March 15th 2016. 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 & concluding series this day include IT Girls: Flappers, Jazz Babies &Vamps! at Film Forum, the third down of AFA's trib to American International Pictures, and the final two entries in MoMA's Jerry Lewis birthday celebration. The halide HEY LAYDEE be thus;
Film Forum
IT Girls: Flappers, Jazz Babies &Vamps!
THE BARKER (1928) Dir; Geroge Fitzmaurice
SAFE IN HELL (1931) Dir; William A. Wellman
MoMA
Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90
THE KING OF COMEDY (1982) Dir; Martin Scorsese
THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (1963) Dir; Jerry Lewis
Anthology Film Archives
American International Pictures Part Three
FOXY BROWN (1974) Dir; Jack Hill
BLACULA (1972) Dir; William Crain
Today's Pick? No contest. Although this counts as a TRIPLE dip, perhaps this site's first ever, I have to select the final day of the birthday lovefest unfolding for one of my all-time faves. Say what you will about the man, and you'll most likely be right! Crass dinosaur? Yes. Beneficent philanthropist? Check. The living personification of irritation? Absolutely. A game-changing innovator in the cinema? No friggin' doubt. He is the last of the Borscht Belt comics, of the men who made Vegas, of unapologetic cult of personality. And while his closest contemporary antecedent may well be the current front-runner for the GOP nomination, he was never a hate-mongering con-man. He was always, first and foremost, a clown. And I'll volutneer the following; no matter how dark my moments may have occasionally been in this world, he never, not once EVER, failed to make me smile. So here's to Cindefella, The Delicate Delinquent, The Bell Boy, The Errand Boy, The Patsy. Here's to the once-and-future Buddy Love. Most of all here's to Julius Kelp. But ultimately, here's to Joseph Levitch on the eve of his 90th bithday. I may not love everything about you, sir, but I do love you. Unabashedly.
Jerry Lewis, wrote, starred in and directed what even his detractors recognize as perhaps the only masterpiece in his CV (which I dispute!), 1963's THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, in which he essays not only the aforementioned Kelp but also the aforementioned Buddy Love, one of the cinema's greatest creations I'd argue. So on this blustery March day, head to MoMA for the love and the caring and the feeling and the good and the nice. Never mind the earlier thing.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in March '16 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. Winter's icy grip seems to have loosened on our fair metropolis, but milder weather aside 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!
