Anniversary Classics Archives

Akira Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD 65th Anniversary Screenings September 21.

September 14, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series are proud to present this month’s installment in our popular Anniversary Classics Abroad program: Akira Kurosawa’s unique Shakespearean adaptation, Throne of Blood. The Japanese auteur was always an admirer of the Bard. His late film Ran offered a variation on King Lear. The power, majesty and craftsmanship of a film like Throne of Blood can only fully appreciated in a theatrical setting: with an audience, with a big screen, and sound you can feel. We’ll be showing a DCP.

For many years Kurosawa dreamed of adapting Macbeth, and he put the film together in 1957, with his favorite actor Toshiro Mifune starring as the ambitious, murderous leader. Isuzu Yamada co-stars as the Lady Macbeth character, with Takashi Shimura as the equivalent of Shakespeare’s Macduff. Kurosawa wrote the screenplay with Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Ryuzo Kikushima. They transposed the story from medieval Scotland to feudal Japan and Kurosawa came up with striking visual concepts to revitalize the classic story. The castle exteriors were filmed on the slopes of Mount Fuji and the memorable climax—with a massive array of arrows aimed at the deranged protagonist—remains one of the greatest images in any Kurosawa movie.

Writing of this climactic scene, The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane declared,“No stage production could match Kurosawa’s Birnam Wood, and, in his final framing of the hero — a human hedgehog, stuck with arrows — he conjures a tragedy not laden with grandeur but pierced, like a dream, by the absurd.” British critic Derek Malcolm of the Guardian acclaimed Throne of Blood as “a landmark of visual strength… possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen.”

On its original American release, Time magazine praised the film as “a visual descent into the hell of greed and superstition.” In his four-star review, Leonard Maltin called the film a “graphic, powerful adaptation of Macbeth in a samurai setting.” It was not simply film critics who endorsed the film. Renowned literary critic Harold Bloom said that Throne of Blood was “the most successful film version of Macbeth.”

Laemmle Theatres will screen Throne of Blood on September 21 at our Glendale, Newhall and Royal theaters on Wednesday, September 21 at 7 o’clock.

Vincent D’Onofrio in Person for FULL METAL JACKET 35th Anniversary Screening Sept. 13

September 7, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 35th anniversary screening of Stanley Kubrick’s savage anti-war drama Full Metal Jacket, which scored a box office success in 1987 and also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Kubrick, celebrated Vietnam author Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford adapted Hasford’s 1979 novel, The Short-Timers. The acclaimed cast includes Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, and R. Lee Ermey. D’Onofrio will join for a Q&A after the 7 PM screening at the Royal on Tuesday, September 13.

Kubrick came late to the Vietnam war movie cycle, after such Oscar-winning films as Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, and Platoon. But he added his own sardonic and biting slant to his dissection of the terrible war. One of Kubrick’s early celebrated movies was his 1957 drama Paths of Glory, set during World War I. And his 1964 Oscar nominee, Dr. Strangelove, took a unique black comic approach to the terrifying subject of nuclear annihilation. Some of the same dark humor freshens Full Metal Jacket, though it also contains deadly serious depictions of brutal basic training as well as the horrors of a misguided, doomed war.

The first section of the film dramatizes the basic training of a platoon of Marine recruits at Parris Island, South Carolina. Former real-life drill instructor R. Lee Ermey portrays the savage sergeant in charge of the soldiers’ training. Ermey improvised much of the scathing and scatological dialogue, based on his own personal experience as a sergeant during the Vietnam War. He bullies and brutalizes all of the recruits but takes special pleasure in tormenting the overweight soldier played by D’Onofrio, whom he nicknames Gomer Pyle. Modine tries to protect D’Onofrio, with little success.

When the action shifts to Vietnam during the Tet offensive, it retains its hard-edged, nihilistic spirit. The entire film was actually shot in England, but Kubrick and his technical crew did an extraordinary job of recreating an American military base and the cities and jungles of Southeast Asia without ever leaving the English countryside.

Critical reactions to the film were very strong. Gene Siskel called Full Metal Jacket “a great piece of filmmaking.” The Los Angeles Times’ Sheila Benson wrote, “Aiming for minds as well as hearts, Kubrick hits his target squarely.” The Chicago Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum raved, “This is the most tightly crafted Kubrick film since Dr. Strangelove, as well as the most horrific.” The New York Times’ Vincent Canby called it “a film of immense and very rare imagination.” Canby’s Times colleague Janet Maslin added, “No one who sees Full Metal Jacket will easily put the film’s last glimpse of D’Onofrio, or a great many other things about Kubrick’s latest and most sobering vision, out of mind.”

After his breakthrough performance in Full Metal Jacket, D’Onofrio went on to co-star in such films as Mystic Pizza, JFK, The Player, Ed Wood, The Whole Wide World, Men in Black, Jurassic World, and Steal This Movie, in which he played Abbie Hoffman. He had a ten-year run in Law and Order: Criminal Intent. More recently he has appeared in the series Daredevil, Godfather of Harlem, and Ratched. Last year he had a major role as Jerry Falwell in the Oscar-winning The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

DELICATESSEN 30th Anniversary screenings at three Laemmle locations August 31.

August 24, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest installment of the popular Anniversary Classics Abroad series, the 30th anniversary of the U.S. release of the international cult classic, DELICATESSEN. The surrealist black comedy about the inhabitants of a post-Apocalypse French city was the collaboration of tyro feature filmmakers Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who co-directed and co-wrote, with a writing assist by Gilles Adrien.

The story centers on three characters, the owner of an apartment building with a ground floor delicatessen (Jean-Claude Dreyfus); his daughter (Marie-Laure Dougnac); and a former clown hired to be the dilapidated building’s maintenance man (Dominique Pinon). They inhabit a world in which food is scarce and lentils are used as currency. The landlord/butcher lures job seekers, murders them, and then prepares “delicacies” to sell to his odd tenants. His daughter falls in love with the latest victim and tries to foil her father’s scheme with the aid of the “lentil-men,” underground rebels.

The film’s hybrid mix of genres had critics and audiences somewhat bewildered and equally delighted amidst generally favorable reviews. Critic Emmanuel Levy provided appropriate praise: “Part macabre humor, part romantic drama, part childlike fable, this ingeniously original French farce defies categorization, but is successful on all these levels.” Janet Maslin of the New York Times cited its “fun-house atmosphere,” calling it “weirdly hilarious” and “lightweight but a sometimes subversively stylish farce.” Stephen Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer found it “indescribably wild,” and Michael Wilmington in the Los Angeles Times noted “the whole movie has been conceived in grandiose, garishly witty comic book images,” along with the advisory, “out-shocks and outplays the American horror comedies at their own game…a nasty, childlike, murderously funny show.”

Jeunet handled directing the actors, while Caro was responsible for design and effects, and the two would tap into their fervid imaginations again for THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, another provocative fantasy, in 1995. Their talents were recognized by Hollywood when they were hired as the director (Jeunet) and design supervisor (Caro) for ALIEN: RESURRECTION in 1997. Jeunet went onto international acclaim for the more conventional romantic comedy AMELIE (2001), nominated for five Academy Awards, including best foreign language film and a screenplay nod for Jeunet. But all this success started with DELICATESSEN, which will be presented for one night only Wednesday, August 31 at 7:00 pm at three Laemmle locations: Glendale, Newhall, and the Royal in West Los Angeles.

“A rambunctious mixture of the bawdy and the sublime,” TAMPOPO 35th Anniversary Screenings Wednesday, July 6, at Laemmle Glendale, Newhall & Royal.

June 22, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present 35th anniversary screenings of writer-director Juzo Itami’s delectable comedy, Tampopo, which has developed a strong cult following in the years since it first captivated audiences. The basic story is simple enough. A truck driver and his friends come to the aid of a noodle shop owner’s widow and help her to refine and perfect her ramen dishes. But several quirky subplots and other tasty asides interrupt and enrich the central narrative.

As in other classic movies about food, the noodle dishes themselves are lovingly photographed to whet the audience’s appetites. Beyond that, puckish humor and eroticism add flavor to this savory melange. As Hal Hinson declared in the Washington Post, Tampopo is “a rambunctious mixture of the bawdy and the sublime…perhaps the funniest movie about the connection between food and sex ever made.”

Indiewire’s David Ehrlich added, “Itami’s fiercely beloved film unfolds like a prix fixe tasting menu of strange comic delights.” Writing in Film Comment, Michael Sragow said, “Tampopo creates a culinary empire of the senses while entertaining an audience like crazy.” And the Los Angeles Times’ Justin Chang wrote, “Tampopo is above all about the romance of food, and the joyous, agonizing devotion and hard work required to tease out its manifold mysteries.”

Tsutomo Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto, Koji Yakusho, and Ken Watanabe star. The movie will screen on July 6 at the Royal in West L.A., Glendale, and Newhall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RtXSon0yMw

Tampopo Official Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RtXSon0yMw)

PRESSURE POINT 60th Anniversary Screening in Tribute to Sidney Poitier with Actor Barry Gordon in Person.

May 25, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a tribute to the late Sidney Poitier with one of his lesser known but most provocative movies, PRESSURE POINT from 1962. Bobby Darin (in one of his first dramatic performances) and Peter Falk co-star in this gritty, still-timely film about racism and anti-Semitism. Our guest speaker will be co-star Barry Gordon, who played Darin’s character as a child in visually striking flashback scenes. The screening is at the Royal on Wednesday, June 22 at 7 PM. Buy tickets here.

The film is based on a real psychiatric case about a doctor who tried to fathom the reasons for the racial prejudices of a belligerent patient. As he probes the character’s past, he discovers some of the reasons for the convict’s poisonous ideas but is unable to “cure” him of his antisocial attitudes. It was the film’s producer, Stanley Kramer (THE DEFIANT ONES, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER), who suggested altering the real case by making the psychiatrist a Black man. This gave an added edge to the story. Both Poitier and Darin contribute outstanding performances. The script by director Hubert Cornfield and S. Lee Pogostin incisively scrutinizes the psychological roots of race prejudice and fascism. A film exposing the poison of white supremacy remains just as timely today as it was in 1962.

Barry Gordon had a highly successful career as a child actor in the 1950s and 60s. After completing PRESSURE POINT, he starred on Broadway as Jason Robards’ nephew in Herb Gardner’s tribute to nonconformity, A THOUSAND CLOWNS. Gordon earned a Tony nomination for that performance and reprised his role in the Oscar-winning 1965 film version of the play. Gordon went on to co-star in many TV comic and dramatic series, from ‘The New Dick Van Dyke Show’ and ‘Archie Bunker’s Place’ to ‘L.A. Law,’ ‘NYPD Blue,’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ He also portrayed the character of Donatello in the smash hit animated series, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.’ In addition, Gordon was the longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild, with a seven-year tenure from 1988 to 1995.

Critic Leonard Maltin called PRESSURE POINT an “intelligent drama” about an American Nazi. Writing in the Saturday Review, Hollis Alpert declared that director Cornfield “achieves several scenes of stark brilliance.” Ernest Haller provided the striking cinematography, and Oscar winner Ernest Gold composed the score.

Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann in THE EMIGRANTS ~ 50th Anniversary Screenings May 11.

April 27, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present our latest installment in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program: Jan Troell’s Oscar-nominated Swedish epic, THE EMIGRANTS. Troell made his feature film debut in 1966 with the acclaimed coming-of-age film, ‘Here Is Your Life.’ After seeing that, producer Bengt Forslund tagged Troell to direct the adaptation of the series of popular Swedish novels by Vilhelm Moberg about a family’s decision to emigrate from 19th century Sweden to America. Troell turned the novels into two films: THE EMIGRANTS and its follow-up, ‘The New Land.’ Revered Scandinavian actors Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann starred in both movies, along with Eddie Axberg, the star of ‘Here Is Your Life.’

THE EMIGRANTS begins by documenting the travails of a family struggling to survive in rural Sweden in the 1840s. With their prospects narrowing, they and a few of their neighbors make the decision to migrate to America in search of a better life. The film chronicles their grueling ocean voyage and then their further travels by train and river boat to unsettled land in Minnesota, where they battle to set down roots in a world that is completely alien to them.

The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language film Oscar of 1971. Warner Bros. decided to distribute the film, and in 1972, it earned four additional Oscar nominations: for Best Picture, Best Actress Liv Ullmann, Best Director for Troell and Best Screenplay by Troell and Forslund. It was only the third foreign language film to ever be nominated for Best Picture, following Jean Renoir’s ‘Grand Illusion’ from 1938 and Costa-Gavras’ ‘Z’ in 1969.

Troell not only directed and co-wrote the film but also acted as his own cinematographer and editor. As critic Pauline Kael wrote, “In the whole history of the screen there have been only a handful of directors who actually shot their own movies, and no other cinematographer-director has ever undertaken a work of this sweep.” She added that Troell “brings a new visual and thematic unity to fiction films.” Roger Ebert wrote that THE EMIGRANTS was “infinitely absorbing and moving.” Writing in Life magazine, Richard Schickel declared, “Jan Troell has made the masterpiece about the dream that shaped America.”

We will screen the original 190-minute version of the film at the Laemmle Glendale, Newhall, Playhouse and Royal on Wednesday, May 11. The version that played in America in 1972 was shortened by 40 minutes and lost some of the rich detail of Troell’s groundbreaking immigrant saga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h-rHuPF5Ww

THE EMIGRANTS – Laemmle Theatres (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h-rHuPF5Ww)

Pedro Almodóvar’s TALK TO HER: 20th Anniversary Screenings.

March 9, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore

In celebration of Oscar season, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Abroad Series present the 20th anniversary of Pedro Almodovar’s Academy Award-winning TALK TO HER (2002) on Wednesday, March 23 at four Laemmle locations: Glendale, Newhall, Pasadena and West L.A. The internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker earned two Oscar nominations for this “bizarrely poetic tale of men in love with two women in comas,” for directing and writing, winning in the latter category. In the current Oscar race, Almodóvar’s most recent film, PARALLEL MOTHERS, has also earned two nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Penelope Cruz.

TALK TO HER is the story of a macho travel writer (Darío Grandinetti) and a gay male nurse (Javier Cámara) who form an unlikely friendship when they bond over a shared but separate devotion to two comatose women: a gored bullfighter (Rosario Flores) and a ballerina (Leonor Watling), respectively. Told in flashback, the film unfolds with a delicate balance of drama, comedy, and suspense, all trademarks of Almodóvar’s inimitable style. He had emerged in the 1980s with a liberating sensibility after the repressive Franco regime had ended in Spain. In a series of unconventional melodramas over the next four decades, he has explored identity, sexuality, friendship, family, desire, and passion, often with irreverent humor. TALK TO HER was his first effort in the 21st century and was greeted with universal acclaim.

Among the plaudits, Roger Ebert extolled the “improbable melodrama…with subtly kinky bedside vigils and sensational denouements, and yet at the end, we are undeniably touched. No director since Fassbinder has been able to evoke such complex emotions with such problematic material.” Similarly, Philip French of the Guardian/Observer compared Almodóvar to past movie masters Ernest Lubitsch and Preston Sturges. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw also cited the film as “the most unmistakable auteur flourish in modern European cinema.” The film collected a multitude of accolades in addition to Oscar recognition, among which were Best Foreign Film prizes from the Golden Globes and National Board of Review. Almodóvar was also named Best Director of the Year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

TALK TO HER plays one night only, Wednesday, March 23 at 7:00 PM at four Laemmle locations: Royal (West Los Angeles), Glendale, Newhall (Santa Clarita), and Playhouse 7 (Pasadena).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqIl4h_Z9jA

TALK TO HER – Laemmle Theatres (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqIl4h_Z9jA)

THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI 50th Anniversary Screenings March 2, at the Royal, Playhouse, Glendale & Newhall.

February 23, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore

To launch our Anniversary Classics Series in 2022, and during Oscar season, we celebrate the first woman ever to be nominated for Best Director, Lina Wertmüller, who died at the end of last year at the age of 93. Just two years earlier, she had won an honorary Oscar at the Academy’s annual Governors Awards for her sterling body of work, spanning more than 50 years. For our Anniversary screening, we are presenting one of the first movies that brought her to the world’s attention, The Seduction of Mimi.

Wertmüller had served an apprenticeship with the great Federico Fellini, and she began directing her own films in the 1960s. When she presented The Seduction of Mimi at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972, she won widespread acclaim. Mimi and the director’s subsequent film, Love and Anarchy, were both released in the United States in 1974, and the press and the public took notice. The following year she scored an even bigger success with the controversial Swept Away, and in 1976 her unique World War II drama, Seven Beauties, earned four Oscar nominations, including two for Wertmüller, for Best Screenplay as well as Best Director. This historic nomination of a female director was not repeated until 1993 when Jane Campion earned a nod for The Piano.

In The Seduction of Mimi, Wertmüller’s favorite leading man, Giancarlo Giannini, plays a laborer torn between the Mafia and the Communist Party. As he travels from Sicily to Rome, he also gets involved with several women in addition to his wife. One of his lovers is played by another of Wertmüller’s favorite actors, Mariangela Melato, who co-starred with Giannini in Love and Anarchy and Swept Away as well as Mimi. Giannini’s other co-stars in The Seduction of Mimi include Elena Fiore and Agostina Belli.

Writing in The New York Times, Nora Sayre said, “the politics and sex are so well balanced that all the raw emotions and the devastating jokes ring true.” Sayre added, “The Seduction of Mimi is one of the best films of this season.” The Los Angeles Free Press declared, “Wertmüller is a supreme satirist.”