Wednesday, June 18
SPECTRUM (NET, 8-8:30 p.m.).* "Abu Simbel" tells how the ancient temples of Ramses II were saved from the rising waters of the Nile River which rose during construction of the Aswan High Dam.
Thursday, June 19
NET PLAYHOUSE (NET, 8-10 p.m.). Three avant-garde plays by the La Mama Playwrights: Puvane by Jean-Claude van Itallie, Fourteen Hundred Thousand by Sam Shepard, and The Recluse by Paul Foster.
Saturday, June 21
WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS (ABC, 5-6:30 p.m.). N.C.A.A. Outdoor Track and Field championships from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Tenn.
Sunday, June 22
DISCOVERY '69 (ABC, 11:30 a.m.-noon). During a visit to the Peace Corps training center in Hawaii, Discovery follows the lives of two workers being prepared for work in Malaysia.
A.A.U. TRACK AND FIELD MEET (CBS, 3:30-4:30 p.m.). The Sacramento Invitational meet from Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.
SOUNDS OF SUMMER (NET, 8-10 p.m.). A double bill leads off with the world premiere of Peler Mennin's cantata The Pied Piper of Hamelin, narrated by Cyril Ritchard and performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The second part of the program. "Old Timers' Night at the Boston Pops," includes Joan Kennedy's narration of Peter and the Wolf.
Monday, June 23
CHILDREN'S THEATER (NBC, 8-9 p.m.). Bill Cosby is host to a group of children who have made the movies that are shown and discussed on "As I See It."
Tuesday, June 24
NET FESTIVAL (NET, 9-10 p.m.). Brazil's changing music scene is the subject of "The World of the Bossa Nova."
THEATER
On Broadway
THE FRONT PAGE. Robert Ryan and Bert Convy, backed by an adroit cast, are featured in a revival of the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur saga of newspapering in Chicago in the 1920s.
PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM. Woody Allen stars as Woody Allen in his new comedy about a neurotic young man who is rejected even by the girls of his fantasies.
FORTY CARATS. Julie Harris plays a twice-divorced damsel of 40, ardently wooed and won by a 22-year-old lad in this comedy that proves that love is a game for all seasons.
Off Broadway
NO PLACE TO BE SOMEBODY. Playwright Charles Gordone, aided by a skillful cast, examines the fabric of black-white and black-black relationships with uninhibited fury and unexpected humor.
ADAPTATION-NEXT. An evening of one-acters, both directed with great comic flair by Elaine May. In Miss May's Adaptalion, a contestant plays the game of life as if it were a TV game with penalties and bonuses. In Terrence McNally's Next, his best play to date, an overage potential draftee is subjected to a humiliating pre-induction examination.
THE MISER. Robert Symonds plays Harpagon in this revival of Moliere's comedy at the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater. His tendency to overplay is precisely right for this petty monster.
TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK is a moving tribute to the late playwright Lorraine Hansberry, made up of readings and dramatizations from her own writings.
DAMES AT SEA is a delightful parody of the movie musicals of the 1930s, complete with naive Ruby, who comes to Broadway to tap her way to stardom.
CINEMA
POPI. Alan Arkin is magnificent as a Puerto Rican widower struggling to get his two sons out of the New York ghetto in this funny, occasionally angry little comedy that is one of the year's most refreshing films.
LAUGHTER IN THE DARK. Love is literally blind in this black comedy about a wealthy Englishman (Nicol Williamson) who becomes obsessed with a lascivious movie usherette (Anna Karina). Williamson gives a strong performance as a weak man. .The script--from Vladimir Nabokov's novel--is intelligent, and Tony Richardson's direction is his best since The Entertainer.
PEOPLE MEET AND SWEET MUSIC FILLS THE HEART. Moviegoers weary of the sobersided sex of I Am Curious (Yellow) will find some light and welcome relief in this bizarre Danish satire.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY. James Leo Herlihy's novel about the unlikely friendship of a Texas drifter and a Bronx loner has been transformed by Director John Schlesinger (Darling) into a slick portrait of nighttown America that is notable for the acting of Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight.
THE LOVES OF ISADORA. Dancer Isadora Duncan had quite a life, but there is little of it left in this biography, which has been severely truncated by the film's distributors. Vanessa Redgrave lends the film its only distinction with a graceful, majestic performance.
THE ROUND UP and THE RED AND THE WHITE are two bitter, handsome films by Hungary's Miklos Jancso that share a loathing for war and a barely controlled hatred for its perpetrators.
WINNING. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward give unduly serious attention to this somewhat bathetic tale of marital infidelity, set against the noisy background of auto racing. The Newmans are good to watch in just about anything, but this particular vehicle is badly in need of a dramatic tune-up.
THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY looks at first glance like a routine kidnaping thriller, but Writer-Director Hubert Cornfield uses the crime only as a premise on which to build a stylish seminar on the poetics of violence. In a small but superb cast, Marlon Brando gives his best performance in more than a decade.
MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN and RING OF BRIGHT WATER. These two children's films are distinguished by their lack of coyness and a singleminded refusal to condescend to their audience. Mountain concerns a Canadian lad who runs off to the woods, and Ring tells the sprightly tale of a London accountant and his pet otter.
GOODBYE, COLUMBUS. When he wrote Goodbye, Columbus, Philip Roth had something more in mind than a story of young love in Jewish suburbia. That, however, is the sum total of this film adaptation, directed by Larry Peerce and nicely acted by Richard Benjamin and a newcomer named AH MacGraw.
THE FIXER. A persecuted Jewish handyman in turn-of-the-century Russia battles his fate with an intensity that makes this John Frankenheimer film a harrowing and moving experience. Alan Bates (in the title role), Dirk Bogarde and Ian Holm perform their difficult roles with a sometimes fierce passion.
BOOKS
Best Reading
Children's Books--Ages 7 to 14 GOODBYE, DOVE SQUARE, by Janet Mc-Neill (Little, Brown; $4.50); TROUBLE IN THE JUNGLE, by John Rowe Townsend (Lippincott; $3.75); THE LIVERPOOL CATS, by Sylvia Sherry (Lippincott; $3.95). Three fine books about domestic adventures--including murder--set in the slums of English cities. The writing is clear and fast paced, without ever talking down to the reader. Americans may be stumped by an occasional term--perhaps not by "tea" for supper, or "chips" for French fries, but certainly by "scuffers" for cops.
MY ENEMY, MY BROTHER, by James Forman (Meredith; $4.95). Three young Jewish survivors of a concentration camp make their way from Warsaw to an Israeli kibbutz only to be caught up in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. A thoughtful book best suited to older children.
TUCKER'S COUNTRYSID:, by George Selden, illustrated by Garth Williams (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $3.95). In a sequel to The Cricket in Times Square, a citified cat and mouse visit a cricket and help him contend with dogs, bulldozers and other scourges of the countryside. The black and white illustrations are Garth Williams at his best.
BLACK JACK, by Leon Garfield (Pantheon; $4.50). Resurrected after hanging, Black Jack and a young apprentice begin a wild progress across 18th century England that leads to murder, body snatching, and a love story. A splendid swashbuckling tale.
MANHATTAN IS MISSING, by E. W. Hildick (Doubleday; $3.95). A science-fiction title, a threatening ransom note, a secret meeting, and a wild chase across Central park--all more or less in pursuit of Manhattan, a fussy Siamese cat.
PETER AND VERONICA, by Marilyn Sachs (Doubleday; $3.95). The pain and fun of a friendship--mostly conducted on roller skates--between Peter Wedemeyer (small, amiable, Jewish) and Veronica Ganz (big, bullying, Lutheran).
I'LL GET THERE. IT BETTER BE WORTH THE TRIP, by John Donovan (Harper & Row; $3.95). A few months in the life of a 13-year-old emigre from New England to New York City in the custody of a mother who is almost a stranger. Rather sophisticated, with a semihomosexual scene, and a semi-Catcher in the Rye style, the book is nevertheless remarkably touching.
RUTGERS AND THE WATER-SNOUTS, by Barbara Dana (Harper & Row; $3.95). Rutgers is a bulldog who composes light verse for friends. A marvelous readaloud book, especially for anybody who wants to find out what water-snouts are.
A GIRL CALLED AL, by Constance C. Greene (Viking; $3.95). A curiously winning little story about the friendship between two girls and the assistant superintendent in a city apartment building.
Best Sellers
FICTION 1. Portnoy's Complaint, Roth (1 last week)
2. The Love Machine, Susann (2)
3. The Godfather, Puzo (3)
4. Ada, Nabokov (4)
5. The Salzburg Connection, Maclnnes (6)
6. Except for Me and Thee, West (5)
7. Bullet Park, Cheever (9)
8. Airport, Hailey (7)
9. Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut (8) 10. Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home,
Kemelman (10)
NONFICTION
Ernest Hemingway, Baker (1)
Between Parent and Teenager,
Ginott (2)
The Peter Principle, Peter and Hull (3)
Jennie, Martin (4)
The Money Game, 'Adam Smith' (8)
6. Miss Craig's 21-Day Shape-Up Program for Men and Women, Craig (5)
7. The Age of Discontinuity, Drucker
8. Lillian Gish: The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me, Gish and Pinchot
9. The 900 Days, Salisbury (6)
10. The Arms of Krupp, Manchester (9)
* All times E.D.T.
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