Word: sarafian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Miles is dealt with in the same shallow perspective. We learn little of her past, and never hear her talk of her marriage. Director Richard Sarafian is at a loss as to how to treat this beautiful, cultured and bitchy woman who is thrust into the hands of outlaws. He chooses the easiest way out. Her enticing sexuality is expressed through the constant threats of rape, talk of rape and rape attempts which weigh down the film like a tedious motif each time it turns its attention to Miles...
...lesson here is treat 'em rough, and they'll come around. Miles leaves civilized territory, but Reynolds makes sure that society catches up with her. Director Sarafian strives for a Peckinpah-like authenticity in Cat Dancing's violent scenes, mixing in plenty of bullet holes and fresh blood. Although most victims die visibly, his effort is a failure. Windows are predictably smashed by fighting bodies, and Reynolds is allowed to wipe out a band of six Indians without suffering a wound. He runs out of bullets after the fifth victim, but manages to do in the last red man with...
Directed by RICHARD C. SARAFIAN...
...movie does have some casual charms: a good, rugged sense of Western landscape by Director Sarafian and a rather fetching performance by Sarah Miles, less mannered than her recent appearance in The Hireling (TIME, July 9). Burt Reynolds is best of all. His is a silly, thankless part, but he plays it smoothly, with a strong undercurrent of ironic humor. He is a deft and winning actor, and it would be good to see him again in something like Deliverance, in a part that challenged his abilities rather than pampered them...
...film cuts back and forth between Harris' escapades and the efforts of Captain Henry and crew to get their boat to water before winter sets in. The whole business is well directed by Richard Sarafian, and Cinematographer Gerry Fisher's camera transforms the landscapes into looming, threatening presences. But the result is still a combination of Herman Melville and the Boy Scout Handbook...