~~ A DANGEROUS MAN: Lawrence after Arabia
His name is written across the burning sands of the desert for all time, but his victory there was just the beginning. T.E Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) rose from the ranks of British Intelligence to become the hero of the Arab world, leading a ragtag band of tribesmen to unlikely victory over Turkish rule. Yet the taste of freedom will be all too brief and a new challenge soon emerges, one that will pit Lawrence against the mightiest of global powers. The prize is unimaginable wealth - and the hero of the desert will find himself the target of deadly foes determined to do nothing less than redraw the map of the world.
~~ KILLER'S KISS
Stanley Kubrick's second feature film, Killer's Kiss, made the world take notice. The young moviemaker won acclaim for this dazzling film noir about a struggling New York boxer (Jamie Smith) whose life is imperiled when he protects a nightclub dancer (Irene Kane) from her gangster boss (Frank Silvera). Killer's Kiss not only lends considerable insight into future Kubrick classics but is also a remarkable film in its own right: the boxing match may be the most vicious this side of Raging Bull, and the famed final battle remains an action tour-de-force.
~~ L'AGE D'OR [THE GOLDEN AGE]
Poetic, absurd, erotic, visionary and scandalous, L'age D'or "can still provoke, baffle and delight" (New York Times) more than seventy years after its creation. The film showcases the imcomparably oobsessive cinematic imagination of Luis Bunuel at its beginning and the celebrated surrealism of Salvador Dali at its peak. L'AGE D'OR delivers a gleeful fever dream of Freudian unease, bizarre humor and shocking imagery that once experienced cannot be forgotten. Skewering everything from Catholic piety to sexual fetishism, the film provoked riots, was denounced by Mussolini's ambassador, earned its backer a threat of excommunication and was banned by the French Police all within two weeks of its release.
~~ PALOOKAVILLE
Arresting humor meets criminal comedy in this quirky romp about three wonderfully witless cons in search of a crime. Starring William Forsythe, Vincent Gallo, Adam Trese and Frances McDormand, Palookaville is an "irresistible feel-good-gem" (Screen International) that's "terrifically enjoyable" (The Wall Street Journal) and "hard to resist" (Variety)!.
For bumbling buddies Sid (Forsythe), Russ (Gallo) and Jerry (Trese), a life of crime looks like a solid career move - until they learn they might be under-qualified. Plotting to rob a jewelry store, they mistakenly burglarize a bakery. Scheming to hold up an armored truck, they wind up rescuing the driver. In fact, their hilarious struggle to pull off just one simple heist proves that crime doesn't pay - if you're too dumb to take the loot!
** A MEMORY OF TWO MONDAYS
Veteran actors Dick Van Pattten and Jack Warden join with Academy Award-winner Estelle Parsons in Arthur Miller's vivid comedy-drama portraying the nature of life during America's Great Depression. Dramatizing a compacted group of memories spanning several years, the emphasis is on mood and characterization as Miller draws on his own personal experience to evoke what the 1930's were like for workers to whom a job - any job - was everything.
** AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
An idealistic doctor, played by Emmy-winner James Daly, discovers that the medicinal springs, source of a small Norwegian town's wealth and fame, are in fact poisoned. Adapted by master playwright Arthur Miller from Henrik Ibsen's groundbreaking 1882 play, An Enemy of the People is a scathing indictment of a corrupt society. Veteran Broadway, screen and television actress Kate Reid plays the doctor's indomitable wife who stands by him in the face of the town's hostility to his findings.
** PARADISE LOST
Tony Award-winner Bernadette Peters, Eli Wallach, Fred Gwynne and Jo Van Fleet star in Clifford Odets' moving evocation of the Depression. Set in 1932, Paradise Lost unfolds in the modest two-family home of Leo and Clara Gordon, as misfortune strikes them.
"It is my hope," wrote Odets, "that when people see (it), they're going to be glad they're alive. And I hope that after they've seen it, they'll turn to strangers sitting next to them and say 'hello'."
** THE ROYAL FAMILY
George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber collaborated on this 1927 hit comedy about an eminent and slightly eccentric theatrical clan. The Cavendishes are as flamboyant offstage as they are on. Their real-life family drama occurs in a Manhattan apartment when the grand matriach, Fanny Cavendish, learns that her daughter and granddaughter may both be giving up the stage for marriage. Complicating the situation is the arrival of Fanny's son, Tony - a matinee idol on the run from a breach-of-promise suit. Theatre legends Rosemary Harris, Eva LeGallienne, Sam Levene and Ellis Rabb have great fun portraying characters they know all too well from their years on stage.
