<<< June 18 - 21, 2009 >>>

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If there’s one thing moviegoers have associated with summer ever since George Lucas’ STAR WARS in 1977, it’s science fiction extravaganzas on the big screen. Join us for a varied collection of contemporary classics set in space: There’s cult favorite FLASH GORDON (with that pounding Queen soundtrack that DEMANDS to be heard on the Aero’s state-of-the-art speakers!), a Spielberg double bill (E.T. and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS), and a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA marathon. Plus, a rare chance to see the Roger Corman-produced, John Sayles-scripted sci-fi riff on SEVEN SAMURAI, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS! And for animation fans, a double feature of sci-fi fantasy from Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki and French auteur Rene Laloux.

See these perfect summer spectacles on the big screen the way they were meant to be seen at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre!

Thursday, June 18 - 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

FLASH GORDON, 1980, Universal, 111 min. Like the early 1930s serial, director Mike Hodges’ FLASH is surprisingly faithful to Alex Raymond’s original comic strip, with just the right balance of action, tongue-in-cheek humor and mindblowing production design (here courtesy of wizard Danilo Donati), with a score by none other than Queen! Relative unknowns Sam Jones and Melody Anderson play Flash and Dale, but the supporting cast is full of heavyweights, including Max Von Sydow (as Ming), Topol (as Dr. Zarkov), Ornella Muti (as Aura), as well as Lina Wertmuller favorite Mariangela Melato (SWEPT AWAY) and future James Bond, Timothy Dalton. Trailer

BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, 1980, New World Pictures. 104 min. Dir. Jimmy T. Murakami. Roger Corman produced this variation on SEVEN SAMURAI/THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN that transplants the action to space (and stars MAGNIFICENT SEVEN veteran Robert Vaughn for good measure!). Screenwriter John Sayles shows his usual flair for colorful characterizations in a film that serves his words well by putting them in the mouths of John Saxon, Sybil Danning, George Peppard, and other genre stalwarts. Please note that the print is faded. Trailer

Friday, June 19 - 7:30 PM

Steven Spielberg Double Feature:

E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, 1982, Universal, 120 min. E.T. Phone Home! Arguably director Steven Spielberg’s most popular film, it follows several children (including Henry Thomas and a very young Drew Barrymore) who shelter and try to help a stranded alien back home to the stars. Magical and enchanting. With Dee Wallace Stone, Peter Coyote. The print showing is the one made by the Academy in late 2007 for the 25th Anniversary screening. Trailer

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, 1977, Columbia, 135 min. "We Are Not Alone …" Director Steven Spielberg’s thrilling, suspenseful and somehow very "human" speculation on the possibility of alien contact with mankind was one of the most surprising blockbusters of the 1970s. Richard Dreyfuss does a terrific job of anchoring the film as an unhappily married Everyman who’s suddenly possessed – along with hundreds of others – with visions of a strange tower rising up. And then the colored lights start appearing in the night sky … The passages of the massive alien ships appearing over the desert – told almost entirely without dialogue – are among the most radiantly beautiful images in all of Spielberg’s career. With Francois Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban. Trailer Discussion following with Cinematographer Allen Daviau.

Saturday, June 20 - 7:30 PM

Battlestar Galactica Marathon!

Join us for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to traverse outer space with all your fellow Aeronauts and bear witness to all three films together on the big Screen "It’s the end… of the 70s… it’s the end of the century." - Joey Ramone

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (THE MOVIE), 1978, Universal, 125 min. Dir. Richard A. Colla and Alan J. Levi. A resourceful team of space warriors, led by Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict and Maren Jensen, take on the evil Cylons (dig that moving red eyeball!) in this humorous and action-packed television series, screening here in the 1978 theatrical feature version. Often compared to a small-screen STAR WARS (visual effects guru John Dykstra created superb F/X for both), "Battlestar Galactica" achieved its own unique charm through a winning cast and a refreshing, tongue-in-cheek approach to the sci-fi genre. Trailer

MISSION GALACTICA: THE CYLON ATTACK, 1979, Universal, 108 min. Dir. Vince Edwards and Christian I. Nyby II.  Lloyd Bridges stars as Cmdr. Cain, the glory-seeking commander of Pegasus, a fellow Battlestar vessel. With designs on attacking a nearby Cylon Base World, Cain deviously lures a reluctant Cmdr. Adama into all-out war with the Cylons, further sidetracking the fleet’s return to Earth, and leaving the Galactica Cmdr. near death.

CONQUEST OF THE EARTH, 1980, Universal, 96 min. Dir. Barry Crane, Sidney Hayers and Sigmund Neufeld Jr. Lorne Greene and the Battlestar fleet return to Earth only to discover that the planet is under imminent threat of virtual annihilation at the hands of attacking Cylons in this the third and final chapter in the 70s theatrical Galactica trilogy.

Double Feature:
FORBIDDEN PLANET, 1956, Warner Brothers, 98 min. Dir. Fred Wilcox. The movie that launched a thousand ships, from STAR TREK to STAR WARS. One of the most influential films ever made, the first big budget science fiction blockbuster is a space opera with its roots in Freud, Jung and Shakespeare. It’s also a landmark of production design and special effects, and features the first all-electronic music score. Starring Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Nielson (as the prototype for Captain Kirk) and the beautiful, future Miss Honey West (Anne Francis) as the mini-skirt-wearing, skinny-dipping object of all the men's affection. Also with Robby The Robot - need I say more? Trailer

FANTASTIC PLANET (LA PLANETE SAUVAGE), 1973, Argos Films, 72 min. French director and animator Rene Laloux’s masterpiece is an astonishingly beautiful and otherworldly vision of a far distant planet where humans are kept as pets by a race of gigantic, blue-skinned overlords called The Traags. With incredible design work by Roland Topor and a mind-blowing progressive rock score by Alain Goraguer. Winner of the Special Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. In French with English subtitles. Trailer