Hard Day's Knight

Bus Riley's Back in Town has already backfired: Movie Newcomer Michael Parks describes the vehicle as his "first mistake." If so, Parks makes the best of it. But the film itself abundantly fulfills the promise of mediocrity put forth even more forcefully by Playwright-Scenarist William Inge, who demanded that his name be deleted from the opening credits.

Still seeming oddly Inge-stained, Bus Riley tells of a sailor's return to a small Missouri town where his magnetic male presence delights his widowed mother, unnerves a maiden schoolteacher who boards with the family, and quickens the pulse of everyone he meets. Reluctant to resume his old job as an auto mechanic, Bus declines an apprenticeship with a homosexual undertaker and becomes a door-to-door peddler, sweeping bored housewives into his arms while whispering the praises of a new miracle cleaner. Next he lapses into adultery with his former steady (Ann-Margret), now married, of course, to "a wealthy older man." Since Ann-Margret's wriggly portrayal of a hick-town temptress requires orchestral accompaniment, their romance tends to slacken whenever the jukebox goes dead. Bus finally readjusts to civilian life by discovering that happiness is a rebuilt carburetor and his kid sister's chum Judy, sensitively played by Janet Margolin (of David and Lisa).

This trite melodrama has more good performances than good roles, and it is chiefly interesting for the appearance of Actor Parks, cast as Adam in John Huston's forthcoming The Bible. As Bus Riley, Parks will inevitably be compared to James Dean and Marlon Brando, but that need not discourage him. His own assurance, intensity, and hair-trigger temperament make even unoriginal sin worth watching.

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