a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.

mon. july 31

lady vengeance, oldboy @ new beverly theatre


tue. aug. 1

lady vengeance, oldboy @ new beverly theatre
forbidden planet 1 PM @ lacma
superman FREE 7 PM @ santa monica pier http://www.smff.com/smdi/index.html


wed. aug. 2

thank you for smoking, jesus is magic @ new beverly theatre
brothers of the head @ egyptian theatre
yabby you & scientist @ dub club @ the echo


thu. aug. 3

thank you for smoking, jesus is magic @ new beverly theatre
robert nelson films 8 PM @ echo park film center


fri. aug. 4

the big combo, the enforcer @ ucla film archive
close encounters of the third kind, thx 1138 @ aero theatre
the 'burbs MIDNIGHT MOVIE @ nuart
gris gris @ the echo
the freshman 8:15 PM @ old town music hall


sat. aug. 5

tiki-invasion @ mission tiki drive-in
kenneth anger @ ucla film archive
pressure point FREE 2 PM @ egyptian theatre
the girls on the beach, beach party @ egyptian theatre
the freshman 2:30 8:15 PM @ old town music hall
pee-wee's big adventure @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


sun. aug. 6

thrones @ the smell
brewster mccloud 3:05 8:05, nashville 5:05 @ new beverly theatre
ski party, surf party @ egyptian theatre
the war of the worlds @ aero theatre
the freshman 2:30 PM @ old town music hall
the big sleep 6 PM @ bay theatre


mon. aug. 7

the exorcist @ ampas
brewster mccloud, nashville @ new beverly theatre
the big sleep 8 PM @ bay theatre


tue. aug. 8

brewster mccloud, nashville @ new beverly theatre
the hard way FREE @ egyptian theatre
suspicion 1 PM @ lacma
the muppet movie FREE 7 PM @ santa monica pier http://www.smff.com/smdi/index.html


wed. aug. 9

pulp, some girls do @ egyptian theatre
the innocents, curse of the demon @ aero theatre
the big sleep 8 PM @ bay theatre


fri. aug. 11

westworld, the omega man @ aero theatre
2001 maniacs MIDNIGHT MOVIE @ nuart theatre
metropolis FREE 8 PM @ hammer


sat. aug. 12

men without names @ starlight studios
la tofu festival
slomo video festival 8 PM @ hammer
psycho @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


sun. aug. 13

la tofu festival
scarface (1932), the roaring twenties @ new beverly theatre


mon. aug. 14

chinatown @ ampas
scarface (1932), the roaring twenties @ new beverly theatre
factotum @ lacma
the antarcticans FREE @ silverlake lounge


tue. aug. 15

comets on fire @ the echo
mausoleum, demons @ new beverly theatre
comedians of comedy @ troubadour


thu. aug. 17

baby snakes @ egyptian theatre


fri. aug. 18

o lucky man!, if... @ new beverly theatre
the day the earth caught fire, last man on earth @ aero theatre
office space MIDNIGHT MOVIE @ nuart
fuck yeah fest! @ the echo & jensen rec center


sat. aug. 19

o lucky man!, if... @ new beverly theatre
beach party, the girls on the beach @ aero theatre
fuck yeah fest! @ the echo & jensen rec center
the clientele @ knitting factory


sun. aug. 20

fuck yeah fest! @ the echo & jensen rec center
the lost world 6 PM @ silents under the stars @ filmradar


tue. aug. 22

a silver mt. zion @ the echo


wed. aug. 23

the pope, sharp ease @ the smell


fri. aug. 25

the fallen idol, peeping tom @ new beverly theatre
little shop of horrors, the intruder, highway dragnet @ egyptian theatre
bipolar bear @ the smell


sat. aug. 26

sunset junction!
and sudden death @ starlight studios
the fallen idol, peeping tom @ new beverly theatre
the wasp woman, attack of the crab monsters, creature from the haunted sea @ egyptian theatre


sun. aug. 27

sunset junction!
dos @ the smell
lavender diamond FREE afternoon show @ UCLA fowler museum
bucket of blood, not of this earth, war of the satellites @ egyptian theatre
the birds 6 PM @ bay theatre


thu. aug. 31

this gun for hire, the blue dahlia @ new beverly theatre
baby snakes @ aero theatre
cinecon @ egyptian theatre






WHAT IT IS:




ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, 1957, Allied Artists, 62 min. Director Roger Corman planned this fast-moving giant monster mash to include a moment of horror, or threat of horror, every five minutes during it’s no-time-wasted duration. And he delivers. Surely one of the most satisfying (and most low-budget) atomic mutation tales from the 1950’s finds a team of scientists (including Richard Garland, Pamela Duncan, Mel Welles and Russell Johnson, later of "Gilligan’s Island") journeying to a pacific atoll to investigate the disappearance of an earlier scientific group. However, what they find are giant, telepathic crabs capable of absorbing the intelligence of the humans they eat. To make matters even worse, the crabs have stolen explosives from the Navy cache on the beach and are blowing up the island (!), gradually shrinking the available space for its human prey to run to. One of frequent early collaborator Charles B. Griffith’s most fun scripts.


BABY SNAKES, 1979, Intercontinental Absurdities, 164 min. Dir. Frank Zappa. In 1977, Frank Zappa gave a major concert in New York that gave full rein to the astonishing range of his talents. As a composer, musician, bandleader, conductor, satirist and ringmaster. Orchestrating the band, the event and the audience – the concert was a triumphant celebration of the breadth of his uniquely idiosyncratic vision. Zappa filmed the concert and spent the next two years editing, polishing and adding sequences to the film, including ground-breaking claymation. As usual, Zappa was far ahead of his time – and the film did not enjoy wide distribution on release. Frank Zappa’s widow Gail is currently restoring the entire Zappa film and video archive and this screening is just a flavor of what is planned for a full-scale Zappa film retrospective in next year’s Mods & Rockers Festival. Discussion with Gail Zappa following the screening. Ultra-Rare Screening: Frank Zappa’s Original Director’s Cut Of His Lost Masterpiece From 1979! Only Surviving 35mm Print!


THE BIG COMBO
(1955) Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Cynical, stylized and a little deranged, THE BIG COMBO tells the story of police lieutenant Cornell Wilde's quest to bring down the technocratic mob boss "Mr. Brown" (a terribly suave Richard Conte) while simultaneously seducing the mobster's girlfriend. Set in a jaded world where crime, romance and even mystery have been corporatized, the film also puts tough-guy masculinity to the test, what with male characters prone to sudden bouts of sobbing and two henchmen sharing what can only be described as a "Brokeback moment." Nicknamed "Wagon-Wheel Joe" for his baroque mise-en-scène, director Joseph Lewis (GUN CRAZY) outdoes himself here, both in his elaborate use of frames-within-the-frame as well as his celebrated transformation of a hearing aid into a torture device.
Producer: Sidney Harmon. Screenwriter: Philip Yordan. Cinematographer: John Alton. Editor: Robert Eisen. Cast: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef, Earl Holliman. 35mm, 88 min.


THE BLUE DAHLIA
(from IMDB)
Ex-bomber pilot Johnny Morrison and his buddies George and Buzz (who, with a metal plate in his head, can't stand "monkey music"), return from the war to their home town, Hollywood. In a rude homecoming, Johnny finds his wife Helen behaving like a tramp with oily nightclub owner Eddie Harwood. His marriage over, Johnny wanders off into the night, leaving his gun behind...and someone uses it to murder Helen. Dodging cops and seeking the real killer, Johnny is aided by blonde Joyce, who just happens to be the estranged wife of Eddie Harwood...


BREWSTER MCCLOUD
(from IMDB)
Brewster is an owlish, intellectual boy who lives in a fallout shelter of the Houston Astrodome. He has a dream: to take flight within the confines of the stadium. Brewster tells those he trusts of his dream, but displays a unique way of treating others who do not fit within his plans. When the fateful day arrives, and he enters the dome with his fanciful construction of bird wings, Brewster is surrounded by the police. Will he be caught before he attempts to fly?


BROTHERS OF THE HEAD, 2005, IFC Films, 93 min. "A raucous ride through a burning flash of glory in seventies British rock music,BROTHERS OF THE HEAD is an utterly uncharacterizable tour de force from two of the world's most interesting emerging directors." - Noah Cowen, Toronto Film Festival. Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (the acclaimed directors of LOST IN LA MANCHA) offer up a twisted, satiric rock 'n roll odyssey about pretty boy conjoined-at-the-chest teen twins, Tom and Barry Howe who were plucked from obscurity by a 1970’s music promoter and groomed into a freak show punk act, The Bang Bang. The brothers, one moody and violent, the other, pensive and sensitive, free fall into an endless night of rock 'n roll decadence and self-destruction fueled by the usual sex, drugs and booze, and further incited by artistic rivalry and an erotic intimacy. With footage from Ken Russell's unfinished documentary on The Bang Bang, TWO WAY ROMEO. "The tunes off the Bang Bang's one and only album are perfect, raw and roaring and just on the edge of catching the lightning bolt Johnny Rotten and the boys rode into history. " - Ain't-It-Cool-News Discussion following with directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe and actors Luke and Harry Treadaway.


BUCKET OF BLOOD, 1959, MGM Repertory, 66 min. After LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, this ranks as probably director Roger Corman’s most famous early effort, with a wonderful Dick Miller as mentally-challenged Walter Paisley, a waiter at a beatnik café jealous of the artistic types making up the clientele. When Walter accidentally kills his landlady’s cat, on a whim, he covers it in clay. Passing it off at the cafe as a genuine sculpture, he is proclaimed an artistic genius. But he soon realizes he will have to produce more ‘works of art’ if he is to hold onto his cherished, new reputation. Soon Walter resorts to aping Vincent Price in HOUSE OF WAX, killing people and covering them in clay to serve as his newest creations. With more appearances by then Corman regulars, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone and Ed Nelson. And look for future game show host, Bert Convy as a doomed narc!


CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA, 1961, Filmgroup, 63 min. Dir. Roger Corman. When a Caribbean island has a revolution, American gangster Antony Carbone figures out a scheme to make a fortune. He offers to help loyalist fatcats escape on his boat with the intention of murdering them for their money en route, blaming their demise on a mythical sea beast rumored to haunt the area. But he doesn’t count on a real sea monster (a dime-store version of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) showing up! A funny sci-fi comedy co-starring Betsy Jones-Moreland as Carbone’s moll and screenwriter Robert Towne (!) (under pseudonym Edward Wain) as hapless schmuck hero, agent Sparks Moran.


CURSE OF THE DEMON (aka NIGHT OF THE DEMON), 1957, Sony Repertory, 95 min. Jacques Tourneur’s masterful chiller about a mysterious string of deaths caused by a black magician (Nial MacGinnis in a great performance inspired by necromancer Alastair Crowley) is one of the most highly-regarded shockers of the ‘50’s, even in its original 83 minute US release. Although prints of the unedited version have circulated for years, they were from umpteenth-generation dupe material and looked pretty awful; this new restoration vividly brings back all the details of Ted Scaife’s photography and Ken Adam’s sets. Dana Andrews stars, with support from Peggy Cummins (GUN CRAZY) and Maurice Denham.


THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, 1961, Canal +, 99 min. Dir. Val Guest. Widely hailed as one of the most gripping science fiction films of the 1960’s, this is a chillingly prescient warning of ecological disaster. The U.S. and Russia set off simultaneous nuclear bombs at opposite poles, resulting in the Earth tottering off its axis to head for the sun. Edward Judd delivers a career-making performance as an embittered, alcoholic journalist who finds last-minute redemption through the love of Janet Munro and the salty advice of fellow reporter Leo McKern. When we screened it a few years ago at the Egyptian Theatre, the entire audience gave a 5-minute standing ovation at the end – come and you’ll see why.


DEMONS
(from IMDB)
Several people are invited to join the opening of a new movie theatre. As the horror film shown to the guests gets more and more violent, the people start to transform one by one into bloodthirsty demons. The remaining guests begin the desperate battle for their lives.


THE ENFORCER
(1951) Directed by Bretaigne Windust and Raoul Walsh
THE ENFORCER's other title was MURDER, INC., the name of the notorious organization of killers for hire that was brought to light and shut down in the early 1940s. The film traces the efforts to bring the organization's ringleaders to justice, efforts that were hampered by the regularity with which key witnesses would end up murdered. Besides its flashback structure, THE ENFORCER earns its film noir status through the requisite world-weary and cynical detachment of district attorney Humphrey Bogart and his fellow law enforcers. This detachment is matched by a matter-of-fact visual approach similar to other Walsh noir classics like WHITE HEAT.
Producer: Milton Sperling. Screenwriter: Martin Rackin. Cinematographer: Robert Burks. Editor: Fred Allen. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia, Everett Sloane. 35mm, 87 min.


Factotum
(1996/color/94 min.) directed and co-written by Bent Hamer; w/ Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Fisher Stevens, Didier Flamand, Adrienne Shelly, Karen Young.
Q&A with Matt Dillon and Lili Taylor to follow the screening.
Based on the novel by Los Angeles author Charles Bukowski and starring Matt Dillon as Bukowski’s fictional self Henry Chinaski, Factotum is the story of a writer who risks everything, tries anything, and finds poetry in life's pleasure and pain. A man living on the edge, indifferent to society’s standards and immune to its derision, Chimanski quests booze and women to fuel his creativity. When he falls for barfly Jan (Lili Taylor), the relationship fails to save either from their self-destructive ways. With an exceptional psychological and physical performance by Dillon, and droll, deadpan direction from the young Norwegian director Bent Hamer (Kitchen Stories) Factotum successfully captures the elusive voice of one of America’s most idiosyncratic writers.


THE FALLEN IDOL
(from IMDB)
Philippe, a diplomat's son and good friend of Baines the butler, is confused by the complexities and evasions of adult life. He tries to keep secrets but ends up telling them. He lies to protect his friends, even though he knows he should tell the truth. He resolves not to listen to adults' stories any more when Baines is suspected of murdering his wife and no-one will listen to Philippe's vital information.


THE FRESHMAN
(from IMDB)
Harold Lamb is so excited about going to college that he has been working to earn spending money, practicing college yells, and learning a special way of introducing himself that he saw in a movie. When he arrives at Tate University, he soon becomes the target of practical jokes and ridicule. With the help of his one real friend Peggy, he resolves to make every possible effort to become popular.


THE GIRLS ON THE BEACH, 1965, Paramount, 80 min. Dir. William Witney. "The jet action surf-set hits the beaches and captures a love-load of bikini beauties!" The girls from Alpha Beta need to raise a staggering amount to save their sorority house, so they plan a beauty contest and other fundraising activities. When three guys appear claiming to know The Beatles, the girls decide a benefit concert with the moptops would be the best bet at saving their sinking fortunes. Little do they know these bragging boys are full of hot air. Who will step in to save the day? Why, The Beach Boys (singing "Little Honda" and "Lonely Sea"), Leslie Gore and the post-Buddy Holly Crickets. Starring Martin West (LORD LOVE-A-DUCK), Noreen Corcoran, Ahna Capri (PAYDAY), Mary Mitchel (SPIDER BABY, DEMENTIA 13), Lana Wood (Natalie’s sister) and Dick Miller as a grouchy bartender! NOT ON DVD!


THE HARD WAY, 1943, Warner Bros., 109 min. Please join us for this memorial tribute to the great Vincent Sherman, an outstanding filmmaker who, at his peak during the 1940’s and early 1950’s, directed some of the finest classics from Warner Brothers studio, including OLD ACQUAINTANCE, MR. SKEFFINGTON, THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (screened to resounding approval during our recent Film Noir series), HARRIET CRAIG and more. But one of his best, THE HARD WAY, has been harder to see and comparatively less appreciated than these other Bette Davis and Joan Crawford-powered vehicles. Volatile Ida Lupino is the elder sister who fights with every underhanded, Machivellian trick in her improvised book of getting ahead, pulling her kid sister (Joan Leslie) from impoverished, mining-town obscurity into Broadway stardom, but losing everything in the process. Jack Carson (who should have won a supporting Oscar) and Dennis Morgan are the men unfortunate enough to cross Ida’s path. Rare interview clips with director Vincent Sherman will screen preceding the evening’s program. FREE ADMISSION.


HIGHWAY DRAGNET, 1954, Allied Artists, 70 min. Nathan Juran (THE 7thVOYAGE OF SINBAD) directed this fastmoving chase noir, co-produced and co-written by Roger Corman, his first significant credits in the movies. Richard Conte, an ex-GI implicated in the murder of a bar girl, goes on the run to prove his innocence and is picked up by writer Joan Bennett and her assistant, Wanda Hendrix. The trio end up at Conte’s abandoned home in a deserted neighborhood in the California desert – a settlement slowly becoming immersed by the encroaching Salton Sea in the strange, dreamlike climax. NOT ON DVD!


IF...
(from IMDB)
In an inditement of the British Boys School, we follow Mick and his mostly younger friends through a series of indignities and occasionally abuse as any fond feelings toward these schools are destroyed. When Mick and his friends rebel, violently, the catch phrase, "which side would you be on" becomes quite stark.


THE INNOCENTS, 1961, 20th Century Fox, 100 min. Director Jack Clayton also directed British New Wave gems ROOM AT THE TOP and THE PUMPKIN EATER, but his most famous film remains this goose-pimply, shuddery adaptation of Henry James classic ghost story, Turn Of The Screw. Deborah Kerr is a repressed governess who is convinced that the ghosts of the last governess and the woman’s equally dead, cruel lover, Quint (Peter Wyngarde) haunt the mansion and grounds of her innocent young charges (Martin Stephens, Pamela Franklin). Reality, superstition and warped psychology collide in this riveting, brilliantly photographed jewel of a film (lensed by future horror director, Freddie Francis).


THE INTRUDER (aka I HATE YOUR GUTS), 1962, Filmgroup, 80 min. William Shatner does an unnervingly convincing turn as a racist agitator going from town to town in the South to foment tension against newly-court-ordered school desegregation. One of director Roger Corman’s favorite films, he reportedly decided to pull back from more serious pictures when it failed to generate a decent return at the box office. With it’s on-location authenticity, Charles Beaumont’s terse script and the convincing performances, it still packs a wallop today.


KENNETH ANGER
FIREWORKS
1947 35mm, 15 min.
Preserved through the Avant-Garde Masters program funded by The Film Foundation and administered by the National Film Preservation Foundation
RABBIT'S MOON
1971 35mm, 16 min.
Preservation funded by The Film Foundation
SCORPIO RISING
1963 35mm, 29 min.
Preservation funded by The Film Foundation
KUSTOM KAR KOMMANDOS
1965 35mm, 3 min.
In person: Kenneth Anger and Film Preservationist Ross Lipman


LAST MAN ON EARTH , 1964, MGM Repertory, 86 min. Dir. Sidney Salkow (co-dir. Ubaldo Ragona, uncredited). Terrifying, vastly underrated adaptation of Richard Matheson’s landmark sci-fi horror novel, I Am Legend (shot in Italy), with Vincent Price as the lone survivor of a vampire plague that has left the world population a shambling, nocturnal undead race thirsty for immune Price’s blood. Full of starkly surreal, nightmare images that are aided immeasurably by the film’s desolate, Italian suburban locations. Once seen, who can forget Price’s haunting, daily pilgrimages to the smoldering pit where he transports the bodies of the undead to be burned? An underrated gem.


LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, 1960, Filmgroup, 70 min. Along with the Vincent Price Poe pictures, this deliciously dark, shot-in-two-days horror comedy is one of director Roger Corman’s most justifiably famous films. Nebbish Seymour (Jonathan Haze) accidentally develops a carnivorous plant on off-hours at the flower shop owned by his employer, Gravis Mushnick (the great Mel Welles). Soon enslaved by the bloodthirsty whims of his very vocal creation ("Feed me!") – named Audrey, Jr. after his girlfriend (Jackie Joseph) – Seymour finds himself on the run from the law. A delight, from Fred Katz’s quirkily offbeat score to Charles Griffith’s script to newcomer Jack Nicholson’s bizarre cameo as masochistic dental patient, Wilbur Force.


THE LOST WORLD (1925) starring Bessie Love and Lewis Stone. Before KING KONG (1933) Willis O'Brien used the same special effect processes to tell the adventure story of a lost world in South America where dinosaurs still roamed the earth as created in the novel of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Featuring live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla. Picnic dinners are encouraged.


NASHVILLE
(from IMDB)
In the wake of JFK's assassination, under the shadow of the Vietnam war, an independent presidential candidate is running, bold and cheap, under the banner of the Replacement Party: their unbelievable platform includes banning lawyers from Congress and re-writing the national anthem. This uncanny Perot-like figure is never seen, but his campaign wagon blares out rambling, pre-recorded speeches as it lumbers through the film unnoticed. The backdrop is Music City, the characters a myriad and hero-less cross-section of America. The lone foreigner is a delightfully insufferable reporter from BBC whose aimless monologues provide a delicious, satirical counterpoint to the deadpan delivery of Director Altman's artfully directed, but chaotic ensemble scenes.


NOT OF THIS EARTH, 1957, Allied Artists (Paramount), 67 min. Dir. Roger Corman. Sunglasses-wearing Paul Birch, resembling nothing so much as a cranky middle-aged businessman, is really a vanguard agent for a race of alien vampires! Birch’s planet, wracked by years of nuclear war, suffers from anemia that is rendering the population extinct. He hires feisty nurse, Beverly Garland (in one of her most charismatic 1950’s roles) to be on constant hand to give him much-needed transfusions. But Birch also does a little freelance bloodletting of his own. Morgan Jones is Garland’s rock-jawed motorcycle-cop beau, Jonathan Haze Birch’s smart-aleck punk chauffeur and Dick Miller a hip, fast-talking vacuum cleaner salesman. This impossible-to-see drive-in chiller is one of the holy grails of lost 1950’s sci-fi! NOT ON DVD!


O LUCKY MAN!
(from IMDB)
This sprawling, surrealist musical serves as an allegory for the pitfalls of capitalism, as it follows the adventures of a young coffee salesman in Europe. Many actors play multiple roles, giving the film a stagy tone


THE OMEGA MAN, 1971, Warner Bros., 98 min. Dir. Boris Sagal. Whiskey-drinking, WOODSTOCK-watching scientist Charlton Heston faces the possible extinction of mankind, while bug-eyed Anthony Zerbe and his legions of soul-brother vampires prowl the night, in this whacked-out adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic novel I Am Legend. Here, Heston remade himself as an über-cool 1970’s action star, cruising the plague-ridden streets of L.A. in a convertible Mustang.


PEEPING TOM
(from IMDB)
Notorious murder thriller which was years ahead of its time, and resulted in the downfall of its great director.


PRESSURE POINT, 1962, MGM Repertory, 91 min. Please join us for a memorial tribute in honor of a long-time friend of the Cinematheque, director, writer and producer Hubert Cornfield who passed away on June 18th. One of the most unique directors of the 1950's and 1960's, Hubert only made a handful of films -- but among them were such gems as the savage, disturbing noirs PLUNDER ROAD and THE THIRD VOICE, and the truly haunting kidnap drama THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY starring Marlon Brando. We'll be screening Hubert's most acclaimed film, PRESSURE POINT, starring singer Bobby Darin in a Golden Globe nominated performance as a Nazi sympathizer and white supremacist who collides with prison psychologist Sidney Poitier.


PULP, 1972, MGM Repertory, 95 min. Dir. Mike Hodges. "I wondered who he was, the poor dead bastard," muses hack novelist Michael Caine (author of classics like The Organ-Grinder and My Gun Is Long), in Hodges’ wonderfully eccentric black comedy -- his follow-up to GET CARTER (and about as different as two films can be). Caine stars as Chester King a.k.a. Guy Strange, a pulp fiction writer happily stranded in Majorca -- until he’s hired by ex-Hollywood mobster Mickey Rooney to ghostwrite his autobiography. Littered with sight gags and random corpses (and co-starring the legendary Lizabeth Scott in her last screen appearance to date!), PULP is a rare and strange pleasure -- sip it like a dry martini. Also starring the great Lionel Stander (CUL-DE-SAC) and Al Lettieri (THE GETAWAY). With a score by Beatles producer Sir George Martin. NOT ON DVD!


THE ROARING TWENTIES
(from IMDB)
After the WWI Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.


ROBERT NELSON FILMS
Come see the rare and gorgeous 16mm films by Robert Nelson projected in all their glory! Nelson's films have been more or less out of regular circulation for about 10 years, and they haven't really shown around very much for more than 20. So this is a rare opportunity! Robert Nelson is probably best known for his films Oh Dem Watermelons (1965), The Great Blondino (1967) and Bleu Shut (1970). With a background less in film and more in painting and the California funk art movement, Nelson's films are very free-spirited, unexpected, and funny, while still maintaining a unique artistic rigor. For him,
filmmaking has always been about having a good time, and having fun with the audience.
I'll definitely be showing Oh Dem Watermelons and Bleu Shut. Other films will likely
include The Off-Handed Jape (1967), The Awful Backlash (1967), and a few others tossed
in! Whole program should run about 90-100 minutes, I think. The films aren't available on DVD, not in distribution, and very hard to see, so come and check it out! Tell your friends! Hope to see you there!! This show is curated by Mark Toscano from the Academy of Motion Pictures Archives.


SCARFACE
(from IMDB)
An ambitious and near insanely violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.


SKI PARTY, 1965, MGM Repertory, 90 min. Dir. Alan Rafkin. It seemed only natural that strange mutations would evolve as the beach pictures continued in popularity at the drive-ins, and here we have the kids hitting the snowy slopes for their summer fun. Hard-up teen guys, Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman (TV’s "Dobie Gillis"), fearing they will continue to strike out with the objects of their affections, follow heartthrobs, Deborah Walley (GIDGET GOES HAWAIIAN) and Yvonne Craig (Batgirl from TV’s original "Batman") when they depart on a ski trip. A bizarre subplot has Frankie and Dwayne taking a page from SOME LIKE IT HOT as they dress up in drag to spy on their girls. In the meantime James Brown and His Famous Flames (!) perform mega-hit, "I Feel Good" and Leslie Gore sings her ever-popular perennial, "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows."


SLOMO VIDEO FESTIVAL
Presented in the Museum's courtyard, SloMo Video Festival screens 100 one-minute slow-motion videos by 85 international filmmakers and video artists. Organized by media artist Ryan Junell, this unique compilation of cinematic slowness will pull the audience through a molasses-tinged warp of visual and audio beauty with videos including "organs" by Wiley Wiggins and "snails playing a theremin" by sound experimentalists Matmos, among many others.


SOME GIRLS DO, 1969, MGM Repertory, 88 min. Dir. Ralph Thomas. Suave Richard Johnson (THE HAUNTING) returns as the super-spy re-incarnation of Bulldog Drummond in this never-released-in-the-USA sequel to his previous outing in DEADLIER THAN THE MALE. Once more Drummond faces an onslaught of gorgeous women (Daliah Lavi, Beba Loncar, Sydne Rome, Yutte Stensgard) as he goes up against old arch-enemy, Carl Peterson (James Villiers), a wealthy lunatic bent on destroying Britain’s new supersonic plane with the aid of his all-female robots. Robert Morley is a standout as an oddball teacher of gourmet cooking. With swingin’ sixties score by WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT Musical Director Charles Blackwell. NOT ON DVD!


SURF PARTY, 1964, 20th Century Fox, 68 min. Director Maury Dexter (THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH, MARYJANE) helmed this ultra-rare, ultra-low budget knock-off of American International’s successful BEACH PARTY. Lead teens Bobby Vinton, Patricia Morrow and Jackie DeShannon (a then-regular on TV pop show "Shindig!" and soon to become a sixties pop idol herself) cavort on the beach to the sounds of The Routers (featuring Scott Walker!) and The Astronauts. Shot in colorful black-and-white with back-projected waves for that ultra-realistic beach ambience! NOT ON DVD!


THIS GUN FOR HIRE
(from IMDB)
Hit man Philip Raven, who's kind to children and cats, kills a blackmailer and is paid off by traitor Willard Gates in "hot" money. Meanwhile, pert entertainer Ellen Graham, girlfriend of police Lieut. Crane (who's after Raven) is enlisted by a Senate committee to help investigate Gates. Raven, seeking Gates for revenge, meets Ellen on the train; their relationship gradually evolves from that of killer and potential victim to an uneasy alliance against a common enemy.


2001 MANIACS
Based on the campy cult classic by the Godfather of gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and starring horror legend Robert Englund ("Freddy Krueger"), director/co-writer Tim Sullivan's bloody comedy spoof tells the story of a group of college students on their way to spring break. Taking a detour through an old southern town, they soon find themselves in for a big surprise. The residents of Pleasant Valley insist the kids stay for their annual barbecue celebration…but instead of getting a taste of the old south, the old south gets a taste of them!


WAR OF THE SATELLITES, 1958, Allied Artists, 72 min. Dir. Roger Corman. Satellites and sputniks were all the rage in late 1950’s headlines. When the first satellites launched, Corman promised his backers he could have a film with the word "satellite" in the title into theatres within 60 days. Given the go-ahead, he rapidly conjured this imaginative, lightning-paced and ultra-low budget thriller about an alien spaceship intent on blowing up every Earth satellite entering the interstellar ether. Dick Miller and Susan Cabot are the erstwhile heroic couple doing battle with the space villains, most notably incarnated in the takeover of pioneering scientist, Dr. Van Ponder (the magnificent Richard Devon who played Satan in Corman’s THE UNDEAD). NOT ON DVD!


THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, 1953, Paramount, 85 min. Dir. Byron Haskin. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson battle invading Martian war machines in this still amazingly visceral, comic book-style feast of apocalyptic images - one of the defining science-fiction films of the past 50 years, seen here in a beautiful new 35 mm. print courtesy of Paramount Pictures! Produced by George Pal, based on the classic novel by H.G. Wells. Discussion following with actress Ann Robinson and other guests.


THE WASP WOMAN, 1960, Filmgroup, 73 min. Dir. Roger Corman. Cosmetics magnate, Susan Cabot, with the aid of mild-mannered research scientist, Dr. Zinthrop (Michael Marks), develops a fountain-of-youth serum derived from queen wasps. Impatient for results, she tries it out on herself with appropriately devastating results. Released in the wake of the first hit version of THE FLY, THE WASP WOMAN, shot in black-and-white and noticeably shorter, manages to pack just as many creepy moments, as well as more manic energy, into its compact running time. With Anthony Eisley and the lovely Barboura Morris


WESTWORLD, 1973, Warner Bros., 88 min. Dir. Michael Crichton. Bored suburbanites, Richard Benjamin and Jame Brolin, embark on a weekend at a new-fangled amusement park offering a deceptively "real," idealized fantasy experience. It just so happens, they’ve chosen Westworld, where immersion in the cowboy experience of frontier times is the order of the day. Unhappily, they’ve picked a weekend where electronic glitches in the park’s security suddenly make the park’s androids go on the fritz. Once things go haywire, there’s one very aggressive gunslinger robot in particular (a maniacal Yul Brynner) that seems to have it in for the boys. And he pursues them relentlessly as fantasy devolves into a nightmarish reality.



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