July 23rd 2014. Pick of the Day.

Anybody who's put it off thus far might wanna take a stroll by Kim's Video on 1st ave twixt 7th st. and St. Marks Place. They're not much longer for this world, and at one time they loomed large, Kubrick's monolith-large, over the Cinegeek scene in NYC. They've currently slashed prices by 50% on all inventory, and while most of the primo catalogue has been snapped up by now there are still deep cut treasures to be had, for those who know how to spot them. If nothing else the biz deserves a final visit from those who benefitted from its focus on studio vaults, cult items and other esoterica it would have been otherwise impossible to see in the pre-YouTube & BitTorrent era. Stop by one last time, preferably to purchase something, but in any event to pay your respects to a one-time chain that loved film as much as its customers did.

Now to the rep circuit.

Continuing series this day include Femmes Noirs at Film Forum, and An Auteurist History of Film and Lady in the Dark: Crime Films from Columbia Pictures 1932-57 at MoMA. The shimmy shimmy ko-ko pop looks thus;

Film Forum

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964) Dir; Richard Lester

THE KILLERS (1946) Dir; Robert Siodmak

GILDA (1946) Dir; Charles Vidor

MoMA

TAXI DRIVER (1976) Dir; Martin Scorsese

THE NINTH GUEST (1934) Dir; Roy William Neill

BY WHOSE HAND? (1932) Dir; Ben Stoloff

Pier One, Riverside Park South

HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971) Dir; Hal Ashby

Today's Pick? Let's get back outdoors this eve, shall we? Hal Ashby, long one of my fave filmmakers and everyone's go-to name drop when attempting to sound incisive about 70's Hollywood film, recieved his rightful due when Peter Biskind, in his essential dissertation EASY RIDER AND RAGING BULLS, correctly judged him the director with the perfect, or closest anyway, batting averge in that decade. For the record his output includes THE LANDLORD, THE LAST DETAIL, SHAMPOO, BOUND FOR GLORY, COMING HOME, and BEING THERE. Long an ace editor, one of particular import to the prestige of director Norman Jewison's CV, Ashby was eager to get behind the camera, as were the rungs so climbed in the then recently lapsed studio sytem. He picked himself a neat counterculture treatise with Kristin Hunter's novel THE LANDLORD, which found Beau Bridges' eponymous lessor attempting to forcibly evict the tenants of a building he's purchased, intending to convert it to a set of luxury condos. Until that is, he becomes enamored of his neighbors, and class distinction is turned on its head. Hilarity and outrage ensued!

This hippie sensibility would firmly remain with the filmmaker, and continue to serve him well in the ensuing ME decade, skewering the hypocritical intertwining of sex and politics in SHAMPOO, championing depresion-era, truth-to-power folk hero Woody Guthrie in BOUND FOR GLORY, giving voice to returning vets critical of the leaders who led them to folly and failure in COMING HOME. He was completely in sync with the zeitgeist of the era, if not one who informed it. The real kickstart to this magnificent, perhaps perfect run of films was not his debut, however, but his sophomore effort. A production perhaps unthinkable in any other moment but that transitional period between the riotous 60's and the pessimistic tumult of the 70's. One revolving around a well-off, infantilized adult, suffering from self-hatred that manifests itself as prank suicide, and an older, much older free-spirited, actually anarchic holocaust survivor, and the ensuing love affair between them. Which everyone about them finds resolutely disgusting. Except the audiences, which responded quite affectionately to this absolutely unconventional romance, making of an misunderstood gem a very profitable cult hit over the ensuing decades. There are those who consider it one of the greatest romances ever committed to the screen. I'm not sure if I count among their number, but I do number among those who adore it for its uniqueness, its bravery, and for the undeniably beautiful chemistry between its leads, bridging decades of experience and naivete in a simple connection.

Hal Ashby's HAROLD AND MAUDE screens tonight at sunset at Pier One, Riverside Park South. To the best of my knowledge there is no parking for hearses, but check back as accomodations are known to change on short notice.

For more info on these and all NYC's 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 if you wanna sing out, sing out.

-Joe Walsh

JoeW@NitrateStock.net

P. S. Even though we've fully entered 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.