September 14th 2013. 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.
Among the choices laid out for the NYC Cinegeek today are Orson Welles' last directorial masterpiece, Terry Gilliam's first bona fide classic, and Pam Grier's career-defining perf. Ongoing series include MoMA's Auteurist History of Film Reprise, MoMI's Complete Howard Hawks, and Anthology Film Archives' John Zorn Selects. Today's doings as follows;
IFC Center
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983) Dir; James L. Brooks
BLOOD SIMPLE (1984) Dir; Joel and Ethan Coen
Nitehawk Cinema
TIME BANDITS (1982) Dir; Terry Gilliam
FOXY BROWN (1974) Dir; Jack Hill
Film Forum
CONTEMPT (1963) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
MoMA
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957) Dir; Billy Wilder
THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE (1958) Dir; Karel Zeman
Museum of the Moving Image
ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939) Dir; Howard Hawks
I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE (1949) Dir; Howard Hawks
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) Dir; Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Anthology Film Archives
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) Dir; Orson Welles
PIERROT LE FOU (1965) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN (1943) Dir; Roy William Neill
CHINATOWN (1974) Dir; Roman Polanski
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
CASABLANCA (1943) Dir; Michael Curtiz
Today's Pick? You have to ask? Only one filmmaker could pry my attention from the likes of Michael Curtiz, Orson Welles, Terry Gilliam and the brothers Coen, the real-life pilot whose aviation actioners were among the first films upon which he scrawled his personal philosophy, that men (and women!) who are supreme at their profession must live and perhaps die performing it. Plus a lot of other guy-flick tropes, but that's the main message. Being a professional equals being a f***ing man, and while RIO BRAVO might be Howard Hawks' quintessential manifesto on this proposition, his 1939 masterpiece ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS was more than a mere warm up for the later classic. Cary Grant stars as the owner/operator of a small air mail fleet in the South American jungle, who manages his pilots and their respective crises with steely reserve. Blonde force of nature Jean Arthur? Not so much.
For more info on these and all of September's classic screenings click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Back tomorrow with more of tha goods, til then be safe and sound and make sure the next knucklehead is too!
-Joe Walsh
