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A Tribute To Elia Kazan (1909-2003)
Friday, November 19, through Thursday, December 2
Allowed his pick of scripts from both Hollywood and New York at his peak, Elia
Kazan, a Turkish-Greek immigrant at the age of four, remained the eternal outsider,
as evidenced by his brutally honest autobiography A Life. From his beginnings
as an actor and factotum in the legendary Group Theater, to his conquest
of Broadway where he directed modern classics by Wilder, Miller and Williams,
his work evidenced the signature Kazan style-the raw immediacy, lust for truth
and unparalleled emotional explosiveness that also characterized his directorial
energy on film. Though Kazan's work ranged from gritty location-shot social
dramas and "Southerns" to the most personal and autobiographical of works, it
was his guidance of actors, and of such volcanic and idiosyncratic performers as
Brando and Dean for which he remains most noted. Long seen as an interpreter
of others, the span of his work manifests him as one of the most personal of
dramatic artists, one of America's greatest, and personally most controversial.
NOTE: AFI had hoped to include EAST OF EDEN in our Kazan series, but that title
is currently out of circulation until summer of 2005.
Restored 35mm Print!
ON THE WATERFRONT
"I coulda been a contenduh," agonizes pigeonraising
ex-boxer Marlon Brando as he gets
mixed up in corruption and murder in a
Hoboken longshoremen's union, thanks to his
brother, mob mouthpiece Rod Steiger. When
he's forced to face his victim's sister-Eva Marie
Saint (in her first film role)-Brando incarnates
a new American film archetype, the sensitive
man-of-few-words, his minimalist-dialogue
scenes with her arguably topping even the
legendary cab confrontation. But this hardhitting
ripped-from-the-headlines melodrama/
tender love story was also a cry of defiance by
Kazan and scenarist Schulberg to denouncers of
their friendly testimony to the House Un-
American Activities Committee (after Brando
 testifies to the crime commission, he says, "I'm
glad I done it.") But it's the power of the
performances by Brando, Steiger, Saint, Lee J.
Cobb and Karl Malden that remain indelible
over time. "If there is a better performance by a
man [Brando] in the history of film in America, I
don't know what it is.''-director Kazan.
Winner of eight Oscars, including Best Film,
Director, Actor, Screenplay, Supporting Actress
(Saint), and Photography. Now meticulously
restored from its original negative, with digitally
re-mastered sound, including Leonard
Bernstein's sole film score.
Directed by Elia Kazan; written by Budd
Schulberg, from articles by Malcolm Johnson;
produced by Sam Spiegel. US, 1954, b&w,
108 min. RATED: APPROVED FOR GENERAL
AUDIENCES
A STREETCAR
NAMED DESIRE
"Stelllla! Stellla!" Faded southern belle
Vivien Leigh's Blanche Dubois is
destroyed by brutish brother-in-law
Marlon Brando's Stanley Kowalski.
For the film version of Tennessee
Williams's classic play, Kazan
retained his claustrophobic setting
and three of the four principals from
from the award-winning Broadway
smash, replacing Jessica Tandy in
favor of Leigh from Olivier's London
production. (It took Kazan two
weeks to break her of doing it "Larry's
way.") "No better, more powerful film
exists of a play."-critic David
Shipman. The restored footage
includes Kim Hunter's reactions to
 torn-shirted Stanley and the buildup
to Leigh's rape. Winner of five Oscars,
including Best Actress for Leigh.
Directed by Elia Kazan, written by
Tennessee Williams, from his play;
produced by Charles K. Feldman. US,
1951, b&w, 125 min. RATED PG
BABY DOLL
 Italian interloper Eli Wallach, steamed
when his new cotton gin goes up in
flames, decides to revenge himself on
suspect Karl Malden by seducing his
thumb-sucking child bride, Carroll
Baker-who's "not ready for
marriage." A sly black comedy (did
they or didn't they?) Tennessee
Williams expanded from two of his
one-act plays at Kazan's request.
"Possibly the dirtiest American-made
motion picture legally exhibited,"
tsked Time, while the ads bragged,
"condemned by Cardinal Spellman"
(who never saw the film).
Directed/produced by Elia Kazan;
written by Tennessee Williams,
from his plays 27 Wagons Full of
Cotton and The Unsatisfactory
Supper/The Long Stay Cut Short.
US, 1956, b&w, 114 min. RATED R
VIVA ZAPATA!
Legendary Mexican peasant revolutionary
Marlon Brando finds that, once
in power, he too-along with Oscarwinning
brother Anthony Quinn-can
be corrupted. Highlights include
visuals influenced by both Sergei
Eisenstein and a photographic record of
the revolution, experimental on-location
direct sound recording and a
memorable score inspired by local
bands' playing then-popular songs.
Kazan considered this his first really
personal, cinematic film, conceived
from the beginning with scripter John
Steinbeck and capped by one of the
greatest death scenes in cinema history.
Directed by Elia Kazan; written by
John Steinbeck; produced by Darryl
F. Zanuck. US, 1952, b&w, 113 min.
RATED PG
PANIC IN THE STREETS
From its opening shot from atop a cop
car-its siren blaring as it hurtles
through the French Quarter-Kazan
keeps the pace rocking through this
all-location-shot New Orleans thriller.
Public health officer Richard Widmark
(in his first non-psycho role) and cop
Paul Douglas, under the threat of an
epidemic, track infected-with-the plague
hood Jack Palance and slimy pal
Zero Mostel through the city of jazz,
blues and crime. "The first film I
purely enjoyed making"-Elia Kazan.
Directed by Elia Kazan; written by
Richard Murphy; produced by Sol
C. Siegel. US, 1950, b&w, 96 min.
RATED: APPROVED
Restored 35mm Print!
A FACE IN THE CROWD
In this biting satire of advertising, TV
and the packaging of politicians, guitarplucking
Andy Griffith rockets from an
Arkansas jail to TV stardom, thanks to
Patricia Neal's intense coaching. ON
THE WATERFRONT's Kazan-
Schulberg team provides a surprisingly
humanizing sting-in the final lines.
Featuring a pre-grouchy Walter
Matthau as the mustachioed nice-guy
writer, and Lee Remick in her debut.
Behind the scenes, Kazan got nice guy
Griffith soused to play nasty.
Directed/produced by Elia Kazan;
written by Budd Schulberg. US,
1957, b&w, 126 min. Print courtesy of
UCLA Film and Televison Archive.
NOT RATED
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