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Page SECTION A THE HERALD Wednesday December Entertainment Disneys Oliver is good company Young fan puts together wrestling series Dickens and Disney seemed a nightmare combination lo me an orgy of sentimental I ly and pathos Just waiting to wash over captive audience Fortunately I was wrong arent 1 always and Oliver and Company Is a delightful little film Just perfect for Ihe holidays and those ever pre sent children The story is vaguely based on Oliver Twist which I read many many years ago and have since tried lo obliterate from my mind Oliver is a allien without a home in New York City in the mean lean eighties He is quickly recruited by Artful Dodger a wirehaired Terrier and Joins gang a crew of cunning but loving logs la a caring master but a very poor one who Is In debt to Ihe nasty loan shark Mr Sykes Oliver ends up In a happy rich home and Mr Sykes la knocked off In an unusually black scene for a Disney cartoon It Is not unsuitable for kids though The ending Is not nearly as as It could have been and both children who ac companied me loved the Dim ram beginning lo end Billy Joel Is the voice of the Artful Dodger and sings a couple of songs as well Cheech Marin provides a lot of the laughs as Tito a Mex ican Chihuahua with tremendous nerve and bravado Better Midler is perfect as the voice of Georgette a pampered poodle who loathes Oliver and most other living creatures Deluise Richard Mulligan and Lee Browne provide some of the other voices There arc many songs in the movie although none were memorable but Ihen I don much like pop Oliver and Company is a fast moving tightly directed cartoon with lots of laughs and some slightly scary moments Disney for the eighties Is little more hip a Utile darker and ultimately more believable You won t go into a sugar watching this film which li good considering all the Junk one iheholldays Aaron Weiss may be Canadas youngest sports entrepreneur The 15yearold Toronto youth is putting together a series of one- hour TV wrestling shows Weiss has just negotiated a distribution agree ment with Raymond International Weiss convinced the International Championship Wrestling organisa tion of the S to allow him to use some of its wrestlers The TV aeries being shot at live matches is a mix of action and features The first two shows shot at an ICW match In Brampton have been com pitted the young businessman who has been called the loen wrestling guru has an uncanny sensitivity to the right people said Bruce Ray mond president of Raymond Inter national He is working with first- class production people He knows his subject matter and hires experts for Ihe production end Weiss who has served as a wrestl ing com men la tor for CITYTV In Toronto and on cable TV shows became a wrestling fan at the age of 12 He has turned his Interest In wrestling into a profession He is serving as producer host ringside commentator and inter viewer for the 28 ICW shows Its very hard to get Into something liko this said Weiss especially when you have no con nections You have to show your In and overcame Initial reluctance about your age Its a very tough cut throat business but nothing It depends Entertainment Bob Spence Thornton to watch the games live Canadas games against the USA Dec Czechoslovakia Jan 1 and the USSR Jan will all be televised live by CBC-TV- ihey start 11 eastern time Douglas lets the chips fall A larger- than life ego being very much a vital part of any actors equipment it should come as no prise when that ego is manifest in an actors account of own life The Ragman Sob An Autobiography by Kirk Douglas Simon and Schuster pages Is that actors can did story of his own larger than life career Douglas became a movie star long before the word superstar was even coined lei atone devalued by too frequent and unwarranted ting For tour decades his name- above- existence made his name and face familiar over much of the world Now at age he sets down in his own lucid style the and downs of that life unrefined by the gloss of any slick professional collaborator neither nor unauthorized but decidedly diluted Not surprisingly the tone of the book is much like the Douglas per sonality on the screen a little pugnacious not always altogether likable yet projecting a strength and determination thai tend to win you over The humble beginnings are familiar enough His parents and Bryna were penniless RussianJewish Im migrants who settled In Amsterdam NY They were too busy surviving to pay much heed to the daydreams of an only son among six female siblings who wanted to be an actor That he succeeded far beyond even his own dreams is testimony lo that determination in the character of Issur Danlelovllch who became Kirk Douglas He was and working in a sum mer theatre when he changed his name thus leaving himself open lo antiSeme tic remarks made casual in his presence by those who didnt know he was Jewish II was a rankling phenomenon Douglas was to encounter all his life His achievements as a movie star and producer have been con and not alone in terms of box office success Among his 70odd movies have been Champion Lust For Life Paths of Glory Spartacus The Bad And The Beautiful Detec tive Story Seven Days In May Ace In The Hole and recently Tough Guys Al least some of them were noteworthy both to Douglos and to moviegoers for reasons that deserve to be recalled Book Review by Alex Harris In Spartacus which he pul together as well as starred In Douglas made the bold move of Dal ton Trumbo as writer and giving him screen credit Trumbo one of famous Hollywood Ten who served lime In prison for refus ing to cooperate with Ihe McCarthy era hunt had resumed his career but under pseudonyms Douglas was Ihe first do defy the blacklist hire Trum openly Paths of Glory a film about cor ruption and incompetence In the French Army during the First World War Is regarded today as a classic antiwar film Bot those films were directed by a Stanley Kubrick and Douglas s outspoken In his of Kubrick both as director good and a human being not so good 1 Over the years Douglas again and again demonstrated his in dependence his courage In tackling unpopular subjects his willingness to take gambles that resulted In films that would not in the hands of studio moguls have been as honest Douglas is quite candid in discuss ing the people he has dealt with The book includes his evaluation of such Icons as John Wayne Kazan Walsh and Robert Mltchum He Is equally open in references to his romantic Involvements both in and out of wedlock with such people as Joan Crawford Rita Gene Tlemey and Douglas iconoclast has no pa Hence with the auteur theory which maintains that a film Is the creation of the director and that such elements as writing and acting are far less Important To bolster his view he tells of the making of Lone ly Are The Brave one of his favorite films The young director David Mmer was called away Rather than delay production Doug as made Edward Lewis his producing partner the interim director After wards he asked Lewis If he had been nervous Said Lewis When you have a great script excellent actors and no special lame he relumed to the stage In One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest was a failure but he spent the next decade trying lo turn it Into a movie In the end It was his oldest son Michael who produced the highly successful movie and by then Kirk was too old for the leodlng role which went lo Jack Nicholson Despite this and other disappoint ments It la an air of boundless op timism that permeates the book No challenge ever seemed too great for Douglas no too distant to go for One begins I was ex I had crossed the Allan You almost expect the next line to announce that he had done It on If there Is a letdown in the book it In the last quarter a section devoted to Douglas many overseas trips as goodwill ambassador on behalf of the US government Ad mlrablc though these Journeys may have been they don offer the drama of the actors struggles only to rise to prominence but to gain and keep control of his own film making career Despite Uils threat to Its ill dramatic effectiveness The Ragmans Son Is more than a cut above the conventional Hollywood autobiography at leant part because of Kirk Douglas will to let the chips fall Alex Is author of on and TV Mr USA Atlas Raymond will distribute the shows to TV stations across Canada and elsewhere The will receive a portion of Ihe proceeds The TV series is to moke Its debut In the spring A onehour special goes beyond the myths to explore the sex ual needs of senior citizens The Best Years presents a forum taped at Seneca College In Toronto that examines sexuality and aging The special airs Jan Prince Charles doesnt Ihlnk much of modern British archltec He made some sharply critical statements In a TV documentary lhal was aired In Britain last month Now he Is offering his views In a book A View of Britain A Personal View of Architecture which will be released in Britain in March The book largely based on the documentary will Include material In which Ihe Prince of Wales will expand and develop his views said a spokesman for Doubledoy will publish the book here next year His Royal forthright statements about modern architec ture and contemporary urban plann Ing have struck a cord with hun of thousands of people said John editor Inchief for Many Canadians will have to stay up until the wee hours of the morn ing If they want to watch Canada de fend its World Junior Hockey Cham pionship The tournament is being held In Achoroge Alaska The time lone difference Alaska Is four hours behind Ontario means residents of central and eastern Canada will have lo forgo some sleep If they v GEORGETOWN CINEMAS GUELPH STREET ft Elegant Catering for all occasions What mokes a wedding Let the trained consultants assist you with selections for your on tire reception Choose one or oil of our services mix and match according to your needs EKING PACKAGES including any or all our services Social 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