Film Reviews & Previews
SKID ROW MARATHON filmmakers Gabriele and Mark Hayes with guests Judge Craig Mitchell, Rafael Cabrera, Ben Shirley, Rebecca Hayes and David Askew will participate in Q&A’s on Friday, March 22 following the 7:50 PM show and after the 3:15 PM show on Saturday, March 23.
March 1, 2019: We regret to report that Bo Hopkins will not be able to attend the Fine Arts THE WILD BUNCH screening. L.Q. Jones’ attendance is tentative.
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the iconic and groundbreaking movies of the ’60s, Sam Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH.
This graphically violent and poetic film exploded the very concept of the traditional Western by focusing on a brutal group of outlaws trying to survive at the dawn of the 20th century. Featuring four Oscar-winning actors—William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson, and Edmond O’Brien—along with a startling supporting cast, the film clearly established Peckinpah as one of the top directors of the era.
The director’s classic 1962 Western Ride the High Country had demonstrated his talent, but he ran into conflicts with producers on subsequent projects in the ’60s. The Wild Bunch marked his triumphant return to filmmaking. He wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay with Walon Green, from a story by Green and Roy N. Sickner.
It is set in 1913, on the eve of World War I and in the midst of the Mexican Revolution. A botched robbery in the opening sequence leads the outlaws to seek refuge in Mexico, where they continue to be pursued by a group of bounty hunters hired by the railroad company they have robbed. Robert Ryan, cast as a former friend of Holden’s character, leads the pursuers.
The supporting cast includes Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Jaime Sanchez, Bo Hopkins, Strother Martin, Albert Decker, Emilio Fernandez, and Alfonso Arau. Lucien Ballard provided the rich cinematography, and Jerry Fielding wrote the Oscar-nominated score.
But perhaps the most crucial creative collaborator was editor Lou Lombardo, who worked closely with the director to perfect an innovative editing style that incorporated quick, almost subliminal cuts masterfully interspersed with slow motion shots.
The film’s violence was shocking to many viewers at the time, and some critics denounced the film. Others, however, saw the violence as reflecting the disruptions in American society, along with the chaos of the Vietnam War. Life magazine’s Richard Schickel called the film “one of the most important records of the mood of our times and one of the most important American films of the era.” The New York Times’ Vincent Canby hailed the film as “very beautiful and the first truly interesting American-made Westerns in years.”
When cuts that had been made shortly after the film’s release were finally restored for a 1995 reissue, critics were even more ecstatic. Writing in The Baltimore Sun, Michael Sragow declared, “What Citizen Kane was to movie lovers in 1941, The Wild Bunch was to cineastes in 1969.” The film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1999.
At the screening on February 26 in Pasadena, W.K. Stratton, the author of a new book, The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film, will participate in a discussion before the screening. He will also sign copies of his book at the theater. Presented by our friends at Vroman’s Bookstore.
On March 2 in Beverly Hills, we will be joined by three of the creative participants in the film, in addition to author W.K. Stratton. Screenwriter Walon Green won an Academy Award in 1971 for directing the documentary, The Hellstrom Chronicle. He went on to write such films as Sorcerer and The Brinks Job for director William Friedkin and The Border for Tony Richardson. Later he became writer and producer on many popular television series, including Law and Order, ER, Hill Street Blues, and NYPD Blue.
Actor L.Q. Jones worked on several other Peckinpah movies, beginning with Ride the High Country, along with Major Dundee, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He co-starred in Hang ‘Em High, Hell Is For Heroes, and Martin Scorsese’s Casino.
Bo Hopkins co-starred in Peckinpah’s The Getaway and The Killer Elite, and he also appeared in such films as The Day of the Locust, American Graffiti, Midnight Express, and The Newton Boys. Both actors also have extensive credits in television.
Click here for tickets to the screening on Tuesday, February 26, at 7:00 PM at the Playhouse.
Click here for tickets to the screening on Saturday, March 2, at 7:30 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts.
Format: Blu-ray
With great pride, ART IN THE ARTHOUSE welcomes back artist HUNG VIET NGUYEN and his gorgeous new show, PLACES. The show will run at the Royal till May, 2019. Sales benefit the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in Los Angeles.
About the exhibit
Born in Vietnam in 1957, Hung Viet Nguyen studied biology at the Science University in Saigon. After relocating to the U.S. in 1982, Nguyen found work as an illustrator, graphic artist and designer. He developed his artistic skills carefully studying a variety of traditional Eastern and Western forms, media and techniques. His complex, labor intensive use of oil paint reveal a mastery of texture. While portions of Nguyen’s work suggest the influence of traditional forms such as woodblock prints, oriental scroll paintings, ceramic art, mosaic, and stained glass, his ultimate expression as an artist asserts a more contemporary sensibility. About his current exhibit, PLACES, Hung remarks, “while traveling I photographed favorite moments, places and scenes. From these images, I created works with ink and watercolor, applied two varieties of varnish for aging and crackling for a classic look. By capturing a cell phone image in a few seconds and then spending many hours to produce an artwork, I uncovered the relationship between the places and myself.” Nguyen’s paintings have been exhibited at galleries, cultural centers and museums by curators or directors of museums including curators of LACMA and MOCA. His work was selected twice for the San Diego Art Institute’s biennial International Exhibition (2013, 2015) where it earned a Juror’s Choice Award each time.
– Tish Laemmle, curator
Come on over to Claremont for Laemmle’s Art in the Arthouse’s newest show featuring the exquisite photography of Ronald Dunlap. The show will run at the Claremont 5 till June, 2019. Sales benefit the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in Los Angeles.
About the Exhibit
Photographer and artist Ronald Dunlap has been “living pictures” both in life and through his lens for forty years. Dunlap’s service in Vietnam as a Marine left an indelible mark. Over the years he has returned to Vietnam, Cambodia and toured the East to record the stark images of daily life in those regions. Many of the fifteen photographs in this collection are from those journeys.Dunlap has a refined eye and fastidious focus. His imagery is evocative and speaks volumes. According to the artist his raison d’etre is “a concern with picture structure and the ability to connect with the viewer without the need for any written explanation.”
Dunlap has studied at Laguna College of Art and Design, Chouinard Art Institute and received his BFA in Fine Art from the California Institute of the Arts. His MFA Fine Art degree is from Otis College of Art and Design.The artist has previously shown his work at both Laemmle’s Pasadena and Claremont community art shows. Dunlap lives and works at his home in Altadena, and continues to focus on honing his craft and speaking to his audience directly through his arresting images.
– Joshua Elias, curator
In celebration of Black History Month, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Abroad Series present 60th anniversary screenings of BLACK ORPHEUS on February 20. This retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice story in Greek mythology is set in twentieth-century Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. Writer-director Marcel Camus’ film hit the double jackpot for foreign-language films, winning both the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award as the year’s best foreign film.
Based on the play “Orfeu da Conceicao” by Vinicius de Moraes with a screenplay by Camus and Jacques Viot, BLACK ORPHEUS takes place in the working class slums (favela) of Rio. Orfeu (Bruno Mello), a streetcar driver by day and musician at night, falls in love with Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn), new to the city, and courts her through the frantic festival. However, a skeleton-costumed character representing Death also pursues her, and the couple’s attempt to flee results in romantic tragedy. The two unknown leads—Mello, a Brazilian soccer player, and Dawn, an American dancer— help convey a sense of naturalism, but the film is most noteworthy for its irresistible score, composed by Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim, which propels the drama with a captivating samba beat. The success of the film and recordings of its main themes helped ignite the bossa nova phenomenon of the 1960s.
The film was an enormous art-house hit in its day. Frenchman Camus and the two leads remain best known for this movie, as noted by the Village Voice, “the greatest one-hit wonder import we’ve ever seen.” Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post summed up its appeal: “a riotous, rapturous explosion of sound and color. Black Orpheus is less about Orpheus’s doomed love for Eurydice than about Camus’s love for cinema at its most gestural and kinetic.”
No need to take a trip to Rio—come to Carnival via BLACK ORPHEUS at Laemmle’s Playhouse, Royal, and Town Center on Wednesday, February 20 at 7:00 PM. Click here for tickets.
THE UNICORN director Robert Schwartzman and star Lauren Lapkus will participate in a Q&A after the 7:40 pm show on Friday, 2/1. Q&A’s also on Saturday, 2/2 after the 5:10 pm show with Robert Schwartzman and star Beverly D’Angelo and after the 7:40 pm show with Robert Schwartzman and moderated by Jason Schwartzman.
https://youtu.be/ULfhwPTMvC4
Royal
TO DUST filmmakers Ron Perlman (producer/actor), Josh Crook (producer), Shawn Snyder (director) and Scott Lochmus (producer) will participate in a Q&A on Friday, 2/15. Shawn Snyder will discuss the film with Death Positive group representatives: Amber Carvaly director of Undertaking LA, and Sarah Chavez director of The Order of the Good Death on Saturday, 2/16. Both Q&A’s will follow the 7:40 pm shows.
Town Center
Scott Lochmus and Josh Crook will participate in a Q&A following the 7:10 pm show on Saturday, 2/16.
With the 91st Academy Awards right around the corner, it’s time for our annual Predict the Oscars Contest! The person who most accurately predicts the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s choices in all 24 categories, from the shorts to Best Picture, will win fabulous prizes (free movies and concessions at Laemmle)!
First place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $150. Second place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $100. Third place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $50. Entries are due by 10AM the morning of the awards ceremony on February 24th.
Not sure what a Laemmle Premiere Card is? Think of it like a prepaid gift card for yourself! Use it to pay for movie tickets and concessions. Plus, Premiere Card holders receive $3 off movie tickets and 20% off concessions. To find out more, visit www.laemmle.com/premiere-cards.
We’ve got some smart cookies for customers so we have a tie-breaker question: you also have to guess the show’s running time. Take the tie-breaker seriously! In 2016, the running time question broke a tie between five entrants who correctly predicted 19 out of 24 categories!
We’ll announce the winners right here on our blog by February 26th. Good luck!
*One entry per person. One winner per household.