Junior Bonner Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Peckinpah, Pirates and the French Take Manhattan
Filed under: Action », Classics », Drama », Foreign Language », Thrillers », Fandom », Other Festivals », Cinematical Indie »
A trio of insanely great series recently started in New York City, once again displaying the cultural embarrassment of riches with which those of us lucky enough to live here grapple on a daily basis (I'm not complaining, trust me).Friday saw the opening of Summer Swashbucklers at Manhattan's Film Forum, a series of 30 pirate and adventure films -- most made between 1920 and 1950 -- that will unspool over the next three weeks, many of them in double features. Among the films in the series are such Errol Flynn classics as Captain Blood (his first starring role, in which he displays a surprising knack for screwball humor) and The Adventures of Robin Hood, the elder Douglas Fairbanks' The Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers, and Gunga Din, starring the junior Fairbanks and Cary Grant.
Meanwhile, over in Brooklyn, the BAM Cinematek has put together two truly magnificent series that will run concurrently though the month of August. The first half of each week features the work of controversial American master Sam Peckinpah, from the shocking Straw Dogs (that one's showing Tuesday the 15th -- go see it, if you haven't) to the Steve McQueen starrers The Getaway and Junior Bonner. Then, from Thursday to Sunday each week, the theater is given over to a series called Leading Men of French Cinema. As you might expect, the films showcase the work of a wide range of French stars, in films that are equally diverse. Highlights of the series include Purple Noon, Rene Clement's 1960 version of The Talented Mr. Ripley (starring Alain Delon at his most impossibly beautiful), Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le fou (starring the wonderful Jean-Paul Belmondo) and Les tontons flingueurs, which stars Lino Ventura, a wrestler who transformed himself during the 1960s into an unexpectedly appealing screen presence.
While September is sure to bring good series of its own, these are all well worth sweating on a subway platform to see.
Best of QT Fest Slate Revealed
Filed under: Classics », Comedy », Drama », Thrillers », Fandom », Quentin Tarantino », Other Festivals »
For the past several years, Quentin
Tarantino has brought his own brand of film mania to Austin, screening films just because he loves them -- and the
masses go crazy for it, usually selling each fest out without hours of passes going on sale. This year's QT Fest
(badges for which went on sale this morning and are
surely already gone) is slightly different: instead of bringing more unknown/little-seen/unusual flicks to the Austin
film community, Tarantino is bringing back the (totally arbitrary, which is the whole point of the festival) best
movies from the past six events, and the eagerly-anticipated list was just revealed.Included on this year's slate will be an incredibly wide variety of films, from Sam Peckinpah's wonderful, rarely seen Junior Bonner to Pretty Maids all in a Row, which AICN's Quint describes as "a sexploitation flick... Starring Johnny Carson's son, Telly Savalas...Angie Dickinson, Rock Hudson and Roddy McDowell... directed by Roger Vadim." (I think I speak for all of us when I say "Holy crap!" to that summary. Damn, I wish I were in Austin.)
The full list of films for the fest, which runs April 24-30, is up at AICN, and Jette's News from Slackerwood pieces will keep us jealously well-informed as we get closer to the first screening.
[via Matt Dentler]
Vintage Image of the Day: nonviolent Peckinpah
Filed under: Drama », Vintage Image of the Day »
Sam Peckinpah would have been 81 today, had he not died of a stroke in 1984. Imagine the films he could have made if he were still alive ... or started making until he lost funding or grew too irritated with studios. Imagine the trouble he could have made.
I did not see a Sam Peckinpah movie until a few years ago, because I had heard they were all bloody and violent and misogynistic. So my first Peckinpah movie was Junior Bonner, the 1972 film that's considered the director's only non-violent, non-gory movie. Besides, I could not resist a film in which Robert Preston and Ida Lupino played Steve McQueen's parents. I was not disappointed: Junior Bonner is a lovely, wistful movie about the rodeo, and family, and the destructive effect of "progress" on a small Arizona town. McQueen is in his element as a fading rodeo cowboy, and Preston is charming as always.
The Wild Bunch is now one of my favorite movies ever, but I recommend Junior Bonner as a great "small" film, as well as a good introduction to Peckinpah if you're hesitant to watch his films. It's also a good way to fall helplessly for Steve McQueen ... you've been warned.
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