March 14th 2015. Pick of the Day.
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Continuing series today include the Hal Roach festivities, part of the Silent Clowns Film Series at Lincoln Center's Library for the Performing Arts, Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After - Part Three: Post-Blacklist at Anthology Film Archives, Required Viewing: MAD MEN Movie Influences at Museum of the Moving Image, Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema at Museum of the Moving Image, Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema at BAM Cinématek, and the Wim Wenders hot stone massage at MoMA. The four-perf frivolity be thus;
Nitehawk Cinema
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975) Dir; Milos Forman
GHOULIES (1984) Dir; Luca Bercovici
Film Forum
TALES OF HOFFMAN (1951) Dirs; Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Library for the Performing Arts
HAROLD LLOYD: THE BEST, HARD WORKING ACTOR I EVER SAW (1915-20) Dir; Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, Various
Anthology Film Archives
Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After - Part Three: Post-Blacklist
THE LAST SUNSET (1961) Dir; Robert Aldrich
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) Dir; Anthony Mann
TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE (1969) Dir; Abraham Polonsky
Museum of the Moving Image
Required Viewing: MAD MEN Movie Influences
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
BAM Cinématek
Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema
THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) Dir; David Lynch
MoMA
THE GOALIE'S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY KICK (1971) Dir; Wim Wenders
Today's Pick? Much tempts, so let's get to the easy eliminations. Probably not gonna raise these lids afore noon today, so sadly I must cross Milos forman's classic CUCKOO'S NEST from my sked, no matter how delicious the food is at my new fave, the Nitehawk Cinema. Tater tots for brekkies will happen one day, oh yes it will, but today's not that morn.
The Wenders flick at MoMA, I'm just gonna be honest; eh.
I've still got the full week ahead to settle on what is arguably the last great film from Powell & Pressburger, so I'll tuck this special screening of HOFFMAN at Film Forum aside for another day in favor of one equally meritorious but with a more-loudly ticking clock.
And to be fair, aside from Mann's epic ROMAN vision, nothing at AFA really entices today. I'm not saying the sked's worthless, just not what I want to award today's Pick.
So it really comes down to three events today; Hitch's NORTHWEST, Lynch's ELEPHANT, and the winner, if only because Hitch and Lynch's films screen fairly routinely in our movie-mad burg, whilst the films of a particular early giant of the screen are rarely screened, especially in their indigenous format. Plus, this program is FREE YES I SAID FREE to the public, so it's just the winner by a length today really. Speaking of lengths, there were few today's star would shy from in order to provide the best sheer spectacle his audience increasingly came to demand from him, and it's why his works of derring-do, which invoked equal guffaw and gasp, have aged little a century later.
HAROLD LLOYD: THE BEST, HARDEST-WORKING ACTOR I EVER SAW unspools, literally, in glorious 35mm today as part of the Silent Clowns Film Series paying trib to legendary comedy producer Hal Roach at the Library for the Performing Arts. These screenings are nothing if not hugely popular, so to secure a comfortable seat get there early and often. Or somethin'.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in March '15 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. 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 soon with new Picks 'n perks, til then safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too!
P. S. We're mercifully feeling the loosening of winter's embrace, but 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!