DECEMBER 5 - DECEMBER 19
WANDERING STAR: THE FILMS OF LEE MARVIN
Called the "last of the great wintry heroes" by David Thomson, Lee Marvin (1924-87) is one of the most physically striking & underrated of Hollywood's great actors, bringing an intensity, hardness & hard-won soulfulness to an extraordinary menagerie of nihilistic hitmen, laconic army professionals, charismatic black-hatted Western villains, insolent young rebels & sneering criminals.
After serving in WWII, Marvin worked his way from Broadway to a series of striking character roles in such films as Seven Men From Now, The Big Heat & The Wild One. After a stint starring in such TV shows as M Squad, Marvin finally emerged as one of the iconic & enigmatic stars of the 1960s, working with a range of the era's key directors, John Ford (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance), Richard Brooks (The Professionals), John Boorman (Point Blank, Hell in the Pacific), Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen), & winning an Oscar for his beguilingly comic turn in dual roles in Cat Ballou. This season includes many of the high-points of Marvin's 30-year career, moving from intensely wired early supporting roles to his defining performance at the centre of Sam Fuller's monumental The Big Red One.
DECEMBER 5 - 7.00pm
THE PROFESSIONALS
Richard Brooks (1966) 123 mins PG
Mercenaries are hired by a millionaire rancher to rescue his wife from a Mexican revolutionary only to discover that she doesn't wish to return to her husband. Brooks' finest film successfully integrates its themes & ideas into a tightly controlled & vigorous narrative structure, combining self-parodic humour with a serious exploration of the conflicting codes of loyalty & the need for a personal ethic. Starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Woody Strode, Jack Palance & Ralph Bellamy.
DECEMBER 5 - 9.15 pm
HELL IN THE PACIFIC
John Boorman (1968) 103 mins
A shot-down American pilot finds his way to a small, unpopulated island where he hopes to find provisions. He soon discovers that he is not alone; there is also a Japanese officer marooned on the island.
A fascinating account of survival against the odds, a refection of cultural differences during a time of war. Strongly allegorical & stylised, the film features two of the icons of 60s masculine cinema, in brilliant form, the aggressive, brutal & loud Lee Marvin against the quieter, more methodical Toshiro Mifune. Yet in their battle for survival, the 2 men are indistinguishable, totally at the mercy of nature; a perfect metaphor for the human existence. Boorman's gripping 2 hander is a master-class in performance and a worthy addition to the Lee Marvin Retrospective.
The Melbourne Cinematheque wishes to acknowledge the support of Buena Vista International in bringing you "Hell In The Pacific".
POINT BLANK
John Boorman (1967) 92 mins M
Marvin features as the prototypical ice-cold killer for hire in this classic, post-noir masterpiece of criminal obsession that summarised one genre & began another. Boorman's masterful use of widescreen, shifting temporality, ethereal San Francisco locations, & an underworld plot of cross & double-cross creates a palpable paranoia as Marvin attempts to get even with those who betrayed him. With Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, John Vernon & Carroll O'Connor.
DECEMBER 12 - 8.45pm
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
John Ford (1962) 123 mins PG
The culmination of John Ford's investigation into the fabric of the American social contract. Patronised upon its original release, Liberty Valance is now unreservedly regarded as a classic. Marvin's wildest incarnation of leering, Method acting, black-hatted, bad guy extremism becomes a litmus for James Stewart & John Wayne to test their own white-hatted movie iconography, & permits Ford to re-examine & question the core cultural meanings of the Western genre. Co-stars Vera Miles, Andy Devine, Edmond O'Brien, John Carradine, Lee Van Cleef & Woody Strode.
DECEMBER 19 - 7.00pm
THE WILD ONE
László Benedek (1954) 79 mins PG
Rival motorcycle gangs headed by Marlon Brando & Marvin invade a small American town. At times brutal & sadistic, this seminal work of '50s American cinema was a major influence on youth culture, the emerging rock 'n' roll scene & its iconography. Brando's insolent, brooding but misunderstood rebel with & without a cause is richly contrasted with Marvin's menacing & hot-headed Chino, a defining performance of the actor's early career. With Robert Keith & Jay C. Flippen.
DECEMBER 19 - 8.30pm
THE BIG RED ONE
Samuel Fuller (1980) 158 mins M
Marvin is perfectly cast in the career-capping role of a tough, professional division sergeant who fights in many of America's key WWII European battles. Drawing on Fuller's own war experience, & boldly following the exploits of 5 foot soldiers, this is one of the most vivid, matter-of-fact & raw accounts of American combat experience. Features numerous striking scenes including the landings in Normandy & North Africa, & the liberation of the Falkenau concentration camp. With Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine & Stéphane Audran. Recently reconstructed version. New 35mm print.
Preceded by...
The Railway Station 1980 13 mins, Warsaw's Central Railway Station, "Spy" cameras watch over the station; & Talking Heads, 1980 15mins, 79 Poles, aged 7-100, answer 3 questions.