sign in sign up
<<
Home , 2000 Year Old Man, All American (musical), Anita Ekberg, Arthur Lubin, Artists and Models, Beverly Hills Cop III

BAMcinématek presents American Gagsters, a 50- series showcasing some of ’s greatest /director teams, Aug 8— Sep 17

50 , all but one on 35mm (that’s 98%!)

The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.

Brooklyn, NY/Jul 16, 2012—From August 8 through September 17, BAMcinématek presents one of its largest programs ever—an epic 50-film survey of 20th century American comedy, spanning the racy pre-Codes of the early talkie era through the high-concept action spoofs of the 80s and 90s, with 49 films in 35mm. The special focus of this series is the comedy team—not the straight-man-and-stooge pairs like and (although they‟re represented here, too), but a less heralded kind of union: that between performer and director.

Many of the most famous directorial collaborations are with dramatic stars: Brando and Kazan, Dietrich and von Sternberg, Mifune and Kurosawa. But need guidance as well, to define their personas and to perfect their timing, and often the directors they worked with remain unsung. Take all-purpose MGM lifer W. S. “One Take” Van Dyke, who led contract stars and through (1934—Aug 8) in only 18 days, his speed giving the film its famously boozy, high-flying pace. (1936—Aug 9) cast Powell as the homeless butler-for-a-day who humanizes a spoiled heiress ( a radiant in her only major film for ). Another great screwball heroine, , starred with as a pair of battling divorcees in (1937—Aug 12), directed by silent-comedy veteran Leo McCarey. made her most enduring films for , Paramount‟s ultimate Euro-sophisticate: the Noël Coward adaptation Design for Living (1933—Aug 10), opposite , and the risqué Trouble in Paradise (1932—Aug 10), in which she plays a jewel thief.

Sometimes, if comedians came to from , what they needed in a director was not an but a traffic cop—someone who knew how to keep their timing intact and the camera in the right place. Cartoonist Norman Z. McLeod rode herd on the Marx Brothers for their funniest films, Monkey Business (1931—Aug 11) and (1932—Aug 11), and gag writer Edward F. Cline directed W.C. Fields in both the oddball Million Dollar Legs (1932—Aug 15) and the iconic The Bank Dick (1940—Aug 15). Journeyman , best known for the movies, ended up behind the camera for Abbott & Costello‟s classic service , In the Navy (1941—Aug 16) and (1941—Aug 16).

No comedy series would be complete without , who guided everyman star Joel McCrea through the -and- romp Sullivan’s Travels (1941—Aug 17) and the lesser-known, more eccentric (Aug 17—1942), which ends with one of filmdom‟s most jaw-dropping blackout gags. Just as fast and loose are Cary Grant‟s films for , who had the suave star meet cute with

in (1938—Aug 18) and trade machine gun-paced barbs with liberated reporter in (1940—Aug 18). Screwball-certified by Hawks, Hepburn became the muse of , Hollywood‟s ultimate “woman‟s director,” who located the vulnerability beneath Hepburn‟s archness in two urbane dramedies, (1938—Aug 19) and The Story (1940—Aug 19). Cukor found an ideal on-and-off-screen partner for Hepburn in the unflappable , pairing the two as rival lawyers in Adam’s Rib (1949—Aug 22) and then as sparring sportswriters in (1952—Aug 22). A supporting player in Adam‟s Rib, daffy blonde was Cukor‟s protégée for the 50s, winning an Oscar for (1950—Aug 23) and playing a pre- fab celebrity in the timely (1954—Aug 23).

Holliday‟s in the latter film, the bundle of nervous energy known as , became a major star under the direction of , in drag with in the gender-bending (1959—Aug 25) and pining after Shirley MacLaine in the Mad Men world of The Apartment (1960— Aug 26). Lemmon‟s other director of note, Quine, paired him with Dadaist cult TV star in the madcap (1957—Aug 31) and the romance Bell, Book and Candle (1958—Aug 31).

Another animator, , advanced the surrealism hinted at in Quine‟s films, first with , for whom he reshot much of The Lemon Drop Kid (1951—Aug 24) and then with the cult spoof (1952—Aug 24). Tashlin also directed the liveliest films made by nightclub sensations and , the gorgeous (1955—Aug 30) and (1956—Aug 30; IB print). Equally adept at drama and humor, created the character of the bumbling for , seen here in A Shot in the Dark (1964— Sep 1) and The Return of the (1975—Sep 1). The director and star reteamed for the sustained of The Party (1968—Sep 2), with Sellers as the unwanted guest who demolishes an ultra-modern Hollywood home.

Manic first teamed with as one of (1968—Sep 2) who tries to lose money on a Broadway show, but instead makes a hit out of . He went on to star in two of the writer-director‟s enduringly popular : the slapstick western (1974—Sep 3) and the gothic horror send-up Young (1974—Sep 3). The other half of the famous 2,000-Year-Old Man duo, , cast ultra-dry stand-up comic as (1979—Sep 5) and reunited with him for the goofy body-swapping fantasies (1983—Sep 7) and All of Me (1984—Sep 7). At the same time that Brooks and Reiner were gleefully reviving lowbrow , courted classy in his own genre send-ups, of (Sleeper, 1973—Sep 8) and period epics (Love and , 1975— Sep 9)—and then in his rueful, literate odes to that got away, Hall (1977—Sep 8) and (1979—Sep 9).

The disaster-movie spoof Airplane! (1980—Sep 14) fed absurd lines to a roster of stiff TV , but only (“And don‟t call me Shirley”) was reinvented as an unlikely comedy star after the directing team of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker cast him as the overconfident idiot cop in (1988—Sep 14). Also represented are the other titans of 80s comedy, National Lampoon and SCTV, whose various alumni overlapped in the funniest mainstream movies of the decade. Second City‟s cast former star as the golf guru in (1980—Sep 16) and then as Clark Griswold, the suburban dad who unravels en route to Walley World in National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983—Sep 16). Droll , Caddyshack‟s gopher- fighting groundskeeper, became the smart-aleck center of director ‟s comedy-of-destruction hits Stripes (1981—Sep 15) and (1984-Sep 15), both co-starring and co-written by Ramis.

Heavyset Stripes sidekick went on to star in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987—Sep 10), a raunchy (“those aren‟t pillows!”) but bittersweet odyssey of travel mishaps that was director ‟ most mature film. Finally, brings his usual inside gags—and another theme park setting, this time “Wonder World”—to III (1994—Sep 17), his third collaboration with megastar and an unsung masterpiece of early 90s comedies.

Press screenings to be announced.

For screeners or press information, please contact Gabriele Caroti at 718.724.8024 / [email protected] Lisa Thomas at 718.724.8023 / [email protected]

Film Schedule

Wed, Aug 8 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm: The Thin Man

Thu, Aug 9 6:50, 9:15pm: My Man Godfrey

Fri, Aug 10 2, 6:50pm: Design for Living 4:30, 9:15pm: Trouble in Paradise

Sat, Aug 11 2, 6:50pm: Monkey Business 4:30, 9:15pm: Horse Feathers

Sun, Aug 12 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm: The Awful Truth

Wed, Aug 15 6:30, 9:15pm: Double Feature: Million Dollar Legs + The Bank Dick

Thu, Aug 16 4:30, 8pm: Double Feature: In the Navy + Buck Privates

Fri, Aug 17 6:50pm: Sullivan‟s Travels 4:30, 9:15pm: The Palm Beach Story

Sat, Aug 18 2, 6:50pm: Bringing Up Baby 4:30, 9:15pm: His Girl Friday

Sun, Aug 19 2, 6:50pm: Holiday 4:30, 9:15pm: The Philadelphia Story

Wed, Aug 22 4:30, 9:15pm: Pat and Mike 6:50pm: Adam‟s Rib

Thu, Aug 23 4:30, 9:15pm: It Should Happen to You 6:50pm: Born Yesterday

Fri, Aug 24 2, 6:50pm: The Lemon Drop Kid 4:30, 9:15pm: Son of Paleface

Sat, Aug 25 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm: Some Like it Hot

Sun, Aug 26 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: The Apartment

Thu, Aug 30 4:30, 9:15pm: Artists and Models 6:50pm: Hollywood or Bust

Fri, Aug 31 2, 6:50pm: Operation Mad Ball 4:30, 9:15pm: Bell Book and Candle

Sat, Sept 1 2, 6:50pm: A Shot in the Dark 4:30, 9:15pm: The Return of

Sun, Sept 2 2, 6:50pm: The Producers 4:30, 9:15pm: The Party

Mon, Sept 3 2, 6:50pm: Blazing Saddles 4:30, 9:15pm:

Wed, Sept 5 6:50, 9:15pm: The Jerk

Fri, Sept 7 2, 6:50pm: All of Me 4:30, 9:15pm: The Man with Two Brains

Sat, Sept 8 2, 6:50pm: 4:30, 9:15pm: Sleeper

Sun, Sept 9 2, 6:50pm: Manhattan 4:30, 9:15pm: Love and Death

Mon, Sept 10 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Fri, Sept 14 2, 6:50pm: Airplane! 4:30, 9:15pm: The Naked Gun

Sat, Sept 15 2, 6:50pm: Stripes 4:30, 9:15pm: Ghostbusters

Sun, Sept 16 2, 6:50pm: Caddyshack 4:30, 9:15pm: National Lampoon‟s Vacation

Mon, Sept 17 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm: Beverly Hills Cop III

Film Descriptions All films on 35mm except where noted.

Adam’s Rib (1949) 101min Directed by George Cukor. With Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn “define „chemistry‟ in the movies” (Dave Kehr) as a pair of married lawyers who find themselves representing opposite sides of an attempted murder case in this battle-of- the-sexes , sparklingly scripted by husband-and-wife writer team and . The memorable supporting cast includes Judy Holliday as the witless defendant and upstaging everyone as the couple‟s gay songwriter neighbor. Print courtesy of the ConstellationCenter Collection at the Academy Film Archive. Wed, Aug 22 at 6:50pm

Airplane! (1980) 88min DCP Directed by , , . With Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, , Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Ted Striker: “Surely you can‟t be serious?” Dr. Barry Rumack: “I am serious. And don‟t call me Shirley.” In this disaster-movie spoof classic, the captains of an LA-to- flight are stricken with airline food poisoning. The only hope to land the plane is passenger Ted Striker (Hays), a former fighter pilot now petrified of planes and only on board to win back his estranged girlfriend (flight attendant Hagerty). Brilliantly casting well-known dramatic characters in key roles, the Zuckers and Jim Abrahams keep the humor hilariously deadpan, a style that would become their trademark. Perhaps their most inspired decision was casting Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Barry Rumack, a role that began one of the most dramatic late- career transformations in acting history and would lead them to cast him two years as Lieutenant Frank Drebin in the short-lived TV series Police Squad and The Naked Gun films. Fri, Sep 14 at 2, 6:50pm

All of Me (1984) 93min Directed by Carl Reiner. With Steve Martin, Tomlin. Spoiled-rotten millionaire spinster Edwina Cutwater (Tomlin) is terminally ill. When she arranges to buy herself immortality by giving her soul to a younger woman, her mystic botches the transferal, and Edwina ends up having to share the same skin as her sad-sack lawyer (Martin). Some unforgettable gags ensue as man and woman are forced to wrestle in the same body, leading The Times to rave, “Some things simply have to be seen to be believed, and the sensational teamwork of Steve Martin and …is one of them.” Fri, Sep 7 at 2, 6:50pm

Annie Hall (1977) 93min Directed by Woody Allen. With Allen, Diane Keaton. Traversing the peaks and valleys of a love affair between neurotic New York Alvy Singer (Allen) and the eponymous “la-de-da” nightclub singer (Keaton), this bittersweet was so instantly beloved that it beat out for the Best Picture Oscar. Surely no subsequent Allen film has proven quite as quotable, or portrayed the director‟s career-long struggles with love and the meaning of life with as heartrending a mix of good humor and vulnerability. The unlikely but thoroughly convincing onscreen chemistry of Allen and Keaton makes you almost forget how much fun Allen has staging brilliant takedowns of pretentious Fellini-haters, slimy record executives ( in an unforgettable cameo), spaced-out , and (of course) himself. Sat, Sep 8 at 2, 6:50pm

The Apartment (1960) 125min Directed by Billy Wilder. With Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray. A corporate drone adrift in a sea of desks, C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) hopes to land a promotion by letting his higher-ups use his place for their after-hours sexual escapades. Things turn sour when the elevator

operator with whom C.C. has become smitten (MacLaine) gets romantically involved with his married boss and the two become regulars at the apartment. Shot through with Wilder‟s trademark acerbic humor, but anchored by a tender empathy for its characters and a deeply felt evocation of the New York winter blues, The Apartment finds the Hollywood romantic comedy caught between its innocent beginnings and the incipient sexual liberation of the 60s. The result is a multiple-Oscar-winning classic with an emotional resonance and tonal complexity rarely seen in the genre before or since. Sun, Aug 26 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Artists and Models (1955) 109min Directed by Frank Tashlin. With Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Shirley MacLaine. Martin and Lewis found the perfect match in director Frank Tashlin, whose cartoon-infused style and satirical helped make this hysterical tale of love, comic books, and national security their finest feature together. As Jerry spouts superhero adventures and rocket codes in his sleep, struggling artist Dean funnels them into his own comics. When the latter hits it big, their world explodes in a VistaVision eruption that includes a comic-artist-turned-anti-comic-crusader (), her former model (MacLaine), and a number of spies from around the world. Thu, Aug 30 at 4:30, 9:15pm

The Awful Truth (1937) 91min Directed by Leo McCarey. With Irene Dunne, Cary Grant. The sparks—and one-liners—fly between Grant and Dunne as a couple whose marriage is on the rocks in this romantic comedy classic. Headed for divorce and engaged in a custody battle over their terrier, Mr. Smith, they participate in a series of flings which the other promptly manages to sabotage through successively hilarious, and harebrained, schemes. With significant portions of the film improvised by Dunne and Grant, both in their prime, The Awful Truth moves along at breakneck speed, and McCarey‟s direction (for which he earned an Academy Award) proves him a master of the , right up there with Hawks and Sturges. Sun, Aug 12 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm

Bell Book and Candle (1958) 106min Directed by . With , , Jack Lemmon. Vertigo was not the only movie released in 1958 in which Kim Novak enchants Jimmy Stewart. In this adaptation of a stage play, a city-dwelling witch (Novak) casts a spell on her upstairs neighbor (Stewart) to keep him from marrying her old college nemesis. In the process she finds herself falling for him without the aid of magic. But it‟s Jack Lemmon‟s turn as Novak‟s bongo-playing warlock brother and Ernie Kovacs‟ boozy portrayal of an author researching modern witchcraft that steal the show. Fri, Aug 31 at 4:30, 9:15pm

The Bank Dick (1940) 72min Directed by Edward Cline. With W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel. Indulging Fields‟ love for the precisely timed gag, The Bank Dick endows its misanthropy with an improbable lightness. Egbert Sousé (“accent grave on the „e‟!”), a bumbling crank who avoids his nagging family by smoking and drinking all day in a bar called the Black Pussy, stumbles upon some good fortune when he unintentionally stops a bank robbery and is rewarded with a job as a guard. Written by Fields under the alias Mahatma Kane , and held together by an audaciously threadbare structure, this comic masterpiece clears the way for its star‟s genius to run amok—and in the process captures the absurdist delirium at the heart of all-American provinciality. Wed, Aug 15 at 6:30, 9:15pm

Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) 104min With Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold. Upon returning to to investigate the death of his former boss, (Murphy) uncovers an underworld of murder and corruption headquartered in the Wonder World Amusement Park. Landis said, of directing the film: “I was attracted by the marvelous premise of a murder in , a subversive idea. And I couldn't resist the thought of creating a world of wonders, immersed in illusion.” Mon, Sep 17 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm

Blazing Saddles (1974) 93min Directed by Mel Brooks. With , Gene Wilder. Mel Brooks built one of the great careers in modern comedy by spoofing Hollywood , and his take on the western ranks among his best and most outrageously vulgar. Shady attorney Hedley Lamarr tries to extend a railroad through Rock Ridge scheming to buy the land on the cheap by appointing the town a new black sheriff (Little) and waiting for white flight to take its course. Co-written by , and ranked among AFI‟s 10 funniest films of all time, Blazing Saddles is packed with a breathtaking abundance of onscreen flatulence, explosive racial humor, and wacky anachronisms (including a frontier performance of “April in ” by the Orchestra). Mon, Sep 3 at 2, 6:50pm

Born Yesterday (1950) 103min Directed by George Cukor. With Judy Holliday, , . Famous Oscar upset: Judy Holliday beat out both in and in Sunset Blvd. as Best Actress for her tour-de-force turn as Billie Dawn, a ditzy blonde gangster‟s moll who gets a little culture and a wake-up call from an egghead journalist (Holden) hired to make her more “couth.” Adapted from Garson Kanin‟s hit Broadway play and “enlivened by a sharp, witty script, and by Cukor‟s effortless handling of the brilliant performances… Magic” (Geoff Andrew, Time Out ). Thu, Aug 23 at 6:50pm

Bringing Up Baby (1938) 102min Directed by Howard Hawks. With Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn. A meek paleontologist (Grant), a loudmouthed socialite (Hepburn), a domesticated cheetah, and a missing dinosaur bone all collide in this beloved screwball classic. Baby‟s perfect balance of slapstick, spectacle, lighting-quick wit, and overlapping dialogue is a virtual clinic in classical Hollywood style. Listen for Grant‟s legendary ad-lib “I just went gay all of a sudden,” the first known use of the term in a mainstream film. Sat, Aug 18 at 2, 6:50pm

Caddyshack (1980) 98min Directed by Harold Ramis. With Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, . One of the most frequently quoted and referenced comedies ever made (“Big hitter, the Lama”), Caddyshack endures as a testament to a simpler time: when golf was king, rich snobs were humiliated by falling into water, and everybody got laid. Working with good friend and director Ramis, Murray‟s deranged groundskeeper mumbles and leers his way into our hearts. Sun, Sep 16 at 2, 6:50pm

Design for Living (1933) 91min Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. With Miriam Hopkins, , Gary Cooper. Aboard a European train, sex-kittenish artist Gilda Farrell (Hopkins) meets cute fellow American bohemians Tom Chambers (March), a playwright, and George Curtis (Cooper), a painter. The three form an unusual ménage à trois: they‟ll share a Parisian loft, she‟ll serve as muse and critic for the struggling artists, and everybody‟s happy…so long as they can manage to not have sex. A surprisingly frank adaptation of Noël Coward‟s play (though altered almost beyond recognition by ). Fri, Aug 10 at 2, 6:50pm

Ghostbusters (1984) 105min Directed by Ivan Reitman. With Bill Murray, , , Harold Ramis. “Nobody steps on a church in my town!” With these words, Murray introduced a new hero for the : the kind who stands around and makes sarcastic comments while a swarm of ghosts and a 100-foot marshmallow man destroys . FX-laden, high-concept comedy has never been better than in this reteaming of Reitman, Ramis, and Murray. Sat, Sep 15 at 4:30, 9:15pm

His Girl Friday (1940) 92min Directed by Howard Hawks. With Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, . Grant and Russell fire one-liners with Gatling-gun rapidity in this classic screwball comedy. A reporter (Russell) waltzes into her editor‟s (Grant) office with breaking news: she‟s getting married and leaving the job. But he doesn‟t want to lose his best employee (and ex-wife) to an insurance salesman, so he sends her running after a story while he orchestrates an outrageous plan to stop her wedding. From the get-go, the dialogue comes fast and furious, revealing Hawks‟ trademark mix of humor and cynicism, as the smart-talking leads go head to head in a dizzying battle of . Sat, Aug 18 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Holiday (1938) 95min Directed by George Cukor. With Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn. “Grant and Hepburn were always wonderful together, but in Holiday they hit perfection” (). Before they teamed up for The Philadelphia Story, Grant, Hepburn, and Cukor collaborated on this stellar romantic comedy. Grant upends Hepburn‟s highfalutin‟, upper-crust family just as they are about to celebrate a posh, dignified New Year‟s with the announcement of his engagement to Hepburn‟s sister. Hilarity and late-Depression-era escapism ensue, with a little bit of vaudevillian acrobatics from Grant to boot. Sun, Aug 19 at 2, 6:50pm

Hollywood or Bust (1956) 95min Directed by Frank Tashlin. With Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, . The swan song for Martin and Lewis, Hollywood or Bust finds the pair on a cross-country adventure in a new car that they both claim to have won in a raffle. A big-time movie fan (Lewis) is headed for Tinseltown to meet the woman of his dreams (). But a desperate swindler (Martin) hopes to steal the car along the way, only to have his plans foiled by Lewis‟ Great Dane, Mr. Bascomb. The duo broke up before the picture was released. Thu, Aug 30 at 6:50pm

Horse Feathers (1932) 68min Directed by Norman Z. McLeod. With the Marx Brothers. “Whatever it is, I‟ against it,” declares Groucho‟s Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, president of Huxley College, where his son Zeppo informs him they‟ve been “neglecting football for education.” But when he mistakenly enlists the athletic services of decidedly non-pro misfits Harpo and Chico for the big game against rival school Darwin, anarchy reigns. The marvelous Marxes are at their peak in their most outlandishly zany vehicle, with memorable musical highlight “.” Sat, Aug 11 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Buck Privates / In the Navy (1941) 84min / 85min Directed by Arthur Lubin. With and . Two of three military comedies Abbott and Costello made the Andrew Sisters (their fellow stars) shortly before the US entered World War II, In the Navy and Buck Privates feature some of the team‟s most memorable routines, including a hilariously sloppy army drill and Costello‟s classic proof that 13 times 7 equals 28. In addition to the superb slapstick, this double feature also boasts some fantastic musical numbers, including a rare on-camera Lindy Hop dance sequence and debuting the Oscar-nominated jump-blues standard “.” Thu, Aug 16 at 4:30, 8pm

It Should Happen to You (1954) 86min Directed by George Cukor. With Judy Holliday, Jack Lemon, . Judy Holliday reteamed with Born Yesterday writer Garson Kanin for one of Hollywood‟s finest send-ups of the New York rat race. After two years of trying to make her mark as a model, a small-town fame- seeker (Holliday) takes encouragement from a struggling documentarian (Lemmon, in his first screen appearance) she meets in Central Park. Deciding to buy her way to stardom, she blows all her savings on getting her face plastered on a giant billboard, but soon finds herself entangled with the womanizing owner of a soap whose ad space she‟s just purchased. Featuring an irresistibly

sweet Holliday-Lemmon duet of the standard “Let‟s Fall in Love,” It Should Happen to You brings out the wit, warmth, and humanity behind the brilliant comedienne‟s dumb-blonde act. Thu, Aug 23 at 4:30, 9:15pm

The Jerk (1979) 104min Directed by Carl Reiner. With Steve Martin, , Catlin Adams. In his first major film role following a successful career in stand-up, Steve Martin plays Navin, an idiotic, rhythmically challenged white man who was adopted as an infant by a family of black sharecroppers. Upon discovering that he can follow the beat of a Lawrence Welk song, Navin has a moment of revelation and decides to head to St. Louis, where he comes into fortune with a new eyewear invention and falls in love with a cosmetologist (Peters, in one of her best screen roles). The Jerk is “such a soaring hymn to stupidity…that only the sanest souls could resist the temptation to join in with the chorus” (Time Out London). Thu, Sep 5 at 6:50, 9:15pm

The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) 91min Directed by Sidney Lanfield. With Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell. The titular racetrack bookie (Hope) has until Christmas Eve to cough up the $10,000 he owes a gangster…or else. Heading to New York City, he cooks up a little scam getting street corner Santas to collect for a fake nursing home charity. Along the way, donning spinster drag, he learns the true meaning of Christmas, and to the tune of the now-Yuletide-classic “Silver Bells.” Though uncredited, gag-man Frank Tashlin was brought in to rework this film. Fri, Aug 24 at 2, 6:50pm

Love and Death (1975) 85min Directed by Woody Allen. With Allen, Diane Keaton, Georges Adet. One of Woody Allen‟s earliest self-conscious acknowledgements of his weakness for “the great themes,” Love and Death strives at every turn to lampoon its maker‟s grandiose impulses. Allen stars as a cowardly and sexually imbecilic scholar forced to enlist in the Russian army during the Napoleonic invasion. While away at war, he spends his time pining for his already-engaged cousin (Keaton), who shares his love of loopy, pseudo-intellectual pontification. A Silver Bear winner at the Film Festival, this giddy mix of the high- and low-brow boasts one of the best laugh-a-minute ratios in the Allen canon, turning nearly every one of the director‟s acknowledged heroes—from Tolstoy to Bergman, T.S. Eliot to the Marx Brothers—into a punchline. Sun, Sep 9 at 4:30, 9:15pm

The Man with Two Brains (1983) 93min Directed by Carl Reiner. With Steve Martin, . Reiner and Martin reunite for this sci-fi comedy in which accomplished brain surgeon Dr. Hfuhruhurr continues to romance the preserved, talking brain of his deceased wife until he uses his innovative cranial screw-top surgery technique to save the life of a beautiful young gold digger (Turner) whom he then marries. Wackiness, scatological humor, puns, and slapstick abound in this comedy that does everything it can to earn its tagline: “DANGER: HEALTH WARNING: Watching This Movie May Cause Severe Brain Damage.” Fri, Sep 7 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Manhattan (1979) 96min Directed by Woody Allen. With Allen, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway, Diane Keaton. After his wife () leaves him for another woman, Isaac Davis (Allen) leaves his day job as a television writer and begins dating Tracy (Hemingway), a precocious 17 year old. But he soon begins to fall for his best friend‟s (Murphy) mistress (Keaton). Allen‟s rhapsodic love letter to New York is undoubtedly his most romantic—thanks to a larger-than-life Gershwin soundtrack, ‟ radiant black-and-white cinematography, and no shortage of classic Manhattan locales, including the MoMA, Elaine‟s, the Hayden Planetarium, and the iconic shot of the 59th Street Bridge—making this a must-see on the big screen. Sun, Sep 9 at 2, 6:50pm

Million Dollar Legs (1932) 64min Directed by Edward Cline. With Jack Oakie, W.C. Fields. One of the most bizarre comedies ever to come out of the Hollywood studio system, this W.C. Fields vehicle (based on a short story by future All About Eve director Joseph L. Mankiewicz) was ostensibly released to commemorate the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. This premise turns out to be just an excuse for a blisteringly funny of a world that, in the shadow of fascism, totalitarianism, and a financial crisis, seemed to have gone insane. Strung together with nonsensical banter, a disorienting structure, and some truly batty performances, this comic tour-de-force tells the story of a mythical, near-bankrupt country where everyone shares the same name and whose president (Fields) is on the verge of being ousted by his cabinet. When the government decides that participating in the Olympics will help dig the nation out of debt, the resulting shenanigans are “about as close as Hollywood...ever came to the spirit of Dada” (). Wed, Aug 15 at 6:30, 9:15pm

Monkey Business (1931) 77min Directed by Norman Z. McLeod. With the Marx Brothers. In their first picture under the stewardship of McLeod, the Marx Brothers take to the high seas as stowaways on an ocean liner before getting inadvertently mixed up with some tough-talking gangsters. Their first film to be written for the screen and not based on one of their Broadway acts was a colossal box-office success, despite being banned in some countries for promoting anarchic behavior. In one memorable scene, the four brothers attempt to pass themselves off as French crooner , a particularly tall order for the famously silent Harpo. Comedienne-extraordinaire Thelma Todd replaced Margaret DuMont as the female foil. Sat, Aug 11 at 2, 6:50pm

My Man Godfrey (1936) 94min Directed by Gregory La Cava. With William Powell, Carole Lombard. In this definitive screwball comedy, genre virtuoso Lombard is a scatterbrained scavenger-hunting socialite who plucks “forgotten man” Godfrey (Powell) from the city dump, makes him her new butler, and watches him transform her coterie of eccentric relatives. My Man Godfrey is the first film to receive Oscar nominations in all four acting categories, with its Depression-era social commentary lending a subtly serious note to the madcap proceedings. Thu, Aug 9 at 6:50, 9:15pm

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) 85min Directed by David Zucker. With Leslie Nielsen, , Ricardo Montalban, , O.J. Simpson. “It's true what they say: Cops and women don't mix. It's like eating a spoonful of Drano; sure, it'll clean you out, but it'll leave you hollow inside.” Six years after the cancellation of Police Squad, Nielsen re- teamed with the Zuckers and Jim Abrahams to bring Lieutenant Frank Drebin to the big screen, cementing Drebin‟s status as arguably one of the most memorable characters in late 20th-century American comedy. A plot is afoot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during an LA Dodgers home game, and Drebin must foil the murder while romancing the beautiful Jane Spencer (Presley). Side-splitting laughs from start to finish, with a nonstop barrage of puns, slapstick, sight gags, and a surprisingly funny performance by O.J. Simpson. Fri, Sep 14 at 4:30, 9:15pm

National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) 98min Directed by Harold Ramis. With Chevy Chase, Beverly D‟Angelo, , Anthony Michael Hall. Already a household name as a member of Saturday Night Live‟s original cast and a previous collaboration with Ramis in Caddyshack, Chevy Chase became a bona fide 1980s comedy phenomenon as Clark Griswold, a warmhearted dad and well-meaning but bumbling fool determined get his family to their fun, ill-fated vacation at Walley World amusement park, come hell or high water. This box-office hit, which was adapted by John Hughes from his short story Vacation „58 that appeared in National Lampoon magazine, spawned multiple sequels.

Sun, Sep 16 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Operation Mad Ball (1957) 105min Directed by Richard Quine. With Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Kathryn Grant. Before Jack Lemmon donned a dress in Some Like It Hot, he got a lesson in madcap sexual politics as Private Hogan, his first time getting top billing. His chauvinism is put to the test when he falls for an educated, beautiful army nurse, and schemes to organize a clandestine ball to win her heart while evading the meddling Captain Locke (played by Kovacs in his first big screen role). Operation Mad Ball is one of two offerings in this series in which Lemmon and Kovacs‟ comedic chops are brought to the fore by director Quine. Fri, Aug 31 at 2, 6:50pm

The Palm Beach Story (1942) 88min Directed by Preston Sturges. With , Joel McCrea, . Opening with a breakneck wedding sequence cheekily punctuated by a question mark, this classic screwball romance quickly fast-forwards, five years later, to the ever-pragmatic wife Gerry (Colbert) and her bankrupt architect husband Tom (McCrea) facing eviction from their Park Avenue apartment. But after using her powers of flirtation to nab a wealthier mate, Gerry‟s affection for Tom proves unshakable, and a whirlwind of comic mayhem conspires to bring them back together. Among the most spryly paced and verbally pyrotechnic films of Sturges‟ astonishing output, The Palm Beach Story also stars Robert Dudley and as the idle-rich buffoons who fall for the heroine‟s charms. Fri, Aug 17 at 4:30, 9:15pm

The Party (1968) 99min Directed by Blake Edwards. With Peter Sellers, . After bit player Hrundi V. Bakshi (Sellers) wrecks the production of a lavish , a place on the blacklist accidentally becomes a dinner invitation at the home of studio head Fred Clutterbuck. Finding himself among a laundry list of Hollywood talent, Bakshi immediately resumes the catastrophic clumsiness that helped him get there in the first place. Edwards charts this visual anarchy with his usual acuity, making for a film that Dave Kehr called “a feature-length celebration of the sight gag.” Sun, Sep 2 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Pat and Mike (1952) 95min Directed by George Cukor. With Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn. The second Hepburn-Tracy collaboration scripted by Kanin and Gordon after Adam‟s Rib offers the same relaxed interplay between its stars. This time around, she‟s a college athletic coach intent on becoming a golf and tennis champion, while he‟s a gruffly lovable sports promoter who takes her under his wing. Directed with the usual Cukor elegance, “it‟s as close to perfect as you'd want it to be” (). Wed, Aug 22 at 4:30, 9:15pm

The Philadelphia Story (1940) 112min Directed by George Cukor. With Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, John Howard. Grant, Stewart, and Howard all jockey for the affections of an old-money socialite (Hepburn) amidst the tumult of her high-society wedding weekend in this timeless rom-com masterpiece with an impeccable cast. “The wit still sparkles; the ambivalent attitude towards the rich and idle is still resonant; and the moments between Stewart and Hepburn, drunk and flirty on the moonlit terrace, tingle with a real, if rarely explicit, eroticism” (Time Out New York). Sun, Aug 19 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) 93min Directed by John Hughes. With John Candy, Steve Martin. Though they collaborated on eight films, the high-water mark of the Candy-Hughes creative partnership is undoubtedly this anti- road-trip comedy. Stranded on his way to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his family, buttoned-up ad exec Neal (Martin) becomes saddled with well-meaning buffoon and shower-ring salesman Del (Candy) on a three-day misadventure rife with flaming rental cars, near-death highway experiences, and a bit of awkwardness concerning “two pillows.” Incredibly funny, endlessly

quotable, and heartbreakingly human, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is driven by the chemistry of Martin and Candy, who gives the most bighearted, moving performance of his career. “Strange, how much poignancy creeps into this comedy, and only becomes stronger while we're laughing” (). Mon, Sep 10 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm

The Producers (1968) 88min Directed by Mel Brooks. With , Gene Wilder. Taking Nazi lampoonery to unprecedented extremes, Mel Brooks‟ directorial debut follows the exploits of an unsuccessful Broadway producer (blacklisted actor Mostel, in a ferocious performance), who raises money for his projects by sexing up old ladies, and a jittery blanket-clutching accountant (Wilder) who advises him that a flop might rake in more money than a hit. The idea inspires their Nazi burlesque Springtime for Hitler, an extravaganza of bad taste featuring a -worthy line of leg-kicking SS officers. The Brooks-written Broadway adaptation may have broken Tony Award records, but the film is still unbeatable for its relentless, ingenious brand of shock-comedy. Sun, Sep 2 at 2, 6:50pm

Return of the Pink Panther (1975) 113min Directed by Blake Edwards. With Peter Sellers, , . The third installment of the Sellers-Edwards Pink Panther saga sees the return of both the first film‟s titular diamond and its villain, the Phantom (Plummer, replacing ). When the pink rock goes missing from its home at the National Museum of fictional Lugash, Clouseau bumbles into a world of frame jobs, political maneuvering, and bored wives. The question, as ever, remains whether it will be his own crazy boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus, who finally does Clouseau in. Sat, Sep 1 at 4:30, 9:15pm

A Shot in the Dark (1964) 102min Directed by Blake Edwards. With Peter Sellers, , . Peter Sellers returns as Inspector Clouseau for the second chapter of Blake Edwards‟ Pink Panther series, this time stumbling through a string of murders on the grounds of a French manor. When a chauffeur turns up dead the obvious suspect is his former lover, Maria the maid (Sommer). Clouseau‟s heart and intuition tell him she‟s innocent, and his attempts to prove it lead to increasing danger for everyone involved. Sat, Sep 1 at 2, 6:50pm

Sleeper (1973) 89min Directed by Woody Allen. With Allen, Diane Keaton. Poor Miles Monroe. Unable to make it as a clarinetist, he‟s stuck running a Greenwich Village health food store called the Happy Carrot, gets “beaten up by Quakers,” and is cryogenically frozen without his consent. When defrosted, he wakes up in 22nd-century America, which has been taken over by an inept totalitarian regime that a pack of scientists has enlisted him to singlehandedly overthrow. With nods to George Orwell and 2001: A Space Odyssey, this hilarious sci-fi spoof inspired Roger Ebert to hail Allen as “the best comic director and actor in America.” Sat, Sep 8 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Some Like it Hot (1959) 120min Directed by Billy Wilder. With Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, . In this classic madcap comedy about how the other half lives, Joe and Jerry (Curtis and Lemmon) accidentally witness a mob massacre in Prohibition-era Chicago and go on the run by joining an all- female musical troupe headed for Florida, in effect becoming Josephine and Daphne. But a wrench gets thrown when Joe falls for bandmate Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Monroe) and Jerry unwittingly wins the affections of a septuagenarian millionaire (Brown). The script is chockablock with one-liners for Curtis and Lemmon, but Monroe still manages to steal the scene with her sweet but emotionally honest portrayal of Sugar, a girl who always gets “the fuzzy end of the lollipop.” Sat, Aug 25 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm

Son of Paleface (1952) 95min Directed by Frank Tashlin. With Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Roy Rogers. In this wildly absurdist (and funnier) sequel to the hugely successful 1948 western spoof The Paleface, Hope (in arguably his best film role) stars as a cowardly frontier son, fresh from Harvard. While seeking his father‟s hidden gold, he falls in with a sexy saloon singer/bandit named Mike (Russell). The endless stream of wacky slapstick sight gags are courtesy of former Warner Bros. cartoon animator Frank Tashlin (Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?), who also co-wrote the script. Fri, Aug 24 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Stripes (1981) 106min Directed by Ivan Reitman. With Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis, P.J. Soles. Originally conceived by Reitman as “Cheech and Chong join the army,” but retailored for Murray and Ramis when C&C insisted on complete creative control, Stripes is an irreverent, anarchic slacker comedy about two single, unemployed who join the US Army for shits and giggles, fomenting chaos at basic training and heroically penetrating the iron curtain. The bonkers mud wrestling scene was reportedly largely improvised, with Murray and Ramis dragging unknowing screen legend Warren Oates into the mud, chipping his tooth in the process. Sat, Sep 15 at 2, 6:50pm

Sullivan’s Travels (1941) 90min Directed by Preston Sturges. With Joel McCrea, , . In this warm, openhearted Sturges satire, a slapstick-comedy director (McCrea) hoping to upgrade his reputation with a Capra-esque social-problem film decides to go undercover as a and get in touch with the people. Finding it difficult to pull himself away from his privileged world, he eventually meets a down-and-out failed actress (Lake) who inspires him with her combination of looks and old- fashioned kindness. Despite its biting critique of industry shallowness, Sullivan‟s Travels is steadfastly faithful to the romance of the movies and remains one of Hollywood‟s most spirited defenses of cinema as escapism. Fri, Aug 17 at 6:50pm

The Thin Man (1934) 91min Directed by W.S. Van Dyke. With William Powell, Myrna Loy. ‟s last novel spawned the ne plus ultra of sophisticated screen couples: William Powell (of whom Roger Ebert famously said was “to dialogue as is to dance”) and Myrna Loy as , a boozy ex-detective and his quick-witted socialite wife. The screwball-mystery plot finds the pair (with canine companion Asta in tow) investigating the disappearance of an inventor, but “what enchants, really, is the relationship between Nick and Nora as they live an eternal cocktail hour in a marvelous blend of marital familiarity and constant courtship, pixilated fantasy and childlike wonder” (Tom Milne, Time Out London). Wed, Aug 8 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm

Trouble in Paradise (1932) 83min Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. With , Miriam Hopkins, . “Tonsils! Positively tonsils!” Dashing thief Gaston Monescu (Marshall) teams up with a pickpocket (Hopkins) in Venice to fleece a wealthy Parisian perfume maven (Francis). But things get tricky when the mark falls for her would-be swindler. The famed “Lubitsch touch” was never more resplendent than in this pre-Code paean to sex, sin, and jewels. “Full of suave maneuvers and magical switcheroos; in its light-as- a-feather way, it's perfection” (Pauline Kael). Fri, Aug 10 at 4:30, 9:15pm

Young Frankenstein (1974) 106min Directed by Mel Brooks. With Gene Wilder, , Feldman. Mel Brooks‟ send-up of classic Hollywood horror films stars Gene Wilder as Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the notorious mad scientist, who gets mixed up in the family business of re-animating the dead. When his creation (Boyle) is implanted with an “abnormal” brain, however, things go side-splittingly awry. Brooks‟ uncannily recreates the look and feel of the 30s original with crisp, atmospheric

black-and-white cinematography and features pitch-perfect supporting performances by the inimitable , as Frankenstein‟s frigid girlfriend, and Feldman, as his bug-eyed servant, . Mon, Sep 3 at 4:30, 9:15pm

About BAMcinématek

The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer audiences alternative and independent films that might not play in the borough otherwise, making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of , BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn‟s only daily, year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents new and rarely seen contemporary films, classics, work by local artists, and festivals of films from around the world, often with special appearances by directors, actors, and other guests. BAMcinématek has not only presented major retrospectives by major filmmakers such as , Manoel de Oliveira, Shohei Imamura, (winning a National Film Critics‟ Circle Award prize for the retrospective), Kaneto Shindo, , , but it has also introduced New York audiences to contemporary artists such as Pedro Costa and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In addition, BAMcinématek programmed the first US retrospectives of directors Arnaud Desplechin, Nicolas Winding Refn, Hong Sang-soo, and, most recently, Andrzej Zulawski. From 2006 to 2008, BAMcinématek partnered with the Sundance Institute and in June 2009 launched BAMcinemaFest, a 16-day festival of new independent films and repertory favorites with 15 NY premieres; the fourth annual BAMcinemaFest, with over 20 NY premieres and one North American premiere, runs from June 20—July 1, 2012.

Credits

The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.

Visit the Steinberg Screen at the BAM Theater opening in Fall 2012 made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.

BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg, and Time Warner Inc. Additional support for BAMcinématek is provided by The Grodzins Fund, The Liman Foundation and Summit Rock Advisors.

Special thanks to Marilee Womack/Warner Brothers; Paul Ginsburg/Universal; Chris Lane & Michael Horne/Sony Pictures Repertory; Brian Block/Criterion Pictures; May Haduong/Academy Film Archive; Maureen Solomon/The Bob Hope Legacy; Jim Hardy/Hope Enterprises; Chris Chouinard/Park ; Judy Nicaud/Paramount; Tom Holland; Eric Di Bernardo/Rialto Pictures.

General Information

Tickets: General Admission: $12 BAM Cinema Club Members: $7, BAM Cinema Club Movie Moguls: Free Seniors & Students (25 and under with a valid ID, Mon—Thu): $9 Bargain matinees (Mon—Thu before 5pm & Fri—Sun before 3pm no holidays): $8

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn‟s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé, currently on hiatus until mid-September, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on select Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 8pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal

Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.