Wednesday, July 03, 2013

July revivals: first section









Hey all, Mike with some revival options for the first bunch of days in July. At first I was going to stay with the July 4th weekend, with one cheat on July 8. Then my plans changed, the number of titles dropped dramatically, and that made me decide to try for the first half of July. But then this one film was giving me difficulty. It already runs over three hours long, my pitch for it was becoming almost as long as the film itself, and half of what I wrote was barely intelligible English. So I'm cutting my losses, coughing up what I have so far, and see how the rest of my month goes. This list doesn't end at the halfway mark, but I'm sleepy damnit. Here we go:

12 ANGRY MEN- Fri July 5 at 1:30 and 3:20, Sat July 6 at 3:20, 5:10, 7 and 8:50, Sun July 7 at 5:10, 7 and 8:50, and Mon July 8 and Thurs July 11 at 8:50- Film Forum- A DCP screening. 12 Angry Men. After the verdict in the Casey Anthony case was rendered, you probably noticed the internet ablaze with anger. One Facebook friend who I'll leave anonymous, had something interesting to say a while back, among those who did not:

. . . When it comes to small children and animals...expect that case to catch the attention of the country and to get people's blood boiling if they think justice hasn't been done. I'm not saying anything about the verdict one way or the other. I'm just saying that I've ceased to be surprised at what conclusion a jury come to in a case. This is why 12 Angry Men continues to be relevant. I'm not saying I agree with the verdict. I'm just saying that it is what it is...

12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet's big screen debut after years of working on live TV. The story of twelve calmness-free humanoid males expressing displeasure, as they serve as jurors on a murder case. If you're reading this, then you know this courtroom drama, set during jury deliberations, so there's no need to go much further about the story. A fun potboiler of a film. The great acting isn't the amazing part to me; the fact that Lumet kept things cinematically interesting despite being confined to 1 or 2 small rooms is. 3 Oscar nominations, for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay Adaptation. But it was a flop in its day. Star/co-producer Henry Fonda was so disappointed, he would never produce another film again. But it's considered a classic today, and launched Lumet's film career. . On the second AFI Top 100 list. It probably won't get any easier to catch on the big screen in Manhattan than this:
 

 
SUNRISE with a Superman serial- Sat July 6 at 1 (Superman) and 2 (Sunset)- Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria- A restored 35mm print with its original soundtrack. F.A. Murnau's silent film classic. Its views of love, adultery, and temptation might be subtle as a brick, and at times a little on the hammy side in terms of some its performances, but it's still considered a classic (despite its disappointing box office), and hasn't been screened often until the film's recent restoration. George O'Brien plays a farmer who loves his wife. Until he goes into the city and falls for some sort of tramp. She convinces him to kill his wife. But can he?

Winners of the first Oscars for Janet Gaynor for Actress (who also won for two other films she starred in, something that would never happen again) and for Cinematography. It also won for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production, as opposed to Best Picture as we know it, which Wings had won. The Unique and Artistic Production category was discontinued afterwards by the way.

Sunrise was not on the first AFI Top 100 list, but made it to the second list. I wonder if it should be on that second list, as opposed to films I enjoyed that were dropped, like Fargo, Dr. Zhivago, The Third Man and Fantasia. I'd like to find out.
 
Playing all summer long, in honor I guess of the recent release of The Man of Steel, are the Superman serials from 1948. With the very first Superman, Kirk Alyn. Very low budget fare, to the point that all the flying sequences were animated. But they were still fun, and popular enough to have not only a sequel serial in 1950 with Alyn, but a TV series in 1952 (with George Reeves replacing Alyn). They play on Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm, as well as different times the other 5 days a week. Each episode is about 15 minutes long, and they all screen in the tiny Tut's Fever Movie Palace, on the second floor. For the purposes of Sunrise, you could only catch the 1pm Superman screening without missing the feature-length film:
 
 


THE GRAPES OF WRATH and/or EL NORTE with a Superman serial- Sun July 7 at 1 (Superman), 2 (Grapes) and 5 (Norte)- Museum of the Moving Image- 2 more films that are part of the Moving Image's See It Big series. A double feature of two very similar takes on families going through tremendous hardship and struggling to survive in America. The first film listed is obvious, the other is probably forgotten, except by film buffs and PVS fans with long memories, as well native Spanish speakers in North and Central America. Both films can be seen for one admission, which also allows you to check out the museum as well.
 
First, The Grapes of Wrath. Not a new 35mm print, but probably a respectable one; the Museum of the Moving Image tends not to get sub-par prints. Considering we are far from enjoying prosperous times, it's probably time to revisit this John Ford classic. Recently released ex-con Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) is miraculously reunited with his family. The Oklahoma land has been devastated by the Dust Bowl, Tom's immediate family was evicted from their farm, and Tom joins up with his entire family the night before they have to leave after being evicted. The family moves to California in search of work. They've been warned work is scarce, but they have no choice. They have no money, the family might not make it to California intact, and the camps they visit seem bereft with corrupt sheriffs, unsanitary conditions, and/or a looming threat of violence. But the Joads keep moving forward; almost on blind faith, since there's little around them to give them hope.

We're never going to experience what the average moviegoer experienced when Grapes of Wrath first came out. That sense of You Are There, feeling the Great Depression, we can certainly empathize with. But the feelings of, My God this is how it was, or My God this is how it is, or look how far we overcome, or one thinking back on who didn't survive the ordeal, wow. Arguably John Ford's best. If some of you prefer say one of Ford's films with John Wayne or How Green Was My Valley, I won't argue with you, but I won't agree with you either. With a performance from Fonda that elevated him from leading man to superstar, with the dye of American Icon starting to cast. Oscars for Ford for Director, and Jane Darwell for Supporting Actress as beloved Ma Joad. Nominations for Picture, Fonda for Actor, Screenplay, Editing and Sound. On both AFI Top 100 lists. See it before Spielberg remakes.

Next, El Norte or The North, a 1983 film partially funded by PBS, released in the U.S. in early 1984, and screened on PBS's late great American Playhouse series in 1985. Writer-director Gregory Nava used both his experiences of living in a bordertown and his research into the lives of Guatemalans who entered California illegally to form this film. Mixing gritty realism with an attempt to capture elements of Latin American magic realism elements from novels Nava enjoyed, and bring those elements to life onscreen.
 
A young Mayan brother and sister escape their small Guatemalan village after their father was killed by government troops and their mother "disappeared". The film is split into 3 parts. First, life in Guatemala, followed by the section where the siblings make an arduous journey into Mexico and an even more difficult (and illegal) crossing into the U.S. The third section is in America, where the stories told to the siblings by their father, do not match the harsh realities of life without official documentation.
 
A very Joad family-like experience for the family, that touched audiences and critics alike, resulting in becoming one of the biggest art house hits of the 1980s, and an Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay for director Nava and Anna Thomas. A film made independently to avoid possible studio demands for a completely happy ending, and known names in the leads, as opposed to the naturalistic performances delivered by the non-professional actors who played the siblings.
 
Overall, not an upbeat double feature, but a good one. If you want any kind of cheer prior to the films, there's always the episode of the 1948 Superman serial at 1PM, in Tut's Fever Movie Palace on the second floor. El Norte's budget looks like the budget for the typical James Cameron film as opposed to what they got to make the Superman serials 65 or so years ago. But they're still fun: 
 
 
 


WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY for free- Mon July 8 at sundown- Bryant Park- The Gene Wilder cult classic gets a special free screening at Bryant Park. It may not be as loyal to the original Roald Dahl book as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it's a better film. Dahl wrote the original adaptation, but a massive re-write caused Dahl to badmouth the film every chance he got. And while there was better usage of the Oompa Loompas and the budget to go hog wild on the look, the family/daddy issues, especially in the last half-hour, drags the film down when compared to Willy Wonka. Maybe I like this film so much strictly for Wilder's performance. I'm ok with that.

Now considering this was not a hit back in 1971 but only became a cult classic thanks largely to NBC broadcasts in the late 70s into the 1980s, most people have no idea what this film looks like on the big screen. I include myself in that statement, but I would like to change that

 
 
ROMAN HOLIDAY for $7.50- Thurs July 11 at 9:30- Chelsea Clearview Cinema-  A cheap screening of the romantic comedy classic. Sorry I can't do the 7pm screening with the Hedda Lettuce intro. I thought it was possible for me, but not anymore. So it's 9:30 or nothing.
 
From 1953, Gregory Peck plays an American journalist working in Rome, who gentlemanly puts a young woman up for the night on his couch. A woman he finds on a park bench, woozy though unsure from what. A woman he doesn't recognize until the next day as a European Princess who has run away from her handlers. He bets his editor that he can get an exclusive interview with the Princess. Peck ends up escorting the Princess around Rome, without identifying to each other who they really are. What follows is a bit of adventure (including the classic Mouth of Truth scene), as well as a bit of romance. But seeing how these are adults, they realize the romance can't last, but in the moments they do have they try to make special.
 
Maybe not in the top tier of romantic comedy classics, in part because it's a little light on the comedy. More an emphasis on romance through an adult filter first, then sprinkle in the comedy throughout. If nothing else, it's a Hollywood classic thanks to director William Wyler's decision to cast and gently guide young Audrey Hepburn in a role originally written for Elizabeth Taylor. Audrey had worked in film and TV prior, but never had to carry a film as much as she had to here. Gentle, introverted, waiting for her moment to be free and open to new experiences, yet mindful of the duty she must eventually return to. And yet to have these carefree moments with a handsome stranger . . . a style and film icon was born, imitated, but not duplicated  The film's good too.
 
Oscar nominations for Picture, Wyler for Director, Eddie Albert for Supporting Actor, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Editing. Also nominated for Screenplay Writing for John Dighton and Ian McLellan Hunter; the later man served as a front for blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Hunter served as Trumbo's front when Roman Holliday won the Oscar for Screenplay Story. Trumbo received his Oscar posthumously as well as his on-screen credit, which you'll see at the screening. Oscars were also awarded to Hepburn for Best Actress, and to Edith Head for Costume Design. Surprisingly no nomination for Peck for Actor. That category was already crowded, what with Brando for Julius Caesar, Clift and Lancaster for From Here To Eternity, and with Holden winning for Stalag 17. Ok, maybe you could replace Richard Burton for The Robe; I don't know, I've tried twice and I still can't get through that damn film. Luckily, Roman Holliday is far better, and it's Roman locales help this light movie go down smooth:  
 
 
 
12 MONKEYS- Fri July 12 and Sat July 13 at Midnight-ish- IFC Center- The only film I can possibly make from IFC Center's Terry Gilliam at Midnight retrospective. I'm more surprised about this than you are. A DCP screening of Gilliam's last hit, from 1995. A sci-fi time travel thriller, possibly a little inspired by the Twilight Zone (even though the story originates from a French short from the same era), with just enough levity to let the kick in the teeth, ER I MEAN THE MEDICINE, go down a little easier. In a future where Earth has been ravaged by a plague, Bruce Willis plays an emotionally damaged convict, who agrees to time travel to help save the planet. But since the humans handling the time travel is imperfect, so is the time travel itself. There's more, I don't feel like spoiling it for you if you haven't seen it by now.
 
It may not be on par with Brazil and might feel a little draggy, but it's an enjoyable ride, and this film (along with The Fisher King), helped restore Gilliam's reputation with Hollywood and gave him his golden ticket to make Fear and Longing in Las Vegas. Willis is the film's unsteady (in a good way) center, surrounded by a talented supporting cast, including Madeline Stowe (as the doctor who gets dragged in), Christopher Plummer, David Morse, Christopher Meloni and Frank Gorshin. And let's not forget Brad Pitt, who stunned critics and audiences (again, in a good way), by playing way past type to portray an extremely loony mental patient who may have information regarding the virus that threatens the planet. Even those who weren't expecting much from the film, or didn't care for the film, or didn't respect Pitt prior to 12 Monkeys, had to give him credit for an out-of-the-box performance. Nothing from say, Interview with the Vampire or Thelma and Louise led people to expect this kind of work. But put alongside say, Fight Club, we got a movie star who's still has big as he ever was. Pitt received an Oscar nomination (as did the costume design), losing Supporting Actor to Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects. Anyway, it's a long film, over two hours, but if you can stay up, let's do it:
 
 
 
FAHRENHEIT 451- Sat July 13 at 6:30- Anthology Film Archives- 32 Second Avenue on Bond Street- The rarely screened Fahrenheit 451, from 1967 gets its second revival screening in 3 years, which is more than it has previously been screened in at least ten years prior. A very happy change as far as I'm concerned. Fahrenheit is part of a retrospective of films put together by guest programmer agnes b; a fashion designer who seems to be a big fan of avant-garde or art house cinema from 1950s-1970s.
 
The adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic novel, which he said wasn't a book about censorship, but a depiction of a possible future where a society is taken with television. So taken with it that not only is literature burned, but information is doled out only by image and sound bite (seems like the later has been going on for awhile, in and out of politics, but anyway). Oskar Werner is Montag, a fireman whose very job of burning books is questioned; first by a beautiful stranger, and then by himself. 
 
Probably the most difficult film in Francois Truffaut's career to make. His only English language film. It took about six years for him to adapt it properly in his mind. Some of the changes he made, like tweaking the ending and not only having the beautiful stranger live beyond the start of the story but to have her and Montag's wife be two sides of the same coin, work. Having Julie Christie play both roles makes Truffaut look like a genius. The world we see is unique: European looking, not overly futuristic but not alien either. With an effective Ennio Morricone score to match the look.

Good film overall, but how good you think it is will depend not only on how chilly you can stand your films, but also on how you feel about Werner's lead performance. Oskar went with an approach that Truffaut quipped was like a monkey sniffing a book. Whether you think his performance, which caused actor and director to feud throughout shooting, helps or hurts the film, is up to you. I don't hate his performance, but I'm curious to see what a different approach to Montag would look like. We've been hearing for decades about other directors' attempt to remake this, with Mel Gibson coming the closest allegedly. But this will probably be years down the line for any remake to occur (a big if), so now's a good time to check this out:




Let me know if there's interest. Later all.
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Thursday, June 20, 2013

June revivals: second half

                                         







Hi all, Mike here with a revival list for the rest of June. I wished this particular list was longer. But I'll be a little busy with plans that I made AFTER the Museum of the Moving Image put out their-growing-up-in-the-movies and Sony Pictures retrospectives. Neither retrospective is big, but I would have liked to post the likes of Searching for Sugar Man, No, The Goonies and Meatballs, and now I can't. Disappointing, oh well. Go to www.movingimage.us and decide on your own if you want to see any of these films. This list isn't too shabby however, so here we go
 

BEFORE THE REVOLUTION (1964)- Sat June 22, Mon June 24 and Thurs June 28 at 7:05 and 9:25- Lincoln Plaza Cinema- For the past month or so, Lincoln Plaza Cinema has been doing a series of classic Italian films, each one running for a week. Not every week, but every so often, and will continue until September. I didn't post it sooner, because I wasn't ready to deal with Umberto D. The story of an elderly man kicked out onto the streets because he wouldn't give up his lovable little dog. Oh hell no, I was on the verge of blubbering just reading the synopsis and seeing it now? Maybe another time, but not now.
 
So instead I'll tackle Before The Revolution, the second film from director Bernardo Bertolucci, from 1964. So you might be thinking, you can't handle a helpless old man and  his dog going homeless, but you can handle incest between an aunt and her nephew? Well it's not like we're dealing with a graphic depiction here, not from the early 60s we're not. Besides, there's more going on here than family relations. The nephew is engaged to a "bourgeois" girl, sympathetic to the Communist Party, and recovering from a friend's death/ possible suicide. The aunt is only somewhat older than the nephew; attractive, full of life and possibly emotionally disturbed. Not a ton of plot here. More use of cinematography here to tell the slim story and the changing face of Italy, depicting both growth and decay. An Ennio Morricone score also helps things move along. Hey, I'm willing to give it a try if you are.
 



TOKYO STORY- Sat June 22 at 6:10 and 8:40- Film Forum- Part of the Forum's Ozu retrospective. I didn't think I would have the time to attempt another one of Yasujiro Ozu's films, but apparently this one is possible. But only this one, Tokyo Story, from 1953 though not released in the U.S. until 1972. An elderly couple, accompanied by their youngest daughter, take a train trip to Tokyo to visit the oldest kids, as well the daughter-in-law of their late son. The parents end up dealing with culture shock by being in the big city, as well as selfishness and indifference from their busy middle-class kids and their families. Only the daughter-in-law, whether out of kindness or extreme loneliness, shows them any care. One of the other classics from Ozu's career, and like his other work, it really takes its time in telling the story, so much patience is required. A film that didn't suffer from any pre-shooting changes by the Occupation Forces, so Ozu could depict scenes of more typical Tokyo life as well as mourning of the war dead. If Late Spring is one of Ozu's major classics, then Tokyo Story can probably be considered his other classic:
 
 
 
THE JACKIE CHAN EXPERIENCE- Sun June 23, Mon June 24, and Wed June 26- Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center at Lincoln Center- I can't believe I'm posting this. But it was brought up to me by someone with interest, so I will dutifully post. Lincoln Center's website has been pushing this Jackie Chan retrospective hard, playing the Harold Lloyd-meets-Bruce Lee-angle as hard as they could. This description has been in use at least as far back as 1981-82, when the syndicated Rich Little-hosted reboot of You Asked For It did a piece on him. Now I understand I'm a little late in the game with this, what with the retrospective having started around Tuesday, June 11th. But I'm in it now for what it's worth.
 
Note that this won't include any of his English language releases from the past 15 or so years, such as Shanghai Knights or the Rush Hour films. This also won't include his 1980s attempts to break into Hollywood: The Big Brawl and The Protector. Chances are, these films in this retrospective were only seen in the U.S. via home video, and possibly pirated video at that. The quality will be much better here, in Lincoln Center's newish Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center.
 
Now I don't have a particular preference here. I'll just post what I'm available to do, by listing the titles, year, date of screening, and showtime. And for this retrospective, Lincoln Center has brought back their 3 for 20 dollar package, which can be purchased online (click the Jackie Chan link below and follow it to Buy Tickets or whatever they call it), or at the Monroe Film Center itself. I'm not sure if want to do that many films, but if you're a fan, go for it:
 
DRUNKEN MASTER 2- 1994- Sunday June 23 at 8
POLICE STORY (Sorry I don't have time for the other films in the Police Story trilogy)- 1985- Monday June 24 at 4:15 
ARMOUR OF GOD- 1986- Monday June 24 at 6:15
LITTLE BIG SOILDER- 2010- Wednesday June 26 at 4:30
 
 
 
CLUE for a $7.00 bar minimum- introduced by Annie Hart- Fri July 28 at 9:30- Rubin Museum of Art- A cheap screening of the 1985 comedy flop. Make sure you get to the Rubin no earlier than 6:45 if you want your ticket, and no later than 9 if you want a decent seat. But if you get there as early as 5:30, you can check out the Museum for free. I heartily recommend it, though you should eat prior to the screening elsewhere. The scant food offerings they have isn't worth the price.
 
Now as for the film itself, I have happy sentimental reasons to post it. It's no Citizen Kane, but it's fun. Compared to other films based on toys, like Battleship or Masters of the Universe, this is the Citizen Kane of toy films if you will: take that comment however you will. And if you know the board game, where a group of potential suspects try to find out which one of them killed Mr. Body, then you have the gist of the slender story. Though it doesn't give you an idea of the farcical style the story and jokes are told. 
 
This has a major cult following in L.A. In NYC, not so much. I don't know why I like the film so much. It has a good beginning, an extremely mixed middle and endings of varying quality. And we will be getting the version where all three endings were incorporated into the film, as opposed to three separate endings, as it was on its 1985 theatrical release. But I like it, no rational reason why. Just makes me laugh more often than not. Though its cast (Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan, Martin Mull, Christopher Lloyd, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael McKean) sure helps. From director Jonathan Lynn of future My Cousin Vinny fame 
 
The film will be introduced by musician Annie Hart. Here's her bio, from the Rubin Museum's website:
 
Annie Hart is one-third of the synthesizer group Au Revoir Simone, known for their dreamy keyboard sounds. The band's songs have been showcased on such shows as Grey's Anatomy & Ugly Betty, many major Hollywood pictures, and a Cheerios commercial.  When she's not hunkered down late nights writing songs or doing remixes, she enjoys making homemade kimchi, watching Freaks and Geeks, and being a mom.  Annie has been a fan of the movie Clue since it first appeared on VHS at the Gardiner Manor Mall.

http://www.rmanyc.org/events/load/2208
 
 
ROSEMARY'S BABY- Sat June 29 and Sun June 30 at 4:30 and 7, and Tues July 2 at 7 and 9:30- Film Forum- A new DCP restoration of Roman Polanski's classic horror film. More psychological at times than what you may come to expect from a horror film, with not only some effective black comedy but you can also consider Rosemary's Baby a quintessential New York movie. Though whether it's scarier for Mia Farrow to have the Devil's baby in her womb, to be married to an actor, or to have a pixie haircut that doesn't work on her head, is up to you to decide. An Oscar nomination for Polanski's adaptation of Ira Levin's novel, an Oscar for Ruth Gordon for as one of the witches: 
 
 
 
ENTER THE DRAGON with a pre-film or post-film talk with Fab 5 Freddy and MC Yan- Sunday June 30 at 9:15- the Walter Reade at Lincoln Center- Part of Lincoln Center's New York Asian Film Festival, in time for the film's 40th anniversary. Among the best action films ever made, from 1973, released 6 days before Bruce Lee's death. Also one of the best films from that year, where stuff like American Graffiti, Day For Night, and The Exorcist are also deservedly held in high regard from that year.
 
Enter the Dragon, the first Hollywood backed Chinese martial arts film, could be dismissed as just an action film, but the elements of film noir, and quality of the fight scenes put this a step or two above most of the rest. Lee plays a Shaolin martial artist who infiltrates a martial arts tournament held on a private island by some Doctor No-type villain. Whether Lee goes because his Shaolin teacher tells him to handle an ex-student who has shamed the temple, or he's going to investigate a possible slavery/ drug operation on behalf of the British government, or he's seeking revenge for the death of his sister, or a combination of the three, depends on what version of the film is screened. For the record, Lincoln Center says it's showing the original U.S. cut, but I don't remember how much of what I just wrote is included, but the point is Lee's going to the tournament and it's not to make brownies.
 
The noir elements not only concern Lee's character seeking revenge, but the two other characters we get to know: John Saxon's character seeking a way to pay off Mob debts, and Jim Kelly's fugitive character, on the run after fighting racist cops. Both seek some form of redemption at this tournament, but none of them expect the true evil of the mysterious Mr. Han. But really it's about the fantastic fight scenes, some of whom get emotional payoffs that you don't find from other martial arts films of the era. Plus one final touch of noir in the great final battle between Lee and Han, with more than a little nod to Orson Welles' Lady From Shanghai.
 
As for Lee, he may not have been trained as an actor like Saxon, but he commands the screen in a cool, Steve McQueen kind of way. His character talks about learning a fight technique to the point where no technique is obvious, and in a way he succeeded here. Certainly does succeed in the fight scenes, and he doesn't overact like Kelly does. Thank goodness Kelly not only looks good but has two really good action scenes, because he pushes too hard in his dialogue scenes.
 
Kelly's appearance in the film is probably why Enter The Dragon is being screened at the Walter Reade in the first place. The nod to blaxplotation and bringing Kelly's character into the martial arts world, will be brought up, in a discussion of the "marriage" between Hip-Hop and Martial Arts movies. Now I don't know if they'll be an introduction, a post film discussion or both, but Fab Five Freddy and MC Yan will be there to handle it all:
   



That's all for now. R.I.P James Gandolfini. Concentrating on film as I do around here, I enjoyed you most as a Colin Powell-esque general in In The Loop, the brutal hitman in True Romance, your voiceover work in Where The Wild Things Are, and as a guilty/ guilt stricken cop in the forgotten Sidney Lumet film Night Falls on Manhattan. Never mind on Broadway in God of Carnage and of course The Sopranos. You will be missed, take care.
 
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Friday, May 31, 2013

June revivals: first half







Hi there, Mike here with a revival list for the first half of June. I'll keep it short since this is a short list:


 
JAWS- Fri May 31 and Sat June 1 at 11:10PM- IFC Center- Jaws, a popular film over at IFC Center (file under Yeah: No Kidding), plays once again late at night this coming Friday and Saturday.  But this weekend, it's actually playing at a semi-reasonable time: 11:10PM. For a two hour-plus movie, very reasonable. Don't know if it'll play again next weekend, and if so, at about the same time. We'll have to wait for the night of Tuesday June 4th, and see on IFC Center's website.
 
On both AFI Top 100 lists, but higher up for me. Also in my personal Top 35 as opposed to just one of one hundred. Don't underestimate the quality of this Spielberg film on the big screen, and IFC Center tends to get good prints. It's not just another fish film. 3 Oscars including John Williams's memorable score, and a nomination for Best Picture (along with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon and Nashville; not shabby:  
 

 
THE APPRENTICESHIP OF DUDDY KRAVITZ- Mon June 3- Thurs June 6 at 7 and 9:30- Film Forum- A DCP restoration of the little known 1974 Canadian film. The same restoration I believe that has been screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival. If American Graffiti launched Richard Dreyfuss's career, then this film shows his range as an actor. It didn't make him a leading man of the 1970s; Jaws, Close Encounters and The Goodbye Girl did that. The Apprenticeship would be his least-seen best performance from that decade, more so than The Big Fix from 1978. In fact Dreyfuss wouldn't have done Jaws if it hadn't been for this film; he was horrified by his performance in either a rough cut or a later edit, that he took Jaws in fear of permanent unemployment once this was released. He has since warmed up to both his performance and the film, at least since the late 1980s anyway. 
 
Dreyfuss plays the title character Duddy Kravitz, in a story set in 1940s working class-poor Montreal. The attention in this Jewish family is paid to his brother in medical school by their cab driver father (Jack Warden) and rich uncle (Joseph Wiseman), not to him. Hustling left and right and not caring who he hurts and alienates in the process (except for his grandfather, the only relative that takes interest in him), Duddy gets a summer job in a hotel. After some initial trouble, he gets himself a shiksa girlfriend, and new friends and associates to manipulate. All so he can bring himself onto a road to success and finally be seen by his father and uncle as someone to pay attention to. But since this includes a friend with epilepsy, an alcoholic and a gangster, the story is bound to hit some dark corners.
 
Not a hit when it came out at all. If a dark American character study from one year prior, Scarecrow which was on my last list of revivals, couldn't draw an audience, then The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, with lesser known actors, was practically DOA at the American box office. Critics liked it and it did get an Oscar nomination for Adapted Screenplay, but audiences stayed away in droves. Not so in Canada, where it's not only a hit at the box office, but considered a landmark in Canadian cinema, I kid you not. And this is despite there being no Canadian actors in any of the major roles. For box office purposes, director Ted Kotcheff not only went with Dreyfuss (right off of Graffiti), Warden and Wiseman, but also Randy Quaid (off of The Last Detail and The Last Picture Show) as the epileptic friend and Denholm Elliott as the alcoholic American director Duddy uses, er I MEAN befriends, yeah that's it . . .
 
Overall, we're not dealing with Death of a Salesman here, though we are dealing with a man desperate to be known and successful by whatever means necessary. He may end up in a similar dark place like Loman at the end of his life, and he may not have a family around him when he gets there. All this while getting an idea of life for a poor Jewish family in Montreal during the 40s. Of course this would have trouble finding a place with the other films Paramount Pictures released in 1974. Of course little Duddy Kravitz would have trouble getting noticed next to the likes of Godfather Part 2, Chinatown, The Conversation and The Parallax View. But this isn't 1974 and you do have a choice. I hope you choose to go:
  

 
THE RAZOR'S EDGE for 7.50- Thurs June 6 at 9:30 will probably start closer to 9:45- Chelsea Clearview Cinema- A cheap screening of the Tyrone Power original, not the Bill Murray remake of Somerset Maugham's novel. Power plays a millionaire/ unhappy World War I veteran, who dumps his materialistic fiancee (Gene Tierney) to find spiritual enlightenment. When he comes back, he tries to help an old friend (Anne Baxter), who, having lost her family in an accident, is in a place of spiritual misery similar to what he was suffering. But those efforts are stymied by the ex-fiance, who wants him back, and will do anything to do it. Oscar nominations for Picture, Clifton Webb for Supporting Actor (as the snobby uncle of Tierney), and Art Direction. An Oscar for Supporting Actress for Anne Baxter, as the woman who seems to either try to deaden the pain of losing her husband and child through alcohol, opium and empty affairs, or trying to become dead herself.

I'm sorry I have no time for the 7pm screening with Hedda Lettuce, only the 9:30 screening. Note that the film is about 2 hours 25 minutes long and when you add the Hedda opening intro, I'm guessing the film will start by around 9:40 and end by Midnight. So be prepared:
 
 
 
The next three films are all playing on Friday, June 7th. Because of the screening times and different locations, I can only do one of these three films. I'll let majority rules decide which if any of these pictures I'll attend. But I recommend them all, so if we can't do them together, I encourage you to catch one of them anyway:

 
SINGIN IN THE RAIN for a 7.00 bar minimum- introduced by Sarah Ruhl- Fri June 7 at 9:30- A cheap screening of the classic musical, Singin' In The Rain, for a 7 dollar minimum. Due to the popularity of the film, I strongly advise make your bar purchases done at 6:45-7 so you can get your free ticket. Now I'm not suggesting you get drunk quickly or at all, in fact you don't need to purchase alcohol in order to reach the bar minimum. I'm only suggesting that this film will be more popular than some of the other screenings at the Rubin, and there have been some popular films there. 

Now onto the film itself. When Singin in the Rain came out, it was successful, but ignored. Yes it was nominated for it's score, and the only actor nominated from this was not Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds or Donald O'Connor, but Jean Hagen as the funny, bitch-on-wheels diva. But it was dismissed as fluff, and people moved on. People in 1952 wanted to go on and on about Ivanhoe, John Huston's Moulin Rouge, Son Of Paleface, and the Oscar winner for Best Picture, The Greatest Show On Earth (considered by some to be the biggest mistake the Academy ever made in that category). But when people ever bring up quality films released in the U.S. back in 1952, it's High Noon, Rashomon, Singin' In The Rain, and that's it. OK, maybe The Quiet Man, but you'd have to be Irish and drunk to do that.

Playwright Sarah Ruhl (In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play, Dead Man's Cell Phone) will introduce the screening:



LATE SPRING- Fri June 7 at 9:30- Film Forum- The first film in the Forum's three week long Yasujiro Ozu series, and possibly the only film in the series I can make. Ozu may not have created the genre of Shomingeki; depicting contemporary Japanese families in their everyday lives, through their small defeats and small triumphs. Where the difficulties and obstacles are small in the big picture, but important in their smaller world. Ozu was probably the master of this kind of filmmaking, and Late Spring tends to be considered his best work.
 
From 1949 though not released in the U.S. until 1972, it depicts a daughter in her late 20s taking care of her widowed father. He seems capable of living on his own, but his daughter not only enjoys doing the housework and taking care of her father, but it has reached the point where she considers marriage to be repugnant or "filthy". Matters come to ahead when Father not only arranges a marriage for her, but also makes plans to remarry herself.
 
During this time, Ozu was among the Japanese filmmakers to submit their synopsis to the censors for the American Occupation. Films made in Japan could not say or depict anything that were against American values of the day, while making no mention of the atomic bombs, the destruction caused by them and other bombs, and any mention of the war or of the Japanese military must be as minimal as possible. And any Japanese tradition that would appear unseemly in the Censors' eyes, such as ancestor worship or arranged marriage had to be either eliminated or tweaked so as to as though the individual wasn't being crushed by non-American values. That Ozu managed to pull this off and create a classic drama in his country is amazing, even if the film went unseen here until 1972:
 
 

THE THING (1982)- Fri June 7 at 11:59pm- Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center at Lincoln Center- Midnight movies return to Lincoln Center, but now they will play at the Center's newer Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center, as opposed to the Walter Reade. Sorry to say this will be the only June screening from this series that I'll post. I'm not in the mood for the original Omen at Midnight, little interest in Big Trouble in Little China and even less interest in Deadly Blessing. So until the July and August schedules are posted, John Carpenter's The Thing will have to do for a Midnight screening. Ok, 11:59PM, whatever . . .

One of the better horror films, possibly the best from the 1980s, gets a midnight screening. One of few that I can think of where a remake tops the original. An alien shape-shifting lifeform crashes onto Earth, and in order to exist, it must live like a virus and wipe out or take over the life that already exists on whatever planet it exists on. Which in this case is us. And it's up to an isolated group from an American scientific station, desperately playing catch up and grasping for theories, to stop it. But when it starts taking them over, and becomes hard to tell which of them are human and which are not . . . .

Kurt Russell makes a great action lead, with character actors like Keith David, Donald Moffat, and Wilford Brimley filling out the talented cast. The make-up effects grossed out some audiences (damaging potential word of mouth) and most critics, but they don't feel too over the top and still hold up today. Especially one scene where one portion tries to escape from another part in a very memorable way. If you haven't seen it, I'm not spoiling this.

The gross out factor, some brutal reviews, the R rating that made the PG rated Poltergeist more accessible, and just being released in the summer of 1982, where if you weren't E.T. (the happy alien movie released two weeks earlier), than you probably struggled at the box office. All of this helped make The Thing a high profile flop. But like another high profile flop released that very same day, Blade Runner, The Thing has also been re-evaluated and risen to both cult status and to the heights of its respective genre. Not AFI top 100 level like Blade Runner, but close enough:
 



Let me know if there's interest. Later all.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

May Revivals: Second Half













Hey all. Mike here with a list of revivals for the the rest of May. If you think this list is long, it could have been a lot longer. Like I have stated before, I'm using life getting in the way to whittle down the options to a select few. I'll start with two repeats from the last list. I wish I got to this sooner, so that I could post more than just one date for these films. You'll have to pick one or the other, but luckily one of them will play again in June:
 
 

BADLANDS- Wed May 15 at 6:30 and 8:20- Film Forum- A 4K restoration of Terrence Malick's film, his most accessible whether you see it on the big screen or TV, on its 40th anniversary. The restoration was supervised by Emmanuel Lubezki, who shot Malick's The New World, The Tree of Life, To The Wonder, as well as Children of Men. This will leave the Forum after May 16th. But I'm not sure if I can do the 16th or not, which is why I'm only posting the evening of May 15th screenings.

Malick's feature length directorial debut from 1973. In 1959, a 25 year old drifter (Martin Sheen) who idolizes James Dean, runs off with his 15 year old girlfriend (Sissy Spacek). This might sound romantic, but once you know going in that Badlands is a dramatized version of the infamous Starkweather homicides of 1958, you know you're in violence-with-consequences territory. The couple move around, love each other and interact with each other and the open road in an almost dreamlike state. But Spacek's off-screen narration tells us that at least one half of the couple knows they have a dark future ahead.

Kind of a response for those who felt the main characters in Bonnie and Clyde were too romanticized, and a clear inspiration for the ultra-heightened Natural Born Killers. With some of the best acting work Sheen and Spacek have ever done. Among debut films for directors, I would argue that only Welles' Citizen Kane and John Huston's The Maltese Falcon are better films than Badlands. Boy do I hope I'm not misquoted or taken out of context with that sentence . . . :
 


VOYAGE TO ITALY- Wed May 15 at 7:30 and 9:30- Film Forum- The DCP restoration of Roberto Rossellini's film has apparently been popular enough that the Forum is extended it's run for another week, but this will also leave after May 16th. A film about Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders trying to keep their flailing marriage alive and doing a lousy job at it; that's what's popular at the Forum right now. Go figure. Still want to catch it though. I should also bring up that if you can't make out to the Forum, Voyage To Italy will screen at the Museum of The Moving Image, alongside James Mason in Bigger Than Life, on Saturday June 22nd and Sunday June 23rd:

 

SCARECROW- Sat May 18 at 1 and 3:20 and Tues May 21- Thurs May 23 at 7:30 and 9:40- Film Forum- A DCP screening of the 1973 film that only critics, some acting teachers of a certain age, and fanatics of the two leading men seem to know. 2 hobo types; ex-con Gene Hackman, who wants to open a car wash but seems more preoccupied with broads, booze and bar fights, and Al Pacino, an ex-sailor with dreams of meeting up with the girlfriend and infant he abandoned and has nothing else to do. A character study of two men who would be right at home at Harry Hope's bar from Iceman Cometh more than anywhere else. If you've ever heard of the saying "it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey", then consider this the story of men for whom the road and each other are the only comforts they have. Society has no interest in them, they burned enough bridges behind to insure as such.
 
A standout in the road picture genre, fans of great acting, and in 1970s cinema. Or would be if the film had drawn an audience of any size at all. Instead, consider Scarecrow alongside the likes of say, Charley Varrick and Blue Collar, on a theoretical list of great 1970s films few people have heard of. Hackman cited his role as his all-time favorite; the film's failure in light of the massive success of the Poseidon Adventure was one of the reasons for a depression that caused him to briefly retire from acting. I'm not sure if Pacino felt the same, but the combined box office failures of Scarecrow, Bobby Deerfield, Cruising and Author Author probably gave him similar feelings that might partially explain his near-total absence from the big screen from 1983 until Sea of Love (don't bring up Revolution, let sleeping dogs lie). Anyway, it runs for a week, I posted the days and times that I can probably do. I would really like to make time for this:
 
 
 
EPIC in 3-D and/or HEAD and/or THE LAST WALTZ- Sun May 19 at 1 (Epic), 4 (Head) and 6:30 (Waltz)- Museum of the Moving Image- A potential double or triple feature at the Museum of the Moving Image, all for one admission. The first film isn't a revival but a new release, Fox's Epic. It's not due for release until May 24th, but it will get a sneak preview at the Museum on Sunday, May 19th. It will be in digital 3-D and feature the voices of Colin Farrell, Beyoncé, Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Judah Friedlander, and Jason Sudeikis. I don't know much beyond the trailer, featuring a young woman shrunk down to ant size, helping little humanoids fight other humanoids. Sorry I can't do better with the description; I'm more interested in the May releases of Star Trek and Iron Man 3, not this.  But I'm afraid I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the option you would have. Consider yourself told, moving on . . .  
 
The other two films screening on the 19th continues the Museum's Play Loud series of mostly Rock films. First, Head, from 1967. This will be the original 86 minute theatrical release, not the 110 minute director's cut. Remember what I wrote earlier about there being little point to explain the plot of a Marx Brother film? Well there's pretty much no point in explaining the plot of Head. Basically, the Monkees were on the verge of breaking up, so they made a film that spoofed themselves, the creation of a second-tier Beatles group like the Monkees, and the TV show they did. You can also consider this a re-construction and de-construction of the Monkees phenomenon  Different sequences, from a Western locale, to a Sci-Fi locale to a studio setting.

Working from a script by Jack Nicholson (allegedly on LSD the whole day it was written) and director Bob Rafelson, the film was DOA when released. Critics destroyed it, the teenage fans were turned off, and generally everyone else who wasn't turned on by the Monkees remained uninterested. There is a cult following that either labels it as groundbreaking or an interesting mess. The music itself has been almost unanimously praised, with songs written by Carole King, Harry Nilsson, Nicholson and Rafelson, and individual members of the band itself. So just consider this at best a more accessible deconstruction than Goddard or some other fancy European director has ever made, or a fascinating mess with good music that's only 87 minutes long. Actually either way it will have some of the Monkees' best music, so there you go. Decide for yourself.  
 
Next is The Last Waltz. From 1978 and the reason why this retrospective is titled the way it is. Arguably the best concert film ever made. After Taxi Driver, a change of pace for director Martin Scorsese, filming the farewell concert of The Band on Thanksgiving 1976. Mixed with recording sessions that also included working with Emmylou Harris and The Staples. They also had some friends performing with them, including Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Ron Wood, Dr. John, and Ringo Starr. Also includes interviews with members of the Band, days after the concert. Also noteworthy is the cinematography of Michael Chapman, who also did Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. The first concert film to be photographed in 35mm. This will be a 35mm screening by the way, but if it's anything like the IFC Center screening, it should be just fine.

Hard to pick a favorite performance from the bunch; I expected to choose The Band themselves, but hot damn when Van Morrison came on, and then hot damn again when Dylan came on screen. Too many great moments to cite, just go and enjoy it and enjoy it loud:
 
 
 
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD- Mon May 20 at 7- MOMA- Part of MOMA's In Memoriam: Celeste Bartos retrospective. Ms. Bartos was a committee member and chairperson of MOMA's Board of Trustees, who not only pushed for and contributed to the building of MOMA's own film storage and preservation center in Pennsylvania,  but also started the Celeste Bartos Fund for Film Preservation which has been active since the 1990s. Among the films that benefited from this was The Adventures of Robin Hood, screened in a new 35mm print.
 
Dashing Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) steals from the oppressive rich, gives to the poor, thumbs his nose at authority he doesn't respect like Prince John (Claude Rains), and tries to get jiggy with, er I mean MAKE TIME with Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland - sigh . . .). Also with more contract character actors from that era then you can shake a stick at. An Oscar nominee for Best Picture, it won for Art Direction, Editing, and Original Score. The most difficult of the Technicolor films to make work up to that point, and the most successful for its time. And, most importantly, fun for all ages.

The highlight for me is the sword fight between Flynn and Basil Rathbone. 2 swordsmen at their best, just like in Captain Blood. Like I said before to others, I never seen better on-screen duelists then Flynn-Rathbone, unless the characters portrayed are named either Darth Vader and/or Luke Skywalker. Ok, that first fight in Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon was also too cool for school, but I now forget if both women had swords or not:

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/18107
 
 
ATLANTIC CITY- Thurs May 23 at 9- Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center at Lincoln Center- Part of Lincoln Center's Burt Lancaster retrospective. I'm sorry to say that this is the only film from that series that I'll post. But I've done both Sweet Smell of Success and The Leopard more than once and I'm not doing Brute Force again (a mixed bag for me). Also, Birdman of Alcatraz, Lawman and Go! Go Tell The Spartans! aren't being screened at all, while Elmer Gantry, Twilight's Last Gleaming and The Rainmaker are not playing at convenient times. And while have done Atlantic City before at Lincoln Center, I know enough of you out there who are either unaware of this film's existence  or have seen it so long ago that you can use a refresher. Plus it's playing at Lincoln Center's newest place, the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center.
 
Lancaster plays Lou, a small time gangster with delusions about his past, reduced to taking care of a needy old moll and lusting after his neighbor across the way. That neighbor is Sally, learning to be a croupier while working a casino's clam bar. Her ex turns up not only with a pregnant girlfriend (her sister!) and his own delusions, but also with drugs stolen from mobsters. Louis Malle's best English language film/American critique is never belittling to his characters or to the audience. These small time dreamers surrounded by a city (a country?) that's crumbling all around them. Sometimes romantically, sometimes humorously (dark humor), but never with any condescension.
 
5 Oscar Nominations, including Picture, Malle for Director, John Guare for Screenplay, Lancaster for Actor (who only got the role after Robert Mitchum was dropped because Mitchum went out & got a face lift for the film!) and Susan Sarandon for Actress (who cemented sex symbol status with what she did with lemons, and leading lady status with her performance). For me, this is runner-up for best film of 1981, behind Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sorry, Reds and On Golden Pond fans. Well, not that sorry . . . :
 
 
 
TIME BANDITS- Fri May 24-Sun May 26 at Midnight-ish- IFC Center- Time Bandits, a sleeper hit of fall 1981, gets a Memorial Day weekend-long run of Midnight screenings, as part of IFC Center's Terry Gilliam retrospective. Sunday the 26th is included. Don't have a specific time so I'll just write Midnight-ish.
 
More successful then all the Python films upon its initial release, except for A Fish Called Wanda and maybe Meaning of Life. More a family film, but with enough Python touches that keep the youngest kids away (though not at this screening), and more then enough mature-ish content to keep adults awake. A boy encounters 6 time traveling dwarfs, and ends up accompanying them on their adventures. Said adventures are certainly more interesting than his dull suburban home with his TV dinner eating/ TV game show watching parents. But being stuck in Ancient Rome, the Titanic, a boat of ogres  and Hell itself is not without its dangers. Featuring John Cleese as Robin Hood, Sean Connery as Agamemnon, Lord of the Ring's Ian Holm as Napoleon, Ralph Richardson as the Supreme Being and Jim Broadbent in an early film role. Though I should point out David Warner as a scene-stealing Devil. He's not the worst guy around. Except for the wish to spread evil around and turning people into dogs and pigs or just making them explode, but a swell guy otherwise. Also featuring Michael Palin in a dual role; he also co-wrote the film with Gilliam:
 
 
 
JAWS- Fri May 24- Sun May 26 at Midnight-ish- IFC Center- If Time Bandits doesn't float your boat this Memorial Day weekend, than maybe Jaws will. Also around Midnight, and also on Sunday the 26th. On both AFI Top 100 lists, but higher up for me. Also in my personal Top 35 as opposed to just one of one hundred. Don't underestimate the quality of this Spielberg film on the big screen, and IFC Center tends to get good prints. It's not just another fish film. 3 Oscars including John Williams's memorable score, and a nomination for Best Picture (along with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon and Nashville; not shabby:  
 
 
 
A PIG ACROSS PARIS- Sun May 26- Wed May 30 at 6:20, 8 and 9:40- Film Forum- A new DCP restoration of a film, also known as Four Bags Full, that's more of a classic in France than outside of it. Maybe because Francois Truffaut took issue with director Claude-Autant-Lara over some kind of bullshit ego thing (probably ego), and trashed most if not all his films, including this one.
 
In this dramedy, two men are running around in Paris with a black market item so secretive, you would think this was some kind of drug deal. But since this Nazi-occupied Paris, we're talking about an even rarer product: food. Or more specifically, four suitcases of butchered pork. An obnoxious  penny-pinching butcher entrusts the job of selling the meat to someone else: a straight-arrow man who's no good at doing this kind of subterfuge on his own. So said straight-arrow enlists a hustler of sorts to guide them through the black market. This hustler, who may or may not be homeless, would love to steal the four cases of butchered meat to sell himself. But the two men spend almost all night trying to find their way around Paris, dodging other hustlers, poor people, the police and the Nazis, and struggling at every stop. Oh, did I mention the suitcases weigh a combined 200 pounds? Not exactly easy to drag around . . .
 
I referred to this as a dramedy, because while there's comedy abound, this is an occupied country and war is hell. Don't know much else about the film, except the two leads: Bourvil as the straight arrow (liked him as the detective with an apartment full of cats in Le Circe Rouge) and Jean Gabin (loved him as the escaping Lieutenant in Grand Illusion) as the hustler. Sounds interesting and hey, it's only eighty minutes long: 
 
 
 
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY for 7.50- Thurs May 30 at 7 and 9:30- Chelsea Clearview Cinema- A cheap screening of my favorite screwball comedy/ romantic comedy. There are two screenings actually; a 7pm screening introduced by Hedda Lettuce, and a 9:30 without Hedda, but will probably start closer to 9:40 than 9:30. As to which screening I would catch, I'll let majority rule to determine which screening is the one for me.
 
With that said, on a personal note, if the 7pm screening is what we agree on doing, then I'll be relying on others to purchase the tickets ahead of time. I'll be lucky to get to the theater itself by 7 on the dot. That will make us, as latecomers, prime targets for Hedda's barbs. I speak from personal experience; the first time was when I won a DVD of Nim's Island and 50% off tickets for Naked Boys Singing (which was more useless to me?) and the second time was when Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 was about to open. I was drinking a soda with most of the Twilight cast on the cup, and Hedda was singling me out as to who I wanted to sleep with ("It's Robert Pattinson, you want him! You know you do! Everyone, even the straights want to sleep with him!"). I took my medicine, and hoped Hedda would pick another target pretty soon. I still smiled both times though and I still laugh at my prizes from the first outing. In any case, the 7PM screening probably won't start until 7:15 or so anyway. That would also mean the 9:30 screening will probably start around 9:40 to 9:50, and its 1 hour 52 minutes long I believe, so be prepared.
 
It Happened One Night might be the best version of Hollywood Screwball Comedy ever made, but for me The Philadelphia Story fits the bill. Donald Ogden Stewart's sharp adaptation of Philip Barry's play, where impulsive and judgmental socialite Katharine Hepburn is ready to re-marry. But the arrival of ex-husband Cary Grant and tabloid journalists Jimmy Stewart and Ruth Hussey on the day before the wedding causes complications. But not the kind you would expect. The coming together of people allows for the opportunity to see past each others' first impressions. Hepburn learns Stewart is a writer and falls for the Artist in him, Stewart sees the sensitivity behind Hepburn's harsh exterior, Hussey's street-smart exterior covers a crush on Stewart, Grant's recovering alcoholic is trying to make amends in obvious and less than obvious ways, and I haven't even gone into Hepburn's precocious little sister, her parents, her uppity politician fiancee or Uncle Willy.
 
Let's not get maudlin here. The words come out fast, furious, and funny. That said, the funniest sequence for me is the silent classic scene that starts the movie; where we see the dissolution of Hepburn and Grant's marriage in brief and funny detail. There are no villains, except for the politician/ fiancee and the tabloid editor I guess. Basically we get to spend two hours with likable people, three of them happen to be movie stars. Hell, even the smart-aleck little sister is likable; this film and 500 Days of Summer might be the only examples of this rare phenomenon!      
 
6 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, George Cukor for Director, Hepburn for Actress (she bought the rights to the play and fought MGM like hell to retain her role, which would become a career reviver , and Hussey for Supporting Actress. 2 Oscars for the Stewarts: Donald Ogden for the Writing, and James for Best Actor. Maybe a surprise win for Jimmy, considering he won over the likes of Chaplin (The Great Dictator), Fonda (Grapes of Wrath) and Olivier (Rebecca). Maybe it was a make-up call for losing the Best Actor Oscar one year earlier to Ronald Donat for Goodbye Mr Chips, who knows. On both AFI Top lists and on my own Top 100 list as well:
 

THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD for free (subject to ticket availability)- Friday May 31 at 7-MOMA- If you can't do Robin Hood on the 20th of May, or would prefer not to pay to see it, you can catch the Errol Flynn classic on Friday the 31st for free, subject to availability. Tickets that have not been reserved by MOMA members by 3:15 that afternoon, will be made available (up to 2 per person) on a first come first served basis, at 3:30-3:45 (whenever the ticket desk is ready):
 
 
 
 
Lots of good stuff. Let me know if there's interest, later all.
 
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