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The Great Transition:
World Cinema in the 1960s

Lecturer: Jonathan Rosenbaum

From Jan. 25 through May 7, we offer a series of fourteen programs entitled The Great Transition: World Cinema in the 1960s, with weekly lecture/discussions by Jonathan Rosenbaum, internationally renowned film critic for the Chicago Reader and author of numerous books including Discovering Orson Welles. The series is made possible in part through the sponsorship of American Airlines, the Film Center’s Educational Underwriter, and is presented in cooperation with the School of the Art Institute’s Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism. Additional screenings of the films on Friday do not include Jonathan Rosenbaum’s lecture. Admission to all Great Transition programs is $4 for Film Center members; usual admission prices apply for non-members.

-- Martin Rubin

In between Italian neorealism and the European new waves, one can find a ferment of creativity in many different cinemas around the world. This two-part series investigates the phenomenon in all its complexity and diversity. In Part Two, devoted to the 1960s, emphasis will be placed on the new waves of France, Great Britain, and Africa, as exemplified by such films as Alphaville, The Knack, and Black Girl. Also included will be Hollywood and American independent films that showed the influence of those new waves, including Shadows, The Hustler, and The Connection, as well as films by old masters such as Ingmar Bergman, Luis Buñuel, and John Ford.

-- Jonathan Rosenbaum

THE KNACK . . .AND HOW TO GET IT
1965, Richard Lester, U.K., 84 min.
With Rita Tushingham, Michael Crawford

Lester capitalized on the success of A HARD DAY’S NIGHT to take his slice-and-dice, neo-screwball style to new extremes in this kaleidoscopic sex farce that won the Grand Prize at Cannes. Based on a play by Ann Jellicoe, the story concerns a self-styled Don Juan (Ray Brooks) who tutors his naïve roommate (Crawford) in the fine art of ladykilling, with a fresh-from-the-boonies bird (Tushingham) as his graduation project. 35mm. (MR)

Wednesday, April 2, 6:00

VIRIDIANA
1961, Luis Buñuel, Spain, 90 min.
With Silvia Pinal, Francisco Rabal

Marking Buñuel’s return to Spain, VIRIDIANA scandalized the Franco regime. A young novice (Pinal) takes over her deceased uncle’s decaying estate and turns it into a model Christian community for beggars, cripples, and other unfortunates. Meanwhile, her cousin (Rabal) comes home with different ideas about how to get his inheritance back in order. The climactic “beggar’s banquet” sequence is one of the highpoints of Buñuel’s oeuvre. In Spanish with English subtitles. 35mm. (Richard Peña)

Saturday, April 5, 5:00 pm
Wednesday, April 9, 6:00

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
1962, John Ford, USA, 123 min.
With John Wayne, James Stewart

A civilization-bringing lawyer (Stewart) battles an anarchic outlaw (Lee Marvin) with the aid of an individualistic rancher (Wayne) whose duty is to the former but whose heart belongs with the latter. Elegiac and often very funny, Ford’s last great western is a knowing critique of the genre, epitomized by the famous line, “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” 35mm. (MR)

>Friday, April 11, 6:00 pm
Wednesday, April 16, 6:00

THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT
(LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT)
1967, Jacques Demy, France, 125 min.
With Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac

“My favorite musical.”--Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Intended as a follow-up to THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, with Michel Legrand again providing the score, this eccentric spin on classic Hollywood musicals never attained the popularity of its predecessor but has attracted a more devoted cult following. Real-life sisters Deneuve and Dorléac play musically inclined twins yearning for love and a way out of the small port city where they live. The iconic cast includes Oscar-winner George Chakiris, legendary French star Danielle Darrieux, and the master himself, Gene Kelly, in a charming supporting role. In French and English with English subtitles. 35mm widescreen. (MR)

Saturday, April 19, 3:00 pm
Wednesday, April 23, 6:00

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Upcoming films in The Great Transition:

May 3 and 7
PLAY TIME
1967, Jacques Tati, France, 124 min.
With Jacques Tati