Win can account for the public taste? In a time dominated by such super- hype films as Star Wars, looking for bdrm, and-..Close of the 'Ihird 5139' ., There infdaarm lottetown a little lav-bud- get flick like 0 God! is one of the most films of~the past sever- al years. It may mean that _vast budgets and all— encompassing advance pub- licity programs are not so important after all.
So what's this 0 God'.‘ like, anyway? It's a mild- ly moralistic film, neither purely comic or purely serious, and it‘s very Ami- erican in scope and'execu— tion.‘ Where else but in the land of thefree and ' the home of‘the brave would anyone dream of portraying God as a wisecracking, cigar—puffing old gaffer " in tennis shoes and a fish- ing cap? It's just too campy an idea', and it‘s perfectly fitting that the partbe played by George.
IN EM As
Burns, that grand master of America's favourite brand of comedy, put—down humour. Without Burns, this movie's lmmour might be a bit too "Sonny and Cher" to be effective. It's also nice that John Denver, the all—American boy, plays the part of God's chosen saviour for
‘rmankind. .These two, ,
standing as they do for
all that the United States holds so dear, work togeth— er perfectly in this cute assertion of the sanctity of individualism and person- alized faith.
The movie does explore man's attitudes toward God even if it does sacrifice a lot for the sake of ke- eping the laughs flowing. Particularly effective and beautifully pulled off is the caricature of an eva‘n- . gelist whom God does not
‘ hesitate to condemn out—
right. No one believes Jerry Ianders' (John Den- ver) assertions that he
but his own faith and per—' severance pull him through. Also, naturally, when Lan- ders does achieve national prominance for his belief, he acquires a set of reli— gious "groupies." Beautiful! Sadly though, even when God makes a spectacular courtroom ap— pearance on Jerry's be- half, people still hesi- tate to believe that God
could actually be so out- landish.
It seems to be all in fun, though. Very tongue— in-cheek, satirical, and witty, the movie's powers of domedy may well be was— ted on many people. There are many lines which are both comic and profound at once (or try to be so), such as the case when Jer— ry cries, "But I don't be- long to any religion!" and God snaps back with, "Well neither do I'.'" The script carefully avoids preaching any orthodox doctrine as well, for God, in answer
UPEI Thursday, ,‘Jan'. '19, 1978, page ‘V 13
to the question of whether Jesus was the son of God, replies that Christ, Buddha, Muhammmd, and indeed, ev— eryone, were all his sons. A cop-out, in a way.
It seems that you can dress.up the public taste, but you can't take it any- where. O God! certainly does take the taste for the outrageous and dress it up in a light coating of social 6.1;} religious mean— ing, but .its market won't allow it to take things too far.
line, that fat-cat evangelist getting told
IcffbyGodwasajoyto
see, and some deep probing could likely bring out some ‘heavy points, but, on the whole, 0 God! remains a highly entertaining, rela- tively shallow piece. It
was well) worth seeing just for its outlandish subject
matter, and its success is, for the most part, warranted.
cont'd from page 5
advertising problems, (John Flemming, former adver- tising manager quit in December) and to make re- ccxmendations to the Radio Station's interim manager Cheryl Cannon on 'what 77 would be appropriate fin— ancial steps for the Sta- tion to take.
Initially the Finance co— mmittee, suggested that CINN postpone their pur— chase of the Broadcast News Machine as they, thou- ght the B.N. Machine would be too expensive and also that CINN should continue to cover the Panther hock- ey games as they (the gam- es) had already been sold to advertise.
The Finance Committee was then informed that the‘ B.N. Machine had already been installed so they met again to determine what ' should be done. ' '
After reviewing revised figures the Finance mittee recamended toCheryl Cannon that it was econom- ically feasible for the Radio 3:0 both car- W the Panther “Hockey . ganes and employ the ser- vices of 'Ihe Broadcast News Machine. ' "Ihe Union would be ylosing a minimal amount 0f money, however, the Finance Committee deened both broadcasting of hock- eY and international news ' Valuable services to the Studentsof UPEI; hence
I /
'1'
has seen and talked to God,
0
worth paying for.
Radio CIIVN however, dis- regarded recommendation of the Finance‘Ccmmittee and as a result the hockey game broadcast on. Sunday Jan. 15 was the first of this semester;
'Ihe reasons why the hockey broadcasts were \ stopped as stated by a rep— resentative of CID/N are ” as follows: We don't have enough carts (pre-timed
V tape cartridges) to handle
the commercials. I can't get any of our
.(40 persons) staff to work
the hockey broadcasts as ' none are interested in hockey. I , I don't like doing hockey broadcasts, personally. ‘ Hence, readers of the Sun this is what last weeks front page story was all about. If you wish to hear hockey broadcasts once
again I encourage you to
write or see your Student
Union Executive. " If you don't wish to hear
hockey games on CIIVN you won't.
Michael NbMahon '
’ Commumications Officer Dear Sir: .
I have beenvtold that the first issue of the UPEI SUN for 1978 has been distributed. However, I have been searching for. a
4
full day and have not yet been able to obtain a
copy. I have made several excursions to the office of the esteemed newspaper, since I assumed that this would «be the most logical place to-find a copy of the paper. Each time I was told that there was not even one copy of the curren—t_issue in the office. I live in BlanchardHall, and, according to the blurb on page two of past issues,'the_ paper is supposed to be
distributed to this residence. However,
no copies of the SUN
'have yet been placed in ' the receptacles provided in the building. I’ went to the lounge of the Robertson library this aftemQOD' (Friday), but
no copies were to be
found. ' I have been told
/
after the gum
enjoy yourself
'old favorites
Lounge
e and relax,
Gather around & sing your
by a reliable source that no copies are available in the Cafeteria.
Either they do not want anyone to read their
paper. or the staff of
the UPEI SUN has contrived a unique way to sell. ’ subscriptions .
Yours truly,
A Student.
You hdve a legitimate complaint . Unfortunate ly the editor is the only st— aff person with access to a car Thursday afternoon when we receive the paper. Since I have classes all Thursday afternoon, I can- not get the papers until Friday. We do try to get the main spots such as The Barn, the cafeteria and the library but I guess the papers are pick— ed very quickly. We will try to improve our delivery system in the future.
page 1
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