April 28th-30th: Ford, Hawks, Melville - One of Them is a Lie. Who Thinks Up These Goddam Facebook Posts Anyway?
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I'm gonna play a broken record now, like my saying so isn't a broken record in and of itself; I cannot believe this month is over already. I cannot believe it's been 6 weeks since I last dreaded the looming threat of St. Patrick's Day 2017. I cannot believe it's been a month since the Quad Cinema's opening and I haven't planned a trip yet. I cannot believe Major League Baseball is already a month into its newest fresh-faced iteration, and doubly cannot believe how well the Yanks are ALREADY performing. I know, it's a long season, I don't need reminding. Most of all, I cannot believe I have to cobble together May 2017's rep film calendar already! Where the hell did the month go? You people got me in some kinda space/time express mail lane or what? I demand answers. Or sleep. Either will do.
New and ongoing series to be had in this month of showers' final weekend include Border Crossings and Road Rage at IFC Center; the kickof to the 2-week trib to auteur Jean-Pierre Melville and the aptly titled Film Forum Jr. at c'mon where else Film Forum; Modern Matinees: Mr. Cary Grant and a 2-film celebration of Polish auteur Wojciech Has at MoMA; Welcome to Metrograph: John Ford Edition at Metrograph; Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum; and the final weekend of Lina Wertmüller: Female Trouble, the initial offering from the newest and bluest rep venue in our movie mad metro, the freshly spit-shined Quad Cinema! The flickering fricassee be thus;
Friday April 28th
IFC Center
THE WILD BUNCH (1969) Dir; Sam Peckinpah
CHRISTINE (1983) Dir; John Carpenter
Film Forum
LE DOULOS (1962) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
LE SAMOURAI (1967) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Mr. Cary Grant
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944) Dir; Frank Capra
HOW TO BE LOVED (1963) Dir; Wojciech Has
THE NOOSE (1958) Dir; Wojciech Has
Metrograph
Welcome to Metrograph: John Ford Edition
STEAMBOAT ROUND THE BEND (1935) Dir; John Ford
STAGECOACH (1939) Dir; John Ford
Rubin Museum
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948) Dir; Orson Welles
Today's Pick? I'm always tempted to choose the kookfest baroque noir Orson Welles made out of a humble pulp airport novel, one where he adopted perhaps the worst Irish accent the film world had endured in the years leading up to Tom Cruise and Ron Howard, and dyed the studio era's most desired redhead blonde. It's perverse, to be sure, but what great noir ain't, I ask? However, I have to go with the twin offerings by the great John Ford, screening at Metrograph as part of an extension of their wonderful Welcome to Metrograph series. Today you get one of his 3 collaborations with Will Rogers, 1935's STEAMBOAT ROUND THE BEND, and his minting of John Wayne not merely as movie star but as American persona in his 1939 classic STAGECOACH. Plus, you can chow down on some quality cow in the venue's commisary in the screenings' wake. What could be more American? Visit with Pappy, eat a steak, grab a tothpick on yer way out. That's a night at the movies, pilgrim.
Saturday April 29th
IFC Center
THE WILD BUNCH (1969) Dir; Sam Peckinpah
CHRISTINE (1983) Dir; John Carpenter
Film Forum
LE SAMOURAI (1967) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
LE DOULOS (1962) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
Mid-Manhattan Library
TREMORS (1990) Dir; Ron Underwood
Metrograph
Welcome to Metrograph: John Ford Edition
STAGECOACH (1939) Dir; John Ford
SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949) Dir; John Ford
SERGEANT RUTLEDGE (1960) Dir; John Ford
MoMA
THE NOOSE (1958) Dir; Wojciech Has
HOW TO BE LOVED (1963) Dir; Wojciech Has
Landmark Jersey Loews
HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) Dir; Howard Hawks
Today's Pick? The Wojciech Has intrigues, as foreign film in general remains a big BIG blindside. But, really, any of you that know me, do you really expect me to take sides against Hildy? What might be my fave Hawks screens at the Landmark Jersey Loews as part of their celebration of their local screed: the Jersey Journal. 1940's HIS GIRL FRIDAY features a swft rethink of the gender ID's of its leads, a rat-a-tat screenplay adap from Charles Lederer based on Hecht & MacArthur's original FRONT PAGE, and perhaps my fave perf by a female lead all-time, the regal Roz Russell as the eponymous empowered lightning spark. It never dulls, it never slows. It is a thing or perpetual beauty and reinvigoration. If that ain't enough to get ya to Jersey, I got nuthin'!
Sunday April 30th
Film Forum
THE NUTY PROFESSOR (1963) Dir; Jerry Lewis
LE DOULOS (1962) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE (1966) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
LE SILENCE DE LA MER (1949) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
ARMY OF SHADOWS (1969) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
IFC Center
THE WILD BUNCH (1969) Dir; Sam Peckinpah
Mid-Manhattan Library
MAN WITH THE GUN (1955) Dir; Richard Wilson
MoMA
HOW TO BE LOVED (1962) Dir; Wojciech Has
THE NOOSE (1958) Dir; Wojciech Has
Quad Cinema
Lina Wertmüller: Female Trouble
ALL SCREWED UP (1974) Dir; Lina Wertmüller
BLOOD FEUD (1978) Dir; Lina Wertmüller
Today's Pick? Today I say, even though I've got a full 2 weeks to choose it, shell out the extra spondolas and spend the whole day with Jean-Pierre Melville, with 4 of his classics unspooling at Film Forum that span the very beginnig of his career to its magisterial end: 1949's LE SILENCE DE LA MER, 1962's LE DOULOS, 1966's LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE, and 1969's brutal, confessional ARMY OF SHADOWS. Yeh, it'll cost a separate admission for each film. You got a better plan for spending that tax refund, mon frere?!?
Once again, there you have it, my picks and pontifications regarding your next 3 days' worth of rep filmgoing! I'm currently working on the Overview of NYC's rep sked for May '17, so we'll check in again a few days 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.
