<<< November 2005 >>>

Friday, November 4 – Wednesday November 9

Exclusive Re-release Engagement:

WINTER SOLDIER, 1972, 96 min. A Milliarium Zero re-release. "You were supposed to feel sorry for the American wounded, but you weren’t supposed to feel sorry for the enemy wounded or dead. And I just felt sorry for the whole thing. But I guess that doesn’t mean anything, just feeling sorry about it." "If you killed someone and they said, How do you know he’s a VC?, the general reply was, He’s dead. And that was sufficient." "The next morning I went and looked at my five friends that were dead. I pulled the sheet off them and I looked at them real close. And then I said, this is really real. Someone wants to really kill me." In February 1971, one month after the revelations of the My Lai massacre, a public inquiry into war crimes committed by American forces in Vietnam was held at a Howard Johnson motel in Detroit. Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized this event called the Winter Sodier Investigation with support from Jane Fonda and Mark Lane. More than 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed and committed. Though the event was attended by press and television news crews almost nothing was reported to the American public. Yet, this unprecedented forum marked a turning point in the anti-war movement. It was a pivotal moment in the lives of young vets from around the country who participated, including the young John Kerry. The Winter Soldier Investigation changed him and his comrades forever. Their courage in testifying, their desire to prevent further atrocities and to regain their own humanity, provide a dramatic intensity that makes the film an unforgettable experience. A collective of filmmakers - Frederick Aronow, Nancy Baker, Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David Grubin, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara Kopple, Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay Rubenstein, Nancy Miller Saunders and Michael Weil - recorded the event, and produced this extraordinary documentary. Acclaimed at film festivals around the world, the film was rejected as too incendiary by U.S. television and played only on New York's local public television station, WNET. Since then, only a few screenings by the filmmakers have kept the legacy alive – until now. Surely one of the most visceral and powerful films ever made about the war in Vietnam (the graphic descriptions of combat will be familiar to anyone who’s seen APOCALYPSE NOW or THE DEER HUNTER), WINTER SOLDIER demands to be seen now, given the current political and military situation the United States is faced with.

Wednesday, November 9 – 7:30 & 9:30 PM

Thursday, November 10 – 7:30 PM

Alternative Screen Independent Film Showcase

Special Presentation of selections from the Woodstock Film Festival

THE AMERICAN RULING CLASS, 2005, 100 min., USA. Dir. John Kirby. Frustrated with the traditional documentary form, the filmmakers made the first ever dramatic-documentary-musical satire, turning to the likes of Robert Altman, Kurt Vonnegut, Barbara Ehrenreich, James A. Baker III and Walter Cronkite to answer the question, "Who rules America?" Filmmakers will be present for post-screening Q&A.

November 13 at The Aero Theatre

Born in 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota, from middle-class origins, Jane Russell had to give up her initial dreams of becoming a designer to go to work to help support her family after her father’s death. Occasionally modeling on the side and managing to attend drama school in her free time, Russell was eventually signed by Howard Hughes (alhough the rumor is Hughes discovered her at his dentist’s, working as a receptionist!). Right from the start, with her scandalous debut as Billy the Kid’s voluptuous moll in Hughes’ THE OUTLAW (a film shot in 1941 but held up for release until 1946 due to censorship problems), Jane Russell remains one of the most legendary performers to ever emerge from the 1940s-1950’s era of tinseltown. More indelible celluloid portraits followed in the wake of the racy Hughes western, from friendly sparring with pals, Robert Mitchum (in noirs like HIS KIND OF WOMAN and MACAO) and Bob Hope (in comedies like THE PALEFACE and SON OF PALEFACE), through her spectacular, unforgettable pairing with Marilyn Monroe in Howard Hawks’ GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES to later pictures such as THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER and THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN. Even at the beginning of the new millenium, Jane Russell still prevails as the epitome of the sexy, tough-talking, independent, but warmly-good-natured dame. We are very excited to welcome Ms. Russell to this in-person tribute at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian and Aero Theatres!

Please join us for this ongoing series sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a rare opportunity for Los Angeles audiences to see the finest work by some of the leading performers of international and American cinema, and to hear these actors and actresses discuss their craft in a relaxed and informal setting.

Special Thanks: Schawn Belston, Chip Blake & Caitlin Robertson/20^th CENTURY FOX; Cary Haber/CRITERION PICTURES.

Saturday, November 12 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, 1953, 20^th Century Fox, 91 min. Dir. Howard Hawks. Twin bombshells Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe wreak havoc on the male libido in this classic Howard Hawks farce of two nightclub singers set loose onboard a Paris-bound luxury liner. Jane and Marilyn show their gift for flawless comic timing in every scene – and their musical duets together, including "Two Little Girls From Little Rock" and "Bye Bye Baby", are simply priceless.

THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER, 1956, 20^th Century Fox, 92 min. Dir. Raoul Walsh. Female empowerment, 1950’s-style, with Jane Russell shimmying across the cinemascope screen as bad girl, Mamie Stover. Kicked out of 1941 San Francisco only to arrive in Hawaii shortly before the bombing at Pearl Harbor, and landing a job at Agnes Moorehead’s swanky dance-hostess hangout, The Bungalow Club, Mamie continues her budding shipboard romance with writer, Jim Blair (Richard Egan). The couple agree to tie the knot when he returns from wartime service, but on condition she curtail her free-swinging lifestyle. But complications ensue when Mamie’s ambitions get the better of her. Keep your eyes peeled for Russell’s sizzling "Keep Your Eyes On The Hands" hula number. Discussion between films with legendary actress Jane Russell.

Sunday, November 13 – 6:00 PM

On set with French Cinema: Sneak Preview!

HOLY LOLA, 2004, Little Bear, 128 min. Director Bertrand Tavernier’s latest follows a French couple (Jacques Gamblin, Isabelle Carre) who are unable to have children and voyage to Cambodia to adopt a baby. What they find there challenges their preconceptions about life outside their safe, middle class existence and gives them an insight into the ills of third world countries. They encounter corruption and confusion as well as the human wreckage from years under the rule of the Khmer Rouge, and the consequent legions of orphans left in an exploited humanity’s wake. Discussion following with director Bertrand Tavernier.

American Cinematheque Members at the Friend ($150.00) level or above may have 1 or 2 free tickets to this screening while they last. Please call 323/461-2020, ext 113 to rsvp.

Wednesday, November 16 - 7:30 PM

Netflix Presents...

With the support of the French Film & TV Department of the French Consulate, Los Angeles.

Come join us in recognizing and celebrating one of the greatest movie comics of the 20^th Century.

Special Thanks: Sarah Finklea/JANUS FILMS and the French Consulate, Los Angeles.

With the support of the French Film & TV Department of the French Consulate, Los Angeles.

3 Nights Only! In Glorious 70 mm.!!

PLAYTIME, 1967, Janus Films, 126 min. Dir. Jacques Tati. If you missed our previous sold-out screenings, this may be your last chance to see the fully restored Jacques Tati masterpiece PLAYTIME, which was conceived originally as a 70mm viewing experience, then lost for over 30 years (there were only 35mm prints left of a cut version), and finally rescued by Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff and Jerome Deschamps. Monsieur Hulot must contact an American official in Paris, but he gets lost in a stylish maze of modern architecture filled with the latest technical gadgets. Caught in a tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing chaos in his usual manner. The star of the film: the city built by Tati and called Tativille/Taticity. From surprise to surprise, it’s an exquisite and divine experience! François Truffaut, writing to Jacques Tati about PLAYTIME, said simply, "A film from another planet."

Sunday, November 27 – 5:00 & 7:30 PM