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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 - Comments Off on The Slate Outdoors: 2006 Bryant Park Film Festival Schedule Locked
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The Slate Outdoors: 2006 Bryant Park Film Festival Schedule Locked


The gang behind the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival sends word of its 2006 program, a 10-film slate that kicks off June 19 and runs through Aug. 21. It seems like a somewhat unusual lineup for a free outdoor series, with subversive fare like M*A*S*H and The Manchurian Candidate sharing the schedule with more summer-ish crowd pleasers like Rocky and A Shot in the Dark. (The program note for Hitchcock’s The Birds also features the quintessentially film-class observation, “Note the Freudian undertones as a daddy’s girl [Tippi Hedren] pursues a momma’s boy [Rod Taylor] up the California coast.”)
Not that I am complaining: At 30 years old, Rocky is the youngest film here, which means a good opportunity for folks to catch repertory stuff like Bullitt and Charade in the original 35mm format–and, of course, at no charge. The full schedule follows after the jump; start clearing your Mondays now.


2006 THE HBO BRYANT PARK SUMMER FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED WITH CITI
JUNE 19 — THE BIRDS (Universal)
Underestimated when first released, this shocker (based on a Daphne du Maurier story) now stands alongside Alfred Hitchcock’s acknowledged masterpieces. Note the Freudian undertones as a daddy’s girl (Tippi Hedren) pursues a momma’s boy (Rod Taylor) up the California coast. Things turn nasty for the human lovebirds when their feathered friends turn against them. The synthesized “musical” score is made up of birdcalls and flapping wings. Be prepared to duck and cover! 120 min. (1963)
JUNE 26 — TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (Warner Bros.)
Echoes of “Casablanca.” Apolitical hero Humphrey Bogart helps out the French Resistance during WWII by smuggling human cargo. Sparks fly when Bogart meets Bacall (19-year-old Lauren in her screen debut) who gives him plenty of attitude and lessons in whistling. Their real-life love affair began on the spot. Based on a lesser Hemingway novel, the script was co-written by William Faulkner. Famed singer/songwriter Hoagy Carmichael provides piano accompaniment. Play it again, Hoagy. 100 Min. (1944)
JULY 3 — M*A*S*H (Fox)
Robert Altman’s raucous comedy is set in a medical unit (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) during the Korean War. Pitch-black humor and operating- room gore make a volatile mix. Counter-culture sentiments run rampant in the script by blacklisted Ring Lardner, Jr. who won an Oscar for his effort. Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Robert Duvall and Sally Kellerman (as “Hot Lips” Houlihan) are collectively irresistible. A popular TV series followed. 112 Min (1970) Panavision
JULY 10 — BULLITT (Warner Bros.)
Cool and charismatic Steve McQueen has the title role, the one that cemented his superstar status. He’s a hardened San Francisco detective tracking the shooter who blasted a mob informer in his custody. The highlight of this spare crime drama is the legendary car chase that careens up and down the hills of Frisco. Not surprisingly, the macho star did not feel the need for a stunt driver. That’s Steve in the ’68 Ford Mustang. The bad guys drive Dodge Chargers. 113 Min. (1968)
JULY 17 — THE BAND WAGON (MGM/Provided by Warner Bros.)
Fred Astaire stars in what many consider one of the greatest Hollywood musicals ever made. He plays a has-been movie star who tries to make a comeback on the Broadway stage. A difficult director with rampant artistic pretensions stands in his way. Comden and Green (authors of “On The Town” and “Singin’ In The Rain”) wrote it, Michael Kidd choreographed it, Vincente Minnelli directed it and Cyd Charisse got to dance with Fred. Now “That’s Entertainment!” 112 Min. (1953)
JULY 24 — HIGH NOON (UA/Provided by Paramount)
Retiring sheriff Gary Cooper is about to marry Grace Kelly in this lean, atypical Western. A vengeful gunman may be a wedding crasher, which could result in a shoot-out on Main Street preceding the reception. Will Coop survive to honeymoon with Grace? Soon-to-be-blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman etches a chilling (and then controversial) portrait of betrayal and American complacency. The Oscar-winning song “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling” is sung by Tex Ritter. 84 Min. (1952)
JULY 31 — A SHOT IN THE DARK (UA/Provided by Sony)
Murder most funny. Peter Sellers is falling-down hilarious as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau who doesn’t believe hot-blooded Elke Sommer could be a cold-blooded killer. Don’t ask how these two turn up undercover in a nudist colony! This sequel to “The Pink Panther” is generally considered the best of the series. Blake Edwards handled the direction, Henry Mancini the music. The animated title sequence took on a life all its own. 101 Min. (1964) (Panavision)
AUG. 7 — THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (UA/Provided by Sony)
Cold War intrigue, dirty politics, shifty Communists, assassinations, brainwashing, fanatical mother-love and a garden club lecture on hydrangeas … this one has it all. The gripping thriller directed by John Frankenheimer builds to a shattering climax in the old Madison Square Garden. Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh (a rather goofy love interest) and Angela Lansbury (scary!) are the unforgettable stars. The film was suppressed for years after the death of JFK. 126 Min. (1962)
AUG. 14 — CHARADE (Universal)
Some sinister types on the trail of a missing fortune are hassling poor Audrey Hepburn (a knockout in Givenchy) all over Paris. Suave-as-ever Cary Grant is there to help the damsel in distress. Or is he? Walter Matthau, George Kennedy and James Coburn provide colorful support. The slick, romantic mystery has been described as the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made. Music is by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer is the author of the Oscar- nominated title tune. 114 min. (1963)
AUG. 21 — ROCKY (UA/Provided by Sony)
The Italian Stallion is still a crowd pleaser (and a contender) on his 30th anniversary. Old-fashioned Cinderella story gives lowly boxer Rocky Balboa a chance at the big time by pitting him against the heavyweight champ, Apollo Creed, in a bicentennial bout. Sylvester Stallone was a double Oscar nominee for writing and acting, putting him in the illustrious company of Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles. He didn’t pull it off, but Rocky was declared the Best Picture winner by unanimous decision. 119 Min.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon