Word: downrightness
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...honest science fiction, Charly would be laughable at best. But with its contrived poignancy and shallow pretensions at making a statement about the supposed menace of unchecked medical experimentation, it is downright ludicrous. As the moron turned polymath, Robertson displays a certain flair for Chaplinesque humor. The impact of his performance, however, is lessened by Producer-Director Ralph Nelson's determination to prove that he learned how to be new and now at Expo '67: almost every other sequence is done in split screens, multiple images, still shots or slow motion. There is a modest redeeming feature...
...Test. Understandably, Ruggles has inflicted more than a few wounds in his time. One sympathetic but forthright neighbor admits that the old fellow is "downright quarrelsome." And even one of his most loyal friends, Mrs. Henry Cowell, widow of the composer, concedes that "sometimes his profanity got a little tiring." But all that was forgotten at the Bennington affair. Vermont's Governor Philip Hoff gave Ruggles a medal and friends made speeches. Carl was able to hear the whole thing over a loudspeaker in his nursing home near...
...that were the extent of the problem, Simon could easily enough discard all the lines left over from the movie and substitute his own. But much of his own dialogue, in addition to being incongruous, is downright awkward. Too many of the show's laughs as presently constituted drain the credibility of its characters and situations. For instance, Simon has the doctor from across the hall at one point volunteer that "Experimentally, I took a trip once on L.S.D.--I had a better time in Miami Beach when it rained for two weeks." Lines like that and "I'm just...
...played by Joanne Woodward. He works in a straight stream-of-consciousness style, using quick flashbacks intended to depict in reasonable measure the drift of his main character's mind. Sometimes these are a little irritating, but rarely more than that, and sometimes they're downright effective. Newman's use of camera is, in contrast to the fancy editing, routinely tasteful. The result is an intelligent and mildly absorbing movie of a sort not often seen nowadays. If not glistening with promise, Newman's bow as director nevertheless lacks the arrogance characteristic of a Mike Nichols or a Francis Ford...
...chastened Spiro Agnew set out last week to project the image of philosopher-statesman. With ego-altering assistance from Stephen Hess, a polished speechwriter assigned to him from Nixon headquarters, the Republican vice-presidential nominee sounded restrained, deliberate and at times downright dull. His press conferences, noted one aide, "are guaranteed not to make news...