This summer Charlotte Mecklenburg Library hosts a free film series: “Made in 1984: Hollywood Moves from 30 Years Ago.” This six-film series, presented by Sam Shapiro, looks back on 1984 through a group of popular, diverse films from a variety of genres. It will take place in ImaginOn’s Wells Fargo Playhouse, 300 East 7th Street.
The schedule:
Saturday, May 24th, 2 p.m.
The Natural:
The Natural (PG) is the first film of the series and stars Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, and Glenn Close. THE NATURAL is one of the great baseball movies, steeped in nostalgia, with stunning cinematography and an emotionally stirring score by Randy Newman. Adapted from the 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud.
Saturday, May 31st, 2 p.m.
Blood Simple
Blood Simple (R) stars Frances McDormand, John Getz, and M. Emmet Walsh, directed by the Coen Brothers. With their debut film BLOOD SIMPLE, Joel and Ethan Coen “burst upon the scene” with this contemporary homage to the pulp fiction and film noir of the 1930s and 1940s. Scary and nerve-wracking, it’s an ingeniously structured mousetrap of a movie. BLOOD SIMPLE is recommended for mature audiences only.
Saturday, June 21st, 2 p.m.
Broadway Danny Rose
Broadway Danny Rose (PG), directed by Woody Allen, starring Woody Allen and Mia Farrow (86 minutes). Once upon a time, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow forged a creative partnership that resulted in a string of under-rated comedies and dramas. Perhaps none was more unique than this bittersweet gem, in which Allen plays the titular manager of an assortment of marginal, over-the-hill show-biz types. Mia Farrow’s performance as a tough, brassy mobster’s wife was remarkable, unlike anything else in her career.
Saturday, June 28th, 2 p.m.
Top Secret
Top Secret is the ultimate “movie spoof”, a hybrid of WWII espionage capers and Eisenhower-era rock-n-roll musicals. From the creative team that hatched AIRPLANE four years earlier, TOP SECRET stars Val Kilmer as an Elvis-type singer who gets involved with French Resistance-types in a repressive Eastern European country. It’s completely nonsensical and hilarious fun. With Omar Sharif.
Saturday, July 5th, 2 p.m.
Passage To India
A Passage to India was the legendary director David Lean’s last film, and like his earlier classics Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, it’s exotic, visually exquisite, and epic-length. Set in 1920s India during the time of British rule, it’s about the culture clash between East and West — made more volatile after an Indian doctor is accused by a young British tourist of attempted rape. Roger Ebert wrote: “E. M. Forster’s novel is one of the literary landmarks of this century, and now David Lean has made it into one of the greatest screen adaptations I have ever seen.”
Saturday, July 19th, 2 p.m.
Amadeus
Amadeus is the sumptuous movie adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s great play, and in 1984 it won (deserved) Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Best Director (Milos Forman), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer). It’s the story of Mozart’s destruction, purportedly engineered by Antonio Salieri, ‘court composer’ to the Austrian emperor. Secretly acknowledging (to us, the audience) his own mediocrity, Salieri is consumed with murderous envy when confronted by the undeniable musical gifts of the bawdy, impish Amadeus.
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