December 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.
Continuing series this day include the closing days of the William Cameron Menzies trib at Film Forum, Modern Matinees: The Film Library Grows and Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective, both at MoMA, Print Screen at the Walter Reade Theater, American International Pictures Part 2: Bikers, Drugs, and Rock & Roll at Anthology Film Archives, and the Nitehawk Cinema's montlhy trib to Times Square's glorious grindhouse past, The Deuce. The projectionist pyrotechnics be thus;
Film Forum
THE GREEN COCKATOO (1937) Dir; William Cameron Menzies
ADDRESS UNKNOWN (1944) Dir; William Cameron Menzies
THINGS TO COME (1934) Dir; Alexander Korda
MoMA
Modern Matinees: The Film Library Grows
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (1938) Dir; Norman Taurog
Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective
THE BACHELOR (1955) Dir; Antonio Pietrangeli
BAM Cinématek
A MARRIED WOMAN (1964) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
Film Society of Lincoln Center
GLORIA (1980) Dir; John Cassavetes
BowTie Chelsea Cinemas
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) Dir; Victor Fleming
Anthology Film Archives
American International Pictures Part 2: Bikers, Drugs, and Rock & Roll
PSYCH-OUT (1968) Dir; Richard Rush
THE TRIP (1967) Dir; Roger Corman
Nitehawk Cinema
NIGHT WARNING (1982) Dir; William Asher
Today's Pick? Lots to choose from on this stacked Thursday menu. The Menzies flattery is soon to close, but I've recently shone the iPhone flashlight uponst. The 2nd half of the AIP trib tempts, but I've got a couple of weeks to select some real gems from that series. Nitehawk's Deuce is a monthly tease to my Metrocard, but tonight a superior slice of exploitation art unspools, and in glorious 35mm. The venue may seem tonier, but the offering is gutter fab.
John Cassavetes began as a self-taught actor, who then began his own acting school in the wild 'n crazy experimental postwar era. He began to film some of his acting experiments on 16mm, which resulted in the film SHADOWS, what is widely considered one of the table legs of the independent film world of the modern era. The notoriety of that film led to a minor boom in his career, directing for the majors while starring in the short-lived series JOHNNY STACCATO, the latter of which introduced him to ingenue, genius thesp, and soon-to-be love of his life Gena Rowlands, who would serve as his muse through the entirety of his career thereafter. A good chunk of the 60's passed before he got his chance to shake up the film world once more from behind the camera, with 1968's FACES. After that effort he became more well-known as filmmaker than onscreen personality, even though he acted in some of his own directorial efforts. At a crossroads in 1973, he decided not only to finance his next film but to self-distribute the resulting work, something that has never been an easy proposition to this very day. That film was A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, and it not only reaped financial rewards but award nominations aplenty. What it mainly did, however, was to serve as pedestal to his wife, his muse, one of the great acting talents of the latter half of the 20th century, something she would continually prove under his gaze and with every other director she ever worked with. In the wake of that film Cassavetes made a few more attempts at a people's cinema, some recieved well, others maybe not so much. By the end of that decade he decided to tell a simple genre story, a crime potboiler, and to once more put his muse at the center of the action. The result was perhaps the biggest financial success of his career as director, another Oscar nom for Rowlands, and one of the most indelible New York films of the 70's. Tonight you get the chance to see one of the greatest film romances since Bogie and Bacall unspool before your eyes, with the exception that the Bogie in this case is trading leads with his Bacall from behind the camera. The dance is no less thrilling.
John Cassavetes' GLORIA whirrs by in glorious 35mm at the Walter Reade Theater as part of the Film Society's ongoing Print Screen series. Mess with the lady at your own risk.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in December '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!
