Bill Lustig Presents '60s-'70s Grindhouse Films

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Sunday, 17 July 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

Bill Lustig Presents film series runs July 15 - 25, 2011 at Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan, New York City.

A summer tradition at Anthology is the screening of a selection of 1960s and '70s grindhouse cinema by the great Bill Lustig -- filmmaker (Vigilante, Maniac, Maniac Cop) and founder of Blue Underground, the premiere DVD label devoted to marginal genre films.

Anthology will attempt to magically transport viewers "back several decades and north 40 blocks, to channel a little piece of 42nd Street in its prime by presenting a series of films from an era in which popcorn movies worked wonders with what today would pass for very little."

Teming with terrific character actors, these films -- almost none of which have been released on video -- are a testament to a time when summer movies didn’t leave you feeling violated and depressed.

This year’s selection includes the talents of

• Warren Oates
• Tony Musante
• Peter Boyle
• John Vernon
• Ron Leibman
• Ruby Dee

This year the spotlight is on actors Tony Musante and Warren Oates.  

The Brink’s Job
dir. William Friedkin
starring Warren Oates, Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Gena Rowlands, Paul Sorvino
From the director who brought the world The Exorcist some five years earlier came this crime caper in a lighter change of pace. Falk leads a gang of petty criminals who manage to heist $30,000 from a security van and can’t understand why it goes relatively unnoticed. But when they discover just how lame security is at the headquarters, they decide to plan the robbery of a lifetime.

Kid Blue
dir. James Frawley
starring Warren Oates, Dennis Hopper, Peter Boyle, Ben Johnson
In the early 20th century, as mechanization catches up with the Old West, an outlaw (Hopper) tries to go straight in a small Texas town. It doesn‛t last.

The Incident
dir. Larry Peerce
starring Tony Musante, Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges, Ruby Dee, Brock Peters, Donna Mills, Thelma Ritter
A group of ordinary New Yorkers and two psychopathic thugs (Musante and Sheen) on a "nightmarish train ride" across the City. Sheen‛s first film role, Ritter‛s last.

The Last Run
dir. Richard Fleischer
starring George C. Scott, Tony Musante, Trish Van Devere, Colleen Dewhurst
Aging mob driver Harry Garmes (Scott) wants to make one last big haul and retire. "He is persuaded by his old cronies to drive an escaped criminal (Musante) and his girlfriend (Van Devere) across Spain to safety, but of course things don’t go as planned." Cinematography is by Sven Nykvist.

Directed by Sergio Corbucci:

The Mercenary
starring Franco Nero, Jack Palance, Tony Musante
In 1915 Mexico, a Polish gun-for-hire (Nero) is enlisted to transport silver to a mine in Texas, only to find that a Mexican revolutionary (Musante) has taken control. This is a classic spaghetti Western, complete with music by Ennio Morricone.

Navajo Joe
starring Burt Reynolds, Aldo Sambrell, Fernando Rey
When the wife of Joe, the lone-wolf Navajo (Reynolds), is butchered by scalphunters led by Mervyn "Vee" Duncan (Sambrell), Joe agrees to help the neighboring town recover the gold shipment that was stolen by the lawless bunch. One of Reynolds‛ (part Native American himself) first lead movie roles, with Ennio Morricone (under the pseudonym Leo Nichols) supplying more of his signature music.

Directed by Michael Tuchner:

Villain
starring Richard Burton, Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Fiona Shaw
"Murderous, sadistic London gang leader Vic Dakin (Burton), a mother-obsessed homosexual modeled on real-life gangster Ronnie Kray, is worried about potential stool pigeons that may bring down his criminal empire."

Fear Is the Key
starring Barry Newman, Suzy Kendall, John Vernon, Ben Kingsley
Following the death of his family in an airplane crash, a man plots an elaborate revenge scheme on those responsible. Kingsley‛s first and only film role (apart from a TV movie) before he landed his iconic role in Gandhi several years later.

The Super Cops
dir. Gordon Parks
starring Ron Leibman, David Selby, Sheila Frazier
The true story of two New York City cops, Greenberg and Hantz, who fought the system and became known on the streets as "Batman & Robin".

Cops and Robbers
dir. Aram Avakian
starring Cliff Gorman, Joseph Bologna
Two New York cops decide their uniforms and badges give them an ideal camouflage for pursuing extra-legal activities. They manage to perpetrate one of the most spectacular securities heists Wall Street has ever seen.

For more information, visit www.anthologyfilmarchives.org and select "Series".

Bill Lustig Presents
July 15 - 25, 2011

Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue
New York City
212-505-5181

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