| Seeing the Big Picture: 70mm
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Some Films in this Series also play at the Egyptian Theatre.
70mm, like many other motion picture formats such as Cinemascope and
Cinerama in the 1950s, was created as a way of prying folks away from those insidious
small screen "idiot boxes" (i.e., televisions) that were starting to deplete the
industry’s box office thunder. From Super Technirama 70 to Ultra Panavision to
Dimension 150 and more, the 70mm large-screen format promised – and delivered –
a Barnum-esque world of spectacular sights and 6-track sounds. If the movies were always
larger-than-life, then 70mm movies were MUCH much larger! From 1955 to 1970 – the
Golden Age of 70mm filmmaking – there were nearly 60 Hollywood features shot in
large-format, with many more released in special engagements as 35mm-to-70mm blow-ups
(which still offered superior sound and image quality to their 35mm counterparts).
This year’s edition is specially exciting with brand-new 70mm prints of the latest
restorations from the studios: STAR! with Julie Andrews and KHARTOUM with
Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier. Join us also for some old-time favorites, such as 2001:
A SPACE ODYSSEY, PLAYTIME and a rare screening of APOCALYPSE NOW!
Friday, May 23 – 7:30 PM
Tribute to Arthur C. Clarke!
70mm Print! 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, 1968, Warner Bros., 139
min. Arthur C. Clarke was the author of more than 100 fiction and non-fiction
books. He achieved his greatest fame in 1968 when his short story The Sentinel was
turned into 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Director Stanley Kubrick’s mindblowing
meditation on the dangers (and wonders) of technology, the limitless vistas of space, and
the future of the human race itself is one of the Cinematheque’s most requested movie
titles. This is another opportunity to see one of the essential cinema experiences on the
giant screen, in truly psychedelic 6-track stereo sound! With Keir Dullea, Gary
Lockwood. More on this film. "I have
had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these, I
would like to be remembered as a writer." Arthur C. Clarke
Saturday, May 24 – 7:30 PM
Mega-Rare 70mm Print!
APOCALYPSE NOW, 1979, American Zoetrope, 150 min.
Reluctant assassin Martin Sheen leads a boatload of surfer boys and sauciers
up-river to find renegade colonel Marlon Brando, in director Francis Ford
Coppola’s magnificent, crazed, wildly surreal Vietnam War film. Adapted by
Coppola and co-writer John Milius from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, APOCALYPSE
co-stars Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms and Dennis Hopper –
don’t miss this rarer-than-rare screening of a 70mm
print of the film. More on this film. Please note that
this only 70mm print is faded. Regular ticket prices will be charged. If you bought a
ticket at a higher price, please bring your ticket to the box office. Also
screening at the Egyptian.
Sunday, May 25 – 5:30 PM
70mm Print!
PLAYTIME, 1967, Janus Films, 126 min. Another chance to see
the fully restored Jacques Tati masterpiece PLAYTIME, which was conceived
originally as a 70mm viewing experience, then lost for over 30 years (there were only 35mm
prints left of a cut version) and finally rescued by Tati's daughter, Sophie Tatischeff,
and Jerome Deschamps. Monsieur Hulot must contact an American official in Paris, but he
gets lost in a stylish maze of modern architecture filled with the latest gadgets. Caught
in a tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing
chaos in his usual manner. The star of the film: the city built by Tati and called
Tativille/Taticity. From surprise to surprise, it’s an exquisite and divine
experience! François Truffaut, writing to Jacques Tati about PLAYTIME, said simply,
"A film from another planet." More on this film. Also playing at the Egyptian. View Trailer.
Thursday, May 29 – 7:30 PM
70mm Print!
THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR
FLYING MACHINES, 1965, 20th Century Fox, 133 min. Stuart Whitman, Sarah
Miles, Robert Morley, James Fox, Japanese superstar Yujiro Ishihara and
the ever-delightful Terry-Thomas star as a group of lovably crackpot aviators,
inventors and villains competing to win a London-to-Paris air race in 1910, in director Ken
Annakin’s combination of epic adventure and slapstick comedy. More on this
film.
Friday, May 30 – 7:30 PM
70mm Print!
PATTON, 1970, 20th Century Fox, 169 min. Dir.
Franklin J. Schaffner. "No dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his
country," growls George C. Scott in the jawdropping opening monologue to
PATTON, a war epic that manages to capture the tragic human sacrifice, the bullying
megalomania and the patriotic glory of battle, all encapsulated in the incredibly complex
and contradictory character of General George S. Patton. Winner of seven Academy Awards,
including Best Picture, Actor, Director and Screenplay (by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund
H. North). More on this film.
Saturday, May 31 – 7:30 PM
New 70mm Print!
STAR!, 1968, 20th Century Fox, 176 min. Director Robert
Wise and star Julie Andrews reunited after THE SOUND OF MUSIC for this
ambitious musical biopic. Andrews plays Gertrude Lawrence, a legendary British stage
performer whose real-life excesses are a perfect match for Wise's opulent visual style
(the film's costume changes alone make it worth seeing on the big screen in 70mm). Andrews
performs songs by Gershwin, Cole Porter and others in a series of glorious set pieces that
are a must for any musical lover. 20th
Century Fox’s latest restoration - do not miss this brand-new 70mm print!
More on this film.
Charlton Heston with his wife at the Grand Re-Opening of the Egyptian, Dec. 4,
1998.
Sunday, June 1 – 5:00 PM
New 70mm Print! Charlton Heston Tribute!
KHARTOUM, 1966, MGM Repertory, 128 min. Dirs. Basil
Dearden and Eliot Elisofon. MGM Repertory’s latest restoration! Charlton
Heston stars as British general Charles "Chinese" Gordon, who is sent to
defend the British Empire in the Sudan during a violent uprising led by jihad-hungry Laurence
Olivier. This is one of the most literate (with an Oscar-nominated screenplay) and
visually sumptuous of all 1960s epics, with vibrant colors and spectacular action
sequences courtesy of ace craftsman Basil Dearden. More on this film. Also screening at the Egyptian. |
