Are the movies undersexed?

By Marilyn Beck HOLLYWOOD While director Mark Rydell is editing Bette Miler's "The Rose," he's plotting his ext project. "I want to do a sexy deture," he said. "I'm convinced he popular arts haven't kept up with the sexual revolution."

There are some who would swear the cinema arts fostered that recent revolution by exposing youth to ideas and attitudes that are not advanced in the average home. And certainly Rydell did his best to keep abreast, or ahead, of the times with his explicit lesbian theme in the 1968 "The Fox." But to hear him tell it, Hollywood is still caught up in the sins of repression. He'd like to see some changes made, not only on the big screen, but on television as well.

You take shows such as "Three's Company," he said. "Instead of genuinely dealing with the issues of sexuality, it's a string of cheap and salacious jokes. Instead of supporting a primitive vulgarity like that, producers and directors should be allowed to handle sex with realism and grace; to tell the truth about relationships. Certainly, in the area of TV, there would be problems with censors. But there are always troubles with them, anyhow."

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Rydell's not going to have time to concentrate on sex, for big screen or small, until May, at least. He'll be busy till then with his "Rose." The movie completed filming in August, but he said "there's still a lot of work to do. For example: I've got about 24 hours of concert footage alone that has to be trimmed down to some 20 or 30 minutes. Besides, I really want to take my time and have it perfect. I don't want it to be another 'Harry and Walter.'

The 1976 "Harry and Walter Go to New York" was Rydell's only film flop. And it might not have ended up that way had Columbia Pictures not been in need of a quick recoup of its investment on the project.

"I sign a contract for all my pictures that allows me nine months

post-production time," said Rydell. "You need about that much time to do a proper job on editing, scoring and such. But after I finished 'Harry and Walter,' Columbia suddenly informed me I had to deliver it within 45 days because they had already booked it into New York's Radio City Music Hall. The studio was in financial trouble, was desperate for income. And though I fought, there was nothing I could do short of walking off the project. So I stayed; but that didn't stop the company from also bringing in its

own editors, and for the producers from bringing in more editors until they had removed the underbelly of the film. It's a shame. The 'Harry and Walter' I made was a good film, but no one ever got a chance to see it."

Mark Rydell fears that the popular arts haven't kept up with the sexual revolution and wants to make a sexy movie.