Bell’s Texas operations, testified they feared that their telephones had been tapped.

They testified also that in un­related cases in the past Bell has purged its files of documents ad­verse to its case.

However, Bell appealed the or­der claiming they are not tapping plaintiffs telephones and have not done so. Bell lawyers cited also 11

technical deficiencies in Judge Curry’s injunction order.

Chief Judge Charles W. Barrow said in a three-page opinion the injunction, besides other deficien­cies, failed to give reasons on why it was necessary.

Curry has set trial for the case on May 12, but Bell lawyer Hu­bert Green filed for a continuance this week. He said Bell could not be ready for trial because of ex­tensive discovery proceedings in the case and because of the num­ber of investigations prompted by the lawsuit.

More than a dozen state and federal agencies are checking the suit’s allegations that Bell has en­gaged in illegal political activities, deceitful rate-setting practices and other financial irregularities.

Bell filed a cross-action suit Monday which said that Ashley and Gravitt defrauded the com­pany of monies and property dur­ing their employ and Bell sought repayment by Ashley and Grav- itt’s widow.

^ -

Worship Services 10:45 a. m. g p m

Q CL

IllPQ

RESURRECTION

For the man with a lot of living

to do.JOURNEY TO LIFE

UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN

CHAPEL315 N. Main — 846-6687

Hubert Beck, Pastor

MANOR EAST MALL

New for Spring

andSummer

Junior“Sizzle”

Sets14.00 to 18.00Perfect to wear now thru summer — dresses with their own bikini panties! Machine washable polyester blends in a “great as­sortment of styles and colors. Pick from pretty prints, solids or combinations and long or short sleeves.Sizes 5 to 13.

BankAmericard

/// 7