Word: cleverly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...they feel unloved. Tell them they've done well, that they're very, very clever oil companies, and that each one of them is going to get a prize...
Despite a clever psychological ploy designed to steal Miss Smith's thunder--Islander captain Eddie Westfall presented her with a bouquet and his teammates skated by to shake her hand--the Flyers scored just 19 seconds after the opening face-off and coasted to a 4-1 victory. Bobby Clarke & Co. went on to defeat Buffalo in something of an anti-climax...
Secondly--and this is why no justification of such scenes as "artistically necessary" is possible--the entire conception and style of the story is inadequate to the issues involved. Attanasio is glib, his characters are glib. Everyone is very glib and clever and no real commitment to dealing with the problems of American machismo and militarism is made. The characters are intellectual enough (graduate students at Harvard, dropping allusions to Heidegger and Hemingway!) that only intellectuals will read the story; yet they are redneckedly outlandish enough (bowling and slinging semi-automatic weapons) that they will not challenge any intellectuals...
Director Walton Jones milks every bit of humor from Michael Feingold's adaptation of the clever, pat script. He mocks the cliched plot, deliberately parodying the stylized, silent-movie romance/thriller. Curlicued subtitles announce songs and significant moments; when the gang rob the bank, the lights flash on and off, simulating the flickering early movies. A few touches are a bit cloying--the Fly as telephone operator, for example--but Happy End contains many slyly comic moments. Jones mounts a polished production; the actors sustain a rapid pace that admirably suits his comic intent. Uniformly excellent acting ensures the play...
Presumably, Castro also decided that the evacuation would turn world attention away from the Peruvian embassy fiasco and focus the spotlight instead on Washington's scramble to cope with the flood of refugees. In this, Castro appeared to be successful. "He sure is clever at making his problem our problem," said one White House aide...