MARCH 2013! Foxy Brown, Stan the Man, and Fritz Lang whistles from the grave!

Sorry about the delay, Stockers! I know I said the monthly overview would be posted on Monday but winter creep set in and I was temporarily indisposed. All apologies.

No, winter creep. Winter CREEP. Like the insidious entrenching of the season into our bones and very souls-

NO, I'M not the Winter Creep! There is no Winter Creep! He's not a character! Haven't you been paying attention? What??? No YOU"RE the Winter Creep! YOU are!

Look let's just get to the overview, okay?

LOTS going on this month of Saint Patrick and the annual LEPRE-CON! Trademark pending on that phrase! First up are the waning days of the Film Forum's magnificent tribute to Hollywood circa 1933, which has indulged in films both pre- and post-code in the year of its advent. Remaining treats include Raoul Walsh's THE BOWERY and SAILOR'S LUCK, Fred Astaire's 1st screen apearance in DANCING LADY and 1st of many wooings of Ginger Rogers in FLYING DOWN TO RIO, and a triple-feature of fallen women scandals; FEMALE, I COVER THE WATERFRONT and THE SIN OF NORA MORAN. What fun this fest has been, and I hope to catch as many of the last titles screening that I can!

Beginning immediately after the festival the Forum offers three weeklong repertory screenings back to back. Well, one's too good to contain for just one week, so it's getting two, and knowing the Forum I sense a HELD OVER coming. Which would be very welcome indeed.

First up is Jean-Luc Godard's BREATHLESS follow-up LE PETIT SOLDAT. I'm no fan of this wank. Well, let me be fair; I love Truffaut, and I'm no fan of this wank. BUT I've not seen this flick, as is not the case with other flicks he's directed, which I HAVE seen, and can never now not see. As loathe as I am to give him another try I'm very tempted to see what exactly he offered up as sophmore effort to one of my Nouveaux Frog faves and few efforts bearing his name I can tolerate. So maybe that plus the Forum's popcorn is enticement enough. We shall see.

March 15th brings to the Forum Fritz Lang's first sound film and arguable last masterpiece M, which thrust Peter Lorre onto the world stage and made indelible for all time one of the early sound cues of the talkies; a whistle, which could only be translated into lurking sinister by a master of paranoia. There really are few as magnificent within or important to the timeline of the medium as this stern Austrian innovator, fewer who were offered the keys to the Nazi film propoganda unit, and even fewer still who told Hitler to go fuck himself before he fled Germany. Whether the Furher was present for the insult or not is unimportant. This, one of the filmmaker's essential efforts, was read as anti-Nazi screed and nearly shut down before assurances were made and the actual serial killer, then residing in an asylum, presented as legit source material for the project. That's how much Goebbels and crew identified with this flick before it was even shot. Like they needed an engraved sign? Unspools for two weeks, and woebetide ya should ya pass this up.

Closing out the Forum's March is an underdog I've championed for years, which finally seems to be recieiving, in my esteem, its proper evaluation. Michael Cimino took a lotta heat for making HEAVEN'S GATE and continues to do so to this day; after all, how many films take the single handed blame for destroying its parent studio? Time however has been a bit kinder than the critics who ripped it to pieces back in 1980, and 32 years and one Criterion Collection restoration later the film's fans can finally declare their love for it without fear of reprisal. Well, almost. At least you can attend the Forum's week-long appreciation without reprisal. Okay you may have to deal with reprisal no matter what. But its worth all three and a half hours.

Moving across the East River to our freindly neighbors in Brooklyn BAM follows up its excellent Richard Pryor trib from last month with a retrospective dedicated to the luminous Isabelle Adjani. Highlights include Francois Truffaut's THE STORY OF ADELE H., Bruno Nuytten's aching CAMILLE CLAUDEL, Walter Hill's slick THE DRIVER, Roman Polanski's whacko THE TENANT, and Elaine May's ISHTAR. Yeah, you read that right. Problem?

BAM also offers a week-long screening of Jacques Rivette's LE PONT DU NORD and a 25th anniversary screening of WILLOW. So knock yerself out.

Just a short distance away my new fave theater, the Nitehawk Cinema, gears up its repertory brunch and midnight screening sked with a pair of retrospectives devoted respectively to Chicago on film and the career of Brian De Palma. Chicago's a lovely town. The former offers Walter Hill's STREETS OF FIRE, John Hughes' WEIRD SCIENCE, and somebody's POLTERGIEST 3. The latter is a Brian De Palma series. ALRIGHT, the latter features BODY DOUBLE. That's as far as I go.

Back on our side of civilization the Film Society dedictates the Walter Reade Theater's screen to my personal pick for retrospective of the month. FOXY: THE COMPLETE PAM GRIER is as exhaustive a career-spanner its star has seen, and it couldn't be devoted to a brighter one. Exactly how "complete" it is without screening THE BIG DOLL HOUSE I'll leave to another debate. What's here is choice; the early Jack Hill classics THE BIG BIRD CAGE, COFFY and FOXY BROWN, her underrated turn in Michael Schultz' GREASED LIGHTNING, and of course the return to big screen prominence in Quentin Tarantino's JACKIE BROWN, which is not listed on my calendar as it's too recent a release but I'm glad they're screening it anyways. Tough fest to top sez me.

Also at the Walter Reade Stacy Keach gets some love as they follow him IN THE BUGHOUSE. Two vehicles that share only the star and insane asylums as their theme are featured in this one-day trib; Wiliam Peter Blatty's THE NINTH CONFIGURATION and Aram Avakian's END OF THE ROAD. Here's hoping the big K himself shows up for a Q&A!

Another big K gets the career treatment this month. IFC Center presents all 13 of THE FILMS OF STANLEY KUBRICK to celebrate the recent restoration of the director's debut feature FEAR AND DESIRE. Yeah, I know the S-Kube's films are rarely NOT unspooling on a NYC screen, but gems like LOLITA and PATHS OF GLORY don't show up too often, and anyway can one ever get sick of watching 2001 or A CLOCKWORK ORANGE in a movie theater? I think we all know the answer to that question...

Continuing into its third month is IFC's great new series The Modern School of Film, this time offering William Wyler's DODSWORTH, intro'd by director Kenneth Lonergan, and Woody Allen's BANANAS, with an intro by The Strokes' yeh who cares.

The film lounge at the Rubin Museum continues its friday night Cabaret Cinema series this month with screenings of Roman Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY, Giuseppe Tornatore's CINEMA PARADISO, Louis Malle's BLACK MOON, and Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD. Price of a cocktail gets you a ticket to the film. And they even let you DRINK the cocktail! Who comes up with this stuff?

MOMA's ongoing Auteurist History of Film series offers up George Cukor's THE ACTRESS, Andrzej Wadja's ASHES AND DIAMONDS, Joe Mankiewicz' SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, and Jean Cocteau's TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS. I can't think of any joke to connect these films so let's just move along, shall we?

Anthology Film Archives resumes a pair of series paying tribute to two very important figures from the world of film who sadly left us last year; Amos Vogel and Andrew Sarris. The Vogel series brings us Richard Lester's seminal ode to cinematic anarchy A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, and Bernardo Bertolucci's sophmore effort BEFORE THE REVOLUTION. The Sarris series hosts gems like Robert Mulligan's BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL, Frank Tashlin's BACHELOR FLAT, and Jacques Tourneur's WITCHITA. Show AFA some love, Suckahz!

Back across the East River Astoria's Museum of the Moving Image also pays Amos Vogel some respect. Their series includes screenings of Norman McLeod's Marx Brothers classic HORSE FEATHERS, Luis Bunuel's VIRIDIANA, and Jean-Luc Godard's TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER. So as usual ya got yer pick of Vogel tribs to choose from. I love NY.

The Quad Cinema keeps threatening a revival of Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8 1/2. We'll see.

92YTribeca chooses as usual a seemingly random pick from the bottom of the auteur pile to pay a little tribute to this month. Curtis Harrington began his career as a film critic before shooting several experimental shorts and working with Kenneth Anger on INAUGURATION OF THE PLEASURE DOME. Then he met Roger Corman, and the fun began. The 92YT screens the director's THE KILLING KIND, GAMES, WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? and WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO?. You won't be bored.

Also at the 92YT is the Yasujiro Ozu double feature A HEN IN THE WIND and EQUINOX FLOWER, and the quintessential 70's NYC flick THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123. This joint deserves more love methinks!

The Alliance Francais, or French Institute for you uneducated slobs, gives the classic film lover a month of Tuesdays featuring Pierre Cardin's costume design. Louis Malle's VIVA MARIA!, Joseph Losey's EVA, and Jean Delannoy's PRINCESS OF CLEVES all feature the couture of the fashion great. Plus the flicks themselves ain't so bad neither. Croyez-moi.

Thursdays at the Clearview Chelsea Cinema brings screenings of Colin Higgins' THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, George Cukor's THE WOMEN, Alan J. Pakula's KLUTE, and Arthur Penn's BONNIE AND CLYDE. This is the only first-run theater in Manhattan that routinely screens classic films so I always urge cinegeeks to patronize the joint. Give it a try.

And midnight screenings in our fair metropolis inlcude CITIZEN KANE at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN at IFC Center, and aforementioned screen goddess Pam Grier in SCREAM BLACULA, SCREAM at the Walter Reade Theater.

So I hope that's enough for ya 'cause I'm done typin'! Lots to keep the classic film lover happy this month and some excellent reasons to skip St. Patrick's Day and Easter altogether! Hope ya get to catch as many of your faves and faves-to-be in March and be sure to check back often for updates! Vive film suckahz! I'm gettin' a beer!

-Joe Walsh