Daily News from New York, New York • 106

The to paling of a President mw on WiCA writer operating mostly Robert Redferd and Dustia Hoffman: Sherlock in pinstripes. By KATHLEEN CARROLL ALL TWE PCSIOCMT-I Mil IM At Wat In .1 tr PVra mm Im Tawar Can. -AH the President's Men-deals with one of the most painful chapters in American history, occurring at a time when official Washington seemed strangely paranoid, almost paralyzed with fear. It bring- into dear focus, once and for all. that senseless crime the attempted burglary of National Democratic headq-sarters.

better known as the YVaterfrate break-in which turned oat to be an Tent of totally unexpected, dire ramifications. And still this is a film, one that is less concerned with exposing? the of an administration than it is with what makes this country Treat. A riretino; unforgettable experience. "A3 the President's Men" offers a rousing argument for the preservation of freedom of the press that precious right that allows reporters like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to ferret oat the truth. This is their story the story of two com pa rati rely inexperienced inrestigatire reporters who pursued Lne as-siromeot of their lives.

"They're hungry," says one editor, trying to explain why Woodward and Bernstein push so hard to piece together the facts. Woodward (played by Eobert Bedford, who deserres tremendous credit for simply making this movie possible), is a somewhat sluggish writer, but a brilliant detail man digging away with a certain amount of caution; Bernstein (who has been sharply observed and played with great affability by Dustia Hoffman), is a more skilled and imaginative Gordon Vt illis telling photography (waich jarringly contrasts the penetrating glare of the city room with the dark, threatening world outside), "All the President's Men" is a mentally absorbing, vitally important film. And thanks largely to the psychological insight of director Alan Pakula, it may well become an American film -classic. The brutally ironte final sequence says it all: House Minority Leader Gerald Ford is seen or television, introducing the Republican Party nominee to the strains of "Hail to the Chief." and as the camel a records Nixon victorious smile, a teletype machine ticks off the criminal charges trial lead to the ultimate bottom line the resignation of an American President. 'Sparkle' doesn't but 'Dirtwaf SPARKLE 4 A mm Cm "Sparkle." the new black musical, is essentially one loog, eonUnuoas concert of Mayfieids jump jive music.

Now, I tend to like May-field in smalt doses otherwise, his songs begin to sours! terribly repetitive so what I was looking for la this film was naturally some kind of story and. as always, some believably human characters. What I found was just the barest suggestion of a plot the ntw-familiar tale of the girl who sings her way out of the ghetto into the big time and in this case, the plot deals with three sisters who put a smash sing-tag act together in a few, miraculous seconds and begin by presenting it In a The prettiest of them Lo- bis intuition. These two should not be confused in any way with the hard-boiled newsmen of the "Front Pge era; this electronic, media -conscious age demands a more modern approach to journalism, and these reporters, one soon learn, are primarily skilled detectives who meet their Big Story with dogged determination. Their sources were almost always reluctant to give information.

And when they did speaa as in the case of the bookkeeper who worked for the Committee to Re-Elect the President and knew of the secret cash fund (played btautifully by Jane Alexander, with a mixture of bitterness and apprehension) it wa with great fear of the possible consequences. Of course. Woodward had bis Deep Throat tipster (played by Hal Hoi brook, who, seen only in the menacing shadows of an underground garage. By JERRY OSTER oiaTWATca fox "The Duchess and the Dirt-water Fox." a would-be comic Western directed by Melvin Frank, is a numbingly long string of sexual and excre-mental Jokes plagarized from the waifs of public restrooms by Frank. Barry Sandler and Jack Rose.

Their puerile humor is shouted with alarming zeal by Goldie Hawn. as a hooker hoofer, and George Segal, as an inept card sharp. On the lam from some bank robbers whose 140.000 Serai has ap- Aft -T Ml IAL 197 r. Ormm Cno Oram mmm CH0RIS LINE SMuicar ti tn m. Mt it.

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they grimace and stumble their way through some of the most unconvincing studio sets and scenic backdrops ever filmed. bu haven't seen NewMxfc until you've seen 110 East Mth M-llNDA HPKTVS FTARRIVGIN ANT BESSIE A TBtaKNiRU Ctm Bmn. rm TWn tO SIDUP SALES ONLY CALL lV-ln um r-ri. ITUDENT Uix 4 tat t( Man Sat la a a EQISOtt TWta. At St.

W-TIM -Otte TM ainflT musicals THt WOLO HAS EVE -Hw. Tlax 0-t Of THE LOIES THE AMEBIC AM The ATEtl- -rm nwaw Mi LFRNFR L0t tb FAIR LADY ST. James. St. torrt S-m.

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who is truly an eiticing-looking beauty) is predictably attracted to a low-life hood (Tony King), who. jst as predictably, beats her and turns her on to drug. It is the middle sister Sparkle (Irene Cars), the sweet, gentle one who naturally triumphs in the end. singing to a packed house at Carnegie Hall but not before her boyfriend has a nasty run-in with her mother's employer, a rich, Jewish. Mafia-connected type.

(Like so many black movies, "Sparkle" is blatantly anti-Semitic) The way the film Is written there Is no attempt to supply motivations for any of these characters. It seems that whenever one is about to learn something interesting about them it's time to move on to another song. Eventually, it becomes impossible to care about any of them. kathleea Carroll e2J l0 3Oa-2XI 7 aeaa.24 3dCm Xem i 1 15w iXlotm Tar mPmxTlfnmmi WH1: tan. JCarr i Tv f- 1 1 mo Sara.

Mar-V 1 CO BOCmm 3ups. 1 I nWIIOMf HP I rounit(U i ra too-! 730gr-f arrr vnimm fi- USE THESE CREIXT CARDS TO DRDTB RY CAU. 594-4900. T-TEBtlFICl SaiLLIANTI-'Hanna, r-M HE MAGIC SHJW -A OELI6HTFUL MUSICALI" Srmmma i4l BsJt coT The ate us m. mo st.

Atam tt tm-T Man. W. A Sat. I Saa. 1 4 RICHARD PACLA f0f benjamin Prentiss mcrray nam Tim Ma ar emmmi HE VORMAN CONQVESTS Maa Sat.

Int. at Man. Wra. 4 Sat at Moaosco Tkaa 117 m. turn St.

4-M (HAROIT- Ma, f4 aU r717T 7 to NOWTHRU MAY 31 SPECIAL EASTER VACATION SHOWS APRIL II THRU APRIL 2S aTxvfa oa 7 tovy a a imim0 BEST AfLCAi. The wiz Tka aaw inanical whim at Tha wanorrivi wuara at Ot fo coup sales calls t-i7 TaavSat Iftl 7 Man. 4 Sat tm 1 MAJESTIC Tfca Ht w. atlk SI. 14447M TiOrH alta at Tufcatraa (Jill S4l-rm OCLtCHTFULI A GENUINE JOVI "1 VERY GOOD EDDIE K4, UmUm Nrm Im.

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3 FSKM TO NATIONAL TOU IV'T A A RD St MISA TlOff 'Acptf-i-TnvAHrrLtsHT'ir "I 14 'YENTL'. TOVAM FELDSHUH IS AH INCANDESCENT TA AND TMI STAGE GLOWED WTTH HE SPECIAL HADIANCS. SH HEADS A SUFEELATIVE ACEWy7n.N-v-Ncw 1 ENTL mJf TOVAM FELDSHUH c-rf. am tn-rtrr Sat. Saa.

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