September 30th 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.
Again, I ain't got much for the header today, as I'm prepping the October calendar, the accompanying podcast, and my write-up of the Joe Mankiewicz retrospective at Lincoln Center, of which I'll be attending nearly ALL the scheduled unspoolings. Sucks to be me, I know.
Ongoing series today include the Tennessee Williams trib at Film Forum, Alain Resnais: Time, Memory & Imagination at the French Institute/Alliance Française, and the exceptional Journalists in Film at the Nitehawk Cinema. The goods be thus;
Film Forum
NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (1964) Dir; John Huston
ROME OPEN CITY (1945) Dir; Roberto Rossellini
French Institute/Alliance Française
Alain Resnais: Time, Memory & Imagination
JE T'AIME JE T'AIME (1968) Dir; Alain Resnais
(The 7:30pm screening intro'd by filmmaker Radley Metzger)
Nitehawk Cinema
ACE IN THE HOLE (1961) Dir; Billy Wilder
Today's Pick? Throughout the good bulk of his career Billy Wilder was able to make savory the scabrous, like a master snake oil salesman shilling ethics instead of swill. His best work was focused on the truly flawed, if not completely fractured. The doomed conspirators in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, redeemed only by their carelessness. Ray Milland's slave to the bottle in THE LOST WEEKEND. The opportunistic Joe Gillis, who turns out the greater solipsist than master of the art Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD. He thrived on both the immoral and the amoral, perhaps favoring the latter more than his hero and one-time boss, Ernst Lubitsch. Like Lubitsch he strove to weave compelling charcter arcs by employing boundary-pushing topics; alcoholism, adultery, (potential) homosexuality. He even dared bite the feeding hand by exploring Hollywood's haunted corners in SUNSET, pretty much eviscerating his town, his industry, his art. And while one would think that THAT film would've been the one to nearly derail his career, it wasn't. That honor goes to his follow-up work, set not in La-La Land but in Nothing-Ever-Happensville New Mexico, a commercially and critically shunned flick that both employed and elevated star Kirk Douglas to his most Kirk Douglasian, to perhaps the greatest heel he'd ever essay in a CV littered with the scoundrels. It features not one likable character, save perhaps the poor soul whose plight serves as tentpole for the ensuing circus. Even this victim's wife is on board for the sellout, happily serving up one extra burger in their diner at the expense of his pain and peril. It's bitter, black and cold, the best worst cup of coffee imaginable. In a filmography filled with dark views of the human race, this remains Wilder's most scathing indictment, the product of a man who'd seen firsthand what a group of desperate, self-serving men could make of an easily exploitable crisis. What would he make of today's media?
Billy Wilder's ACE IN THE HOLE screens tonight at the Nitehawk Cinema as part of the series Journalists in Film. Root beer n' tater tots are on the menu. A healthy sense of moral outrage is yours to provide.
For more info on these and all NYC's remaining 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 safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too.
-Joe Walsh
P. S. We're swiftly returning to the winter climate, and believe it or not some of our fellow NY'ers have still yet to be made whole in the wake of the 2012 storm. Should you be feeling charitable please visit the folks at OccupySandy.net, follow their hammer-in-hand efforts to restore people's lives, and donate/volunteer if you have the inclination and availability. Be a collective mensch, Stockahz!
