Peter Kastner is determined to make a new life for himself in the big city in early Coppola film
YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW (Francis Ford Coppola, 1966)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Saturday, August 10, free with museum admission, 2:00
Series runs August 10 – September 1
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
Poor Bernard Chanticleer (Peter Kastner). His mother (Geraldine Page) sends him locks of her hair and pays a prudish landlord (Julie Harris), aided by a tough cop (Dolph Sweet), to make sure no girls visit him in his new apartment. Bernard’s father (Rip Torn) rules over him with an iron fist in the basement of the New York Public Library. A nice, innocent young woman (Karen Black in her first major role) is interested in him, but he wants a psycho go-go dancer/actress (Elizabeth Hartman). Meanwhile, he is getting all the wrong advice from his best friend (Tony Bill). Francis Ford Coppola’s little-known romantic comedy — his second feature, following Dementia 13 — earned Page an Academy Award nomination, Kastner a BAFTA nomination as Most Promising Newcomer, and a Palme d’Or nomination at Cannes. Coppola uses the New York City settings with a charming intelligence and wit, whether Bernard is chasing a kite across the Sheep Meadow, wandering through the Times Square peep shows, or being chased through the New York Public Library. The Lovin’ Spoonful supplies the fabulously sixties soundtrack. Based on David Benedictus’s novel, You’re a Big Boy Now kicks off the Museum of the Moving Image series “Fun City: New York in the Movies 1967-75,” with guest curator J. Hoberman on hand to introduce the film. The festival, which runs August 10 through September 1, includes a wide range of works made in and about the Big Apple, from such familiar favorites as Rosemary’s Baby, The French Connection, Superfly, Midnight Cowboy, and Dog Day Afternoon to such lesser-known treats as Bye Bye Braverman, The Angel Levine, Little Murders, The Landlord, and Dick Fontaine’s 1970 documentary, Norman Mailer vs. Fun City.