April 26th 2014. Pick of the Day.
New York City's premiere resource for classic film screenings in the metropolitan area. Offering reviews, recommendations, venues and a host of links keeping classic film and the silver screens alive.
You gonna let a little rain scare you off the city's rep film circuit today? You afraid of a little precipitation? If you can't deal with the abuse a few drops of water cause you how are you gonna take the crowds lining up at BAM or Film Forum? Hit the bricks, pal, 'cause you're wanting!!!
Whoah, sorry, I just re-watched GLENGARRY GLENN ROSS to celebrate Al Pacino's birthday. About twelve times. Must've subconsiosly rubbed off. Put the coffee down.
Today's continuing series include American Hustlers at IFC Center, The Hitchcock 9 at Film Forum, Marco Bellocchio: A Retrospective at MoMA, Anthony Mann: Mean Streets and Open Spaces at the Museum of the Moving Image, and Back with a Vengeance at BAM Cinematek. The cinematic roshambo as follows;
IFC Center
THE LADY EVE (1941) Dir; Preston Sturges
THE VISITOR (1979) Dir; Giulio Paradisi
Film Forum
OTHELLO (1952) Dir; Orson Welles
THE LODGER (1927) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
MoMA
SLAP THE MONSTER ON PAGE ONE (1972) Dir; Marco Bellocchio
THE EYES, THE MOUTH (1982) Dir; Marco Bellocchio
Museum of the Moving Image
SIDE STREET (1949) Dir; Anthony Mann
THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955) Dir; Anthony Mann
Landmark Jersey Loews
THE LITTLE FUGITIVE (1953) Dirs; Morris Engel & Ruth Orkin
SPEEDY (1928) Dir; Harold Lloyd
BAM Cinematek
FOXY BROWN (1974) Dir; Jack Hill
Nitehawk Cinema
FANTASTIC PLANET (1973) Dir; René Laloux
Today's Pick? It's Saturday, so the 11am screening of Sturges' THE LADY EVE ain't gonna happen. Welles' OTHELLO grants me two full weeks to make it my Pick, so I can play the waiting game with that entry. Kills me to take any side against über-femme Pam Grier and her perhaps perfect showcase FOXY BROWN, but a special double-bill, occuring just beyond the borders of NYC but unspooling as trib to our fair burg, snags my selection today; the later screening a work of classic silent cinema filmed during the waning days of the 5 boroughs' eminence as a filmaking Mecca, an eminence it slowly but surely ceded to Hollywood. The earlier the first wail heard in the city's rebirth as breeding ground for experimental, fringe and arthouse cinema, home to the likes of Cassavetes, Warhol and Downey the elder. The latter movement was equally important to the celebrated New Hollywood of the 70's as postwar Italian neo- and magic realism and the 60's French Nouvelle Vague. Take that, Europe!
The opportunity to catch the reverse 2-fer, unspooling the resurgence of NYC filmmaking before its last gasps, is an interesting proposition. Plus the grand old venue it screens in, the beloved Loews St. George theater in Journal Square, is in the middle of an existential crisis, and needs the support of as many cinegeeks from the tri-state area with wheel or rail access to pay the insanely low ticket price, snag the dollar popcorn and candy, and nestle into the renovated seating for a truly magical experience. So few remnants from film's earliest days remain for us to gaze in awe upon, don't pass up an opportunity to bear witness in one of its last remaining and most splendid churches.
Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin's THE LITTLE FUGITIVE and Harold Lloyd's SPEEDY unspool tonight beginning at 6pm at the Landmark Jersey Loews. PATH train gets you there in about 20-30 minutes. There are few reasons I can think of to recommend a trip to Jersey, so you know this place must be somethin'!
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in April '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview listen in to the inaugural podcast! For reviews of contemporary cinema and my streaming habits (keep it clean!) check out my Letterboxd page! And be sure to follow me on both Facebook, where I provide further info and esoterica on the rep film circuit and star birthdays, and Twitter, where I provide a daily feed for the day's screenings and other blathery. Back tomorrow with a brand new Pick, til then safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too! Excelsior!
-Joe Walsh
P. S. Should you be feeling charitable during this still harsh weather period please remember to check in with the good folks over at Occupy Sandy. Some of our NY neighbors are still feeling the effects of the 2012 hurricane. Be a mensch.
