Word: villians
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...agglomeration of institutions. New York bankers and officials are "desperate," but the people will not be "stampeded" by them. If Ford's attack on the banks is wholly inconsistent with his politics, it is his only recourse within the rules of this game; he has to use a villian, however implausible, to separate the people from the problem...
...something less two dimensional than the flip side of a coin. For this day and age, Vidal's attempt constitutes a rehabilitation of Burr. No one tries to write Parson Weems-type historical fiction anymore: larger-than-life heroes like Washington are no longer very appealing. To turn a villian into a hero of today's world-historical audience, the modern technique involves showing the basic humanity of the culprit while simultaneously debunking the old heroes. So Vidal's Burr endlessly derides Jefferson for his hypocritical dishonesty, Washington for his sanctimonious self-righteousness, Hamilton for his arrogant aristocratic-leanings...
...what of the villian, AP&L? A spokesman for the utility shrugged off the statement that the plant is "the largest single source of pollution in the world." "By the time this plant is built," he said, "that statement will no longer be true." The sad thing is, he will probably be right...
However, Martin Schechter as Mr. Maraczek, the shop owner, is probably too consistently good-natured to be taken for the crusty tyrant he's supposed to be. And as Steven Kodaly, the closest thing the show has to a villian, Charles Seymour, waxed mustache not-withstanding, is a bit too charming to be properly villanous. Paul D. Seltzer, as a campy maitre'd, contributes one of the production's highlights in a number called "Romantic Atmosphere" and George Birnbaum runs a close second with "Perspective," his Thorton-Wilderesque observation on the place of man in the universe. As the delivery...
...action before it ever has a chance to begin. Rumor has it that only when the cameramen had folded up their gear and scurried back to their editing rooms, did Elvis begin to put on a show. Which is exactly as it should be. For film here is the villian, Presley its occasionally almost tragic victim...