Spend Oscar weekend celebrating the anniversaries of a number of classic films, from 75th anniversary screenings of the Barbara Stanwyck gems BABY FACE and THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN to a pair of Southern melodramas (a beautiful new print of THE LONG HOT SUMMER and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF) that turn fifty this year. Twenty-fifth anniversary presentations of seminal films by directed by David Cronenberg (THE DEAD ZONE, VIDEODROME) and starring Tom Cruise (ALL THE RIGHT MOVES) complete this eclectic series.

Friday, February 22 – 7:30 PM

25th Anniversary!

ALL THE RIGHT MOVES, 1983. 20th Century Fox, 91 min. Legendary cinematographer Michael Chapman (TAXI DRIVER; RAGING BULL) made his directorial debut with this working class coming of age film. Tom Cruise plays a high school athlete who hopes that football can save him from a dead-end life in the mill town where he lives. Craig T. Nelson is the coach with an agenda of his own who comes into conflict with his star player. Chapman places the compelling human drama against a naturalistic, richly detailed backdrop, and Lea Thompson is excellent opposite Cruise in the film’s tender and thoughtful love story.

Saturday, February 23 – 7:30 PM

25th Anniversary! David Cronenberg Double Feature:

VIDEODROME, 1983, Universal, 87 min. One of director David Cronenberg’s most disturbing, subversive thrillers. While searching for programs to boost ratings on his small cable station, jaded owner Max Renn (James Woods) becomes hooked on an underground TV show, called Videodrome, that may be a genuine snuff video. But tracking down its source proves dangerous as very lifelike hallucinations kick in - skewing Max’s very concept of reality, and new girlfriend and talk show host, Nikki Brand (Deborah Harry), goes missing. "Long live the new flesh!"

THE DEAD ZONE, 1983, Paramount, 103 min. Director David Cronenberg helms one of the best Stephen King adaptations with Christopher Walken as a young man who receives the gift (or is it curse?) of second sight after a near death accident. Radical upheaval plagues his life as his marriage to Brooke Adams is thwarted, and he becomes involved in helping Sheriff Tom Skerritt track a serial killer. But foreseeing the apocalyptic behavior of power-drunk presidential candidate Martin Sheen provides him with his most tortuous challenge. One of Walken's most poignant, sensitive portrayals.

Wednesday, February 27 – 7:30 PM

Restored Version! BABY FACE, 1933, Warner Bros, 76 min. In one of the last gasps of pre-code Hollywood, Barbara Stanwyck plays a prostitute who moves to the big city and uses her skills to climb the corporate ladder. Sharp dialogue (with a story credited to a young Darryl F. Zanuck) and a pervasive atmosphere of sordid eroticism mark this classic of early sound cinema. Look for a then unknown John Wayne in a bit part.

THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN, 1933, Sony Repertory, 88 min. One of Frank Capra’s greatest films, this complex love story between an American missionary (Barbara Stanwyck) and her Chinese captor (Nils Asther) is a haunting masterpiece. Subtle and deeply mysterious, it presents Stanwyck at her best and Capra at his most provocative, with an interracial romance that is both moving and challenging.

Thursday, February 28 – 7:30 PM

New 35 mm print! THE LONG HOT SUMMER, 1958, 20th Century Fox, 115 min. Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Angela Lansbury star in director Martin Ritt’s handsomely mounted adaptation of three William Faulkner stories (primarily "The Hamlet"). Newman plays Ben Quick, a drifter who rides into a town run by Woodward’s father (Orson Welles), a man who admires Newman’s sense of ruthless ambition. As Welles tries to push his daughter and the handsome stranger together, a number of intersecting relationships grow increasingly complicated and reach a melodramatic fever pitch.