A friendly, familiar, and informed authority on the movies, Jack Garner retired in June after 28 years as staff film critic of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Jack’s sphere of influence stretches way beyond the local and regional: for 20 years he’s also served as the nationally syndicated chief film critic of Gannett News Service.
A fixture in Rochester journalism since 1970, he first began reviewing films for the Rochester Gannett Newspapers in May 1977, starting with his review of the original Star Wars. He has since traveled all around the world, interviewing stars and directors including Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Quentin Tarantino, David Lean, Woody Allen, Sophia Loren, and silent film legends Lillian Gish and Louise Brooks.
While he will continue writing a weekly films and entertainment column for the Democrat and Chronicle, George Eastman House and Honorary Event Committee Chair Ted Curtis will pay homage to the career accomplishments of Jack Garner by presenting him with the George Eastman Medal of Honor on Friday, November 9. The award is presented to individuals whose work represents the values of George Eastman.
This event will be supplemented throughout November and December when we present a series of films personally curated by Jack that reflect his tastes in cinema. Jack’s selections range from sentimental favorites (American Graffiti) to award-winning classics (The Bridge on the River Kwai) to guilty pleasures (King Creole).
Our series begins with the award presentation, followed by a screening of Elia Kazan’s masterpiece, On the Waterfront, a film that Jack Garner considers “one of the landmarks of American cinema, a film of great import to movies in general and in many ways, to me personally.” Following the screening, Jack will talk about On the Waterfront and his life in the movies.
Jim Healy, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Motion Picture Department
A Salute to Jack Garner
When: Friday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.* | Where: Dryden Theatre | What: George Eastman Medal of Honor presentation followed by a screening of On the Waterfront and an audience q&a with Mr. Garner after the film. | Tickets: General Admission tickets for Orchestra side and Balcony seating for the ceremony and screening are $10, $8 members and students, available at www.eastmanhouse.org, the admissions desk, Dryden Theatre box office, or (585) 271-3361 ext. 295. No Take-10 tickets or passes. Doors open 6:45 p.m.
* Reservation-only pre-event reception with Jack Garner from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Potter Peristyle| Tickets: Pre-event reception tickets are $75, and include reserved Center Orchestra seating for the ceremony and film, available at www.eastmanhouse.org, the admissions desk, Dryden Theatre box office, or (585) 271-3361 ext. 214. | Proceeds benefit the continued renovation of the Dryden Theatre.
Friday, November 9, 7:30 p.m.
A Salute to Jack Garner w/ screening of On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, US 1954, 108 min.) Special admission prices No Take-10 tickets or passes.
Wednesday, November 14
Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, US 1989, 120 min.)
Wednesday, November 21
The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, UK 1957, 161 min.)
Saturday, November 24
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, UK 1964, 93 min.) New 35mm print!
Sunday, November 25, 7 p.m.
American Graffiti (George Lucas, US 1973, 112 min.)
Wednesday, November 28
Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden 1973, 106 min., Swedish/subtitles)
Wednesday, December 5
Amarcord (Federico Fellini, Italy 1974, 127 min., Italian/subtitles)
Wednesday, December 12
King Creole (Michael Curtiz, US 1958, 116 min.)
Sunday, December 16, 7 p.m.
Members’ Movie Night
The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, US/UK 1975, 129 min.) Free to members.
Wednesday, December 19
The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, US 1955, 93 min.)
Friday, December 28
7 p.m. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, US 1954, 112 min.) Two films for one admission price.
Sunday, December 30, 7 p.m. & Monday, December 31, 2 p.m.
A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester, UK 1964, 85 min., 35mm). Two films for one admission price.
All films will be screened in the Dryden Theatre at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Admission is $6, $5 students, and $4 members.
December 25, 2007 marks what would have been the 100th birthday for one of 20th century’s greatest entertainers and musicians, Rochester-born Cab Calloway (1907–1994), also known as the “King of Hi-De-Ho.” A legendary singer, dancer, and bandleader, Calloway also left his mark on the movies. We’ll celebrate the occasion on December 21 with a screening of a great 1944 musical, Stormy Weather. Featuring four terrific Calloway numbers and appearances from other legends like Lena Horne, Fats Waller, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and the Nicholas Brothers, Stormy Weather is entertainment at its finest. As a bonus, we’ll also present Calloway in cartoons, short films, and other footage spanning his 70-year career.
“The definitive epic of all time. . . You are never, ever going to see anything to equal it” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Over the weekend of November 3 and 4, the Dryden will offer a rare complete screening of director Sergei Bondarchuk’s War and Peace, shown in four parts. This 1969 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar® winner is an excitingly faithful adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel about a love triangle set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Shown to wide acclaim in the US during the Cold War, War and Peace is a classic epic with vividly realized and moving characters, played by an excellent cast that includes the director himself as Pierre. Memorable scenes include a ball sequence that rivals Visconti’s The Leopard, and a depiction of the Battle of Borodino that required the use of thousands of extras largely recruited from the actual Red Army. Both evenings of this astounding cinematic achievement will begin at 7 p.m. Parts one and two will be shown on November 3, and parts three and four will be shown on November 4. Special admission price for all four parts: $15, $12 members and students. Regular admission prices apply for individual parts. Advance tickets are now available at http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org, the admissions desk, Dryden Theatre box office, or (585) 271-3361 ext. 295. No Take-10 tickets or passes.
The Dryden continues its tradition of bringing you the best in new foreign and independent releases with screenings of three great recent films that you won’t see on the big screen anywhere else in the region.
One of the most important and thought provoking documentaries of the year, the Dryden will present six screenings of Tony Kaye’s Lake of Fire from November 10 to 12. Kaye spent 15 years researching the abortion issue in America, and his intelligent and compelling investigation into a very complex topic, is also very graphic in showing the physical and psychological realities of abortion. The Dryden’s special three-day run will qualify Lake of Fire for a Best Documentary Academy Award® nomination.
In the visionary black comedy from Norway, The Bothersome Man (November 17 & 18), a 40-year-old man commits suicide and finds himself trapped in a materialistic purgatory where he can have anything he wishes, but finds no fulfillment. Combining deadpan gallows humor with a generous helping of slapstick, this terrific gem is a true original.
It never made it to local commercial theaters, but Seraphim Falls (December 14) is one of the most overlooked films of the year. In a gripping story of survival set shortly after the Civil War, Southerner Liam Neeson pursues former Union commander Pierce Brosnan through snowy mountains, arid plains, and, ultimately, the desert. The eye-poppingly gorgeous widescreen location cinematography makes this a must-see on 35mm film.
Jim Healy, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Motion Picture Department
As 2006 drew to a close and national critics prepared their annual ten-best lists, it became clear that one of the best-reviewed films of the year was Jean-Pierre Melville’s magnificent Army of Shadows (L’Armée des Ombres), a powerful portrait of a group of French resistance agents set during the final year of the Nazi occupation. Appropriately enough for a movie loaded with pointed ironies, Army of Shadows’ acclaim in America came 37 years after it was made and released in Europe in 1969 and did not receive an official US release until last year. Similarly, at the end of 2007, critics are likely to continue praising Mafioso, Alberto Lattuada’s brilliant dark comedy from 1962 that was released earlier this year to appreciative American viewers, most of whom had never seen it before.
The American box-office and critical success of Army of Shadows (screening in the Dryden on November 15) and Mafioso (November 23) is the triumph of Rialto Pictures, a small, New York-based distribution company specializing in re-releases of canonized cinema classics, cult favorites, and movies from the past that deserve to be better known. Founded in 1997, Rialto has become, in the words of Los Angeles Times and NPR film critic Kenneth Turan, “the gold standard of reissue distributors.” The films Rialto makes available are presented in new 35mm prints and often feature newly translated subtitles. In the cases of Rialto’s reissues of Federico Fellini’s magical Nights of Cabiria (November 8 ) and Carol Reed’s postwar masterpiece The Third Man (December 13), the full-length European versions were shown to large American audiences for the first time.
Rialto has been dedicated to ensuring that contemporary audiences see the best work of the 20th century’s most important international cinema artists under the best possible circumstances. Their mission has brought back several films by Fellini, Robert Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard (represented in this series by Two or Three Things I Know About Her on November 1), and Luis Buñuel (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, December 20). With Army of Shadows and Le Cercle Rouge (December 9), Rialto has also been instrumental in boosting the reputation of the supreme stylist Jean-Pierre Melville, and their latest reissue is Melville’s gripping 1962 gangster-cop drama Le Doulos (November 16 & 18) starring the iconic Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Great American movies, like Peter Davis’ celebrated documentary Hearts and Minds (November 29) and Mel Brooks’ side-splittingly funny first feature The Producers (December 27), have also received the Rialto treatment. We owe this plethora of celluloid riches to Rialto founder and co-president Bruce Goldstein, and his partner, Adrienne Halpern. Goldstein, who is also the repertory programmer at New York’s legendary Film Forum, will join us in person on December 6 to present a 20-minute trailer history of his company, followed by another terrific French thriller and Rialto re-discovery, Jacques Becker’s Touchez Pas au Grisbi. On December 7, Goldstein will introduce one of Rialto’s monster hits, the restored original Japanese-language version of Godzilla, followed by a demonstration of how the film was re-edited for its initial US release.
~Jim Healy, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Motion Picture Department
