a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
mon. feb. 27
johnny guitar 7:30 PM, rancho notorious @ new beverly theatre
l'ange 8 PM @ REDCAT
tues. feb. 28
johnny guitar 7:30 PM, rancho notorious @ new beverly theatre
wed. mar. 1
stereolab @ detroit bar
la dolce vita @ new beverly theatre
west of zanzibar 7:30 PM, the road to mandalay @ ucla film archive
who is bozo texino 8 PM, lovejoy, portrait #1: cascadia terminal @ 7 dudley cinema
thu. mar. 2
la dolce vita @ new beverly theatre
cnn goes to war @ ESL www.eslprojects.org
tokyo story @ aero theatre
fri. mar. 3
low @ troubadour
the talk of the town 8:15 PM @ old town music hall, el segundo
winsor mccay 7:30 PM, this cartoon life, feline follies @ ucla film archive
the oscar @ egyptian theatre
seven samurai @ aero theatre
crumb eisner & kurtzman OPENING 8 PM @ secret headquarters
sat. mar. 4
ACE seminar 10 AM @ egyptian theatre
the warriors MIDNIGHT MOVIE @ rialto theatre
the talk of the town 2:30 PM, 8:15 PM @ old town music hall, el segundo
notorious 2 PM, 8 PM @ alex theatre, glendale
the unholy three 7:30 PM, he who gets slapped @ ucla film archive
young frankenstein @ aero theatre
sun. mar. 5
the talk of the town 2:30 PM @ old town music hall, el segundo
the antarcticans @ the echo
tue. mar. 7
pharoah sanders quartet @ jazz bakery
wed. mar. 8
FREE hardwood 7:30 PM, tell them who you are @ ucla film archive
play it as it lays, the swimmer @ aero theatre
pharoah sanders quartet @ jazz bakery
thu. mar. 9
kid monk baroni, bela lugosi meets a brooklyn gorilla @ egyptian theatre
pharoah sanders quartet @ jazz bakery
fri. mar. 10
the pope @ the smell
harold and maude, the loved one @ new beverly theatre
born losers, hell's angels 69 @ egyptian theatre
don't come knocking @ aero theatre
pharoah sanders quartet @ jazz bakery
sat. mar. 11
harold and maude, the loved one @ new beverly theatre
savage seven, the devil's angels @ egyptian theatre
pharoah sanders quartet @ jazz bakery
sun. mar. 12
DMBQ @ the smell
last day of masters of american comics @ MOCA, Hammer
the show 7 PM, freaks @ ucla film archive
macon county line 6:30 PM, white line fever @ egyptian theatre
pharoah sanders quartet @ jazz bakery
the time we killed @ filmforum @ egyptian theatre
mon. mar. 13
chain 8 PM @ redcat theatre
wed. mar. 15
see no evil @ aero theatre
thu. mar. 16
B.I.K.E. @ egyptian theatre
the narrow margin, violent saturday @ aero theatre
fri. mar. 17
the hunchback of notre dame 8:15 PM @ old town music hall, el segundo
play it as it lays, the swimmer @ egyptian theatre
brick @ aero theatre
the big lebowski MIDNIGHT MOVIE @ nuart
sat. mar. 18
hazard 7 PM @ starlight studio
the hunchback of notre dame 2:30 PM, 8:15 PM @ old town music hall, el segundo
diary of a mad housewife, ladybug ladybug @ egyptian theatre
the boston strangler, 10 rillington place @ aero theatre
sun. mar. 19
the hunchback of notre dame 2:30 PM @ old town music hall, el segundo
marathon man, black sunday @ new beverly theatre
fat city 6:30 PM, panic in needle park @ egyptian theatre
20,000 leagues under the sea 3 PM @ aero theatre
fantastic voyage 6:30 PM, soylent green @ aero theatre
mon. mar. 20
marathon man, black sunday @ new beverly theatre
tue. mar. 21
torso, what have you done to solange? @ new beverly theatre
wed. mar. 22
cutter's way, who'll stop the rain? @ new beverly theatre
point blank, prime cut @ egyptian theatre
thu. mar. 23
cutter's way, who'll stop the rain? @ new beverly theatre
night moves, mickey one @ egyptian theatre
fri. mar. 24
getting straight, drive he said @ egyptian theatre
grindhouse danny's 16mm cartoon madness 9 PM @ secret headquarters
silver sunshine @ the echo
sat. mar. 25
end of the road, liberation of l.b. jones @ egyptian theatre
upsilon acrux, bad dudes, the antarcticans @ little pedro's
sun. mar. 26
languis @ spaceland
languis 4 PM FREE @ sea level records
the manchurian candidate, seconds @ new beverly theatre
UPA: magoo, mcboing & modern art 6 PM @ egyptian theatre
WHAT IT IS:
ACE SEMINAR
OSCAR NOMINATED EDITORS "INVISIBLE ART, VISIBLE ARTISTS"
Presented by American Cinema Editors (A.C.E.)
An open discussion with all of this year's Academy Award-nominated
editors. Mike Hill and Dan Hanley (Cinderella Man); Claire Simpson (The Constant Gardener); Hughes Winborne (Crash); Michael Kahn (Munich); and Michael McCusker (Walk the Line). Free Admission.
L'ANGE (The Angel, France, 1977-82, 70 min., 35 mm), directed by Patrick Bokanowski. Preceded by Pour un pianiste, composed by Michele Bokanowski "Exploits to the maximum the tension between the illusion of depth of the cinematic image and the two-dimensional nature of the screen... L'Ange is a 2001: A Space Odyssey produced under the same conditions as Eraserhead." Les Cahiers du Cinema
L'Ange, the legendary opus by French filmmaker and artist Patrick Bokanowski, offers new adventures in perception in its depiction of the climbing of a giant stairway--where the characters seem to be prisoners of an endlessly repeated action on each floor. The film features a score by Michele Bokanowski, whose intricately composed musical textures endow the visuals with a mysterious meaning. Defying all traditional boundaries, this distinctive collaboration between the Bokanowskis opens cinema to alternative possibilities of expression: a purely mental vision and a radical metamorphosis of reality. In person: Patrick and Michele Bokanowski
BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA, 1952, Wade Williams, 74 min. Dir. William Beaudine. "Brooklyn Chumps Become Island Monkeys In a Jungle Full of Laffs!" The ultimate in B movie (or should we say Z movie?) madness, early 1950's style, with the Martin/Lewis knockoff duo, Sammy Petrillo and Duke Mitchell running afoul of anxious-for-human-guinea-pigs Dr. Zabor (Bela Lugosi) on a tropical jungle island. Innocently goofy and somehow marvelously entertaining, despite its threadbare origins. Discussion in between films with actors Leonard Nimoy, Jack Larson, Mona Knox and producer, Judd Bernard.
BORN LOSERS, 1967, Sony Repertory, 113 min. Dir. T. C. Frank. Sadistic, degenerate bikers invade a small California coastal town and only one man can stop them, ex-Green Beret, Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) in the character's first screen appearance. With a great cast that includes action auteur, Jack Starrett as Deputy Fred, Russ Meyer veteran Stuart Lancaster as the sheriff and - last but not least - Jane Russell (!) as the hardrinking mom of a problem girl enamored with the new outlaws in town. With Jeremy Slate and William Wellman, Jr. New 35mm Print!
B.I.K.E., 2006, 89 min., USA. An exploration of the Black Label Bicycle Club as well as the wider freak bike subculture. Comprised mainly of artists driven by anti-materialism and a belief that the impending apocalypse will render cars useless and bicycles in power, BLBC battles mainstream culture and rival gangs for its vision of a better tomorrow. Co-directed by Jacob Septimus & Anthony Howard and produced by Frederic King, this new doc is a definitive look at the intersection of subculture, radical politics, group dynamics and personal identity. With music by: The Dears, Broken Social Scene, Lightning Bolt, Japanther, Panthers, Explosions in the Sky, A Silver Mt. Zion, Oneida, Andre Williams, Peter Laughner, Matt and Kim, Rashaan Roland Kirk and The Gladiators. Sneak Preview!
Troy Morgan's animated film "Dragon" (7 min.) will precede the feature. After her parents die in a tragic fire, a young girl is sent to an orphanage where she begins to sketch firey visions. When the hed of the orphanage sees her talent, he exploits her art for profit. When he demands more work, the girl unleashes a fire-breathing creation that takes on a life of its own. Discussion following with filmmakers subject to availability, with a reception for all ticket buyers hosted by Slamdance.
BLACK SUNDAY
(from IMDB)
A demented war veteran (Bruce Dern) plots to kill thousands of Americans at the Superbowl in Miami by using a specially designed dart-gun from the Goodyear blimp which flies above the stadium. However, a tough Middle Eastern anti-terrorist agent (Robert Shaw) has uncovered some of the plot and is out to stop him.
THE BOSTON STRANGLER, 1968, 20th Century Fox, 120 min. One of Richard Fleischer's most uncompromising and startling films: Tony Curtis delivers an amazing performance (arguably his best) as Albert DeSalvo, the unstable blue-collar worker who terrorized Boston in the early 1960's. Henry Fonda is the head of detectives who doggedly tracks him down. The increasingly elliptical, stream-of-consciousness narrative, especially after the captured Curtis' mental disintegration accelerates, was extremely daring for a major Hollywood studio film.
BRICK, 2005, Focus Feature, 100 min. This dynamic debut feature from writer/director Rian Johnson, which won the Sundance Film Festival's Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision, takes its cues from the novels of Dashiell Hammett and the cinematic tradition of the hard-boiled noir. But Johnson wittily immerses them in fresh territory - a modern-day Southern California neighborhood and high school. Fiercely intelligent student Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is not afraid to back up his words with actions, and knows all the angles; yet he prefers to stay an outsider, and does - until the day that his ex-girlfriend, Emily (Emilie de Ravin of "Lost"), reaches out to him unexpectedly and then vanishes. To find her, Brendan enlists the aid of his only true peer, The Brain (Matt O'Leary). Brendan's single-minded unearthing of students' secrets thrusts him headlong into the colliding social orbits of rich-girl sophisticate Laura (Nora Zehetner), intimidating Tugger (Noah Fleiss), substance-abusing Dode (Noah Segan), seductive Kara (Meagan Good), jock Brad (Brian White), and - most ominously - non-student The Pin (Lukas Haas). It is only by gaining acceptance into The Pin's closely guarded inner circle of crime and punishment that Brendan will be able to uncover hard truths about himself, Emily, and the suspects that he is getting closer to. Discussion following with director Rian Johnson.
CHAIN
Los Angeles premiere | USA/Germany, 2004, 99 min., DigiBeta
"A dreamlike travelogue that transforms a mundane world into something strange and new." The Village Voice
In this provocative mix of documentary and fiction, the Alpert Award-winning filmmaker lays out beautifully composed images shot throughout the United States, Europe and Australia, and links them through two loose narratives: A Japanese executive, Tamiko (Miho Nikaido), travels to America on business while a runaway, Amanda (Mira Billotte), haunts a shopping mall, looking for work and a place to crash. Cohen's collage of spaces cut off from their original (sub)urban surroundings produces an uncanny repetition: two nearly affectless women trapped in the generic byproducts of globalization. In person: Jem Cohen
CUTTER'S WAY
(from IMDB)
Alex Cutter (Heard) came back from war minus an eye, a leg, and an arm and mad as hell. He lacks direction, drinks too much, and abuses his wife (Eichhorn). One night his friend Richard Bone (Bridges) witnesses someone dumping something in an alley; it turns out to be the body of a young girl. When Cutter hears about it, he embarks on a crusade to expose the killer, enlisting the help of the murdered girl's sister. Bone reluctantly joins them. Are they right or are they in search of their white whale?
THE DEVIL'S ANGELS, 1967, Sony Repertory, 84 min. The personality of biker leader, Cody (John Cassavetes) is split between do-your-own-thing bad-ass and sensitive loner in this rarely-screened sequel to Roger Corman's THE WILD ANGELS. Cody makes a truce for his gang with the sheriff (Leo Gordon) of a small southwestern burg, but violence is kindled when a provocative, young town girl is added to the mix. Corman's ANGELS had been a huge hit for American-International, serving to jumpstart the biker film craze that swept the nation's drive-ins in the late sixties, and this effort from Corman's former production designer-turned- director, Daniel Haller (THE DUNWICH HORROR) was one of the earliest in the cycle. Co-starring the great Mimsy Farmer (who subsequently went on to a long career in Euro arthouse and exploitation films in the 1970's and 80's). With Beverly Adams as Cody's âold lady.' NOT ON VIDEO! Plus vintage exploitation trailers prior to screening! Discussion in between films with SAVAGE SEVEN director, Richard Rush, actors Larry Bishop, John Bud Cardos and DEVIL'S ANGELS screenwriter, Charles Griffith. New 35mm Print!
DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE, 1970, Universal, 104 min. Director Frank Perry's brilliant comedy-drama satirizing the psychological rat race of a middle class married couple in New York City, circa 1970. Carrie Snodgress' performance as abusive Richard Benjamin's isolated wife is one of the standout portrayals of the New Hollywood. As Snodgress' marriage continues to disintegrate, she takes a lover (Frank Langella) to fill up the emotional vacuum. Before long, she finds that this solution is no solution at all. Frank Perry's spouse and frequent writing collaborator, Eleanor, adapts the best-selling novel by Sue Kaufman. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for Alice Cooper's performance in a swinging party scene. "... great movie making." - Roger Greenspun, New York Times. NOT ON VIDEO!
LA DOLCE VITA
(from IMDB)
Marcello is a society gossip columnist. During one of his rounds, he meets again Maddalena and spends the night with her in a whore's bedroom. When he comes back home the next morning, he discovers that his girlfriend Emma poisoned herself because of him. Later, he is at the airport where the famous star Sylvia is arriving : he will go with her a few days... A chronicle of a decadent society where there is no more values except alcohol and sex, and no solutions but suicide.
DON'T COME KNOCKING!, 2006, Sony Classics, 122 min. Director Wim Wenders (WINGS OF DESIRE; PARIS, TEXAS) uses memories, relationships, images and emotions to bring to life the vivid and sensitive human characters in his films, individuals experiencing frightening and honest moments of enlightenment. Howard Spence (Sam Shepard, who also wrote the screenplay) used to be one of Hollywood's biggest stars, a leading man specializing in westerns. Approaching 60, he suddenly decides he's had all he can take and absconds from the set of his latest film. Staying with his mother (Eva Marie Saint), he learns he may have a child in Butte, Montana, the fruit of a brief tryst with waitress, Doreen (Jessica Lange). Arriving in Butte just before the detective (Tim Roth) who was hired to bring him back to the movie set, Spence tries to piece together his past and lost dreams. However, he finds not only hostility from son, Earl (Gabriel Mann) but has a further surprise in store, a young woman (Sarah Polley) named Sky, who might just be another member of his scattered, dysfunctional family. Discussion following with actress Eva Marie Saint.
DRIVE, HE SAID, 1972, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 90 min. Jack Nicholson's directorial debut--initially rated X for a car-seat sex scene and some locker-room exposure--stars William Tepper as a college basketball player who feels "disillusioned and disconnected," especially with so many classmates going off to die in âNam. (Well, there is a sexy professor's wife [Karen Black] to "console" him.) Bruce Dern gives the performance of his career as the team's take-no-prisoners coach, and appearing in small roles are no less than Robert Towne, Henry Jaglom, David Ogden Stiers, Cindy Williams, Michael Warren and Charles Robinson. A typically dense, thought-provoking drama from the BBS folks, scripted by Nicholson and Jeremy Larner (and an uncredited Towne) from Larner's prize-winning novel. "Nicholson deftly illustrates the background cynicism of big time sports against the more obvious cynicism of college life." - Variety. NOT ON VIDEO! Due to certain images and subject matter, no one under 17 will be admitted to this screening. Discussion in between films with director, Richard Rush.
END OF THE ROAD, 1970, Allied Artists, 110 min. Director Aram Avakian and screenwriters Terry Southern (THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN) and Dennis McGuire adapt John Barth's celebrated novel. Stacey Keach is Jake Horner, a college graduate suffering from periodic catatonia who ends up being treated by maverick psychiatrist, James Earl Jones (think Malcolm X channeling Wilhelm Reich and Arthur Janow) at his makeshift sanatorium. Once rehabilitated, Jake gets a job at a small college and, although becoming friends with macho, scoutmaster colleague, Joe (Harris Yulin), he is soon engaged in an affair with Joe's sensitive wife, Rennie (Dorothy Tristan). A bizarre, alternately tragic/funny cry in the wilderness of the late sixties that is long overdue for rediscovery. "...the strength and horror of the film came in its merging madness with the normal world...gut-twisting...a visionary effort, an attempt to lead us into certain aspects of the contemporary nightmare and leave us there to wander in the dark."- Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times. NOT ON VIDEO!
FANTASTIC VOYAGE, 1966, 20th Century Fox, 100 min. Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasance lead a miniaturized mission into the surreal landscape of the human body, to dissolve a comatose scientist's cerebral bloodcot. Slambang action and stunning, psychedelic F/X combine in Richard Fleischer's most purely thrilling entertainment.
FAT CITY, 1972, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 100 min. John Huston, his versatility truly liberated by an evolving New Hollywood cinema, directed this gritty, slice-of-life adaptation of Leonard Gardner's novel about two boxers, one naïve neophyte (Jeff Bridges), and one on his way down (a brilliant Stacey Keach) with his perpetually drunken mate (the great Susan Tyrell). The faithful evocation of street life in northern California Stockton, its working class heroes and skid row flophouses, where dreams and hopes get crushed out like cigarette butts, is priceless. Also co-starring Candy Clark and Burgess Meredith.
FELINE FOLLIES
The anarchic antics (and inimitable argot) of guileless Krazy Kat and brick-throwing Ignatz Mouse were first adapted to the silent screen in 1916. These early animations of George Herriman's ingenious comic hewed closely to the source's pared-down graphic style. In such later Charles Mintz talkie versions as THE APACHE KID, Krazy Kat becomes definitively male, more rounded and lovable à la that other famous mouse, Mickey. Felix the Cat, however, was already a silent cartoon star before being syndicated as a comic strip character in 1923. Who exactly created him is in dispute; credit has been claimed for cartoonist Otto Mesmer and producer Pat Sullivan. What is not in doubt is that with his saucer eyes, big grin and expressive tail, Felix has paced his way, hands tucked behind his back, into immortality.
KRAZY KAT GOES A-WOOING
1916 Animator: Leon Searl. Story/Based on the Krazy Kat comic by George Herriman. 16mm, silent, approx. 2 min. (18 fps).
KRAZY KAT AND IGNATZ MOUSE AT THE CIRCUS
1916 Animator: Leon Searl. Based on the Krazy Kat comic by George Herriman. 16mm, silent, 4 min. (18 fps).
THE APACHE KID
1930 Directors: Manny Gould and Ben Harrison. Writer/Based on the Krazy Kat comic by George Herriman. 35mm, 7 min.
FELIX THE CAT IN BLUNDERLAND
1926 A Pat Sullivan Cartoon. Director: Otto Mesmer (uncredited). 35mm, silent, approx. 6 min. (24 fps).
FELIX THE CAT WEATHERS THE WEATHER
1926 A Pat Sullivan Cartoon. 35mm, silent, approx. 6 min. (24 fps).
Approx. TRT: 25 min.
TRT: approx. 112 min.
FREAKS
(1932) Directed by Tod Browning
His pet project for over five years, FREAKS represents the highpoint of Browning's fascination with carnival people and his recurring theme of outsiders versus insiders. Beautiful but cruel acrobat Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) seduces carnival dwarf Hans (Harry Earles) into marriage when she learns he has a hidden fortune. But fellow little person Frieda (Daisy Earles) truly loves Hans and fears for his life when she suspects Cleopatra is conspiring with Hercules the strongman (Henry Victor) to commit murder. The Siamese twins, the human torso, the pinhead and the other carnival freaks unite to aid Frieda and Hans, dishing out a horrifically appropriate punishment for Cleopatra. Due to its controversial reception, several of the creative team members denied their association with this film, perhaps the most unlikely movie ever produced by a major studio.
MGM. Based on the short story "Spurs" by Tod Robbins. Screenwriter: Willis Goldbeck, Leon Gordon. Cinematographer: Merritt B. Gerstad. Editor: Basil Wrangell. Cast: Wallace Ford, Olga Baclanova, Leila Hyams, Roscoe Ates. 35mm, 64 min.
GETTING STRAIGHT, 1974, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 124 min. Director Richard Rush (THE STUNT MAN) directs this classic tale of Harry Bailey (Elliot Gould), a Viet-Nam vet who is intent on earning his masters degree in English. But he's caught between the establishment and student protesters, something that causes him escalating consternation as he finds himself unable to trust anyone from either side. Rush manages to capture both the frustration and euphoria of a chaotic era without resorting to stereotypes. The great cast includes Candice Bergen as Harry's girl, Jan, and Jeff Corey as his mentor, Professor Willhunt. Also co-starring Robert F. Lyons, Cecil Kellaway, Max Julien, Brenda Sykes and Jeannie Berlin. NOT ON VIDEO!
HARDWOOD
Directed by Hubert Davis
This film is the result of a Canadian son's personal quest to reconnect with his American father, a professional basketball player constantly on tour; a man he only knew during limited visits while growing up because his father was primarily raising another family in Chicago. 35mm. 29 min. Academy Award nominee.
HAZARD (1948 Para.)
(from IMDB)
As part of a bet, a compulsive gambler agrees to marry the winner, a professional gambler. Before he can "collect," she skips town. The gambler hires a private detective to track her down so he can collect his "winnings."
George Marshall comedy w/ Paulette Goddard, MacDonald Carey. Reservations are required.
HELL'S ANGELS 69, 1969, Castle Hill, 97 min. Dir. Lee Madden. "Let the fuzz take you ALIVE... the Angels aren't that particular!" Chuck and Wes (Tom Stern and Jeremy Slate) are two high rollers who decide to rob Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas disguised as Hell's Angels. Bad idea! After the heist, when the Angels get hep that they've been framed, look out! Great exploitation antics with plenty of vintage footage of Nevada's gambling mecca from a bygone era. Co-stars G. D. Spradlin as a redneck detective and a whole posse of real Hell's Angels, including Sonny Barger. Plus vintage exploitation trailers prior to screening! Discussion in between films with actors, Jeremy Slate and William Wellman, Jr.
HE WHO GETS SLAPPED
(1924) Directed by Victor Seastrom (Sjöström)
Sensitive scientist Paul Beaumont's (Lon Chaney) work and wife are stolen by his duplicitous benefactor, Baron Regnard (Marc MacDermott). Humiliated by the academy and his wife, Paul drops out of society to become the popular circus clown "HE," whose comedy act involves being slapped by his fellow clowns when he tries to speak of his scientific theories. Paul's bleak world is enlivened by the appearance of Consuelo Mancini (Norma Shearer), a girl forced by her penniless aristocrat father to work in the circus. When he learns of Count Mancini's (Tully Marshall) plans to marry Consuelo to his nemesis, the Baron, Paul plots his revenge. Throughout the film, director Victor Seastrom uses the metaphor of a globe surrounded by clowns to represent fate and the futility of man's struggle.
MGM. Based on he adaptation by Gregory Zilboorg of the play by Leonid Andreyev. Producer: Irving G. Thalberg. Scenario: Carey Wilson, Victor Seastrom (Sjöström). Cinematographer: Milton Moore. Editor: Hugh Wynn. Cast: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Marc MacDermott. 35mm, silent, (20 fps), 82 min. Presented with live musical accompaniment.
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
(1923) Directed by Wallace Worsley
With THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, this is perhaps Chaney's most popular and famous role. With makeup that daily took several hours to apply, and constrained by a 50-lb. artificial hump, Chaney physically produced the unforgettable human oddity Quasimodo. But it is Chaney's ability to capture the spirit and humanity of the malformed character that has deeply affected audiences for over 80 years. Deaf and half-blind, the hunchback bellringer Quasimodo lives high in the towers of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in 15th-century Paris. When the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) takes pity on Quasimodo, he becomes her loyal friend, protecting her from the villainous ex-priest Jehan (Brandon Hurst), who has failed to win Esmeralda's love.
Universal Pictures. Based on the novel Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo. Producer: Carl Laemmle. Scenario: Edward T. Lowe, Jr., Percy Poore Sheehan. Cinematographer: Robert Newhard, Tony Kornman. Editor: Sidney Singerman, Maurice Pivar, Edward Curtiss. Cast: Lon Chaney, Ernest Torrence, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry. 16mm, silent, (22 fps), 93 min.
JOHNNY GUITAR
(from IMDB)
Vienna has built a saloon oustide of town, and she hopes to build her own town once the railroad is put through, but the townsfolk want her gone. When four men hold up a stagecoach and kill a man the town officials, led by Emma Small, come to the saloon to grab four of Vienna's friends, the Dancin' Kid and his men. Vienna stands strong against them, and is aided by the presence of an old acquaintance of hers, Johnny Guitar, who is not what he seems.
KID MONK BARONI, 1952, Wade Williams, 79 min. Dir. Harold D. Schuster. Leonard Nimoy, in his debut leading role, is Paul âMonk' Baroni, a street gang hoodlum in New York City's Little Italy, who has his life suddenly change when he becomes a professional boxer. A great little sleeper of a B film, with a cast that also includes Bruce Cabot, Mona Knox and Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen of "Adventures of Superman"). Leonard Nimoy In-Person!!
LADYBUG, LADYBUG, 1963, Columbia (Sony Repertory) 82 min. The release date was well in advance of the birth of the New Hollywood, but this shattering little drama is ample evidence why director Frank Perry was one of the prime progenitors of the era once it finally dawned. His second feature film, after the acclaimed DAVID AND LISA, was inspired by the fear and terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis. A school principal and staff receive warning of an impending nuclear attack, and, unable to confirm the details, they decide to walk all of their young pupils to their nearby homes. Impossibly hard to see today, despite glowing reviews when it was originaly released, Perry once more collaborates with his wife Eleanor in adapting a story by Lois Dickert. With a great cast including William Daniels, Jane Connell, James Frawley and all those great kids. NOT ON VIDEO!
LIBERATION OF L.B. JONES, 1970, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 102 min. Like fellow âold school' filmmaker John Huston, director William Wyler proves himself up to delivering on the promise of a more open New Hollywood with this scorching look at racism and hypocrisy in a small Southern town. Roscoe Lee Browne throws off sparks as rich, black undertaker, L.B. Jones, a man cuckolded by an amoral wife (an incandescent Lola Falana) and one of the town's meanest white cops (Anthony Zerbe). When Jones decides he wants a divorce, he suddenly finds himself taking the brunt of escalating harassment from Zerbe, who wants to keep his affair with a black woman a secret. Lee J. Cobb is the town's D.A., a âdecent' man with an ingrained streak of racism. Barbara Hershey is Cobb's daughter and Lee Majors, her idealistic lawyer husband. With a superb Yaphet Kotto as an angry fugitive with his own axe to grind. Sterling Silliphant and Jesse Hill Ford wrote the screenplay (from Ford's novel). A surprisingly unflinching, tell-it-like-is movie. Due to certain images and subject matter no one under 17 will be admitted to this screening.
LOVEJOY ('05, 30m) Vanessa Renwick's memorial to murals made in the 40's by Oregon switchman Tom Stefopoulos. This revealing folk documentarian records the restoration of these marvelous columns, featured in Van Zant's Drugstore Cowboy.
MACON COUNTY LINE, 1974, Max Baer Productions, 89 min. Dir. Richard Compton. A superb, nervewracking drive-in sleeper that still holds up today. Real-life brothers, Allan and Jesse Vint, are siblings touring the countryside with Cheryl Waters, their hitchhiker pal, when the trio suddenly becomes stranded in a backwater town due to car trouble. An unfortunate coincidence implicates them in a crime they did not commit, and before long self-righteous sheriff Reed Morgan (Max Baer, Jr. in an astonishingly ferocious performance) is on their trail, intent on wiping them off the face of the earth. Expertly walks the line between violent exploitation programmer and a character-driven drama. Co-starring Joan Blackman, Geoffrey Lewis, Leif Garrett, Emile Meyer, Jay Adler and Doodles Weaver. New 35mm Print!
MARATHON MAN
(from IMDB)
In New York City, the brother of an infamous Nazi war criminal is killed in a head on collision car accident. Shortly thereafter, members of a covert US government group called "The Division" begin to be murdered one by one. When the brother to one Division member sees his brother knifed to death, it is revealed that former SS dentist Szell, "the White Angel" of Auschwitz, is wrapping up loose ends to smuggle priceless diamonds from the United States.
MICKEY ONE, 1965, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 93 min. This one is so far ahead of its time... we still probably haven't caught up to it. Released right before the New Hollywood really erupted, it was films like this that paved the way, making the road a little less rough for the more famous trailblazing pictures that followed. Nightclub comic Warren Beatty, on the run from the Mob, flees to Detroit hoping to start a new lifeâbut gangsters are less of a problem than his own personal demons. Dazzlingly shot by Ghislain Cloquet and featuring Stan Getz on the soundtrack, this is a bold and unique achievement for Beatty and director Arthur Penn, who two years later would reteam for a little item called BONNIE AND CLYDE. Written by Alan M. Surgal and co-starring Alexandra Stewart, Jeff Corey, Franchot Tone and Hurd Hatfield. NOT ON VIDEO!
THE NARROW MARGIN, 1952, Warner Bros., 71 min. This always receives its share of votes as one of the finest noirs ever made -- and the spiciest of its many ingredients is the unforgettable Marie Windsor. She and co-star Charles McGraw trade priceless purple putdowns as he ferries her across the rails from Chicago to L.A., where she's scheduled to testify in a racket busting trial. Plenty of switchbacks along the way, rendered with maximum punch and pace by the master, Richard Fleischer.
NIGHT MOVES, 1975, Warner Bros., 95 min. Dir. Arthur Penn. Gene Hackman plays an ex-football star-turned-private eye whose life unravels when he finds his wife Susan Clark has been unfaithful. Adding to Hackman's mid-life crisis, his job finding a missing teenager (Melanie Griffith in her first real role) goes abruptly sour in a nightmarish labyrinth of betrayals and sudden death. One of the best neo-noirs, NIGHT MOVES builds to a bonechilling, expertly orchestrated climax. With Jennifer Warren, James Woods.
THE OSCAR, 1966, Avco-Embassy & Stuart Lisell Films, 118 min. Dir. Russell Rouse. Get in the mood for the Oscar telecast with this hilariously overheated drama of the race for the Oscar statuette, a kind of masculine version of ALL ABOUT EVE, starring Stephen Boyd as a strip club barker-turned-Hollywood star, clawing and back-stabbing his way to Academy Awards night, while lover Elke Sommer and a wildly-miscast Tony Bennett (in his only starring role) stand by and suffer. Look for Milton Berle in an excellent supporting role as Boyd's agent, along with cameos from Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Edith Head, Hedda Hopper, Merle Oberon and Nancy Sinatra. Discussion following the film with actress, Elke Sommer.
PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK, 1971, 20th Century Fox, 110 min. Then-newcomers Al Pacino and Kitty Winn are a junkie Romeo and Juliet in director Jerry Schatzberg's harrowing, near-documentary study of heroin addiction on the streets of New York City. Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne's economic, compassionate screenplay plots the couple's self-destructive spiral with relentless logic that is neither patronizing nor preachy. A gutwrenching, surprisingly overlooked classic that would never find major studio release today. NOT ON VIDEO!
PLAY IT AS IT LAYS, 1972, Universal, 99 min. Director Frank Perry (DAVID AND LISA) delivered many edgy psychological classics, and none is more deserving of rediscovery than this rarely-screened adaptation of Joan Didion's bestseller, with a screenplay by Didion and her late husband, John Gregory Dunne. Tuesday Weld is at her best as fiercely intelligent Maria, an ex-model on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In-the-closet producer Anthony Perkins is her only friend and Adam Roarke her estranged, director husband trying to jumpstart his career out of the biker-film ghetto. A scathing portrait of Hollywood in the early 1970's. NOT ON VIDEO!
POINT BLANK, 1967, Warner Bros., 92 min. Director John Boorman's second feature film really put him on the New Hollywood map and changed the look of action movies for years to come. This hardboiled neo-noir (adapted from The Hunter, the first of a series of novels by Richard Stark) retains the gritty frissons of the best pulp thrillers but is also a brain-twisting deconstruction of narrative. Brilliant from beginning to end, with Lee Marvin as a master thief seemingly back from the dead, out to get payback on the best friend that betrayed him (John Vernon) as well as the shadowy Mob moneymen behind the scenes. With Angie Dickinson, Carroll O'Connor, Keenan Wynn.
PORTRAIT #1: CASCADIA TERMINAL ('05, 6m) Renwick's mesmerizing stare at the most efficient grain terminal at the port of Vancouver, B.C.
PRIME CUT, 1972, Hollywood Classics, 88 min. Director Michael Ritchie was renowned for his biting satires on American life (THE CANDIDATE, THE BAD NEWS BEARS), and here he serves up one of his most subversive. Lee Marvin stars as an expert enforcer, hired by the Irish mob to lower the boom on a homicidal pair of renegade brothers (Gene Hackman, Gregory Walcott) and their meatpacking operation in Kansas City. Zeroing in on the sunny midwest, Ritchie takes potshots at all forms of soul-destroying consumer excess, skewering a culture that, at its worst, puts young women on the same level as cattle. A perfect melding of hard-as-nails gangster saga with dark, dark humor. And as an added bonus, we get to see a very young, enchanting Sissy Spacek in her debut film!
RANCHO NOTORIOUS
(from IMDB)
A western based on the story "Gunsight Whitman" by Silvia Richards. Vern Haskell, a nice rancher, seeks out to revenge his fiance's death when she is killed during a robbery. His revenge leads him to Chuck-a-luck, Altar Keane's ranch set up to hide criminals, and he finds more than he bargains for.
THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
(1926) Directed by Tod Browning
After his wife dies giving birth, sea captain Joe (Lon Chaney) leaves his infant daughter Rosemary to be raised by a priest in a Mandalay convent. Years later, Joe is the hard-living, half-blind operator of a brothel who has engaged in shady business with "the Admiral" (Owen Moore). Unaware of her father's identity, the innocent Rosemary (Lois Moran) falls in love with the Admiral, a situation that Joe finds intolerable. Tragedy ensues when Joe intervenes in his daughter's plans to marry the Admiral, who has reformed his wild ways. Chaney played the scarred, tattooed, one-eyed Joe with the aid of a specially made optical glass shield to mask his left eye.
MGM. Producer: Irving G. Thalberg. Scenario: Elliott Clawson, Tod Browning, Herman Mankiewicz. Cinematographer: Merritt B. Gerstad. Editor: Errol Taggart. Cast: Lon Chaney, Lois Moran, Owen Moore, Henry B. Walthall. 35mm, silent, (24 fps), 74 min. Presented with live musical accompaniment.
SAVAGE SEVEN, 1968, Sony Repertory, 94 min. A scorching, early gem from Richard Rush (THE STUNT MAN) with Adam Roarke (PLAY IT AS IT LAYS) as the head honcho of a biker gang who leads his unruly band of outcasts onto an Indian reservation, establishing a brief, uneasy co-existence with the Native Americans, specifically Robert Walker, Jr. and Joanna Frank (AMERICA, AMERICA). Soon local government and big business drive a wedge between the two factions, pitting them against each other to keep both marginalized and powerless on society's fringe. Delivers in both thrills and caustic social commentary, with locations and performances unusually credible for this genre. With Larry Bishop, Billy Green Bush, John Bud Cardos. NOT ON VIDEO! New 35mm Print!
SECONDS
(from IMDB)
There is a very secret organization that offers wealthy people a second chance at life; the customer picks out someone they want to be and the organization surgically alters the customer to look like the intended person, stages the customer's death, gets rid of the intended person and the customer has a new life. There's only one thing they didn't count on.....
SEE NO EVIL, 1971, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 89 min. Dir. Richard Fleischer. Compact, claustrophobic and unbearably-tense nail-biter as blind Mia Farrow is stalked on a rural British farm by her family's deranged killer. Based on a script by Brian Clemens (CAPTAIN KRONOS, "The Avengers" TV series), this is easily the best (and scariest) of the many blind/mute/deaf girl-menaced-by-killer scenarios -- sorry, WAIT UNTIL DARK - ! Archival 35 mm. Print!
THE SEVEN SAMURAI (SHICHININ NO SAMURAI), 1954, Janus Films, 207 min. Director Akira Kurosawa's most famous film is certainly one of the finest movies ever made - a huge, sprawling but intimate, character-driven period epic about an aging swordsman (the great Takashi Shimura) who enlists six other warriors-for-hire (amongst them, Toshiro Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isao Kimura, Daisuke Kato, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Inaba) to safeguard a remote village plagued by bandits. One of Kurosawa's prime talents as director, aside from his meticulous attention to writing and character development, was his ability to create a lived-in wealth of detail in all of his in-period samurai films. Nowhere is this talent more evident than in this hypnotic evocation of a bygone age. The action film prototype, enormously influential on a legion of filmmakers from around the world, including Sam Peckinpah and Clint Eastwood. "Moves like hot mercury, and it draws a viewer so thoroughly into its world that real life can seem thick and dull when the lights come up." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe.
THE SHOW
(1927) Directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning's fascination with carnivals and sideshows surfaces once more in this film, one of his few at MGM made without Lon Chaney. It retains many of the elements of a Chaney-Browning film, however, including a love triangle, a murderous villain, death and macabre forms of entertainment. Budapest scalawag Cock Robin (John Gilbert) has a sideshow that includes a mermaid, a woman's head in a spider web and Cleopatra's hand. Cock Robin himself re-enacts the beheading of John the Baptist several times a day with the aid of Salomé (Renée Adorée) and an axe-wielding executioner known as "the Greek" (Lionel Barrymore). When the Greek commits murder, he takes advantage of the opportunity to frame Cock Robin for the crime in an attempt to clear himself and eliminate his rival for Salomé's love.
MGM. Based on the novel The Day of Souls by Charles Tenney Jackson. Scenario: Waldemar Young, Joseph Farnham. Editor: Errol Taggart. Choreographer: John Arnold. Cast: John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Connelly. 35mm, silent, (24 fps), 70 min. Presented with live musical accompaniment.
SOYLENT GREEN, 1972, Warner Bros., 100 min. Based on Harry Harrison's novel Make Room! Make Room!, Richard Fleischer's sci-fi thriller is even more frightening (and prescient) today than when it was released. Cop Charlton Heston tries to track down a minor politician's killer -- and uncovers the ultimate horror of mankind's new place in the food chain. With the great Edward G. Robinson in his final screen role.
THE SWIMMER, 1968, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 94 min. One of the most unjustly neglected figures of the New Hollywood, director Frank Perry made 10 low-key, razor-sharp dissections of modern morals and relationships between 1962 and 1975. Based on John Cheever's acclaimed novel, THE SWIMMER follows vigorous, middle-aged Burt Lancaster on a metaphoric journey swimming from backyard pool to backyard pool, headed towards a "home" that may no longer exist. A nostalgic portrait of regret and despair lying beneath the gemlike surface of suburbia, featuring one of Lancaster's finest performances.
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
(from IMDB)
When the Holmes Woolen Mill burns down, political activist Leopold Dilg is jailed for arson (and murder; one man was lost). Escaping, Leopold hides out in the home of his childhood sweetheart Nora Shelley ...which she has just rented to unsuspecting law professor Michael Lightcap. As Lightcap's unwelcome guests, Nora and Leopold drag the professor, willy-nilly, from pure legal theory to impure legal practice. Blends comedy, thriller, philosophy, mystery and romance.
TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE
By turning the cameras on his cinematographer father, Haskell Wexler, a son confronts this complex and difficult man and in doing so, attempts to emerge from his shadow. 35mm. 95 min.
10 RILLINGTON PLACE, 1970, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 111 min. One of director Fleischer's personal favorites: a relentlessly realistic and devastatingly matter-of-fact depiction of mild-mannered sex killer John Christie (Richard Attenborough, in a shattering performance) in 1940's London. The hanging of innocent dupe Timothy Evans (John Hurt) led to Britain's abolition of the death penalty.
THIS CARTOON LIFE
Contemporary foibles get the irreverent treatment in this collection of cartoon mischief. Featured are the BOBBY BUMPS shorts based on R.F. Outcault's Buster Brown comic strip, two TAD-inspired shorts including the Prohibition parody BREATH OF A NATION, and a bacchanalian knock, once again, against Prohibition in THE BEER PARADE. This last stars Dick Huemer's Scrappy, a boy who took the less frequent route from animated cartoon to comic strip.
BOBBY BUMPS STARTS A LODGE
1916 Animator: Earl Hurd. Based on the Buster Brown comic by R.F. Outcault.
35mm, silent, approx. 9 min. (18 fps).
BOBBY BUMPS AT THE DENTIST
1917 Director: Earl Hurd. Based on the Buster Brown comic by R.F. Outcault.
35mm, silent, approx. 4 min. (18-20 fps).
INDOOR SPORTS
1921 Animator: William C. Nolan. Based on a comic by Thomas A. Dorgan
("TAD"). 35mm, silent, approx. 7 min. (21 fps).
BREATH OF A NATION
1919 Director: Gregory La Cava. Based on a comic by Thomas A. Dorgan ("TAD").
35mm, silent, approx. 7 min. (18 fps).
THE BEER PARADE
1933 Director: Dick Huemer. 35mm, 7 min.
Approx. TRT: 34 min.
TOKYO STORY (TOKYO MONOGATARI), 1953, Janus Films, 136 min. Revered master director Yasujiro Ozu dealt with the pathos, poetry and humor of everyday family life in Japan, and his most highly-regarded masterwork is, without question, this heartrending drama of two elderly parents (Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashiyama) leaving their provincial home village to visit their indifferent grown-up children in the city. Like all of Ozu's other pictures, there is a deceptively simple presentation of commonplace events, that nevertheless, by the end, have drawn on deep wellsprings of emotion. One of Ozu's greatest talents was in showing these feelings as universal, as part of the human condition and not specific to Japan - it is well-nigh impossible not to be moved by his films.
TORSO (I Corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale)
(from IMDB)
Someone is strangling coeds in Rome. The only clue is that the killer owns a red and black scarf, and police are stumped. American exchange student Jane and her friends decide to take a break from classes by going up to Danielle's uncle's villa in the country. Unfortunately the killer decides to follow, and the women begin suffering a rapid attrition problem.
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, 1954, Walt Disney, 122 min. Richard Fleischer's most beloved film captures both the childlike sense of adventure and the more sober nature of Jules Verne's classic novel: James Mason is the ideal Captain Nemo opposite salty dog Kirk Douglas, scientist Paul Lukas and faithful valet Peter Lorre. Academy Award-winning art direction and special effects highlight this surprisingly adult Disney fantasy
THE UNHOLY THREE
(1925) Directed by Tod Browning
The "Man of a Thousand Faces" adopts drag in this crime drama. A little person, a strongman, a ventriloquist and their female accomplice Rosie (Mae Busch) team up to commit robbery. Disguised as an elderly woman, Echo (Lon Chaney) sells parrots that fail to talk once their buyers take them home. This ploy allows the little person (dressed as a baby) and the "lady" bird shop owner to check out the homes of their wealthy clients. When the thieves frame Rosie's innocent love interest Hector (Matt Moore) for a robbery and murder, the crooks' scheme begins to fall apart. Chaney and Harry Earles would reprise their roles in the 1930 talking version directed by Jack Conway, Chaney's final film.
MGM. Based on the novel by Clarence Aaron Robbins. Producer: Louis B. Mayer. Scenario: Waldemar Young. Cinematographer: David Kesson. Editor: Daniel J. Gray. Cast: Lon Chaney, Mae Busch, Matt Moore, Victor McLaglen. 35mm, silent, (20 fps), 86 min. Presented with live musical accompaniment.
UPA: MAGOO, MCBOING & MODERN ART, Approximately 180 min. One of the crowning jewels of animation studios in the mid-20th century was UPA (United Productions of America), a group of brilliant artists, animators and technicians, who championed the contemporary graphic language of the era and produced modern animated shorts that challenged Disney's dominance of the medium. UPA was formed in 1943 by Stephen Bosustow, Zach Schwartz and Dave Hilberman, three artists who had met on the picket line of the infamous Disney strike of 1941. Pioneers of stylized animation, UPA rebelled against the "humanized pigs and bunnies" and juvenile fairytales of mass-produced Hollywood animation, instead creating animated shorts that seamlessly wove together human characters, sophisticated modern graphics, elegant music, satirical humor and edgy adult themes. The studio's early work in the 1940's consisted of dozens of training films for the US Navy and Army, as well as commissioned works like the classic "Brotherhood of Man" (1946) for the United Auto Workers. In 1948, the studio signed a production deal with Columbia Pictures and began to produce entertainment theatrical shorts. These films revolutionized the industry and made UPA the critical darling of the 1950s animation scene, garnering them countless awards (including three Oscars) and an unprecidented exhibition at MoMA, in 1955. Their most famous creation of the decade, the near-sighted Mister Magoo, became a phenomenon unto himself and was consistently near the top of cartoon popularity polls during the 1950's. The tribute at the Egyptian will include many of UPA's greatest hits including Bobe Cannon's "Gerald McBoing-Boing" (1951), John Hubley's "Rooty Toot Toot" (1952), Ted Parmelee's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1953) and Pete Burness's "When Magoo Flew" (1955), as well as shorts produced for the groundbreaking CBS TV series "The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show" (1956), a preview of a forthcoming documentary THE BOING THAT SHOOK THE WORLD and other rarities. In-between the films, animation historian and author, Jerry Beck, will moderate two panels about the studio and its films. Veteran UPA animators and designers including Bill Melendez, Alan Zaslove, Willis Pyle, Fred Crippen, and Sam Clayberger will be joined by contemporary animator Mark Kausler (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, THE LION KING), Lou Romano (production designer of Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES) and author/historian Amid Amidi (Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation, Chronicle Books).
VIOLENT SATURDAY, 1955, 20th Century Fox, 91 min. Dir. Richard Fleischer. Film noir gets the full mid-Fifties treatment -- lush color and CinemaScope -- in this vivid adaptation of W.B. Heath's classic caper novel. Victor Mature, Richard Egan and Sylvia Sidney head a terrific cast (including Lee Marvin in his thuggish prime), in this complex tale of the build-up to a small-town bank heist.
WEST OF ZANZIBAR
(1928) Directed by Tod Browning
English music hall magician Phroso (Lon Chaney) performs macabre magic tricks (such as using a coffin to turn his wife, Anna, into a skeleton), but a fight between Phroso and his wife's ivory-trading lover, Crane (Lionel Barrymore), paralyzes Phroso. Retreating to the African jungle where he is known as "Dead-Legs," Phroso uses his magic and influence over the natives to stymie Crane's business, all the while seeing to it that his dead wife's love child is raised in the lowest brothel in Africa. But Phroso risks extinguishing his humanity in his relentless quest for vengeance. Lon Chaney and Tod Browning chillingly explore the lengths to which a man will go to torment an enemy.
MGM. Based on the play Kongo by Charles de Vonde and Kilbourne Gordon. Producer: Irving G. Thalberg. Scenario: Elliott Clawson, Joe Farnham. Cinematographer: Percy Hilburn. Editor: Harry Reynolds. Cast: Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan, Warner Baxter. 35mm, silent, 65 min. Presented with live musical accompaniment.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?
(from IMDB)
A teacher who is having an affair with one of his students takes her out on a boat. They see a knife killing on shore. Other gruesome murders start occurring shortly thereafter, and the teacher suspects that he may be the cause of them.
WHITE LINE FEVER, 1975, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 90 min. Jan-Michael Vincent, returning from Viet-Nam and optimistic about his future, marries high school sweetheart, Kay Lenz, then buys his very own rig, all the better to get him started as an independent trucker. But he finds out things have changed dramatically while he was away, with his dad's old trucking company friend, Duane (Slim Pickens) now in thrall to syndicate hoods, big moneymen and corrupt politicians (as personified by L.Q. Jones, Don Porter and R.G. Armstrong). Before long, Vincent starts a virtually one-man war against the powers-that-be. A great combination of slambang action, hair-raising stunts and social commentary from director, Jonathan Kaplan (OVER THE EDGE). Plus vintage exploitation trailers prior to screening! Discussion in between films with actor, Geoffrey Lewis. New 35mm Print!
WHO IS BOZO TEXINO? ('05, 50m) Bill Daniel's spectacular travel adventure & rogue epic history of the century-old folkloric practice of Hobo and Railworker graffiti.
WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN?
(from IMDB)
Vietnam veteran Ray Hicks gets conned into helping his buddy John Converse smuggle some heroin, only to wind up on the lam with John's wife when the deal goes sour.
WINSOR MCCAY
Comics master and animation pioneer Winsor McCay himself translated the surrealistic imagery of his celebrated newspaper comic strips into the animated LITTLE NEMO and DREAMS OF THE RAREBIT FIEND. McCay reportedly made 4,000 drawings for LITTLE NEMO alone, devising a wooden holder and marking the corners of his paper drawings with crosshairs to keep them in register. Backgrounds were painstakingly redrawn on each sheet of paper. GERTIE THE DINOSAUR, perhaps the most famous of all early animated films and the work that set the template for character animation to come, was unveiled as part of a vaudeville act. By the time McCay made THE CENTAURS (extant only in a haunting fragment), he had begun experimenting with drawing on cels.
LITTLE NEMO
1911 Director: W. McCay. 16mm, silent, approx. 12 min. (18 fps).
DREAMS OF A RAREBIT FIEND: BUG VAUDEVILLE
1921 Director: W. McCay. 16mm, silent, approx. 28 min. (18 fps).
Fragment from THE CENTAURS
1921 Animators: W. McCay, John McCay, John Fitzsimmons. 35mm, silent, approx. 4 min. (18 fps).
GERTIE THE DINOSAUR
1914 Director: W. McCay. 35mm, silent, approx. 9 min. (18 fps).
(18 fps), approx. TRT: 53 min.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, 1974, 20th Century Fox, 105 min. Director Mel Brooks' hilariously abby-normal homage to 1930's monster movies on American audiences - one of the strangest, funniest, most brilliantly conceived comedies since the heyday of the Marx Bros. Gene Wilder (who co-wrote the script) stars as Dr. Frankenstein ("That's Frankensteen.") struggling to breathe life into tap-dancing monster Peter Boyle, with demented help from hunchback assistant Marty Feldman, lusty Teri Garr, neurotic girlfriend Madeline Kahn and Frau Blucher herself, Cloris Leachman. "The biggest problem we had in doing Young Frankenstein was that we had to do so many takes because we couldn't stop laughing." - Teri Garr. Discussion following with actress, Teri Garr.