Benseraglio2
Wed, 02 Mar 2005 06:49:35 -0800
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Groovy Movies: Far-Out Films of the Psychedelic Era March 4 - 6, 2005 The '60s were a decade when political and pop culture became one. This was the era of the Missile Gap and the Space Race, the Black and Sexual Revolutions, the Vietnam War and Pop Art. Crumbling censorship laws gave way to a new era of permissiveness which allowed Hollywood to take a chance on maverick directors and their outlandish, excessive, often times brilliant films. Local movie critic Irv Slifkin has vividly captured the era in his new book Groovy Movies: Far-Out Films of the Psychedelic Era. Hosted by the author himself, Film @ International House is pleased to present some of Slifkin's favorite films as we attempt to recapture the mind-blowing, revelations of this iconic decade. Friday, March 4 at 7:00pm The Seven Minutes dir. Russ Meyer, USA, 1971, 16mm, 115 mins, color After the success of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, sexploitation maestro Russ Meyer chose to adapt Irving Wallace's bestseller The Seven Minutes to the screen. A courtroom drama involving a controversial "dirty" book, MeyerÃââs auteur stamp is all over these minutes, from the hyperactive editing to the political pontificating about censorship and freedom of speech. Fox afforded the filmmaker the largest budget of his career, which subsidized a truly bizarre cast that featured Russ regulars Charles Napier, Henry Rowland and Edy Williams, comic Jackie Gayle, up-and-coming actors like Tom Selleck and Wayne Maunder (TV's "Custer"), and old pros like Yvonne De Carlo, John Carradine and Philip Carey, and, as himself, Wolfman Jack. Saturday, March 5 at 7:00pm Special Double Feature! Two Films, One Admission Taking Off dir. Milos Forman, USA, 1971, 35mm, 93 mins, color Director Milos FormanÃââs first American film is a warm and hilariously subversive comedy about parents trying to cope with their runaway children. The focus is on bewildered Buck Henry and Lynne Carlin as they try to deal with daughter Linnea HancockÃââs flight to Greenwich Village hippie life Ãââ and end up expanding their consciousness as much as she does! With Tony Harvey, Georgia Engel and music by the Incredible String Band. followed at 9:00pm by Skidoo dir. Otto Preminger, USA, 1968, 35mm, 97 mins, color Teutonic meets psychotronic when Otto Preminger (Laura, The Man With the Golden Arm) takes on late sixties San Francisco. Jackie Gleason plays a retired hit man who's pressured by Cesar Romero and Frankie Avalon into going to prison to rub out Mickey Rooney. And thatÃââs just for starts. Once in the joint, Gleason is accidentally turned on to acid and experiences a series of great ÃâÅepiphaniesÃâ that has him reconsidering his mobster life. The film features a cast of Hollywood greats including Groucho Marx in his final film role (a mafia kingpin named ÃâÅGodÃâÂ) and a stripping Carol Channing! Skidoo is Preminger's counterculture folly, a one-of-a-kind journey into whacked-out psychedelia. Sunday, March 6 at 2:00pm The Jokers dir. Michael Winner, UK, 1967, 35mm, 94 mins, color Director Michael Winner's dazzling (but rarely-screened) satire of Swinging London, features Michael Crawford (pre-Phantom of the Opera) and Oliver Reed as a pair of rich, freewheeling brothers making the rounds of posh parties. Their anarchic spirit gets the better of them -- and a string of increasingly elaborate pranks results in their making off with the Crown Jewels. The first movie written by Britain's premier comedy-writing duo Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (The Commitments and Still Crazy). Sunday, March 6 at 7:00pm Billion Dollar Brain dir. Ken Russell, UK, 1967, 35mm, 111 mins, color For the third and final film in author Len Deighton's Harry Palmer trilogy, producer Harry Saltzman turned to up-and-coming British director Ken Russell Ãââ and wound up with the most wildly surreal, and strangely poetic, film in the series. Michael Caine returns as Harry Palmer, the low-key, irresistibly sexy thief-turned-spy, who finds himself wrapped in fur and roaming around the Scandinavian tundra with the gorgeous and enigmatic Francoise Dorleac (Catherine Deneuve's sister). Together they try to foil the megalomaniacal plans of American general Ed Begley who turns in one of the most deranged performances of the decade. Tickets are available in advance at www.ihousephilly.org, by phone at 866-468-7619 or through the International House Box Office, one hour prior to the show. To learn more about this and other events at International House Philadelphia, please visit www.ihousephilly.org. $6.00 General Admission; $5.00 I House Members, Students and Seniors ALL EVENTS TAKE PLACE AT: INTERNATIONAL HOUSE 3701 CHESTNUT STREET PHILADELPHIA 215-895-6542 www.ihousephilly.org |