Stuart Gordon Presents At New Beverly

Two weeks ago in this month of January, at the New Beverly, director Stuart Gordon presented a few of his favorite films programming a couple of nights. He even came on out to watch them and share why he chose the films he did.

It all began on January 15th with a triple feature: NIGHTMARE ALLEY followed by THE SWIMMER and a midnight screening of Irréversible.

It was an excellent night and as memory serves, a good crowd came out, more folks showed up just for THE SWIMMER and the midnight line for Irréversible was long...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Stuart Gordon came down to the front to kick of the show, he introduced each film offering some insight as to what he liked about the movies. First off he thanked the New Beverly and said he felt like a kid in a candy store very excited to be seeing movies he had chosen on a big screen.

With NIGHTMARE ALLEY Stuart admitted he had never seen it projected and he called it "one of the weirdest films ever made." He talked about Tyrone Powers, who's the lead in the film, it was Tyrone who got the rights to the book to make the film. I didn't know much about NIGHTMARE's director, Edmund Goulding, but Stuart said he was actually known for having orgies where he'd hire men and women for orgies and then direct them.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY is quite good, I saw it last year at the Egyptian and am a fan of the Carny element and Tyrone Powers. Tyrone is Stan, a man with big ambitions to be famous, but ego is a dangerous thing! Convinced he can use his "mentalist" act for big bucks his con game is turned back on him and he's crushed. When one climbs so high they have a long way to fall and NIGHTMARE shows just how low can a man can go. It also shows what a "GEEK" really is; would you bite the heads off chickens? NIGHTMARE ALLEY is absolutely a great noir tale. (On another side note, Clu told me he hadn't seen it before and really dug the film!)

Next up THE SWIMMER, starring Burt Lancaster. The tagline for the film is "When you talk about THE SWIMMER will you talk about yourself?" Burt is Ned Merrill and he's a man facing a crisis which doesn't become evident right away. He has returned to his old neighborhood of rich folks and suddenly decides to swim his way home, using the stream of pools that lead to his house. Along the way Ned interacts with those from his past and we get a glimpse of the man he was and the memories he clings to. It's a very personal journey and a heartbreakingly sad. I had never seen the film before and was rather stirred up by it.

Stuart said he first saw the film when he was 21 years old and has been living the movie ever since. He mentioned how the director Frank Perry was fired from the film over creative differences and Sydney Pollack was brought on board.

As midnight rolled around a mostly new crowd filled the theater to see Irréversible. Stuart said he first saw the film on DVD with his wife and felt that director Gaspar Noé had "raised the bar" while his wife offered "or lowered it." Stuart shared the times he met Gaspar Noé and talked to him about his first film and later Gaspar told him their conversation inspired the next film which was I STAND ALONE.

"Time Destroys Everything" is the quote that starts Irréversible and that quote actually fit very well with the previous two films as Stuart also mentioned. It's interesting how Stuart's picks of his favorites were sort of randomly paired and that first night really all meshed.

I had never seen Irréversible, I missed it when it first came out and then never felt like watching it on video. I had heard the hype, all the talk of a long rape scene and wasn't afraid to watch the graphic subject matter, I just knew I'd rather see it on a big screen when I could. (SPOILER WARNING - IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN Irréversible - I'M TALKING ABOUT THE PLOT POINTS)

It's a very harsh, raw and graphic movie with all it's violence. The backwards storytelling was well done and extremely effective. It's hard to say "like" with a movie that has such violence and the rape scene. It's extremely intense, though I felt much more disturbed with the beginning (which is the end) where the rapist is being smashed with a fire extinguisher. It's a revenge film and then as you see what comes before all that, those first words "Time Destroys Everything" make it all more heartbreaking when you reach the start. It's amazing storytelling and while that impact can be overwhelming intense it's a movie that should be seen. It gets a 5 rating on my scale of 5 (best).



Stuart's next movie night was TRUE GRIT with A.I. and truth be told I'd never seen A.I. all the way through before!

Stuart was there on Sunday for the show and said how he's a big fan of John Wayne and TRUE GRIT. He talked about the book on which it was based and mentioned the Coen Brother's upcoming adaptation. He then shared stories he heard about Wayne and Dennis Hopper working with director Henry Hathaway. Stuart was most excited that his daughters had come out to join him in watching TRUE GRIT as they hadn't seen it before and he dedicated the screening to them.

TRUE GRIT is a good western and you can't go wrong with John Wayne! Wayne is Rooster Cogburn and he's a marshal who's been hired by Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to find the man who killed her father. Mattie is in charge on this journey really pushing Rooster around but Rooster does admire her spunk. I really do enjoy watching Westerns and this one was solid.

I have to say finally watching A.I. from beginning to end I really got caught up in it and then wished I had my own Teddy Super toy. In A.I. David is a robot child who loves unconditionally and wants love back. When his mother pushes him away he goes on a journey to find the Blue Fairy to be a real boy to earn the love he wants in return. By the end I was teary eyed.

Stuart said there were two things he knew about A.I. that #1 it would make him cry and #2 it's like one more Kubrick movie which he is glad to have.



The finale night of Stuart's picks was AMADEUS the director's cut. During Stuart's introduction he talked about the mystery that surrounded Mozart's death at the age of 35 and how he had written 600 pieces of music by that time. Stuart felt the movie really humanized Mozart who was like the first rock star.

Now, I always dug this movie and had seen it when it came out on T.V. (Thank you Cable and uncensored viewing habits!) Tom Hulce is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and F. Murray Abraham is Antonio Salieri. It's Salieri who's telling the story of Mozart and how their lives paralleled while he was so jealous of Mozart's talent. The laugh that Tom Hulce uses throughout the movie is what most remember about it and people were giggling before and after the movie. (New Beverly Julia was with Stuart during his intro and she asked the New Bev crowd to do the laugh and a few folks were brave enough to do so.) Seeing AMADEUS on the big screen was excellent, the music, performances and acting all come together so well and they don't make them like that anymore.

It truly was great to see Stuart Gordon at the New Beverly and I hope he makes a return too with more of his favorites! He was so nice and chatted with folks while he was there. His picks were fun and I really did enjoy hearing what he liked about each film.

In February the New Beverly will present a few films programmed by Jason Reitman starting on the 19th thru 25th and I'm most excited for the BREAKING AWAY and BOTTLE ROCKET double on the 24th! Stay tuned and come on out to watch movies!