Tag Archives: bamcinematek

AMERICAN GAGSTERS — GREAT COMEDY TEAMS: BILL MURRAY AND HAROLD RAMIS

Bill Murray and Harold Ramis have some serious army training in store in the quotable classic STRIPES

BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Saturday, September 15, and Sunday, September 16
Series runs through September 17
212-415-5500
www.bam.org

This weekend, BAMcinématek’s rousing “American Gagsters — Great Comedy Teams” focuses on one of the craziest duos of the 1980s, Saturday Night Live veteran Bill Murray and SCTV star Harold Ramis. In Stripes (Saturday at 2:00 and 6:50), ne’er-do-well John Winger (Murray) and ESL teacher Russell Ziskey (Rami) have nothing better to do with their lives than join the army, where they meet a sad-sack cast of characters that includes Dewy Oxberger (John Candy), Francis “Psycho” Soyer (Conrad Dunn), Elmo Blum (Judge Reinhold), Captain Stillman (John Larroquette), and the cuddly Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates). The first half of the film, one of the most quotable of the twentieth century, is outrageously funny. Things slow down considerably in the second half, but you’ll still be laughing so hard from the earlier jokes that you’ll barely notice it. And that’s the fact, Jack. Murray and Ramis also teamed up on-screen in 1981’s Ghostbusters (Saturday at 4:30 and 9:15), the franchise starter about a bunch of goofy guys who make a living ridding Manhattan buildings of spooky demons. Joining in on the ectoplasm slimefest are Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson, with Sigourney Weaver as the damsel in distress and Rick Moranis desperately searching for the Keymaster. “This reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head. Remember that?” Peter Venkman (Murray) asks. “That would have worked if you hadn’t stopped me,” replies Egon Spengler (Ramis). And in the all-time sports classic Caddyshack (Sunday at 2:00 & 6:50), Ramis is behind the camera, directing Murray as Carl Spackler, the none-too-swift assistant groundskeeper at the Bushwood Country Club, which features such members as the bombastic Judge Smails (Ted Knight), the off-color Bishop Pickering (Henry Wilcoxon), and suave ladies’ man Ty Webb (Chevy Chase). When the hard-partying Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield) shows up, everything gets turned inside out and upside down, all while Spackler is trying to track down and kill a destructive little gopher. And as far as memorable quotes go, Caddyshack is the Masters champion, from beginning to end. It’s in the hole, all the way.

AMERICAN GAGSTERS — GREAT COMEDY TEAMS: WOODY ALLEN & DIANE KEATON

Woody Allen and Diane Keaton struggle with domestic bliss in ANNIE HALL

BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
September 8-9
Series runs through September 17
212-415-5500
www.bam.org

“We enjoy your films, particularly the early, funny ones,” an alien tells Sandy Bates in Woody Allen’s vastly underrated 1980 Fellini homage, Stardust Memories. Allen stars as Bates, a very serious director being honored at a film festival where everyone raves about his early stuff, much as fans and critics did after the Woodman shocked his public with the Bergmanesque Interiors in 1978. But what early stuff it was, with Allen and real-life partner Diane Keaton teaming up to become one of the greatest comedy duos of them all, right up there with Tracy and Hepburn, Powell and Loy, Martin and Lewis, and Cary Grant and any number of leading ladies. BAMcinématek is honoring Allen and Keaton (as well as all those others) as part of the fabulous series “American Gagsters: Great Comedy Teams,” screening four of their best films this weekend. In 1977’s Annie Hall (Saturday at 2:00 & 6:50), Allen plays Alvy Singer, a Jewish television writer who has fallen in love with the ultimate goy, Annie (a never-better Keaton, whose real name is Diane Hall). As their relationship ebbs and flows, they discuss major spiders, lobsters, sharks, and other creatures while driving through Plutonium and meeting Marshall McLuhan. (Alvy: “What’s the difference? It’s all mental masturbation.” Annie: “Oh, well, now we’re finally getting to a subject you know something about.” Alvy: “Hey, don’t knock masturbation. It’s sex with someone I love.”) In 1973’s Sleeper (Saturday at 4:30 & 9:15), Allen is Miles Monroe, a cryogenically preserved liberal who has woken up two hundred years later to find a very different world as poses as a robot butler for the snooty Luna Schlosser (Keaton), tests out an orgasmotron, and becomes a revolutionary. (Luna: “Oh, I see. You don’t believe in science, and you also don’t believe that political systems work, and you don’t believe in God, huh?” Miles: “Right.” Luna: “So then, what do you believe in?” Miles: “Sex and death — two things that come once in a lifetime . . . but at least after death, you’re not nauseous.”)

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen fight for Mother Russia in intellectual slapstick comedy

In 1979’s Manhattan (Sunday at 2:00 & 6:50), a celebration of Gershwin and New York City, Allen plays Isaac Davis, a forty-two-year-old television writer who starts dating seventeen-year-old Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), much to the consternation of the snobby Mary Wilkie (Keaton), who is having an affair with Isaac’s best friend (Michael Murphy). (Mary: “What are you thinking?” Isaac: “I dunno, I was just thinking. There must be something wrong with me, because I’ve never had a relationship with a woman that’s lasted longer than the one between Hitler and Eva Braun.”) And in 1975’s absolutely riotous Love and Death (Sunday at 4:30 & 9:15), a hysterical parody of classic Russian literature, Allen takes on the role of the less-than-heroic Boris Grushenko, who finds himself dueling with a gentleman and going after Napoleon with Sonja (Keaton), the cousin he is madly in love with. (Sonja: “And I want three children.” Boris: “Yes. Yes. One of each.”) Allen went on to make some terrific films with his future partner, Mia Farrow, but it his work with Keaton that cemented his reputation and is likely to be best remembered now, in 2173, and beyond.

AMERICAN GAGSTERS — GREAT COMEDY TEAMS: THE PRODUCERS

Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder prepare for quite a flop in THE PRODUCERS

THE PRODUCERS (Mel Brooks, 1968)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Sunday, September 2, 2:00 & 6:50
Series runs through September 17
212-415-5500
www.bam.org

No way around it; this is one funny movie. Written and directed by Mel Brooks (who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay), The Producers stars Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock, a once great Broadway producer now relegated to wooing old ladies for their checkbooks. Gene Wilder earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as Leo Bloom, a by-the-book accountant who figures out that it could be possible to make more money from a bomb than a hit. And the bomb they turn to is the extraordinary Springtime for Hitler, featuring a great turn by Kenneth Mars as a neo-Nazi. Brooks, Mostel, Wilder, Mars, and the rest of the crazy cast — which also includes Dick Shawn, Lee Meredith, Estelle Winwood, Christopher Hewett, Renee Taylor, Barney Martin, Bill Macy, and William Hickey — don’t just play it for laughs but for giant guffaws and jaw-dropping disbelief in this riotous romp that was turned into a very good but overrated Broadway musical and a terrible film version of the show, both starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, neither of whom can fill Mostel and Wilder’s shoes. The Producers is screening September 2 in the BAMcinématek series “American Gagsters: Great Comedy Teams,” which runs through September 17 and comprises some fifty films, including such other Brooks classics as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein on September 3, followed by a fab bunch of hysterical Steve Martin and Woody Allen movies.

AMERICAN GAGSTERS — GREAT COMEDY TEAMS: HOLIDAY

Cary Grant gets caught in the middle of two sisters in HOLIDAY

HOLIDAY (George Cukor, 1938)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Sunday, August 19, 2:00 & 6:50
Series runs through September 17
212-415-5500
www.bam.org

Although the screwball romantic comedies are perhaps best loved for their madcap antics and fast-paced dialogue, there was also a fascinating underlying motif to many of them — as America came out of the Great Depression and WWII beckoned, the films tackled the theme of the growing disparity between the rich and the poor. George Cukor’s 1938 classic, Holiday, however, looks at the world from a slightly different perspective, pitting the rich vs. the super-rich. Based on the Broadway play by Philip Barry, which was turned into a 1930 film featuring Ann Harding, Mary Astor, Edward Everett Horton, Hedda Hopper, Robert Ames, and William Holden, Cukor’s version stars Cary Grant as Johnny Case, a self-made humble financial wizard who dreams of making just enough money to be able to afford to leave the business and go find himself. Following a whirlwind ten-day courtship with Julia Seton (Doris Nolan) while on vacation in Lake Placid, Johnny is shocked to find out that his fiancée is a member of the Seton clan, one of the richest families in America. Julia’s father, Edward (Henry Kolker), is not about to let his beloved daughter marry just anyone, so he puts Johnny through the ringer. Meanwhile, Johnny bonds with Julia’s sister, the black sheep Linda (Katharine Hepburn, who was the understudy for Linda on Broadway), who is desperate to live her own life but seems trapped in a fantasy, receiving only marginal support from their brother, Ned (Lew Ayres), who is never without a drink and a cynical word about the family, washing away his failure in cocktail after cocktail. “Walk, don’t run, to the nearest exit,” he advises Johnny. Honest, dependable, and a surprisingly good gymnast, Johnny finds solace from the crazy Setons in his longtime friends, Nick (Horton, reprising his role from the earlier film) and Susan (Jean Dixon), simpler folk with a fine sense of humor and little time for high society. As midnight on New Year’s Eve approaches, the main characters’ lives come together and fall apart in hysterical yet serious ways. Holiday is not your average screwball comedy, instead seeking to take on more personal, psychologically intimate issues and succeeding wildly, continually defying expectations and turning clichés inside out. Grant is as cool as ever, but he adds a seldom-seen vulnerability that adds to his charm. Holiday is screening August 19 in the BAMcinématek series “American Gagsters: Great Comedy Teams,” which runs through September 17 and consists of fifty films (all but one in 35mm), including such other memorable Grant movies as Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday on Saturday and The Philadelphia Story also on Sunday.

AMERICAN GAGSTERS — GREAT COMEDY TEAMS: SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS

Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake try to get serious in Preston Sturges’s socially conscious comedy

SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (Preston Sturges, 1941)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Friday, August 17, 6:50
Series runs through September 17
212-415-5500
www.bam.org

When a successful Hollywood director decides to make a socially conscious film instead of his usual fluff comedies, he gets more than he bargained for in this classic Preston Sturges film starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake. McCrea gives one of his finest performances as John L. Sullivan, a filmmaker who has made a string of shallow comedies but is ready to take on far more serious subjects, despite what the studio wants. So he heads out on the road, pretending to be a tramp to learn about the real world as he is followed by a crew ready to bail him out of any trouble, but he is soon thrust into actual distress when he winds up on his own, with no money and no memory, a railroad hobo desperately trying to survive against seemingly impenetrable odds. In the wake of the financial mortgage crisis and the country’s continuing economic woes, Sullivan’s Travels feels as fresh and relevant as ever; just as McCrea’s Sullivan does in the film, writer-director Sturges is letting everyone know that it’s okay to enjoy life even in troubled times. To that end, the film opens with a special dedication that reads, “To the memory of those who made us laugh: the motley mountebanks, the clowns, the buffoons, in all times and in all nations, whose efforts have lightened our burden a little.” Sullivan’s Travels is screening August 17 in the BAMcinématek series “American Gagsters: Great Comedy Teams,” which runs through September 17 and consists of fifty films (all but one in 35mm) featuring fabulous comedic pairings; Sturges’s The Palm Beach Story, a madcap romp with McCrea and Claudette Colbert, is also being shown on Friday.

AMERICAN GAGSTERS — GREAT COMEDY TEAMS: THE PALM BEACH STORY

Joel McCrea, Claudette Colbert, and Rudy Vallée are caught up in a romantic triangle in Preston Sturges’s THE PALM BEACH STORY

THE PALM BEACH STORY (Preston Sturges, 1942)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Friday, August 17, 4:30 & 9:15
Series runs through September 17
212-415-5500
www.bam.org

Writer-director Preston Sturges was on quite a roll in the early 1940s, making a string of memorable pictures that included The Great McGinty, Christmas in July, The Lady Eve, Sullivan’s Travels, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, and Hail the Conquering Hero. In the midst of that amazing run is The Palm Beach Story, one of the craziest of the classic screwball comedies. Running out of money, married couple Tom (Joel McCrea) and Geraldine (Claudette Colbert) Jeffers are preparing to leave their ritzy Park Ave. apartment until a straight-talking, shriveled old wienie king (Robert Dudley) hands Gerry a wad of cash so she doesn’t have to move out. She pays off their many bills, but Tom is suspicious of how she got the money, demanding to know if any sex was involved, a rather risqué question for a 1942 Hays Code-era romantic comedy. Gerry decides that she is no good for Tom and insists on getting a divorce even though they still love each other. So she grabs a train to Florida, meeting the wacky Ale & Quail Club and John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallée), a kind, soft-spoken gentleman who takes a liking to her and helps her out of a jam. Things reach a manic pace as Tom heads to Palm Beach as well, trying to save the marriage while fending off the advances of the the Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor). McCrea and Colbert make a great comic duo in, displaying a fiery sex appeal that is still hot all these years later. What’s not hot is the film’s use of black characters, who are horribly stereotyped and are even referred to as “colored” in the credits. It might have been a different time, but there aren’t a whole lot of quality movies that were that blatant about it. In addition, the shooting scene with the Ale & Quail Club goes way over the top. But when the film focuses on Tom and Gerry, caught up in their own endlessly charming game of cat and mouse, The Palm Beach Story shines. The Palm Beach Story is screening August 17 in the BAMcinématek series “American Gagsters: Great Comedy Teams,” which runs through September 17 and consists of fifty films (all but one in 35mm) featuring fabulous comedic pairings; Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels, the socially conscious comedy starring McCrea and Veronica Lake, is also being shown on Friday.

AMERICAN GAGSTERS — GREAT COMEDY TEAMS: THE AWFUL TRUTH

Ralph Bellamy, Cary Grant, and Irene Dunne get into quite a romantic pickle in THE AWFUL TRUTH

THE AWFUL TRUTH (Leo McCarey, 1937)
BAMcinématek, BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Sunday, August 12, 2:00, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15
Series runs through September 17
212-415-5500
www.bam.org

The insults fly fast and furious in Leo McCarey’s uproarious screwball comedy The Awful Truth. “Marriage is a beautiful thing,” a divorce attorney tells Lucy Warriner (Irene Dunne), but it can also be riotously funny. Adapted from Arthur Richman’s play, The Awful Truth features one of the great comedy pairings of all time, Dunne and Cary Grant, as a husband and wife seemingly at the end of their rope, with Grant’s Jerry Warriner coming home with a sun-lamp tan he claimed he got on a trip to Florida, while Dunne’s Lucy returns from a mysterious night in the country with her music teacher, Armand Duvalle (Alexander D’Arcy). Tired of the lies and deception, Jerry and Lucy decide to get a divorce, even fighting over who gets the dog, Mr. Smith. Jerry hooks up with wealthy socialite Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont), while Lucy is pursued by rich Oklahoma bumpkin Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), who doesn’t seem to do anything without the approval of his beloved mother (Esther Dale). (Bellamy went on to play a similar role as Bruce Baldwin in Howard Hawks’s 1940 His Girl Friday, serving as the boring love interest for Rosalind Russell, playing Grant’s ex-wife.) But Jerry and Lucy can’t seem to stop running into each other and sabotaging their new relationships, exchanging brilliant one-liners — many improvised — while inwardly wondering if they really do belong together after all, even if they refuse to be the first one to admit it. They certainly deserve each other. In accepting the Oscar for Best Director for The Awful Truth, McCarey claimed he really should have gotten it for his other 1937 film, Make Way for Tomorrow, but it’s The Awful Truth that has had more lasting impact, still fresh after seventy-five years, filled with unforgettable scenes and bawdy, wry humor. The Awful Truth is screening August 12 in the BAMcinématek series “American Gagsters: Great Comedy Teams,” which runs through September 17 and consists of fifty films (all but one in 35mm) with a special focus on Grant, including Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, and The Philadelphia Story with Katharine Hepburn and the aforementioned His Girl Friday.