The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

blog.laemmle.com

The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

  • All
  • Theater Buzz
    • Claremont 5
    • Glendale
    • Newhall
    • NoHo 7
    • Royal
    • Santa Monica
    • Town Center 5
  • Q&A’s
  • Locations & Showtimes
    • Claremont
    • Glendale
    • NewHall
    • North Hollywood
    • Royal (West LA)
    • Santa Monica
    • Town Center (Encino)
  • Film Series
    • Anniversary Classics
    • Culture Vulture
    • Worldwide Wednesdays
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube

Home » Anniversary Classics » Page 12

Sixtieth Anniversary Screening of THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS with Actress Barbara Rush In Person

July 25, 2019 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a rediscovery of a juicy melodrama from 1959: THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS, which boasted a vibrant cast headed by Paul Newman and our special guest, Barbara Rush. As Leonard Maltin wrote in his review, “Newman and Rush have memorable roles as poor lawyer who schemes to the top and society girl he hopes to win.”

Newman was rising to major stardom at the time he made this film. He was coming off acclaimed performances in Somebody Up There Likes Me and The Long Hot Summer and had just earned his first Oscar nomination for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. As the Motion Picture Herald observed in its review of The Young Philadelphians, “Newman demonstrates once again that he stands in the forefront of the crop of young players who have come to the screen in recent years.”

The film was adapted by James Gunn from the best-selling novel by Richard Powell that many compared to the enormously successful Peyton Place in exposing the sexual shenanigans and professional rivalries among a tight-knit community surrounding Philadelphia’s Main Line. Newman plays an ambitious young man with a shady past who is determined to rise to the top ranks of society. He becomes a lawyer who learns how to inveigle a number of wealthy clients but rediscovers his principles when he defends an old friend on a murder charge.

Robert Vaughn, in a breakthrough performance of his own, plays the murder suspect, and he earned an Oscar nomination for his compelling performance in the film. But the entire cast was strong. As Film Daily observed, “The story is given life and fire through an imposing array of performances.” Rush plays Newman’s love interest, though he also has a dalliance with a married socialite played by Alexis Smith. The supporting cast includes established actors Billie Burke, Otto Kruger, and John Williams, along with newer faces Brian Keith, Diane Brewster, and Adam West (later to play TV’s Batman) in his film debut.

Vincent Sherman (All Through the Night, Old Acquaintance, Mr. Skeffington, The Damned Don’t Cry) directed, and The Hollywood Reporter declared, “The direction by Vincent Sherman is the best in his long and able career.” The film received two additional Oscar nominations, for black-and-white cinematography by veteran Harry Stradling and black-and-white costume design by Howard Shoup.

Barbara Rush also co-starred with Newman in Hombre, and her many other film credits include Magnificent Obsession with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman, Bigger Than Life with James Mason, Strangers When We Meet with Kirk Douglas, Come Blow Your Horn and Robin and the 7 Hoods with Frank Sinatra, along with two early sci-fi classics, When Worlds Collide and It Came From Outer Space. Rush had a co-starring role on the Peyton Place TV series of the 60s, and she later starred in the series Flamingo Road and 7th Heaven. Just in the last year, she was discovered by a whole new audience portraying a wealthy widow in a series of witty commercials for Wilshire Coin.

Our 60th anniversary presentation of THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS plus Q&A with Barbara Rush screens on Wednesday, August 7th at 7 PM at the Royal in West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DVD

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Actor in Person, Anniversary Classics, Featured Post, Q&A's, Repertory Cinema, Royal

GOODBYE, COLUMBUS 50th Anniversary Screening with Stars Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw and Director Larry Peerce In-Person

July 17, 2019 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a screening of one of the landmark comedies of the 1960s and perhaps the best screen rendition of the work of Philip Roth: the adaptation of his National Book Award-winning novella, GOODBYE, COLUMBUS.

The movie launched the careers of its two stars, Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, who will both join us for this reunion screening, along with the film’s director, Larry Peerce.

Roth was a master chronicler of the Jewish-American experience, and this film version dealt forthrightly and sardonically with the author’s favorite milieu. In focusing on a doomed love affair between a young working-class man and a spoiled Jewish-American princess, the film caught many of the tensions in affluent American society during the postwar years. Its sexual candor also reflected changing mores of the late 60s.

Arnold Schulman was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay, and he also won the Writers Guild award for best adapted screenplay of the year. Stanley Jaffe (Kramer vs. Kramer, Fatal Attraction) produced the picture. The Association provided the musical score.

Benjamin plays Neil Klugman, who meets Brenda Patimkin when his cousin invites him to swim at her ritzy country club. Neil is immediately attracted to Brenda, and she finds him intriguing, especially as a way of goading her snobbish, nouveau riche parents, expertly played by Jack Klugman and Nan Martin. When Brenda invites Neil as a house guest, they begin an affair right in the family mansion.

The film includes a number of sharply defined characters, especially Brenda’s affable but dim jock brother, played by Michael Meyers, whom Peerce discovered at a wedding. It turned out to be the only screen performance by Meyers, who went on to have a successful career as a doctor and later wrote a book about his journey from Hollywood to hospitals.

The film climaxes with a scene of Meyers’ garish and gargantuan wedding reception, which was somewhat controversial because of the gusto with which it satirized Jewish conspicuous consumption. In this wedding sequence, director Peerce’s father—the noted tenor, Jan Peerce—makes a sly cameo appearance.

The film scored at the box office and received enthusiastic reviews. The New York Times’ Vincent Canby declared, “Goodbye, Columbus is so rich with understanding… that it is a thing of real and unusual pleasure.” Variety called the film “a joy in striking a boisterous mood” and added that Benjamin and MacGraw “offer fresh portrayals seasoned with rich humor.”

Indeed the film catapulted both actors to the top ranks in Hollywood. MacGraw earned an Oscar nomination the following year for the smash hit Love Story, and she starred in Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway with her husband-to-be, Steve McQueen. She also starred in Sidney Lumet’s satire, Just Tell Me What You Want, and in the enormously successful TV miniseries, The Winds of War. Benjamin played in such films as Diary of a Mad Housewife, Westworld, The Last of Sheila, The Sunshine Boys, as well as the adaptation of Roth’s most controversial novel, Portnoy’s Complaint. Later Benjamin became an acclaimed director of such films as My Favorite Year, Racing with the Moon, and Mermaids.

Peerce made his feature directorial debut with the groundbreaking 1964 film about an interracial romance, One Potato Two Potato, and followed up with a gritty urban thriller, The Incident. His other films include The Sporting Club, A Separate Peace, The Bell Jar, and the uplifting female sports movie, The Other Side of the Mountain.

Our 50th anniversary presentation of GOODBYE, COLUMBUS (1969) followed by a Q&A with stars Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw and director Larry Peerce screens Friday, August 2nd at 7:30 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

Format: DVD.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Ahrya Fine Arts, Anniversary Classics, Featured Post, Filmmaker in Person, News, Q&A's, Repertory Cinema

Ang Lee’s EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN 25th Anniversary Screenings on July 24 in West LA, Pasadena, and Glendale.

July 11, 2019 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present this month’s installment in our popular Anniversary Classics Abroad program, Ang Lee’s delectable 1994 comedy, EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN. Lee had directed two previous films that earned acclaim, but this 1994 film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and propelled his career to a new level of esteem and success.

Made in Taipei, the film centers on a widowed master chef, Mr. Chu (played by Sihung Lung), who has weekly feasts for his three unmarried daughters (Kuei-Mei Yang, Chien-Lien Wu, Yu-Wen Wang), during which he tries to oversee their personal lives along with their eating habits. An ensemble piece in the spirit of movies like Love, Actually and The Joy Luck Club, the film interweaves the personal and professional stories of the three daughters, along with the issues facing their father, who also embarks on a new romantic adventure during the course of the movie. Winston Chao (who starred in Lee’s earlier film, The Wedding Banquet) and Sylvia Chang co-star.

The script by Lee, James Schamus, and Hui-Ling Wang etches all the characters with wit and finesse. Equally important to the film’s success are the lovingly photographed scenes of an abundance of Chinese delicacies, which led the movie to be compared to other memorable movies about food, including the Oscar-winning Babette’s Feast, Tampopo, and Like Water for Chocolate. Time magazine’s Richard Schickel wrote, “Like the cuisine it celebrates, this movie is tart, sweet, generous and subtle.” The New York Times’ Janet Maslin called the film “wonderfully seductive, and nicely knowing about all of its characters’ appetites.”

Variety’s Leonard Klady summed up the film’s achievement: “The overall result is a cinematic feast that will have audiences returning for Lee’s next movie meal.” Those words proved to be prophetic. Lee’s next film, Sense and Sensibility, released in 1995, was nominated for Best Picture, and over the next several years, he produced an extraordinary body of work, including the international blockbusters Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi. Lee won two Oscars for Best Director — for Brokeback Mountain as well as Life of Pi — and is now universally regarded as one of the leading auteurs of our time. His remarkable journey was prefigured by his early achievement with Eat Drink Man Woman.

EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN screens Wednesday, July 24, at 7 PM in Glendale, Pasadena, and West L.A. Click here for tickets.

Format: Blu-ray.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Abroad, Anniversary Classics, Featured Post, Glendale, Playhouse 7, Repertory Cinema, Royal

GREMLINS 35th Anniversary with Director Joe Dante on Sunday, July 14 in Beverly Hills

July 4, 2019 by Lamb L.

“Don’t expose him to bright light. Don’t ever get him wet. And don’t ever, ever feed him after midnight.”

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the delicious horror comedy, GREMLINS, which demonstrated the dire consequences of ignoring those three simple rules. Chris Columbus (the writer or director of such hit films as ‘The Goonies,’ ‘Mrs. Doubtfire,’ ‘Home Alone,’ and the first two Harry Potter movies) conceived the story, and Steven Spielberg acted as executive producer, but it was director Joe Dante who set the distinctive tone of “malicious madcap mischief,” in the words of Newsweek’s David Ansen.

Dante had already brought wit to the underwater monster movie (‘Piranha’) and the werewolf movie (‘The Howling’), but ‘Gremlins’ took his talents to a new level. Kenneth Turan, then writing for California Magazine, declared, “’Gremlins’ is Dante’s most accomplished film, a paradigm of zesty, ghoulish fun.” Dante loved to pepper his movies with sly references to other films, and ‘Gremlins’ is set in the idyllic small town of Kingston Falls, meant to recall Bedford Falls from Frank Capra’s classic, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (glimpsed on TV in a scene in Dante’s movie). ‘Gremlins’ is also set at Christmas, but the holidays are anything but festive in this vision of Norman Rockwell’s America turned upside down.

The story begins when a father (Hoyt Axton) purchases a lovable furry creature called a mogwai for his son Billy (Zach Galligan). The shopkeeper offers a few admonitions but neglects to say that if the mogwai is drenched or fed after midnight, it will turn into a spiteful, malevolent gremlin. Soon the entire town is overwhelmed with these miniature monsters determined to destroy. The other characters in the story are played by an engaging ensemble, including Phoebe Cates, Frances Lee McCain, Keye Luke, Glynn Turman, Dick Miller, Corey Feldman, Judge Reinhold, and Polly Holliday, with cameo appearances by Chuck Jones, composer Jerry Goldsmith, and Spielberg himself. But perhaps the biggest star was designer Chris Walas, who created the puppets who perform their own delirious dance of death.

The film incorporates several classic sequences, including one in which a small-town mom (played by McCain) battles the gremlins with her trusty kitchen appliances and the climactic nightmare in which the gremlins take over a movie theater presenting a holiday screening of Walt Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ The movie was one of the biggest hits of 1984 and also earned many excellent reviews. Gene Siskel called ‘Gremlins’ “a wickedly funny and slightly sick ride…playfulness abounds.” Screen International added, “The sight gags are deliriously inventive and frequently devilishly sick.”

Dante went on to direct such films as ‘The Burbs’ with Tom Hanks, ‘Explorers’ with Ethan Hawke, ‘Innerspace’ with Dennis Quaid and Martin Short, ‘Matinee’ with John Goodman, and of course ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch.’ For this special matinee screening, feel free to bring the kids—at least the older kids with a taste for macabre thrills.

Our 35th anniversary screening of GREMLINS (1984) followed by a Q&A with Director Joe Dante and film critic Stephen Farber plays on Sunday, July 14, at 3 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Ahrya Fine Arts, Anniversary Classics, Featured Post, Filmmaker in Person, News, Q&A's, Repertory Cinema, Special Events

CHINATOWN 45th Anniversary Screening and Q&A on Thursday, June 27th in West LA.

June 13, 2019 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a screening of one of the most memorable films of the 70s, the neo-noir mystery thriller, CHINATOWN. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards in 1974 (including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor Jack Nicholson and Best Actress Faye Dunaway), the film won the Oscar for the original screenplay by Robert Towne. Although it was set in a beautifully recreated 1930s universe, the film reflected the bitter cynicism and disillusionment of the Vietnam and Watergate era.

Towne was a Los Angeles native, and he had long been fascinated by the history of the city, where the sun-dappled settings hid tales of greed and corruption. The inspiration for the story was the water wars that had helped to shape the modern life of the city. These struggles over the city’s natural resources had taken place in the first decade of the 20th century; Towne moved the setting up to the 1930s, partly in order to combine this scorching social commentary with the spirit of classic detective novels penned by authors like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

Nicholson plays J.J. Gittes, a private eye who specializes in sordid cases of marital infidelity. But he gets himself into deeper territory when an investigation into a civic leader’s extramarital affair leads to a discovery of a massive conspiracy by big business interests to seize control of the city’s desperately needed water supply. Gittes’s sleuthing also leads him to uncover shocking cases of sexual abuse among the city’s upper crust. Dunaway plays a variation on the classic femme fatale of noir cinema, a beautiful heiress who is commanding on the surface but is secretly and tragically damaged by events in her past. John Huston plays her corrupt father, and the supporting cast includes John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Diane Ladd, Burt Young, Bruce Glover, and James Hong.

Robert Evans, the successful head of Paramount Studios at the time, backed Towne’s screenplay and decided to make the film his first venture as a producer. When Evans took over as head of the studio in the 60s, one of his early successes was an adaptation of Ira Levin’s best-selling novel, Rosemary’s Baby, which became the first American movie of European director Roman Polanski. That film was a smash hit, and Evans hired Polanski again to direct Chinatown. Polanski had been reluctant to work in Hollywood since the murder of his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, by the notorious Manson family in 1969. But Evans persisted, and Polanski brought his knowledge of the underside of Hollywood to his depiction of the city’s past, even changing the ending of Towne’s screenplay to reflect his own deep pessimism.

The film’s technical team—including cinematographer John Alonzo, production designer Richard Sylbert, and costume designer Anthea Sylbert—helped to realize the writer and director’s vision of decay beneath the elegant surfaces of Southern California. Jerry Goldsmith’s sultry score, highlighted by a melancholy trumpet solo, clinched the mournful mood.

Variety praised the achievement: “Roman Polanski’s American made film, his first since Rosemary’s Baby, shows him again in total command of talent and physical filmmaking elements.” Derek Malcom of the London Evening Standard wrote, “Polanski’s telling of his tale of corruption in LA is masterly—thrilling, humorous and disturbing at the same time—and brilliantly played by John Huston and Faye Dunaway as well as Nicholson.” The film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1991.

Bruce Glover and Jack Nicholson.

Our panel to discuss the film will include actor Bruce Glover (Hard Times, Walking Tall, Diamonds Are Forever); assistant director Hawk Koch (who went on to produce such films as Heaven Can Wait, The Idolmaker, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Wayne’s World, and Primal Fear and later served as president of the Motion Picture Academy); and author Sam Wasson (who wrote the biography of Bob Fosse that served as the basis of the highly acclaimed miniseries, Fosse/Verdon, and is writing a new book on the seminal films of the 70s).

CHINATOWN screens Thursday, June 27 at 7PM at the Royal Theatre in West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Actor in Person, Anniversary Classics, Featured Post, Q&A's, Repertory Cinema, Royal

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES Anniversary Classics Screenings for Pride Month!

June 6, 2019 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present screenings of the milestone Oscar-nominated French comedy, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, as part of the Anniversary Classics Abroad program. The screenings mark the 40th anniversary of the American release in 1979, as well as noting LGBTQ Pride Month, and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, based on a hit French stage farce by Jean Poiret, was adapted for the screen by Poiret, Francis Veber, Marcello Dano, and Edouard Molinaro, who also directed. The “birds of a feather” story concerns a gay couple in St. Tropez, Renato (played by the veteran Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi), the owner of a drag-performance nightclub, and his high-strung headliner partner Albin (French comic Michel Serrault). Their twenty-year relationship is turned upside down when Renato’s son, who had been raised jointly by Renato and Albin, announces he is about to marry the daughter of the ultra-conservative Minister of Moral Standards. Complications and hilarity ensue when Renato and his son attempt to mask the true nature of Renato and Albin’s partnership for the prospective in-laws.

The film received mixed reviews in the United States, ranging from Roger Ebert’s enthusiastic embrace (“the comic turns in the plot are achieved with such clockwork timing that sometimes we’re laughing at what’s funny and sometimes we’re just laughing at the movie’s sheer comic invention. This is a great time at the movies.”), to lesser notices from some critics who were out-of-sync with the film’s social satire, sight gags, one-liners, deadpan reactions, and “tawdry burlesque.” Director Molinaro deftly orchestrated the game cast in this range of comedic devices. The movie was named the year’s best foreign film by both the National Board of Review and the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globe). The accolades were crowned by three Academy Award nominations, including Best Costume Design (Piero Tosi, Ambra Danon), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director.

The film’s roaring success at the box office (it played at one New York theater for over a year, and broke out of the art houses to success in regular commercial theaters) has been attributed to its positive depiction of the central gay characters, the protagonists of the story, a rarity in the era. Although comparatively old-fashioned in its portrayals to contemporary standards, its importance in LGBTQ entertainment history is undisputed. The film spawned two sequels, a hit Broadway musical, and Hollywood remake, ‘The Birdcage’ (1996), that was also a box-office smash. Notably, the success of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES paved the way for a number of high profile, gay-themed, and gender-bending Hollywood studio films in the early ’80s, including ‘Making Love,’ ‘Victor/Victoria’ and ‘Tootsie.’

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES screens Wednesday, June 19th at 7pm in Glendale, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Abroad, Anniversary Classics, Glendale, Playhouse 7, Repertory Cinema, Royal

ROOM AT THE TOP 60th Anniversary Screening and Q&A with KCRW Art Critic Edward Goldman

May 30, 2019 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 60th anniversary screening of one of the most influential of all British films, the Oscar-winning ROOM AT THE TOP. The film was one of the five nominees for Best Picture of 1959, and also earned nominations for director Jack Clayton, actor Laurence Harvey, and supporting actress Hermione Baddeley. Surprising some of the pundits, Simone Signoret was named Best Actress of the Year, besting Hollywood favorites Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Katharine Hepburn. The film also won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

Neil Paterson adapted the acclaimed novel by John Braine that told the story of a young working-class upstart who aims to defy the British class system and rise to the top ranks of society. The novel had evoked comparisons to Theodore Dreiser’s classic novel of ambition and murder An American Tragedy, which was turned into George Stevens’ award-winning 1951 film ‘A Place in the Sun.’ In the story that Braine and Paterson told, Harvey plays Joe Lampton, who decides that the best way to the executive suite is to seduce the boss’s daughter, played by Heather Sears. Complications arise when he meets an unhappily married older woman, played by Signoret, and falls in love with her. But he is reluctant to allow romance to jeopardize his larger game plan. The cast also includes Donald Wolfit as the tycoon and Donald Houston as Joe’s friend and roommate. Esteemed cinematographer Freddie Francis (‘Sons and Lovers,’ ‘The Elephant Man,’ ‘Glory’) contributed vivid black-and-white photography.

At the time, the film was considered groundbreaking in part because of its adult language and themes. As the Los Angeles Times noted, the film was “laced with earthy dialogue and a very frank approach to sex.” It received an X rating on its initial release in England. Outstanding reviews complemented the sexual explicitness to make the movie one of the first major arthouse hits in America. As Pauline Kael wrote, “The movie helped bring American adults back into the theatres… mostly because of the superb love scenes between Harvey and Simone Signoret. She’s magnificent.” The New Republic’s Stanley Kauffmann concurred:“Miss Signoret is so heartbreakingly effective in the role that it is now inconceivable without her,” and he concluded his review by writing, “as a drama of human drives and torments told with maturity and penetration, it is a rare event among English-language films.”

Joining film critic Stephen Farber for a discussion after the screening will be renowned cultural critic Edward Goldman, who has been the host of KCRW’s popular Art Talk program for more than 30 years. Goldman also contributes weekly art reports to the Huffington Post, and he has written for many other publications. He first discovered foreign films (including several starring Simone Signoret) while he was growing up in Russia; one of his early jobs was at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Our 60th anniversary screening of ROOM AT THE TOP (1959) featuring a Q&A with KCRW art critic Edward Goldman and film critic Stephen Farber screens Thursday, June 13, at 7pm at the Laemmle Royal in West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Actor in Person, Anniversary Classics, Featured Post, News, Q&A's, Repertory Cinema, Royal

Doris Day Tribute: LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and CALAMITY JANE Double Feature on June 5th in North Hollywood.

May 22, 2019 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a tribute to America’s most spirited sweetheart, Doris Day, who died on May 13 at the age of 97. We have screened some of Day’s best-loved movie— The Man Who Knew Too Much, Pillow Talk, and Lover Come Back — in our Anniversary series over the last few years. Join us as we remember her with a double feature of two of her very best musical films—the Western romp Calamity Jane and the dramatic story of 1920s torch singer Ruth Etting, Love Me Or Leave Me. Both films demonstrate that Day was a pioneer in portraying strong-willed female characters during the conformist 1950s. Enjoy both of these entertaining movies for one low price!

After a stellar career as a big-band singer, Day started in movies in 1948 and she made a number of lighthearted musical programmers before starring in ‘Calamity Jane’ in 1953. This sagebrush musical comedy marked a change of pace for her and catapulted her to full-fledged movie stardom. She later cited it as her personal favorite of all the films she made.

Warners admitted they made the film to cash in on the enormous success of ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’ another musical tale of Western gunslingers. In Calamity Jane, Day plays the real-life Deadwood sharpshooter, paired with Howard Keel as Wild Bill Hickok. During most of the film, they are sparring partners and friendly antagonists, and it is not until the climax that Jane recognizes her true feelings for Bill. That transformation comes when Day croons “Secret Love,” the song by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster that won the Oscar as best song of the year and also became a #1 hit on the pop charts. The film also earned Academy Award nominations for best scoring of a musical and for best sound.

Kate Muir of the British Times wrote of Calamity Jane, “As a pistol-packin’ cowgirl in fringed leather trousers, Day is terrific.” Leonard Maltin concurred: “Doris is irresistible as the bombastic, rootin’-tootin’ title character in this lively musical.”

Love Me Or Leave Me, made two years later, was nominated for six Oscars, including one for the screenplay by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart. It won the Oscar for the original story by Fuchs. Other nominations included one for a new song, “I’ll Never Stop Loving You,” which became another of Day’s most popular romantic ballads. James Cagney also earned a nomination for best actor for his electrifying portrayal of Etting’s husband and manager, gangster Marty Singer. Although he helped to advance Etting’s career, he was often brutally domineering in their personal relationship, and this hard-edged portrayal of an abusive marriage was ahead of its time in the 1950s and gave Day a vivid opportunity to essay a dramatic role. She brought it off with skill, while at the same time performing several of Etting’s signature songs, including “Ten Cents a Dance” and “Shaking the Blues Away.” Cameron Mitchell and Tom Tully co-star in the film, which was directed by Charles Vidor.

Variety called the film “a rich canvas of the Roaring 20s with gutsy and excellent performances.” Pauline Kael added, “The script by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart is several notches above the usual, and James Cagney brings frightening strength to his role as the singer’s vicious lover.” It was reportedly Cagney who suggested casting Day as Etting, and she rewarded her co-star’s instinct with one of the strongest performances of her career.

Our Doris Day tribute screens on Wednesday June 5th in North Hollywood. CALAMITY JANE screens at 5 and 9:30 PM. LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME screens at 7 PM. Click here for tickets to the 5pm CALAMITY JANE with the 7 PM LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME included. Or, click here for tickets to the 7 PM LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME with the 9:30pm CALAMITY JANE included.

Format: DCP

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email

Filed Under: Anniversary Classics, News, NoHo 7, Repertory Cinema, Twofer Tuesdays

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • …
  • 26
  • Next Page »

Search

Featured Posts

Bille August on adapting a Stefan Zweig novel for his new film THE KISS ~ “It’s probably one of the most beautiful and peculiar stories that exists.”

“I wanted to bring to light the inner lives of these women, their mutual attraction, their powers, the ways in which they conceal in order to reveal at their own pace.” BONJOUR TRISTESSE opens Friday.

Instagram

Part of the #AnniversaryClassics Series! 🎟️ l Part of the #AnniversaryClassics Series! 🎟️ laem.ly/3EtHxsR

Join Us Wednesday May 21st @ 7pm 
In-Person Q&A with Director Jerry Zucker!

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a special screening of one of the best loved movies of the 20th century, Jerry Zucker’s smash hit supernatural fantasy, 'Ghost.' When the movie opened in the summer of 1990, it quickly captivated audiences and eventually became the highest grossing movie of the year, earning $505 million on a budget of just $23 million.
Part of the #WorldwideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ l Part of the #WorldwideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ laem.ly/4gVpOaX
#TheArtOfNothing
🎨 Failed artist seeks masterpiece in picturesque Étretat! Will charming locals & cutthroat gallerists inspire or derail his quest for eternal glory?  Get ready for a colorful clash of egos & breathtaking scenery! #art #comedy #film
Part of the #WorldWideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ l Part of the #WorldWideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ laem.ly/408BlgN
#LoveHotel
A tale of two broken souls. A call-girl named Yumi, “night-blooming flower,” and Tetsuro, a married man with a debt to the yakuza, have a violent rendezvous in a cheap love hotel. Years later, haunted by the memory of that night, they reconnect and begin a strange love affair. "[Somai's] exquisite visual compositions (of lonely bedrooms, concrete piers, and nocturnal courtyards) infuse even the film’s racy images with a somber sense of longing and introspection, finding beauty and humanity in the midst of the macabre." ~ New York Times #LoveHotel #ShinjiSomai #JapaneseCinema
Part of the #WorldwideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ l Part of the #WorldwideWednesdays Series! 🎟️ laem.ly/3CSuArW
#AVanishingFog 
In the middle of the staggering, surreal, and endangered Sumapaz Paramo ecosystem; F, a solitary explorer and guardian of the mountains, strives to protect the mystical and fragile land he inhabits. Facing the imminent return of violence, F has been preparing his escape, but before pursuing a new dimension he will have to endure a heartrending farewell. "Unfailingly provocative...colorful, expansive and rangy...this represents Sandino’s determined bid for auteur status." ~ Screen Daily  @hoperunshigh @esaugustosandino
Follow on Instagram

Laemmle Theatres

Laemmle Theatres
Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/ghost | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3b8JTym | Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) is a banker, Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) is an artist, and the two are madly in love. However, when Sam is murdered by friend and corrupt business partner Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn) over a shady business deal, he is left to roam the earth as a powerless spirit. When he learns of Carl's betrayal, Sam must seek the help of psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) to set things right and protect Molly from Carl and his goons.

Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/ghost

RELEASE DATE: 5/21/2025
Director: Jerry Zucker
Cast: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn

-----
ABOUT LAEMMLE: Since 1938, Laemmle [Theatres] has been showing the finest independent, arthouse, and international films.

Subscribe to Laemmle's E-NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/3y1YSTM
Visit Laemmle.com: http://laemmle.com
Like LAEMMLE on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/3Qspq7Z
Follow LAEMMLE on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/3O6adYv
Follow LAEMMLE on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/3y2j1cp
Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/polish-women | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3b8JTym | Rio de Janeiro, early 20th century. Escaping famine in Poland, Rebeca (Valentina Herszage), together with her son Joseph, arrives in Brazil to meet her husband, who immigrated first hoping for a better life for the three of them. However, she finds a completely different reality in Rio de Janeiro. Rebeca discovers that her husband has passed away and ends up a hostage of a large network of prostitution and trafficking of Jewish women, headed by the ruthless Tzvi (Caco Ciocler). To escape this exploitation, she will need to transgress her own beliefs

Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/polish-women

RELEASE DATE: 7/16/2025
Director: João Jardim
Cast: Valentina Herszage, Caco Ciocler, Dora Friend, Amaurih Oliveira, Clarice Niskier, Otavio Muller, Anna Kutner

-----
ABOUT LAEMMLE: Since 1938, Laemmle [Theatres] has been showing the finest independent, arthouse, and international films.

Subscribe to Laemmle's E-NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/3y1YSTM
Visit Laemmle.com: http://laemmle.com
Like LAEMMLE on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/3Qspq7Z
Follow LAEMMLE on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/3O6adYv
Follow LAEMMLE on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/3y2j1cp
Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/antidote-1 | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/3b8JTym | What is the cost of speaking truth to power? In Putin’s Russia, it could mean your life. An immersive and chilling documentary, Antidote follows in real time a whistleblower, Vladimir Kara-Murza, from inside Russia's poison program as he attempts to escape. He is a prominent political activist who is poisoned twice and now stands trial for treason. Also profiled is his wife Evgenia and Christo Grozev, the journalist exposing Putin's murder machine. He too is under threat and is forced to flee.

Tickets: http://laemmle.com/film/antidote-1

RELEASE DATE: 4/25/2025
Director: James Jones

-----
ABOUT LAEMMLE: Since 1938, Laemmle [Theatres] has been showing the finest independent, arthouse, and international films.

Subscribe to Laemmle's E-NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/3y1YSTM
Visit Laemmle.com: http://laemmle.com
Like LAEMMLE on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/3Qspq7Z
Follow LAEMMLE on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/3O6adYv
Follow LAEMMLE on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/3y2j1cp
Load More... Subscribe

Recent Posts

  • I KNOW CATHERINE week at Laemmle Glendale.
  • Argentine film MOST PEOPLE DIE ON SUNDAYS “squeezes magic out of melancholy.”
  • Bille August on adapting a Stefan Zweig novel for his new film THE KISS ~ “It’s probably one of the most beautiful and peculiar stories that exists.”
  • “Joel Potrykus, the undisputed maestro of ‘metal slackerism,’ again serves up a singular experience by taking a simple idea to its logical conclusion, and then a lot further.” VULCANIZADORA opens May 9.
  • “I wanted to bring to light the inner lives of these women, their mutual attraction, their powers, the ways in which they conceal in order to reveal at their own pace.” BONJOUR TRISTESSE opens Friday.
  • Filmmaker Jia Zhangke in person at the Laemmle Glendale to introduce CAUGHT BY THE TIDES.

Archive