Downtown Tucsonan - July/August 2008 - (Page 25)

Summer Film Guide The Concert for Bangladesh – nothing says summer like rock-and-roll and what better way to commemorate the 37th anniversary of this watershed event (august 2, 1971) than with an outdoor showing of this re-mastered dVd. there are so many interesting subplots here—George Harrison as the first Beatle to perform live in a post-Beatle world; the superstar cast of Eric clapton, Ringo starr, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Bob dylan; and the notion that superstar rock-and-rollers could come together to raise money and awareness for a good cause. thirty-seven years later, this movie still rocks. Summer of ’42 – one of the classic coming-of-age movies and one truly meant to be seen in summer. set on nantucket Island in 1942, this movie documents the sexually-charged comings and goings of a group teens with way too much time on their hands. Jennifer o’neill doesn’t have many lines but as the object of fantasy and affection her presence is big. this movie also sports one of the great I need to buy condoms scenes in movie history. Pride of the Yankees – Forget rock-and-roll. nothing screams summer like baseball, and this 1941 black-and-white makes for a great take on the national pastime—old school, of course. Pride features a young Gary cooper as new York Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig, tracing his career as a rookie and to his death from the illness that bears his name. It’s a total feel-good jaunt with great supporting roles by theresa wright as his wife, a young walter Brennan as a sportswriter pal and a surprisingly great performance from Babe Ruth as none other than, Babe Ruth. American Graffiti – Rumor has it this movie may actually be coming to the cLP series sometime in august. Graffiti not only catapulted George Lucas to prominence but did likewise for a fresh-faced Richard dreyfuss. this is a classic end of summer/back-to-school yarn, all taking place in one long night, just before one of the principals is set to go off to college. there are multiple storylines, all seamlessly coming together by film’s end in another great “coming of age” piece of filmmaking. July 12 – The Black Stallion (1979) – this film is based on the classic 1941 children’s novel by walter Farley and sports a diverse cast that features teri Garr, Mickey Rooney and country singer Hoyt axton. the plot follows alex Ramsey and the magical relationship he cultivates with an arabian horse when they are thrown from a ship and are forced to depend on each other on a deserted island. the story is timeless and heartfelt at every turn and yes, they get off the island as more adventures ensue. (11 am) July 26 – The Wolf Man (1941) – this film was so outrageous it spawned several sequels. with Lon chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi, it also featured two of the Big three of this genre (Karloff being the third). special effects of course were primitive forcing this movie to depend more on storytelling to create tension and to communicate the legend and the myth of the werewolf. (7:30 pm) July 26 – Babe (1995) – who could have known the story of an australian pig that wanted to be a sheep dog could be such a box office bonanza and critical success? I was stunned to hear from so many adults who seemed to enjoy this as much as, if not more than, their kids. nominated for 7 academy awards including Best Picture. (11 am) August 9 - Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) – Made during the heart of the Mccarthy era, this was one of the first movies to be released in 3-d format, complete with the funky cardboard sunglasses required for this effect. with lots of action-packed adventure deep into the amazon, there is an Indiana Jones element to this film that cannot be denied. (7:30 pm) August 9 – Free Willy (1993) - the film begins with a pod of orca whales swimming near the coastline of the Pacific northwest. unfortunately, this family of orca is tracked down by a large group of whalers, and a single orca gets caught in their net. unable to save him, his family leaves him behind, and he is taken away to a local amusement park. willy is adorable and you can guess his eventual fate. (11 am) August 16 – The Blob (1958) – this independent film marked steve McQueen’s film debut and became a drive-in fixture for a long time. the blob is a giant amoeba-like alien that terrorizes a small Pennsylvania community by attaching itself to the unsuspecting. Borrowing slightly from War of the Worlds and the cold war paranoia of the day, this movie remains an american sci-fi classic. quite says R&R in the dead of summer than hunkering down in a super chilled theatre. and what better place to do this than the Fox, an actual movie palace? this summer the Fox is featuring several horror/sci-fi classics on selected saturday evenings as well as a series of late (saturday) morning movies for kids. Summer Movies at the Fox…nothing July 12 – The Mummy (1932) - this is a classic horror film staring Boris Karloff in a role that would begin to establish him as one of the great supernatural archetypes of his time. It begins when archeologists discover a mummy and a box. the box warns to not open, so…of course the box is opened. You get the idea…(7:30 pm) july/august.08. downtown tucsonan 25

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Downtown Tucsonan - July 2008

Downtown Tucsonan - July 2008 Contents From the Editor Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performances Film Summer Film Guide Events Tucson Birthday Events Historic Downtown Museums Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.