The Films of Stanley Kubrick
June 29–September 13

Stanley Kubrick continues to cast a long shadow on cinema and the art world, more than a decade since his passing in 1999. Working his way quickly through a succession of scrappily inventive genre exercises in the 1950s — the moody New York City noir KILLER'S KISS and the ripping caper flick THE KILLING; the authoritative WWI action and courtroom intrigue in PATHS OF GLORY — Kubrick then made a splash with 1960's Roman epic SPARTACUS, one of the best films of its kind at a time when Hollywood hungered for ancient world epics. But Kubrick preferred to pursue other challenges: filming the virtually unfilmable "Lolita" by re-imagining it as a demented screwball comedy (at least while Shelley Winters is around); DR. STRANGELOVE's appropriation of a pulp thriller into a post-modern absurdist prank; and then the visionary, psychedelic and spiritual experiment that is 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, a film truly ahead of its time, and immeasurably influential on filmmaking since.

By then internationally renowned, Kubrick's famed meticulousness and preferred working methods meant long preparation and production periods, and longer waits for fans desperate to see the auteur's next work. Intriguingly, Kubrick's later films — A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, BARRY LYNDON, THE SHINING, FULL METAL JACKET and EYES WIDE SHUT — continue to receive much critical reevaluation and reconsideration. Even with no new work by Kubrick, his films, over time, speak to audiences in new ways.

 AFI Member passes will be accepted at all films in the Stanley Kubrick series.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
In 70mm!
45th Anniversary!
#22 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies

Beginning with the dawn of civilization and chronicling the rise from ape to man, the film evolves to the story of astronauts Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, who find themselves at the mercy of supercomputer HAL 9000. Powerful imagery, ground-breaking special effects, the bold classical music score and repeated juxtapositions of man and machinery have made 2001 one of the most significant and relevant films of the 20th century. Nominated for four Academy Awards.

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick; SCR Arthur C. Clarke, from his short story. UK/US, 1967, color, 141 min.
RATED G

KILLER'S KISS

Innovative and dynamic visuals lend great atmosphere to this B-picture gangster drama from the young Stanley Kubrick, whose tenure as a staff photographer at Look magazine appears to have been great training for shooting this independent feature, a film Kubrick wrote, directed, produced, photographed and edited. The 1950s shooting locations document various vanished worlds of New York City: the gritty tenements and alleyways of Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side; the gorgeous old Penn Station; the old-fashioned, pre-faded glamour of Times Square; and a still-industrial Dumbo, Brooklyn.

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick; PROD Morris Bousel. US, 1955, color, 67 min. NOT RATED

THE KILLING

Ex-con hard case Sterling Hayden assembles a crew of colorful lowlifes to pull off a daring daytime racetrack heist. Poor judgment, bad luck and a faithless wife conspire to undo their big score, and as things fall apart, this time-fractured puzzle of a story comes together. The screenplay was co-written by Kubrick and pulp great Jim Thompson; the sharp cinematography is by Lucien Ballard.

DIR/SCR Stanley Kubrick; SCR Jim Thompson, from the novel "Clean Break" by Lionel White; PROD James B. Harris. US, 1956, b&w, 85 min. NOT RATED

PATHS OF GLORY
55th Anniversary!

One of 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

SPARTACUS
In 70mm!

Nominated for six Academy Awards, winning Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor for Peter Ustinov. This epic drama follows the legend of Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), who leads his fellow slaves in an uprising against the corrupt Roman empire. Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis and Jean Simmons round out the all-star cast.

DIR Stanley Kubrick; SCR Dalton Trumbo; PROD Edward Lewis. US, 1960, color, 198 min. NOT RATED

LOLITA
50th Anniversary!

"How did they ever make a movie of 'Lolita?'" was the clever advertising copy for Kubrick's controversial adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's enduringly scandalous classic. The answer includes an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Nabokov himself (although it bears only a slight resemblance to the film Kubrick made) and tweaking Lolita's (a precocious Sue Lyon) age to 14 (12 in the book); plus expert performances by Shelley Winters as her comically deluded mother Charlotte and the ever-urbane James Mason as Humbert Humbert, whose mild manner and charming erudition mask the most unruly of passions. Keep an eye out for Peter Sellers as Humbert's romantic rival Clare Quilty, lurking about early and often in a variety of disguises.

DIR Stanley Kubrick; SCR Vladimir Nabokov, from his novel; PROD James B. Harris. US/UK, 1962, b&w, 152 min. NOT RATED

DR. STRANGELOVE or: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB
#3 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs
#26 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

Kubrick's classic Cold War satire kicks in when the paranoid Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) initiates a pre-emptive nuclear strike, promoted by Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), against the Soviet Union because he suspects the communists are poisoning America's water supply, "to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." Peter Sellers is masterful playing three distinct roles — the US president, a British military man and Dr. Strangelove, the former Nazi genius recruited to work on weapons designs for the Americans. Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and a Best Actor nod for Sellers.

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick; SCR Terry Southern, Peter George, from George's novel "Red Alert." UK, 1964, b&w, 96 min. RATED PG

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Fitting for a film that is ultimately about free will and individuality, this is Kubrick's most idiosyncratic work, an exceedingly artful evocation of a dystopian future and a hugely influential cult classic that remains challenging, right-of-passage viewing for adventurous film lovers. Malcolm McDowell, in his signature role, is creepily charismatic as Alex, the Beethoven-loving ringleader of "the Droogs," a band of young thugs on the prowl for "a little of the old ultra-violence." When Alex is jailed for murder and then subjected to an extreme behavior modification treatment that results in law-abiding conformity, he goes from ruthless predator to hapless victim; his case now taken up by the press, the erstwhile public enemy becomes a cause célèbre.

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick, from the novel by Anthony Burgess. UK, 1971, color, 136 min. RATED R

BARRY LYNDON

Notable for Kubrick's painstaking evocation of 18th century life, including the nighttime scenes illuminated only by candle light, this film is a must-see on the big screen. 1970s heartthrob Ryan O'Neal gives one of his best performances as the callow striver Redmond Barry, a reluctant conscript in the British army after leaving his Irish home in disgrace. On the frontlines on the continent, events lead first to Barry's desertion, then his re-enlistment on the victorious Prussian side; he continues to try his luck in a series of palace intrigues, high-stakes gambling and the strategic seduction of noblewoman Marisa Berenson. Seven Oscar nominations, with wins for Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Costumes and Music.

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick, from the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. US/UK, 1975, color, 184 min. RATED PG

THE SHINING
#29 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills

"Heeeere's Johnny!" Jack Nicholson suffers from one helluva case of writer's block in Stanley Kubrick's acclaimed adaptation of the Stephen King novel. Nicholson's frustrated writer takes a job as the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel, with long-suffering wife Shelley Duvall and introverted young son Danny Lloyd in tow. The family tries to make the best of things at the lonely resort, while Nicholson's sanity is pushed to the breaking point as cabin fever and the denizens of the demonic hotel take control.

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick; SCR Diane Johnson, from the novel by Stephen King. US/UK, 1980, color, 146 min. RATED R

EYES WIDE SHUT

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's real-life status as a married couple (at the time) gives a unique frisson to Kubrick's final film, a chilling meditation on a couple in psychosexual crisis. Kidman's confession of a long-held sexual fantasy drives Cruise into a furtive, obsessive pursuit of extramarital thrills; events take a turn for the bizarre when the no-nonsense Manhattan doctor discovers that people he knows are involved in a dangerous demimonde of secret sex clubs.

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick; SCR Frederic Raphael, from the novel "Traumnovelle" by Arthur Schnitzler. UK/US, 1999, color, 159 min. RATED R

FULL METAL JACKET
25th Anniversary!

"What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?" is one of the more printable epithets hurled by Marine sergeant R. Lee Ermey at new recruits (i.e., "maggots") Matthew Modine, Arliss Howard and main whipping boy Vincent D'Onofrio in Kubrick's impressively intense exploration of soldiering and warfare, their nightmarish realities and psychological toll. After the harrowing experience of boot camp, Modine and company exchange one hell for another when they see action in Vietnam (improbably recreated in the English countryside by the travel-averse Kubrick).

DIR/SCR/PROD Stanley Kubrick; SCR Michael Herr, Gustav Hasford, from his novel "The Short-Timers." US, 1987, color, 116 min. RATED R