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I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS! 50th Anniversary Screening with Actress Leigh Taylor-Young In Person

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening of the hit Peter Sellers comedy from 1968, I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS! The Establishment meets the counterculture in this topical and often uproarious satire that poked fun at many of the conflicts dividing the country during the tumultuous 1960s.

Sellers plays an uptight Los Angeles lawyer whose life unravels when he meets a young hippie, played by Leigh Taylor-Young in her feature film debut.

Hy Averback directed the first screenplay written by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, and the picture’s success allowed Mazursky to make his directorial debut one year later on another swinging sixties comedy, ‘Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.’

The supporting cast includes Oscar winner Jo Van Fleet as Sellers’ intrusive mother, Joyce Van Patten as his befuddled fiancée, along with Herb Edelman, Grady Sutton, Salem Ludwig, and David Arkin.

One of the film’s memorable set pieces revolves around a supply of marijuana brownies that come from a recipe in cultural icon Alice B. Toklas’s famous cookbook. With marijuana now legal in California and in several other states, the film takes on renewed timeliness and may well give happy viewers a contact high.

Back in 1968, Variety declared, “Film blasts off into orbit via top-notch acting and direction.” Pauline Kael, who had recently begun her regular stint reviewing for The New Yorker, called the picture “A giddy, slapdash, entertainingly inconsequential comedy…the picture makes you laugh surprisingly often.” And Leonard Maltin praised this “excellent comedy about the freaking out of mild-mannered L.A. lawyer. Sellers has never been better.” Indeed the film represents one of the highlights of Sellers’ vibrant and diverse list of achievements during the 60s.

Actress Leigh Taylor-Young first came to prominence on the popular ‘Peyton Place’ TV series of the 1960s. Her other films include ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight,’ which marked one of the first screen roles for Robert De Niro; John Frankenheimer’s ‘The Horsemen,’ co-starring Omar Sharif; the prophetic sci-fi movie, ‘Soylent Green;’ and the suspense thriller ‘Jagged Edge.’ She has worked in the theater and costarred in several popular TV series, including ‘Picket Fences,’ for which she won an Emmy, ‘Dallas,’ and ‘Passions.’ In recent years she has also been active in humanitarian and spiritual activities for the United Nations and other organizations.

I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS! followed by Q&A with Actress Leigh Taylor-Young screens Wednesday, April 25, at 7:30 PM at the Royal Theatre in West L.A. Click here for tickets.

Format: DVD

THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS 50th Anniversary Screening on Wednesday, April 18 in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program, a 50th anniversary screening of Gillo Pontecorvo’s memorable and still timely political drama, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.

The film was an Oscar nominee for best foreign language film of 1966, but it was not released in the United States until 1968, when it received additional nominations for best director and for best original screenplay by Pontecorvo and Franco Solinas. The film was considered so inflammatory that it was not shown in France until 1971.

The picture, filmed in black-and-white to approximate the look of a newsreel, dramatizes Algeria’s war of independence against France. It focuses on the years from 1954 to 1957, when the National Liberation Front began to organize in the Casbah of Algiers to carry out terrorist attacks on civilians as well as the French army. This led to a fierce and brutal counter-insurgency by the French, which meant the battles dragged on for years.

To insure authenticity, Pontecorvo cast the film mainly with non-professional actors recruited in Algeria. The film’s one professional actor, Jean Martin, gave a vivid performance as the complex, intelligent French officer who understands the grievances of the Algerians even as he fights ruthlessly to defeat them. The film’s urgency was heightened by the score of Ennio Morricone.

The film’s influence extended well beyond the cinema. It became a sort of handbook of revolutionary techniques that was studied by many radical groups over the years. Yet in 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon also screened the movie in order to better understand the civil war unleashed in that country.

Many prominent filmmakers–including Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone–all testified to influence of Pontecorvo’s movie on their own work. Critic David Elliott of the San Diego Union Tribune called The Battle of Algiers “perhaps the finest political film of the 1960s.” The LA Weekly’s Ella Taylor agreed that it was “a classic of politically engaged filmmaking.”

Our 50th anniversary screening of THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (1968) screens Wednesday, April 18 at 7pm in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP

Friday the 13th Screening of ROSEMARY’S BABY at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills

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To provide shivers and thrills on Friday the 13th, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening of one of the most terrifying movies of all time, ROSEMARY’S BABY.

Ira Levin’s ingenious best-selling novel imagined a witches’ coven hiding in plain sight in contemporary Manhattan and hatching a plot to bring the Devil’s son to earth. Producer William Castle, the mastermind behind many successful B-horror movies, graduated to the A ranks with this classy production. Paramount’s head of production, Robert Evans, hired acclaimed European director Roman Polanski to make his Hollywood debut with the film.

The casting of the film was inspired. As the innocent woman at the center of the diabolical conspiracy, the filmmakers chose a relatively new face to movies, Mia Farrow, and she played the role with endearing vulnerability. The film’s success catapulted her to full-fledged stardom.

John Cassavetes took a break from his own independent productions to play Farrow’s conniving husband. The brilliance of the casting extended to the supporting players, a veritable Who’s Who of vintage Hollywood and Broadway actors, including Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, and Elisha Cook Jr. Gordon won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her spot-on portrayal of a nosy neighbor with a sinister agenda. Polanski earned an Oscar nomination for his adapted screenplay.

Behind-the-scenes credits were just as impressive. Six-time Oscar nominee William Fraker (Bullitt, Heaven Can Wait) was the cinematographer, while two-time Oscar winner Richard Sylbert (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Chinatown, Dick Tracy) was the production designer. The eerie score was composed by a gifted friend of Polanski, Christopher Komeda, who died tragically at the age of 37, soon after the release of the film.

Among the stellar reviews for the film, Leonard Maltin hailed a “Classic modern-day thriller by Ira Levin, perfectly realized by writer-director Polanski.” Stephen Witty of the Newark Star-Ledger called it “one of the finest horror films ever made.” In 2014 Rosemary’s Baby was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

ROSEMARY’S BABY screens Friday, April 13 at 7:30 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP

Fred Astaire Double Feature: THE BAND WAGON and EASTER PARADE on April 3 in NoHo, Pasadena, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present two Fred Astaire musicals in the popular Twofer Tuesday program this Easter holiday season, the 65th anniversary of THE BAND WAGON (1953) paired with, appropriately, the 70th anniversary of EASTER PARADE (1948). Astaire is considered the most influential actor-dancer in the history of motion pictures and television, and both films showcase his bountiful talent and artistry from the Golden Age of the movie musical.

Astaire was coaxed out of retirement to replace an injured Gene Kelly as the lead in Easter Parade, co-starring Judy Garland, who plays a chorus girl he grooms for stardom to take the place of his former dancing partner (Ann Miller in her MGM debut). The period musical comedy, set in 1912, features the Irving Berlin songbook, including such joyful tunes as “Shaking the Blues Away,” “Stepping Out with My Baby,” “A Couple of Swells,” and the title song.

Directed by Charles Walters (Lili), written by Sidney Sheldon and the husband and wife team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (The Thin Man, Father of the Bride). Also starring Peter Lawford and Jules Munshin. Produced by Arthur Freed (Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, Gigi). Oscar winner for Best Score of a Musical. Dance legend Gene Kelly later asserted, “the history of dance on film begins with Astaire.”

Astaire missed out on working with Cyd Charisse when she bowed out of Easter Parade, and was replaced by Ann Miller. But Astaire and Charisse got a second chance in 1953 with The Band Wagon, in which Astaire plays a “washed-up” movie star who pairs with a temperamental ballerina (Charisse) in creating a Broadway show. Producer Arthur Freed followed up his paean to the movies, Singin’ in the Rain, with that film’s writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who teamed this time with Broadway lyricist Alan Jay Lerner to concoct a sophisticated backstage musical confection. Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant play characters based on Comden and Green, and are comically supported by Jack Buchanan as a maniacal director.

The memorable score showcases the songs of Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, which include “By Myself,” “Shine on Your Shoes,” Dancing in the Dark,” and the show business anthem, “That’s Entertainment.” Deftly directed by Vincent Minnelli (An American in Paris, Gigi). Bosley Crowther, reviewing the film in The New York Times, praised all the assembled talent, “this witty and literate combination delivers a show that respectfully bids for recognition as one of the best musicals ever made.” Added to the National Film Registry in 1995. The Band Wagon, according to Leonard Maltin, “improves with each viewing.”

Here is a chance to see it back on the big screen in our Twofer Tuesday (two for the price of one) double bill with Easter Parade. Both films will play one day only, April 3, at Laemmle Theatres in NoHo, Pasadena, and West L.A.

For tickets to the 4:45pm EASTER PARADE and the 7pm THE BAND WAGON, click here.

For tickets to the 7pm THE BAND WAGON and 9:15pm EASTER PARADE, click here.

Format: DCP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcyByIPdW18

Lily Tomlin In Person for THE LATE SHOW (1977) on Saturday, March 24th in Beverly Hills

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics series present a screening of one of the forgotten gems of the 1970s, Robert Benton’s homage to the detective genre, THE LATE SHOW, produced by Robert Altman and starring Oscar winner Art Carney and Oscar nominee Lily Tomlin. Tomlin, a Tony, Emmy, and Grammy winner, will join us for a discussion of one of her most charming films.

Carney plays an aging private eye who swings into action after the murder of his friend and fellow detective, played by Howard Duff. This plot element recalls the opening of the archetypal private eye movie of Hollywood’s Golden Age, The Maltese Falcon. But Carney’s age and infirmities add a touch of vulnerability to the portrait that wasn’t evident in the classic films with Bogart and other stars of the 1940s.

Tomlin plays a Hollywood kook who initially hires Carney to find the kidnapper of her cat but ultimately joins him in his detective work. As Variety wrote, “Benton has fashioned a contemporary tribute to the private eye yarns of the 1940s and in the process has given Carney and Tomlin the freedom to create extremely sympathetic characters. Both performances are knockout.” Time’s Richard Schickel agreed that The Late Show was “by far the most intelligent, engaging attempt at reincarnation of the private eye genre.”

Benton, the co-writer of Bonnie and Clyde and What’s Up, Doc?, had made his directorial debut in 1972 with Bad Company, starring Jeff Bridges. The Late Show was only his second film as director, and his third, Kramer vs. Kramer, the best picture winner of 1979, earned Oscars for Benton as both writer and director. He earned another Oscar for writing Places in the Heart in 1984. The tasty supporting cast of The Late Show includes Joanna Cassidy, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, and John Considine, in addition to Duff.

After her hilarious work playing multiple characters on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and her Emmy-winning TV specials, Tomlin made her feature film debut in Altman’s Nashville and earned an Oscar nomination. The Late Show was only her second feature.

Pauline Kael wrote, “If anyone else were playing Margo, she might be a mere kook; Tomlin makes her a genuine eccentric—she isn’t just the heroine, she’s the picture’s comic muse.”

Tomlin’s later films include the hit comedy, 9 to 5, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, All of Me with Steve Martin, Flirting with Disaster, and Altman’s final film, A Prairie Home Companion. She won a Tony award for her one-woman show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, and she has received three Emmy nominations for her performance in the current hit comedy series, Grace and Frankie, in which she appears with her 9 to 5 co-star, Jane Fonda. Tomlin has also been honored by the Kennedy Center and received the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.

THE LATE SHOW (1977) with Lily Tomlin in person screens Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. Format: DVD Click here for tickets.

55th Anniversary Screening of TOM JONES March 21st in Pasadena, Encino, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program: a 55th anniversary presentation of the Oscar-winning film of 1963, TOM JONES.

Tony Richardson’s spirited comic romp was the first all-British production to be named best picture by the Academy since Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet in 1948. The film won three other Oscars—best director for Richardson, best adapted screenplay by award-winning British playwright John Osborne, and best musical score by a gifted new composer, John Addison. The film received six other nominations, including a record-tying five acting nods—Albert Finney for best actor, Hugh Griffith for best supporting actor (he had won in this category four years earlier, for Ben-Hur), and an unprecedented three nominations in the supporting actress category—for Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, and Joyce Redman.

Up to this point, Richardson was best known for hard-hitting social protest dramas filmed in black and white—Look Back in Anger (based on Osborne’s hit play), A Taste of Honey, and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. For his new film, adapted from Henry Fielding’s 18th century novel, Richardson made his first period piece, his first comedy, and his first film in color, with superb lensing by Walter Lassally. The director took a playful approach to the material, experimenting with a variety of film techniques, including a silent film opening, and a number of moments when characters broke the fourth wall to address the camera. Yet Richardson and Osborne retained the essence of Fielding’s picaresque tale of a young orphan adopted by a rich nobleman but then thrown into jeopardy by scheming enemies.

The film is remembered for several striking set pieces, including a savage hunt sequence and an erotic eating scene that commingled lust and gluttony. The outstanding cast also includes Susannah York, David Warner, Joan Greenwood, and Peter Bull.

In addition to its Oscar win, the film was named best picture of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle. The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther called Tom Jones “surely one of the wildest, bawdiest and funniest comedies that a refreshingly agile filmmaker has ever brought to the screen.”

Time magazine also extolled “a way-out, walleyed, wonderful exercise in cinema” but added that the film was not completely different from Richardson’s gritty earlier films. As the magazine noted, “It is also a social satire written in blood with a broadaxe.” Audiences turned the innovative film into a box office smash.

TOM JONES screens at 7:00pm on Wednesday, March 21st in Pasadena, Encino, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP

Sci-Fi Weekend Returns March 16 – 18 at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills with Special Guests Elliott Gould, Ann Robinson, Peter Hyams, and James Brolin

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series showcase a three-day festival of vintage science fiction and fantasy films at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills!

WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953), 65th Anniversary

In Person: Actress Ann Robinson
Friday, March 16th at Ahrya Fine Arts at 7:30 PM

This science fiction movie classic was best described in the original Variety review for the movie’s opening in August, 1953: “a socko science-fiction feature, as fearsome a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation of the H.G. Wells novel.” Brought to the screen by producer and animator George Pal (When Worlds Collide, The Time Machine), directed by Byron Haskin and written by Barre Lyndon (Alfred Edgar), who transposed the setting of Wells’ novel from Victorian England to contemporary Los Angeles. Gene Barry was cast as the scientist who leads the battle against a Martian invasion, with support from Les Tremayne and our special guest, Ann Robinson, who will appear at the 65th anniversary screening on opening night of the Anniversary Classics’ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Weekend, March 16-18 at the Ahrya Fine Arts theatre in Beverly Hills. Nominated for three Academy Awards and winner for Best Visual Effects. Inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2011. As noted by the New York Times reviewer, “the cast and even Sir Cedric Hardwicke and his voice of doom narration play second fiddle to the intricate and ominous Martian craft. Mind those heat rays!” Format: DCP. (March 16 at 7:30 PM).

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958) in 4K, 60th Anniversary

Saturday, March 17th, at Ahrya Fine Arts at 2:30 PM

Sci-Fi Weekend expands to the realm of fantasy with this high-spirited and popular adventure that opened for the holiday season at the end of 1958. Produced by Charles Schneer (20 Million Miles to Earth, Jason and the Argonauts), written by Ken Kolb, and directed by Nathan Juran, a previous Oscar winner (art direction, How Green Was My Valley), who also helmed the camp classic, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. This fun-for-all ages, princess-in-peril tale features Kerwin Matthews as Sinbad, Kathryn Grant as the imperiled princess, plus Torin Thatcher and Richard Eyer. But the real star of the movie is special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, who was uncredited in also writing and producing the picture. The result is mid-century movie magic, and is a showcase for Harryhausen’s array of creatures that steal every scene. The New York Times reported that the game cast “haven’t got a chance. The odds are in favor of the Cyclops, the Roc, the dragon and company.” The memorable music is by Bernard Herrmann. Added to the National Film Registry in 2008. Format: 4K DCP. (March 17 at 2:30 PM).

THE FLY (1958), 60th Anniversary

Saturday, March 17, at Ahrya Fine Arts at 4:45 PM

Twentieth Century Fox advertised this sci-fi fantasy thriller as the “absolute end in horror” when it opened in the summer of 1958. This hair-raising tale of a scientist, whose experiments with teleportation go awry when his atomic pattern is inadvertently mixed with a fly, was written by author James Clavell (The Great Escape, To Sir, With Love) adapting a short story by George Langelaan. Directed by Kurt Neumann (Kronos), with rich color cinematography by Karl Struss (Oscar winner for Sunrise in 1927). Starring David Hedison as the ill-fated scientist, Vincent Price in one of his rare benevolent roles, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Owens and Kathleen Freeman. Aside from the macabre effects (“Help Me! Help Me!”), the movie plays effectively as a mystery suspense story. Remade by David Cronenberg in 1986. Format: DCP. (March 17 at 4:45 PM).

PLANET OF THE APES (1968), 50th Anniversary

In Person: Oscar-nominated makeup artist Daniel Striepeke
Saturday, March 17th, 2018 at Ahrya Fine Arts at 7:30 PM

This landmark sci-fi movie opens with a spacecraft landing on a distant planet, some 2000 years in the future. Charlton Heston and two surviving astronauts discover that the planet is ruled by intelligent apes who consider humans to be an inferior species. The movie was a box office and critical success, spawned four sequels, a TV series, and several reboots (the most recent just last year). In addition to Heston, the cast includes Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, and James Whitmore as the apes and Linda Harrison as one of the mute humans on the planet. Franklin J. Schaffner (later an Oscar winner for Patton) directed the screenplay by Rod Serling (the creator of The Twilight Zone) and Michael Wilson (A Place in the Sun, Lawrence of Arabia), from a novel by Pierre Boulle, who also wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai. John Chambers earned a special Oscar for his ingenious makeup, and the film was also nominated for costume design and for Jerry Goldsmith’s avant garde score. Pauline Kael wrote, “Planet of the Apes is one of the best science-fiction fantasies ever to come out of Hollywood,” and she added, “Leon Shamroy’s excellent color photography helps to make the vast exteriors (shot in Utah and Arizona) an integral part of the meaning.” The climax, in which Heston finally discovers his “destiny,” is one of the most memorable in all of science fiction. The film entered the National Film Registry in 2011. Oscar-nominated makeup artist Daniel Striepeke will join us at the screening. His many credits in addition to the original Planet of the Apes movies include Patton, The Deer Hunter, My Favorite Year, Wag the Dog, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and Apollo 13. Format: DCP. (March 17 at 7:30 PM).

SOYLENT GREEN (1973), 45th Anniversary

Sunday March 18 at Ahrya Fine Arts at 1 PM

Charlton Heston, who had become the go-to star of science fiction after Planet of the Apes and The Omega Man (1971), returned to the genre in this dark dystopian look at New York in 2022. This prescient film 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 hit movies 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Fantastic Voyage. 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. The supporting cast includes Leigh Taylor-Young, 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. Playing Heston’s wise colleague, Robinson gives a performance that the Hollywood Reporter called “witty, cultivated and endlessly appealing.” The trade publication added that the film “conjures a terrifying vision of the future.” Soylent Green won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film of the year. Later Saturday Night Live skits helped to keep the film in the public consciousness. Format: DCP. (March 18 at 1:00 PM).

CAPRICORN ONE (1978), 40th Anniversary

In Person: Director Peter Hyams, Actors Elliott Gould and James Brolin
Sunday, March 18th at Ahrya Fine Arts at 3:15 PM

In the paranoia-soaked atmosphere of the 1970s, more than a few cynics wondered if the celebrated moon landing of 1969 could have been faked. This ingenious sci-fi thriller written and directed by Peter Hyams plays with that premise, imagining a journey to Mars that is fabricated for the TV cameras in order to stir up patriotic fervor. But then an intrepid journalist (Elliott Gould) begins to investigate, and he and the three hapless astronauts find themselves in jeopardy as government bigwigs try to prevent them from exposing the truth. In addition to Gould, the cast includes James Brolin, Sam Waterston, Karen Black, Telly Savalas, and Brenda Vaccaro, with Hal Holbrook as the conniving villain. Leonard Maltin praised the film: “Lots of great chases punctuated by Hyams’ witty dialogue.” This screening will be followed by a Q & A with Hyams, the director of other sci-fi movies Outland, 2010, and Timecop, and Elliott Gould, the Oscar-nominated star of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, MASH, and The Long Goodbye. Just added to the Q&A: James Brolin, whose storied career includes roles in films such as Westworld, Gas Food Lodging, Traffic, Catch Me If You Can and Emmy-winning turns in his breakthrough series, Marcus Welby M.D., and the series Hotel, The West Wing, the TV movie The Reagans, and the current series Life in Pieces. Format: Blu-ray, unavailable on DCP or 35mm. (March 18 at 3:15 PM).

Tickets are $13 for each screening. Premiere card holders pay $10 per screening.

Q&A with DIE HARD Co-Stars Bonnie Bedelia and Reginald VelJohnson and Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 30th anniversary screening of one of the most popular modern action movies, DIE HARD, which made a movie star of Bruce Willis and set the template for many subsequent thrillers set in a confined space on a single day or night. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, and in 2007, Entertainment Weekly named it the best action film of all time. In 2017 it was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry.

Details:

Tuesday, March 6, at 7:30 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre
Q&A with Co-Stars Bonnie Bedelia and Reginald VelJohnson
Plus, Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza
Format: DCP
Click here for tickets

Willis plays New York policeman John McClane, who travels to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to try to reconcile with his estranged wife, who has taken a top job with the Nakatomi Corporation in a sleek new office building (actually the brand new Fox Plaza building in Century City). But he walks into a terrorist attack and has to use both brains and brawn to foil a gang of European thugs. John McTiernan directed the script by Steven E. de Souza and Jeb Stuart.

Acclaimed British theater actor Alan Rickman made his feature film debut as the leader of the terrorists, Hans Gruber, ranked as one of the greatest villains of all time by the American Film Institute. The excellent, eclectic supporting cast includes Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, DeVoreaux White, James Shigeta, Alexander Godunov, Hart Bochner, and William Atherton. Leonard Maltin called the picture a “dynamite action yarn.” The movie was a box office smash and spawned four sequels.

Oscar-winning director Brad Bird recently paid tribute to the film: “Hands down, the original DIE HARD is one of the greatest action movies ever made—it’s relentlessly inventive, engaging and funny at the same time.”

Bonnie Bedelia, who plays Holly McClane, started her film career with memorable roles in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and Lovers and Other Strangers. She also co-starred in The Big Fix, Violets Are Blue, Presumed Innocent, DIE HARD 2, Sordid Lives, and earned rave reviews for her starring role in Heart Like a Wheel. She has appeared in many acclaimed TV movies and in the popular series The Division and Parenthood.

Reginald VelJohnson, who plays Sgt. Al Powell, the policeman who comes to McClane’s aid, also reprised his role in DIE HARD 2. He appeared in many other films and TV series but is probably best remembered for his starring role in the long-running TV sitcom, Family Matters.

Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza also wrote 48 Hrs, The Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ricochet with Denzel Washington, Beverly Hills Cop III, and Judge Dredd.