Screening Events
FILMS OF PAUL MAZURSKY
DOWN & OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS (1986)
This laugh-filled comedy is Paul Mazursky's thoughtful look at modern family life and the lives of haves and have-not's in Beverly Hills. It centers on a Beverly Hills couple played by Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler, whose family is suffering all the ills of modern life, from cheating to sexual identity to eating disorders. When Dreyfuss rescues a homeless man trying to drown himself in their pool (Nick Nolte) and invites him to live with them, the man winds up making a huge impact on the family. Little RIchard makes an appearance as the Whiteman's next-door neighbor, and his song "Great Gosh a' Mighty" is on the soundtrack. The song's success led to his career's revitalization. Nick Nolte spent five weeks as a homeless person to prepare for the part. The first movie from the Disney company to receive an "R" rating.
Running time: 103 min.
Rating: R
(intro & Q & A with director Paul Mazursky and co-star Evan Richards)
Sun., Sept. 28th, 2:30pm – Sangre de Cristo Arts Center (Main Theatre)
AN UNMARRIED WOMAN (1978)
Paul Mazursky’s 1978 landmark salute to women's liberation is a moving tale of a middle-class Manhattan housewife's struggle for independence after her husband leaves her for another woman. Jill Clayburgh gives a brilliant performance as a married wife and mother left for a younger woman. The movie touches all the different emotions felt and Clayburgh’s rebirth as an independent individual is beautifully rendered. An acting triumph for Jill Clayburgh – brittle, biting, funny, and moving, Mazursky’s serious-comedy benefits from a screenplay which is nearly always on-track emotionally.
Running time: 124 min.
Rating: R
Fri., Sept. 26th, 2:30pm – Infozone Theater (Pueblo City – County Library / Robert Hoag Rawlings Branch)
HARRY & TONTO (1974)
Mazursky directed, produced, and wrote this film that's both a comedy and a drama. It is the kind of cinema that Mazursky has excelled in, calling it "serious comedy" - movies which cause us to laugh, but share a thoughtful slice of American society. Art Carney, who was a television icon and stage actor, plays a NY widower in his 70's evicted from the home he's lived in his whole life, when the building is slated to be torn down to make way for a parking garage. He goes to live with a son, but can't stand the tumult there and decides he and his cat, Tonto, should head for Los Angeles. Taking the ultimate road trip across the country, he shares the company of an odd and interesting assortment of characters, including his daughter, a hitchhiker, a former love, a Las Vegas prostitute and an Indian in jail for practicing medicine without a license. Along the way, some wonderful actors appear in vignettes: Ellen Burstyn, Chief Dan George, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Arthur Hunnicutt, and Larry Hagman. Carney won an Oscar for Best actor and the script was honored with a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Running time: 115 min.
Rating: R
(intro & Q & A with director/producer/writer Paul Mazursky)
Sat., Sept. 27th, Noon – Sangre de Cristo Arts Center (Main Theatre)
NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE (1976)
In Mazursky’s touching slice of life in New York, an aspiring Jewish actor moves out of his parents' Brooklyn apartment to seek his fortune in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in 1953. He struggles to come to terms with his feelings about his mother's overbearing nature, while also trying to maintain his relationship with his girlfriend.
Running time: 111 min.
Rating: R
(intro with director Paul Mazursky)
Sat., Sept. 27th, 6:30pm – Sangre de Cristo Arts Center (Main Theatre)