a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
wed. jun. 4
mildred pierce @ last remaining seats @ million dollar theatre
what did you do in the war daddy?, a shot in the dark @ aero theatre
week end 8:30 PM @ rooftop screenings @ eighteen-thirty
jonathan richman @ the mint
thu. jun. 5
playboy jazz on film FREE @ lacma
folk shorts by les blank 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
black angels, darker my love @ troubadour
in the land of the head hunters @ getty center
the untameable 8 PM @ echo park film center
jonathan richman @ the mint
fri. jun. 6
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
war and peace parts 1 & 2 @ lacma
the lady eve @ silent movie theatre
class of 1984 10:15 PM, class of 1999 @ silent movie theatre
jon brion @ largo
dirty harry, a perfect world @ aero theatre
mother of tears MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
the mountain goats @ first fridays @ natural history museum
jonathan richman @ the mint
sat. jun. 7
the damned don't cry 1 PM @ silent movie theatre
the death of mr. lazarescu 5 PM, stuff and dough @ silent movie theatre
quiet wedding 7 PM @ starlight studios
the hunger @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
war and peace parts 3 & 4 @ lacma
john darnielle - 'master of reality' @ skylight books
underground forces 7 PM w/ henry rollins @ moca geffen
jonathan richman FREE 1 PM @ rockaway records
jonathan richman @ the mint
the mystical unionists 9 PM @ hope gallery
sun. jun. 8
forbidden planet 9 PM @ steve allen theater
harvey 7 PM, the glenn miller story @ ucla film archive
the ramonas 8 PM @ the airliner
no age, mika miko MATINEE SHOW @ the smell
performance @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
tue. jun. 10
chorake (crocodile), tintorera (tiger shark) @ new beverly theatre
pre-code cartoons 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
macao 1 PM @ lacma
wed. jun. 11
goldfinger @ last remaining seats @ orpheum theatre
camille 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
singer, bipolar bear @ the smell
fists in the pocket/marco bellocchio 8:30 PM @ rooftop screenings @ eighteen-thirty
thu. jun. 12
helio sequence @ echoplex
bound for glory 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
detroit cobras, les sans culottes @ troubadour
fri. jun. 13
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
venetian snares @ knitting factory
jaws MIDNIGHT @ nuart
war and peace parts 1 & 2 @ lacma
sullivan's travels @ silent movie theatre
massacre at central high 10:15 PM, three o'clock high @ silent movie theatre
jon brion @ largo
the thing, the fog @ aero theatre
sat. jun. 14
helio sequence @ detroit bar
war and peace parts 3 & 4 @ lacma
leave her to heaven 1 PM @ silent movie theatre
california dreamin' 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
meatballs @ angel city drive-in
escape from new york, escape from l.a. @ aero theatre
burial ground MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
earthless @ the smell
my man godfrey @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
greg proops, john c. reilly, russell brand @ largo
rachel mayeri @ telic arts exchange
stateside saints @ satisfaction @ the bordello
lawrence weiner films @ moca geffen
sun. jun. 15
clash of the titans 9 PM @ steve allen theater
the kid 1 PM, 3 PM, 5 PM @ silent movie theatre
occult L.A. 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
times new viking, psychedelic horseshit @ the echo
rockers @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
mon. jun. 16
times new viking, psychedelic horseshit, bipolar bear @ the smell
wed. jun. 18
the yakuza, eyes wide shut @ new beverly theatre
young frankenstein @ last remaining seats @ los angeles theatre
big trouble in little china, assault on precinct 13 @ aero theatre
extra golden @ dub club @ echoplex
secret machines @ viper room
city of god 8:30 PM @ rooftop screenings @ eighteen-thirty
thu. jun. 19
the yakuza, eyes wide shut @ new beverly theatre
the apartment, in the heat of the night @ egyptian theatre
earth @ the echo
fri. jun. 20
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
tales from gimli hospital MIDNIGHT @ nuart
war and peace parts 1 & 2 @ lacma
carrie MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theatre
jon brion @ largo
ice 3:30 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
once upon a time in the west @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater
better off dead, one crazy summer @ aero theatre
sat. jun. 21
never too young to die MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
war and peace parts 3 & 4 @ lacma
gilda 1 PM @ silent movie theatre
this man is news 7 PM, blanche fury @ starlight studios
city lights 2 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
cinematic titanic 8:30 PM @ la film fest @ john anson ford amphitheatre
the unknown woman, cinema paradiso @ aero theatre
shampoo @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
dave chapelle's block party, wattstax @ moca geffen
earth @ brookdale lodge (santa cruz)
sun. jun. 22
mccabe & mrs miller, there will be blood @ new beverly theatre
island of lost souls 9 PM @ steve allen theatre
nothing but a man 6 PM @ la film fest @ billy wilder theatre @ hammer museum
the eight diagram pole fighter 9:30 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
visual acoustics 4 PM @ la film fest @ the landmark
mon. jun. 23
mccabe & mrs miller, there will be blood @ new beverly theatre
tue. jun. 24
the magician 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
the mae shi, bipolar bear @ the smell
wed. jun. 25
mccabe & mrs miller, there will be blood @ new beverly theatre
the boxer from shantung 9:30 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
shadows 7 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
visual acoustics 4 PM @ la film fest @ billy wilder theatre @ hammer museum
gozu 8:30 PM @ rooftop screenings @ eighteen-thirty
thu. jun. 26
diminished capacity @ aero theatre
fri. jun. 27
rear window MIDNIGHT @ nuart
the palm beach story @ silent movie theatre
if... 10:15 PM @ silent movie theatre
grandmaster flash book signing 7 PM @ book soup
jon brion @ largo
blue velvet MIDNIGHT @ vista theater
bay of angels, model shop @ aero theatre
sat. jun. 28
humanoids from the deep MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
detour 1 PM @ silent movie theatre
sequences 6 PM, reenactment @ silent movie theatre
the singing thief 1 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
milestones 8 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
the man who knew too much @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
breakfast at tiffany's @ angel city drive-in
conversations that never happened @ telic arts exchange
the ox-bow incident @ moca geffen
becky stark 2 PM @ hope gallery
humanoids from the deep MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
sun. jun. 29
bride of frankenstein 9 PM @ steve allen theatre
love story, this is gary mcfarland @ egyptian theatre
the t.a.m.i. show @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
radar bros FREE (?) 5:30 PM @ little radio summer camp party @ little radio
mon. jun. 30
white dog 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
fri. jul. 4
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
sat. jul. 5
the accused 7 PM @ starlight studios
los muertos @ moca geffen
sun. jul. 6
blade runner the final cut MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
mon. jul. 7
blade runner the final cut MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
tue. jul. 8
blade runner the final cut MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
wed. jul. 9
blade runner the final cut MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
persona 8:30 PM @ rooftop screenings @ eighteen-thirty
thu. jul. 10
blade runner the final cut MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
fri. jul. 11
fear and loathing in las vegas MIDNIGHT @ nuart
sat. jul. 12
trashwomen, the flakes, thee cormans @ mr. t's bowl
brother sun sister moon @ moca geffen
thu. jul. 17
upsilon acrux @ the smell
fri. jul. 18
the ramonas @ the derby
darker my love, crystal antlers FREE @ the echo
sat. jul. 19
world premiere, 20th century @ starlight studios
the loons @ hipsters @ the pink elephant (SD)
thu. jul. 24
the warlocks @ the troubadour
fri. jul. 25
darker my love FREE @ the echo
sat. aug. 2
the hitler gang, sinners in the sun @ starlight studios
thu. aug. 7
darker my love @ the troubadour
wed. sept. 10
built to spill, quasi @ the troubadour
thu. sept. 11
built to spill, quasi @ the troubadour
sat. sept. 20
stereolab @ detroit bar
wed. oct. 1
my bloody valentine @ santa monica civic center
thu. oct. 2
my bloody valentine @ santa monica civic center
WHAT IT IS:
BAY OF ANGELS (LA BAIE DES ANGES), 1963, Cine Tamaris, 79 min. One of director Jacques Demy's darker and more melancholy efforts, his second feature (following his triumphant debut with LOLA) tells the story of a vacationing bank clerk (Claude Mann) who gets involved with compulsive gambler Jeanne Moreau. The characters are surrounded by lush settings - the film takes place against the backdrop of Nice casinos and beaches - yet the obsessive behavior and gray cinematography undercut the glamour at every ironic moment. Legend has it that Jacques Demy wrote the script for this classic in three days during a production delay on THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG! Michel Legrand’s music is haunting.
Bound for Glory
Hal Ashby's epic, simple and understated biopic of Woody Guthrie, detailing his exodus from the Midwest to California, is a masterpiece of ‘70s cinema, not only for its depiction of Guthrie’s music, but also for its portrayal of Dust Bowl despair. The story of a small-town farmer seeking prosperity in the West, Guthrie instead finds himself an able-bodied singer-songwriter. His lyrics and songs speak to the unspoken truths of the wage-slave poor working in the fields struggling against wealthy landowners. Inspired by Guthrie’s autobiography, Bound for Glory won two Oscars for Haskell Wexler's cinematography (the film was the first ever to utilize the Steadicam) and for Leonard Rosenman's music. David Carradine's performance is uncompromising as he breathes life into Woody's songs and the late Ronny Cox (Ozark Bule) as Woody's trusted union confidant deserves mention.
Dir. Hal Ashby, 1976, 35mm, 147 min.
THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG
(MA YONGZHEN)
(1972, Hong Kong) Directed by Zhang Che and Bao Xueli
"Godfather of Kung Fu" Zhang Che adapts the proverbial rise-and-fall-of-a-gangster formula to the mean streets of '30s Shanghai. Chen Guantai is a hick newly arrived from Shandong ("Shantung" in the Wade-Giles romanization of the film's title) whose path crosses that of a charismatic mafia don (David Jiang in a suitably svelte turn). When Chen's gangland idol is felled by a rival gang, the thirst for revenge propels him to muscle his way to the top of the Shanghai underworld. Bursting with typically Zhangian excess, this brutal fight film boasts iconic sequences oft-quoted in such latter iterations and homages to "heroic bloodshed" as John Woo's Hard-Boiled and Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. When the bloody climax arrives -- pitting one man's bare fists and body against a swarm of viciously-wielded hatchets up and down two floors of a teahouse-casino in an orgiastic fight to the death -- it carries a surprising, and poignant, allusion to impending societal calamity. -Cheng-Sim Lim
Screenwriter: Zhang Che, Ni Kuang. Cinematographer: Gong Muduo, Ruan Dingbang. Editor: Guo Tinghong. Martial Arts Director: Tong Kai, Lau Kar-leung, Lau Kar-wing, Chen Quan. Music: Chen Yongyu. Cast: Chen Guantai, Jing Li, David Jiang. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 126 min.
BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON
Selected by Amy Adler
Amy Adler’s work explores the interplay between a life lived on and off screen. She has worked directly with such well-known figures as Leonardo DiCaprio and Joni Mitchell to create bodies of work that question both the origin and the power of media-generated imagery and its effect on the creation of personal identity. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Franco Zeffirelli, 1972, 121 min.) is a fictional biopic covering key events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Returning ill from war, the wealthy Francesco Bernardone undergoes a spiritual epiphany, renouncing his materialistic ways in favor of a contemplative life.
California Dreamin'
Winner of the “Un Certain Regard” prize at Cannes in 2007, California Dreamin’ marked a short end to 27-year-old director Cristian Nemescu’s career, as he was tragically killed in a crash six weeks after the film’s principal photography wrapped. Inspired by an event that had occurred in the late 1990s during the Kosovo war, the film finds a scheming village station master in a Bucharest suburb blocking a train filled with NATO military equipment and American Marines for lack of legitimate customs papers. The scenario unfolds over the course of several days, as village locals mingle with the self-righteous stranded troops. Forced to live side by side, both groups discover that life can never again be quite the same.
Dir. Cristian Nemescu, 2007, DigiBeta, 155 min.
Camille
Gorgeous Art Deco sets help complete the lavish portrait of Parisian life presented in Camille, the classic romantic tragedy that cemented Valentino's reputation as a fantastically sensual leading man. His turn opposite the eponymous lead character (as star-crossed lover Armand Duval) is heartrending in light of the similarities his own life shared with this film's narrative: both were marked by impossible love, shocking betrayals, lapses into poverty, and a legendary untimely death. Armand takes on enough emotional turmoil to elicit a lifetime of crying jags when he becomes smitten with the ravishing (and tubercular) young courtesan Marguerite. This stunning adaptation of Alexander Dumas' timeless melodrama rivals Garbo's 1936 version in vision and poignancy, in large part due to the impressionistic, unusual set design of Natacha Rambova, who soon after would become Valentino's second (and third!) wife. Rambova also incited Valentino's interest in séances and the occult, a fascination that no doubt informed the very personal, haunting contribution he made to this unforgettable film.
Dir. Ray C. Smallwood, 1921, 35mm, 70 min.
Chorake (Crocodile)
(from IMDB)
Sompote Sands' CROCODILE will probably not be remembered as a classic of the genre, which is a shame, since it is one of the most remarkable films ever made. Half schlock JAWS ripoff and half leftover GODZILLA inspired rampaging monster movie, this is actually a production of the notorious Dick Randall, the brainiac behind such deliriously enjoyable bits of trash as KONG ISLAND, THE GIRL IN ROOM 2A, PIECES and HORROR SAFARI. We know we are in for quality, especially with the opening montage of disaster footage, hydrogen bomb test scenes and the sight of two teenage girls kicking and screaming while in the jaws of a huge fake monster crocodile puppet.
Cinematic Titanic
Ford Amphitheatre Screenings
(2008, 80 mins)
DigiBeta
Featuring: Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl
From the minds behind the cult classic TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 comes Cinematic Titanic, a hilarious combination of comedy and B-movies. As Roger Corman's The Wasp Woman, one of the worst movies you've never heard of, screens behind them, comedian-writer Joel Hodgson and other original MST3K crewmembers shoot a rapid-fire stream of wisecracks, jokes and general tomfoolery at the screen and each other. For this special performance, Cinematic Titanic will leap off the small screen and riff live at the Ford, turning a dreadful film into a delightful experience.
CITY LIGHTS
(1931, United States) Directed by Charlie Chaplin
From the balletic perfection of the boxing match to the heartbreakingly enigmatic conclusion, this is one of Chaplin's most perfect films. Like the later Modern Times, City Lights is a silent film that eschews spoken dialogue for a soundtrack of synchronized sound effects, including a squawking saxophone in place of a politician's stump speech. The film also underscores the humanity central to Chaplin's comedy and the simple beauty of his iconic screen persona. The Little Tramp falls in love with a blind woman and devotes himself to finding the money for the operation that will restore her sight. Simultaneously, an eccentric millionaire befriends the Tramp, whose essential amorphousness allows him to move between social worlds while playfully tweaking the pompous and pretentious along the way. Through it all, the Tramp never loses hope that love will triumph over adversity.
Screenwriter: Charlie Chaplin. Cinematographer: Roland H. Totheroh, Gordon Pollock, Mark Marklatt. Editor: Charlie Chaplin. Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers. 35mm, 87 min.
CLASS OF 1984
You’ll feel a whole lot better about any lingering high school traumas after catching this riotous two-fer from director Mark L. Lester, who earned a little place in cinematic heaven with Commando. First up, new teacher Perry King locks horns with malicious students from the Class of 1984, led by Timothy Van Patten at a school with mandatory metal detectors (imagine that!). Featuring Roddy McDowall as the doormat principal, Michael J. Fox as a terrorized freshman, and a theme song by none other than Alice Cooper, it’s a gory, fast-paced updating of The Blackboard Jungle with the nastiest shop classroom scene ever. Dir. Mark L. Lester, 1982, 35mm, 98 min.
CLASS OF 1999
The story gets a sci-fi makeover in Class of 1999, as unruly kids are under the thumbs of robot teachers; the B-movie dream cast includes Pam Grier, Stacy Keach, Malcolm McDowell and Joshua Miller (that spooky kid from Near Dark). Must-see viewing for anyone considering a career with the L.A. educational system. Dir. Mark L. Lester, 1990, 35mm, 99 min.
CONVERSATIONS THAT NEVER HAPPENED
Tamala Poljak and Anna Oxygen have organized an exhibition that incorporates
photography, performance, installation, food, and video within various forms of
collective consumption - two nights of dinner theater, a temporary cafe,
simultaneous TV dinners.
The point of departure for "Conversations That Never Happened" is a series of 200
photographic portraits that Poljak made in her kitchen while dining individually
with her friends and neighbors. As a group, the photographs might remind us of
"friend lists" on MySpace and Facebook, where sociality is expressed in serial form
(as a grid of pictures or a list of comments and testimonials). Do these grids and
lists refer to communities? And if so, how do communities relate to their own
representations? Over the next few weeks, many of the people depicted in the
portraits will be animated through the exhibition: they will eat dinner at TELIC;
they will perform as dancers, writers, actors, magicians, comedians...; they will
prepare and serve food.
At the opening reception on Saturday, the artists will be serving custom-made
pancakes (with shapes made to order!) and fancy drinks; David Scott Stone will do a
3 hour ambient set.
The Damned Don't Cry
“The joy of any Crawford performance is her portrayal of women whose worlds crumble around them, which she takes in with a slight tilt of those bizarrely-drawn eyebrows and a trembling in her clenched fists.” —Donna Bowman, The Onion
No one dares weep once Joan Crawford gets it going in this one. An unusual hybrid of film noir and chick flick, The Damned Don’t Cry features one of Crawford’s most iconic performances, and a story arc that resembles both Joan’s real-life rags to riches rise to stardom and the life of gangster Bugsy Siegel’s girlfriend Virginia Hill. From an oilfield shack to the head of a national crime syndicate, Crawford plunges into the swamp of corruption, using her sexual moxie as a blunt instrument on David Brian, Steve Cochran and Kent Smith. Directed by Vincent Sherman (who also directed Joan in two other pictures within eighteen months of Damned), this tough-edged movie showcases an aging Crawford still at the heights of her cinematic power.
Dir. Vincent Sherman, 1950, 35mm, 103 min.
THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu seems so realistic and convincing, unfolding in real time, that it’s hard to believe it was acted. As it follows an ailing boozehound who gets carted from one overtaxed Bucharest hospital to another in search of proper care, a whole stressed society is laid bare: each doctor, nurse, paramedic, and patient leaps into view with sharp individuality and articulate self-defensiveness. Director Cristi Puiu claimed the 2005 Cannes “Un Certain Regard” prize for this darkly humorous, compulsively vibrant feature. Dir. Cristi Puiu, 2005, 35mm, 150 min.
Detour
Coming in at a lean 67 minutes, underrated auteur Edgar Ulmer’s Detour may be one of the most inexpensive noirs ever filmed, but it’s nothing but one of the genre’s most “pure distillations – and most perversely entertaining triumphs.” (NoirOfTheWeek.com). Sultry siren Ann Savage plays one of the meanest femme fatales in the history of the genre, hurling acidic, barbed insults at Tom Neal, playing the motorist with a shady recent past who’s just picked her up from hitchhiking. Neal lets Savage’s berating, domineering behavior get the better of him as he drags her along for a grim ride through murder plots and seedy motel rooms; the two characters are glorious extremes of noir gender archetypes – the deadly female animal and the loser willing to let such a creature walk all over him in exchange for a glimpse at a more exciting life.
Dir. Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945, 35mm, 67 min.
DIMINISHED CAPACITY, 2008, IFC Films, 124 min. Director Terry Kinney's delightfully poignant and bittersweet comedy poses the question: How much is a good memory worth? That's the question that faces newspaper editor Cooper (Matthew Broderick) after a debilitating concussion takes him from the political pages to comic strip detail. Looking for answers, he travels home to Missouri, where his now-senile Uncle Rollie (Alan Alda) is on the verge of losing his home. When a valuable baseball card is thrown into the mix, these two men, along with a motley group of hometown friends, including Cooper's high school sweetheart, Charlotte (Virginia Madsen), head to a memorabilia expo to make the deal of the century. They dive headfirst into a snake pit of slick salesmen, crooked dealers and rabid fans, revealing that there are some things in life that you can't put a price on. Co-starring Dylan Baker, Louis C.K. and Bobby Cannavale in hilarious supporting roles.
DIRTY HARRY, 1971, Warner Bros., 102 min. Director Don Siegel turns San Francisco, ‘60s hippie mecca, into an unforgettable 70s war zone of bank robbers and psycho-killers, governed only by the long gun of the law - in the form of magnum-toting Clint Eastwood. A master of minimalism, of packing the fiercest punch into the fewest moves, Siegel transformed the genre film like no other American director. With Andy Robinson.
THE EIGHT DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER
(WU LANG PA GUA GUN)
(1983, Hong Kong) Directed by Lau Kar-leung
Director Lau Kar-leung and actor Gordon Liu - masterminds of the definitive movie about kung fu, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin - reteam in this gripping account of the slaughter of the men of the patriotic Yang family, by court rivals working in cahoots with Tartars during the Song Dynasty. Like 36th Chamber, Eight Diagram combines vibrant fight choreography with a lucid exegesis on martial arts technique. But instead of the earlier film's compendium of combat prowess, Eight Diagram distills Shaolin martial arts to one form: pole-fighting, with the monastic creed of deploying lethal force to defang rather than to kill vividly exemplified in the quick strike of the pole that can instantly knock the teeth off predatory "wolves." Gordon Liu brings ferocious intensity to his role as one of two Yang sons who survive the massacre and finds refuge with Shaolin monks. Alexander Fu Sheng, who portrays the other surviving Yang son, tragically died in a car crash during the film's production. -Cheng-Sim Lim
Producer: Mona Fong. Screenwriter: Lau Kar-leung, Ni Kuang. Cinematographer: Cao Anchun. Art Director: Chen Jingsen, Deng Guangxian. Editor: Jiang Xinglong, Li Yanhai. Martial Arts Director: Lau Kar-leung, Jing Zhu, Xiao Ho. Music: Su Zhenhou, Stephen Cheng Jinrong. Cast: Gordon Liu Jiahui, Alexander Fu Sheng, Li Lili, Kara Hui Yinghong. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. DigiBeta, 93 min.
Folk Shorts by Les Blank
We present three folk film classics by Les Blank, who’s spent nearly fifty years documenting on film the tastes, sounds and rituals of both regional America and points abroad. His singular freewheeling viewpoint of celebrating “simple, loving people of the Earth” has garnered him countless awards, including AFI’s Maya Deren Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achivement in 1990. The Blues Accordin’ To Lightnin’ Hopkins is a loving portrait of blues legend Hopkins, serving a heaping helping of live performances at both a community barbeque in his hometown of Centerville, Texas, and an all-black rodeo. The Sun’s Gonna Shine is a brief lyrical recreation of Hopkins' decision at age eight to stop chopping cotton and start singing for a living, and Sprout Wings And Fly is a poignant tribute to Appalachian fiddler Tommy Jarrell, whose unpretentious folk wisdom is interlaced with family scenes and reminiscences, plus plenty of old-time music.
Dir. Les Blank, 1969-83, 35mm, 80 min.
Gilda
Rita Hayworth unknowingly defined her career and the iconic image of the femme fatale itself with Gilda. The love triangle is a prevalent theme in film noir, but never has it been more painfully realized than in this film, for its triangle of love-hate is so devoid of warmth that it threatens to crumble at any moment, and we are kept eagerly waiting to see which way the structure topples. In a heartwrenching performance, Hayworth teeters back and forth with Glenn Ford’s small-time crook and George Macready’s wealthy fascist businessman until she’s out of juice; Allmovie.com reviewer Steve Press notes: “When…Gilda performs her signature number, ‘Put the Blame on Mame,’ she is not simply enraging both [Ford] and [Macready] with her open sexuality, she is also crying out in pain for the love she is being denied.” Gilda was produced by Virginia Van Upp, one of the few female producers working in the testosterone-charged studio system of 1940s Hollywood.
Dir. Charles Vidor, 1946, 35mm, 110 min.
HARVEY
(1950) Directed by Henry Koster
Based on Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Harvey features Stewart in one of his most renowned comic roles as Elwood P. Dowd, an eccentric small-town tippler whose constant companion on his daily tavern crawl is the iconic title character, a giant, but strictly invisible, rabbit. When Elwood's peculiar beliefs finally become unbearable to the family, his flustered but kind-hearted aunt (Josephine Hull) attempts to have him committed. The unpredictably humorous consequences ripple out from their immediate circle to affect the motley staff at the local sanitarium. Stewart earned an Oscar nomination for his disarming lead performance while Hull, reprising her part from the original Broadway run, took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Director Henry Koster was praised for his fidelity to Chase's immensely popular Broadway production, retaining several key cast members from the stage show as well as its gently whimsical tone and broad message of tolerance. A celebration of oddball individuality and a tongue-in-cheek critique of orthodox psychiatry, Harvey delightfully espouses an optimistic and inclusive vision of postwar American society.
Based on the play by Mary Chase. Producer: John Beck. Screenplay: Mary Chase, Oscar Brodney, Myles Connolly. Cinematographer: William Daniels. Editor: Ralph Dawson. Cast: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Victoria Horne, Charles Drake, Peggy Dow. 35mm, 104 min.
HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP
Vic Morrow and Doug McClure star in this gory sci-fi thriller about humanoid salmon-like ecological mutants that terrorize a sleepy fishing village and bother bikinied women.
ICE
(1970, United States) Directed by Robert Kramer
Praised by Jonas Mekas as "the most original and most significant American narrative film of the late sixties", Ice unfolds in a vaguely defined neo-future (looking suspiciously like late 1960s New York) where the US has abandoned the war in Vietnam in favor of a new one in Mexico, and where a revolutionary guerilla cell struggles to maintain unity while combating government-issued fascism. In Kramer's own words: "We want to make films that unnerve, that shake assumptions, that threaten, that do not soft-sell, but hopefully (an impossible ideal) explode like grenades in people's faces, or open minds up like a good can opener." -Scott Foundas
Producer: David C. Stone. Screenwriter: Robert Kramer. Cinematographer: Robert Machover. Editor: Robert Machover, Norman Fruchter. Cast: Leo Braudy, Tom Griffin, Robert Kramer, Paul McIsaac. 16mm, 132 min.
IF...
One of the first and greatest adolescent revenge fantasy films, this landmark entry in Lindsay Anderson’s “Mick Travis” trilogy with Malcolm McDowell is the cinematic equivalent of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” and still one of the most subversive films ever released by a major studio. (It was one of the first features to get slapped with an “X” rating, though it’s easily an “R” today.) Surrealism and experimental touches add further juice to this rallying cry against the oppressive hell of Western education, as Malcolm and pals take arms against the oppressive regime designed to turn them into dutiful grist for the British governmental mill. Even more potent for Americans now in the wake of real-life high school shooting sprees, this excellent late-’60 pop culture milestone can still be appreciated as a rousing absurdist comedy or a gut-wrenching glimpse of things to come.
Dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1968, 35mm, 111 min.
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, 1967, MGM Repertory, 109 min. Director Norman Jewison’s hard-hitting Southern murder mystery garnered five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Rod Steiger), Best Screenplay (Sterling Silliphant) and Best Editing (Hal Ashby). Philadelphia homicide detective Sidney Poitier arrives in a small Southern town to visit his mother but becomes embroiled in a murder investigation when he is picked up by the local constabulary for no other reason than the color of his skin. When his profession is verified, Poitier’s Philadelphia boss offers his services to redneck Sheriff Steiger to help on the investigation. Incredulous, wary and unapologetically racist, Steiger reluctantly accepts and eventually learns to respect his northern colleague. The outstanding cast includes Lee Grant (SHAMPOO), Warren Oates, Beah Richards, Scott Wilson (IN COLD BLOOD) and Larry Gates. "A film that has the look and sound of actuality and the pounding pulse of truth." – Bosley Crowther, The New York Times. Producer Walter Mirisch will sign copies of his new memoir I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History beginning at 6:30 PM. Walter Mirisch will introduce the screening.
IN THE LAND OF THE HEAD HUNTERS
Premiere screening of the 1914 silent film In The Land of the Head Hunters, by photographer Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952). The film is accompanied by the UCLA Philharmonia, conducted by Neal Stulberg, performing an arrangement of the original score which is held in the special collections of the Research Library at the Getty Research Institute. Members of the Kwakwaka'wakw will perform a traditional dance. Presented in conjunction with the symposium Documents of An Encounter.
ISLAND OF LOST SOULS
A terrifying adaptation of H.G. Wells' story about a vivisectionist trapped on a desolate island who alters the biological genetics of jungle animals and changes them into pathological man/animal hybrids. With Charles Laughton, Bela Lugosi, Richard Arlen and Stanley Fields.
The Kid
In celebration of Father’s Day, The Cinefamily presents one of Chaplin’s most moving and beloved films. The Tramp adopts an abandoned baby he discovers in an alley, and raises him to become his sidekick in a variety of schemes and cons. A moving and hilarious film about paternal love, or as Chaplin’s first title says, "A picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear..." Children under 18 get in half price to this special “kiddie” matinee.
Dir. Charles Chaplin, 1921, 35mm, 68 min.
The Lady Eve
Beautiful con artist Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) leads the aw-shucks beer fortune heir Charles Pike (Henry Fonda) up a windy road of romantic torments in The Lady Eve, Sturges’ riotous meditation on sexual politics, where neither side has much of a chance of besting the other. Harrington meets Pike on an ocean liner and, with the help of her partner-in-crime father, starts to swindle the contents of Pike’s pocketbook through crooked card games, but in the process starts to fall for Pike’s naïve charms. When he discovers her ruse and turns his affection into elaborate torment, she returns back in his life under the assumed identity of faux posh dame Lady Eve Sidwich, with one mission: to make his life just as tormented. One perfectly executed scene of buoyant comedy follows another; The Lady Eve possesses what the Bright Lights Film Journal calls “an obscene number of wonderful moments.”
Dir. Preston Sturges, 1941, 35mm, 97 min.
LAWRENCE WEINER FILMS
Lawrence Weiner began in the 1960s to create works that were central to the ongoing debate regarding the nature and meaning of art. He has defined art as “the relationship of human beings to objects and objects to objects in relation to human beings,” and that premise remains at the core of his work. Weiner’s oeuvre of film and video works broadens his ongoing interest in the relationship between object and viewer by adding the semantics of cinema to provide another facet to his investigation. PASSAGE TO THE NORTH and PLOWMANS LUNCH (shot in Amsterdam) are two companion pieces that explore what happens when objects, and people, are moved from one place to another. HEARTS AND HELICOPTERS—THE TRILOGY continues the themes of role and game-playing, and the use of language.
Leave Her to Heaven
Gene Tierney’s performance here as a mad, cold-blooded beauty who will stop at absolutely nothing to possess successful novelist Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) earned her an Academy Award nomination and the enduring awe of movie fans. It is hard to believe that such radiant beauty cloaks such evil, but such is true as we watch Tierney dispatch with anybody and anything that she perceives is getting in the way of Wilde’s affection for her. Tierney’s reptilian turn is what makes this film truly memorable, but Leave Her To Heaven is also beautifully filmed in Technicolor (an unusual touch for an entry in a genre that prides itself on things lurking in the shadows), and springs forth from a script leaving precious little to convention, in a genre where convention was often crowned king.
Dir. John M. Stahl, 1945, 35mm, 110 min.
LOS MUERTOS
Selected by Larry Clark
Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential American photographers of his generation, Larry Clark is known for both his raw and contentious photographs and his controversial films focusing on teen sexuality, violence, and drug use. Clark burst into public consciousness with his landmark book Tulsa in 1971, and directed the groundbreaking film Kids in 1995. Los Muertos (Lisandro Alonso, 2004, 82 min.) is a haunting film from Argentina in which a 54-year-old man, freshly out of jail, goes on a long journey through deep swamp and jungle territory in order to find his now-adult daughter. Highly atmospheric, the film has an unexpected ending that leaves viewers with more questions than answers.
LOVE STORY, 2006, 109 min. Produced and directed by first-time filmmakers Chris Hall & Mike Kerry, this is the story of legendary Los Angeles band Love and their singer Arthur Lee. One of the first mixed-race rock bands, the dark claustrophobic vision of their music and the band’s sinister reputation set them apart from the utopian ideals of the Flower Power generation and the Summer of Love era. Their 1967 album "Forever Changes" is rightly deemed to be one of the greatest records of all time. Set against the turbulent era of the 1960s in America, this documentary covers the fascinating journey from their origins at Dorsey High School in South Los Angeles to their spell as Hollywood’s favorite band to the creation of their masterpiece "Forever Changes," followed by their drug-fueled disintegration in 1968 and their continuing relevance to this day. Featuring extensive interviews with Love’s front man and main songwriter Arthur Lee, as well as original band members Johnny Echols, Bryan MacLean, Alban ‘Snoopy’ Pfisterer, Michael Stuart, Elektra boss Jac Holzman, producer Bruce Botnick, The Doors’ John Densmore and arranger David Angel, their story is told first hand by those who were there. "…very crucial to the West Coast sound in the era…fronted by the charismatic Arthur Lee, a space cowboy…Hendrixian on the one hand, but a sensitive folk-pop crooner also…The era is beautifully evoked, hazy and dreamy…fans of the band – or indeed the late 60s scene – will enjoy the lucid madness caught and preserved on film." – The Lumiere Reader.
The Magician (with live accompaniment)
Presented by Process Books
In celebration of the new Manly P. Hall biography “Master of the Mysteries” by Louis Sahagun, Process Books presents a special screening of Ingmar Bergman’s 1959 film The Magician with an original score performed by musician Yvanne Spevack and a live ensemble. Bergman’s film is a mystical contemplation of a magician and his vagrant troupe of medicine-show performers as they travel through the country in the mid-nineteenth century and are hounded by a skeptical public. Utilizing a combination of traditional orchestral string instruments, guitars, keyboards, accordion and electronic beats, the ensemble will be led by Spevack on acoustic and electric violin, musical saw, midi-synthesized electronic textures and processing. The Magician marks the second time Spevack has scored a film and performed it live, the first being Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle Of Algiers. “Master of the Mysteries” author Louis Sahagun will be present before and after the show to meet guests and sign books.
Dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1958, 35mm, 97 min.
MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH
Used to be that movies told kids with bully problems that you either got the cops involved or you outfought them, also telling them once the threat was gone, everyone would be nicer to each other. With Massacre At Central High, director Rene Daalder says both these thoughts are bullshit: the authorities don't care about kids, bullies have muscle and cunning you don't, and if you hand outcasts the whip they will gladly become the new oppressors. The only permanent solution to the problem is to kill them all yourself. Watch Robert Carradine, Andrew Stevens and hottie Rainbeaux Smith as they upend or are consumed by the social upheaval. Dir. Rene Daalder, 1976, HDCAM, 87 min.
MCCABE & MRS MILLER
A brilliant, offbeat drama of frontier life starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. This is Altman's personal and poetic interpretation of an American myth, resulting in a truly original western and one of the great films of its era. "A beautiful pipe dream of a movie...Delicate, richly textured, and unusually understated..." (Pauline Kael, The New Yorker). Also starring Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, Michael Murphy and William Devane. The exceptional cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the songs are by Leonard Cohen.
MILESTONES
(1975, United States) Directed by Robert Kramer and John Douglas
After a five-year filmmaking hiatus, Robert Kramer collaborated with John Douglas on this kaleidoscopic "scripted documentary" about the small triumphs and significant failures of the American radical movement, here presented in a new restoration direct from the Cannes Film Festival. Juggling six major storylines and more than 50 characters, Kramer and Douglas stare deeply into the ashes of a revolution, trying to understand what went wrong, searching for embers of hope. In the words of The New York Times' A.O. Scott, "I have the sense that any attempt to grasp the essence of the '60s will have to pass through Milestones, as sad and compassionate a movie as I have ever seen.” -Scott Foundas
Producer: Barbara Stone, David C. Stone. Screenwriter: Robert Kramer, John Douglas. Editor: Robert Kramer, John Douglas. Music: Bobby Büchler. Cast: Mary Chapelle, John Douglas, Kalaho , Lou Ho, Grace Parey, Tina Shepherd, Susie Solf, David C. Stone. 35mm, 195 min.
MODEL SHOP, 1969, Sony Repertory, 95 min. Dir. Jacques Demy. Gary Lockwood stars as a young American who falls in love with French model Anouk Aimee in this, Jacques Demy's only Hollywood studio feature (it was financed by Columbia). Aimee reprises her role as Lola from Demy's first film, but neither she nor Lockwood is the real star of MODEL SHOP: That honor goes to the city of Los Angeles itself, which Demy photographs with the same blend of wonder and authenticity that characterize his French films. This is no idealized version of Hollywood - it's an L.A. of supermarkets and parking lots - yet Demy's romantic eye gives a style and dignity to even the most mundane people and locations.
NEVER TOO YOUNG TO DIE
(from IMDB)
007 star George Lazenby plays secret agent Drew Stargrove who is brutally murdered by the ruthless Van Ragnar (Gene Simmons). Fast-paced, action-filled entertainment, with lots of explosions, battles, chases and romance. In this action-packed Bond-style thriller, the murdered secret agent's son, Lance Stargrove (John Stamos) is thrust into the dangerous and intriguing world of secret agents and espionage when he seeks revenge against Van Ragnar. Danja Deerling (Vanity) teams up with Lance as his sidekick and love interest.
Nothing But a Man
(USA, 1964, 100 mins)
35mm
Ivan Dixon (1931–2008)
Directed By: Michael Roemer
Writers: Michael Roemer, Robert M. Young
Producers: Irwin Young, Robert M. Young, Michael Roemer, Robert Rubin
Cinematographer: Robert M. Young
Editor: Luke Bennett
Music: Motown
Cast: Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, Gloria Foster, Julius Harris, Yaphet Kotto
Ivan Dixon, the charming, mustachioed actor best known for his role as communications specialist Kinchloe on Hogan's Heroes, was also a prolific television director and a committed Civil Rights activist. This little-known '60s gem by director Michael Roemer and screenwriter Robert M. Young features what is perhaps Dixon's finest performance. He stars as Duff Anderson, a railroad worker in Alabama struggling between his love for a local schoolteacher, portrayed by singer Abbey Lincoln, and the stark reality of life in the American South of the 1960s. In a role defined by his character's struggle for dignity and respect, Dixon exudes a wary gentleness that is heartbreaking but entirely in keeping with his subtle, winning talent.
Occult L.A.
Los Angeles has long been home to one of America’s most powerful occult scenes. The frontier town was already packed with Theosophists and Hindu gurus when the mystic Manly P. Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society in 1934 and started compiling the largest occult library west of the Mississippi. Some of Aleister Crowley’s most influential followers also made the Southland a crucial center of Crowley’s magickal religion of Thelema. Tonight’s program will combine presentations by independent scholars, and experimental esoteric films from Kenneth Anger, Curtis Harrington, Chick Strand, and others. Leading the evening will be Erik Davis, author of “The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape.” Also presenting will be Louis Sahagun, author of “Master of the Mysteries”, a new bio of Manly P. Hall; and Brian Butler, an expert on the life of Cameron, mistress of JPL rocket scientist Jack Parsons and LA’s most intriguing enchantress.
Once upon a Time in the West (1968)
At the height of what might be called the “Spaghetti Western” era, Sergio Leone created this follow-up to his highly regarded trilogy starring Clint Eastwood (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). The screenplay was crafted from a story written with Dario Argento, the now-legendary Italian horror director, and future Oscar®-winning writer-director Bernardo Bertolucci.
With a cast of Americans (Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson) and Italians (Claudia Cardinale, Gabriele Ferzetti, Paolo Stoppa), Once upon a Time in the West unfolds in a frontier town where the impending construction of the railroad brings together a rough mix of men and a beautiful widow who is menaced by a ruthless killer. Shoot-outs and acts of revenge and intimidation abound in this fast-paced, bloody exploration of the lawless age of western expansion.
This screening marks the 40th anniversary of the film’s 1968 release in Italy (it was not shown in the United States until May 1969) and celebrates the new restoration by Paramount Pictures.
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT
Selected by Edward Ruscha
In a well-known photograph, Edward Ruscha and Joe Goode are seen riding horses in Western gear. Ruscha has said that the image is a spoof of the two artists’ own roots in Nebraska and Oklahoma; while both grew up in those places, neither actually learned to ride horses while he was there. The Ox-Bow Incident (William Wellman, 1943, 75 min.) is a critically acclaimed Western drama, based on an actual incident that happened in Montana in the 1880s. Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan star as two drifters who wander into town just after a farmer has been murdered and his cattle stolen. They join a posse to catch the perpetrators, and a gripping tale of vigilante justice and mob mentality unfolds.
The Palm Beach Story
Zany (adj.): ludicrously comical. Things don’t get any zanier than in The Palm Beach Story, a picture with a premise so nutty that only someone with Sturges’ prowess could pull it off without effort. Tom and Gerry Jeffers (Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert) are a financially unstable couple banking on Tom’s abilities as an inventor. To bail themselves out of their situation, Gerry hatches the silliest scheme in all of schemedom: she’ll get a divorce and seduce a rich man in Palm Beach, Florida, in order to finance herself and Tom’s new shadow life – and somehow Tom falls for the plan! Gerry shacks up with a Rockefeller clone, and Tom trails the two, pretending to be her brother, unwittingly catching the romantic attention of the rich man’s sister. The whole affair collapses in a sequence of farcical events worth a hundred Wedding Crashers, proving that with this film, Sturges was at the very height of his game.
Dir. Preston Sturges, 1942, 35mm, 88 min.
A PERFECT WORLD, 1993, Warner Bros., 138 min. In 1963, fugitive thief Kevin Costner takes a young boy hostage while being pursued by laconic Texas Ranger Clint Eastwood; before long, the criminal and the boy become surprisingly close friends, but their relationship is destined to end in tragedy. Director Eastwood's follow-up to UNFORGIVEN continues his exploration of the gray area between good and evil and right and wrong; it's also one of his most moving, powerful, and ambivalent examinations of American masculinity and law and order. Film historian/filmmaker Michael Henry Wilson will introduce the screening.
Playboy "Jazz on Film"
Jazz historian and commentator Mark Cantor returns to LACMA for a ninth consecutive year to present an exciting program of classic jazz performances drawn from his unique collection. Featured performers include: Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, and Louis Armstrong. Sponsored by the Playboy Jazz Festival.
Pre-Code Cartoons
Prior to Hollywood’s Production Code in 1934, the animated cartoons produced by the major studios were just as violent, sexy, rude and crude as their live action counterparts. Nudity, naughty words, and outrageous gags involving body parts, toilet paper, voyeurism, ethnic stereotypes and, in particular, booze (remember, this was before prohibition ended) were the order of the day. The early 1930s cartoons were also artistically uninhibited in their use of the cartoon medium — the animators were allowed their imaginations to run wild, creating the trippiest cartoon shorts ever, decades before the arrival of LSD. Betty Boop, Krazy Kat, Scrappy and Flip The Frog are among the stars in this special compilation of rare film prints, assembled by animation historian Jerry Beck (of CartoonBrew.com), who will also introduce the program.
1930-34, various formats, 90 min.
REENACTMENT
Reenactment, formerly banned in its native country, is the story of two students who, after being arrested for public drunkenness, are given the option of jail, or working on a state-sponsored documentary on the evils of alcoholism. 12:08 Bucharest director C. Porumboiu cites Reenactment as the best film Romania has ever produced. Dir. Lucian Pintilie, 1968, 35mm, 106 min.
SEQUENCES
A program highlighting two key films that point the way to today’s Romanian New Wave. Astonishingly rich in its insights into the dynamics of filmmaking, Sequences is comprised of three episodes, each of which involves a camera crew at various moments in a production. In the first part, the words of the film’s protagonist come to describe the director’s own life. In the second sequence, an insignificant family drama hides deeper tensions off the set, and in the startling finale, two extras discover that during the war they were bitter enemies. Art imitates life, or is it the other way around? Dir. Alexandru Tatos, 1982, 35mm, 98 min.
A SHOT IN THE DARK, 1964, MGM Repertory, 101 min. Blake Edwards’ follow-up to THE PINK PANTHER gave both director and star free reign to unleash a non-stop barrage of pratfalls, sight gags and linguistic nonsense. Everything seems freshly minted, from Herbert Lom’s hysterics as Chief Inspector Dreyfus to Burt Kwouk’s first appearance as Cato. What makes Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau so endearing is the resolution of a thousand years of cross-channel rivalry in the form of a Brit impersonating an irresistibly clumsy Frenchman. With Elke Sommer, George Sanders. Director Blake Edwards will introduce the screening and appear for discussion between the films, schedule permitting.
THE SINGING THIEF
(DA DAO GE WANG)
(1969) Directed by Zhang Che
In a rare departure for director Zhang Che, martial arts and masochistic machismo give way to campy caper and songs. Taiwanese actor Jimmy Lin Chong plays the titular character Pan, a former cat thief now in a second career as a cabaret singer, who suddenly finds himself suspected in a new spate of crimes where the burglar leaves red carnations as calling cards -- in imitation of Pan in his jewel-heist heyday. As Pan's erstwhile fence, the peerless Luo Lie sheds the white eyebrows and dynastic robes of martial arts villainy for a trim goatee and stylish mod jackets. He Lili appears as the beautiful heiress who bumps into romance and danger while tooling around in glamorous 'dos and a white Mercedes convertible. This '60s-rama time capsule giddily channels 007 and Carnaby Street by way of colonial Hong Kong. Need we say more? -Cheng-Sim Lim
Producer: Run Run Shaw. Screenwriter: Qiu Gangjian. Cinematographer: Gong Muduo. Art Director: Johnson Cao. Editor: Jiang Xinglong. Music: Wang Fuling. Cast: He Lili, Jimmy Lin Chong, Luo Lie, Essie Lin Jia. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. DigiBeta, 87 min.
STUFF AND DOUGH
Puiu’s debut, Stuff and Dough, the Tarantino-like tale of a young cash-strapped punk accepting a courier job from a local gangster without ever inquiring just what’s in the package. Michael Atkinson of the Boston Phoenix writes: “[Stuff]’s all rhythm and time and experience, a road movie so stripped down that there’s almost nothing left.” Dir. Cristi Puiu, 2001, 35mm, 91 min.
Sullivan's Travels
In the whimsically self-referential Sullivan’s Travels, Joel McCrea plays a Hollywood filmmaker fresh off a string of successful comedy pictures who longs to bring something other than whimsy to the screen. In an attempt to the get at the heart of the “common man”, he disguises himself as a hobo and hurtles himself into the world of the downtrodden. His “working vacation” comes to an abrupt end when, after his ID is stolen during a mugging, he’s arrested and sent to work in a Southern chain gang. While there, McCrea finally learns that cinema’s version of reality and real reality are two greatly different things. The direct inspiration for the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Sullivan’s Travels is a guaranteed good time, and is regarded as one of the best movies-on-movies ever made.
Dir. Preston Sturges, 1941, 35mm, 90 min.
THE T.A.M.I. SHOW
Join us under the stars for this rarely screened live concert gem! The TAMI show rocks not only for the music by infamous garage and surf acts, motown's brightest stars, and british invasion legends. The TAMI show rocks because of the incredible energy blasting from an audience of thousands of teenagers!. With performances by Chuck Berry, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, The Rolling Stones,The Beach Boys and the best go go dancers of the era.
dj dante carfagna spins before and after the screening
co-presented by don't knock the rock this is the first of this years festival!
THIS IS GARY MCFARLAND, 2006, 71 min. First-time filmmaker Kristian St. Clair’s documentary stands in ethereal complement to Love’s "Da Capo" and "Forever Changes" albums. Born and raised in Los Angeles, vibraphonist Gary McFarland was the consummate Mod stylist, an ascot-wearing fashion icon pioneering a cool jazz groove akin to Georgie Fame. New York Magazine dubbed McFarland "the best arranger since Duke Ellington" in 1963, which turned heads the following year as Gary started adding Beatles covers to his repertoire. In 1964, his album "Soft Samba" (featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim on guitar) garnered a Grammy nomination, and collaborations with Stan Getz, Bill Evans and Gabor Szabo were soon to follow. In-crowd footage shows McFarland with music peers Lalo Schifrin, Machito, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Jim Hall, Grady Tate and Clark Terry. Incredibly strange psych-pop-jazz excursions were released by him throughout the rest of the decade, until McFarland’s mysterious and tragic death in 1971..
THREE O'CLOCK HIGH
Phil Joanou’s underappreciated ‘80s black comedy Three O’ Clock High, featuring an unforgettable anxiety-laden turn by Casey Siesmaszko as the hapless nerdy lead forced into an inescapable schoolyard fight with perfectly-cast bully Richard Tyson (Two Moon Junction!). Dir. Phil Joanou, 1987, 35mm, 97 min.
TINTORERA (Tiger Shark)
Two swinging sharkhunters are having the time of their lives at a bikini-stuffed tropical resort when a giant tiger shark decides to disrupt the carnal pleasure with a killing spree. Bad acting, gory footage of real sharks being mutilated and a bizarre love triangle up the weird factor ten-fold. Truly unique filmmaking.
UNDERGROUND FORCES
7–9pm: Music set by special guest Henry Rollins
Screening of Underground Forces starts at 9pm
Years before the birth of MTV, artist Joe Rees and his organization Target Video began taping and editing what would become some of the first conceptually and aesthetically driven music videos. In conjunction with the J. Paul Getty Museum’s exhibition California Video, MOCA presents a special outdoor screening of a two–hour Target Video program Underground Forces, featuring rare footage of west coast punk and New Wave bands, their east coast and European counterparts, and a healthy sampling of the artists, musicians, and fans that populated California’s underground scene in the late-1970s and early ‘80s. The show includes Target Video’s creative montages and performances by the Avengers, Bad Brains, Bauhaus, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Cramps, Dead Kennedys, Devo, The Dils, Flipper, The Germs, The Gun Club, Johanna Went, the Mutants, Negative Trend, the Plugz, the Ramones, the Screamers, SRL, X, and the Weirdos, among others.
THE UNKNOWN WOMAN (LA SCONOSCIUTA), 2006, Outsider Pictures, 118 min. Director Giuseppe Tornatore reunites with composer Ennio Morricone and actress Xenia Rappoport for this suspenseful film noir. Rappoport plays Irena, a Ukrainian immigrant with a tortured past who gets a cleaning job in a bustling Italian city. She develops a pathological fixation on the Adachers, the family for whom she goes to work as maid and nanny, and before long it becomes clear that something isn't quite right about the devoted housekeeper. As Irena's violent past reveals itself, shocking connections between her and the Adachers come out in a manner that threatens to destroy them all. "Bears all the marks of excellence in every department of filmmaking, and the haunting terror it evinces will keep you glued to your seat." - Entertainment Today.
THE UNTAMEABLE
The Most Shocking Film of 1923! Directed by Herbert Blache, The Untameable dramatizes the then-sensational subject of dual personality, with Gladys Walton in the dual role of Joy and her whip-toting, brutal, sadistic alter-ego Edna, and Etta Lee as her faithful Asian lesbian maid. You have never seen anything like it! And amazing comedy shorts from the late '20s from the unjustly forgotten Al Christie studios!
Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
(USA, 2008, 84 mins)
HDCAM - NTSC, HD-CAM (23.97)
World Premiere
Directed By: Eric Bricker
Writers: Eric Bricker, Phil Ethington
Producers: Eric Bricker, Babette Zilch, Karen Lee Arbeeny
Executive Producers: Lisa Hughes, Michelle Oliver
Co-Producers: Will Paice, Frederic Liebert
Cinematographers: Aiken Weiss, Dante Spinotti
Editor: Charlton McMillan
Music: Charlie Campagna
Featuring: Dustin Hoffman, Benedikt Taschen, Dante Spinotti, Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry, Julius Shulman, Juergen Nogai, Kelly Lynch, Leo Marol, Mitch Glazer, Raymond Neutra, Ricardo Legorreta, Tom Ford, Wim de Wit
Julius Shulman is synonymous with architectural photography and, to many people, Los Angeles itself. As a young man, Shulman befriended and worked with many of the major modernist architects working in the West, including Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler and Frank Lloyd Wright. It was Shulman's photography of their accomplishments that helped propel these figures into the public eye as producers of a new utopian mode of living. This comprehensive and illuminating documentary, animated by the spirit of a still-working 97-year-old Shulman, demonstrates his magnificent ability to control the eye's perception of designed space as somewhere we would all like to inhabit.
War and Peace
Voyna i mir | 1965-1967/color/233 min. plus intermission | Scr: Sergei Bondarchuk, Vasili Solovyov; dir: Bondarchuk; w/ Bondarchuk, Lyudmila Savelyeva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov
Sergei Bondarchuk's stirring adaptation of Tolstoy's novel about life, love, and death in three aristocratic Russian families before and during the Napoleonic wars of 1812, is a monumental film that features 100,000 extras culled from the Soviet army, and adjusted to today's currency, cost 700 million dollars to shoot. Although the four-hour English dubbed version released in the US in 1968 won that year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, the original seven hour Russian language film went unseen in America. Following recent screenings in Chicago, Roger Ebert wrote: "You are never, ever going to see anything to equal it! Bondarchuk balances the spectacular, the human, and the intellectual… And always he returns to ToIstoy's theme of men in the grip of history." We are pleased to present the original film in Russian with English subtitles.
WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY?, 1966, MGM Repertory, 116 min. Director Blake Edwards is at his most raucous in this classic service comedy, a perfect complement to his earlier OPERATION PETTICOAT. James Coburn and Dick Shawn play soldiers determined to have fun in an Italian village during the final days of World War II, regardless of irritating interruptions by the Nazis. Working with his SHOT IN THE DARK co-writer William Peter Blatty, Edwards crafts a consistently amusing farce that makes high art out of low comedy.
White Dog
Presented by Wesleyan University Press
One of the most iconoclastic, innovative filmmakers of the post-WWII era, Samuel Fuller instilled in his works a daring sense of style and a sensationalistic approach to truth. His goal was to produce emotional responses in the viewer, shock of recognitions, and he was willing to break every rule in the book to do it. White Dog, Fuller's most controversial project and one of his most rarely screened films, is the story of a young actress (Kristy McNichol) who hires an animal trainer (Paul Winfield) to cure a stray dog programmed from birth to attack blacks. Subject to uninformed charges of racism, White Dog was pulled from limited theatrical distribution by Paramount, after which Fuller decamped with his family to Paris and never made another American film. Wesleyan film professor Lisa Dombrowski, author of “The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I'll Kill You!”, will introduce the picture, and a Q & A, book signing, and reception will follow the screening.
Dir. Samuel Fuller, 1982, 35mm, 84 min.
The Yakuza
Robert Mitchum stars as an aging private eye hired by an old army buddy to track down his daughter after she's been kidnapped by the treacherous yakuza. In order to break into their secret criminal underworld, Mitchum calls upon an ex-yakuza operative (Takakura Ken) who has been indebted to him ever since the end of the war. Paul Schrader and Robert Towne are responsible for the complex, enduring plot of this suspenseful action film. According to Roger Ebert, "It's very violent, and the fact that the violence has been choreographed by a skilled director (Sidney Pollack, who made They Shoot Horses, Don't They?) just makes it all the more extreme."