| Escape Artist: A Tribute to John
Carpenter In Person!
This
is an Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!
For the past four decades, director John Carpenter has created some of the most
consistently entertaining and brilliantly crafted films in American cinema, from his
savage urban western ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, through his chiller HALLOWEEN and his
adrenaline-fueled action epic ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Carpenter’s films have
shown an amazing consistency, creating wickedly modern twists on traditional genres (THE
THING) without losing playfulness or individuality. As his career has progressed,
Carpenter has shown the range of a classical studio director, helming not only action and
horror films but love stories (STARMAN) and even a philosophical comedy (MEMOIRS OF AN
INVISIBLE MAN). Yet for all his old-school craftsmanship, Carpenter is first and foremost
a maverick with a fiercely independent sensibility and a willingness to confront
contemporary America's most troubling social and political issues. In addition to his work
as a director, Carpenter has written the screenplays and composed the soundtrack music for
almost all of his movies.
Join us for a weekend tribute to the career of John Carpenter, which also includes
screenings of THEY LIVE, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and ESCAPE FROM L.A.
We are thrilled to welcome John Carpenter to the American
Cinematheque!
Friday, September 17 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, 1981, Studio Canal, 99 min. Dir. John
Carpenter. Kurt Russell delivers one of cinema’s most legendary performances as
ornery, one-eyed Snake Plissken, a sentenced-to-die anti-hero sent into maximum-security
prison in a Manhattan of the future to rescue U.S. President Donald Pleasence from villain
Isaac Hayes. A highly entertaining tall tale with influences ranging from comic books to
apocalyptic science fiction to spaghetti westerns! With Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine,
Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau. Trailer
ESCAPE FROM L.A.,1996,
Paramount, 101 min. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) returns in a savagely funny satire of
political extremism in late 20th-century America. After an earthquake devastates Los
Angeles, the city separates from the rest of the country and becomes an island for violent
outcasts. Yet in John Carpenter’s vision, the warring gangs are hardly more dangerous
than a culturally conservative president (played to perfection by a wry Cliff Robertson)
who exploits his constituents’ fear and ignorance to rise to power. Discussion between films with director John Carpenter. Trailer | Buy
Tickets
Saturday, September 18 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature: THEY
LIVE, 1988, Universal, 97 min. Dir. John Carpenter. Construction worker Roddy
Piper learns that the world has been taken over by grinning skull-headed aliens who are
permeating society with subliminal messages to mindlessly consume. (Sound like some
corporations you know?) Glimpsing the truth with the aid of special sunglasses that strip
away the phony layers of manufactured reality, he and fellow drifter Keith David join the
underground to rebel against the mind control in this searingly satirical sci-fi jaunt,
one of Carpenter’s best and wildest films. Co-starring Meg Foster. Trailer
New 35mm Print! BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, 1986, 20th Century Fox, 99 min.
Dir. John Carpenter. Ultra-colorful adventure in the grand tradition of 1930s serials,
starring Kurt Russell as a cocky truck driver who finds himself battling ancient Chinese
warlords and hideous demons to save feisty Kim Cattrall ("Sex and the City"). A
great guilty pleasure, and one of Carpenter’s most purely entertaining genre films. Trailer | Buy
Tickets
Sunday, September 19 – 7:30 PM
THE THING, 1982, Universal, 109 min. A modern classic.
Director John Carpenter re-imagined the 1951 sci-fi classic THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD,
produced by Howard Hawks as something darker, fiercer and altogether more disturbing,
pitting sombrero-wearing helicopter pilot Kurt Russell and a crew of Arctic scientists
(Wilford Brimley, Donald Moffat, Richard Dysart) against a ravenous, shape-shifting alien
being. Also stars Keith David and David Clennon. Trailer
HALLOWEEN, 1978, 91 min. A landmark in modern horror -
and one of the most phenomenally successful independent films ever made - John
Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN set the standard for dozens of oversexed-teens-meet-serial
killer movies to come, including SCREAM and SCARY MOVIE. Jamie Lee Curtis (in her first
major role) stars as the resilient Laurie, aware that evil stalks the shady streets and
living rooms of her small town, in the form of escaped psychopath Michael Myers.
Co-starring Donald Pleasence, P.J. Soles and Nancy Loomis. Trailer | Buy
Tickets |
