Haskell Wexler, ASC has merged the highest level of artistic achievement as a cinematographer with a profound commitment to social causes throughout his career as a cameraman and director. After beginning with industrial films and documentaries, Wexler went on to photograph landmark American films such as WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, COMING HOME, and BOUND FOR GLORY. He has enjoyed fruitful collaborations with directors Hal Ashby and John Sayles, and directed a classic political film (MEDIUM COOL) as well as several acclaimed documentaries. Join us for an in-person tribute to Haskell Wexler with some of his most celebrated works.

Thursday, July 16 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

MEDIUM COOL, 1969, Paramount, 110 min. Photographed in and around the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, MEDIUM COOL stars Robert Forster (JACKIE BROWN) as a cynical TV reporter trying to maintain his equilibrium amid tear gas, yippies, black militants and working-class mother Verna Bloom. Written, directed and photographed by Haskell Wexler in a raw, unnerving mixture of radical politics, documentary footage and blistering Chicago blues.

COMING HOME, 1978, MGM Repertory, 126 min. Dir. Hal Ashby. As timely as ever, this moving and uncompromising film about the Vietnam War and the brutal struggle at home won Best Actor and Actress Oscars for stars Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. Fonda is left alone for the first time as her husband, Bruce Dern, is fighting in Vietnam. She falls in love with Voight, a paraplegic vet whom she had known briefly in high school. Highlighted by one of the most tender and emotional love scenes in film history, with performances so real you almost want to look away from the screen. Nominated for eight Academy Awards and the winner of three, it also took home the Original Screenplay Oscar for Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones (who was also Ashby’s longtime editor). Beautifully shot by legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler. Also featuring Robert Carradine and Penelope Milford. Discussion between films with cinematographer Haskell Wexler. Trailer

Sunday, July 19 - 4:00 PM

Family Matinee!

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, 1970, Warner Bros., 90 min. The classic children's adventure novel by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer comes to life in this Chuck Jones ("What's Opera Doc?") musical. Butch Patrick ("The Munsters") plays Milo, a bored city kid who receives a mysterious gift of a magical tollbooth. Entering, he finds himself transported from live action to a psychedelic animated universe, then thrust into a series of far-out adventures including rescuing the Princess Rhyme and Reason from the castle in the air. Voices supplied by voice-over legend Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig). Trailer

Thursday, July 23 - 7:30 PM

Kevin Thomas’ Favorite:

ATLANTIC CITY, 1980, Paramount, 104 min. One of director Louis Malle's finest films. The lives of four dreams -- Burt Lancaster, an aging numbers runner yearning for his glory days; casino employee Susan Sarandon and her drug-dealing ex-husband on the run with her pregnant sister (Hollis McLaren and Robert Joy), converge in the famous resort. Malle, working from John Guare's adaptation of the Laird Koenig novel The Neighbor, tells their stories as if they were fairy tales. For Malle, Atlantic City is America's Cinderella city, just saved from the pumpkin patch by the magic wand of legalized gambling -- which poses a threat to Lancaster. Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor (Lancaster), Actress (Sarandon), Director, Picture and Original Screenplay. This shimmering 1980 film is both an offbeat love story and an affectionate satire of American pop culture, past and present. Film critic Kevin Thomas will introduce the screening. Trailer

Saturday, July 25 – 5:00 PM

Indiana Jones Marathon – Family Matinee:

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, 1981, Paramount, 115 min. Archaeologist Harrison Ford battles occult-obsessed Nazis and former girlfriend Karen Allen as he attempts to wrest the Ark of the Covenant from the lost Egyptian city of Tanis. Brilliant, nonstop adventure from director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas that mixes 1930s-style matinee thrills with the ominous threat of Hitler's henchmen controlling one of history's most powerful objects. With terrific support from Paul Freeman as Indy's suave nemesis Belloq, Ronald Lacey as the sinister Nazi officer Toht and John Rhys-Davies as Indy's right-hand man Sallah. Imaginatively written by Lawrence Kasdan (based on Lucas and Philip Kaufman's original story), aided by a typically stirring John Williams score, one of his very best. Trailer

INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, 1984, Paramount, 118 min. Harrison Ford returns as adventurer Indiana Jones in the second installment of director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas’ tribute to the bygone era of cliffhanger movie serials. This time Jones, fleeing Shanghai with an American chanteuse (Kate Capshaw) and a teenage thief, suddenly finds himself in rural India, attempting to help free a village’s children from indentured servitude in the mines belonging to a maniacal cult. Before the last frame unspools, Jones will find himself fighting for survival, along with his comrades, in the nefarious Temple of Doom. Trailer

INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, 1989, Paramount, 127 min. Director Steven Spielberg returns for the third entry in the trilogy with Indiana (Harrison Ford) searching for his ill-humored father (Sean Connery) after the brilliant archaeologist is kidnapped by the Nazis for his knowledge of the whereabouts of the Holy Grail, a sacred artifact that, like the first installment’s Ark of the Covenant, supposedly holds supernatural powers to redeem or destroy the world. With a great supporting cast that includes Denholm Elliot, John Rhys- Davies, Julian Glover and River Phoenix (in flashback) as the teenage Indiana Jones. Trailer

Sunday, July 26 – 7:30 PM

70mm! PLAYTIME, 1967, Janus Films, 126 min. Dir. Jacques Tati. If you missed our previous sold-out screenings, this may be one of your last chances 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."  Trailer

Wednesday, July 29 – 7:30 PM

Comic Book Panel & Tribute to Michael Uslan - Double Feature:

Michael Uslan, producer of LEGENDS BEHIND THE COMIC BOOKS is the originator and key producer of all the Batman movies and animated films -- as well as SWAMP THING, THE SPIRIT, a professor of Comic Book Folklore and comic book author of the best-selling graphic novel, Batman: Detective #27.

THE LEGENDS BEHIND THE COMIC BOOKS, 60 min. Dir. Chip Cronkite. This documentary film captures for posterity the living artists and writers from The Golden Age of Comic Books (1938-1951) and The Silver Age of Comic Books (1956-1973). Insightful comments are provided by the creative geniuses who were there at the beginning, including Stan Lee ("Spider-Man," "The Hulk," "The X-Men," "The Silver Surfer," "Daredevil" and "The Fantastic Four"), Jerry Robinson ("The Joker" and "Robin the Boy Wonder"), Joe Simon ("Captain America," "Sandman," "Manhunter") Joe Kubert ("Hawkman," "Sgt. Rock," "Tarzan"), Murphy Anderson ("Buck Rogers," "The Spectre," "Dr. Fate," "Hourman," "Starman" and "Black Canary") and many more. These men -- and one woman, Ramona Fradon -- and their creations inspired our servicemen and patriotic kids at home with four-color entertainment during the dark days of World War II, as Superman and his super-brethren fought Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini. Then they introduced the comic book villain of the 1950s in the form of the Red Barbarians of Asia to face the All-American caped crusaders. In the 1960s, these artists and writers made comic books relevant to the times, inventing minority superheroes and bringing the superheroines up to equal status with men, while facing them off against such new supervillains as environmental pollution, overpopulation, drug abuse and political corruption. Even today, comic books continue to mirror historical and social trends, warts and all. But in the end, amid themes of power, wealth, fame, alienation, natural disaster and science fiction, comic books present us with hope for the future -- a future of truth, justice and the American way.

BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM, 1993, Warner Bros., 76 min. Dir. Bruce Timm & Eric Radomski. As a tribute to animator Bruce Timm, we present Bruce’s critically-acclaimed animated feature spin-off from the BATMAN animated television show. Batman must exonerate himself after being framed by vigilante assassin The Phantasm for the murders of various mob bosses. With a great cast of voices for the comic book characters, including Kevin Conroy, Dana Delaney, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach, Abe Vigoda, Dick Miller, Efram Zimbalist Jr., John P. Ryan, Marilu Henner and Mark Hamill. Trailer Discussion in between films with producer Michael Uslan, Michael Mallory, novelist, pop culture historian and the author of Marvel: The Expanding Universe Wall Chart and X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe, Mark Evanier, television and comic book writer and author of Kirby: King Of Comics, The Biography of Classic Comic Book Artist, Jack Kirby.

In addition to the panel, Every Picture Tells A Story will be hosting a reception beginning at 6:00 PM. All of the panelists will be signing their books and Every Picture Tells A Story will be introducing a new line of limited-edition Marvel fine art prints.

JULIE & JULIA, 2009, Columbia Pictures, 123 min. Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is Julie Powell in writer-director Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: My Life in France, Julia Child's autobiography written with Alex Prud’homme, and a memoir by Julie Powell, Julie & Julia. Based on two true stories, the film intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends...until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible. This is the first major motion picture based on a blog. The film opens August 7. Trailer

Friday, July 31 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

THE TERMINATOR, 1984, MGM Repertory, 108 min. Dir. James Cameron. "I’ll be back," growls metal-machine Arnold Schwarzenegger -- and Cameron’s career kicked into overdrive with this story of a cyborg killer from the future tracking down human prey Linda Hamilton. Shot on a very lean budget of $6.5 million, with excellent F/X by Stan Winston and Fantasy II, THE TERMINATOR is pulp sci-fi at its very best. "I don’t think we were trying to set the world on fire ... I just came up with a way of juxtaposing futuristic elements with a kind of everyday reality." -- Cameron. Trailer