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A Tribute to Film Forum

Everyone loves this theater. It is among my favorite spots in New York City--maybe second only to the Bronx Zoo. Returning to Film Forum today, on a breezy late-summer afternoon, in the heart of the greatest city of the world, I felt a bit sentimental.

Film Forum was my boyfriend for several years. I exited a long, exhausting relationship with an actor who claimed to dislike movies. (An actor who disliked movies. See if you can figure that one out!) Suddenly overwhelmed with free time, I found myself going to Film Forum again and again and again. It is like the best kind of museum; the attention paid to movies, to old trailers, to old promotional posters ... feels scholarly. Unlike other museums, it allows you to sit down while you "consider the goods," and its subject is narrative art, the art of storytelling, which is maybe the only real art in my book.

The movie I saw today was "Chinatown," and one of the many treats of my trip to Film Forum was seeing the original painting used to advertise the film. It's Jack Nicholson puffing on a cigarette, and the smoke from the cigarette seems to form the boundaries of Faye Dunaway's face, floating in the sky. (You might think of those two big eyes on the cover of "The Great Gatsby.") Stylish and weird--and not something you'd see on a movie poster today. Worth the price of admission.

To honor Film Forum, I thought I'd list some of the most memorable bits I've seen there (below). This institution started out in the 1970s, and it has just now opened up its fourth screen. Long may it reign.

-"Chinatown." It seems impossible to tire of this movie. You notice, or learn, new things--consistently. For example, the rape of Dunaway's character is meant to be linked, symbolically, with "the rape of the valley's water." (Of course!) I detect bits of Roman Polanski's deep Holocaust-tinged despair in this famous line from Noah Cross: "I don't blame myself for what I did. I pity myself. I envy most men--who aren't given the opportunity of discovering how low they can sink." And I'm blown away by Jack Nicholson's intelligence and charm: the shark-like grin, the deviousness. This movie didn't receive unanimous raves when it opened, and now that's almost unbelievable. In at least one ranking, it has been called the greatest film of the twentieth century.

-"The Godfather." What a treat to see this on the big screen. As I've observed before, I'm most moved by Connie--by the difficulties she encounters, and by the changes she goes through after her awful husband is offed. I'm also charmed by James Caan's intemperate behavior--the dalliance in the middle of the party, the fracas with the baseball bat. And Apollonia! Baring her underage breasts--then stepping into that Hell-Bound Car. And the panic on Pacino's face. Human frailty, operatic grandeur.

-"The Third Man." This one rarely, if ever, seems to be far away from Film Forum. It's coming back on Labor Day! What remains in my memory is menacing Orson Welles on the ferris wheel with Joseph Cotten; evil doesn't often recognize itself as evil, so of course Welles's villainous character has some bizarre justifications for his own bad behavior. To make an omelette, you must break some eggs. "Italy had decades and decades of graft, violence, treachery, and at the same time they produced some of the greatest artworks known to man. Switzerland had peace and prosperity. And what did the Swiss make? They made the cuckoo clock." It occurs to me that Welles's character commits a Noah Cross-ish sin: He treats people as objects. Why not give some folks some bad, fatal penicillin, if it means you might make a quick buck? Why not deprive people of water, if it means you can design a land-grab for yourself? It seems very likely that Polanski was--and is--familiar with Carol Reed's work.

-"Strangers on a Train." Hitchcock always seems to be at Film Forum, as well. I recall the sinister Tunnel of Love: Four may go in, but only three will exit. And the crazy merry-go-round at the end: Those alarming plastic horses. This one comes from a Patricia Highsmith scenario, and you may see similarities to her (more famous) novel "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

-"Bad Day at Black Rock." I re-watched this recently. It was given a full week at Film Forum a few years ago. This is Spencer Tracy, in an Oscar-nominated role, maintaining exquisite self-control. Thucydides says: "If you want self-respect, you must attain self-control. If you want courage, you must attain self-respect." Tracy walks around like a hero from a Thucydides chronicle. You sense that something very, very bad has happened at Black Rock, and it takes quite a while to peel back the layers. As you get peaks into the past, you're also tracing strange, disquieting relationships in the present: Why is there a need for that terrifying car chase? Why is the guy at the hotel so stand-offish? The entire script seems to be a call to arms: You can be a ghost in your daily life, or you can attempt to combat bullying where you spot it. I'm especially intrigued by the commentary regarding Japanese-American civilians during and after WWII. One critic has said, "While this nerve-shredding thriller was making a name for itself, Hitchcock was wasting time on DIAL M FOR MURDER. How much envy he must have felt!"

And I haven't mentioned "Ninotchka"! "Twelve Angry Men"! "Unforgiven"! "Laura"! "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"! "Repulsion"! "Sudden Fear"! Some other time. Three cheers for Film Forum! And please share your favorite FF memories below.....

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