March 16th 2014. 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.
Today's continuing series include The Complete Hitchcock and Film Forum Jr. at (guess where?) Film Forum, Vienna Unveiled: A City in Cinema at MoMA, See It Big!: Comedies at Museum of the Moving Image, Overdue: Richard Fleischer at Anthology Film Archives, and Under the Influence: Scorsese/Walsh at BAM Cinematek. The contents of the goodie bags as follows;
Film Forum
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950) Dir; George Sidney
LIFEBOAT (1944) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
MARY (1930) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Nitehawk Cinema
THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) Dir; Jim Henson
MoMA
FOUR IN A JEEP (1950) Dir; Leopold Lindtberg
STOLEN IDENTITY (1952) Dir; Emil Reinhart
Mid-Manhattan Library
TOP HAT (1935) Dir; Mark Sandrich
Museum of the Moving Image
MODERN TIMES (1936) Dir; Charles Chaplin
WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (1957) Dir; Frank Tashlin
1941 (1979) Dir; Steven Spielberg
Anthology Film Archives
THE NEW CENTURIONS (1972) Dir; Richard Fleischer
BARABBAS (1961) Dir; Richard Fleischer
SEE NO EVIL (1971) Dir; Richard Fleischer
BAM Cinematek
TAXI DRIVER (1976) Dir; Martin Scorsese
Today's Pick? Spielberg's lone attempt at screwball comedy, a cross between the then-hip counterculture sensibilities of the anarchic John Landis (ANIMAL HOUSE) and the throwback catastrophic cinema of Stanley Kramer's IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD; 1979's 1941. Yes, those dates are in the correct order. What I once regarded as guilty pleasure I now proudly defend as misunderstood gem, a celebration of comedy both nuanced and Eddie Deezen. It was Tha Shpielz's biggest gamble following the box-office redefinings of JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, and while it failed to further reinvent ways in which box office reciepts might be tallied, it didn't actually lose money upon initial release. I first caught this behemoth on ABC Ch. 7 whence but a tyke, and like those who spent years defending The Three Stooges 'cause they loved them so as children, I spent a long time throwing down the gauntlet over this WW2 spoof only to face the dismissive derision of so-called movie scholars worldwide. Well now it's unspooling at no lesser a venue than the important-sounding Museum of the Moving Image, in the highly esteemed suburb of Astoria, Queens! So the laughs are on you snobs, now! HA! I say! HA! HA! Wow I thought this moment would be so much more fulfilling.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in March '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the 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 tomorrow with a brand new Pick, til then LEMME HEAR YOUR GUNS, BOY!!! RATATATATATATAT!!!
-Joe Walsh
P. S. Should you be feeling charitable during this harsh weather period please remember to check in with the good folks over at Occupy Sandy. Some of our NY neighbors are still feeling the effects of last year's hurricane. Be a mensch.
