The fiftieth anniversary restoration of WEST SIDE STORY will play in theaters one night only
Multiple locations in the tristate area
Wednesday, November 9, 7:00
www.fathomevents.com
On September 26, 1957, a new kind of Broadway musical hit the Great White Way, a gritty retelling of Romeo and Juliet set among the world of New York City street gangs. A superstar collaboration between book writer Arthur Laurents, composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, choreographer Jerome Robbins, and producer Hal Prince, West Side Story went on to be nominated for six Tony awards, winning three, then was turned into a classic film in 1961, directed by Robbins and Robert Wise. In conjunction with the movie’s fiftieth anniversary restoration and the release of DVD and Blu-ray editions, West Side Story is being presented for one night only in theaters, where you can see it in all its glory on the big screen. The film centers on the forbidden love between Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria (Natalie Wood), triggering a war between the Caucasian Jets, led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and the Puerto Rican Sharks, headed by Bernardo (George Chakiris), a theme that takes on added meaning with the rabid anti-immigrant fervor of the last few years. The wonderful score features a bevy of instantly memorable tunes, including “Something’s Coming,” “Maria,” “Tonight,” “Gee, Officer Krupke,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Somewhere,” and “A Boy Like That,” with Rita Moreno nearly stealing the show as Bernardo’s girl. The film won eleven Academy Awards, with Oscars going to Wise (Picture), Chakiris (Supporting Actor), Moreno (Supporting Actress), Daniel L. Frapp (Cinematography), Irene Sharaff (Costume Design), Thomas Stanford (Editing), Fred Hynes and Gordon E. Sawyer (Sound), Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin (Original Score), Robbins and Wise (Director), and Robbins again (a special award for Brilliant Achievement in the Art of Choreography on Film). The fiftieth anniversary restoration, shown in widescreen format, will be screening on November 9 at 7:00 at the AMC Kips Bay, AMC Empire 25, and Chelsea Cinema in Manhattan in addition to theaters in Queens, the Bronx, Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey (and all over the country).
For The Interrupters, director, producer, and editor Steve James (Hoop Dreams, At the Death House Door) teamed up with journalist Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here) to hit the dangerous inner-city streets of Chicago with the men and women of CeaseFire, a grass-roots organization of former gang members who are now trying to stop the violence. Inspired by Kotlowitz’s New York Times Magazine article, the two men concentrate on three primary stories. Ameena Matthews, the Muslim daughter of notorious gang leader Jeff Fort, is working with a deeply troubled young woman who’d rather fight than flee, even if it means being sent back to prison. Cobe Williams has his hands full with the angry, recently released Flamo, who thinks the whole world is against him. And Eddie Bocanegra is attempting to come to grips with a cold-blooded revenge murder he committed when he was a teenager by visiting schools and talking about turning his life around. One of the most poignant moments of the film occurs when Williams brings Lil Mikey back to the barbershop he and several of his cohorts robbed at gunpoint as he again faces some of his victims. Matthews, Williams, and Bocanegra are paid employees of CeaseFire, which was founded by Dr. Gary Slutkin, an epidemiologist who believes that violence is a disease that can be treated in similar ways, and is run by Tio Hardman, who handles his extremely tough task with intelligence and dignity as he deals with what he calls “the madness.” But in a society in which “words’ll get you killed,” as Matthews says early on, these tireless violence interrupters put their own lives on the line every day, battling a sickness that seems to have no end in sight. The award-winning film, a hit at numerous film festivals, felt a bit long at its original 144 minutes, but James edited it down to a more streamlined 124 minutes for its recent theatrical release. The Interrupters is screening November 9 at 9:00 as part of the Short List section of the Doc NYC festival, running at the IFC Center through November 10.
In a Republican debate in September, presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann called Gardasil, Merck’s HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, “dangerous,” setting off a firestorm across the country and in the scientific community over the safety of childhood vaccinations in general, with groups taking to the streets and the airwaves fighting against government-mandated vaccines. Thus, Kendall Nelson and Chris Pilaro’s The Greater Good comes along at just the right time. In the ninety-minute documentary, the directors speak with individuals on all sides of the now controversial issue. They speak with the Swank, King, and Christner families, who claim that vaccinations specifically led to their children either becoming autistic, suffering strokes, or, dying. While Dr. Paul Offit declares vaccinations safe and bemoans so many people deciding not to have their children vaccinated against anything, which led to a recent outbreak of measles at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Drs. John Green and Lawrence B. Palevsky come out strongly against vaccinations. And experts such as Robert W. “Dr. Bob” Sears, author of The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child, and Barbara Loe Fisher, cofounder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, are firmly in the middle, demanding that more testing be done on vaccines before they hit the market and that parents should have the choice of what vaccinations their children receive. Nelson and Pilaro supplement the film with a not-overwhelming amount of relevant data and some playful yet serious animation as they examine corporate influence on public health, the science behind the controversy, government regulation, the growing anti-vaccination movement, and the sad stories of three families dealing with harrowing personal circumstances. The Greater Good is screening November 5 at 6:45 at NYU’s Kimmel Center and November 7 at 1:30 at the IFC Center as part of the “Viewfinders” section of the Doc NYC festival, which continues through November 10, with the codirectors expected to be in attendance to discuss the film.