February 2014! Revenge: Chick-Style, Marty Does Warsaw, and the Valentine's Day Massacre!

Whassap, Stockahz?!? Incredibly enough it's already the second month of the new-ish year, and you know what that means; football's dead, winter's dying and baseball is mere days away from its annual rebirth! Can I get a Hallelloo? C'mon just one?

Okay we'll just assume the Hallelloo and move on to the month's doings in the repertory film circuit, which is as a-hoppin' with activity over the next 28 days as an 8-year old who swears he didn't have to use the bathroom before you bundled him/her up for the snow. Many venues contend but I can only confer Big Dawg status on one, so February's edition of the Daily Growl goes to BAM Cinematek and their Vengeance is Hers series. Over the course of eight nights the Cinematek provides various examples of the whole Hell/Woman Scorned thing, with the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis (BLUE STEEL), Sissy Spacek (CARRIE), and the prototype for feminine payback herself Pam Grier (COFFY) doling out much-needed retribution to the man, or even world of men, that dared mistreat them to begin with. From studio era classics like Preston Sturges' THE LADY EVE and William Wyler's THE HEIRESS, to cult classics like Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY and Abel Ferrara's MS. 45, to something called TERMINAL ISLAND, which I guess I'll just have to attend for myself if I want an explanation, curators Nellie Killian and Thomas Beard offer up forms of recrimination from stoic to blood-soaked and everything in between. Bring it Bebeh!

Also at the Cinematek this month a brand-spankin'-new 35mm print of Frantisek Vlacil's MARKETA LAZAROVA screens for a week. A moody, at times nightmarish tale of feuding warrior clans in the Middle Ages, whose enmity escalates when the daughter of one feudal lord is kidnapped by the other. From the Czech Republic, where they really know how to yuk it up.

Back on the more civilized side of the East River the Film Society of Lincoln Center turn the joint over for 12 nights to the great Martin Scorsese and his Film Foundation, as they explore Masterpieces of Polish Cinema. This 21-film retrospective covers the Soviet era from 1957-87, when Lech Walesa really started kicking some cracks in the wall as it were, and all are featured in new and beautiful DCP transfers. More familiar fare from better-known names like Andrzej Wadja (ASHES AND DIAMONDS, MAN OF IRON) and Krzysztof Kieslowski (BLIND CHANCE, A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING) sit alongside works by Krzsyztof Zanussi (CAMOUFLAGE, THE ILLUMINATION), Tadeusz Konwicki (JUMP, THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER) and Wojciech Has (THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM, THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT). The Film Society offers discount tickets for multiple screenings, so this is a perfect way to catch up on your World Cinema over the course of a couple of days. Check it out!

Two series dedicated to Hollywood musicals screen simultaneously at MoMA and MoMI, which are pronounced the same way but look different. Or something. Astoria's Moving Image offers up the self-explanatory See It Big! Musicals, and MoMA unspools the already begun Roadshow: The Fall of Film Musicals in the 60's. See It Big! offers up displays of extravagance including Sidnley Lumet's cult classic THE WIZ, Bob Fosse's Oscar-friendly CABARET, and Gene Kelly's artistic triumph AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, while MoMA focuses more on the genre's last gasps, films like Francis Ford Coppola's FINIAN'S RAINBOW and William Wyler's FUNNY GIRL. Not a fan of the genre myself but I'm beginning to acquire a smidgen of appreciation, so I'm looking forward to attending a few of these.

Also at MoMI this month a special screening of David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, as tribute to recently departed screen legend Peter O'Toole. Any excuse to catch this masterpiece, resplendent in its new DCP restoration, is welcome. Later in the month Keith Olbermann hosts a screening of Sidney Lumet's masterpiece of satire and McLuhan prophesizing, 1976's NETWORK, to celebrate the release of Dave Itzkoff's new book Mad As Hell: The Making of Network. Olbermann and Itzkoff with conduct a post-screening Q&A to discuss the film and its remarkable prescience.

Back over at MoMA their ongoing Auteurist History of Film series offers up Ousmane Sembene's BLACK GIRL, Roman Polanski's REPULSION, Hiroshi Teshigahara's WOMAN IN THE DUNES, and Peter Emmanuel Goldman's ECHOES OF SILENCE. Lino Brocka's breakout work of Filipino cinema, MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT, also returns for a week from the 6th to the 12th.

Of course, when the NYC-area Cinephile thinks of Valentine's Day and lovers and romance, they think of the luxurious downtown Anthology Film Archives, that lavish bastion of filmgoing splendor, and their annual ode to that special sweethearts' holiday; the Valentine's Day Massacre series. Returning is last year's couple, Albert Brooks' MODERN ROMANCE and Maurice Pialat's WE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER, and they'll be joined by first-timer Andrzej Zulawski's POSSESSION, in the three-way of your dreams! As a bonus for you special lovebirds that can't keep your hands off each other the guy who brings his mattress to the theater will let you borrow it.

Also at Anthology this month a semi-reprise of last year's Russ Meyer trib is on the sked, focusing this time solely on his collaborations with Roger Ebert. BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRA-VIXENS, UP! and the legendary and notorious and deserving on both counts BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, all unspool on the weekend of the 21st. No mattresses will be handed out during these screenings.

The French Institute's newly kicked-off CineSalon series, combining brilliant new restorations of some of French cinema's finest works with post-screening discussions of said, offers up this month Jean Renior's BODOU SAVED FROM DROWNING, Jacques Demy's UNE CHAMBRE EN VILLE, and Max Ophuls' masterpiece LOLA MONTES. This is one of the rep circuit's best-kept secrets that I'm trying to make not-so secret, and this series is among the best this stellar screening space has offered. It's the month for romance, act a little French whydon'chya?

The Rubin Museum's Cabaret Cinema series resumes its Mind Over Matter theme this month with screenings of Jim Sheridan's MY LEFT FOOT, Stuart Rosenberg's COOL HAND LUKE, and Martin Scorsese's RAGING BULL. As usual the price of a cocktail merits your admission to the museum's swank screening space, but seats fill up pretty quick so try to get there early.

The Bowtie Chelsea Cinemas' Thursday night Classics series this month includes Alfred Hitchcock's REBECCA, Ranald MacDougall's QUEEN BEE, Robert Aldrich's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? and Jack Hill's FOXY BROWN. While these screenings aren't 35mm or DCP the communal experience is definitely worth the trip, and the programmers put a lotta Cinegeek love into their sked. I'm eyeing FOXY BROWN on the 27th...

The New York Historical Society has lined up a quartet of screenings honoring the CV's of Frank Capra and The Archers, respectively. Capra is repped by 1932's AMERICAN MADNESS and 1939's MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, and Micheal Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946) and THE RED SHOES (1948) fill out the dance card. P&P's LIFE AND DEATH is my second favorite film of all time. Ya gotta e-mail me to find out my all-time fave.

Finally, Williamsburg's Nitehawk Cinema, the only sane reason to get on the L train, shakes loose with some of the best of the month's offerings. Brunchtime warmth includes Cameron Crowe's sole reason for being SAY ANYTHING, Buster Keaton's insane work of derring-do SEVEN CHANCES, and John G. Avildsen's franchise spawning THE KARATE KID, while midnights tempt with Robert Houston's SHOGUN ASSASSIN, Katsushiro Otomo's AKIRA, and Ruggero Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. Ew, to the last one. Other cinematic shenanigans at my new fave movie theater in NYC include no-budget auteur Edgar G. Ulmer's BLUEBEARD, choreographer Shirley Clarke's contributon to the advent of indie filmmaking THE CONNECTION, and Troma Studios' COMBAT SHOCK, regarded by studio chief Lloyd Kaufmann as one of Troma's "true masterpieces". I'm not sure what to make of that latter statement, but they've got my $15 bucks. Plus root beer n' tots. Y'know the drill.

That seems to be the rep circuit tomfoolery for the moment, but skeds change fairly quickly and without much notice at some of these venues, so be sure to stay tuned to this website and the interactive calendar on the top right hand side of the page to stay up to date on all NYC's classic film screenings for the month of February 2014. And be sure to follow me on Facebook, for further classic film esoterica and star birthdays, and Twitter, for the daily film sked feed and other blathery.

For the record my Pick today is Jean Renoir's BODOU SAVED FROM DROWNING at the French Institute/Alliance Francais, and I'll be back tomorrow with a new selection. Til then be safe and sound and look out for the next knucklehead too, Stockahz! Excelsior!

-Joe Walsh

joew@nitratestock.net