What Are You Doing for New Year's?

At times, my favorite NYC spot is the Bronx Zoo; at times, it's Film Forum.

The best Film Forum event I recall--from my bachelor years--was New Year's Eve. The Forum managers would choose a great black-and-white film, and they would serve you champagne at the end. I remember some of the movies: Preminger's "Laura," Stanwyck in "Christmas in Connecticut," Greta Garbo in "Ninotchka."

I'm no longer in New York, but I like to re-create the Film Forum tradition. One year, my husband and I spent New Year's Eve with "Shadow of a Doubt." This year, we'll watch "Bad Day at Black Rock."

That latter film was called a "nerve-shredding masterpiece," and Spencer Tracy, in the lead role, earned an Oscar nomination. (The cast actually has five Oscar winners: Tracy, Marvin, Borgnine, Brennan, Jagger.)

Hitchcock didn't make "Bad Day"--he was struggling with "Dial M for Murder"--but one critic speculated that Hitchcock surely *wished* to have made "Bad Day."

That's my plan for tomorrow night. And you?

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