Playwright and screenwriter Tennessee Williams is one of the most acclaimed authors in the history of the American theatre. Among his notable credits are the Pulitzer Prize-winning A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, plus THE GLASS MENAGERIE, THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, and THE ROSE TATTOO. His recently discovered screenplay THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND has been made into a film that will sneak preview as part of this series.

Wednesday, December 9 - 7:30 PM

Tennessee Williams Double Feature: SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, 1959, Sony Repertory, 114 min. Director Joseph Mankiewicz’s version of Tennessee Williams’ notorious play stars Montgomery Clift as a famous New Orleans brain surgeon who uncovers wild tales of homosexuality and cannibalism when called in to operate on Catharine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) by her aunt Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn). Trailer

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, 1958, Warner Bros., 108 min. Tennessee Williams’ controversial play had to be somewhat sanitized for Hollywood, but what director Richard Brooks loses in frank sexual dialogue he gains in Elizabeth Taylor’s sultry performance as a frustrated wife. Paul Newman plays her impotent husband, and their troubled marriage serves as the focal point for a gallery of gleefully appalling supporting characters, including Burl Ives as the family’s power-and-money-wielding patriarch, Big Daddy. Trailer

ACTING UP: THE ACTOR'S ART FOR FILMMAKERS AND PERFORMERS. There are many approaches to film acting. But how can you cultivate an acting process that is uniquely your own? How do you obtain great performances as a director? Whether you are an actor seeking greater knowledge about contemporary methods or a filmmaker wanting to learn more about the art of acting, join acclaimed L.A. acting coach Deborah Lemen and film consultant Thomas Ethan Harris for this in-depth conversation on the techniques and tools of the professional actor. Film clips will be used to inspire a conversation with the audience. In the Spielberg Theatre. $12 Cinematheque Members, $15 Students/Seniors, $20 General.

Thursday, December 10 - 7:30 PM

Frank Sinatra Night in Honor of his December 12th Birthday!

OCEAN’S ELEVEN, 1960, Warner Bros. 127 min. Dir. Lewis Milestone. The original rat pack classic, in which Frank Sinatra (1915 - 1998), Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and other old war buddies join forces to pull off a massive heist on New Year’s Eve. It’s the kings of cool in their prime as they infiltrate Las Vegas casinos as entertainers and cocktail waiters in a plan they think will go off without a hitch. Angie Dickinson provides the love interest and Cesar Romero plays the heavy, with a cameo by Shirley MacLaine as "Tipsy girl." An IB Technicolor print! Trailer

PAL JOEY, 1957, Sony Repertory, 111 min. Dir. George Sidney. A film that played at the Egyptian on its initial release (52 years ago!), Kim Novak stars alongside Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth in this musical tale of showbiz romance. When "mousy" chorus girl Linda English (Novak) holds out against the advances of womanizing crooner Joey Evans (Sinatra), his interest in her increases ten-fold. Wealthy widow and financier Vera Simpson (Hayworth) meets Joey and agrees to underwrite his private nightclub venture, but has a jealous change of heart when she learns of his affections for Linda. Raise a glass to Ol' Blue Eyes’ birthday at a no host Martini Bar reception from 6:30-7:15 in the Courtyard. When you show your ticket stub, drink discounts are available following the screenings at the Pig 'n Whistle with the purchase of food. Trailer

Friday, December 11 - 7:30 PM WEBISODES
The American Cinematheque Blows Up the Internet: Funny or Die presents The Internet 3.0
Since its launch in 2007 with the now-classic video THE LANDLORD, Funnyordie.com has become the Internet's premier place for comedy. Combining shorts by noted Hollywood celebrities and filmmakers with user-generated submissions, Funnyordie is both a forum for established comic geniuses and a launching pad for up-and-coming talent. We don’t want to spoil the surprise but if you are a fan of Funny Or Die and comedy in general this show will blow you away. Comedic performers include Brett Gelman, Jordan Peele, Brandon Johnson, Charlie Sanders, and a really big comedian who likes to sit between two ferns and interview famous people. Join us at the Cinematheque for a special live program that brings together Funny or Die favorites, premiere videos, celebrity guests and surprise hosts. This is a Funny night you do not want to miss. Official Website

[Spielberg Theatre] RETRO FORMAT: RARE SILENTS ON 8MM, 120 min. Before Blu-Ray, before VHS, there was 8mm film. The American Cinematheque is proud to present films impossible to find in today’s formats: rare silent gems, preserved on beautiful 8mm prints made for American living rooms of the 1950s-1970s. In 1916’s THE NARROW TRAIL, star William S. Hart combines brooding machismo with boyish vulnerability. With shorts by Georges Melies (1903’s "The Monster" and 1904’s "The Terrible Turkish Executioner"), D.W. Griffith’s "Sands O’Dee" (1912); and a Keystone comedy from 1916, "A Movie Star."

From their electrifying debut with BLOOD SIMPLE in 1984 to their Academy Award-winning triumph NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN in 2007 and the recent masterpiece A SERIOUS MAN, brothers Ethan and Joel Coen have established themselves as a formidable creative force. Join us at both the Aero and Egyptian Theatres for triple features of the Coens' best films, movies that traverse the worlds of comedy, film noir, and domestic melodrama with immense wit and style. One admission price for all 3 films.

7:30 PM A SERIOUS MAN, 2009, Focus Features, 105 min. Dir. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. Jewish physics professor Larry Gropnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) can't catch a break: his wife (Sari Lennick) wants a divorce, his malady-laden brother (Richard Kind) is living on his couch, and his tenure is endangered by a small misunderstanding that snowballs into a fiasco. Only the Coen brothers could make such a modern-day Job's plight so painfully hilarious; their return to the world of Minnesota academia in which they grew up yields one of their richest, most personal films to date.

9:30 PM: BARTON FINK, 1991, 20th Century Fox, 116 min. Winner of best director, best actor and a Unanimous winner of the.Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. In the Depression Era, naïve and ridiculously idealistic New York playwright Barton Fink (John Turturro, in a tour-de-force performance) is brought out to tinseltown by an egocentric movie mogul (hilarious Michael Lerner) to write a "wrestling picture for Wallace Beery." Joel and Ethan Coen engineer an escalating case of existential dread for Fink in his quiet hotel room when he is afflicted with a terrifying case of writer's block. The few people Fink meets fuel his mushrooming paranoia: a William Faulkner-type writer (John Mahoney) too drunk to work, the writer's tragic mistress (Judy Davis) and last, but not least, the only guy he's been able to make friends with - a sweet-natured traveling salesman (John Goodman) from next door who may just turn out to be the notorious serial killer, Madman Muntz. "What RAISING ARIZONA was to baby lust, BARTON FINK is to writer's block -- a rapturously funny, strangely bittersweet, moderately horrifying and, yes, truly apt description of the condition and its symptoms." - Rita Kempley, The Washington Post

Co-presented by Outfest: AUNTIE MAME, 1958, Warner Bros., 143 min. Dir. Morton DaCosta. Outfest continues its holiday tradition with its ninth annual screening of AUNTIE MAME. Rosalind Russell is in fine form as the jet-setting, Park Avenue aunt who suddenly becomes guardian to her young nephew. Free-spirited Mame takes the boy on irreverent escapades through the bohemian ‘20s, the ravages of the Great Depression, the trials of her many loves and her ploy for social justice. "Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"- Auntie Mame. 6:30 PM Pre-screening open bar reception hosted by Absolut. Trailer

[Spielberg Theatre] RETRO FORMAT: RARE SILENTS ON 8MM, 120 min. Before Blu-Ray, before VHS, there was 8mm film. The American Cinematheque is proud to present films impossible to find in today’s formats: rare silent gems, preserved on beautiful 8mm prints made for American living rooms of the 1950s-1970s. In 1916’s THE NARROW TRAIL, star William S. Hart combines brooding machismo with boyish vulnerability. With shorts by Georges Melies (1903’s "The Monster" and 1904’s "The Terrible Turkish Executioner"), D.W. Griffith’s "Sands O’Dee" (1912); and a Keystone comedy from 1916, "A Movie Star."

Saturday, December 26