The Ninth Annual Festival of Film Noir !!
Jul 20 to Jul 29
10 days of 5 double features in the dark amongst friends & strangers! Hard ass crime lords, turmoiled ladies, espionage galore, the underbelly of American prosperity and abroad! Friday to the follow week's Sunday!
Much to our delight we once again - going on 9 years now! - and always with feeling, bring in the 2-for-1 double features of both older and more recent NOIR! This festival would not be possible without the indispensable help of Peter Conheim and his wise consultation, the projection wizardry of Josephine Scherer giving the necessary tlc to several of the prints and the Guild manager Chris Woodworth for providing a great deal of this year's picks for the fest. A huge thanks to them! We hope you enjoy the series!
THURSDAY JULY 26 & FRIDAY JULY 27 - THE 70'S ROBERT MITCHUM DOUBLE UP SHOT!
THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE (4:30, 8:15)
Dir. Peter Yates - 1973 - 102m
In one of the best performances of his legendary career, Robert Mitchum plays small-time gunrunner Eddie “Fingers” Coyle in Peter Yates’s adaptation of George V. Higgins’s acclaimed novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle. World-weary and living hand to mouth, Coyle works on the sidelines of the seedy Boston underworld just to make ends meet. But when he finds himself facing a second stretch of hard time, he’s forced to weigh loyalty to his criminal colleagues against snitching to stay free. Directed with a sharp eye for its gritty locales and an open heart for its less-than-heroic characters, this is one of the true treasures of 1970s Hollywood filmmaking—a suspenseful crime drama in stark, unforgiving daylight.
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (6:30)
Dir. Dick Richards - 1975 - 95m
A true-to-the period remake, made with clear respect for the source novel. Marlowe fits Mitchum like a glove! Private detective Philip Marlowe is strongarmed into searching for an ex-con's sweetheart, the elusive Velma. Another case involving a stolen necklace leads him to the seductive Mrs. Grayle. Soon he's trying to stay one step ahead of the police and whoever's knocking off Velma's former associates.
SATURDAY JULY 28 & SUNDAY JULY 29 - THE INSPIRATION FOR "DRIVE"!
THIEF (4:00, 8:15)
Dir. Michael Mann - 1981 - 122m
The dark noir spaces in this one are tinged with the neon palette that has become the trademark of director Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Heat). This was his first theatrical film, and all the elements that characterize his later style (and this is a very stylistic film) are dominant. Equal parts grit and glamour, the story is simple. Frank (James Caan) is a lone-wolf jewel thief who was, in his words, brought up "by the state." In prison he was apprenticed to a master thief, played by Willie Nelson. When Frank's successful career comes to the attention of an avuncular syndicate boss (Robert Prosky), Frank is offered (and accepts against his better judgment) a deal that should allow him to retire and enjoy the family life he covets. But the deal sours, and Frank is left to decide what his nature truly is, lone wolf or family man.
THE DRIVER (6:30)
Dir. Walter Hill - 1978 - 91m
A way cool mix of noirish grit and slam-bang action, this caper film from director Walter Hill (48 Hrs, The Warriors) is required viewing for car-chase fanatics and devotees of '70s cinema. Ryan O'Neal and Bruce Dern are terrific as opposite sides of the law: respectively, a supernaturally skilled getaway car driver, and the dogged detective who's pursued him at the expense of all else. Hill keeps dialogue and character development at bare-bones level (the characters are named after their primary function: O'Neal is the Driver, the stunning Isabelle Adjani is the Connection) and focuses on mood, tone, and, above all, some of the most stunning automotive action captured on film.
