go here THE SCHEDULE AND PROGRAM NOTES FOR NOIR CITY 16
(JANUARY 26 THROUGH FEBRUARY 4, 2018)
NOIR CITY 15 • Friday, January 20, 2017
CRISS CROSS
7:15 PM
How bad does Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) have it for his old flame Anna (Yvonne De Carlo)? Bad enough to concoct an armored car robbery as an excuse to keep seeing her. Bad enough to cut a deal with her gangster husband, the always slippery Dan Duryea. Bad enough to see his scheme through to the bitter, bitter end. Siodmak, pound for pound the greatest director of film noir, delivers the pure, uncut stuff here, infusing this classic crime caper with an intoxicating aura of doomed romanticism. Film noir's ultimate expression of amour fou. Presented in 35mm
USA, 1949. Universal-International. 88. min. Screenplay by Daniel Fuchs, Bill Bowers (uncredited), from the novel by Don Tracy Produced by Michel Kraike. Directed by Robert Siodmak
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE
9:10 PM
What better way to kick off NOIR CITY's salute to heist films than with the gold standard of the genre? Wily Doc Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe) gets sprung from the joint and immediately plans a jewelry store job with a can't-miss crew of professionals. There's no perfect crime -- and no perfect criminals -- because each man carries the seeds of his own destruction. Boasting perhaps the greatest ensemble cast ever—Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Louis Calhern, Anthony Caruso, Brad Dexter, Marc Lawrence—and a tempestuous turn that put Marilyn Monroe on the map. Presented in 35mm
USA, 1950. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [Warner Bros.]. 112 min. Screenplay by Ben Maddow and John Huston, from the novel by W. R. Burnett Produced by Arthur Hornblow, Jr. Directed by John Huston
Saturday, January 21 • Matinée
KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL
1:30 PM
Pity poor ex-con Joe Rolfe (John Payne). Trying to walk the straight and narrow, he winds up playing the patsy in a devilishly conceived million-dollar bank robbery. Desperate, he trails the thieves south of the border. There, he tangles with tough guys Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef, who are as deep in the dark as he is, and falls for good girl Coleen Gray—under the suspicious eye of her cop father (Preston Foster). The first pairing of noir dream team Payne and director Phil Karlson (99 River Street) remains one of the great capers of the 1950s. Presented in 35mm
USA, 1952. United Artists [Park Circus]. 99 min.Screenplay by George Bruce and Harry Essex, story by Harold Greene and Rowland Brown Produced by Edward Small. Directed by Phil Karlson
VIOLENT SATURDAY
3:30 PM
A trio of bandits (Lee Marvin, Stephen McNally, J. Carrol Naish) holes up in an Arizona mining burg, scheming to knock over the bank as the town's oblivious residents go about lives filled with bad habits, bad reputations, and bad romances. Every plotline converges in this one-of-a-kind fusion of pulp fiction and Douglas Sirk-style melodrama, effortlessly balanced by director Fleischer and shot in gorgeously lush Cinemascope. Don't miss your chance to see this small-town powder keg explode on the big screen. Presented digitally
USA, 1955. 20th Century-Fox. 90min. Screenplay by Sydney Boehm, from the novel by W. L. Heath Produced by Buddy Adler. Directed by Richard Fleischer
Saturday, January 21 • Evening
FOUR WAYS OUT
LA CITTÀ SI DIFENDE
7:15 PM
The heist drama, Federico Fellini-style. The Maestro has story and screenplay credit on this nearly forgotten film about a quartet of amateur thieves who successfully execute a daring mid-match robbery at a soccer stadium. They must separate to evade the police, but escaping their personal demons proves far more difficult. A humanist crime thriller that's equal parts film noir and neo-realism, featuring a young Gina Lollobrigida. Germi's dynamic direction earned La città si difende the Best Italian Film award at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. Presented in 35mm
Italy, 1951. Società Italiana Cines. [Cinecittà]. 74 min. Screenplay by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Giuseppe Mangione, and Pietro Germi, story by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, and Luigi Comencini Produced by Carlo Civallero. Directed by Pietro Germi
BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET
I SOLITI IGNOTI
9:00 PM
A comedy classic that sends up both caper films and neo-realist cinema while being a joy on its own terms. Small-time crooks in Rome join forces to rob a government-run pawn shop, but multiple mishaps and their own boisterous lives may prevent them from carrying out their half-baked scheme. With turns from some of the great names of Italian cinema—Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Claudia Cardinale, Renato Salvatori—forget the remakes and feast on the original! Presented digitally
Screenplay by Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Mario Monicelli Story by Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli, from a short story by Italo Calvino Produced by Franco Cristaldi. Directed by Mario Monicelli
Sunday, January 22
RIFIFI
DU RIFIFI CHEZ LES HOMMES
1:00, 6:30 PM
The only word for it: magnifique. So influential the title became international shorthand for heist films. Blacklisted American filmmaker Jules Dassin went to France and, with the encouragement of fellow director Jean-Pierre Melville, a tiny budget, and a novel he didn't even like, crafted a crime drama par excellence. The bravura break-in sequence, running thirty minutes without dialogue or music but with cunning use of ballet slippers and an umbrella, remains a landmark of suspense. Is it the greatest heist film of all-time? Judge for yourself. Presented digitally
France, 1955. Pathé Consortium Cinéma [Rialto]. 122 min. Screenplay by René Wheeler and Jules Dassin, from the novel by Auguste Le Breton Produced by René Bezard, Henri Bérard, and Pierre Cabaud. Directed by Jules Dassin
THE BIG RISK
CLASSE TOUS RISQUES
3:30, 9:00
Abel Davos (the gloriously hangdog Lino Ventura) is a wanted French gangster ready to end his exile in Italy. He sends his family ahead, planning one last job to cover expenses. Only his old cronies aren't thrilled to see him, and his sole ally is an untested kid played by Jean-Paul Belmondo (Breathless). The title means "Consider All Risks," but you're taking no chances with the movie the New York Times called "a missing piece of film history ... a link between the great postwar policiers and the brooding 1960s gangster dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville." Presented in 35mm
France, 1960. Mondex Films / Les Films Odéon [Rialto]. 108 min. Screenplay by José Giovanni, Pascal Jardin, Claude Sautet, from the novel by José Giovanni Produced by Robert Amon and Jean Darvey. Directed by Claude Sautet
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