This is an Aero Theatre exclusive!

When Mickey Rourke appeared on screen in Lawrence Kasdan’s BODY HEAT singing along to "Feel Like a Number," audiences first became aware of the man who would become one of American cinema’s most compelling acting talents in the 1980s, 1990s and beyond. Starting his career with bit parts in two notorious (and underrated) projects by major directors (Spielberg’s 1941 and Cimino’s HEAVEN’S GATE), Rourke quickly established himself as a star to watch in DINER and Francis Ford Coppola’s RUMBLE FISH. From then on he spent the 1980s taking risks in a number of challenging and rewarding projects, including BARFLY, JOHNNY HANDSOME and the controversial 9 ½ WEEKS. After a detour into a boxing career and a series of lesser films in the early 1990s, Rourke returned to serious filmgoers’ radars with terrific supporting performances in Coppola’s THE RAINMAKER and Vincent Gallo’s BUFFALO 66, and he continued to do interesting work in the new millennium for directors Tony Scott (DOMINO, MAN ON FIRE) and Robert Rodriguez (ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, SIN CITY) before electrifying critics with his comeback role in Darren Aronofsky’s THE WRESTLER. Join us at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre for a program of Rourke’s finest work, including a sneak preview of THE WRESTLER with Mr. Rourke in person, as well as a mini-retrospective of career highlights..

Wednesday, December 10 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE, 1984, MGM Repertory, 121 min. Dir. Stuart Rosenberg (COOL HAND LUKE). Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts are cousins, a couple of NYC neighborhood guys who get in way over their heads in this beautifully acted adaptation of Vincent Patrick’s mob novel. A superb supporting cast includes Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Burt Young, Tony Musante, Kenneth McMillan and M. Emmet Walsh. Trailer

9 1/2 WEEKS, 1986, Warner Bros., 112 min. Dir. Adrian Lyne. Commodities broker Mickey Rourke and art dealer Kim Basinger embark on a sadomasochistic love affair that starts off playfully but descends into mutual self-destruction. Premier stylist Adrian Lyne provides a gorgeous but spiritually vacant backdrop for the characters' longing -- although the film is about sexual obsession, it's just as heavily influenced by Architectural Digest as Playboy or Penthouse. Rourke and Basinger give two of the best performances of their careers in one of the few American films of the 1980s to take sex seriously. Trailer

Friday, December 12 – 7:30 PM SOLD OUT

Sneak Preview! THE WRESTLER, 2008, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 105 min. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Back in the late 1980s, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a headlining professional wrestler. Now, 20 years later, he ekes out a living performing for handfuls of diehard wrestling fans in high school gyms and community centers around New Jersey. Estranged from his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and unable to sustain any real relationships, Randy lives for the thrill of the show and the adoration of his fans. However, a heart attack forces him into retirement. As his sense of identity starts to slip away, he begins to evaluate the state of his life, trying to reconnect with his daughter and striking up a romance with an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei). Yet all this cannot compare to the allure of the ring and passion for his art, which threatens to pull Randy "The Ram" back into his world of wrestling. Director Aronofsky presents a powerful portrait of a battered dreamer, who despite himself and the odds stacked against him lives to be a hero once again in the only place he considers home – inside the ring. THE WRESTLER won the Golden Lion at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. Discussion following with actor Mickey Rourke. Trailer

ANGEL HEART, 1987, Sony Repertory, 113 min. Dir. Alan Parker. Private detective Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) is hired by an enigmatic client (Robert De Niro) to find a missing person, and before long everyone he talks to ends up dead, with Angel the primary suspect in their murders. Director Alan Parker creates an hallucinatory, chilling blend of horror and film noir in this atmosphere-drenched cult favorite. The film sparked controversy on its initial release due to a steamy sex scene with young co-star Lisa Bonet, something that went against her clean-cut image on TV’s "The Cosby Show." Adapted from the novel Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg. "The movie's final revelations make a weird sense, once we figure them out. This is one of those movies where you leave the theater and re-run the plot in your head, re-interpreting the early scenes in terms of the final shocking revelations. ANGEL HEART is a thriller and a horror movie, but most of all it's an exuberant exercise in style, in which Parker and his actors have fun taking it to the limit." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times Trailer

YEAR OF THE DRAGON, 1985, Warner Bros., 134 min. New York police captain and Vietnam veteran Mickey Rourke takes on Chinese crime boss John Lone in this violent, riveting thriller scripted by Oliver Stone. Director Michael Cimino does some of his best work with his usual themes -- male friendships and betrayal, the importance of ritual and American-Asian cultural collision -- in this visually stylish and viscerally charged action film. "Cimino's eye for detail and insistence thereon has paid off in his impressive re-creation of Chinatown at producer Dino De Laurentiis' studios in North Carolina. Crammed with an array of interesting characters, including the extras in the background, DRAGON brims with authenticity." – Variety Trailer