September 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 Wim Wenders trib at IFC Center, the Vittorio De Sica hot-stone massage at Film Forum, Modern Matinees: Earliest Days, Hasse Ekman: The Other Swede in the Room and Ingrid Bergman: A Centennial Celebration, all unspooling at MoMA, the return of the The Apu Trilogy, this time at BAM Cinématek, fêtes to filmmaker Edgar Reitz and thesp Robert Ryan at Anthology Film Archives, and the monthly celebration of Times Square's glorious grindhouse past, Nitehawk Cinema's The Deuce. 35mm, DCP, at the sound of the bell come out fighting!
IFC Center
Wim Wenders: Portraits Along the Road
KINGS OF THE ROAD (1975) Dir; Wim Wenders
THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1976) Dir; Wim Wenders
Film Forum
Vittorio De Sica: Attore, Regista, Seduttore
GOLD OF NAPLES (1954) Dir; Vittorio De Sica
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Earliest Days
TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932) Dir; Ernst Lubitsch
Hasse Ekman: The Other Swede in the Room
FLAMES IN THE DARK (1942) Dir; Hasse Ekman
CHANGING TRAINS (1943) Dir; Hasse Ekman
Ingrid Bergman: A Centennial Celebration
AUTUMN SONATA (1978) Dir; Ingmar Bergman
BAM Cinématek
PATHER PANCHALI (1955) Dir; Satyajit Ray
APARAJITO (1956) Dir; Satyajit Ray
APUR SANSAR (1959) Dir; Satyajit Ray
Anthology Film Archives
ZERO HOUR (1977) Dir; Edgar Reitz
ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951) Dir; Nicholas Ray
ABOUT MRS. LESLIE (1954) Dir; Daniel Mann
BowTie Chelsea Cinemas
THE LETTER (1941) Dir; William Wyler
Nitehawk Cinema
BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA (1974) Dir; Sam Peckinpah
Today's Pick? I've recently chosen the rep crowd-surfs of thesps Ingrid Bergman and Robert Ryan, and the one dedicated to filmmaker Wim Wenders. And I know I have a good coupl'a weeks to shine the Kliegs on the De Sica fest at Film Forum. Hasse Ekman tempts, as does Edgar Reitz, as both men are heretofore unbeknownst to me and I badly need to start filling in the gaps in my foreign film schoolin'. Wyler's THE LETTER ranks amongst his best, and the opportunity to binge-watch Ray's Apu Trilogy is a hard deal to pass up. However, a major acting fave, someone who tried but never quite completed the leap from character actor to lead in the New Hollywood, a decade-plus that saw such routine pole vaults from talents like Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, shines tonight in one of his few lead turns, and surely his best.
He specialized in the seedy, the suspicious. Perhaps his physical features warranted the typecasting, his dark eyes and constantly furrowed brow and the seemingly ever-present 5 o'clock shadow. Yet he had range; Sissy Spacek's painter father in Malick's BADLANDS, the mysterious and seemingly moneyed G.T.O. in Hellman's TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, and of course everybody's fave big toe; Sgt. Hulka in Ivan Reitman's STRIPES. But sordid and salacious was where he thrived, and as such he remained a stalwart of Sam Peckinpah's CV, beginning with the director's first great film: 1962's RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, and continuing through such gems as MAJOR DUNDEE and THE WILD BUNCH. In 1974 Pecks rewarded his grizzled cohort with a lead, an opportunity he'd had the good luck to seize only once before, in John Milius' underrated DILLINGER. It was the role of a used-up U.S. vet & ex-pat who accepts the job of hunting and assassinating his former best friend. Worse, his job was to decapitate his lapsed buddinsky and return his noggin to the buyer. It was pure Peckinpah material; anti-heroes galore, violence aplenty, pessimistic view of human beings confirmed. It was reviled by audiences and critics alike whence released, but has come to be regarded amongst the director's most fascinating, if not his best work. In any event it gave his stock company equivalent of Yogi Berra his moment at the fore, and the man took full advantage, giving his finest turn before the cameras. It's a shame to think of what might've been, but at least we have what was. Which, thankfully, is plenty.
Warren Oates stars in Sam Peckinpah's BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA, screening tonight as part of the Nitehawk Cinema's essential monthly series The Deuce! You want Times Square grindhouse? Peckinpah and Oates will have you worried about leaving the theater alive. Such is their power to this day. Did I mention best root beer n' tater tots combo in the 5 boroughs? But really, Pecks and Oates will have you terrified over your own survival. Bring the family!
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in September '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 begun its annual wane, 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!
