Word: rivalled
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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There has been some pushing and shoving among the rival Mafiosi but no shooting or open warfare so far. Some law-enforcement officials expect the top Mafia dons in the U.S. to designate the resort an open city, meaning that any member of the criminal brotherhood or its underworld allies can seek a piece of the action, as is the case in Las Vegas. The Mafia is already tolerating a group of Cuban hoodlums, the Malagamba gang from northern New Jersey, which has gained a foothold in Atlantic City's illicit market for cocaine, marijuana and hookers...
...Turning Point centers on the bittersweet relationship of Deedee Rodgers (Shirley MacLaine), a one-time aspiring ballerina who gave up the stage for a family, and Emma Jacklin (Bancroft), Deedee's former friend and rival who pursued a career in dance to rise to the top of her profession as the prima ballerina of the best ballet company in the States. They reunite after a long spell of separation when Emma's touring company hits Oklahoma City, where Deedee, the frustrated dancer, spends her middle-aged, middle-American existence raising her three kids and running a ballet school with...
THESE FLAWS, HOWEVER, are minor in comparison to the gross mistake of casting Dom DeLuise as Adolph Zitz, the head of Paramount's rival studio. DeLuise, whose only attributes are obesity, overacting and the ability to strangle on cue, wields his demeanor like a sledgehammer and leaves viewers so unsettled that it takes them a while to remember what the rest of the movie is about. Once he appears on the screen with his insipid lackeys and his hapless barber-valet, it is hard for the nicer elements of the plot to reassert themselves...
Although the flying saucers in Close Encounters rival the ones in Star Wars, the latter easily win the prize for original aliens. This is especially surprising considering that the costume designers in Close Encounters only had to design one other-wordly creature. Besides not wearing space suits--a definite faux pas--the aliens in this film are greenish, long-necked, pot-bellied, leathery-skinned, and have gaping mouths, which makes the creatures look boringly akin to Martians...
...desert west of the Nile, and scientists have discovered what they think is a vast underground network of rivers and reservoirs, possibly with enough water to irrigate half a million acres for 700 years. Egyptian officials call this area "the New Valley" and predict that one day it may rival the Nile Valley itself. One hundred thousand people have already been resettled at the Kharga Oasis, at the southern end of this underground water supply...