July 10th 2015. 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.
New and continuing series this day include the early weekend Yasujiro Ozu trib at IFC Center, True Crime! at Film Forum, Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond at MoMA, The Essential John Ford at Astoria's Moving Image, and the inimitably swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. The celluloid cacophany be thus;
IFC Center
WHAT DID THE LADY FORGET? (1937) Dir; Yasujiro Ozu
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
Film Forum
IN COLD BLOOD (1964) Dir; Richard Brooks
THE THIRD MAN (1949) Dir; Carol Reed
MoMA
Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond
NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER (1949) Dir; Edward Buzzell
THE RIVER (1950) Dir; Jean Renoir
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943) Dir; Arthur Lubin
Museum of the Moving Image
MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1945) Dir; John Ford
THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE (1950) Dir; Karel Zeman
Film Society of Lincoln Center
THE LAST DETAIL (1973) Dir; Hal Ashby
Pier One, Riverside Park South
GOHA (1958) Dir; Jacques Baratier
Rubin Museum of Art
THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) Dir; Rob Reiner
Nitehawk Cinema
FROGS! (1972) Dir; George McCowan
ANGST (1983) Dir; Gerald Kargl
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
THE ROAD WARRIOR (1982) Dir; George Miller
Today's Pick? Stand-alone screenings like Baratier's GOHA, Ashby's DETAIL and Reiner's PRINCESS tempt, as do series such as MoMA's celebration of the most glorious cinematic color process' centennial and Film Forum's tightening of the iris on cinematic interpretations of real-world legal transgressions, of vastly different stripes. However, I gotta go with one of the filmmakers I most admire, a man who not only mastered the early language of the cinema but added to it, helped to create the modern vernacular. John Ford first discovered his love of narrative storytelling when laid up for a winter as a child, devouring classics like TREASURE ISLAND and OLIVER TWIST. He first travelled west to scope out this whole film biz firsthand in the wake of his older brother's enormous success, one that would prove all-too short lived. He served in every capacity during his apprenticeship, from stuntman diving from an explosion in the nick of time to editing room to location scout, until one day his voice was deemed loud enough to yell ACTION over the din of a crowd of humans and machines. From such seemingly absurd circumstances is greatness sometimes achieved.
He found first fame in the western genre, and would largely never leave it. STRAIGHT SHOOTING starred Harry Carey, a newly minted stalwart of the genre, and the two men rode the success through a string of collaborations in the silent era. During this time Ford came to know the aged figure monickered Wyatt Earp, hosting the famed gunslinger for Sunday dinners occasionally. Ford would brag of this cache, employing said relationship to shut down any doubters or naysayers who dared doubt the veracity of his work. It's handy to have an actual living legend around to back you up, especially in the days before the internet. Surely Woody Allen and Marshall McLuhan would agree.
Years later, when Earp was long interred, the O.K. Corrall myth deeply engraved, and Ford had shot all he could of WW2, his boss, Darryl F. Zanuck, thought the western legend might be a fitting and financially benficent return to the director's chair for the legendary filmmaker. Allan Dwan's FRONTIER MARSHALL served as the model, striking Zanuck as a better than servicable Horse Opera but feeling that the legend might benefit greatly from the Ford touch, and it didn't hurt that, need anyone be reminded, Ford actually hosted Wyatt Earp for Sunday dinner on occasion. Ahem! Have I mentioned that Wyatt Earp was a dinner guest at the Ford home? Hello?
So Ford agreed. And a masterpiece emerged. There are those who feel other iterations of the legend served it better, films like John Sturges' GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRALL, or Kurt Russell's TOMBSTONE (yep, he directed it, kids), and these are fine, even great films. But it was done to perfection back in 1945, with Henry Fonda employing all the earnest he had to offer, Walter Brennan all the bile he could muster, and Linda Darnell all the mettle a woman of the wild west could boast. Hell, even Victor Mature holds his own with the talent on hand, and that's sayin' something. The ingredients might be the same or similar, but that's just proof all the more that the chef makes the difference. And what a magician in the cinematic kitchen this man was.
John Ford's MY DARLING CLEMENTINE screens tonight at Museum of the Moving Image as part of the month-long series The Essential John Ford. Clementine. I sure do like that name.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in July '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. The warm cuddle of the sun's friendlier disposition seems finally to have arrived, 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!
