(GIÙ LA TESTA/A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE, Sergio Leone, Italy 1971, 157 min.)
Little seen and previously only available in butchered versions, this underappreciated Leone Western stars James Coburn as an Irish terrorist trying to flee from his bitter past in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, and Rod Steiger plays a crude Mexican peasant who robs banks to liberate political prisoners. The film reveals a striking political consciousness and, as you’d expect in a Leone film, a great score by Ennio Morricone.
(William Wyler, US 1953, 118 min.)
In her first principal role, Audrey Hepburn is a runaway princess who falls for a “Prince Charming” commoner—an American reporter (Gregory Peck) covering the royal tour in Rome. Wyler’s bittersweet fairy-tale romance, shot entirely o location in Rome, was reportedly based on the real-life Italian adventures of British Princess Margaret. Presented through the support of the Cornell/Weinstein Family Foundation, in loving memory of Regina Cornell.
(Steven Spielberg, US 1971, 90 min., Digital Projection)
then at 8:45 p.m. WHITE LINE FEVER
(Jonathan Kaplan, US 1975, 92 min.)
Duel tells the taut, simple tale of an average man (Dennis Weaver) who’s terrorized on a lonely stretch of highway by the faceless driver behind the wheel of a monstrous truck. Originally produced for American television, Duel was the film that put Steven Spielberg on the map. Then, in the blue-collar revenge classic White Line Fever, Jan Michael Vincent stars as an independent trucker who fights against the hoodlums running and ruining his industry.
(Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia 2007, 92 min., Russian/subtitles)
The director of Russian Ark made this powerful anti-war film in which not a shot is fired. Russian opera legend Galina Vishnevskaya stars as an elderly woman visiting her grandson, an officer stationed among the bored, weary troops at a desolate military outpost. More myth than contemporary politics, the movie juxtaposes her womanly warmth with the hard steel of their weaponry; the value she places on their lives with the pessimism of their mindset; her memories of family life and hopes for their future with the cynicism inherent in their mission. “A film of startling originality and beauty”—Mahohla Dargis, The New York Times.
(Sergio Leone, US/Italy 1984, 227 min.)
In Leone’s final film and most accomplished masterwork, Robert DeNiro stars as Noodles, an aged Jewish gangster who recalls his childhood and rise to power in prohibition-era New York. The supporting cast includes James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Tuesday Weld, Joe Pesci, Burt Young, and Danny Aiello. Shorn of 90 minutes for the first American release, this version restores Leone’s original epic vision.
