BREWSTER  McCLOUD

 This is an oddly touching film despite its ostensibly disjointed plot, which is replete with a send-up of the coldest of the "cool" Steve McQueen personas (in "Bullett"), plus a teasing parody of Altman's own "M*A*S*H" sequence in which Sally Kellerman is humiliated in the shower. (This time she is revealed bathing in a public fountain!) The film posits a definite yearning for innocence and escape from the gross cruelties and disappointments of the Vietnam War era through the young Brewster McCloud's attempt to fly as a bird -- of sorts. However, he can only do this if he maintains his own sexual innocence (a very traditional religious concept, by the way), and he doesn't, of course, and so is betrayed by a callow (and callous) "Eve" -- portrayed by one of Altman's favorite performers, Shelley Duvall, in her debut. Sally Kellerman, by the way, is a really beautiful, touching "bird-woman," who is Brewster's personal "angel"; Bud Cort is a gentle but naive hero (despite being a mass murderer!), and the film only seems to run along without care for the plot, for it is actually a well-crafted story of a futile attempt to "regain Paradise" by "flying away" from our cruelly competitive and facile culture. It finishes very enigmatically, yet tragically, for it is also a symbolic account of the failure of the 1960s "youth rebellion." Not among the "best" of Altman -- "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" is the better depiction of American decay, and "Nashville" is Altman's quirky yet perceptive study of U. S. politics -- but I can't get it out of my head: it makes me sad and full of yearning myself....

 Bless the Beasts and the Children - A Tear jerker, a Life lesson, a reminder that sometimes you do have to take a stand. Stanley Kramer: Directed this 1972 Movie starring Billy Mumy - Barry Robins - Miles Chapin, and a lerge cast of familiar faces. This is one of those movies that when you saw it as a youngster, you remembered it for the rest of your life, equating yourselves with either the "Jock Type" Bully or the Black sheep type of kid that got a hard time from everyone, all the time, no exceptions. Bless the Beasts, does take you on a ride that tugs at your heart strings, makes you think, makes you cry, makes you a little frustrated at the injustices, and the fact that you are powerless to do anything about it.