ustxtxb_obs_1998_01_16_50_00029-00000_000.pdf

Own the Observer! Thirty-odd years of Observer bound volumes for sale at a RIDICULOUSLY 1-4018r PRICE! Buy them! Sell them! Make it a holly! ni ziAj 1A0644 1 Sl e ek tklZe’r” Ogg cgae44/1494444# cgocra ar e /igie Volumes 1963 1995 $5 for 1 $7 for 2 $9 for 3 plus postage -Observer 307 W. 7th St. Austin, TX 78701 [email protected] Bound volumes will be sold first come, first served. Not all years are available. “Not recommended for people with dust allergies. crucial encounter with a one-legged fisherman, a stint in prison that enables him to continue spreading the Gospel, the sense that he redeems himself through altruistic action echo Acts of the Apostles. But plot in The Apostle is largely perfunctory, subordinate to the crafting of character. A Farrah Fawcett The Apostle E. F. is a rich addition to a Duvall sculpture garden that already includes Boo Radley Tom Hagen \(The Godfather and Mac Sledge \(TenFor his mulishness, his rages, his jealousies, and lusts, Sonny deserves a place just beside the actor’s Bull Meecham But for his generosity and his vivacity, spot him nearer Daddy from Rambling Rose. Sonny is a redneck Pentecostalist, more interested in swaying the spirit than in parsing the nuances of scriptural hermeneutics. But he lacks even an ounce of bigotry. The film’s prologue establishes that Sonny’s first taste of the Gospel came when he was brought as a boy to a black revival meeting. During his own boisterous sermons, Sonny is indifferent to whether his needy worshippers are black, brown, or white. Sonny is the most fascinating felon seen on the screen since Anthony Hopkins did Nixon. Duvall reportedly marketed the screenplay to The Apostle for thirteen years be fore finally getting it made, for a mere $5 million. Considering the downmarket universe Duvall the filmmaker apparently favors, no wonder it has been fifteen years since he last directed a film Angelo My Love after his first, We’re Not the Jet Set Though The Apostle was shot in Dallas, Denton County, Collin County, and in Lafayette, Louisiana, its world is likely to be remote from that of the sophisticated readers of The Texas Observer, let alone the good-time ticket-buyers targeted by Hollywood’s money-men. To that commercial audience, much of what its characters take seriously will probably seem hokey. “You’d better get on Jesus’ mailing list,” shouts Sonny, who repeats the simple witticism as though it were splendidly inventive, when all it is is merely trite. Though much of its gospel music is glorious and gloriously performed, Sonny’s open church attracts many grating voices and a genuinely awful trumpeter. Yet he manages to extract sweet music from a ragtag congregation. “Hallelujah!” is the word first heard as the opening credits roll. After making the acquaintance of the Apostle E. F., even a heathen viewer is forced to affirm: Amen. LI Steven G. Kellman teaches comparative literature and goes to the movies in San Antonio. UNION Labor Intensive Radio Radio of the union, by the union and for the union. Hosted and produced by union members dedicated to bringing the voice of labor to the Austin airwaves. Tuesdays 6:30-7:00 p.m. K0.017 91.7 FM Box 49340 Austin, TX 7E3765 JANUARY 16, 1998 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29