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Donald Sutherland has had an amazingly unusual career for a someone who achieved stardom in the New Hollywood era, circa 1970. Born in 1935 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, he grew up in Nova Scotia, then graduated from the University of Toronto. He then voyaged to Great Britain to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in the late 1950s before floating around Europe taking supporting parts in Hollywood smashes like Robert Aldrich’s THE DIRTY DOZEN and low budget genre films like DIE! DIE! MY DARLING. His first critically acclaimed role was as the dying aristocrat in Michael Sarne’s JOANNA in 1968. When he appeared as anarchic free-spirit military surgeon, Hawkeye Pierce, in Robert Altman’s groundbreaking black comedy MASH, he was suddenly propelled into full-blown Hollywood stardom and things were never the same again. The rest of the 1970s saw Sutherland assay an astounding variety of characters as well as vocally participating in political activism (often with his KLUTE co-star, Jane Fonda.) Sutherland’s astonishing versatility was exhibited in both lead and supporting roles in such 1970s films as KELLY’S HEROES, ALEX IN WONDERLAND, DON’T LOOK NOW, DAY OF THE LOCUST, LITTLE MURDERS, FELLINI’S CASANOVA, 1900 and such 1980s films as EYE OF THE NEEDLE, ORDINARY PEOPLE, MAX DUGAN RETURNS, A DRY WHITE SEASON. Since 1990 there have been more juicy parts in films like BACKDRAFT, JFK, SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, OUTBREAK and most recently and notably COLD MOUNTAIN and LORD OF WAR. We are enormously pleased to welcome Donald Sutherland in-person at The Aero Theatre for a sneak preview of one of his latest and greatest, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

Friday, October 28 - 7:30 PM

SNEAK PREVIEW! Donald Sutherland In Person:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, 2005, Focus Feature, 128 min. Keira Knightley throws off sparks as independent Elizabeth Bennett, one of five sisters that parents (Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn) and aunt (Judi Dench) are hoping to marry off to local gentry in Georgian-era England. But the arrival of two eligible young bachelors, Mr. Darcy (Mathew MacFadyen) and Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), throws a spanner into the works. Jena Malone also sparkles as youngest and least mature sister, Lydia. Director Joe Wright puts an equal emphasis on period and emotional realism as well as romance and humor, balancing the elements as to not only remain faithful to, but enhance the trenchant social observations of Jane Austen’s original classic novel. Discussion following with Donald Sutherland.

KELLY’S HEROES, 1970, Warner Bros, 144 min. Brian G. Hutton (WHERE EAGLES DARE) directed this underrated, delightfully screwball WWII comedy about an enterprising soldier, Private Kelly (Clint Eastwood) who recruits other misfits in his outfit (Donald Sutherland, Don Rickles, Telly Savalas, et. al.) to help devise a scheme to capture a hoard of Nazi gold from behind enemy lines. Sutherland nearly steals the show as Oddball, a decidedly hip, stoned-out tank commander.

MASH, 1970, 20th Century Fox, 116 min. Director Robert Altman’s breakout film defines black comedy and the pushing-the-envelope, pioneering spirit then blossoming in the New Hollywood of the 1970’s. Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould are hilarious as Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John, newly arrived surgeons at the 4077 MASH unit located in a Korean War battle zone and two anarchic spirits who have no patience for hypocrisy, bureaucracy or stupidity. Timeless, with a dream cast of standout performers, including Robert Duvall, Sally Kellerman and Tom Skerritt.

KLUTE, 1971, Warner Bros, 114 min. Dir. Alan Pakula. John Klute (Donald Sutherland), a small town detective visiting the Big Apple on a missing persons case, finds a possible lead when he meets callgirl, Bree Daniel (Jane Fonda, who won the 1972 Oscar for her performance). What begins as an antagonistic relationship between a square family man and a city-dwelling, emotionally-closed-off woman slowly becomes a genuine love affair. Bree’s inability to feel warmth is challenged by Klute’s quiet dignity and desire to understand her, and their attachment is intensified by an unknown stalker dogging Bree’s trail. An expert melding of character study and suspense thriller.

DON'T LOOK NOW, 1973, Paramount, 110 min. Director Nicolas Roeg’s atmospheric adaptation of Daphne DuMaurier’s story is a haunting meditation on the consequences of repressing traits inside us that could mean the difference between Life and Death. Antiquities-restorer Donald Sutherland and wife Julie Christie, in mourning after the accidental drowning of their young daughter, journey to Venice during the off-season to help renovate a church. But their encounter with two strange sisters, one of whom is a blind clairvoyant, pulls them into shadowy back alleys, deserted canals and onto the radar of a warped serial killer terrorizing the city. A brilliant variation on Italy’s homegrown giallo thriller genre then enjoying success in early 1970’s European cinema.