🚀 go-pugleaf

Warren Miller and his 1985 tour film "Steep and Deep" hit Seattle on 
October 16.  The film has been playing to packed houses at the 5th
Avenue Theater.  Four additional showings have been scheduled, bringing
the Seattle run to seven shows.

This film is a marked improvement over last year's effort.  With a
new music supervisor and (apparently) some new photographers and editors,
Miller's production crew has done a much more professional, imaginative 
job.  Last year's film (I forget the name--was it "Snow Wonder"?) was
filled with overexposed footage, mediocre skiers, and endless cliff 
jumping crashes.  "Steep and Deep" is better all around.

This improvement is apparent in the first sequence of the film.  Here
Miller's cameraman catches a group of freestyle skiers on some of Sun
Valley's classic mogul runs.  The skiers are first-rate, instead of the
cronies that have inhabited previous films.  The photographer does a 
good job of capturing the Valley's great film angles and lighting on runs
like Holiday, Limelight, and Exhibition.  (It looks like Miller's crew 
has finally taken a look at some of Dick Barrymore's old films.)  There
is some imaginative camera work, as when the cameraman hopped on the 
Limelight chairlift and followed the skiers down the run, shooting from 
above.  

The improvement in editing shows up in a spectacular sequence on the Volvo
Freestyle Show.  The show consists of about a half dozen skiers who tour
the world doing aerial and ballet demonstrations.  Most of the sequence
is simply put to music, and features good shots of triple-twisting, triple 
back flips and the like.  There are a couple of wonderfully disorienting
shots where the cameraman positioned himself underneath the jump, then 
managed to follow the skier through the air while spinning the camera.

Miller retains a fondness for cliff jumping and crashes, and as always,
he has no trouble finding people to crash into trees, jump over busses, 
and drop into crevasses.  Fortunately, he does not build the film around
this.  There are some spectacular shots of glacier skiing in France and 
New Zealand.  Some of the snow is truly deep, but the steep comes as much
from camera inclination as it does from geography.

Miller has never done a very good job of covering competitive skiing.  The
brief section on pro ski racing catches none of the suspense of a live
race.  He has nothing good to say about the World Cup circuit, indulging
instead in wisecracks about how much money today's "amateur" makes.  There 
is no footage of the FIS tour--no Stenmark, no Girardelli--and thus he
dismisses offhand the best skiers in the world.

There is the usual miscellany--a telemark mogul contest, slush pool 
wipeouts, marauding gangs on homemade ski scooters.  The sequence of
wind surfing on the Columbia River Gorge may not be as spectacular as
Hawaii, but with the growing popularity of the Gorge with western skiers, 
it is very appropriate.  Miller even waxes sentimental, with footage of
the Jimmy Heuga Express and a handicapped girl that are inspirational 
without being sappy.

The admission was as steep as some of the runs ($9.50), but the audience 
seemed satisfied with the investment.  My recommendation is to go see it.
It's cheaper than a ninety minute helicopter ride, and almost as good a 
lift.

				Lowell Skoog, Seattle