Anniversary Classics Archives

THE LION IN WINTER 55th Anniversary Holiday Season Screening with Author-Historian Jeremy Arnold November 29.

November 20, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the 55th anniversary of The Lion in Winter (1968), the Academy Award-winning historical drama (with comedy undertones) that netted screen legend Katharine Hepburn a third Best Actress Oscar. Hepburn leads a powerhouse cast including acting icon Peter O’Toole, and future major stars Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton in their film debuts. The film plays one night only Wednesday, November 29 at 7:00 PM at the Royal in West Los Angeles, with an introduction by author Jeremy Arnold, who will sign copies of his newly revised book “Christmas in the Movies.”

Set during Christmas 1183, England’s King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) summons a holiday court at Chilon in his continental empire to choose his successor among his three sons: Richard the Lionhearted (Anthony Hopkins), Geoffrey (John Castle), and his favorite, John (Nigel Terry). He releases his wife and the mother of their sons, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) from imprisonment for the occasion. Also in attendance are Henry’s mistress Alais (Jane Merrow), and her brother, the young King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton). As the principals squabble over the succession, intrigue, one-upmanship, and treachery are unleashed in the ensuing power struggle.

Based on a play by James Goldman (a Broadway flop in 1966), the film adaptation by Goldman and director Anthony Harvey, a former film editor (Lolita, Dr. Strangelove) just two years later proved to be a resounding success at both the box office and with critics of the day. Roger Ebert welcomed “a literate script handled intelligently,” while Renata Adler of The New York Times praised the “dramatic and comic energy” on display by the spirited cast. An effusive Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times awarded the film “top honors for the most literate movie of the year, and for the finest and most imaginative and fascinating evocation of an historical time and place.” AMPAS bestowed seven nominations including Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Costume Design, with Oscar wins for Goldman’s screenplay, John Barry’s effective music score, and Hepburn’s Best Actress turn (her third win in an historic tie with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl).

Hepburn recalled what attracted her to the part of Eleanor of Aquitaine, “I think she had what I’ve always held as important: love of life but without sentimentality. She was something I’ve always tried to be–completely authentic.” O’Toole had the unique opportunity to revisit a character he had previously played (a younger Henry II in 1964’s Becket) and triumphed once again. Hepburn would go on to win a fourth Best Actress Oscar in 1981, while O’Toole had to settle for an Honorary Oscar in 2003 among eight nominations. Hopkins would become one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, winning two Best Actor Oscars in his lengthy career. Dalton enjoyed decades of success and movie immortality when he inherited the role of James Bond in 1987 for two films as Agent 007. In The Lion in Winter all four have a rousing good time, as the Village Voice noted, “scenery chewing has rarely been so artful.”

THE GOOD GIRL (2002) Screening November 15 with the Filmmakers in Person.

November 8, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Guest Speakers: Director Miguel Arteta, Producers Carol Baum and Matthew Greenfield and Casting Director Joanna Colbert Wednesday, November 15, at 7 PM at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a screening of the indie hit ‘The Good Girl‘ starring ‘Friends’ megastar Jennifer Aniston and Oscar nominees Jake Gyllenhaal and John C. Reilly. It was written by Mike White, the Emmy-winning creator of the smash hit series ‘The White Lotus,’ and directed by Miguel Arteta, who collaborated with White on ‘Chuck & Buck’ and ‘Beatriz at Dinner’ in addition to this movie.

‘Friends,’ the most successful sitcom in television history, was still going strong when Aniston demonstrated her versatility by starring as a dissatisfied store clerk in a small Texas town. She is unhappily married to Reilly when she begins a dangerous affair with a younger, mentally unstable coworker played by Gyllenhaal. The strong supporting cast includes a bevy of gifted performers, including Tim Blake Nelson, Zooey Deschanel, John Carroll Lynch, Deborah Rush, and White himself.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002 and later won an Independent Spirit award for best screenplay of the year. Critics appreciated Aniston’s determination to branch out and tackle a more complex role. As Ella Taylor wrote in L.A. Weekly, “it is especially gratifying to see her playing a woman who’s had it up to here with making nice and making do.” Roger Ebert praised the movie as “an independent film of satiric fire and emotional turmoil.” Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Michael Wilmington called the film “a dark comedy about false dreams and lost illusions—and, thanks to a fine cast and a smart script, it’s an effective one.” The Village Voice’s J. Hoberman acclaimed “a droll, well-acted character-driven comedy with unexpected deposits of feeling.”

Miguel Arteta’s other films include ‘Star Maps,’ ‘Youth in Revolt,’ ‘Duck Butter,’ and ‘Cedar Rapids.’ He has also directed for some of the most acclaimed TV series of recent years, including ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ ‘Six Feet Under,’ ‘American Horror Story,’ ‘Succession,’ and Aniston’s current hit, ‘The Morning Show.’

Matthew Greenfield produced Arteta’s films ‘Star Maps,’ ‘Chuck & Buck,’ and ‘The Good Girl.’ He is currently president of Searchlight Pictures, the company that has produced Oscar-winning hits ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘The Shape of Water,’ and ‘Nomadland.’

Joanna Colbert has cast over 50 films and was head of casting at Universal Pictures. She produced the HBO documentary ‘Casting By,’ which called attention to the frequently underestimated but crucial role that casting directors play in creating successful movies.

Carol Baum has produced 34 movies, including ‘Father of the Bride’ with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, ‘I.Q.’ with Walter Matthau and Meg Ryan, ‘Dead Ringers’ with Jeremy Irons and Genevieve Bujold, ‘Jacknife’ with Robert De Niro and Ed Harris, ‘Straight Talk’ with Dolly Parton, Noah Baumbach’s directorial debut, ‘Kicking and Screaming,’ and the Oscar-winning documentary ‘Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt.’ She will be discussing, selling and signing her new book, ‘Creative Producing: A Pitch-to-Picture Guide to Movie Development,’ written with her husband, screenwriter Tom Baum. The book offers practical tips into all the stages of movie production, along with candid anecdotes about her many movies and the stars and filmmakers she encountered. Mike White called Baum “one of the most astute, wise, kind, funny, and indefatigable producers in our business.”

HOUSE CALLS 45th Anniversary Screening Wednesday, November 8 at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre with Actor Richard Benjamin in Person!

November 1, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series pay tribute to the late, great Glenda Jackson with a screening of one of her most successful movies, ‘House Calls‘ from 1978. Over the course of her long acting career, before she chose to segue to politics as a member of the British Parliament, Jackson triumphed in many different genres. She won two Oscars—one for the dramatic adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Women in Love’ (1970) and a second for the romantic comedy ‘A Touch of Class (1973).’ She also earned Oscar nominations for the groundbreaking 1971 drama ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ and for the 1975 film ‘Hedda,’ adapted from Henrik Ibsen’s classic play, ‘Hedda Gabler,’ a role that Jackson had also played on stage. Other outstanding performances include ‘The Music Lovers,’ ‘Stevie,’ ‘The Romantic Englishwoman,’ ‘Nasty Habits,’ and ‘The Rainbow.’

‘House Calls‘ teamed her with fellow Oscar winners Walter Matthau and Art Carney, along with our special guest at this screening, Richard Benjamin. Matthau plays a doctor at a poorly run urban hospital who is still grieving the death of his wife as he explores the dating world with fairly disastrous results. When he meets Jackson, a patient at the hospital, he begins to form a more meaningful connection. Carney plays the increasingly senile chief of staff at the hospital, whose ineptitude contributes to the pressures on the entire beleaguered staff. Benjamin plays a fellow doctor who tries to aid Matthau with his professional and romantic challenges.

Howard Zieff (‘Hearts of the West,’ ‘Private Benjamin’) directed the script by Alan Mandel and Charles Shyer, from a story written by veterans Julius J. Epstein and Max Shulman. Candice Azzara co-stars as a widow who also has her eye on Matthau. Multiple Oscar winner Henry Mancini composed the score.

Leonard Maltin called ‘House Calls‘ a “laughing-out-loud contemporary comedy” and added, “Carney is hilarious as the addle-brained head of surgery at Matthau’s hospital.” The movie was successful enough to spawn a TV series that ran for three seasons on CBS. And Matthau and Jackson re-teamed for the comedy adventure film, ‘Hopscotch,’ in 1980.

Richard Benjamin has been one of the most frequent and generous supporters of our Anniversary Classics Series over the last several years. He joined us to reminisce about ‘The Sunshine Boys,’ ‘Goodbye, Columbus,’ ‘The Last of Sheila,’ and his highly acclaimed directorial debut, ‘My Favorite Year.’ His other films as an actor include ‘Diary of a Mad Housewife,’ ‘Westworld,’ ‘Catch-22,’ ‘Love at First Bite,’ and ‘How to Beat the High Cost of Living.’ He also directed ‘Racing with the Moon’ (starring Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern, and Nicolas Cage), ‘The Money Pit’ with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, ‘Mermaids’ with Cher and Winona Ryder, and ‘Little Nikita’ with Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix. Mr. Benjamin will join us for a Q&A before the screening on November 8.

RUNNING ON EMPTY 35th Anniversary Screening with Actors Christine Lahti and Judd Hirsch in Person October 24.

October 11, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 35th anniversary screening of the potent Oscar-nominated drama Running on Empty, written by Naomi Foner and directed by Sidney Lumet in one of his late-career highlights. Christine Lahti, who was named best actress of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for her performance, Judd Hirsch, River Phoenix, and Martha Plimpton star in one of the few movies to examine the consequences of the revolutionary movements that swept America in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The film earned two Oscar nominations in 1988, for Foner’s original screenplay and for Phoenix as Best Supporting actor. We’ll screen Running on Empty at the Royal on October 24 at 7 pm with Ms. Lahti as our special guest.

Lahti and Hirsch play a married couple who were part of a 1960s revolutionary group, probably modeled on the Weather Underground, who participated in the bombing of a napalm laboratory that resulted in the serious injury of a janitor who was not supposed to be on the premises. Since then, they and their two sons have been on the run from the FBI, constantly changing their identities and moving when the authorities seemed close to locating them. An added complication arises when their teenage son, played by Phoenix, begins to demonstrate extraordinary gifts as a pianist, and the parents realize that their unsettled lives could hinder the development of his talent. At the same time, Phoenix falls in love with the daughter (Plimpton) of his music teacher and feels compelled to reveal his true identity to her.

Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Verdict), who received an honorary Oscar late in his life, brought his characteristic dramatic vigor and emotional intensity to the film. A highlight is the meeting between Lahti and her long estranged father, played by Steven Hill, that is one of the most wrenching scenes in any film of the period. Most critics recognized the film’s achievements. Roger Ebert called it “one of the best films of the year,” and Newsweek’s David Ansen called it “emotionally overpowering.” Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Sophisticated, uncompromising and refreshingly original, it is one of those rare films which is likely to mean as much to teens as it does to their parents.”

Christine Lahti made her film debut opposite Al Pacino in 1979 in …And Justice for All. She went on to co-star in Whose Life Is It Anyway? opposite Richard Dreyfuss, The Doctor with William Hurt, Just Between Friends with Mary Tyler Moore, Bill Forsyth’s Housekeeping, and, more recently, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with Tom Hanks. She earned an Oscar nomination when she co-starred with Goldie Hawn in Swing Shift. Later she won an Oscar for a live action short film that she directed, Lieberman in Love, in 1995. Lahti won an Emmy for her starring role in the hit TV series, Chicago Hope, and also had a recurring role in Law and Order SVU. In 2001 she directed her first feature, My First Mister, starring Albert Brooks and Leelee Sobieski.

Judd Hirsch has received two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor—for the Oscar-winning best picture of 1980, Ordinary People, and for his performance just last year in Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed memory piece, The Fabelmans. He also won two Emmy Awards for his performance in the critically acclaimed and immensely popular TV show of the late 1970s, Taxi. Among his other notable feature film credits are Independence Day, A Beautiful Mind, The Meyerowitz Stories, and Uncut Gems. Hirsch co-starred in several other TV series—Dear John, Damages, Superior Donuts, and The Goldbergs.

“Once upon a midnight dreary,” Price, Corman, Karloff & Lorre! THE RAVEN 60th Anniversary Screening October 19.

October 4, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Update October 12: This screening has been cancelled.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the 60th anniversary of THE RAVEN (1963), the fifth film of Roger Corman’s cinematic adaptations of the works of American literary titan Edgar Allan Poe. The movie, written by acclaimed horror, fantasy, and mystery author Richard Matheson, stars horror icons Vincent Price and Boris Karloff in a rare big screen collaboration, and co-stars Peter Lorre, Hazel Court, and future superstar Jack Nicholson early in his career. The horror comedy plays one night only, Thursday, October 19 at 7 PM at the Royal in West Los Angeles. For added fun there will be a Poe/Corman trivia contest before the movie.

Producer-director Roger Corman, who began his career in the 1950s, is one of the most prolific independent filmmakers in movie history. Corman specialized in low budget cinema and is regarded as the “king of the B movie” with a steady diet of exploitation titles that spanned six decades and multiple movie genres. In 1960 he turned to the works of an author he had read and admired growing up, Edgar Allan Poe, the nineteenth century inventor of detective fiction and master of mystery and the macabre, and made a stylish if frugal version of The Fall of the House of Usher, hiring Vincent Price for the lead and acclaimed author Richard Matheson (The Incredible Shrinking Man, I am Legend, Somewhere in Time) to write the screenplay adaptation. The movie’s unexpected critical and commercial success spawned seven more Poe films in five years. The Raven, the fifth film, was released in January 1963 and was the first outright feature-length comic take on Poe’s most celebrated poem. The worldwide reception afforded the poem in 1845 made Poe the most famous American author of the 19th century, and he remains beloved in the 21st century for his pioneering detective fiction, horror tales, and haunting verse.

Matheson’s story lightens considerably the tone of the mesmeric poem, with the invention of sorcerer characters (Price and Karloff) who duel over Price’s wife (Hazel Court). Peter Lorre, transformed by Karloff into a raven, induces Price to help him break the spell and rescue Court. They are aided by Lorre’s son, played by Nicholson. Corman retained venerable cinematographer Floyd Crosby, production designer Daniel Haller, and composer Les Baxter from the prior Poe films to continue the atmospheric style which marks all the films. Matheson’s choice to inject humor throughout the movie led critics to pick up on the tongue-in-cheek tone, with one reviewer calling it “less of a Raven, and more of a lark.” Leonard Maltin found it a “funny horror satire [with the] climactic sorcerers’ duel a highlight.

This would be Matheson’s final Poe adaptation after writing House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), and Tales of Terror (1962). Price would continue as the principal Poe player to the end of the eight-film series with Tomb of Ligeia in 1964. All the Poe/Corman films entrenched Price as a legendary horrormeister, but in The Raven he would demonstrate his comic chops along with unexpected humorous turns from Boris Karloff and an improvising Peter Lorre. A young Jack Nicholson is the bonus in this affectionate, amusing homage to the genius of Edgar Allan Poe.

“One of the most perfect movies in the history of Japanese cinema,” UGETSU 70th Anniversary Screenings.

September 27, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

By the time he made Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and fortune leads them far astray from their loyal wives. Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, Ugetsu reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men.

We will screen Ugetsu on October 11 at our Glendale, Claremont, Royal and Newhall theaters.

Pauline Kael wrote, “This subtle, violent yet magical film is one of the most amazing of the Japanese movies that played American art houses after the international success of Rashomon in 1951.” Japanese film scholar Donald Richie called Ugetsu “one of the most perfect movies in the history of Japanese cinema.” Many later directors, including Martin Scorsese and Andrei Tarkovsky, cited it as a personal favorite.

“With rare humanity, Mizoguchi reveals the toll these misadventures take on the souls of both men and their wives, many moments an uncanny synthesis of the realistic and the otherworldly.” ~ Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

“Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi’s most widely heralded film, is a mysterious, incantatory, and gorgeous parable.” ~ Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

“A ravishingly composed, evocatively beautiful film.” ~ Rod McShane, Time Out

Oscar-winner NOWHERE IN AFRICA 20th anniversary screenings September 20.

September 6, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present 20th anniversary screenings of the Academy-Award winning film NOWHERE IN AFRICA as the next entry in the Anniversary Abroad Series of notable international films. (Following our September 13 screening of SOYLENT GREEN at the Royal with special guest Leigh Taylor-Young.) Coinciding with the High Holidays, NOWHERE IN AFRICA is about a German Jewish refugee family relocating to Kenya to escape the Nazis just before the outbreak of WWII, will play for one night only, September 20 at four Laemmle locations (Royal, Glendale, Claremont, and Newhall).

The Foreign Language Film (AKA International) Oscar winner in 2003, based on the autobiographical novel by Stefanie Zweig, was adapted for the screen by writer-director Caroline Link, who had been previously nominated in the same category for her 1996 film Beyond Silence. The story concerns the Redlich family, Walter (Mirab Ninidze), his wife Jettel (Juliane Kohler), and their daughter Regina (Lea Kurka as younger, Karoline Eckertz as older) who flee Nazi persecution in Germany in 1938. Walter leaves behind his law profession and becomes the manager of a British-owned farm in Kenya. While his nine-year-old daughter Regina takes to her new African life, his snobbish wife Jettel has difficulty with the family’s reduced status. They are attended by their Kenyan cook Owuor (beautifully played by Sidede Onyulo), who offers an African perspective to the tale. With the outbreak of WWII, the family is interned by the British along with all German citizens, an ironic twist since they had fled Germany to avoid such a fate in their homeland. The war and their plight put even more pressure on the strained relationship of Walter and Jettel, with Regina (now a teenager) caught in the middle.

Admiration from critics of the day included assessments from Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, who said the film was, “laced with poignancy, conflict, urgency, and compassion.” Roger Ebert praised Link for her “interest in good stories and vivid, well-defined characters.” Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune cited it as “a lovely film with a deeply humane perspective.” Rita Kempley in the Washington Post called it a “consistently absorbing family saga that is primarily a safari of the soul.” Newsweek’s David Ansen noted, “an absorbing tale of cultural displacement. It’s also a remarkable, complex examination of a marriage…with its lush cinematography and lush score, (it) has the sturdiness of an old-fashioned Hollywood epic.” Some critics even called it perfect Oscar bait at the time, and the Academy members agreed, rewarding it with the Foreign Language Film Oscar.

SOYLENT GREEN 50th Anniversary Screening September 13 with Special Guest Leigh Taylor-Young.

August 30, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary of the prophetic sci-fi classic, ‘Soylent Green.’ The sole surviving cast member, Leigh Taylor-Young, will join to share memories of making this powerful movie. This still-timely film, set in New York in 2022, was one of the first to address issues of pollution, global warming, overpopulation, and an epidemic of homelessness. In many ways it predicted the dark future imagined in ‘Blade Runner,’ made a decade later.

The script was adapted by Stanley R. Greenberg from an acclaimed novel, ‘Make Room! Make Room!,’ by Harry Harrison. The director, Richard Fleischer, was no stranger to science fiction, having made the hit movies ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ and ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ along with a wide range of films in many different genres. Charlton Heston portrays a police detective trying to solve the murder of an executive at the mysterious Soylent Corporation, which leads him to uncover a diabolical conspiracy. In addition to Leigh Taylor-Young, the supporting cast includes Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Brock Peters, and Paula Kelly. But the most memorable performance is given by Edward G. Robinson, in his final screen appearance.

The Hollywood Reporter declared that the film “conjures a terrifying vision of the future.” Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called the film “a clever, rough, modestly budgeted but imaginative work.” ‘Soylent Green‘ won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film of the year.

Actress Leigh Taylor-Young first came to prominence on the popular “Peyton Place” TV series of the 1960s. She made her feature film debut in the hit 1968 comedy, ‘I Love You Alice B. Toklas,’ starring Peter Sellers, written by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker. Her other film roles include ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,’ which marked one of the first screen roles for Robert De Niro, and ‘Jagged Edge,’ starring Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges. She also co-starred in many popular TV series, including “Dallas” and “Picket Fences,” for which she won an Emmy. In recent years she has also been active in humanitarian and spiritual activities for the United Nations and other organizations.

The movie’s trailer posed the question, “What Is the Secret of Soylent Green?” If you don’t know the answer to that question, be sure to attend our 50th anniversary screening. And even if you do know, you will be startled by the movie’s timeliness and engaged by the conversation with our delightful guest speaker.

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