August 28th 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.
Continuing series during this month's conclusion include the Ozu huggery at IFC Center, Scorsese Screens at MoMA, the American International Pictures retrospective at Anthology Film Archives, and Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. The resplendent rep screen rigmarole be thus;
IFC Center
EQUINOX FLOWER (1958) Dir; Yasujiro Ozu
FLASH GORDON (1980) Dir; Mike Hodges
ALIENS (1986) Dir; James Cameron
Film Forum
ARMY OF SHADOWS (1969) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
MoMA
GUN CRAZY (1949) Dir; Joseph H. Lewis
Anthology Film Archives
American International Pictures
THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN (1957) Dir; Bert I. Gordon
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) Dirs; Ubaldo Ragona & Sidney Salkow
Film Society of Lincoln Center
WEST SIDE STORY (1960) Dirs; Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins
Rubin Museum of Art
TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Nitehawk Cinema
COME DRINK WITH ME (1966) Dir; King Hu
Today's Pick? Not an easy field to narrow down today. Melville's once virtually blacklisted SHADOWS are haunting the halls of film Forum for but a few more days, and I need to scratch that off my cinematic bucket list. However, Vincent Price's turn as Richard Matheson's LAST MAN remains the best adap of that material, and is very worthy of a big screen viewing. Hitch's breezy, sexy THIEF, which scandalized the Breen Office back in its day, unspools in the swank screening lounge at the Rubin Museum, while over in Brooklyn my fave new theater in the city presents a major, seminal work from the Hong Kong martial arts world. It all tempts, threatening to quarter my movie-lovin' soul! However, as I've openly offered as my most important criteria during these waning days of Summer '15, the few remaining outdoor screenings take priority. And tonight a classic from the waning days of Hollywood's golden age bounces its spectrum back in the very location in which it was filmed. Mind ya, Lincoln Center hadn't been constructed yet, but if you pay close attention you can still feel the ghosts of the Jets and the Sharks fighting, killing, and pirouetting about each other. Such was gang life circa 1960.
Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins' WEST SIDE STORY busts cool tonight outdoors at Lincoln Center Plaza, what was once the very environs where the story was set and the production rolled cameras way back in 1959. Today, the scariest thing you'll have to face are SUV-sized baby strollers. Which means it's even scarier up there these days...
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in August '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 warmer, fiercer cuddle of the sun's sunnier disposition has reached its zenith, 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!
