Starring: Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman, Charles Durning
Corruption! Snooping reporters! Hula Hoops! Comedy! The Coen Brother’s screwball comedy The Hudsucker Proxy has it all! In it, the loveable but naive mailworker Norville Barnes is placed at the head of Hudsucker Industries after its president commits suicide. And while the board members of Hudsucker Industries think they can control this moron by driving the company into the ground and scooping up its stocks for cheap, he turns the tables by conjuring up an invention that sweeps the nation and wins the hearts of America’s public. Plus, a tough cooke reporter is on the case to expose the impending scandal.
In the Coen Brothers’ debut feature film we learn than no matter how rich or how jealous a man is, killing his wife is never simple.
Blood Simple is a dark and suspenseful thriller that begins when Texas bar owner Marty (Dan Hedaya) hires a private investigator Vissar (M. Emmet Walsh) to spy on his young cheating wife Abby (Frances McDormand) and her lover Ray (John Getz). From this point, the film involves plot twists and turns, murders and mistaken deaths, misunderstanding and deceit as the characters play, and prey, upon each other. Shot in such a way that plays upon the audience’s voyeurism and assumptions, Blood Simple continues to remain fresh and innovative – a must see on the big screen.
Part of Nitehawk’s COEN BROTHERS BEFORE FARGO January series.
A highly stylized gangster genre film as can only be imagined by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Set in an urban city during the Prohibition-era 1930s in American, Miller’s Crossing centers around two rival gangs who are out to control the town’s lucrative illegal activities. As you can imagine, there’s a dame and the snitch, the laconic anti-hero and, despite numerous faults, the loveable mob leader. Miller’s Crossing is full of black humor and intense violence, producing some of the most visually stunning and entertaining film sequences in cinema. Watch as this paradoxical tale both warns and embraces the criminal underworld in such beautiful display.
Part of Nitehawk’s COEN BROTHERS BEFORE FARGO January series.
Part of our month long celebration of the Coen Brothers, Nitehawk’s January Country Brunchin’ presentation is No Country for Old Men featuring a live pre-show performance by Tatters & Rags.
Heralded as an instant classic upon release, Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men puts a very dark twist on the western genre’s “good guys versus bad guys” motif. Set in rural Texas, welder/hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds two dead drug runners and absconds with their two million dollars. Cue psychopath serial killer Anton Chigurh (played brilliantly by Javier Bardem) who deadpan kills everyone in his path to get back his money. And while this story provides the violently tense backdrop, it’s the laconic and older sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) who, overwhelmed at the impossibility of rectifying these crimes in the new landscape around him, is the film title’s referent. Let’s just say no one wins the coin toss in this scenario.
Tatters & Rags have been playing since 2008, at times being a drone post-punk folk band, other times being a sweaty, whiskey-fueled electric honky-tonk band. Fans of the band state that their eclecticism is part of their charm, and it’s always accompanied by a frenetic energy that makes them one of the most exciting live bands in New York City.
Part of the VICE Presents: The Film Foundation Screening Series at Nitehawk Cinema. Introduction by writer/director Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behavior)!
Shirley Clarke’s controversial and influential film, The Connection, portrays a group of drug addicts and jazz musicians waiting in a New York loft apartment for their drug connection.
Considered one of the most vital and fascinating films of American independent cinema, The Connection was made by Shirley Clarke at a time when women directors were in very short supply. As her first feature, she adapted the controversial off-Broady play by Jack Gelber making a play within a play within a jazz concert (including a musical score by legendary pianist Freddie Redd). With all of the action contained on one-set, the kinetic movement of the film comes from Clarke’s mobile camera, one that plays off of the fluidity of jazz and embraces the Beat saturated dialogue.
Ultimately Clarke made film that shattered stereotypes and, rather than showing good guys gone bad, she graphically depicted the raw reality of drug addiction in America. Therefore, despite being acclaimed as a masterpiece at the Cannes International Film Festival and heralded as influential by fellow filmmakers, The Connection was promptly banned by government censor boards for indecent language and a struggle ensued to have theatrical release in the United States. The fallout from the battle to have a wide release caused it to remained unseen for many years. Now restored and newly re-released, audiences finally have the opportunity to see The Connection on the big screen.
*A portion of each ticket sale goes towards The Film Foundation. Tickets also include complimentary Larceny Bourbon drinks at an after-party in Nitehawk’s downstairs bar!
THE CONNECTION (SHIRLEY CLARKE, 1962)
Preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Film Foundation.
Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
Wanda is part of the VICE Presents: The Film Foundation Screening Series at Nitehawk Cinema. A small town housewife abandons her family, frequents seedy bars and motels until going on the run with a small-time criminal.
Barbara Loden is the writer, director, and star in her first and only film, Wanda. Set in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania, despondent housewife Wanda attempts to escape her abusive existence by abandoning her husband and children. Adrift, she drinks excessively in an attempt to drown out her problems and goes home with random men to have a roof over her head, when one day she encounters Norman Dennis in a bar…as he’s robbing it. Setting out on the road with Norman, Wanda doesn’t become a symbol for a new feminist woman but, rather, absorbs herself into a newly destructive life.
Critically loved but rarely seen, Wanda is an emotional road trip film with an improvisational and meditative style. In fact, it was nearly destroyed and lost forever so please join us in a very special presentation celebrating the restoration of important and nearly forgotten classic film.
WANDA (1970, dir. Barbara Loden)
Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration funding provided by Gucci and The Film Foundation.
Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive and Marco Joachim.
What is a holiday without a little family dysfunction?
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY tells the dark, hilarious and deeply touching story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Letts’ play made its Broadway debut in December 2007 after premiering at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre earlier that year. It continued with a successful international run.
Feminism, punk music, and rare archival footage slam together in this blazing history of riot grrrl pioneer Kathleen Hanna.
Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kill and dance-punk trio Le Tigre, rose to national attention as the reluctant but never shy voice of the riot grrrl movement. She became one of the most famously outspoken feminist icons, a cultural lightning rod. Her critics wished she would just shut-up, and her fans hoped she never would. So in 2005, when Hanna stopped shouting, many wondered why. Through 20 years of archival footage and intimate interviews with Hanna, THE PUNK SINGER takes viewers on a fascinating tour of contemporary music and offers a never-before-seen view into the life of this fearless leader.
Nitehawk Cinema FILM FEASTS Presents:
A CHRISTMAS STORY
In this holiday classic, all little Ralphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder B.B. gun but will he shoot his eye out?
For Nitehawk’s December FILM FEASTS event we present everybody’s favorite holiday movie, Bob Clark’s A Christmas Story. This screening will include select delicious beverages paired with a food menu inspired by the film. The best part? You’ll be served each course during the specific moments that inspired the film so you can experience edible sensations while watching the action unfold on-screen!
While Bob Clark holds a special place in our dark hearts for his inventive horror flicks like the scary treat Black Christmas, it’s his contribution to the American canon of holiday classics with A Christmas Story that solidifies him as one of our favorite directors. Quirky family dynamics, a leg lamp, a bunny suit, bullying, swear words and anorexia are all involved in one boy’s quest for a Red Ryder B.B. gun in the 1940s. With such sincerity and deep humor, make a switch from watching this on television this year and see it on the big screen with your Nitehawk family!
MENU (Tickets $75)
Lovely, Beautiful, Glorious Christmas
Chestnut and Cranberry Stuffing Bites
snap ginger liqueur whipped cream
Drink Pairing: Ovaltini
Mrs. Parkers Comfort Food
Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf
yukon gold mashed potatoes, braised red cabbage
Drink Pairing: “Oh Fuuudddggggeee” Chocolate Stout
Chinese Turkey
Roasted Duck Breast
Bumpuses’ egg roll, spiced orange reduction
Drink Pairing: Hot Mulled Wine
Pink Nightmare
Coconut snowball cake
*additional complimentary libations will be served during the after party
