Suggestion of the Week

Night and the City (Jules Dassin)

Start off your Wednesdy with some Dassin…

“That such nihilistic nastiness is remotely entertaining is a tribute to Dassin’s frantic, expressionistic portrait of London’s sickly underworld and Richard Widmark’s hysteria-laced performance. And even then, the fact that it’s this breathlessly exhilarating is something of a small cinematic miracle.”

Harry, a second-rate con man promotes an aging Greek wrestler. But his plan goes awry when the wrestler dies and everyone points the finger at Harry. Hiding out in a riverfront barge, Harry sees his grand ambitions spiral into a nightmare of fear and desperation…

Watch this flick and read more off Criterion!

Suggestion of the Week

Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, George Cukor, and Sam Wood)

A story so classic it hurts. Gone with the Wind earns the title of top grossing movie of all time…
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“The sheer arterial force of the film’s storytelling can’t be denied. On the big screen, the huge exteriors and skylines ablaze have a dreamlike, expressionist quality. It is strange, mad and operatic.”

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The film follows a young southern Belle (Vivien Leigh) through the Civil War and Reconstruction, not leaving out of course, some messy love affairs with two of the time’s most striking men (Leslie Howard/Clarke Gable).

Watch this flick off Amazon or read more off the Guardian!

Suggestion of the Week

The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks)

A classic to get you through the winter lull…

“Much of the terseness and toughness of Mr. Chandler’s style has been caught in the movement and dialogue of William Faulkner’s and Leigh Brackett’s script. And Mr. Hawks, who produced and directed, has kept the action racy and raw.”

Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired to resolve the gambling debts of a General’s wild and young daughter. But when people linked to the General and his daughter start being murdered, Marlowe finds himself deeper into the case than he had intended…

Watch this classic off Amazon and read more off the New York Times!

Suggestion of the Week

Rififi (Jules Dassin)

A jewel heist, gangsters, and some unrequited love. Add some adrenaline to your week with this French classic!

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“Rififi is the ultimate heist movie, a mélange of suspense, brutality, and dark humor that was an international hit, earned Dassin the best director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and has proven wildly influential on the decades of heist thrillers that have come in its wake.”

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After five years in prison, jewel thief Tony (Jean Servais) gets involved in a quick job that has more implications than anyone intended…

Read more on Rififi off Criterion and catch this flick at Film Forum through this weekend!

Suggestion of the Week

Laura (Otto Preminger)

Detectives, ghosts, and a love affair? Check out Laura and add a little spice to your Wednesday…

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“He’s a detective, come out of the war. He’s a beaten man. He doesn’t look anybody in the eye when he speaks. In a sense, he’s got all of film noir on his shoulders. Then he falls in love with a ghost.”

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A classic film noir, Manhattan detective Mark McPherson investigates the murder of Madison Avenue executive Laura Hunt. As the detective becomes more engulfed with the case, he finds himself falling in love with the deceased Laura Hunt…

Catch this flick at the MOMA Thursday August 27th or/(and) September 5th!