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Home , Bruce Dern, Cisco Pike, Dan Curtis, Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider, James Dean

BAMcinématek presents , an eight-film retrospective in tribute to the late actress, Oct 18—24

Three-film sidebar between retrospectives of Black and of the films in which they both starred, Oct 28, 29 & Nov 5

“Black brings to all her roles a freewheeling combination of raunch and winsomeness. Sometimes she is kittenish. At other times she has an overripe quality that makes her look like the kind of woman who gets her name tattooed on sailors.”—Time magazine

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

Brooklyn, NY/Sep 27, 2013—From Friday, October 18 through Thursday, October 24, BAMcinématek presents Karen Black, an eight-film retrospective of the late actress once described as “something of a freak, a beautiful freak.” Adept at offbeat portrayals of eccentric, often tumultuous characters, Black embodied the adventurous, defiantly nonconformist spirit of New . This series pays tribute to Black, who passed away in August.

Opening the series on Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19 are two canonical road trip movies that made Black (and her costar ) a rising American icon: ’s (1970), about an oil rig worker (Nicholson) who travels home to see his ailing father and brings his waitress girlfriend (Black) along for the ride, and ’s (1969), a counterculture fever dream and drug-fueled tour of the American Southwest. Easy Rider kicked off the movement and marked the feature film debut of Black, who plays a prostitute on a bad acid trip. Her next role, in Five Easy Pieces, was a challenge; growing up in an urbane household in the suburbs, Black said she found it difficult to find a common ground with the indelicate Rayette. But it also became one of Black’s most celebrated performances, garnering her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Karen Black collaborated with fellow New Hollywood pioneer Altman on his decade- defining snapshot of , Nashville (1975—Oct 20), which called “the funniest epic vision of America ever to reach the screen.” Playing a glammed up country star performing at a presidential concert rally, Black wrote and performed all of her own songs for the film’s soundtrack. Also in the series is Altman’s unsung film adaptation of the play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982—Oct 23), which he staged on Broadway with almost entirely the same cast. Members of a fan club (the Disciples of James Dean)—including , , , and Karen Black, playing a transsexual—reunite at a Texas Woolworth’s to honor the 20th anniversary of the actor’s death. Come Back to the Five and Dime screens in a restored 35mm print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Other series highlights include Bill L. Norton’s (1972—Oct 24), which stars as a down and out musician who becomes entangled in the drug business alongside his loyal girlfriend (Black); Czechoslovak New Wave trailblazer ’s dark comedy Born to Win (1971—Oct 21); ’s noirish mafia thriller The Outfit (1973—Oct 22); and Dark

Shadows creator ’ Burnt Offerings (1976—Oct 24), a haunted-house-style thriller that inspired parts of The Shining.

As a special sidebar linking retrospectives of Black and Bruce Dern (beginning Nov 16), BAMcinématek presents the three films in which they both starred (Oct 28—Nov 5). Dern and Black carved out careers as intrepid character actors at the forefront of the American New Wave, with a penchant for risk-taking that paid off in some of the most memorable performances of the era, including in Jack Nicholson’s directorial debut, Drive, He Said (1971—Oct 28); ’s adaptation of (1974—Nov 5), featuring Black as Myrtle Wilson and Dern as Tom Buchanan; and ’s final film, (1976—Oct 29).

For press information, please contact: Lisa Thomas at 718.724.8023 / [email protected] Hannah Thomas at 718.724.8002 / [email protected]

Karen Black Schedule

Fri, Oct 18 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Five Easy Pieces

Sat, Oct 19 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Easy Rider

Sun, Oct 20 2, 5:30, 9pm: Nashville

Mon, Oct 21 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Born to Win

Tue, Oct 22 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: The Outfit

Wed, Oct 23 7, 9:30pm: Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Thu, Oct 24 4:30, 9:30pm: Burnt Offerings 7pm: Cisco Pike

Black + Dern Schedule

Mon, Oct 28 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Drive, He Said

Tue, Oct 29 4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Family Plot

Tue, Nov 5 4:30, 7:30pm: The Great Gatsby

Film Descriptions All films in 35mm unless otherwise noted.

Born to Win (1971) 88min Directed by Ivan Passer. With .

Director Ivan Passer (Cutter’s Way) helmed this unsung gem, a pitch- about addiction starring George Segal as J, a hairdresser turned dope fiend, whose life spirals out of control. Black plays J’s love interest, and a very young makes a brief appearance as a cop. Mon, Oct 21 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Burnt Offerings (1976) 116min Directed by Dan Curtis. With , Burgess Meredith. Ben (Reed) and Marian (Black) score a too-good-to-be-true deal on a spooky Gothic mansion (complete with cackling proprietor) in the country for the summer. This arty take on the classic haunted house chiller (an acknowledged influence on The Shining, with many similarities) has an unsettling, dreamlike atmosphere courtesy of creator Curtis. Thu, Oct 24 at 4:30, 9:30pm

Cisco Pike (1972) 95min Directed by Bill L. Norton. With Kris Kristofferson, . Washed-up Cisco (Kristofferson) peddles marijuana to make ends meet and winds up getting blackmailed by a crooked cop (Hackman) into unloading 100 kilos of weed in just three days. Black co- stars as Cisco’s loyal girlfriend in this tense, moody character study. This outstanding example of the sort of loose-limbed, shaggy-dog realism that flourished in the 70s is ripe for rediscovery. Thu, Oct 24 at 7pm

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) 109min Directed by . With Cher, Sandy Dennis. The members of a James Dean fan club (including Black, playing a transsexual) reunite at a small-town Texas Woolworth’s to observe the 20th anniversary of the actor’s death—and the memories come pouring forth. “A cinematic tour de force… Altman uses both the camera and a wall mirror (which periodically reflects us back to ’55) to explore and open up his single dime-store set and the cracks in the masks of his deluded/deluding characters. Stunning stuff” (Time Out London). 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive; preservation funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Wed, Oct 23 at 7, 9:30pm

Drive, He Said (1971) 95min Directed by Jack Nicholson. With . Hoop dreams bump up against 70s anti-establishment disillusionment in Jack Nicholson’s directorial debut (co-written by an uncredited ). College basketball star Hector (Tepper) scores both on and off the court—including a fling with a faculty wife (Black)—as political unrest boils over in the background. Dern turns in “a small masterpiece of accurate observation” () as Hector’s coach, and Black turns up the sass as the professor’s wife with whom Hector has an affair in this nervy, fractured piece of Godard-style agitprop. Mon, Oct 28 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Easy Rider (1969) 95min Directed by Dennis Hopper. With , Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson. In the quintessential counterculture movie, chopper-riding dropouts Wyatt, aka “Captain America,” (Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), flush with cash from a coke deal (their contact man is played by ), discover America on a road trip from LA to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Along the way there’s Jack Nicholson stealing scenes as a boozy lawyer, an LSD freakout shot in 16mm, and Karen Black as a prostitute on a bad graveyard-set acid trip. Sat, Oct 19 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Family Plot (1976) 120min Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. With Karen Black, Bruce Dern, . The master’s final film, a “light comedy,” is an intricate, savory dual narrative about two couples—one (Dern and Harris) on the hunt for the missing heir to a family fortune and the other a pair (Black and

Devane) who kidnap millionaire industrialists—who barely meet through a series of chance encounters and coincidences until coming together in the final reel. Tue, Oct 29 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

Five Easy Pieces (1970) 98min Directed by Bob Rafelson. With Jack Nicholson. In this key work of the American New Wave, disaffected scion of the upper-crust Robert Eroica DuPea (Nicholson) hides out from respectability on a California oil rig while two-timing his waitress girlfriend (Black, in her only Oscar-nominated performance). When a family illness calls him back home, DuPea embarks on one of the great road trips of 70s cinema—including a now-iconic stop at a particularly stringent diner. Fri, Oct 18 at 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

The Great Gatsby (1974) 144min Directed by Jack Clayton. With , Mia Farrow. This -scripted adaptation of Fitzgerald’s classic captures the shimmering opulence of the Jazz Age in sumptuous period detail. Beautiful person Robert Redford plays the self-made millionaire who conquers society, but can’t have what he truly wants: frivolous flapper (Mia Farrow). Dern is “a superb mixture of slovenly charm and thinly concealed menace” (Chicago Reader) as Daisy’s husband, and Black plays his extramarital lover. DCP. Tue, Nov 5 at 4:30, 7:30pm

Nashville (1975) 159min Directed by Robert Altman. With , , . Robert Altman’s decade-defining masterwork remains a bitingly satiric tapestry of American life, refracted through one long week in the country music capital. Altman uses the zoom lens and overlapping sound design to probe the lives of his ensemble cast, which includes Karen Black as a glamorous but mediocre country singer. DCP. Sun, Oct 20 at 2, 5:30, 9pm

The Outfit (1973) 103min Directed by John Flynn. With . When a seasoned criminal (Duvall) gets out of prison and learns from his girlfriend (Black) that the mob has offed his brother, he vows revenge. This “cool, exciting thriller” (Time Out London) boasts a who’s- who cast of classic noir actors including Timothy Carey, Elisha Cook Jr., and , as the syndicate’s head honcho. Tue, Oct 22 at 4:30, 7, 9:30pm

About BAMcinématek The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn 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 Spike Lee, 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, Vincente Minnelli (winning a National Film Critics’ Circle Award prize for the retrospective), Kaneto Shindo, Luchino Visconti, and William Friedkin, 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 feature film premieres; the fifth annual BAMcinemaFest ran from June 19—28, 2013.

Credits

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

Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM.

Brooklyn Brewery is the preferred beer of BAMcinématek.

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 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 Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, The Liman Foundation and Summit Rock Advisors.

Special thanks to Christopher Lane & Michael Horne/Sony Pictures Repertory; Judy Nicaud/Paramount; Chris Chouinard/Park Circus; Kristie Nakamura/Warner Bros. Classics; Todd Wiener & Steven Hill/UCLA Film & Television Archive.

General Information

Tickets: General Admission: $13 BAM Cinema Club Members: $8, 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): $9

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 Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by , is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé 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 – Barclays Center (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 – Barclays Center 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.