February 24th-28th: John Wayne Searches, Burt Lancaster Goes For Broke, and Anthony Hopkins Enjoys His Chianti! Plus, the 3rd Annual Nitrate Stock Oscar Bash! Dig In!
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So you might've heard, cats 'n kittens, that the reprieve, though late, has been granted, and the Nitrate Stock Oscar Bash will celebrate its 3rd iteration! I've only had a week to promote, so I may not have reached some of you who'd otherwise wish to attend, but we will be offering the usual great booze 'n grub, as well as prizes! This year the Grand Megillah is the entire Corleone saga, the BluRay restoration of Francis Ford Coppola's GODFATHER trilogy! You can remove the 3rd film only after you've won the damn thing! I'm working on the 2nd & 3rd prizes, but you can be sure they will be booty worthy. Just like Donna Summer. Ba dum! Check here for the exacts if you're not already familiar, and my fellow movie-mad who give not a whit about the annual statuette passing out but LOVE pools and prizes, come find me at Shades of Green on 15th st. between Irving Place and 3rd avenue! Start time is 8pm, Stockahz!
And now to biz as usual.
New and ongoing series include Modern Matinees: Hollywood & the Great Depression, 1933 at MoMA; Jordan Peele: The Art of the Social Thriller at BAM Cinématek; Oscar: Our Favorite Best Picture Winners at Metrograph; Gimme Shelter: Hollywood North at Anthology Film Archives; Heathcliff, it's Me: Adapting Wuthering Heights at the Film Society of Lincoln Center; and the imaginatively titled Film Forum Jr. at you guessed it, Film Forum. The bijou ballyhoo be thus;
Friday February 24th
Film Forum
PELLE THE CONQUEROR (1987) Billie August
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Hollywood & the Great Depression, 1933
STATE FAIR (1933)Dir; Henry King
BAM Cinématek
Jordan Peele: The Art of the Social Thriller
CANDYMAN (1992) Dir; Bernard Rose
Metrograph
Oscar: Our Favorite Best Picture Winners
THE APARTMENT (1960) Dir; Billy Wilder
Anthology Film Archives
Gimme Shelter: Hollywood North
BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) Dir; Bob Clark
CLASS OF 1984 (1982) Dir; Mark L. Lester
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Heathcliff, it's Me: Adapting Wuthering Heights
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1985) Dir; Jacques Rivette
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1953) Dir; Luis Buñuel
Landmark Jersey Loews
THE SEARCHERS (1956) Dir; John Ford
Nitehawk Cinema
PET SEMETARY (1988) Dir; Mary Lambert
Today's Pick? One of the great John Ford's late masterpieces, indeed a film many ascribe him as his best all-time, screens at one of the last movie palaces accesible to the Manhhatan movie mad. THE SEARCHERS takes its rightful place on the big screen once more at Journal Square's majestic Landmark Jersey Loews. For about 8 bucks you get entry to the magnificently preserved space, access to dollar popcorn, candy and soda, and the experience of watching John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter turn the earth in search of Natalie Wood. It was and is a career statement from the maestro, and it contains potentially his most powerful statement, indeed one of Hollywood's most powerful, on the state of ethnic relations and the potential for tolerance within the United States. From the man who not only authored some of the most definitive works of the Hollywood western over the course of its near-dawning, its peak years, and its elegiac era, this stands as a definitive outro for the genre's heyday, and a bold rethink from the man who arguably defined it. Unmissable stuff.
Saturday February 25th
Film Forum
PELLE THE CONQUEROR (1987) Billie August
Mid-Manhattan Library
CAT BALLOU (1965) Dir; Elliot Silverstein
Metrograph
Oscar: Our Favorite Best Picture Winners
THE APARTMENT (1960) Dir; Billy Wilder
GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) Dir; Ivan Reitman
Anthology Film Archives
Gimme Shelter: Hollywood North
ATLANTIC CITY (1980) Dir; Louis Malle
HEAVY METAL (1980) Dir; Gerlad Potterton
ROCK 'N RULE (1983) Dir; Clive A. Smith
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Heathcliff, it's Me: Adapting Wuthering Heights
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1988) Dir; Yoshishige Yoshida
Landmark Jersey Loews
KEY LARGO (1948) Dir; John Huston
Nitehawk Cinema
PET SEMETARY (1988) Dir; Mary Lambert
Today's Pick? Even though it's not a trad trip bill I highly recommend you pay the separate admissions for all three efforts on display at Anthology Film Archives today; Louis Malle's brilliant, subtle treatise on masculinity in decline, 1981's ATLANTIC CITY, the crackpot animated omnibus midnight movie HEAVY METAL, and one bold attempt at adult animated fare that attempted to fill the gap between the genre's Golden Age and it's viral revival in the early 90's, Nelvana's ROCK AND RULE! All of these gems are connected by the shared origin of Canadian financing and tax forgiveness, which began with intent honorable and was eventually utilized by artists and moneymen so eager for backing that they, let's say, concocted quite the raech to submit the Canuck bonafides of their projects. The program didn't last long, but it helped birth David Cronenberg, and procude several gems that should make our neighbors to the North prood. So check out the entire itinerary of Gimme Shelter: Hollywood North. And G'day.
Sunday February 26th
Film Forum
LASSIE COME HOME (1943) Fred M. Wilcox
PELLE THE CONQUEROR (1987) Billie August
Metrograph
Oscar: Our Favorite Best Picture Winners
GIGI (1958) Dir; Vincente Minnelli
REBECCA (1941) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
BAM Cinématek
Jordan Peele: The Art of the Social Thriller
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) Dir; Jonathan Demme
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Heathcliff, it's Me: Adapting Wuthering Heights
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939) Dir; William Wyler
Anthology Film Archives
Gimme Shelter: Hollywood North
THE BROOD (1980) Dir; David Cronenbergyes,
Today's Pick? I'm tempted by the twin screenings of GIGI and REBECCA at Metrograph, especially as they both snagged the lil' gold guy and this be Oscar Sunday (yay). However, I simply can't pass up the opportunity to select what is absolutely the most perverse Valentine's Day release in perhaps the history of film; Jonathan Demme's equally Oscar-snaggin' THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, unspooling in glorious 35mm at BAM as part of their quirky, keen series Jordan Peele: The Art of the Social Thriller. Fava beans optional. Liver, well...
Other notable screenings at the end of February 2017 include a screening of William Wyler's adap of Emily Brönte's WUTHERING HEIGHTS, what many consider the definitive version although it goes only as far as about half the novel, unspooling Monday in luminous 35mm as part of the Film Society's series examining the various film adaps of HEIGHTS through the decade; and why not revisit the Overlook Hotel on the last day of Winter, at least as I've always counted it, by visiting Kubrickville at BAM this Tuesday as they screen 1980's THE SHINING, as part of their excellent series Jordan Peele: The Art of the Social Thriller!
Once again, there you have it, my picks and pontifications regarding your next 7 days' worth of rep filmgoing! We'll check in again a week from now, in the early days of a whole new spin 'round the sun, for the purposes of once more rummaging through the reels and making the tough yet wonderful choices regarding our chosen love. Til then be sure to follow me on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and be SURE to catch my new YouTube channel, Nitrate Stock TV, where I'll be checking in at screenings all over the city and giving my 2 cents on the film, the venue, the audience, any damn thing that comes to my mind. Which, as some of ya know, can be quite entertaining. . Til next time Stockahz, remember: be safe, be sound, and make sure the next guy and gal are too. Excelsior!
- Joe Walsh
P. S. As you know I like to beat the drum for what I consider worthwhile causes. Xenophobia has sadly always been present in our country, mostly dormant, but at times very awoken and tangible. Sadly, the latter is the present case, and the subject of Syrian refugees has become a veritable powderkeg. To those of you who believe we can aid these people, our fellow human beings who are desperate for our help, I suggest the heroic efforts of the good men and women at DoctorsWithoutBorders. They're providing boots-on-the-ground relief, everything from surgery and medicine to clean water. It's a small something to be sure in this maelstrom of madness, but it is just that: something.
