AFI at Arclight

Schedule - AFI at ArcLight Hollywood

The Wild West
In THE SEARCHERS, John Ford masterfully draws us into a panorama of the unforgiving rugged landscape of a mid-19th century American West that transformed hopeful pioneers into disillusioned rugged everymen epitomized by John Wayne. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID takes us into the last decades of that century and the last days of the outlaws, until finally, in THE WILD BUNCH, a new West emerges in the early 20th century making the wild men of the West the last of a dying breed.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 8:00 p.m.
THE SEARCHERS
1956 119 MIN 35MM
DIR John Ford SCR Frank S. Nugent CAST John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood

Considered by many to be John Ford's masterpiece, the film stars John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, an embittered veteran who returns to Texas after the Civil War and discovers that Comanche Indians have killed his family and kidnapped his nieces. Along with Martin Pawley, who was adopted by the Edwardses after his own parents were killed by Comanches years earlier, Ethan sets out to find his remaining niece, Debbie. The movie's title refers to the duo's five-year search for the young woman, and their struggle to rescue her once she is adopted by the tribe and married to Chief Scar.

THE SEARCHERS is #12 on on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 8:00 p.m.
BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
1969 110 MIN 35MM
DIR George Roy Hill SCR William Goldman CAST Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Cloris Leachman

Nominated for seven Academy® Awards in 1969 including Best Picture and Best Director, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID won Oscars® for Cinematography, Screenplay, Score and Original Song, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head. This revisionist Western comedy, which served as the prototype of the buddy film for years to come, stars Paul Newman and newcomer Robert Redford as the leaders of the turn of the century Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. The film owes its ineffable charm to the terrific chemistry between the two stars, to William Goldman's warm and witty screenplay and to a director capable of walking a tightrope between the comic and historic.

The film is #94 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition, #54 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills and the song Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is #23 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs list.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 8:00 p.m.
THE WILD BUNCH
1969 148 MIN 35MM
DIR Sam Peckinpah SCR Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah CAST William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan

By 1913, the outlaw gangs of the Old West were rapidly disappearing. In this classic Western from Sam Peckinpah, one such gang of aging outlaws heads to Mexico with a band of bounty hunters on their heels, leaving a trail of bloody mayhem and violence along the way. Peckinpah's use of slow motion and Lou Lombardo's editing are considered milestones in the Western genre.

THE WILD BUNCH is #79 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition and #69 on on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills list.

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Schedule - AFI at ArcLight Sherman Oaks

Summer Drive-In

The first drive-in movie theater was opened on June 6, 1933 and Americans quickly fell in love with the outdoor experience, with drive-ins peaking in 1958 with about 5,000 theaters across the United States. These films from AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies lists were released in the summer, played at drive-ins, and sent the signal that summer had at last arrived.

MONDAY, MAY 5, 7:30 p.m.
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
1955 105 MIN 35MM
DIR Billy Wilder SCR Billy Wilder & George Axelrod CAST Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes

Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) has been happily married for seven years, so when his wife and son leave Manhattan for the summer to escape the heat, he has no intention of becoming a "summer bachelor" like some of the other husbands he knows until, The Girl (Marilyn Monroe), moves into his building and fires up his libido. Marilyn Monroe was already one of Hollywood's biggest sex symbols in 1955 and THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH gives us one of her most iconic images when that gust of wind at the subway grate blows up her white dress and fires up the imagination.

THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH is # 51 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies list.

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MONDAY, MAY 12, 7:30 p.m.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI
1973 110 MIN 35MM
DIR George Lucas SCR George Lucas and Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck CAST Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Wolfman Jack, Harrison Ford

Over the course of a summer night in 1962 four small town California teens face decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Steve (Ron Howard), wants to break up with Laurie (Cindy Williams), his devoted high school sweetheart and pursue new experiences away from home. Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), is hesitant about going away to school and leaving his comfortable, familiar surroundings. John (Paul Le Mat), tries to maintain his "too cool for school" image as a hip guy, but can't seem to shake a nagging awareness that life is somehow passing him by. And finally, there's Terry (Charles Martin Smith), the nerdy wannabe desperately trying to fit in before it all changes.

AMERICAN GRAFFITI launched the careers of Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford, who were then relatively unknown, and its success enabled George Lucas to produce his dream project STAR WARS.

AMERICAN GRAFFITI is # 62 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition and # 43 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies list.

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JAWS MONDAY, MAY 19, 7:30 p.m.
JAWS
1975 124 MIN 35 MM Rated PG
DIR Steven Spielberg SCR Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb from the novel by Peter Benchley CAST Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw

JAWS is a masterful, visceral and realistic science fiction/suspense/horror/disaster film that taps into the most primal of human fears--what unseen creature lurks below the dark surface of the water? The tagline for the tensely paced blockbuster, "Don't go in the water," made nervous beachgoers think twice in the summer of '75.

JAWS is # 56 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition, #2 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies and the quote, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," is # 35 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 "Movie Quotes" list.

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GREASE MONDAY, MAY 26, 7:30 PM
GREASE
1978 110 MIN 35 MM Rated PG
DIR Randal Kleiser SCR Bronte Woodard
CAST John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Barry Pearl, Michael Tucci

Greaser Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and good girl Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) have a summer fling, but when Sandy shows up at Danny's high school, Rydell High, she's thrown into a cool new world of greasers, T-Birds, Pink Ladies and drag races. GREASE is a rock 'n' roll celebration of growing up, falling in love and the perfect execution of the hand-jive.

GREASE is # 20 on AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals list, and the song Summer Nights, is # 70 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs.

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Eclectic and diverse, AFI at ArcLight is an accessible, year-round program of film series, retrospectives and exclusive advance screenings presented by AFI in partnership with ArcLight Hollywood and ArcLight Sherman Oaks.

AFI at ArcLight programs screen classic and contemporary cinema from around the world in a supremely comfortable theater, featuring the best possible picture and sound. Completing the experience, movie-lovers have an opportunity to listen to and engage in thoughtful discussion with directors, actors and other film experts following the film. In keeping with the AFI FEST tradition of hosting the international film community in the film capital of the world, AFI presentations attract LA's film enthusiasts while representing the cultural diversity of the city.