JULY 2015!!! True Crime, Mexico at Midnight, and Outdoor Screenings Tear Down Our Walls!

Hallo Stockahz! Your summer proceeds pleasingly apace mehopes. We in this burg have had much to be thankful for thus far; mild temps, pleasant park sojourns, heck even the rain's been welcome. Not just aesthetically
either, but as replenishment to our thirsty reservoirs. We can be grateful for all these amenities, but really we're just basking and rolling around in and getting filthy with our beloved rep film scene, which now expands to screens unbounded by four walls. There's much, much, MUCH to cover this month, so let's dive straight in, shan't we? These months are flying by with a disarming, even alarming acceleration. The sooner we focus on the goods the better.

Those of you familiar with this site and its doings know that I like to confer something I term Big Dawg status on that screening or series I deem the month's most unmissable. The excellent programmers at our esteemed rep houses have made my task a pretty difficult one this month, booking such tantalizing series as Mexico at Midnight at MoMA, True Crime! at Film Forum, and One-Film Wonders at Anthology Film Archives. I gotta stay loyal to one of my all-timers, however, and award this month's Daily Growl to The Essential John Ford at Museum of the Moving Image. A-duh! Upcoming screenings in series include MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, still the best movie telling of he O. K. Corrall tale; resplendent Technicolor marvels like SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, THE WINGS OF EAGLES and THE QUIET MAN, the latter my fave Ford fick; and what many consider the greatest Western ever made, 1956's THE SEARCHERS. Serving as bookends to his iconic collaborations with John Wayne are 1939's STAGECOACH, which firmly cemented the public's mythic view of the American West, and 1962's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, which went to great lengths to deconstruct that myth. This trib to one of the great American filmmakers of all time kicked off, appropriately enough, on July 4th weekend, and continues through August 2ns. Moving Image is located at 36-01 35th Avenue, in Astoria, Queens.

Pond-hopping back onto solid bedrock Manhattan's Film Forum comes in a close second with their True Crime! series, a program focusing on filmic representations of real-life illegal activities, and stretches as far back as Hitchcock's THE LODGER (Jack the Ripper) and as recent as Scorsese's CASINO. Selections in the series include such seminal works as Richard Brooks' IN COLD BLOOD, Terrence Malick's BADLANDS, and Arthur Penn's BONNIE & CLYDE, while lesser screened/known works like Richard Fleischer's 10 RILLINGTON PLACE, Francesco Rosi's LUCKY LUCIANO, and Budd Boetticher's THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND fill out the dance card. Some films in the series do not meet this site's 25 year cutoff criteria, so I won't be listing them, but be sure to check the Forum's website for the full sked. The series runs from Friday July 10th thru Wednesday August 5th.

Also at the Forum this month is the 2nd and perhaps final week of the 4K DCP resto of the greatest movie ever made, Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN. I say perhaps because Film Forum likes to grant reprieves to these special and popular screenings, and also because Harry Lime has a hard time staying dead. If ya get my drift. Set to close Thursday the 9th.We shall see.

Also running til the 9th is the encore screening of Scorsese's GOODFELLAS, celebrating its glorious diamond anniversary. Don't mention the diamond around these guys though. Fuggeddabouddit. Film Forum is located at 209 W. Houston St. in Manhattan.

Jetting uptown on the F train we find ourselves at MoMA, which boasts of not one, but TWO-COUNT-'EM-TWO bang-on series to wile away the summer days, one dedicated to the explosion of color, the other to stark balck and white and all the enticing greys that lay in-between. The first, Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond, celebrates the greatest and most irreplicable process the cinema ever found itself privy to, and upcoming screenings include such priceless gems as Jean Renoir's THE RIVER, George Cukor's A STAR IS BORN, Richard Fleischer's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, and the first feature length animated film, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. The latter series, Mexico at Midnight: Film Noir from Mexican Cinema's Golden Age, delves into that country's seldom-seen sojourns into what many consider the greatest genre ever spawned within the Hollywood studio system, many helmed by legendary DP Gabriel Figueroa, himself the subject of an extensive retrospective at Film Forum just last month. Titles in the series include Roberto Gavaldón's NIGHT FALLS, Julio Bracho's TWILIGHT, and Tito Davison's MAY GOD FORGIVE ME. The series runs from July 23rd to the 29th. MoMA is located at 11 W. 53rd street in Manhattan.

Heading southeast toward the Manhattan rep circuit's most charming haunted house Anthology Film Archives also offers up a choice pair of series. One-Film Wonders focuses on, well, one-film wonders, folks who only got to strut their stuf on a singular occasion for whatver reason, but who left an indelible mark on the cinema and retired with a perfect record. Think Eddie Gaedel but with a movie camera. Items of note in the series include Tom Schiller's recently rediscovered NOTHING LASTS FOREVER, starring Zach Galligan, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, Walter Murch's highly ambitious and delightfully crazy RETURN TO OZ, and Timothy Carey's lone turn behind the cameras in WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER, which from all accounts might be one of the most lunatic exercises ever committed to film. Guess which one I'm most excited about?!?!? The shenanigans unfold from July 16th til September 3rd.

Next up at AFA is a followup to their popular This is Celluloid: 35mm series, inventively titled This is Celluloid: 35mm Encore! Titles selected to represent what is considered the purest format the medium ever enjoyed include Douglas Sirk's SIGN OF THE PAGAN, Stanley Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON, and Richard Sarafian's VANISHING POINT. Runs from the 24th of July to September 27th. Anthology Film Archives is located at 32 Second Avenue in Manhattan.

Jumping across the East River once more we find ourselves at BAM Cinématek, which this month has programmed a trib to the iconoclastic mavericks that virtually guaranteed that cinema would survive the corporate takeover malaise that followed the 70's New Hollywood, one which sought to destroy fresh and interesting voices in film. Indie 80's celebrates those souls that would not rest until their vision found itself in a locked print. Without talents and titles like Jim Jarmusch & STRANGER THAN PARADISE, The Coen Brothers & BLOOD SIMPLE, Nancy Savoca & TRUE LOVE, and, perhaps most importantly, David Lynch and BLUE VELVET, you can kiss goodbye everything the 90's indie scene revived about great film, from Tarantino to MiraMax to the gloriously grotesque century-capper known as FIGHT CLUB. The series runs from July 17th thru August 27th. BAM Cinématek is located at the Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn.

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North and east from this venerable venue we arrive at the gloriously unhinged Nitehawk Cinema, home of some of the best first-run alternative cinema and classic cult screenings. This month the whimsical hijinks at what I wish were my cinema B&B include Gordon Douglas' THEM! and Hitch's THE BIRDS for the Bellini-besotted, and Saul Bass' PHASE IV, Larry Cohen's Q: THE WINGED SERPENT, and Noel Marshall's ROAR at the Witching Hours. Other screenings include Francis Ford Coppola's THE GODFATHER PART II, in conjunction with MoMA's Glorious Technicolor program, John Frankenheimer's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (part of the It's a Conspiracy series), and Russell Mulcahy's RAZORBACK, screening as part of the series The Deuce, the cinema's monthly trib to Times Square's glory grindhouse past. The Nitehawk is a short stumble from the Bedford Ave. stop on the L train at 136 Metropolitan Avenue. Best root beer n' tater tots in town. Trust.

Rafting with Huck back to the mainland the IFC Center has some choice rep goodness on the menu this month. Chief among the courses is their ongoing Yasujiro Ozu series, screening early weekends. Upcoming titles include 1937's WHAT DID THE LADY FORGET?, 1941's BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TODA FAMILY, 1947's RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMAN, and 1951's EARLY SUMMER. Midnights include the series Superheroes 1.0, which boasts the first three of the christopher reeve SUPERMAN films, and the Staff Picks include Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, John Carpenter's THE THING, and Alejandro Jodorowsky's EL TOPO. IFC Center is located at 323 6th Avenue at West 3rd St. in Manhattan.

The pickins slim beyond these venues, but the choices remain, er, cherce. The Rubin Museum's Cabaret Cinema program includes Rob Reiner's THE PRINCESS BRIDE, Federico Fellini's CASANOVA, and Brian de Palma's PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE. The policy has changed slightly, and now the price of admission is entirely separate from the $10 bar tab you would and should incur, yet that in no way should discourage you from attending. this remains one of the best filmgoing experiences in the city, and now that everyone else seems to know it it goes without saying that you should arrive early to claim your real estate. The museum's located at 150 W. 17th stret in Manhattan.

The Classic Thursdays series at Chelsea's BowTie Cinemas offer Spielberg's JAWS, John Waters' POLYESTER, Colin Higgins' 9 TO 5, and Susan Seidelman's DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN. Located at 260 W. 23rd street.

The Landmark Sunshine Cinema screens George Miller's THE ROAD WARRIOR and Woody Allen's MANHATTAN. The Landmark Sunshine is located at 143 E. Houston St.

The Mid-Manhattan Library's AV club proffers Clarence Brown's THEY MET IN BOMBAY and COME LIVE WITH ME, and David Lean's BLITHE SPIRIT. All screenings sundays at 2pm. The library is located at 455 5th Avenue in Manhattan.

Ben Model, Steve Massa and Bruce Lawton, collectively known at the Silent Clowns, continue their year-long Hal Roach love with Rockin' the Roach! - Wave Two. The next silent short films presentation occurs on Saturday the 11th at 2:30pm. The event is free to the public, so you know the drill: get there early and often to claim your real estate. The venue is the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts.

Finally, to the films we care the most about during these balmy summer months: THE OUTDOOR SCREENINGS!!! Upcoming events of note include Fred Zinnemann's HIGH NOON at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Fred C. Wilcox's FORBIDDEN PLANET and Ivan Reitman's GHOSTBUSTERS at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, and at the granddaddy of outdoor summer movie series, the Bryant Park Film Fest, we get Wesley Ruggles' I'M NO ANGEL, Terrence Malick's BADLANDS, and Herbert Ross' FOOTLOOSE. As regards these outdoor shenanigans, I paraphrase Douglas Adams; its a really dangerous universe out there. You've really got to know where your towel is.

So there you have it, your July 2015 repertory film calendar. Skeds are subject to change, and they do, so be sure to check back with the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. Don't be shy about feedback, either. Be sure to let me know what ya think of the job I'm doing. And be sure to like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, observe me on Instagram, stalk me on Tumblr, measure me on Vine okay that's enough now. You know where to find me should ya wanna keep up with the rep film doings in NYC. So until next time, be safe and sound, Stockahz, and make sure the next knucklehead is too. Excelsior!

-Joe Walsh

JoeW@NitrateStock.net