July 8th 2014. Pick of the Day.
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Just once on an absolutely sweltering July afternoon I wanna bound down the steps of my stoop and hear a voice calling "CHEEP-WICH! GETTA YOU CHEEP-WICH HERE!"
Just once.
Ahem.
Ongoing series today include Time Regained: Cinema's Present Perfect at IFC Center, and Big Screen Epics at BAM Cinématek's Harvey Theater. The foofaraw looks thus;
Film Forum
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964) Dir; Richard Lester
Symphony Space
LA STRADA (1956) Dir; Federico Fellini
BAM Cinématek - Harvey Theater
THE LEOPARD (1963) Dir; Luchino Visconti
BAM Cinématek - Putnam Triangle Plaza
BUSTIN' LOOSE (1981) Dir; Oz Scott
IFC Center
THE CLOCK (1945) Dir; Vincente Minnelli
ROPE (1948) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1961) Dir; Agnes Varda
Today's Pick? I've still got plenty of time to choose those four lovable lads from Liverpool, as they're playing 5 shows a day til the 17th. Symphony Space has dusted off its screens for a film series that extends into Septmember, and offers one of Fellini's best today, but as I'm still not sure whether they're projecting 35mm or some other substandard format, I can't in good conscience yet make them my Pick. And IFC Center's terrific series focusing on youth and time in the cinema unspools forth with a trio of classics today, but c'mon. C'mon, I say. The needle's jettin' into the 90's today; what other option exists than an outdoor screening?
Richard Pryor's screen CV may not have matched the heights reached by his legendary standup career, but there are standout films, CAR WASH, SILVER STREAK, and BLUE COLLAR among them. Sitting on a tier slightly below the classics are overlooked gems, films like WHICH WAY IS UP? and his lone directorial effort, 1986's JO JO DANCER, YOUR LIFE IS CALLING. Tonight's film falls in the latter category. Pryor stars an an ex-con given a opportunity to repair his rep and re-enter the workforce when a Special Ed teacher, played by Cicely Tyson, hires him to drive a busload of kids from Philly to a new school farm in Washington, DC. It may smooth some of Pryor's notorious, and popular, hard edges in the service of broadening his audience appeal, but the film comes by its emotions honestly for the most part, and Pryor and Tyson make a great screen couple. Really any opportunity to see the groundbreaking comic on the big screen is worth your attendance, and tonight you may just discover a new fave.
Oz Scott's BUSTIN' LOOSE screns as part of BAM Cinematek's outdoor film series at the Putnam Triangle Plaza, and you can find directions here. DJ's will be spinning soul and R&B hits from the 70's and 80's to accompany the onscreen proceedings, good food and drink is to be had from local establishments, all you need concern yourself with, in the words of Arthur Dent, is where your towel is. It's a dangerous universe out there.
For more info on these and all NYC's remaining classic film screenings in July '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview and other audio tomfoolery check out the podcast, and follow me on SoundCloud! For reviews of contemporary cinema and my streaming habits (keep it clean!) check out my Letterboxd 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 safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too.
-Joe Walsh
P. S. Even though we're coming into the summer months and therefore not often as mindful of the displaced, some of our fellow NY'ers are yet to be made whole since Hurricane Sandy hit nearly two years ago. Check in with the good folks at Occupy Sandy to see if you can't still volunteer/donate to our neighbors in need. Be a mensch.
