Page 16

By Marc Lewis

(Dog Day Afternoon, Warner Brothers Pictures, produced by Martin Bregman and Martin Elfand, directed by Sidney Lumet,. Now Showing at the General Cinema Theatres throughout the Cleveland area.)

Sometimes an audience is more interesting if not funnier -than the movie. Such seems to be the case of the current showing of Dog Day Afternoon.

What makes the movie interesting and funny is Al Pacino's portrayal of Sonny, a real and desperate Brooklyn gay who is caught up in and cornered by his own crazy caper -and abortive attempt to rob a small branch of a bank. Why is Sonny so desperate for money? Why to finance the sex change. operation of his wife, Leon, of course! Why is all this so funny? Because everything goes wrong!

goes

From the moment Sonny and his two partners-in-crime enter the bank, they have problems. First one of the partners decides he can't go through with it and leaves. Then Sonny discovers that the bank has just sent its

HIGH GEAR

Dog Day Afternoon

"True?" "No, It's A Comedy"

money to the main branch and has but a paltry thousand dollars in the safe. And then Sonny foolishly sets a small and smokey fire when he attempts to burn the register containing the currency serial numbers. It is probably this smoke that attracts the police. And on and on.

In fact things are so bad that when Sonny receives a call from the police who have set up their command post across the street, the zany head of the tellers chides Sonny for not having a good enough plan and bungling the whole thing! So plan to laugh a lot.

There is also considerable interest in Sonny's desperate motivation. Since his lover Iwants a sex change operation, Sonny feels obligated to provide him with the money. But apparently he and Leon have had some major difficulty in their. relationship. So in spite of Sonny's "noble" gesture and considerable risk, Leon wants nothing to do with him.

l

The scene in which the two lovers discuss their problems and Sonny's invitation to Leon to join him in his escape to Algeria sees a powerful bit of acting on the part of Pacino. Though Leon, played by Chris Sarando, is totally believable as a transsexual who is virtually recuperating from

a nervous

The Romantic:

breakdown and overdose, it is Pacino who quietly rips at the audience's heart as his love for Leon comes through in their conversation. Pacino is fantastic!

Also interesting is the psychology of the masses portrayed during the film. The crowds gather outside the bank almost immediately and are soon cheering Sonny's open defiance of the police who have virtually amassed an army with which they surround the bank. Later, when Sonny's homosexuality: becomes public, the crowd's enthusiasm wanes especially after gay activists begin gathering in support of Sonny.

Dog Day Afternoon, of course, is based on a real event that took place on August 22, 1972. And screenwriter Frank Pierson's script and Sidney Lumet's direction retain an authenticity while focusing now on the humor, now on the agony of living, breathing human beings. The film's representation of gays, also, is, if not always complimentary, at least always authentic.

Yet some members of the audience at the Mayland Theatre recently could not arrive at this simple truism of the cinematic representation of a reality! In fact some of the comments made during and after the film

Paul Wagner/ To Be A Man

By John Nosek

In the 1972 album To Be A Man (which features a cover photo by Kenn Duncan), Paul Wagner proves that musical poetry can still be effectively staged. Wagner, whose voice is reminiscent of a mix of Cat Stevens and Donovan, provides simple melodies through mostly acoustic guitar and additional background vocals. Though there is nothing musically innovative about the work, poetically, it is significant.

Interestingly, Wagner downplays his homosexuality while upbeating his humánness. He doesn't hide the fact that he's gay; in fact, he makes several open references to his. male lovers; still, he sings of emotional struggles and philosophies that anyone can relate to.

In a Dr. Zhivago romantic backdrop, Wagner tells of love, sex, war, politics, and religion all those no-nos people used to say shouldn't be discussed in social company.

The album opens with "To Be A Man", a lament of the culturally imposed standards of masculinity and femininity, and

their obstruction to human liberation. It is followed shortly by the flowing ballad, "But I Love You" which states that ever present, yet elusive truth of how we cannot be everything to another person:

I may not tell you everyday I may not show it every night I may not do what is always right,

But I love you.

Although music acts as the background of the album, it comes to the fore in "And Now" which sports an ethereal cello frame that is almost hymn-like in effect....

Wagner's creativity lies in his ability to integrate the various dimensions of life into one tenline poem. This is particularly evident in the showcase of the LP, "No One But You." Here Wagner colors the hope of holding a relationship together through conflicts with his lover, with himself ("The fight to make myself be true"), and among peoples of the world:

Senators in satin sequined suits Who talk of peace; they just don't phase me.

All their battles; all their money They can't take you from me for

one night.

Cause I'm sure they'll go to war again

Making God their whore again. Although it is often claimed that artists and poets watch life go by, and make their comments from distant perches, Wagner, in contrast, hurls himself into the thick of being. He is a true romantic; a vigilante; emotional,. tragic, yet a flowered optimist. and

There exists a naive innocent undercurrent in Wagner's work as well, which is a refreshing change from the cynical seventies and characterizes a quality unique to

were as interesting and often as funny as the film itself.

During the film a variety of comments were evoked by the eventual revelation that Sonny is gay:

"Christ! He's a queer!" "Oh, he's not really." "What's gay?"

"They can't be serious!"

When Leon gets out of a taxi in the front of the bank and the audience has been informed that Sonny has asked for his wife and that she is about to arrive;

"Who's that?" "His wife?"

"No, they said it was his wife that's a guy."

When the sex operation is first mentioned there as an unreal silence so that the comments were clear throughout the theatre and were followed by a nervous laughter: "Jesus!"

"You're kidding!" Sick!"

Without a question the most universal outburst occurred when Leon's wedding photo is shown on a television newscast -complete with gown, veil and all:

"Oh my God!"

"This film is sick!"

"I don't believe this!" When a group of gay activists begin chanting "Out of the

"youth."

I love you as my life You love me as a friend. Paul Wagner will grow and as he does I hope he continues to express himself. It is intriguing to listen to a person who is artistic and just happens to be openly gay. But after all, isn't that state our Movement's ultimate objective? (Those interested purchasing Paul Wagner's TO BE A MAN may write Trilogy Records and Tapes, a Division of W.P.N. Music Co. Inc., 723 Seventh Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10019 for further information.)

Music

in

JANUARY 1976

closets....!": the audience gets a quick look at a number of gays: "Christ, look at all them damn faggots!"

And when Sonny's first wife and the mother of his two children is shown:

"I'd stick with the fag!"

NOTHING COMPARABLE TO THESE COMMENTS WAS UTTERED WHEN THE F.B.I. AGENT "EXECUTES" SONNY'S PARTNER, SAL!

Having caught so many comments during the movie, I couldn't wait for the exodus after the film. I was not disappointed. A father to his teenage son:

"The world is sick enough without all that kind of junk on the screen." (I assume he was speaking of the bank holdup and the brutal assassination of Sal.)

A middle-aged woman to her husband:

"You can't tell what movies are about nowadays. Why didn't they say it was a dirty movie?" (Maybe she expected a Disney dog adventure!)

And an attractive young lady to her date:

"Is all that stuff really true?" He to her:

"No honey, it's a comedy." Frankly, if you don't like the picture (which I seriously doubt) you'll get a bang out of the audience!

POETRY

TO SOMEONE (S)

By DAVID S. HOLLEB

I won't ask you to be my loverI only ask you to love me as I

am.

Polygamy,

monogamy Homosexual,

bisexual

promiscuity, heterosexual,

Loyalty, commitment, marriageThese are only words.

Giving, loving, sharing Being honest is what matters.

Sex, food, and drugs are fun,, But what would we do without them.

Who am I anywayWhat are we doing here?

Energy, cosmic,

beingMother,

supreme

Father, death, blue skys and

heaven.

Would you share this jointand get high with me?

We can become One together,

If I am You, and You are Me.

And would you share with me, your lover

Even if that makes three?