July 23rd 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 True Crime! at Film Forum, the still-unspooling Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond and the premiering Mexico at Midnight: Film Noir from Mexican Cinema's Golden Age, both at MoMA, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The Films of Pedro Costa at the Film Society, the comprehensive Indie 80's retrospective at BAM Cinématek, and the clever and concise One-Film Wonders at Anthology Film Archives. The rep rundown be thus;
Film Forum
DILLINGER (1973) Dir; John Milius
ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1979) Dir; Don Seigel
THE THIRD MAN (1949) Dir; Carol Reed
MoMA
Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond
THE RAID (1954) Dir; Hugo Fregonese
WESTERN UNION (1941) Dir; Fritz Lang
A STAR IS BORN (1954) Dir; George Cukor
Mexico at Midnight: Film Noir from Mexican Cinema's Golden Age
IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND (1951) Dir; Roberto Gavaldón
THE OTHER ONE (1964) Dir; Roberto Gavaldón
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The Films of Pedro Costa
NOT RECONCILED (1965) Dirs; Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet
LAND OF THE PHAROAHS (1955) Dir; Howard Hawks
BAM Cinématek
SMOOTH TALK (1984) Dir; Joyce Chopra
BowTie Chelsea Cinema
9 TO 5 (1981) Dir; Colin Higgins
Anthology Film Archives
WORLD'S GREATEST SINNER (1962) Dir; Timothy Carey
BRAND X (1970) Dir; Wynn Chamberlain
Hunter's Point South Park
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961) Dir; Blake Edwards
Today's Pick? Don't know how familiar you might be with this site, or myself and my personal predilections in particular, but should you be completely clueless regarding these subjects I shall now inform you that there are certain filmmaker essential to the cinematic timeline that, should I find myself faced with the prospect of saving their films from a fire or my best friend, well, I'd at least have a moment's pause over such a fateful decision. I'd probably save my friend, after all, people are more important than physical media, no matter how crucial the films' survival might be. But should ya wonder whose CV would cause deliberation at this hypothetical, here are the names; John Ford, Fritz Lang, Akira Kurosawa, Michael Curtiz, Sidney Lumet, and, well, the name that perhaps owns the bulk of my movie-loving heart, Goshen, Indiana's own Howard Hawks.
It's often, and now pretty much belaboredly, said that he filmed a masterpiece in pretty much every movie genre. That's absolutely accurate, but what's more important is that he crafted a genre unto himself; the Hawks film. Its nearly impossible to discuss the man without comparison to his friend and fellow genius John Ford, and I have never been able to escape the notion that they somehow, perhaps unconsciously defined each other. So allow me to list a number of ways in which they differed; the Ford hero was the head of a traditional nuclear family of a sort, while the Hawks hero chose his family, usually a group of elite professionals bonding over their skills and code of honor. Ford considered the loner an outcast, one who sacrificed greatly to help build the modern America but doomed to have no part in it, while Hawks exalted the loner, dooming/glamorizing him in early works to a suicide mission but later, and unapologetically, to a seemingly mudane but deeply cool survived existence. Ultimately, Hawks is remembered for one element of his oeuvre above all others; the Hawksian woman. While Ford featured women of grit, he only truly presented a woman of equal in his 1952 masterpiece THE QUIET MAN, wherein Maureen O'Hara portrayed his most Hawksian woman. Howie on the other hand routinely proffered strong women, mostly the equal of any of the male characters in his films, in certain instances even tougher and more capable than the men. So yes, while Hawks mastered just about every genre he took on, there's ample reason why the term "Hawksian" exists and thrives.
So it's insanely fascinating that, once he seized the opportunity to make his grand 50's historical epic, his first and only widescreen cast-of-thousands foray, Hawks threw most of what worked for him in the past, and in the specific niche that he perfected, completely out the window with the bathwater. The lead female is a femme fatale, not a brass-spined woman. The leading men are weak and even dithering, as portrayed by Jack Hawkins and Dewey Martin, the latter an actor Hawks felt incredible loyalty toward and confidence in. And the patented Hawks cool, a cool that abides to this day, is nowhere to be found in the midst of the faux-eloquent dialougookery.
So why am I so in love with this flick?
Because it not only reps a rare mis-step in an otherwise stellar and hugely influential career, it does so on a SPECTACULAR scale! And by the by? It's still a fascinating film! Especially if you know anything about its backstory and Hawks' engineering background, which was really the ultimate impetus behind this film. One more selling point? It rarely screens in this, the world captiol of repertory cinema. So drop whatever plans you thought you had tonight and race to Lincoln Center to place yer name on the stand-by list. Trust me, should ya gain entrance this will be a screening you'll never forget.
Howard Hawks' LAND OF THE PHAROAHS unspools tonight in glorious 35mm at the Walter Reade Theater as part of the series Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The Films of Pedro Costa. Hawks flew planes during WWI , built race cars, and pretty much designed Lauren Bacall. Wanna see how he thinks the pyramids got built? I thought so.
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!
