We have always had a soft spot for North Dallas Forty, which opened on August 3, 1979. So as it hits middle age, a brief appreciation here—not to make the case for the movie as an overlooked masterpiece or something, but as a really fine (and entertaining) film worth taking seriously. Outwardly a raucous sports…
As many of our general readers know, we are somewhat wary of the internet here at Mid Century Cinema—seeing as how it has contributed to the end of civilization and all that. Nevertheless, here we are, and splashing around the shallow end of the social media pool one lazy summer day introduced us to the…
It has been twenty years since the release of Eyes Wide Shut, the final film of Stanley Kubrick, one of Mid Century Cinema’s favorite directors. Based on a 1926 novella by Arthur Schnitzler, Kubrick transposed the story from turn-of-the-century Vienna to contemporary New York City—but with the exception of adding the pivotal character Victor Ziegler…
June 18, 1969 marked another milestone moment for the still-emerging New Hollywood, with the premiere of Sam Peckinpah’s revisionist western The Wild Bunch. It was something of a comeback for the veteran director, a hard-drinking ex-marine with an unpredictable, combative personality, who made a career of battling studio bosses (and alienated enough of them that…
Summer is almost here, which means two things: the time is right for dancing in the streets, and we’ll be teaching a week-long film course at Cornell Adult University. This year’s offering will be a round of Masters and Masterpieces, from July 14 – 20. We’ll be posting on the films during the course as…
Long time followers of Mid Century Cinema know that we are, uh, somewhat fond of Arthur Penn’s neo-noir masterpiece Night Moves, which derives from an original screenplay by Alan Sharp and features an outstanding cast led by Gene Hackman, Susan Clark, and Jennifer Warren. We have previously written a review of the DVD release, posted…
This week’s film, Shampoo, is another MCC favorite—we have posted about it previously, and recently reviewed the new Criterion Collection Blu Ray for Cineaste Magazine. The movie is properly associated with its triple-threat leading man Warren Beatty, who produced, co-wrote the screenplay (with his friend and celebrated seventies film scribe Robert Towne), and whose forceful personality…
Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky is one of the great achievements of 1970s cinema. Recently released in a properly sparkling edition from the Criterion Collection, it is less well known than many of the celebrated New Hollywood films—but stands alongside the very best of them in the pantheon. Featuring Peter Falk (Mikey) and John Cassavetes…
In an earlier discussion of the New Hollywood landmark Klute (produced and directed by Alan J. Pakula, shot by “Prince of Darkness” Gordon Willis, and starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland), we argued that the theme of “control” was the central issue for Bree Daniels (Fonda). Which in turn makes it the central theme of Klute,…
This weeks’ film was Robert Altman’s masterpiece Nashville, which we have previously discussed here. This semester we’re honing in on specific moments from our films-of-the-week, and there are two particular sequences from Nashville that have always impressed us mightily—each an exquisite manifestation of the distinct and intoxicating possibilities of cinematic storytelling. The first is an…