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-CINEMA---

A Buddy You Can Do Without

by Scott Muli en

First of «1L The Buddy System is not a comedy.

Just looking at the ads alone, you'd probably think it waa Under a caption reading "One day, 11-yearold Timmy decided his mother needed a playmate," there are two people kissing. with a little boy dancing devilishly between them.

Then you notice that Richard Dreyfusa and Susan Sarandon are in this film, and you hopc that it will be an inspired comedic romp, like the kind that Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson used to make. "House Calls." “Hopscotch."

But it isnt to be. Fifteen minutes into the movie, you realize that it is going to be a...dra ma. Sigh.

A drama is a hard thing to do, because ifthe plot faila there aren t any laughs to fali back on. Good drama is a wonderful thing, but bad drama will always be 10 times worse than bad comedy.

"The Buddy System" is, as light dramas go, sUghtły below average, and the fact that we expect it to be funny doesnt help matters any. The plot is basie and predictable; little Timmy tri es to fix his unwed mother up with the local school security guard, and we know that its going to happea sooner or later.

Joe, the guard (played by Dreyfusa), is an aspiring writer and in-ventor, Emily, the mora wants to be a court stenographer and move away from her mother. Their romance is boring, because it s so predictable; we just know that they 11 help each ot her reach their goals, with a happy fade-out.

Dreyfusa, w bo was so good in "Close Encounters" and "Jawa" has nowhere to take his character in this movie — chasing the American dream just isn't as exciting as chasing aliens or sharks. Sarandon was good in "Tempest" and "Atlantic City" and is okay here, but again, no thing to get excited about.

Jean Stapleton, who played Edith Bunker in "Ali in the Family," plays Emily' s mother with abrasrve whinnying that is almost painful. Little WU Wheaton, as Timmy, is cute in the beginning of the film, but lose8 his appeal as the film wears on.

The basie problem with this movie is that nothing really happens. The plot foliowa a rather straight linę from A to B, and doesn't break any speed limits get-łing there. We almost wish that

Timmy or Grandma would get kid-napped or killed, if just to inject a little emotion into the fihn.

"The Buddy System" isn t bad just rather bland and veiy forget-tabłe It has its touching moment* but so does "Little House on thr Prairie" — and that doesn t charge four dollars.

TWfVI/t

W here Have the Amazons ©one?

on page 7 A

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by Alan Golnick Some people say that televirion oflers no posittoe role modela. This aeaaon. Jane Wyman, the matri-arch an “Falcon Creat" traded her infant grandson for a coupie of aanea of chotce vineyarda in the CaUfomia wlne country. 8he's ełther evil or deterrained depend-ing on how you took at IL

Where have all the great ladiea of the boob tubę gone? The heroinea, the ...nkse glrla? Many of them are in syndication. The auperwomen, not the auperbitchea of today, ifve on in reruna. Gone but not fcegot-ten. Do you remember namea Mke "Wonder Wotnan," "Błonic Woman," "CharUes Anusia" and "PottceWomanrOfoouraeyoudo. But how much do you remember about them? Teat yoursetf:

1.    Onfy one auperwoman won an Emmy Award far beat actreaa. Who waa aha and in what year?

2.    Which auperwoman had the beat-aeiMng poster in America in *1973?

3.    Where did "Wonder Wotnan gat her atrength from? What waa the

greateat fsat of atrength Lynda Carter ever performed aa Wonder Wotnan?

4.    What type of aocfdentcaused the

Bionic Woman to beootne bionic?

5.    Whoae voioe waa heard at the beginning of each epiaode of "Charbe s Angei ■»" aa the raan the angela worked for but never aaw?

6. When Prlnce Chariea yiaited the

United States in 1977, whotn dldhe request to meet?

⁷- What tełevision show did fbrmer . President Gerald Ford reportedfy •c^odule his news conferences around?

• Aa Pottoe Wotnan," where did Angie DfcWnaon keep her gun?

9.    What waa Cheryi Ladd s fint act-Ing Job?

10.    What waa Wonder Woman s ■ocret i den ti ty? What now-famous «cteaa had a minor role as Wonder GM?

U What waa so apecial about Lind-Wagnera dog, Maje, on "The Bionic Woman?"

12.    Name the agencie* that the fol-^lowlng auperwomen worked for Wondw Wotnan, Błonic Wotnan and C harfie . Angełs

13.    When the brakea on the Bionic WotnanVcar fidled. how did Lind

««y Wagner hanefie it?

14- Which auperwoman was named "The Most Beautlful VVotnan in the World" by the Inter ^natton Acedany of Beauty in 197*? 15. How cbd Lynda Carter change Into Wonder Waamn?