July 14th - 20th: Freddy's Dead, Our Shark, and The Motorcycle Boy Reigns. Vroom On, True Believers!
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 upcoming week inlcude "Ford to City: Drop Dead!" NYC in the 70's at Film Forum; Modern Matinees: The Impeccable Deborah Kerr at MoMA; Edgar Wright Presents Heist Society and Notes on Camp at BAM Cinématek; Mondo Bava at the Quad Cinema; and the effortlessly swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum of Art. The tomfoolery be thus;
Friday July 14th
IFC Center
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1961) Dir; Agnes Varda
Film Forum
"Ford to City: Drop Dead!" NYC in the 70's
SHAFT (1971) Dir; Gordon Parks
SUPER FLY (1972) Dir; Gordon Parks Jr.
MoMA
Modern Matinees: The Impeccable Deborah Kerr
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) Dir; Fred Zinnemann
BAM Cinématek
Edgar Wright Presents Heist Society
THIEF (1981) Dir; Michael Mann
FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) Dir; Sean Cunningham
Quad Cinema
LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973) Dir; Mario Bava
A BAY OF BLOOD (1971) Dir; Mario Bava
PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965) Dir; Mario Bava
Tompkins Square Park
PORT OF SHADOWS (1938) Dir; Marcel Carné
Roxy Hotel Cinema
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) Dir; Stevn Spielberg
Rubin Museum of Art
THE GREAT DICTATOR (1941) Dir; Charlie Chaplin
Today's Pick? I would normally never pass up such perfect summer fare as Marcel Carné's noirish meditation on love, valor and honor, set against the thick fog of a French seaport town, his masterpiece PORT OF SHADOWS. I mean what says été quite like Jean Gabin's deserter sweating out his manhunt? Alas, by all accounts our OWN weather coastal will conspire against to shut down this outdoor screening this day. So let's stay in NYC but jump in the wayback machine instead, attending the excellent double feature of Gordon Parks' SHAFT and Gordon Parks Jr.'s SUPER FLY, both bedrocks of the essential Blaxploitation gnere that helped defined 70's cinema, and boasting two undoubtable star turns; Richard Roundtree as the the cool PI, and Ron O'Neal as the pusher's pusher. Both also boast outstanding, genre-defining soundtracks from two genuises from the funk/soul/r&b world, the former from Isaac Hayes, the latter from Curtis Mayfield. They unspool in 35mm at our beloved Film Forum as part of their currently underway "Ford to City: Drop Dead!" NYC in the 70's!
Saturday July 15th
IFC Center
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1961) Dir; Agnes Varda
Film Forum
"Ford to City: Drop Dead!" NYC in the 70's
TAXI DRIVER (1976) Dir; Martin Scorsese
MEAN STREETS (1973) Dir; Martin Scorsese
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) Dir; William Friedkin
WHERE'S POPPA? (1970) Dir; Carl Reiner
Quad Cinema
ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK (1970) Dir; Mario Bava
THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963) Dir; Mario Bava
5 DOLLS FOR AN AGUST MOON (1970) Dir; Mario Bava
SHOCK (1977) Dir; Mario Bava
EVIL EYE (1963) Dir; Mario Bava
Museum of the Moving Image
CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH (1984) Dir; Lloyd Kaufman
Roxy Hotel Cinema
THE WARRIORS (1979) Dir; Walter Hill
JAWS (1975) Dir; Steven Spielberg
BAM Cinématek
Edgar Wright Presents Heist Society
GAMBIT (1966) Dir; Ronald Neame
DANGER: DIABOLIK (1966) Dir; Mario Bava
Today's Pick? I'm gonna pull a switch-'em here and go with a new venue that's really giving it their all, maybe not with the fanfare of the newly reopened Quad or the year-old Metrograph, two beauts no doubt, but with an increasing focus on programming and outreach to the rep community. The Roxy Hotel Cinema brings us a pair of films we may be familiar with on the circuit, Walter Hill's THE WARRIORS and Tha Shpielz's JAWS, but they do so in a venue unfamiliar and promising. So let's patronize their efforts and welcome yet another player to the family. After all the NYC rep film communal is no more than a street gang. Or a trio of guys on a boat drinking beer and comparing scars. Or a consortium of sun-deprived carpal-tunnel syndrome-sufferers complaining about the noise in the theater until they realize they're the ones making it okay I'll stop now.
Sunday July 16th
IFC Center
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1961) Dir; Agnes Varda
Film Forum
"Ford to City: Drop Dead!" NYC in the 70's
NETWORK (1976) Dir; Sidney Lumet
DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975) Dir; Sidney Lumet
HUSBANDS (1970) Dir; John Casavettes
THE TAKING OF PALHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974) Dir; Joseph Sargent
MEAN STREETS (1973) Dir; Martin Scorsese
Quad Cinema
BLACK SUNDAY (1960) Dir; Mario Bava
RABID DOGS (1974) Dir; Mario Bava
KNIVES OF THE AVENGER (1966) Dir; Mario Bava
BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964) Dir; Mario Bava
Mid-Manhattan Library
THE RED DANUBE (1949) Dir; George Sidney
BAM Cinématek
Edgar Wright Presents Heist Society
THE HOT ROCK (1972) Dir; Peter Yates
DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY (1974) Dir; John Hough
Athens Square Park, Queens
RUMBLEFISH (1983) Dir; Francis Ford Coppola
Today's Pick? Francis Ford Coppola's RUMBLEFISH, screening outdoors at Athens Square Park, Quens. Loyalty is my only vice.
Other notable screenings this upcoming week include Oliver Stone's WALL STREET, Monday at sunset at Bryant Park; Richard Lester's wonderfully pear-shaped THE BED SITTING ROOM, unspooling in 35mm this Tuesday as part of MoMA's newly-kicked Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction; Petey Bogz's WHAT'S UP DOC?, screening this Wednesday at sunset, Pier One, Riverside Park South; and an unmissable screening of the great Mario Bava's comic-adap DANGER: DIABOLIK, this Thursday at the Quad Cinema as part of their essential series Mondo Bava! That last one might be the gioiello della corona of the week! Bene!
Once again, there you have it, my picks and pontifications regarding your next 7 days' worth of rep filmgoing! We'll check in again a week from now, in the early days of a whole new spin 'round the sun, for the purposes of once more rummaging through the reels and making the tough yet wonderful choices regarding our chosen love. Til then be sure to follow me on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and be SURE to catch my new YouTube channel, Nitrate Stock TV, where I'll be checking in at screenings all over the city and giving my 2 cents on the film, the venue, the audience, any damn thing that comes to my mind. Which, as some of ya know, can be quite entertaining. Til next time Stockahz, remember: be safe, be sound, and make sure the next guy and gal are too. Excelsior!
- Joe Walsh
P. S. As you know I like to beat the drum for what I consider worthwhile causes. Xenophobia has sadly always been present in our country, mostly dormant, but at times very awoken and tangible. Sadly, the latter is the present case, and the subject of Syrian refugees has become a veritable powderkeg. To those of you who believe we can aid these people, our fellow human beings who are desperate for our help, I suggest the heroic efforts of the good men and women at DoctorsWithoutBorders, the outreach and safe haven offered by the International Rescue Committee, and the decades-old and ongoing good works from the folks at UNICEF. Collectively they're proving that the greatest investment we can make as a human race is in each other, and that helping to save someone else in troubled circumstances is indeed nothing more than saving ourselves. It's a small something to be sure in this maelstrom of madness, but it is just that: something.
