Word: skittishly
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...junta's last president, General Gizikis, invited Caramanlis to take over the collapsing government. Caramanlis retained Gizikis as a figurehead president and, in deference to public sentiment, finally exiled five other members of the junta--strong-man George Papadopoulos included--to the Aegean island of Kea. But his skittish attitude towards punishment of the leaders and instruments of dictatorship, including known torturers, has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition. He did gain credit as being independent of American influence--and soothed people's self-esteem--by taking Greece out of NATO...
...Reykjavik, Iceland, when it looked as if his match with Boris Spassky for the world chess championship might actually take place, all hell broke loose at Kennedy International Airport. This time the perpetrator was not a freaked-out Fischer but a small boy who discovered the skittish grand master hiding in an airport bar and led a charge of newsmen to the scene. Bobby bolted out the door, across a highway and vanished into the gloom. His handlers meanwhile, fending off the reporters with kicks and body blocks, were approached by a cop who got right to the heart...
...television networks are becoming less skittish about dealing with "adult" subjects. But what about audiences? The question was raised most recently by Born Innocent, a made-for-TV movie that NBC telecast in the new season's first week. A chilling exposition of life in a juvenile detention home, the two-hour-long show featured a powerful performance by Actress Linda Blair, playing a nubile 14-year-old girl who is destroyed by an inhumane system. It was harsh, realistic drama, and the climax was as raw as anything yet seen on network TV-a scene in a shower...
Most of the actors behave with the sort of animation generally reserved for lyings-in-state, although Cloris Leachman's Mrs. Miller is skittish and well observed. Bogdanovich, a hugely eclectic director, borrows heavily here again. The use of a popular tune-Maggie, in this instance-as a sort of sentimental signature comes directly from John Ford, and the mood of much of the light-comedy moments seems a gloss on Ernst Lubitsch. The film's opening is quite ravishing, however-the early moments of a hotel stirring for a new day-and throughout there is a kind...
...hard to care very much that she feels modern life is "truly unacceptable to any civilized person." One possibly inadvertent revelation is notable. The book shows a constant, dismal preoccupation with the author's public image. Like her characters, she is unvaryingly selfconscious, whether gloomy or skittish ("Tm raving and talking nonsense, but so what!"). Early on, Françoise Sagan confides: "I even doubt whether I'll show this to my publisher." There was merit in that doubt...