YOUR JUNE 2012 CLASSIC FILM SKED. YER WELCOME.

Well here we are. Finally. And while not in the form I’d initially hoped, at least in existence. And that’s gotta count for something.

I thought this puppy up about two years ago, a site which would collect and display what I considered the best and most unmissable classic film screenings in the five boroughs and slightly beyond, all accessible by mass transit. Turns out while I and my fellow stoopid bitched and moaned about the lack of dedicated repertory houses within reach, several theaters and museums and rooftops were busy screening the very flicks we were bitching and moaning over. And as I became the friend harassed for having collected said data every month it suddenly struck me that a website devoted to posting this info and giving my phone a rest would be a good thing for me, indeed for all mankind.

I was hoping to provide a dedicated interactive calendar clickable by you, the stalwart unique hit. Alas, technical bugfuckery hampers our efforts. We trod forth in our quest to provide this miracle of modern HTML, but for now I hope you’ll accept and enjoy and utilize our inaugural blog and the ones to come. I’ll provide lists of films, theaters and dates, but it will for the moment require you to read instead of click. I KNOW, this is utter savagery. But as we are making the move from the cave to the Tudor manse still, I hope you will overlook our clunk and get as much out of this site as you can.

Summer 2012, you will be happy to hear, promises to be a fucking blast, with the usual suspects like Film Forum, Bryant Park and MOMA rolling out some big guns, and I haven’t even seen what the cats over at BAM are planning for July and August. They’re a little TOO quiet on that side of the river...

So without further eloquence, your June sked.

FILM FORUM

In addition to a terrific Mondays-only Erich Von Stroheim retrospective and a 35th anniversary screening of Annie Hall in a brand new 35mm print, as well as the yet again held over Renoir masterpiece Grand Illusion, the real treat this crown jewel of cinegeekery has brought us to close out spring 2012 is it’s Spaghetti Western fest, potentially the coolest fucking thing FF has ever programmed. And that’s sayin’ something. The obvious champs are here on display, the Leones and Corbuccis and Damianis, but the fest digs into the crates, screening prints, in some cases in gloriously stepped on condition, of titles familiar only to Alex Cox and Christopher Frayling. In other words, rarely screened. RARELY. Already in progress and, as witnessed by me, insanely popular, tix to these screenings are selling quick, so if you’re excited by the prospect of hearing Morricone while some mute eating his cigar kills everyone, get to it.

MOMA

The Museum Of Modern Art hasn’t scheduled anything major yet, but they are continuing their excellent series An Auteurist History Of Cinema with some of the silver screen’s master craftsmen. Did I just type silver screen? I did just type silver screen, didn’t I? I promise never to type silver screen ever ever ever in my godforsaken life again. Ahem.

The month kicked off with the awesome Fritz Lang and The Big Heat. Sorry, if you were relying on me you missed that. Prometheus was coming out that week, whaddaya want?

It continues this week, however, with the great Max Ophuls and The Earrings Of Madame De...

The man liked his ellipses.

Max Ophuls was one of the great film stylists, and his films DEMAND a big screen viewing. He was a lover of baroque set design, dolly shots and complex female characters. What these all have in common is answerable only by watching his films. Which I implore.

The following week sees Mizoguchi and Ugetsu. For the uninitiated, Mizoguchi is the filmmaker, second only to Kurosawa in 50‘s Japan, and Ugetsu is not to be confused with a similar Italian slang. Mizoguchi was elegant and elegiac, and filmed a ghost story in which the true ghost is a long gone feudal Japan.

Closing out June is the stately William Wyler and Roman Holiday, considered by some to be both the ultimate romantic comedy and the greatest of Audrey Hepburn’s films. Next to Always. Yes, I’m joking about that last part. Shot by the same cat who DP’ed Cocteau’s Beauty And The Beast and Wings Of Desire. Top that.

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

Casa De Mekas is rolling out some fun stuff this month. As part of their From The Pen Of series we have several cult flicks from the 60’s and 70’s. Frankenheimer’s brutal and still little seen Seconds, Badham’s colossally successful and game changing Saturday Night Fever, and it’s complete opposite and beloved Times Square from Allan Moyle, all somehow share calendar space in this retro. A Tony Buba series brings us perhaps George Romero’s finest film, Martin. I’m still convinced the guy who shows up to AFA carrying his bed is a customer and not an employee, but buy a ticket yourself an lemme know what you think.

BAM

As I said, eerily quiet at this house o’ film fest. But two awesome screenings upcoming in the next few weeks.

La Dolce Vita, the Fellini flick which may have actually coined the term Felliniesque, screens twice over the coming weekend. Filmed with berserk postwar Italian vigor by frequent collaborator Otello Martelli, with an iconic score by the great Nino Rota. It’s both fever dream and time capsule, and Anita Ekberg provides at least two reasons to attend.

Harakiri, from Masaki Kobayashi, is one of the great samurai flicks, a powerful evocation of a nation struggling to connect it’s pre- and postwar soul, with the notion of honor and it’s context in a changing world front and center. Somber but stunning, and worthy of your attendance.

MOMI

Museum Of The Moving Image, which is one of the coolest buildings you can pay your way into in these five boroughs, is gracing us with the complex and eloquently titled SEE IT BIG! series. And I shant argue with them.

Included this month are three slices of 70‘s Hollywood greatness. The almost religiously adored Chinatown boasts one of Jack Nicholson’s most iconic perfs, a terrific Jerry Goldsmith score and the most memorable slapping scene if you discount Moe, Larry and Curly.

The king of over-exposition himself, one Terrence Malick, is represented with what is considered by some his masterwork, the enigmatic Days Of Heaven. Nestor Almendros and Ennio Morricone (this must be his month) provide the visual and sound excellence respectively, and you must provide the rest. Welcome to Malickville. Huzzah sez me.

In the what might’ve been category, David Lynch’s The Elephant Man closes out the month. Coming after Eraserhead and before Dune, this Brooksfilm production, a success at the box office, hinted at more commercial territory, and therefore safer pastures, for the evil genius who would go on to Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart. As wonderful and full of heart and indebted to Ford and Capra as this film is, it’s also appreciated as a short detour in an otherwise wonderfully twisted career. Photographed by the legendary Freddie Francis, and featuring career bests from Anthony Hopkins and Kane’s mutated corpse, this is absolutely worth a trip to a big screen. C’mon, be big headed about thi...oh, yeah, right...ellipses please...

92ND STREET Y TRIBECA

This epitome of VHS gronk and manic pixie dream girl is bringing the macho with a pair of Jeff Bridges 70’s flicks. Thunderbolt And Lightfoot, while recognizable as a perfectly enjoyable offbeat 70’s crime caper flick pairing Bridges for the first and only time, and what a shame, with Clint Eastwood, is also accorded the dubious-to-some distinction of being Michael Cimino’s directorial debut. This, if you haven’t seen it, is a blast, and makes what eventually became of Cimino’s career all the more unfathomable. Whatever, enjoy what we got.

Bridges also got to participate in one of John Huston’s later classics, the seedy boxing melodrama Fat City. Featuring a great turn from Stacy Keach as the worn down ex-boxer/trainer and choke-on-the-smoke cinematography from Conrad L. Hall, it’s essential viewing for both Bridges fanatics and Huston completists. And it’s being shown on a big screen! Hooray ya bastids!

NITEHAWK CINEMA

This new and highly prized oyster in the gotham cinematic bay is slowly engendering excitement amongst the cinegeek. Or me, in other words. An Alamo Drafthouse of our very own until the Alamo Drafthouse of our very own potentially opens here late next year. But this is an Alamo Drafthouse born and bred in our very city, so let’s show loyalty. Especially as it’s aim to make rep screenings and a glass of beer compatible is most prized. Now here’s what they got this month.

They’re kicking off what I hope to be a series of silents with live accompaniment with Harold Lloyd’s Speedy, who after Chaplin and Keaton is a pretty goddamned under-appreciated silent comedy star, if you were to ask me and you just did.

Then they’re getting their midnight groove going with a screening of our favorite from 1981 Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Which is shown quite a bit. And will be shown quite a bit more this summer. And I ask what’s wrong with that? Celebrate Brooklyn midnight repertory screenings suckahz!

BRYANT PARK

Our eternal love/hate relationship with this most popular outdoor film series/social experiment blossoms anew next week with a screening of the not only well acknowledged but written about to death Psycho. Yes. It’s a masterpiece. Move along.

Nah, I’m being petulant. Psycho is one of the leanest, purest of American masterpieces and loses it’s power sometimes because it’s so taken for granted. What Hitch did with lurid pulp novel material and the pickup crew from his TV show changed cinema for good. Worth putting up with the three bearded guys drinking box wine and shouting about the new Un-Book piece they’ve written sitting next to you on the lawn. Just don’t say anything about their bearded girlfriend.

Closing out June on Nikola Telsa Avenue is Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. Regarded wrongly as the first Hollywood buddy flick (hello, Crosby and Hope?) it can be actually regarded as the first modern buddy flick, which would find it’s perfection in 48 Hours, sez me. The first pairing of Redford and Newman, the DP work (again) of the great Conrad L. Hall, and the first masterpiece from the audacious George Roy Hill, if any flick justifies the green stains on your never-nude shorts, here be it.

Two notable screenings are Sex, Lies And Videotape at The Museum Of Arts And Design, which I’ve never been to, because their website kinda scares me, and the absolute reason for existence which is Duck Soup at the Landmark Sunshine as their midnight movie to close out the month. If you’re still wanting you’re fekkin’ greedy. Get a damn life or get to the theater. And mebbe I see yaz theh. Excelsior, knucklehedz!

FILM FORUM

Spaghetti Western Retrospective

Django - Thu 6/14 3pm, Thu 6/21 9:45pm
The Big Gundown - Wed 6/13 4:40pm, Sat 6/16 10pm
Death Rides A Horse - Fri 6/15 5:20pm, Thu 6/21 7:30pm
Tepepa (Blood And Guns) - Sat 6/16 7:30pm
Django Kill...If You Live Shoot! - Thu 6/14 5:05, Tue 6/19 1pm
The Mercenary - Sat 6/16 1pm, Sun 6/17 10:15pm, Tue 6/19 5:40pm
A Bullet For The General - Fri 6/15 1pm, Sat 6/16 3pm
Navajo Joe - Fri 6/15 3:20pm
Companeros - Sat 6/16 5:20pm
Hellbenders Wed 6/20 8:20pm
The Great Silence - Sun 6/17 8:20pm
For A Few Dollars More - Sun 6/10 3pm
The Price Of Power - Sun 6/17 1pm
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - Tu6/12 1:30pm, Thu 6/21 4pm
The Hills Run Red - Thu 6/14 1pm
The Big Showdown - Tue 6/12 4:50pm, Wed 6/20 1pm, 10:15pm
Sabata - Tue 6/12 7pm, Wed 6/13 9:50pm, Mon 6/18 9:30pm, Tue 6/19 3:30pm
China 9, Liberty 37 - tue 6/12 9:10pm
Duck You Sucker - Wed 6/13 1:40pm, 6:50pm, Tue 6/19 8pm, Thu 6/21 1pm
Kill And Pray - Thu 6/14 7:45pm
Yankee - Thu 6/14 9:35pm
Once Upon A Time In The West - Fri 6/15 7:40pm, Sun 6/17 3:10pm, Wed 6/20 3:05pm
The Ruthless Four - Sun 6/17 6:20pm, Wed 6/20 6:15pm

Von Stroheim Love-In

The Great Gabbo - Mon 6/18 1pm, 4:15pm, 7:40pm
The Great Flamarion - Mon 6/18 2:50pm, 6:05pm
Queen Kelly - 6/25 7:10pm

Annie Hall - Fri 6/22 thru Thu 6/28 1:10, 3:10, 5:10, 7:10, 9:10

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

Martin - Mon 6/117pm
The King Of Marvin Gardens - Fri 6/15 7:15pm, Tue 6/19 9:15pm
Times Square -Fri 6/15 9:30pm, Tue 6/19 7pm
Seconds - Sat 6/16 2:30pm, Fri 6/22 9pm
Damnation Allley - Sun 6/17 9pm, Sat 6/23 7pm
Saturday Night Fever - Mon 6/18 9:15pm, Thu 6/21 6:45pm
Joe - Thu 6/21 9:15pm, Sun 6/24 4:30pm
Ulzana's Raid - Sun 6/17 6:45pm, Wed 6/20 9pm, Sat 6/23 4:45pm
The Last Run - Sun 6/174:45pm, Wed 6/20 7pm, Sat 6/23 9pm
The Shooting - Sat 6/16 9pm, Sun 6/24 9pm

MOMA

The Earrings Of Madame De... - Wed 6/13, Thu 6/14, Fri 6/15 all showtimes 1:30pm
Ugestsu - Wed 6/20, Thu 6/21, Fri /22 all showtimes 1:30pm
Roman Holiday - Wed 6/28, Thu 6/29, Fri 6/30 all showtimes 1:30pm

MOMI

Chinatown - Sat 6/16 1pm, Sun 6/17 1pm
Nashville - Fri 6/29 7pm, Sat 6/30 1pm
Days Of Heaven - Sat 6/30 4:30pm
The Elephant Man - Sat 6/30 6pm

BAM

La Dolce Vita - Fri 6/15 6:50pm, Sun 6/17 6:50pm
The Scoundrel - Mon 6/18 6:50pm
Harakiri - Tue 6/19 6:50pm

BRYANT PARK

Psycho - 6/18
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid - 6/25
films begin at sunset

NITEHAWK CINEMA

Speedy - Tue 6/12 7:30pm
Raiders Of The Lost Ark - Sat 6/23 Midnight

92YTRIBECA

Thunderbolt And Lightfoot - Wed 6/13 7:30pm
Fat City - Wed 6/20 7:30pm

MAD

Sex. Lies And Videotape - Thu 6/21 7pm

LANDMARK SUNSHINE CINEMA

Duck Soup - Fri 6/29 and Sat 6/30 Midnight