FRI FEBRUARY 25, 2022 7:30 pm BUCK AND THE PREACHER / THE SLENDER THREAD $8.00 (member) ; $13.00 (general admission) Aero Theatre | Sidney Poitier: An American Cinematheque Retrospective Tickets are no longer on sale for this event.
ABOUT THE FILMS BUCK AND THE PREACHER, 1972, Sony Repertory, 102 min, USA, Dir: Sidney Poitier. Widely regarded at the time of its release as BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID with a social conscience, BUCK AND THE PREACHER is an immensely satisfying Western which marked Sidney Poitier’s directorial debut, as well as his first screen pairing with superstar Harry Belafonte. Poitier stars as Buck, an ex-Union Army Cavalry sergeant who becomes a scout for freed slaves heading to the Colorado frontier. Tagging along with him are his wife (Ruby Dee in a scene-stealing performance) and a Bible-thumping con artist known as the Preacher (Belafonte). Attacked by racist bounty hunters determined to return the former slaves to a life of sharecropping in Louisiana, Buck and his followers must summon all the courage they have in order to reach their destination and help settle the Wild West. FORMAT: 35mm THE SLENDER THREAD, 1965, Paramount, 98 min, USA, Dir. Sydney Pollack. A man dedicated to saving lives. A woman determined to end hers. They’re linked by The Slender Thread of the telephone line. Oscar winners Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft headline a dramatic tour de force in director Sydney Pollack’s debut film. Poitier is Alan, a student volunteer for a Seattle crisis hot line. He arrives there hoping for a quiet night of study. But then comes a phone call from a desperate woman (Bancroft) who’s intentionally O.D.’d… and who refuses to reveal her name or location. As Alan cajoles, commands and pleads to keep her on the line, the race to save a life is underway. FORMAT: DCP