John Sayles, the sharp observer of social
behavior gone awry, makes personal picks for the Thalia. Sayles is
known for his provocative takes on the dark side of America.
1961. Japan. 75 min. B&W. Masterless samurai Sanjuro Kuwabatake (Toshirô Mifune) finds himself in a feud-torn Japanese village in legendary director Akira Kurosawa's darkly comic film. After pretending to work for merchants on both sides of the feud, Kuwabatake is imprisoned for treachery. He escapes in time to watch the two warring factions destroy each other, just as he had intended. Yojimbo served as the prototype for Clint Eastwood's A Fistful of Dollars.
“Inspired by a Dashiel Hammet pulp novel, this is the essential Toshiro Mifune performance as a scruffy unemployed samurai. Kurosawa shows a masterful use of music, space, movement, even the wind. One of the best movies ever made.” -Sayles
1952. USA. 105 min. Color. Burt Lancaster stars in this comedy set on the high seas in the 1700s. A sea captain (Lancaster) has a fine racket going: his crew pretends to be stricken with scurvy so they can take over other royal vessels. But how long can he continue his streak? Get your fill of naval battles and swordplay in this campy tribute to the classic swashbuckling films of Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
“Burt Lancaster at his acrobatic best. This movie is the talkie crystallization of Douglas Fairbanks’ kinetic silents.” -Sayles
1960. USA. 128 min. Color. Fed up with being brutalized and impoverished because of outlaw raids led by a merciless brigand (Eli Wallach), the besieged citizens of a small Mexican town hire seven American gunslingers to stave off the marauders once and for all. Badass Yul Brynner heads the band of mercenaries, which includes Hollywood luminaries Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn and Robert Vaughn. Elmer Bernstein penned the film's unforgettable score.
“Westerns have always been carried by their charismatic bad guys. Here the entire cast are character actors playing mercenaries and bandits fighting, just this once, for good rather than gold. Great score by Elmer Bernstein and a canny redressing of Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai." -Sayles
1957. USA. 87 min. B&W. Writer-director Stanley Kubrick's powerful antiwar statement stars Kirk Douglas as Col. Dax, commander of a weary regiment of the French army along the western front during World War I. When French generals order the regiment to carry out what amounts to a suicide mission against heavy German fire, some of the men refuse. But when the army tries three of the soldiers on charges of cowardice, Dax acts as their defense attorney.
“A Stanley Kubrick/Kirk Douglas collaboration that condenses the murderous idiocy of the first World War into a single incident. Beautiful use of space (or lack of it) by Kubrick and one of actor Timothy Carey’s finest visits to our planet.” -Sayles
1963. UK. 110 min. Color. Bond is back - and so are the bullets, beauties and bad guys! You'll be shaken and stirred by Sean Connery's second outing as James Bond, which has him paying the price for his previous adventure when SPECTRE lured him into a deadly trap to avenge the death of Dr. No. Will Bond's mission to find a Russian coding machine be his last? Don't bet the bank on it!
“Low on tech gimmicks, high on story value, this Bond benefits from Robert Shaw’s icy-eyed assassin, a great cameo by Lotte Lenya, and the cinematic nature of train travel.” -Sayles
1951. USA. 111 min. B&W. Fired from a number of big-city papers, reporter Charles Tatum (Kirk Douglas) tries to reestablish himself in New Mexico. When a local miner is trapped in a cave-in, Tatum turns the victim's misfortune into a media frenzy to further his own career. A local sheriff agrees to help prolong the rescue efforts, thereby helping build up the story. This classic film has been touted as director Billy Wilder's sharpest, most uncompromising piece of work.
"Billy Wilder is often accused of cynicism, but I find this film noir portrait of the reporter as amoral self-server to be only situationally enhanced. Kirk Douglas, always willing to play a heel, does some of his best work here and Jan Sterling is right off the cover of a trashy 50’s novel as the bottled-blond conniving tramp." -Sayles
1954. USA. 94 min. B&W. Testing munitions is always a good idea, right? It ensures that all things will go according to plan when the time comes. But the inhabitants of a small Southwestern town feel the real "fallout" when radiation from bomb tests creates giant, mutant ants that descend on their community. Filled with creepy creatures large and small, this 1954 sci-fi spectacular falls squarely in the realm of B-movies.
“This is the template for the classic atoms-out-of-whack monster movie, effectively and efficiently made. Who needs tentacled invaders from Mars when you’ve got really big ants? Wonderful use of the scenic Los Angeles River.” -Sayles
1961. USA. 134 min. B&W. Paul Newman scores as tragic, flawed pool hustler "Fast Eddie Felson" in a brooding drama that explores the synergies between good and evil, love and desperation. Felson tours the country hustling games - even challenging reigning champion Minnesota Fats (a fabulous Jackie Gleason). Co-starring Piper Laurie and George C. Scott, The Hustler was followed 30 years later by the sequel The Color of Money, starring Newman and Tom Cruise. Rack 'em up!
“Wonderful mood piece, with Paul Newman taking his rightful spot next to Brando and Dean as a self-destructive pool player. The cold, mercenary fury of George C. Scott’s talentless but all-powerful Bert makes the plot work, and Jackie Gleason, always light on his feet, shoots a great stick.” -Sayles
1950. USA. 96 min. B&W. A medical official races against time to stop a deadly epidemic from spreading across the United States in this taut drama. Lt. Cmdr. Dr. Clinton Reed (Richard Widmark) frantically scours New Orleans to locate two murderers (Jack Palance and Zero Mostel) infected with a deadly plague. Reed must inoculate the criminals and anyone with whom they've come into contact, without causing widespread pandemonium. Barbara Bel Geddes also stars.
“Elia Kazan gets out of the studio with a vengeance. Once again the bad guys, here a craven Zero Mostel and feverish Jack Palace, energize the picture. New Orleans looks thoroughly epidemic in black and white.” -Sayles
1972. USA. 100 min. Color. The hard times of poor white fighters in California provide the background for this brilliant, unflinching and sorely overlooked masterpiece by director John Huston. Stacy Keach is Tully, a down-on-his-luck alcoholic boxer earning money as a field worker while trying for a comeback. Tully tries to pass his wisdom on to Ernie (Jeff Bridges), his 18-year-old protégé, attempting to give the kid the chances he missed.
“John Huston was a great chronicler of marginal people, and here he nails the look and the mood of Leonard Gardner’s episodic boxing novel. Killer performances by Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrell and wonderful use of the funky side of Northern California.” -Sayles
1953. Sweden. 93 min. B&W. Bergman's powerful and pitiless essay on passion, jealousy, and betrayal unfolds against the backdrop of an impoverished traveling circus in turn-of-the-century Sweden. Sawdust and Tinsel is considered by many critics to be one of Bergman's finest films, and often favorably compared with such classic tragedies as The Blue Angel and La Strada. The disturbing story revolves around an aging circus owner, who suffers heartbreak and humiliation at the hands of his young mistress and her brutal lover. Harriet Andersson (Monika) exhibits the fierce sensuality for which she became known in her portrayal of the flirtatious mistress. Bergman uses stark black-and-white photography and inspired editing of sound and visuals to construct his haunting allegory of human weakness and spiritual despair.
“This is Ingmar Bergman hitting his stride as a filmmaker. Stunning metaphoric flashback sequence at the beginning, told with only music and images, and one of Harriet Andersson’s greatest performances.” -Sayles
1957. USA. 96 min. B&W. Walter Winchell-style columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) uses his power to steamroll both friends and enemies. Fawning press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), desperate to promote his client in Hunsecker's column, pesters Hunsecker until he's finally drawn into the columnist's devious plan to ruin a jazz guitarist who's angered Hunsecker by daring to date his sister. No one is left unscathed in this sinister tale of greed and corruption.
“One of the first films to really use New York City location shooting, this has wonderful multi-layered dialog scenes by Clifford Odets and a Lancaster performance that gets to the black soul of a Winchell-like gossip warlord. Tony Curtis’ finest hour.” -Sayles
1971. USA. 93 min. Color. Unable to deal with her parents, Jeannie Tyne runs away from home. Larry and Lyne Tyne search for her, and in the process meet other people whose children ran away. With their children gone, the parents are now free to rediscover/enjoy life.
“Not many great movies about the 60’s and early 70’s were made in that era, but this is one of them. Milos Foreman cast an Eastern European eye on the generation gap and came up with this half-farce, half documentary tone poem. Beautifully emotional performance from Cassavetes veteran Lynn Carlin and a recurring sequence of auditions for Hair that include an early glimpse of both Kathy Bates (yes, singing) and Carly Simon.” -Sayles
1949. USA. 104 min. B&W Who was Harry Lime? And who killed him? And is he really dead? These are just a few of the questions writer-turned-sleuth Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) tries to answer as he trolls the shadowy streets of postwar Vienna. Director Carol Reed turns Graham Greene's classic mystery into a film noir without equal. You'll be humming the zither theme for weeks!
"Carol Reed, Graham Greene, Orson Wells and the streets of post-War Vienna come together here in a tight thriller about loyalty and love. Joseph Cotten plays the wettest American in film history, and it is impossible not to carry the zither theme in your head for days after seeing this picture." -Sayles
Peter Norton Symphony Space
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre | Leonard Nimoy Thalia
2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY 10025-6990
Tel: 212.864.5400 Fax: 212.932.3228
