Films Now Showing
After a heist goes fatally wrong at a mafia-controlled bank in Harlem, cops Lt. Pope (Yaphet Kotto) and Capt. Matelli (Anthony Quinn) must find and arrest the perps before either the Harlem mob or Italian mafia get there first. Anthony Franciosa and Paul Benjamin round out the excellent top-billed cast; also look for early appearances by TV personality Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear from STARSKY & HUTCH) and stage and TV actress Marlene Warfield. This gritty neo-noir is justifiably celebrated for its original score by jazz trombonist J.J. Johnson, and its iconic theme song, performed by soul singer Bobby Womack, which was introduced to a new audience many years later when it was prominently featured in Quentin Tarantino's JACKIE BROWN. DIR Barry Shear; SCR Luther Davis, from the novel by Wally Ferris; PROD Fouad Said, Ralph B. Serpe. U.S., 1972, color, 102 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Ridley Scott's ingenious "haunted spaceship" monster movie remains an influential classic for both sci-fi and horror aficionados. Starring John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton and a star-making performance by Sigourney Weaver, "the most courageous and resourceful heroine seen onscreen in years." – Gary Arnold, The Washington Post. DIR Ridley Scott; SCR Dan O'Bannon; PROD Gordon Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill. U.S./UK, 1979, color, 117 min. RATED R
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The preternaturally gifted director and choreographer Bob Fosse turned the camera on his own life for this madly imaginative, self-excoriating musical masterpiece. Roy Scheider gives the performance of his career as Joe Gideon, whose exhausting work schedule — mounting a Broadway production by day and editing his latest movie by night — and routine of amphetamines, booze and sex are putting his health at serious risk. Fosse burrows into Gideon's (and his own) mind, rendering his interior world as phantasmagoric spectacle. Assembled with visionary editing that makes dance come alive onscreen as never before and overflowing with sublime footwork by the likes of Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer and Ben Vereen, ALL THAT JAZZ pushes the musical genre to personal depths and virtuosic aesthetic heights. (Note courtesy of Criterion Collection.) DIR/SCR Bob Fosse; SCR/PROD Robert Alan Aurthur. U.S., 1979, color, 123 min. RATED R
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Ridley Scott tells the epic story of how North Carolina-born Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) became a Harlem kingpin, the biggest heroin smuggler in the U.S. His ruthlessness may have led him to the top, but his business smarts and extreme caution allowed him stay there, eluding detection by the authorities for years. The script by Steven Zaillian (MONEYBALL, SCHINDLER'S LIST) skillfully fictionalizes the details about the real-life gangster Lucas, who died this May at age 88. Russell Crowe co-stars as vice cop Richie Roberts, the man tasked with taking Lucas down, despite a shockingly corrupt police force seeking to thwart him. The excellent cast also includes Oscar®-nominated Ruby Dee, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Josh Brolin, Idris Elba, John Hawkes, Norman Reedus, Common and Wu-Tang Clan's RZA. DIR/PROD Ridley Scott; SCR Steven Zaillian; PROD Brian Grazer. U.S./U.K., 2007, color, 157 min. RATED R
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"Where were you in '62?" From dusk to daylight on a summer night in a California small town, high school graduates — among them Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Charles Martin Smith, Paul Le Mat, Cindy Williams, Harrison Ford and Suzanne Somers as the "blonde in the T-Bird" — cruise the streets and contemplate impending college and real life, backed by a classic oldies score. DIR/SCR George Lucas; SCR Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck; PROD Francis Ford Coppola. U.S., 1973, color, 110 min. RATED PG
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The definitive Woody Allen film, ANNIE HALL won four Academy Awards®: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and Actress for Diane Keaton. Allen's alter ego — neurotic New York City standup comic Alvy Singer — tries to figure out where it all went wrong with former flame Annie Hall, the lovely, "la-di-da" nightclub singer from Chippewa Falls who stole his heart. With memorable cameo appearances by Marshall McLuhan, Paul Simon, Christopher Walken, Shelley Duvall, Carol Kane and Jeff Goldblum. DIR/SCR Woody Allen; SCR Marshall Brickman; PROD Charles H. Joffe. U.S., 1977, color, 93 min. RATED PG
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Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, in career-making performances, lead an outstanding cast in one of the screen's most poignant comedies, a workplace romance of uncommon sophistication. Motivated by vague promises of promotion, lowly insurance clerk Lemmon lets his bosses use his apartment for their late-night assignations during the holiday season. When he falls for elevator operator MacLaine, ex(-ish)-girlfriend of boss Fred MacMurray, the moral dilemmas begin to mount. Ten Oscar® nominations and five wins, including Best Picture, Director and Screenplay for writer/director/producer Billy Wilder. DIR/SCR/PROD Billy Wilder; SCR I. A. L. Diamond. U.S., 1960, b&w, 125 min. NOT RATED
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From director Todd Douglas Miller (DINOSAUR 13) comes a cinematic event 50 years in the making. Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, APOLLO 11 takes us straight to the heart of NASA's most celebrated mission — the one that first put men on the moon and made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future. (Note courtesy of Neon.) DIR/PROD Todd Douglas Miller; PROD Evan Krauss, Thomas Petersen. U.S., 2019, color, 93 min. RATED G
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One of the most important American films of the 1970s, all the more remarkable because it was the feature debut of Terrence Malick, a graduate of the first class of AFI's Center for Advanced Film Studies (as the AFI Conservatory was then known) in 1969. In Malick's sensitive handling, the true story of mass murderer Charlie Starkweather is reworked into a literate, almost elegiac tribute to midwestern restlessness, with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek giving astonishing performances as doomed young lovers on the wrong side of the law. DIR/SCR/PROD Terrence Malick. U.S., 1973, color, 94 min. RATED PG
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"I like to watch." Peter Sellers is a simple-minded gardener who has lived his entire life on an estate in an isolated corner of Washington, DC. When the estate owner dies, Sellers is forced out into the world for the first time. A chance meeting with society doyenne Shirley MacLaine (he is hit by her car) introduces Sellers to a crowd of Washington movers and shakers, people who, though rich and powerful, are hungry for wisdom, and take his simplicity and homespun pronouncements for profound philosophy. Sellers earned an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor, and Melvyn Douglas won Best Supporting Actor for his turn as MacLaine's powerbroker husband. DIR Hal Ashby; SCR Jerzy Kosinski, from his novel; PROD Andrew Braunsberg. U.S., 1979, color, 130 min. RATED PG
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A cult classic of gooey greatness, THE BLOB follows the havoc wreaked on a small town by an outer-space monster with neither soul nor vertebrae, with Steve McQueen playing the rebel teen who tries to warn the residents about the jellylike invader. Strong performances and ingenious special effects help the film transcend the schlock sci-fi and youth delinquency genres from which it originates. Made outside of Hollywood by a maverick film distributor and a crew whose credits mostly comprised religious and educational shorts, THE BLOB helped launch the careers of McQueen and composer Burt Bacharach, whose bouncy title song is just one of this film's many unexpected pleasures. (Note courtesy of the Criterion Collection.) DIR Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr.; SCR Theodore Simonson, Kay Linaker; PROD Jack H. Harris. U.S., 1958, color, 86 min. NOT RATED
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Village strongman Emilio Fernández bellows the words of the title when he learns Alfredo has impregnated his daughter, offering a bounty of $1 million. Piano-playing bartender Warren Oates decides to seek the reward after a visit from some bizarre bounty hunters (who know that his lover Isela Vega was involved with Garcia, too). BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA makes for a potent cocktail of director Sam Peckinpah's themes and obsessions, with Oates giving an intense, committed performance (partially based on Peckinpah himself). DIR/SCR Sam Peckinpah; SCR Gordon T. Dawson; PROD Martin Baum. U.S., 1974, color, 112 min. RATED R
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In this box office smash, the recipient of seven Academy Award® nominations, Paul Newman is mastermind criminal Butch Cassidy and Robert Redford is his lightning-quick partner, the Sundance Kid. As the leaders of the legendary Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, these charismatic outlaws rob banks and stagecoaches at will until a ruthless railroad baron assembles a bloodthirsty posse to put them under. With the hired guns on their heels, they flee to Bolivia to start anew, but once again find themselves afoul of the law. DIR George Roy Hill; SCR William Goldman; PROD John Foreman. U.S., 1969, b&w/color, 110 min. RATED PG
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In decadent 1930s Berlin, impulsive and morally liberal agent provocateur Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) meets the scholarly and handsome Brian (Michael York), and the two develop an intimate relationship while unknowingly sharing a bisexual lover. Winner of eight Oscars®, including Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey, as the Kit Kat Klub's reptilian Master of Ceremonies). DIR Bob Fosse; SCR Jay Presson Allen, from the musical by Joe Masteroff and the play by John Van Druten; PROD Cy Feuer. U.S., 1972, color, 124 min. In English and German with English subtitles. RATED PG
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For many, this is the movie about the gambling life. Elliott Gould and George Segal become fast friends after meeting at a low-stakes California poker parlor. They go on a spree that takes them to Vegas and a shot at a big-money game. By turns funny and poignant, CALIFORNIA SPLIT captures the highs of risk and reward, and its attendant manias, with Gould and Segal at the top of their games as the gambling buddies. DIR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR/PROD Joseph Walsh. U.S., 1974, color, 108 min. RATED R
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Everybody's favorite alien, Captain 20, is making another very special appearance at AFI Silver to host a program of cartoons and kid-show favorites from the old days, including JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT; LANCELOT LINK, SECRET CHIMP; and BUGS BUNNY AND FRIENDS! There may even be some gerbil races. Do you still have your original Channel 20 Club Card? Present it at the concession stand or the café, and receive a free small popcorn! Total program approx. 110 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
If only they knew she had the power.
Shy, awkward Carrie (Sissy Spacek) has trouble fitting in with the obnoxious teens at her high school, and her home life is equally challenging, where she's tormented by her religious nut mother (Piper Laurie). Carrie experiences a moment of sheer terror after she gets her first period in the gym class shower, and is mocked by her classmates. Her spirits lift when the cutest boy at school asks her to the prom; but no one can foresee what awaits at the dance, when a prank pushes Carrie over the edge, unleashing an unimaginable force of retribution. Stephen King's first published novel, and the first adapted for the screen. DIR Brian De Palma; SCR Lawrence D. Cohen, from the novel by Stephen King; PROD Paul Monash. U.S., 1976, color, 98 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." Roman Polanski's landmark neo-noir combined mastery of the genre's conventions with a 1970s sensibility, even more paranoid and doom-bent than that of the classic era. Investigating the suspicious death of the Los Angeles water commissioner, private eye Jack Nicholson becomes drawn into a mystery that somehow involves both the countryside's struggling citrus farmers and the city's elite, including John Huston and his elegant daughter Faye Dunaway. Eleven Oscar® nominations, with the sole win coming for Robert Towne's screenplay, which was based on events surrounding the "water war" between the city of LA and the residents of the interior Owens Valley. DIR Roman Polanski; SCR Robert Towne; PROD Robert Evans. U.S., 1974, color, 130 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
After the success of JAWS, Steven Spielberg wanted to do a smaller-scale story about a man obsessed with an alien encounter. Opting to go with special effects, the project grew enormously complicated, but ultimately resulted in another major success. Richard Dreyfuss witnesses a UFO on an abandoned road and, against the wishes of wife Teri Garr, goes searching for answers. François Truffaut plays a French UFO specialist who leads the effort to communicate with the aliens. John Williams' Oscar®-nominated score, featuring the "five-tone" motif now ingrained in popular culture, lost that Oscar® to his own score for STAR WARS (but later won two Grammys®). DIR/SCR Steven Spielberg; PROD Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips. U.S., 1977, color, 137 min. RATED PG
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Ossie Davis' screen adaptation of Chester Himes' hardboiled detective novel was a massive success in 1970, and kickstarted the vogue for what would come to be called Blaxploitation films. After gunmen rob the back-to-Africa fundraiser of "Reverend" Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart), Harlem detectives Gravedigger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge) and Coffin Ed Jones (Raymond St. Jacques) investigate what proves to be a fishy scenario. COTTON COMES TO HARLEM marked the feature film debuts of Lockhart, Judy Pace, Cleavon Little and Redd Foxx, then a popular nightclub comic soon launched into stardom with the 1972 debut of TV's SANFORD AND SON. DIR/SCR Ossie Davis; SCR Arnold Perl, from the novel by Chester Himes; PROD Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. U.S., 1970, color, 97 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
This visionary interpretation of the American West earned Terrence Malick Best Director honors at Cannes in 1979. At the turn of the 20th century, Richard Gere accidentally kills his boss in a Chicago steel mill. He hops a train to Texas with girlfriend Brooke Adams and kid sister Linda Manz, all posing as siblings to avoid trouble. They find work on Sam Shepard's farm during harvest time — but a love triangle develops between Shepherd, Adams and Gere. The legendary cinematography, using only natural light and shot mainly during the "magic hour" before sunset, won an Oscar® for cinematographer Néstor Almendros. DIR/SCR Terrence Malick; PROD Bert Schneider, Harold Schneider. U.S., 1978, color, 94 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Director Paul Bartel (EATING RAOUL) made this spoofy futuristic bloodsport film on a shoestring budget for Roger Corman's New World Pictures in 1975 (coincidentally, the same year as United Artists' much bigger but comparatively less-loved ROLLERBALL), which went on to become a significant hit and enduring cult classic. Following the World Crash of 1979, the U.S. devolved into anarchy and economic collapse. By the year 2000, it is ruled by a totalitarian regime that can barely deliver basic services to its populace, but it does deliver the annual Transcontinental Road Race, where murderous motorists drive souped-up killer cars from New York to "New Los Angeles," accumulating points for their pedestrian kills along the way. This year's race features the reigning champion "Frankenstein" (David Carradine), a veteran driver with the scars to prove it; "Machine Gun" Joe Viturbo (a pre-ROCKY Sylvester Stallone), "loved by thousands, hated by millions"; "Calamity Jane" (Mary Woronov), "Matilda the Hun" (Roberta Collins) and "Nero the Hero" (Martin Kove). Outrageous action sequences and wonderfully ridiculous dialogue abound. DIR Paul Bartel; SCR Robert Thom, Charles B. Griffith, from the story "The Racer" by Ib Melchior; PROD Roger Corman. U.S., 1975, color, 80 min. RATED R
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In the unfamiliar Appalachian backwoods, a weekend of male bonding for four inexperienced campers turns into a gut-wrenching fight for survival against the merciless forces of nature and the brutality of man. Their only escape is a terrifying canoe ride down the raging rapids of the Chattooga River. If their heartless pursuers don't kill them, the treacherous waters just might. Directed by John Boorman and starring Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox (who all performed many of their own stunts), DELIVERANCE was an instant box office and critical sensation, garnering three Oscar® nominations and instigating a boom in whitewater rafting tourism in Rabun County, Georgia, where the film was shot. (Note adapted from Warner Bros.) DIR/ PROD John Boorman; SCR James Dickey, from his novel. U.S., 1972, color, 109 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Easy Rawlins, the detective hero of Walter Mosley's hugely popular series of detective novels set in late '40s Los Angeles, comes to life on the big screen, written and directed by AFI alum Carl Franklin and portrayed by Denzel Washington. WWII veteran Rawlins, laid off from his job at Champion Aircraft, turns to private investigating, and is soon embroiled in a case that crisscrosses the black and white parts of town, revealing connections between South Central gangsters and the city's mayoral candidates that someone is willing to kill to keep secret. Don Cheadle, Tom Sizemore and Jennifer Beals highlight the excellent cast. DIR/SCR Carl Franklin, from the novel by Walter Mosley; PROD Jesse Beaton, Gary Goetzman. U.S., 1995, color, 102 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"BOND IS BACK — Sean Connery is BOND" trumpeted the publicity, as Connery, "the man who made 007 a household number," returned after a one-film hiatus; despite a record payday for the actor, it would be his final "official" Bond film until 1983's independently produced NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. Bond tracks a diamond-smuggling operation from Amsterdam to Los Angeles to Las Vegas, discovering that the trail leads to archenemy Blofeld (Charles Gray this time around), whose interest in the rocks is military, not monetary. DIR Guy Hamilton; SCR Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman. UK, 1971, color, 120 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Tina Balser (Carrie Snodgress, who received an Academy Award® nomination and a Golden Globe® for her performance) is a New York City housewife being driven crazy by her arrogant attorney husband Jonathan (Richard Benjamin) and their two spoiled daughters. Jonathan relentlessly pursues financial success, moving Tina to have an illicit affair with George (Frank Langella), a self-centered social-climber. She dumps both men and enters group therapy but fails to find emotional peace in that setting as well. Directed by Frank Perry (DAVID AND LISA, PLAY IT AS IT LAYS) from a script by then-wife Eleanor Perry, the film also features Alice Cooper's first appearance on the big screen. (Note adapted from Universal Pictures.) DIR/PROD Frank Perry; SCR Eleanor Perry, from the novel by Sue Kaufman. U.S., 1970, color, 95 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"Attica! Attica!" As scorching day unravels into night in Gotham, the motive for Al Pacino's botched bank robbery and hostage-taking is revealed to be the funding of his second wife's (John Cazale) male-to-female gender reassignment surgery. Sidney Lumet's ultimate exercise in realism was based on a real-life, only-in-New York incident. DIR Sidney Lumet; SCR Frank Pierson, from articles by P. F. Kluge and Thomas Moore; PROD Martin Bregman, Martin Elfand. U.S., 1975, color, 125 min. RATED R
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After considering Richard Burton, Patrick McGoohan, James Mason, Rex Harrison, David Niven, Trevor Howard, Richard Johnson and Cary Grant, the producers finally settled on Scotsman Sean Connery to play secret agent James Bond, selecting the sixth of Ian Fleming's popular spy novels for their fledgling production outfit's first big screen adaptation — and the rest is history. Bond travels to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow agent, possibly the work of the reclusive Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), aided in his efforts by shell diver Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress in her iconic white bikini — the prototypical "Bond Girl"). DIR Terence Young; SCR Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, Berkely Mather, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman. UK, 1962, color, 110 min. NOT RATED
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"This used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's going wrong with it." Football-helmeted good ol' boy Jack Nicholson provides something like a conscience to Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper's counterculture outlaw biker tale, the zeitgeisty smash hit that put New Hollywood on the map and made Nicholson a star. Nicholson was considering giving up acting when producer Bert Schneider asked him to replace Rip Torn in his pals Fonda and Hopper's low-budget biker movie. Laszlo Kovacs' adventurous cinematography and the Steppenwolf/The Byrds/Jimi Hendrix-heavy soundtrack set the tone, for both the film and an era. DIR/SCR Dennis Hopper; SCR/PROD Peter Fonda; SCR Terry Southern. U.S., 1969, color, 95 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Arizona highway patrolman Robert Blake has aspirations to move up from traffic enforcement to homicide, and a tip he receives from desert kook Elisha Cook, Jr., about a mysterious death puts him on the path to promotion. But Blake soon becomes disillusioned with the corruption and brutality he finds on the force, and increasingly sympathetic to the plight of the young hippies his fellow officers constantly harass. This oddball, counterculture cult classic is the debut feature of James William Guercio, better known as the manager and producer of the rock band Chicago, whose music is featured on the soundtrack and several members of which appear in bit parts. "A neglected cult-classic that could have only come from (or have been made in) the early '70s … it's a quirky but unforgettable movie — part character study, part examination of an emerging youth culture — featuring some outstanding camerawork from future Oscar®-winning cinematographer Conrad Hall." – Wook Kim, TIME. DIR/PROD James William Guercio; SCR Robert Boris. U.S., 1973, color, 114 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
10th Anniversary
Washington, DC-area television newsman Dick Dyszel became a hero to a generation of viewers for his onscreen alter egos, portraying kid-show hosts Bozo the Clown and Captain 20, and most famously the CREATURE FEATURE horror host Count Gore De Vol, over his multi-decade career at local station Channel 20. Even after CREATURE FEATURE went off the air in 1987, the Count continued on, finding new life on the internet and on the convention circuit. This documentary interviews Dyszel and dishes on the anything-goes creativity of locally produced television in the '70s and '80s, and features many viewers and fans who were inspired by Dyszel's quirky charm, including writer Steve Niles (30 DAYS OF NIGHT), cult filmmaker Jeff Krulik (HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT), "scream-queens" Eleanor Herman and Leanna Chamish and a new generation of television horror hosts including John Dimes (aka Dr. Sarcofiguy) and Jerry Moore II (Karlos Borloff). DIR/SCR/PROD C. W. Prather; SCR John Dimes. U.S., 2009, color, 90 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Denzel Washington's masterfully directed and acted screen adaptation of August Wilson's celebrated stage play won a Best Actress Oscar® for Viola Davis. Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, Washington plays embittered city sanitation worker Troy Maxson, once a promising young baseball player who was just a little too old to make it to the majors after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. Taking his anger and frustrations about what he hasn't gotten from life out on his family members, Troy risks destroying the best part of the life he has. Featuring outstanding supporting performances by Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby and Mykelti Williamson. DIR/PROD Denzel Washington; SCR August Wilson, from his play; PROD Todd Black, Scott Rudin. U.S./Canada, 2016, color, 139 min. RATED PG-13
AFI Member passes accepted.
[PER UN PUGNO DI DOLLARI]
Italian director Sergio Leone transposed Akira Kurosawa's 1961 samurai action-comedy YOJIMBO to the American Wild West (filmed in Spain), and cast American TV actor Clint Eastwood ("Rowdy Yates" from RAWHIDE) as the "Man with No Name," a mysterious, poncho-clad gunslinger who plays two rival gangs of outlaws against each other in a desolate Mexican border town. The film's laconic antihero, sardonic sense of humor, stylish visuals and spectacular gunplay added up to an international box office smash — aided immeasurably by the atmospheric, genre-defining score by Ennio Morricone. Eastwood was reportedly the tenth choice for the role, after Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and James Coburn, among others, passed on it. DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Víctor Andrés Catena, Jaime Comas Gil; PROD Arrigo Colombo, Giorgio Papi. Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1964, color, 99 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Jack Nicholson gives a career-making performance as Bobby Dupea, a young man from a well-to-do family on the run from his roots and perhaps his future. A former piano prodigy, he's been biding his time in California with his ne'er-do-well friends, but when he learns his father is ill, he packs up pregnant girlfriend Karen Black and hits the road to the family's home in Washington state. A series of misadventures, including an impromptu piano performance on the back of a moving truck, some far-out hitchhikers and the famous chicken salad scene at a roadside diner, give way to a serious reckoning between Nicholson and his family once home. Nominated for four Oscars®: Best Picture, Actor (Nicholson), Supporting Actress (Black) and Screenplay. DIR/SCR/PROD Bob Rafelson; SCR Carole Eastman; PROD Richard Wechsler. U.S., 1970, color, 98 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington, Oscar®-nominated for one of his most dynamic and surprising performances) makes a daring and inspired maneuver in order to pull off a successful crash landing, saving the lives of nearly everyone on board following a serious engine malfunction that should have spelled certain doom for all. But the authorities' investigation of the crash raises troubling questions about Whitaker's conduct on the day of the flight. Is Whitaker a hero, or a troubled man leading a dangerous double life? With Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, Melissa Leo and Tamara Tunie. DIR/PROD Robert Zemeckis; SCR John Gatins; PROD Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey. U.S./U.A.E., 2012, color, 138 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
[PER QUALCHE DOLLARO IN PIÙ]
This semi-sequel to Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western international sensation A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS sees two rival bounty hunters — the taciturn, serape-draped Monco (Clint Eastwood), and jaded ex-Confederate Colonel Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) — join forces to capture the vicious bandit El Indio (Gian Maria Volonté). With Klaus Kinski as hunchbacked stooge Juan Wild. DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Luciano Vincenzoni; PROD Arturo González, Alberto Grimaldi. Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1965, color, 132 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
This gritty police procedural classic stars Gene Hackman as New York City Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, who's working with his partner, Detective Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Roy Scheider), to intercept a large heroin shipment from France. Based on a true story, the film won five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Hackman and Best Director for William Friedkin. DIR William Friedkin; SCR Ernest Tidyman, from the book by Robin Moore; PROD Phillip D'Antoni. U.S., 1971, color, 104 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Double agent duplicity has the British, the Soviets and SPECTRE all playing off one another, with a Soviet decoder as the prize and Sean Connery's James Bond the target of multiple assassins, from Istanbul to Venice aboard the Orient Express. The opening, pre-title action sequence became a series hallmark. Featuring the first appearance of beloved series mainstay Desmond Llewelyn as the equipment officer "Q" (Major Boothroyd), and the first of many Bond scores by John Barry. DIR Terence Young; SCR Richard Maibaum, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman. UK, 1963, color, 115 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
This film tells the story of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, black soldiers led by white officers who proved their mettle fighting some of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War. Matthew Broderick plays Robert Gould Shaw, the well-born son of Massachusetts abolitionists asked to display the courage of his convictions when he is assigned leadership of the new regiment. Morgan Freeman is a Northern gravedigger who trades his shovel for a rifle; Denzel Washington won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar® for his portrayal of an escaped Southern slave with an equally fiery wit and temper. DIR Edward Zwick; SCR Kevin Jarre, from Robert Gould Shaw's letters and the books "Lay This Laurel" by Lincoln Kirstein and "One Gallant Rush" by Peter Burchard; PROD Freddie Fields. U.S., 1989, color, 122 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
With 11 Oscar® nominations, including three Supporting Actor nods for Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall, and wins for Best Picture, Screenplay and Actor for Marlon Brando's iconic Don Corleone, Francis Ford Coppola's darkly sympathetic family drama transformed the way we think about the mafia and America. It's a paternalistic, macho and brutal world, and a testament to two fine actresses that the secondary stories centered on the women of the Corleone family — long-suffering daughter Connie (Talia Shire) and outsider-married-in Kay (Diane Keaton) — are as compelling as the struggle for supremacy among New York's Five Families. DIR/SCR Francis Ford Coppola; SCR Mario Puzo, from his novel; PROD Al Ruddy. U.S., 1972, color, 175 min. In English, Italian and Latin with English subtitles. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
One of the all-time greatest movie sequels continues the saga of the Corleone clan, moving not only forward — as new don Al Pacino weathers crushing setbacks and familial disintegration — but back. The film explores the Corleone family's voyage to America and struggle to survive in the rough-and-tumble immigrant ghetto of old New York, with Robert De Niro giving a brilliant performance as the younger version of Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone. In a changing world, the increasingly corporate-minded and workaholic Pacino must take extreme action to protect the family business, even at the expense of his actual family, like brother John Cazale and wife Diane Keaton. DIR/SCR/PROD Francis Ford Coppola; SCR Mario Puzo, from his novel. U.S., 1974, color, 202 min plus a 15-min intermission. In English, Italian and Latin with English subtitles. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
One of the most iconic of the James Bond films, influencing future installments with its punning, wickedly sardonic dialogue; John Barry's chart-topping soundtrack, featuring Shirley Bassey's classic theme song; the first appearance of the tricked-out Aston Martin; Gert Fröbe's colorfully mad titular villain; Harold Sakata's sharp-dressed henchman, Oddjob; and Honor Blackman, a vet of TV's THE AVENGERS, as aviatrix Pussy Galore, perhaps the most memorable name in the entire series. Sean Connery stars as Bond. DIR Guy Hamilton; SCR Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman. UK, 1964, color, 110 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[IL BUONO, IL BRUTTO, IL CATTIVO]
The final installment of Sergio Leone's hugely influential Spaghetti Western trilogy finds Clint Eastwood returning as the mysterious loner who roams the Western frontier for fortune at the height of the Civil War. Forced to form an uneasy alliance with Lee Van Cleef (the Bad) and Eli Wallach (the Ugly) to steal a cache of gold, he and the outlaws cross and double-cross each other to walk away with the treasure and stay alive. Ennio Morricone's iconic soundtrack was on the charts for more than a year, reaching number four on the Billboard Pop charts. DIR/SCR Sergio Leone; SCR Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni; PROD Alberto Grimaldi. Italy/Spain/West Germany, 1966, color, 178 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Your chills will be multiplyin' — the beloved high school romance of good girl Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and bad boy Danny (John Travolta) returns in an interactive sing-along edition, with animated subtitles. Enjoy the last of your "Summer Nights" before heading back to school, and become hopelessly devoted all over again. DIR Randal Kleiser; SCR Bronte Woodard, Allan Carr, from the musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey; PROD Allan Carr, Robert Stigwood. U.S., 1978, color, 110 min. RATED PG-13
AFI Member passes accepted.
Steve McQueen's iconic motorcycle jump stunt punctuates this classic war film and prison escape procedural, based on actual events and the daring escape made by UK and Commonwealth POWs held by the Nazis during WWII, in what is now Poland. John Sturges directs a sprawling cast highlighted by McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Donald Pleasance, James Coburn and Charles Bronson. A massive international hit and enduring pop-cultural touchstone, with the jaunty score by Elmer Bernstein breaking out to find its own immense popularity, its theme song is now a popular favorite at English football matches. DIR/PROD John Sturges; SCR James Clavell, W. R. Burnett, from the book by Paul Brickhill. U.S., 1963, color, 172 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Q: "Are you a mod or a rocker?" Ringo: "I'm a mocker." Q: "Tell me, how did you find America?" John: "Turn left at Greenland." In the band's screen debut, the Beatles' abundant charisma and American director Richard Lester's effervescent style — a by-now much-imitated amalgam of TV commercial-honed technique, French New Wave style and documentary-like immediacy — won over middle-aged film critics and the public alike, helping to dispel any lingering suspicions of the Fab Four's passing faddishness. DIR Richard Lester; SCR Alun Owen; PROD Walter Shenson. UK, 1964, b&w, 87 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Sat, Aug 3, 11:30 p.m.; Mon, Aug 5, 5:15 p.m.; Thu, Aug 8, 7:30 p.m.
No matter how he fakes suicide — by hanging, throat slashing, drowning, gunshot — poor little rich boy Harold (Bud Cort) just can't seem to get mom Vivian Pickles' attention. But while pursuing his favorite hobby — funeral watching — Harold meets Ruth Gordon's feisty septuagenarian Maude, sparking one of the oddest romances in screen history. Ignored upon initial release, HAROLD AND MAUDE slowly found its following, becoming a defining cult classic of the '70s, along with the beloved soundtrack by Cat Stevens. DIR Hal Ashby; SCR/PROD Colin Higgins; PROD Charles Mulvehill. U.S., 1971, color, 91 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Told entirely with found footage, HAVE YOU SEEN MY MOVIE? is a love letter to the magic and power of cinematic experiences shared by strangers in the dark. From the audience members' rush to get seats to the cool command of the projectionist in the booth, director/editor Paul Anton Smith (assistant editor on Christian Marclay's THE CLOCK) tells the story of moviegoing by turning the camera back on the audience. Smith uses iconic and obscure scenes from more than a thousand movies of every genre, spanning 80 years of cinema, to hold up a mirror to all of the romance, mystery and mayhem of our collective imagination. "HAVE YOU SEEN MY MOVIE? is about watching the screen, the strangers around you, the projector's beam overhead … I hope that you all will enjoy yourselves and contemplate the overwhelming power with which these motion pictures hold sway." —filmmaker Paul Anton Smith. (Note adapted from the Walker Art Center.) DIR Paul Anton Smith. UK, 2016, color/b&w, 136 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
An upwardly mobile New York Jew (Charles Grodin) marries within the faith, only to meet the shiksa of his dreams (Cybill Shepherd) on his Miami honeymoon. The key role of the jilted bride, Lila — gauche, grating and pitiful — was played by director Elaine May's real-life daughter Jeannie Berlin. Few directors would dare to cast their own child in such a role, and few actresses could bring so much life to a character who embodies bad luck. DIR Elaine May; SCR Neil Simon, from a story by Bruce Jay Friedman; PROD Edgar J. Scherick. U.S., 1972, color, 106 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
When the Wyoming Cattlemen's Association sends a horde of hired guns led by Christopher Walken to drive squatters off their land, marshal Kris Kristofferson does his best to avert the seemingly inevitable massacre, with both men taking time out for visits with frontier prostitute Isabelle Huppert. Following his DEER HUNTER triumph, director Michael Cimino was handed "final cut" — but then went 400% over budget. Derided by its critics, United Artists withdrew and recut the film after a week of release in December 1980, then dumped an hour-shorter version on audiences, who repaid only $1.5 million of the film's $44 million budget. But after the complete version was released in Europe, critics praised it as a masterpiece and turned it into a cause célèbre. Now the complete 219-minute version that played for only one week in 1980 has been restored, highlighting the gorgeous Vilmos Zsigmond cinematography and featuring a full-stereo soundtrack for the very first time. DIR/SCR Michael Cimino; PROD Joann Carelli. U.S., 1980, color, 219 min plus a 15-min intermission. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Local TV legend Count Gore De Vol (Dick Dyszel) returns to present another terrifying film with interactive games, prizes and more! Eccentric millionaire Vincent Price hosts a "haunted house" party, offering $10,000 to any guest who can make it through the night in this spooky old manse, where seven murders have taken place over the years. Now celebrating its 60th anniversary, the film is famous for introducing William Castle's "Emergo" technical innovation — a plastic skeleton that popped out of a cabinet near the screen — and was a huge hit at the box office. DIR/PROD William Castle; SCR Robb White. U.S., 1959, b&w, 75 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Sidney Poitier stars as a Philadelphia homicide detective passing through rural Mississippi, wrongly detained by bigoted sheriff Rod Steiger on a murder charge. Once cleared, he helps the sheriff solve the case. Poitier and Steiger's mutual antipathy and begrudging respect electrify the screen, with outstanding supporting work by Lee Grant as the victim's angry widow, and Warren Oates as a creepy deputy. Winner of five Oscars®, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Steiger. DIR Norman Jewison; SCR Stirling Silliphant, from the novel by John Ball; PROD Walter Mirisch. U.S., 1967, color, 109 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Denzel Washington plays the NYPD's top hostage negotiator, Detective Keith Frazier, called in to handle the situation when a bank heist masterminded by Clive Owen goes south, devolving into a hostage situation that requires the veteran detective's particular talents for persuasion and decisiveness. But Frazier soon finds he must negotiate along two separate tracks: one with the bank robbers, and one with a Wall Street power broker (Jodie Foster) representing the bank's founder (Christopher Plummer), who has his own private concerns regarding certain items held in one of his bank's safety deposit boxes. Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor round out the excellent cast. DIR Spike Lee; SCR Russell Gewirtz; PROD Brian Grazer. U.S., 2006, color, 129 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"They're coming!" Philip Kaufman's inspired update of the 1956 sci-fi/horror classic sets the action in late-'70s San Francisco, a touchy-feely era of faddish therapies and voguish theories. Even more chilling, then, to see the pod people's relentless campaign of replacing humans, with all of their quirks and foibles, with emotionless automatons, here aided and abetted by a guru with a secretly apocalyptic agenda. The excellent cast includes Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum, with cameos by Kevin McCarthy and director Don Siegel, the star and director, respectively, of the 1956 original. DIR Philip Kaufman; SCR W. D. Richter, from the novel "The Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney; PROD Robert H. Solo. U.S., 1978, color, 115 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
When you announce that your cast includes comedians Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Jack Benny, Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, Carl Reiner, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Terry-Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dick Shawn, Stan Freberg, Phil Silvers, Jerry Lewis, The Three Stooges and Edie Adams, you had better deliver something funny. And Stanley Kramer does deliver — and deliver and deliver — scene after scene of inspired lunacy. Nominated for six Academy Awards®, including Best Sound, Color Cinematography, Editing, Original Score and Song, and winning for Best Sound Effects. DIR/PROD Stanley Kramer; SCR William Rose, Tania Rose. U.S., 1963, color, 160 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
"You're gonna need a bigger boat." Steven Spielberg's monster hit, adapted from the Peter Benchley bestseller, didn't merely set box office records; it reshaped the fundamentals of the movie world, setting the template for how future summer blockbusters would be made, marketed and released. Though it spawned several sequels and countless rip-offs, Spielberg's original remains as deliciously unsettling today as it was in the summer of 1975. Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss. DIR Steven Spielberg; SCR Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, from Benchley's novel; PROD David Brown, Richard D. Zanuck. U.S., 1975, color, 124 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Investigating the disappearance of his friend, Pennsylvania private eye John Klute (Donald Sutherland) follows a lead to New York City and begins tailing Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda, in an Oscar®-winning performance), an aspiring actress, avowedly independent woman and sometime call girl. After carefully observing Bree's routine amid the danger and decadence of early '70s Manhattan, Klute approaches her to ask about the missing man, Tom Gruneman. Bree doesn't recall Gruneman being one of her johns, but confesses to Klute that she's been receiving threats from another one. Thrown together by circumstance, the detective and the call girl become increasingly dependent on — and attracted to — one another, even as the unwanted blowback of Bree's lifestyle puts her in mortal danger. DIR/PROD Alan J. Pakula; SCR Andy Lewis, David E. Lewis. U.S., 1971, color, 114 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
What begins as an oddball farce — a privileged young man buys a tenement building, intending to convert it into a psychedelic bachelor pad — evolves into something much more complex as the naïve Beau Bridges spends time getting to know the African-American tenants he had planned to evict. Oscar®-winning editor Hal Ashby's directorial debut boasts bold visuals, with Bridges' overlit, whiter-than-white family estate contrasting with the shadowy, well-worn apartment building in the pre-gentrified neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn (the cinematography is by Gordon Willis, soon to become a legend for THE GODFATHER). The detailed production design is by Robert Boyle, master of stagebound illusion for Alfred Hitchcock, here transitioning to more location-based work. DIR Hal Ashby; SCR Bill Gunn, from the novel by Kristin Hunter; PROD Norman Jewison. U.S., 1970, color, 112 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Jimmie (Jimmie Fails) dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind. As he struggles to reconnect with his family and reconstruct the community he longs for, his hopes blind him to the reality of his situation. A wistful odyssey populated by skaters, squatters, street preachers, playwrights and other locals on the margins, THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO is a poignant and sweeping story of hometowns and how they're made — and kept alive — by the people who love them. With Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock and Danny Glover.
DIR/SCR/PROD Joe Talbot; SCR Rob Richert, Jimmie Fails; PROD Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Khaliah Neal, Christina Oh. U.S., 2019, color, 121 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Jack Nicholson won Best Actor at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of Billy "Bad-Ass" Buddusky, a Navy lifer with both an anti-authoritarian streak and a need for structure — a sardonic, sarcastic walking contradiction. Tasked with transporting court-martialed sailor Meadows (Randy Quaid) from Virginia to the brig in New Hampshire, Nicholson and his partner "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) opt to take the scenic route, careening through a succession of misadventures at bars, brothels, hotels and motels along the way. Hal Ashby provided understated, sensitive direction; Robert Towne earned an Oscar® nomination for his foul-mouthed and salaciously funny screenplay. DIR Hal Ashby; SCR Robert Towne, from the novel by Darryl Ponicsan; PROD Gerald Ayres. U.S., 1973, color, 104 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is one of the key films of the American cinema renaissance of the '70s. Set during the early '50s, in the loneliest Texas nowheresville to ever dust up a movie screen, this aching portrait of a dying West, adapted from Larry McMurtry's novel, focuses on the daily shuffles of three futureless teens — the enigmatic Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), the wayward jock Duane (Jeff Bridges) and the desperate-to-be-adored rich girl Jacy (Cybil Shepherd) — and the aging lost souls who bump up against them in the night like drifting tumbleweeds, including Cloris Leachman's lonely housewife and Ben Johnson's grizzled movie-house proprietor. Featuring evocative black-and-white imagery and profoundly felt performances, this hushed depiction of crumbling American values remains the pivotal film in the career of the invaluable director and film historian Peter Bogdanovich. (Note courtesy of The Criterion Collection.) DIR/SCR Peter Bogdanovich; SCR Larry McMurtry, from his novel; PROD Stephen J. Friedman. U.S., 1971, b&w, 118 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
[ULTIMO TANGO A PARIGI]
Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 succès de scandale still impresses today for its uninhibited examination of physical passion and emotional pain. Marlon Brando gives the last great performance of his star-crossed career as a lost soul in Paris, despairing over the recent suicide of his wife, who begins a new and unusual affair with the much younger Maria Schneider. DIR/SCR Bernardo Bertolucci; SCR Franco Arcalli; PROD Alberto Grimaldi. France/Italy, 1972, color, 129 min. In English and French with English subtitles. RATED NC-17
AFI Member passes accepted.
Roger Moore made his debut as James Bond in the eighth film in the franchise, directed by Guy Hamilton, the veteran's third of four total Bond films. Sent to New York City to investigate the mysterious death of a fellow MI6 agent, Bond follows a trail that leads from a Harlem drug kingpin to the Caribbean island of "San Monique" (Haiti-like, but filmed in Jamaica) to New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou. A kind of riff on the Blaxploitation films then riding high, the film stars Yaphet Kotto as the voodoo-practicing dictator/crime boss Kananga, with Julius Harris as his henchman Tee Hee and Geoffrey Holder as the voodoo priest Baron Samedi. Clifton James provides comic relief playing one of his patented Southern yokel types and Jane Seymour, in a breakout role, plays the Tarot-card reading Solitaire. The theme song by Paul and Linda McCartney, performed by Wings, was a Top 10 hit in both the U.S. and UK. DIR Guy Hamilton; SCR Tom Mankiewicz, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Harry Saltzman, Albert R. Broccoli. UK, 1973, color, 121 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Resetting Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles detective classic from the 1940s to the 1970s, Robert Altman and company created a one-of-a-kind film that gleefully breaks all the rules. Elliott Gould plays Philip Marlowe as a shambles — a mumbling oddball who's nonetheless the lone voice for moral order in a corrupt world. Other memorable performances include a Hemingway-esque Sterling Hayden, baseball pitcher/"Ball Four" author Jim Bouton as Marlowe's missing friend, violent gangster Mark Rydell and a cameo by a young Arnold Schwarzenegger as his hired muscle. The groundbreaking camerawork — constantly gliding, never still — is by Vilmos Zsigmond. John Williams' eponymous theme song recurs organically throughout the film, arranged variously as supermarket Muzak, a hippie chant and a song on the radio. DIR Robert Altman; SCR Leigh Brackett, from the novel by Raymond Chandler; PROD Jerry Bick. U.S., 1973, color, 112 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
WHAT'S OPERA, DOC? (1957); ONE FROGGY EVENING (1955); THERE THEY GO-GO-GO! (1956); LITTLE BEAU PEPÉ (1952); RABBIT SEASONING (1952); NO BARKING (1954). Total program approx. 45 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
BEANSTALK BUNNY (1955); THE BEE-DEVILED BRUIN (1949); KIT FOR CAT (1948); BUGS BUNNY RIDES AGAIN (1948); DR. JEKYLL'S HIDE (1954); KNIGHTS MUST FALL (1949). Total program approx. 45 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
KNIGHTS MUST FALL (1949); MOUSE WRECKERS (1948); BEWITCHED BUNNY (1954); BUNNY HUGGED (1951); GONE BATTY (1954); PESTS FOR GUESTS (1955). Total program approx. 45 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
CAT'S PAW (1959); A WITCH'S TANGLED HARE (1959); THE PIED PIPER OF GUADALUPE (1961); WET HARE (1962); OFTEN AN ORPHAN (1949); HOMELESS HARE (1950). Total program approx. 45 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24 1/2TH CENTURY (1953); MY BUNNY LIES OVER THE SEA (1948); BUGSY AND MUGSY (1957); REALLY SCENT (1959); FORWARD MARCH HARE (1953); HARE LIFT (1952). Total program approx. 45 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
THE FAIR HAIRED HARE (1951); LOUVRE COME BACK TO ME! (1962); CAPTAIN HAREBLOWER (1954); HARE DO (1949); HYDE AND GO TWEET (1960); FRENCH RAREBIT (1951). Total program approx. 45 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
RABBIT EVERY MONDAY (1951); SPEEDY GONZALES (1955); THE HYPO-CHONDRI-CAT (1950); HILLBILLY HARE (1950); HEAVEN SCENT (1956); BIG HOUSE BUNNY (1950). Total program approx. 45 min.
AFI Member passes accepted.
"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!" Spike Lee's acclaimed biopic of the iconic human rights activist Malcolm X is nearly inconceivable without the masterful, charismatic lead performance given by Denzel Washington, who won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and was Oscar®-nominated for his performance. The story arc traces Malcolm X's evolution from a drug dealer and street pimp to a convicted felon who, in prison, becomes a devoted follower of Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, then a firebrand spokesperson for the organization, and finally, following his pilgrimage to Mecca, an enlightened Muslim calling for a new era of tolerance between all peoples — this coming shortly before he was murdered in 1965. The outstanding cast includes Angela Bassett as Malcolm X's wife Betty Shabazz, Delroy Lindo, Roger Guenveur Smith, Christopher Plummer, Giancarlo Esposito and Lee. DIR/SCR/PROD Spike Lee; SCR Arnold Perl, from "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Malcolm X and Alex Haley; PROD Marvin Worth. U.S., 1992, color, 202 min. RATED PG-13
AFI Member passes accepted.
John Frankenheimer's renowned take on McCarthyism and Cold War fanaticism stars Laurence Harvey as a U.S. soldier abducted during the Korean War. In Manchuria, a communist cell brainwashes him before returning him to the U.S. to serve as an unwitting political assassin. Army buddy Frank Sinatra has hallucinatory dreams and begins to piece together the deadly truth — that Harvey is a ticking time bomb — while the clock counts down to a political rally where everything is at stake. Oscar®-nominated Angela Lansbury terrifies as Harvey's domineering mother — #21 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes & Villains. DIR/PROD John Frankenheimer; SCR/PROD George Axelrod, from the novel by Richard Condon. U.S., 1962, b&w, 126 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Army surgeons "Hawkeye" Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and "Trapper John" McIntyre (Elliott Gould) employ hijinks to keep their sanity amid the madness of the Korean War. The comedy is black, at times brutal, and the depictions of field surgery frank in their bloodiness. But this unorthodox blend struck the right chord with Vietnam-era audiences, giving director Robert Altman a smash hit and launching his career. Palme d'Or winner, 1970 Cannes Film Festival, and five Oscar® nominations, including a win for Ring Lardner, Jr.'s screenplay. DIR Robert Altman; SCR Ring Lardner, Jr., from the novel "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker; PROD Ingo Preminger. U.S., 1970, color, 116 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Lawrence Woolsey presents the end of civilization as we know it. Make that…Proudly Presents! Key West, Florida, 1962: local boys Gene and Dennis Loomis can't wait to go see the new movie from Lawrence Woolsey — the creature-feature producer, schlockmeister, cockeyed genius and promoter extraordinaire who will be presenting in person his latest film, MANT. ("Half man! Half ant! The product of science run amok. In Atomo-Vision and Rumble-Rama!") But with the Cuban Missile Crisis putting the country on high alert and paranoia running wild, what's scarier — the image onscreen or the panic in the streets? John Goodman gives a masterful performance as Woolsey, clearly modeled on the one-and-only William Castle, in Joe Dante's fond spoof of Cold War-era pop culture and B-movie camp. DIR Joe Dante; SCR Charles S. Haas; PROD Michael Finnell. U.S., 1993, color, 99 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Warren Beatty's boastful but sensitive gambler and Julie Christie's business-minded madam enjoy an overnight success, setting up a bordello together in the frontier town of Presbyterian Church. But their success draws the interest of the local mining company, which, when rebuffed in their effort to buy them out, resorts to strong-arm tactics. Vilmos Zsigmond's gorgeous widescreen photography, Leonard Cohen's moody balladry and director Robert Altman's eye and ear for detail make this revisionist Western classic a must-see on the big screen. DIR/SCR Robert Altman; SCR Brian McKay, from the novel by Edmund Naughton; PROD Mitchell Brower, David Foster. U.S., 1971, color, 120 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"You don't pay for your sins in church, but in the streets." Waking to the sound of the Ronettes, guilt-ridden small-time hood Harvey Keitel tries to keep a low Mafioso profile, but loco pal Robert De Niro just doesn't seem to give a damn about those gambling debts. Martin Scorsese's frenzied breakthrough work was "a true original of our period, a triumph of personal filmmaking." – Pauline Kael. DIR/SCR Martin Scorsese; SCR Mardik Martin; PROD Jonathan T. Taplin. U.S., 1973, color, 112 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Academy Awards® for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay went to British director James Schlesinger's adaptation of a James Leo Herlihy novel. Jon Voight plays a naive boy from Texas who journeys to New York convinced he can amass a fortune by servicing the city's lonely society ladies. When his first client not only fails to pay him, but swindles money for cab fare in the process, he takes on a scrounging, tubercular grifter (Dustin Hoffman) as his manager — and a deep and unexpected friendship is born. DIR John Schlesinger; SCR Waldo Salt, from James Leo Herlihy's novel; PROD Jerome Hellman. U.S., 1969, color, 113 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
The saga behind the making of this film is legendary: one million feet of film were shot to get spontaneous raw drama, and after 18 months in the editing room, writer/director Elaine May and star Peter Falk purloined the footage to keep it from prying studio execs. After a botched release, May's preferred version (shown here) saw the light of day a decade later. John Cassavetes is a small-time hood with a contract on his head; Falk is his long-suffering best friend; and Ned Beatty is a most persistent hit man. Featuring cameos by legendary acting teachers Sanford Meisner and William Hickey playing mob bosses. DIR/SCR Elaine May; PROD Michael Hausman. U.S., 1976, color, 119 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
EExtravagantly budgeted and filled with special effects, this film was a response to STAR WARS' success in 1977, and remained the biggest-budgeted James Bond film until 1995's GOLDENEYE. When a space shuttle is hijacked, Agent 007 (Roger Moore) is sent to investigate its maker, Drax Industries, in California. The trail of intrigue leads from there to Venice to Rio de Janeiro to a secret space station orbiting Earth, where Bond must prevent Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) and henchman Jaws (Richard Kiel) from launching a genocidal scheme. While critical opinion was divided, Ken Adam's sets were universally praised, described by Jay Scott in The Globe and Mail as "high-tech Piranesi." DIR Lewis Gilbert; SCR Christopher Wood, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Albert R. Broccoli. UK, 1979, color, 126 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Robert Altman's masterpiece: 24 characters and storylines surround a Nashville political rally and music festival, with the actors developing much of their own dialogue in rehearsal and co-authoring songs with music director Richard Baskin. Standout performances include Lily Tomlin, luminous in her screen debut; Ronee Blakley as Barbara Jean, the first lady of country music and a crackup waiting to happen; and Henry Gibson as sanctimonious crooner Haven Hamilton. Five Oscar® nominations with a win for Best Song, Keith Carradine's "I'm Easy," #81 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs. DIR/PROD Robert Altman; SCR Joan Tewkesbury. U.S., 1975, color, 160 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
One of the finest and funniest directorial debuts in Hollywood history. Walter Matthau, old money and bankrupt, laments: "All I am — or was — is rich. It's all I wanted to be." Elaine May is a ditzy heiress in whom Matthau sees his financial salvation. "Miss May's film... belongs oddly to what I think of as Depression Comedy," wrote critic Vincent Canby, who rejoiced at her expert mixture of screwball and slow burn. DIR/SCR Elaine May, from a story by Jack Ritchie; PROD Hillard Elkins, Howard W. Koch, Joseph Manduke. U.S., 1971, color, 102 min. RATED G
AFI Member passes accepted.
Martin Scorsese's complex meta-musical follows a pair of musicians who meet cute just as WWII ends and embark on a long and stormy love affair: Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro), a jazz saxophonist maniacally devoted to making his music and temperamentally unfit for compromise, and Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli), a gifted singer who realizes tremendous popular success only after she leaves the domineering and abusive Jimmy. The film features songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb, alongside many jazz standards, and a dazzling performance by Minnelli, by turns vulnerable and resilient, belting out bravura renditions of the film's famous theme song (a worldwide hit after Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1980), the stirring "But the World Goes 'Round" and the showstopping musical-within-a-musical "Happy Endings" — restored to its full, 11-minute length in the director's cut. DIR Martin Scorsese; SCR Earl Mac Rauch, Mardik Martin; PROD Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler. U.S., 1977, color, 167 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Arthur Penn's existential neo-noir is one of the key films of the 1970s, boasting a landmark tough-but-vulnerable performance by Gene Hackman. Ex-football pro Harry Moseby (Hackman) struggles to make ends meet as a P.I. in Hollywood, working long hours for little pay and further alienating the affection of his wife (Susan Clark), who's begun to have an affair. Just as Harry realizes what a poor P.I. he has been in his own life, he gets caught up in a new case that sends him to the Florida Keys to track down a wild-child heiress Delly (Melanie Griffith) for her faded actress mother. Bringing Delly back to LA, Harry thinks he's solved the case, but the trouble is only beginning. DIR Arthur Penn; SCR Alan Sharp; PROD Robert M. Sherman. U.S., 1975, color, 100 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Legendary actor, musician and humanitarian Harry Belafonte starred in and co-produced this incendiary crime classic. He plays jazz musician Johnny Ingram, whose gambling debts lead him to take part in a bank job with surly racist Earle Slater (Robert Ryan, in a performance both ferocious and sad). The film also features a landmark score by jazz greats John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet, bolstering Robert Wise's tight and tense direction. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/PROD Robert Wise; SCR Abraham Polonsky, Nelson Gidding, from the novel by William P. McGivern. U.S., 1959, b&w, 96 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Quentin Tarantino's ninth feature visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood's golden age. With Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Margaret Qualley, Lena Dunham, Kurt Russell, Luke Perry, Damian Lewis and Bruce Dern.
DIR/SCR/PROD Quentin Tarantino; PROD David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh. U.S./UK, 2019, color, 161 min. RATED R
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Jack Nicholson made his rogue/antihero reputation with the role of Randle P. McMurphy, who rallies his fellow psychiatric ward inmates against the authoritarianism of Louise Fletcher's Nurse Ratched (#5 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains). Only the second movie to win all five major Academy Awards®: Best Picture, Director (Miloš Forman), Actor and Actress for Nicholson and Fletcher and Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman). The only other films to go five for five are IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. DIR Miloš Forman; SCR Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman, from the novel by Ken Kesey and the play by Dale Wasserman; PROD Michael Douglas, Saul Zaentz. U.S., 1975, color, 133 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Billy Wilder's most frenetically paced comedy was both a throwback to 1930s screwball style and avant-garde for its anything-goes satire. Released as the Cold War was heating up in a divided Berlin (the Wall went up during production), this farce of capitalists, communists and "ex"-Nazis competing to rook each other struck some as tasteless, but its cult classic reputation has only grown with time. James Cagney is in electrifying form as a Coca-Cola exec in West Berlin charged with keeping an eye on his boss' vivacious daughter, who has her eye on cute communist Horst Buchholz. DIR/SCR/PROD Billy Wilder; SCR I. A. L. Diamond, from the play by Ferenc Molnar. U.S., 1961, b&w, 104 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Newly appointed sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) visits old pal Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) to warn him "times have changed." And then the long chase begins, underscored by the folk-rock songs of Bob Dylan (who also appears as an outlaw named Alias), including the film's emotional pinnacle: the long farewell between husband and wife Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado, scored to "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." But it's all in Garrett's flashback, between the brilliantly edited prologue and epilogue, now restored after the studio cut it before the initial release. DIR Sam Peckinpah; SCR Rudy Wurlitzer; PROD Gordon Carroll. U.S., 1973, color, 115 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
45th Anniversary
Baltimore-based performers Bloody Mayhem Theatrical return to the AFI Silver to present an encore screening of Brian De Palma's 1974 rock opera PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE. "More magnificent than you ever dreamed… Quite an attraction."
Disfigured composer Winslow Leach (William Finley) seeks revenge on Swan (Paul Williams), the heartless producer who stole his music, which Leach wrote for Phoenix (Jessica Harper), the woman he loves from afar. Williams' wicked rock music powers this outré musical, which combines elements of "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Faust." DIR/SCR Brian De Palma; PROD Edward R. Pressman. U.S., 1974, color, 92 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
It's the largest diamond in the world, containing the image of a panther. Claudia Cardinale owns it, and David Niven — playboy by day, legendary jewel thief "the Phantom" by night — is after it. It's also sought by Niven's nephew Robert Wagner, himself an aspiring jewel thief, who plans to cover his tracks by framing the Phantom — unaware that it's his uncle. Is it any wonder Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau is confused? Blake Edwards' slapstick classic introduced the now-familiar Henry Mancini theme song, spawned an animated series starring a (literal) pink panther, and launched Sellers on a series of sequels as the screen's dumbest detective. DIR/SCR Blake Edwards; SCR Maurice Richlin; PROD Martin Jurow. U.S., 1963, color, 113 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Director Frank Perry (DAVID AND LISA, DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE) delivered many edgy psychological classics, and none is more deserving of rediscovery than this rarely screened adaptation of Joan Didion's bestseller, with a screenplay by Didion and her late husband, John Gregory Dunne. A scathing portrait of Hollywood in the early 1970s, PLAY IT AS IT LAYS stars Tuesday Weld as the fiercely intelligent Maria, an ex-model on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In-the-closet producer Anthony Perkins is her only friend and Adam Roarke is her estranged director-husband trying to jumpstart his career out of the biker-film ghetto. (Note adapted from the American Cinematheque.) DIR/PROD Frank Perry; SCR John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion, from her novel; PROD Dominick Dunne. U.S., 1972, color, 99 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Jerry Schatzberg drew inspiration from his background as a portrait photographer by using conversations with fashion model Anne Saint-Marie as a foundation for this engrossing story of a washed-up model gradually losing hold on reality. Schatzberg's first feature displayed his consummate mastery of the medium, employing a fractured narrative style that freely intermingles flashbacks and fantasized events with the present and brilliantly manipulates sound to maximize the carefully calibrated sense of disorientation. In her revealing performance as the fragile model, Faye Dunaway strikingly personifies Schatzberg's fascination with the disenfranchised that extended to subsequent films, such as THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK and STREET SMART. (Note adapted from Harvard Film Archive.) DIR Jerry Schatzberg; SCR Carole Eastman; PROD John Foreman. U.S., 1970, color, 105 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Scorsese's profanity-packed blowtorch biopic of middleweight boxing legend Jake LaMotta has consistently topped critics' "best of" lists, and won a Best Actor Oscar® for Robert De Niro. The fighter never hits the canvas in the ring, but his battles with wife Cathy Moriarty and brother Joe Pesci are a war of attrition with no winners. Best Supporting Actor nominee Pesci was managing a restaurant when De Niro suggested him for the role. DIR Martin Scorsese; SCR Paul Schrader, Mardik Martin, from the book by Jake LaMotta, Peter Savage and Joseph Carter; PROD Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff. U.S., 1980, b&w, 129 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Sylvester Stallone's career-defining vehicle (he was a relative unknown before ROCKY with 35 previously rejected scripts) as the down-and-out boxer from Philadelphia won three Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. Rocky Balboa, a once-promising boxer, is stuck working for a loan shark and taking small fights for chump change. When offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get into the ring with reigning champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) for a publicity stunt, he vows to "go the distance." DIR John G. Avildsen; SCR Sylvester Stallone; PROD Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler. U.S., 1976, color, 120 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
Warren Beatty had kicked around the idea of a movie about a stud hairstylist as early as the mid-'60s, but in its long gestation from gag character to fully formed script and 1975 release, SHAMPOO acquired the hard-earned wisdom of post-'60s disillusionment. Set on the eve of the 1968 election, but imbued with a Watergate-era sensibility, the movie follows Beatty's serial entanglements with bored socialite Lee Grant, sassy Julie Christie and youngster Carrie Fisher — as it turns out, the wife, mistress and daughter, respectively, of wealthy businessman Jack Warden — all the while ignoring girlfriend Goldie Hawn. Director Hal Ashby elicits surprisingly soulful performances from the terrific cast, while expertly alternating sexy farce with what amounts to ambient political commentary, as election updates periodically intrude via TV and radio. DIR Hal Ashby; SCR Robert Towne; SCR/PROD Warren Beatty. U.S., 1975, color, 109 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
The first "return of the Pink Panther" finds bumbling Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) investigating a series of murders in which every clue points to the maid, bombshell Elke Sommer. Ever oblivious, Clouseau distrusts everyone except the obvious suspect, even notoriously accusing George Sanders of killing someone "in a rit of fealous jage." Adapted from plays by Harry Kurnitz and Marcel Achard, the Pink Panther's comeback introduced the first appearance of franchise regulars Kato (Burt Kwouk) and Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), who quips, "Give me 10 men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world." DIR/SCR/PROD Blake Edwards, SCR William Peter Blatty, from plays by Harry Kurnitz and Marcel Achard. U.S./UK, 1964, color, 102 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
A love letter to the movies, SICKIES MAKING FILMS looks at our urge to censor films and asks why? It uncovers reasons both absurd and surprisingly understandable. Using the Maryland Board of Censors (1916–1981) as a lens, as well as archival materials, classic film segments and interviews with filmmakers and exhibitors subjected to censorship, this documentary examines a recurring American problem. DIR/PROD Joe Tropea. U.S., 2018, color/b&w, 84 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Michael Ritchie's (THE BAD NEWS BEARS, THE CANDIDATE, DOWNHILL RACER) arch satire of American beauty pageants, depicted as the product of a toxic blend of cynicism and boosterism behind the scenes, was well received in 1975, but too little remembered today. Local car dealer Big Bob Freelander (Bruce Dern) sponsors the Young American Miss Pageant in Santa Rosa, California, run by Brenda DiCarlo (Barbara Feldon) and produced by the clashing duo of Wilson Shears (Geoffrey Lewis) and choreographer Tommy French (Michael Kidd). The organizers spend as much time stamping out various scandals, mostly of their own making, as they do mounting the pageant and selecting a winner. Among the young hopefuls, look for actresses of note Annette O'Toole, Colleen Camp and Melanie Griffith. DIR/PROD Michael Ritchie; SCR Jerry Belson. U.S., 1975, color, 113 min. RATED PG
"Nobody's perfect," but Billy Wilder's boundary-breaking comedy just may be. Speakeasy musicians Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis happen to be in the wrong Chicago garage on St. Valentine's Day, 1929. To hide from the mob, they join Marilyn Monroe's all-girl band — dressed in drag. With George Raft, Pat O'Brien and Joe E. Brown as the smitten zillionaire who delivers the immortal closer. DIR/SCR/PROD Billy Wilder; SCR I. A. L. Diamond. U.S., 1959, b&w, 121 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Roger Moore's best James Bond film, with perhaps the franchise's greatest opening action sequence as Bond battles Soviet assassins on the ski slopes of the Austrian Alps, finally parachuting off a precipice. Bond teams with beautiful KGB agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to investigate a missing submarine mystery that leads from the deserts of Egypt to beneath the waves in the Bahamas. Featuring the first appearance of fan-favorite Richard Kiel as Jaws, the indestructible metal-toothed giant; the Lotus Esprit sports car-submersible; and Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" theme song. DIR Lewis Gilbert; SCR Christopher Wood, Richard Maibaum, from characters created by Ian Fleming; PROD Albert R. Broccoli. UK, 1977, color, 125 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
After directing the successful Godfrey Cambridge comedy WATERMELON MAN for Columbia Pictures in 1970, director Melvin Van Peebles was offered a three-picture deal with the studio. But he instead struck out on his own, raising funds independently (including $50,000 from Bill Cosby) to make and release the landmark Blaxploitation film SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG, written, co-produced, scored (performed by a then-unknown Earth, Wind & Fire), edited, directed by and starring Van Peebles. Aiming to make the first Black Power film, Van Peebles created the character of Sweetback, an orphan who grew up in a Los Angeles brothel and now performs in a live sex show. After he and a young Black Panther named Mu-Mu (Hubert Scales) escape from the custody of crooked cops, Sweetback goes on the lam, all the way to Mexico. DIR/SCR/PROD Melvin Van Peebles; PROD Jerry Gross. U.S., 1971, color, 97 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
One of the most New York movies ever made is a time capsule of the Big Apple's hellish Fun City days. A quartet of desperados led by Robert Shaw's icy soldier of fortune hijacks a subway train loaded with passengers — and only an unlikely duo of transit cops, Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller, can foil their ingenious ransom scheme. Fierce, funny and full of fetid atmosphere that hits you like a gust from a passing Lexington Avenue Express. Powered by David Shire's propulsive score and culminating in one of the all-time great closing shots. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Joseph Sargent; SCR Peter Stone, from the novel by John Godey; PROD Gabriel Katzka, Edgar J. Scherick. U.S., 1974, color, 104 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"You talkin' to me?" Robert De Niro's alienated Vietnam vet/Gotham cab driver Travis Bickle yearns for a rain that will "wash all the scum off the streets," blows his big date with politico Cybill Shepherd, then turns mohawked crusader at the sight of pimp Harvey Keitel slapping around child prostitute Jodie Foster. An apotheosis for all of the film's then on-the-rise creative talents, including director Martin Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Schrader and star De Niro, the film also features one of the final scores by the great Bernard Herrmann. DIR Martin Scorsese; SCR Paul Schrader; PROD Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips. U.S., 1976, color, 113 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Steve McQueen plays jaded sports- and businessman Thomas Crown, who, purely for the thrill of it all, plans and orchestrates an elaborate heist, executed by a team of freelancers. Faye Dunaway plays Vicki Anderson, a crack insurance investigator who, suspecting Crown is the mastermind behind the heist, begins a sexually charged cat-and-mouse game in order to prove her suspicion is true. Norman Jewison's sophisticated caper features two era-defining stars in McQueen and Dunaway, stylish photography by Haskell Wexler and a gorgeous score and Oscar®-winning theme song by Michel Legrand, whose orchestral pop masterpiece "The Windmills of Your Mind," with lyrics by Marilyn and Alan Bergman and performed by Noel Harrison (son of Rex), would become an international sensation, in subsequent years covered by more than 100 different artists in seven different languages. DIR/PROD Norman Jewison; SCR Alan Trustman. U.S., 1968, color, 102 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Armed with two stolen NATO nuclear warheads, SPECTRE holds the UK and U.S. hostage, threatening to blow up a major city if their ransom demand for £100M in uncut diamonds is not met. Sean Connery's James Bond follows the trail to the Bahamas and SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo, an eyepatch-sporting black marketeer. Noted for its extensive underwater photography and action scenes, futuristic vehicles (jet pack! mini-submarine! hydrofoil!) and the former Miss France Claudine Auger as the dangerously beautiful Domino, the fourth Bond film remains the franchise's biggest hit to date. DIR Terence Young; SCR Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins, Jack Whittingham, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Kevin McClory, Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman. UK, 1965, color, 130 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
AFI Silver presents a complete digital restoration of George Lucas' bold first feature. Set in a 25th-century dystopia beneath the earth's surface, Robert Duvall stars as a human who inadvertently defies anti-sex laws by falling in love with his roommate after she tampers with his government-administered medication. Shades of Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS, George Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" resonate throughout. DIR/SCR George Lucas; SCR Walter Murch; PROD Larry Sturhahn. U.S., 1971/2004, color, 95 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"The Tingler is in the theater!" Scientist Vincent Price discovers a deadly creature dubbed "The Tingler" living inside the spine of every human. The parasite feeds on human fear, and if left unchecked, can cause instant death. Price's theory is that hearing the human host's screams can weaken and paralyze the creature. Price surgically removes one such creature from its frightened-to-death victim for testing, but things spiral out of control after the beast escapes and seeks refuge in a crowded movie theater. DIR/PROD William Castle; SCR Robb White. U.S., 1959, color/b&w, 82 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Tony Richardson vaulted from modestly budgeted Angry Young Man and kitchen-sink dramas to the big leagues with this sensational adaptation of Henry Fielding's bawdy 18th-century novel, a surprise international success that earned 10 Oscar® nominations in 1964, with wins for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Music. The film also made a star of Albert Finney as the young rake who schemes and seduces his way up in the world, from penniless foundling to gentleman of means. The entertaining cast includes Susannah York, Diane Cilento, Joyce Redman, Edith Evans, Hugh Griffith, Joan Greenwood, Lynn Redgrave and David Warner. DIR/PROD Tony Richardson; SCR John Osborne, from "The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling" by Henry Fielding. UK, 1963, color, 129 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
"King Kong ain't got sh*t on me!" Denzel Washington won his second Oscar®, and first for Best Actor, in director Antoine Fuqua's hard-boiled story of a charismatic but thoroughly corrupt detective training a rookie cop (Ethan Hawke, Oscar®-nominated for Best Supporting Actor), from a screenplay by David Ayer (END OF WATCH, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS). Castmates include Scott Glenn, Cliff Curtis and Eva Mendes, with cameos by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Macy Gray. DIR Antoine Fuqua; SCR David Ayer; PROD Jeffrey Silver, Robert F. Newmyer. U.S., 2001, color, 122 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Drag racing east from Los Angeles in a souped-up '55 Chevy are the wayward Driver and Mechanic (singer-songwriter James Taylor and the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson, in their only acting roles), accompanied by a tagalong Girl (Laurie Bird). Along the way, they meet Warren Oates' Pontiac GTO-driving wanderer and challenge him to a cross-country race. The prize: their cars' pink slips. But no summary can do justice to the existential punch of TWO-LANE BLACKTOP. With its gorgeous widescreen compositions and sophisticated look at American male obsession, this stripped-down narrative from maverick director Monte Hellman is one of the artistic high points of 1970s cinema, and possibly the greatest road movie ever made. (Note courtesy of The Criterion Collection.) DIR Monte Hellman; SCR Rudy Wurlitzer, Will Corry; PROD Michael Laughlin. U.S., 1971, color, 102 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Sharks! Jets! Ten Oscar® wins, including Best Picture, for the dazzling screen adaptation of Broadway's "Romeo and Juliet"-inspired musical smash, a tale of forbidden love starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer. Unforgettable for the brilliant score and lyrics from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim — with songs including "Maria," "Tonight" and "America" — and Jerome Robbins' vibrant choreography, featuring the Oscar®-winning footwork of George Chakiris and Rita Moreno. DIR/PROD Robert Wise; DIR Jerome Robbins; SCR Ernest Lehman, from the musical by Arthur Laurents and Robbins, music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. U.S., 1961, color, 153 min plus one 15-min intermission. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Peter Bogdanovich's 1972 homage to classic screwball comedy sees the exceedingly clever, carefree and calamity-causing Barbra Streisand set her sights on punctilious musicologist Ryan O'Neal, in San Francisco to attend a conference and hoping to earn a coveted grant. Witty wordplay (from screenwriters Buck Henry, David Newman and Robert Benton) and Bogdanovich's agile handling of the gags allow the stars to shine, with Madeline Kahn (in her screen debut) leading an impressively funny cast of supporting players. DIR/PROD Peter Bogdanovich; SCR Buck Henry, David Newman, Robert Benton. U.S., 1972, color, 94 min. RATED G
AFI Member passes accepted.
In this gritty classic, aging outlaw William Holden prepares to retire after one final robbery. Joined by his gang, which includes Ernest Borgnine and brothers Warren Oates and Ben Johnson, Holden discovers the heist is a setup orchestrated in part by his former partner, Robert Ryan. As the remaining gang takes refuge in Mexican territory, Ryan trails them, resulting in fierce gunfights with plenty of casualties. Director Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH is a powerful tale of hangdog desperados bound by a code of honor that rates as one of the all-time greatest Westerns and perhaps one of the greatest of all films. (Note courtesy of Warner Bros.) DIR/SCR Sam Peckinpah; SCR Walon Green, from the story by Green and Roy N. Sickner; PROD Phil Feldman. U.S., 1969, color, 143 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
"Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond." After U.S. and Soviet space capsules mysteriously disappear from orbit, Sean Connery as James Bond follows the trail to Japan, where he uncovers a plot by SPECTRE to start WWIII. In terms of pure visuals, this is one of the best Bonds, boasting beautiful Japanese location shooting, cinematography by the great Freddie Young and production designer Ken Adam's celebrated volcano lair. Featuring Donald Pleasence as the pussy-stroking Blofeld — the proto Dr. Evil — and Nancy Sinatra's theme song. DIR Lewis Gilbert; SCR Roald Dahl, from the novel by Ian Fleming; PROD Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman. UK, 1967, color, 117 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.