Just say yes! to ‘Dr. No’

Film
The film opened in London in October 1962 and launched the most successful franchise in motion picture history, still going strong today. The following spring, 1963, American audiences first enjoyed one of the most memorable introductory lines in movie history: “Bond. James Bond.” This adaptation of one of the spy novels penned by former British intelligence officer ...

TCM Classic Film Festival brings subterfuge feminism to 2022 Fest

Film
by 
pam grier, coffy (1973), in-person at tcm fest ed. note: artsmeme is pleased to have steve farber back to its team coverage of tcm fest. steve offers some of his picks for the 2022 festival. After a full three years away, I look forward to returning to this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival . The ...

Swept away by ‘Mimi’ 50 years later: Laemmle Anniversary Classics salutes Lina Wertmuller

Film
by 
Ed. note: We celebrate woman artists on artsmeme, and that’s why Italian director Lina Wertmüller’s sexy, impish, outrageous, passionate ouevre of movies mixing sex, love and politics belongs on the blog. Our guest contributor is the host of Laemmle Theatre’s “Anniversary Screenings” series, Stephen Farber. To launch its Anniversary Classics series in 2022, and during ...

Ticket to happiness: ‘Le Bonheur’ turns 55 at Laemmle Theatres

Film
cute nuclear family – what could go wrong? It’s a personal favorite and a beautiful film, if only for its score. But it is also a visual feast. Shot in the suburbs of Paris, Agnes Varda’s Le Bonheur opens with an idyllic scene of a perfect little French “famille” tripping the light fantastic of a ...

Bravo, Angie Dickinson!

Film
When Howard Hawks’ 1959 action romp, Rio Bravo, was released, it wasn’t really taken seriously. But the film is now regarded as an American classic. John Wayne led the cast, but the director also cast veterans Walter Brennan and Ward Bond, singer Dean Martin, pop singer Ricky Nelson, and Angie Dickinson in a vivid, star-making turn. ...

Can it possibly be fifty years since ‘Goodbye, Columbus’?

Film
One of the landmark comedies of the 1960s and perhaps the best screen rendition of the work of Philip Roth was the adaptation of the author’s National Book Award-winning novella, Goodbye, Columbus. The movie launched the careers of its two stars, Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw, who will both join Laemmle Anniversary Classics host Stephan ...

Our day with Doris: June 5 at Laemmle Anniversary Classics

Film
Doris Day (1922 – 2019) From our friends at Laemmle Theatres Anniversary Classics, a tribute to America’s most spirited sweetheart, Doris Day, who died on May 13 at the age of 97. A double feature of two of her very best musical films—the Western romp ‘Calamity Jane’ and the dramatic story of 1920s torch singer ...

Albert Finney, a renegade who influenced a generation of actors 1

Film
Albert Finney, Night Must Fall (1964) Our very good friend of arts·meme, Mike Kaplan, sends a heartfelt tribute to the great English actor who passed away on February 7, 2019. Writes Mike, Albert Finney (1936-2019) was a giant talent. His vibrant, unpredictable, mischievous, challenging presence was as seismic a change for a generation of actors ...

Do look now at Nicolas Roeg’s ‘Don’t Look Now’

Film
A fitting tribute to British director Nicolas Roeg, the man who just fell from Earth passing away on November 23, 2018, at age 90 is a screening of his eerie, atmospheric thriller from 1973, ‘Don’t Look Now.’ The New Yorker recommends the film. But, in Los Angeles, we have a big-screen viewing of it, with ...

‘Gigi,’ at 60. Bring on the champagne!

Film
At 60, she’s still charming the gents. You’ll soon see why. As played by the winsome Leslie Caron in one of the most beloved and acclaimed musicals of all time, Laemmle Anniversary Classics is throwing her a birthday party. Since they already invented champagne, that should be the drink of choice at the Dec 8 ...