One of the most acclaimed writers of contemporary American fiction, Jonathan Lethem is also one of our country’s most observant commentators on American popular culture. The celebrated novelist and essayist will appear in the Dryden Theatre on Saturday, February 9 for the screening of Nicholas Ray’s 1956 masterpiece, Bigger Than Life.

This film stars the subtle and powerful James Mason as a middleclass schoolteacher who undergoes cortisone treatment after contracting a mysterious disease. The drug gives him a miraculous recovery, but it also causes delusions of grandeur and slowly eats away at his sanity, eventually threatening the safety of his family. Director Ray (Rebel Without a Cause) depicts the often-menacing pressures of American suburban life with a vision unlike any other on film.

Movies and pop culture have been a strong influence on Brooklyn native Lethem’s literary works, beginning with his first published novel, 1994’s meld of detective fiction and sci-fi entitled Gun, with Occasional Music. He achieved widespread success and won the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for his 1999 novel Motherless Brooklyn, which also puts a clever, modern-day spin on detective and film noir genre tropes, and he’s currently co-writing a screen adaptation of his deeply personal 2004 bestseller about superheroes and gentrification, The Fortress of Solitude. His most recent novel is You Don’t Love Me Yet.

Some of Lethem’s strongest writing appears in his collection of essays, The Disappointment Artist, including a wonderful piece on how to watch and appreciate a movie, inspired by Lethem’s frequent viewings of John Ford’s The Searchers. The volume also contains the finest appreciation of John Cassavetes’ films yet published. Lethem will introduce Bigger Than Life, and a discussion about the film and cinephilia in general will follow. The evening will conclude with a book signing, with books available from the Eastman House Store.

~Jim Healy, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Motion Picture Department

Ken Loach, scheduled to be here at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, October 10th, has cancelled his visit due to unforeseen personal circumstances.

The U.S. premiere of Loach’s new film, It’s A Free World, will show as announced at 8 p.m. on October 10th. Regular admission prices will apply. Cathy Come Home will screen on October 10th at 6 p.m. and October 11th at 6 p.m.

For those who have purchased advance tickets full refunds will be given through October 11th.

One of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Ken Loach has, over five decades, made films that have moved and inspired audiences. A tireless activist through his art, Loach has continually championed the underprivileged and working-class citizens of the world while challenging the establishment and any oppressor of human rights. Loach’s remarkable body of work includes Poor Cow, Kes, Hidden Agenda, Riff Raff, Raining Stones, Æ Fond Kiss, and his 2006 film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Our special evening on October 10 will begin with a clip reel, followed by the first area screening of his latest film, It’s A Free World (Ken Loach, UK 2007, 96 min., 35mm). When the sexy and brash Angie (Kierston Wareing in an engaging performance) is laid off from her job in London, she partners with her best pal Rose (Juliet Ellis) to start their own recruiting agency. Angie and Rose are at first able to succeed because of the large number of Eastern European immigrants who provide a cheap, and legal, labor pool for England, but soon it becomes necessary for the two partners to begin recruiting illegal immigrants. Loach’s first feature since The Wind That Shake’s the Barley is a funny, dramatic, and incisive look at personal ambition and social ethics. Mr. Loach will also receive the title of George Eastman Honorary Scholar and the evening will conclude with a discussion of his work in film.

Tickets $10; $8 members and students. Advance tickets are available online by clicking the link below, by phone at (585) 271-3361 ext. 295, and also in person at the admissions desk, or Dryden Theatre box office. No Take-10 tickets or passes.

Cathy Come Home, originally scheduled as part of this evening, will now screen on October 10 at 6 p.m. and again on October 11 at 6 p.m. Admission is included with purchase of ticket to An Evening with Ken Loach.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 6 p.m. and WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11 AT 6 p.m.: CATHY COME HOME (Ken Loach, UK 1966, 75 min., 16mm). The story of a young woman (Carol White) who is left homeless by the bureaucratic British welfare system, Loach’s powerful drama launched his career in features and forced changes in UK public policy.

If you can imagine the title for this series as a neon sign in electric-pink cursive, or air-brushed on a loose-fitting tee with a lightning bolt in the background, or “comin’ at ya” off a movie screen in 3-D with a badass accompanying guitar lick, then you know what the 1980s were all about. This fall, the Dryden Theatre pays homage to the sights, sounds, and perms of the ’80s, the only decade with a fanbase so dedicated it approaches religious zealotry.

Partially credited with bringing the disco era to a screeching halt, producer Allan Carr’s glitzy camp classic Can’t Stop the Music (1980) stars the Village People and a roller-skating Steve Guttenberg, and features prophetic lines like, “This is the ’80s, darling…You’ll see a lot of things you’ve never see before.” Little did they know what we were all in for.

Breakdancing broke out of the boroughs, and is captured during its nascent moments in the first hip-hop TV show, Graffiti Rock, and the super-fresh feature, Breakin’ II: Electric Boogaloo. BMX romanced teenage boys coast to coast, and—the ultimate old-school biking film, BMX Bandits, only added to the seduction. Hair metal, in the form of bands like Judas Priest, intoxicated throngs of young Americans, who then compulsively grew mullets and donned acid-wash jeans. The phenomenon is documented in Jeff Krulik’s Heavy Metal Parking Lot, which Krulik will present in person on September 29.

In the ’80s, horror films became hip, irreverent, and culturally relevant. Zombies experienced a resurrection, as seen in many of these selections (Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead II, Night of the Comet) that make audiences laugh and scream, often at the same time. John Carpenter’s sci-fi/horror/action/comedy They Live took genre-bending to extremes while poking fun at yuppies in the era of “Greed is Good.” They Live might also feature the definitive demonstration of “shade-tippin,’” an odd signifier that became an almost metaphysical gesture, connoting a variety of ’80s-esque attitudes, like “whoa,” “gnarly,” or “check me out.”

Some films, though grounded in trends specific to the decade, transcend that trendiness. River’s Edge, Repo Man, and Stop Making Sense have all survived the jokiness others have become subject to while remaining distinctly ’80s.

One of the problems with ’80s appreciation is that the decade has become a commodity in popular media. Certain television stations (ahem, VH1) have commodified the memes of the 1980s and represent it through excerpts, clips, and soundbites. So, what you get is a clichéd, watered-down, and revisionist version of the ’80s. For this series, we’ve tried to explore the way it really was—for better or worse, and completely uncut—during the “Me” Decade.

Dude, this is going to be awesome.

Michael Neault, Associate Programmer, Motion Picture Department

Thursday, September 6
Can’t Stop the Music (Nancy Walker, US 1980, 118 min.) Co-presented by ImageOut, the Rochester LGBT Film Festival.

Thursday, September 13
7 p.m. Graffiti Rock (Clark Santee, US 1984, 23 min.) and 8 p.m. Breakin’ II: Electric Boogaloo (Sam Firstenberg, US 1984, 94 min.) Co-presented by Fish & Crown Records (http://fishandcrown.com).

Thursday, September 20
Director Tim Hunter in Person!
River’s Edge (Tim Hunter, US 1986, 99 min.)

Saturday, September 29
Director Jeff Krulik in Person!
Krulik’s films including Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986, 16 min.), King of Porn (1996, 7 min.), I Created Lancelot Link (1999, 15 min.), Obsessed With Jews (2000, 8 min.), Harry Potter Parking Lot (2000, 7 min.), and Hitler’s Hat (2003, 47 min.) Special ticket pricing; no Take-10 tickets or passes. The Experimental Television Center’s Presentation Funds Program is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, a public agency.

Sunday, September 30
7 p.m. Repo Man (Alex Cox, US 1984, 92 min.) Co-presented by Manic Mondays ’80s Dance Party (http://www.myspace.com/manicmondays).

Thursday, October 4
7 p.m. Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, US 1983, 95 min.) and 9 p.m. Night of the Comet (Thom Eberhart, US 1984, 95 min.) Co-presented by Godiva’s Vintage Clothing.

Thursday, October 11
BMX Bandits (Brian Trenchard-Smith, Australia 1983, 88 min. ) Co-presented by Coalition BMX (www.coalitionbmx.com).

Thursday, October 18
Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme, US 1984, 88 min.) Co-presented by Thursday Night Shakedown. Talking Heads-themed dance party to follow at the Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Avenue, Rochester.

Thursday, October 25
Actor Pat Healy in Person!
“The Art of Shade Tippin’” lecture followed by They Live (John Carpenter, US 1988, 97 min.)

Saturday, October 27
8 p.m. Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, US 1987, 85 min.) and 9:30 p.m. Return of the Living Dead (Dan O’Bannon, US 1985, 91 min.)

Sunday, October 28
7 p.m. Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi, US 1987, 85 min.) and 8:30 p.m. Return of the Living Dead (Dan O’Bannon, US 1985, 91 min.)

All films will be screened in the Dryden Theatre at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Admission is $6, $5 students, and $4 members.

A true cinematic anomaly, there’s never been anything quite like Bugsy Malone, before or after it was released in 1976. Maybe it’s not the first Prohibition-era gangster musical comedy, but it’s the first one to feature an entire cast of under-14-year-olds playing the wiseguys and their molls. The violence inherent in the gangster genre is tempered somewhat by the fact that the characters aren’t dispatched with bullets, but rather “splurge guns” that spew whipped cream all over their targets. Is there any wonder why this highly entertaining gem has a cult following among adults who saw it as children?

Bugsy (a pre-Chachi Scott Baio) is an ambitious hood caught in the middle of a war between gangleaders Fat Sam and Dandy Dan. Meanwhile, Bugsy’s love life finds him shuttling between the virtuous Blousey (Florrie Dugger) and hard-bitten nightclub singer Tallulah (Jodie Foster, who appeared in Taxi Driver the same year). But while the movie’s story isn’t so surprising, the spectacle of dozens of tough-talking and tap-dancing pre-teens on the lushly designed art-deco sets of Geoffrey Kirkland (who recently brought the visionary future world of Children of Men to life) is delightfully surreal, to say the least. Adding to the oddness: the catchy, Oscar®-nominated song score by ’70s musical legend Paul Williams (The Muppet Movie) is frequently voiced by adult performers while the young cast lip-synchs the lyrics, a stylistic touch that pre-dates the work of Dennis Potter (Pennies from Heaven, The Singing Detective).

The film was the brainchild of English writer-director Alan Parker, who got his start coming up with similar high-concept ideas in the world of British television commercials. Parker was one of a number of UK filmmakers who rose to the ranks of feature directing after working in advertising. His compatriots included some of the most influential cinematic forces of the last three decades: Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction), Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire), and the Scott brothers, Ridley (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator) and Tony (The Hunger, True Romance). Bugsy Malone was Parker’s big screen debut, and while he’s flirted with the musical in later efforts like Fame and The Commitments and even engaged in further dairy product hijinks in The Road to Wellville, he’s never made anything as idiosyncratic as his first film, preferring more prestigious projects like Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning, and Angela’s Ashes.

Part satire, part fantasy, part affectionate homage, this ain’t no Little Rascals short, but Bugsy Malone is not just a cultural curiosity either. It’s the perfect entertainment for viewers of all ages. In Great Britain, where the movie was filmed, Bugsy Malone recently inspired a London stage musical, renewing interest in the original movie. New 35mm prints were struck and one will be imported for three screenings in the Dryden Theatre.

~Jim Healy, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Motion Picture Department

Interview with Alan Parker at Film Street