September 14th 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.
NFL. Week 2. And your justifications for self-euthanasia are?
Today's continuing series include Film Forum Jr. at Film Forum (who'da guessed?), 1939 - Hollywood's Golden Year at IFC Center, The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy at MoMA, Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien at Museum of the Moving Image, The Tenth Dimension: Edward D. Wood, Jr. at Anthology Film Archives, Nonesuch Records on Film at BAM Cinématek, 50 Years of John Waters: How Much Can You Take? at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the succinct Classics in HD at Symphony Space. The repertory shenanigans be thus;
Film Forum
TO SIR WITH LOVE (1967) Dir; James Clavell
ROME OPEN CITY (1946) Dir; Roberto Rossellini
THE CONFORMIST (1971) Dir; Bernardo Bertolucci
IFC Center
1939 - Hollywood's Golden Year
GUNGA DIN (1939) Dir; George Stevens
Mid-Manhattan Library
DANGEROUS (1935) Dir; Alfred E. Green
MoMA
The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy
HELL'S ANGELS (1930) Dir; Howard Hughes
WINGS (1927) Dir; William A. Wellman
Museum of the Moving Image
Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien
A SUMMER AT GRANDPA'S (1984) Dir; Hou Hsiao-hsien
CHEERFUL WIND (1981) Dir; Hou Hsiao-hsien
Anthology Film Archives
The Tenth Dimension: Edward D. Wood, Jr.
TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE (1970) Dir; Edward D. Wood, Jr.
NECROMANIA/NYMPHO CYCLER (1971/72) Dir; Edward D. Wood, Jr.
THE YOUNG MARRIEDS (1972) Dir; Edward D. Wood, Jr.
BUSTER KEATON SHORT FILMS PROGRAM (1920/21) Dirs; Buster Keaton & Eddie Cline
THE GENERAL (1927) Dir; Buster Keaton
BAM Cinématek
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) Dir; Nicholas Ray
Film Society of Lincoln Center
50 Years of John Waters: How Much Can You Take?
PINK FLAMINGOS (1972) Dir; John Waters
Symphony Space
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1974) Dirs: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN (1979) Dir; Terry Jones
Today's Pick? It's a tough herd to lasso from this cool and crisp 9/14, boasting both Rossellini's neo-realist breakthrough and Bertolucci's wholly fabricated one at Film Forum, George Stevens' template for the action "buddy" flick at IFC, Wild Bill Wellman's first-ever Best Picture champ at MoMA, Buster Keaton's finest two hours at Anthology Film Archives, the final day of the Film Society's John Waters crush, and a double bill of the first two proper Monty Python films at Symphony Space. I actually had to catch my breath before I was done typing that sentence. However, taking in the full worth of all these screenings, and of the ones I haven't singled out, I'm compelled to choose a personal fave, one important to both my unfolding teen years and the stoking of my cinematic passions during said period. It's been decried recently by some cinema illuminati as horribly dated and wretchedly overwrought; an embarassment to all involved and undeserving of its strong cult status, unless esteemed as entertaining trash. I remain steadfast in my love and loyalty to this film, and agree with the great Danny Peary that it holds up as perhaps the most romantic ode to teen angst and anguish, if not as one of the most romantic works of cinema in general, that the medium has ever produced, period. Yes, it's the last film its star worked on before his most untimely death, and yes that fact, coupled with the added novelty of his sharing the title character's name, has long fueled the unhealthier interests of the mortality-obsessed. I choose to view this film in terms of his vitality, though, his vim and vigor, the subtle kineticism the naturally gifted actor was privy to. We have but three examples of the genius of James Dean on film. I maintain, though perhaps no longer the popular opinion, that this is the finest of them.
Nicholas Ray's REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE screens tonight at BAM Cinématek as part of the series Nonesuch Records on Film. I'm draggin' for pink slips just before show time. If I make it out of the car before the cliff, I'll see you there.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in September '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview and other audio tomfoolery check out the podcast, and follow me on SoundCloud! 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 I promise not to say one thing, then another, then everthing goes back again.
-Joe Walsh
