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Daily Listings: 301.495.6700
Tickets & Full Schedule at
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Silver
THE AFRICAN QUEEN
Fri, Jul 4, 11:00 a.m.; Sun, Jul 6, 1:15; Mon, Jul 7, 7:00;
Tue, Jul 8, 2:20; Wed, Jul 9, 2:20; Thu, Jul 10, 2:20, 7:00
"I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be
so stimulating!" Fate, in the form of WWI and an invading
German army, throws Katharine Hepburn's starched and stiff-
backed British missionary aboard seedy Canadian Humphrey
Bogart's decrepit, titular riverboat. It is an odd-couple pairing,
but in time their bickering gives way to respect and romance
when the two unite against the invaders. John Huston's beloved
jungle adventure earned four Oscar® nominations, with
Bogart winning for Best Actor, beating out Marlon Brando in
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and Montgomery Clift in A
PLACE IN THE SUN.
DIR/SCR John Huston; SCR James Agee, from the novel by C. S.
Forester; PROD Sam Spiegel, John Woolf. UK/US, 1951, color, 105 min. NOT RATED
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE
Sat, Aug 2, 8:20; Wed, Aug 6, 9:15
MEATBALLS
Sun, Aug 10, 9:45; Mon, Aug 11, 9:00
Caddyshack
Sat, Aug 16, 7:45; Thu, Aug 21, 9:30
STRIPES
Fri, Aug 22, 9:45; Sat, Aug 23, 6:45, Tue, Aug 26, 4:45;
Thu, Aug 28, 4:45, 9:10
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION
Fri, Sep 5, 7:30; Sat, Sep 6, 7:00; Mon, Sep 8, 9:20;
Tue, Sep 9, 9:20; Thu, Sep 11, 7:15
GROUNDHOG DAY
Fri, Sep 12, 7:20; Sun, Sep 14, 9:15
Surprise Screening!
Sat, Sep 13, 7:15
Cinema and the Great War
2014 marks the centennial of the Great War’s outbreak, an event whose legacy has been debated,
misunderstood and problematically forgotten, soon relegated to mere “prequel” status to the even greater
cataclysm that erupted some 25 years later with World War II. But today’s political map—including many
ongoing international conflicts — reflects the legacy of the first World War. Cinematic treatments of WWI are
rich and varied, ranging from classic silent films, which were depicting very recent events, to more current films
whose treatment of the period is imbued with historical metaphor reflecting the moment in which those films
were made. This series features a selection of some of the best films to grapple with the Great War.
AFI Member Passes accepted at all screenings.
July 3–September 17
LIFE AND NOTHING BUT [La vie et rien d'autre]
Sun, Jul 13, 1:15
Major Philippe Noiret and his team take a break from
identifying France's nameless 1920 WWI dead (50,000
down, 300,000 to go) to accommodate Sabine Azéma's
demands to hunt for her husband's corpse and the government's
need for a particular Unknown Soldier. An intimate drama set
between segments of sweeping production design, it garnered
multiple awards for Noiret's performance.
DIR/SCR Bertrand Tavernier; SCR
Jean Cosmos; PROD Frédéric Bourboulon, Albert Prévost. France, 1989, color, 135 min. RATED PG
PATHS OF GLORY
Sat, Jul 12, 12 noon.; Sun, Jul 13, 11:00 a.m.;
Tue, Jul 15, 12:30; Wed, Jul 16, 7:00; Thu, Jul 17, 12:30
One of Stanley Kubrick's finest films, an expert realization of
WWI's battles in the trenches and a biting critique of the futility
of the soldiers' efforts and the fecklessness of their officers.
Ordered to storm a German stronghold that holds little strategic
value, French colonel Kirk Douglas' troops take heavy losses
and retreat under fire. With the top brass demanding blood —
while covering up their own misdeeds and vainglorious motives
— Douglas must defend his men's actions in military court.
DIR/
SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick; SCR Calder Willingham, Jim Thompson, from the novel by Humphrey
Cobb; PROD Kirk Douglas, James B. Harris. US, 1957, b&w, 88 min. NOT RATED
FREE Screening!
14-18: THE NOISE AND THE FURY
[14-18, le bruit et la fureur]
Sat, Jul 12, 3:15
Jean-François Delassus masterfully weaves together archival
documentary footage from World War I with narrative
selections from the likes of D. W. Griffith, Francesco Rosi,
Charlie Chaplin and Richard Attenborough to illustrate the story
of a French soldier/everyman, one of many “young idiots
hungry for adventure,” who enlists early on and experiences
“four years of such intense agony.” “A living history lesson of
unusual vividness and emotional power.” –Dennis Harvey,
Variety. Official Selection, 2009 Telluride, Montreal Film
Festivals; 2010 AFI European Union Film Showcase.
DIR Jean-
François Delassus; SCR Isabelle Rabineau; PROD Fabrice Coat, Christine Doublet. France/Belgium,
2008, b&w/color, 103 min. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932)
Sun, Jul 6, 11:00 a.m.;
Tue, Jul 8, 12 noon;
Thu, Jul 10, 12 noon
Visionary romanticist
Frank Borzage
(7TH HEAVEN, THE
MORTAL STORM)
directed the screen
adaptation of Ernest
Hemingway’s classic
novel, chronicling the
love affair between
a wounded volunteer
ambulance driver (Gary
Cooper) and the nurse
attending him (Helen
Hayes).
DIR Frank Borzage;
SCR/PROD Benjamin Glazer; SCR
Oliver H. P. Garrett, from the novel by
Ernest Hemingway; PROD Edward A.
Blatt. US, 1932, b&w, 80 min. NOT RATED
THE DAWN PATROL aka FLIGHT COMMANDER
(1930)
Sat, Jul 19, 11:20 a.m.; Mon, Jul 21, 11:45 a.m.;
Wed, Jul 23, 11:45 a.m.
During WWI, hard-drinking veteran RFC flyers Richard
Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., resent their CO Neil
Hamilton for sending new recruits out unprepared for the
demands of air combat. With the German flying ace “The
Baron” and his fighter squadron mowing down men at an
alarming rate, desperate measures are called for. Howard
Hawks’ assured debut working with sound film features
outstanding cinematography, including dazzling aerial footage,
by pioneering lensman Ernest Haller. (Print courtesy of the
Library of Congress.)
DIR/SCR Howard Hawks; SCR Seton I. Miller, Dan Totheroh, from
the story “The Flight Commander” by John Monk Saunders; PROD Robert North. US, 1930, b&w,
108 min. NOT RATED
80th Anniversary!
THE LOST PATROL
Sun, Jul 20, 11:20 a.m.; Tue, Jul 22, 12:15; Thu, Jul 24, 12:15
Pinned down and outgunned in the Mesopotamian desert,
and having lost their C.O. to an Arab sniper, it falls to Sgt.
Victor McLaglen to lead his fellow British cavalrymen in their
effort to hold out against superior forces and blazing heat until
reinforcements arrive. John Ford’s taut action film represents
one of the very few film treatments of WWI’s middle eastern
front, fought in the lands of the Ottoman Empire, soon to be
carved up into new countries by the victorious western powers.
Boris Karloff has a memorable scene as an unhinged religious
zealot, who courts death in crusader-like fashion.
DIR/PROD John Ford;
SCR Dudley Nichols, from a story by Philip MacDonald. US, 1934, b&w, 73 min. NOT RATED
JOURNEY’S END (1930)
Fri, Jul 25, 11:30 a.m.; Mon, Jul 28, 7:00
James Whale’s adaptation of fellow British WWI vet R. C.
Sherriff’s hit play delivers an authoritative, lived-in account
of life in the trenches — long stretches of boredom and
claustrophobia amid miserable conditions, punctuated by
cataclysmic violence — with camaraderie as the best defense
against soul-destroying fear. Colin Clive gives a stirring central
performance as hard-bitten, alcoholic Captain Stanhope, along
with David Manners, Ian Maclaren, Billy Bevan and Charles K.
Gerrard.
DIR James Whale; SCR Gareth Gundrey, Joseph Moncure March, from the play by R.
C. Sherriff; PROD George Pearson. US/UK, 1930, b&w, 120 min. NOT RATED
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE
Sat, Sep 6, 11:00; Wed, Sep 10, 9:00
Martin Scorsese protégée Amy Holden Jones reportedly
turned down an editing job on E.T. to produce and direct this
low-budget slasher film for Roger Corman and New World
Pictures, from a screenplay by feminist and author Rita Mae
Brown (author of the 1973 landmark lesbian coming-of-ager
“Rubyfruit Jungle,” and more recently the Sneaky Pie Brown
mysteries, co-authored with her cat). Originally intended as a
parody of the violent genre and its sexual politics, the film is
actually one of the more devilishly creative efforts in the genre,
delivering copious amounts of cheesy gore and teasing titillation
alongside a higher quotient of humor.
DIR/PROD Amy Holden Jones; SCR Rita
Mae Brown. US, 1982, color, 77 min. RATED R
PERSONAL BEST
Sun, Sep 7, 5:30; Thu, Sep 11, 9:15
In the directorial debut of Robert Towne, the Oscar®-winning
screenwriter of CHINATOWN, a love affair develops between
Chris (Mariel Hemingway) and Tory (Patrice Donnelly), two
female runners training for the 1980 Summer Olympics.
The older Tory is secure in her identity, but the younger Chris
has hang-ups, insecurities and doubts, and soon another
relationship with the two women’s male track coach, Terry (Scott
Glenn). Will love finish last in this love triangle?
DIR/SCR/PROD Robert
Towne. US, 1982, color, 124 min. RATED R
DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS
Sun, Sep 7, 8:00; Mon, Sep 8, 7:00
Paul Mazursky’s wicked farce, a remake of Jean Renoir’s
1938 BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING, finds vagrant
Nick Nolte face down in clothes-hanger king Richard
Dreyfuss’ Beverly Hills backyard swimming pool. After reviving
the drowning man, Dreyfuss can only watch as the bum
finagles his way into the household, charming his way into the
hearts and beds of, first, Dreyfuss’ wife Bette Midler and then
his maid — and mistress — Elizabeth Peña. Little Richard has
a featured role as the family’s irritable neighbor.
DIR/SCR/PROD Paul
Mazursky; SCR Leon Capetanos, from the play “Boudu sauvé des eaux” by René Fauchois. US,
1986, color, 103 min. RATED R
MS. 45
Sat, Sep 13, 11:15; Wed, Sep 17, 9:00
Abel Ferrara’s (BAD LIEUTENANT, KING OF NEW YORK)
1981 revenge thriller classic follows a mute garment-district
seamstress — played by the late model/actress/musician/
screenwriter Zoë Lund — who, after falling victim to multiple
unspeakable assaults, ignites her one-woman homicidal
rampage against New York City’s entire male population.
(Note courtesy of Drafthouse Films.)
DIR Abel Ferrara; SCR Nicholas St. John;
PROD Rochelle Weisberg. US, 1981, color, 80 min. RATED R
25th Anniversary!
New DCP!
SIDEWALK STORIES
Sun, Sep 14, 5:00; Mon, Sep 15, 9:00
This throwback silent film, mostly forgotten since the late '80s,
has been cited by THE ARTIST’s Michel Hazanivicius as a major
influence. On a rough spot of Sixth Avenue in Manhattan’s
Greenwich Village, near the Waverly Cinema (today’s IFC
Center), a struggling artist (writer/director/producer/star
Charles Lane) gets by doing caricatures among other street
artists, hustlers and legions of homeless, in stark contrast to the
Wall Street types who occasionally pass by. After discovering
a young tot (the filmmaker’s real-life daughter), whose gambler
father was knifed in an alley, the artist becomes her caregiver
in this poignant '80s-era homage to Chaplin’s THE KID.
DIR/SCR/
PROD Charles Lane; PROD Howard M. Brickner. US, 1989, b&w, 97 min. RATED R
30th Anniversary!
NOTHING LASTS FOREVER
Sat, Sep 13, 9:30; Mon, Sep 15, 7:15
In the near dystopian future, overcrowded, traffic-clogged New
York City is governed by the dictatorial Port Authority. Adam
Beckett (Zack Galligan) is stuck directing traffic, but dreams of
becoming an artist. Filmed in black-and-white, interspersed with
classic silent film clips and with a supporting cast that includes
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sam Jaffe, and Lawrence Tierney, this
quirky, heartfelt fantasy demands rediscovery.
DIR/SCR Tom Schiller;
PROD Lorne Michaels. US, 1984, b&w/color, 82 min. RATED PG
DOWN BY LAW
Sun, Sep 14, 7:00; Tue, Sep 16, 9:20
A postmodern Marx brothers jailbreak set in the Louisiana
Bayou (or as frequent Jim Jarmusch collaborator Tom Waits
later described it, “a Russian neofugitive episode of THE
HONEYMOONERS”). Slick pimp John Lurie and gravel-voiced
disc jockey Waits are cellmates doing time for crimes they didn't
commit. Joining up with Roberto Benigni, whose limited command
of English accentuates his frenetic gifts as a physical comedian,
they go on the lam. Robby Mueller's high-contrast black-and-white
cinematography imbues the swamps with an otherworldly quality
— proof of Benigni's observation that "it's a sad and beautiful
world.”
DIR/SCR Jim Jarmusch; PROD Alan Kleinberg. US, 1986, b&w, 107 min. RATED R
With the untimely
passing of comedy
great Harold Ramis
(1944-2014),
AFI Silver takes a
look back at some
of his best-loved
films. Look for
GHOSTBUSTERS in
theaters in August.
AFI Member
Passes accepted at
all screenings.
Harold Ramis
Remembered
August 2–September 14
GRAND ILLUSION
Thu, Jul 3, 7:00; Sat, Jul 5, 11:30 a.m.;
Wed, Jul 9, 12 noon, 7:00
Totally Awesome 8: Great Films of the 1980s
Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Focus Features/courtesy Everett Collection
Courtesy of Drafthouse Films
Courtesy of Janus Films
Courtesy of Carlotta Films US
Courtesy of Paramount
Courtesy of Rialto Pictures
Courtesy of MGM
MS. 45
STRIPes
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION
THE AFRICAN QUEEN
PATHS OF GLORY
DOWN BY LAW
SIDEWALK STORIES
