March 28th 2013. Pick Of The Day.

MOMA kicks the day in classic screenigns off with Jean Cocteau's final film and conclusion to his Orphic Trilogy TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS as part of their Auteurist History of Film series. JC was nothing if not bold, imaginative and provocative, and his last film pairs his usual visual poetry with appearances by Charles Aznavour, Pablo Picasso and Yul Brynner. A great film but not today's Pick.

Fritz Lang's masterpiece of suspense M and Michael Cimino's epic western HEAVEN'S GATE both screen their last this day at Film Forum. If you haven't caught these yet you could do worse than to make it a double feature day on West Houston, but my Pick is reserved for another auteur.

BAM's weeklong hug to Jacques Rivette's LE PONT DU NORD also comes to a close today. Mysterious. Kooky. All together ooky. Not my Pick.

Anthology Film Archives' ongoing tribute to the late great Andrew Sarris continues today with screenings of Lowell Sherman's MORNING GLORY and Jacques Tourneur's WITCHITA. GLORY copped star Katherine Hepburn her first Oscar and WITCHITA was the great Tourneur's first Cinemascope feature. Both worthy offerings, but not my Pick.

AFA also offers Dziga Vertov's seminal work of 20's avant garde cinema THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA, which pretty much served as textbook for future filmmakers both experimental and commercial. Essential viewing but screens on a fairly routine basis at Chez Mekas, so I'm passing it up as today's Pick.

Although they screen only video and digital formats I gotta shout it out for Videology in Brooklyn for screening the John Cassavetes classic GLORIA tonight in their cozy confines. Sure I wish this was a 35mm print, but any chance for a communal munching of the popcorn while the awesome Gena Rowlands kicks ass and take names is noteworthy to say the least. Can't make it my Pick today though.

And the IFC Center's complete Stanley Kubrick restrospective comes to a close today as well, but it goes out with a real bang, unspooling 4 of the master's most acclaimed flicks. The day begins with nightmare comedy DR. STRANGELOVE and ends with a freezing Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING, and inbetween the once wildly controversial LOLITA gets a last ogling. Hubba. Joining these esteemed works is the film I single out as today's Pick, Kubrick's first truly great film.

Stan the Man started his career as a self-taught shutterbug for his high school newspaper, and upon graduation landed a job with LOOK! magazine. Shortly thereafter he became interested in motion pictures and threw himself into the study of said with the steely focus that would mark his entire career. His first film was the documentary short THE DAY OF THE FIGHT, profiling a boxer he'd covered for LOOK! magazine earlier. After two more short docs he took on his first feature, 1953's FEAR AND DESIRE, the 2012 restoration of which sparked this retrospective in the first place. Upon release the film drew little interest from critics or audience, and quickly disappeared from sight. Unfazed he concentrated on a follow up, 1955's KILLER'S KISS, which fared better at the box office and convinced more than a few folks that there may indeed be a filmmaker in this wiry Bronx chess genius. The shootout in the mannequin factory is not merely evidence of Kubrick's growing confidence with the camera but one of the more memorable noir sequences ever put on film.

Kubrick then partnered up with television distributor James B. Harris and, armed with legitimate name actors and the largest budget he'd ever had, embarked on the adaptation of Lionel White's noir heist novel CLEAN BREAK. The resulting film paid off on the promise Kubrick had displayed in his first two erratic works, engrossing its viewers with a creative and confident mastery of film narrative he would heretofore never surrender over a 45-plus year career. Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, and the wonderful whackjob Timothy Carey all gave standout perfs, Lucien Ballard's camera provided the sleazy noir atmosphere, and Jim Thompson's POV-swapping script ensured repeat viewings from its fans, whose numbers were great among the critical establishment. Commercially the picture didn't fare as well, but Kubrick's mark had been made, and soon the offer would come from MGM's Dore Schary for the Kubrick/Harris team to develop films for the storied studio. They replied by making PATHS OF GLORY. Johnny Clay's ill-fated racetrack heist may have ended badly for the doomed protagonist and his cronies, but Stanley Kubrick got away with it.

THE KILLING unspools tonight at IFC Center at 7:20pm. This evening's screening introduced by Slamdance Film Fest co-founder Paul Rachman. Beat THAT for twelve bucks.

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Safe, sound, look out for the next so-and-so! Back tomorow with another Pick! Vive film, suckahz!

-Joe Walsh