MID-MAD TURNS UP THE HEAT IN AUGUST!

TICKETS ON SALE NOW for August 20-21 screenings in MIDCENTURY MADNESS, moving firmly into the world of Anglo-American cruelty with its four-film weekend lineup featuring two controversial, confounding figures who made waves in the late 1960s.

On Saturday the 20th, we present the prescient cinema of Frank Perry, who captured the psychological fractures of the privileged in two incendiary films, THE SWIMMER (1968) and LAST SUMMER (1969). The underbelly of upper-class America that has only gotten uglier over the years is put fully on display by Perry in these two simmering exposés. Two contrasting paragons of physical beauty—Burt Lancaster and Barbara Hershey—lead us into our all-American heart of darkness.

On Sunday the 21st, we rescue from oblivion several key works in Patrick McGoohan's early career (prior to his meteoric rise-and-fall as a TV icon). McGoohan threw away superstardom with the baffling social allegory of THE PRISONER, but a closer look at his career reveals that he was always in search of hard-hitting social commentary. Two of his early 60s films, LIFE FOR RUTH and THE QUARE FELLOW (both 1962), capture this side of his work and present compelling cinema with multi-dimensional examinations of human frailty. McGoohan's "thousand mile stare" that was so iconic in DANGER MAN/SECRET AGENT begins here, in films where his characters' growth stems from the social conflict they witness.

MIDCENTURY MADNESS will end its '22 run with its September screenings, which have been changed to permit several French noirs previously scheduled in the series to appear in our upcoming FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT '22 (French noir) series in November. Note (in our schedule below) the three films that will appear as part of that lineup—LA MAIN DU DIABLE/CARNIVAL OF SINNERS, LA CHATTE/THE FACE OF THE CATand LUCKY JO. The full lineup for FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT '22 will appear in this space in mid-September.

Also note that we have a new, exciting finale for MIDCENTURY MADNESS that will play on Sunday, September 25. We conclude our 2022 programming with a double feature honoring the great Mexican actor Arturo de Cordova, a major star on the post-WWII "Latin circuit" (Mexico, Spain, Argentina). If you've seen films at NOIR CITY featuring him (IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND, TWILIGHT), you'll already know of his towering talent. We're thrilled to present two ultra-rare thrillers starring de Cordova, LOS PECES ROJOS/RED FISH (Spain, 1955) and EL HOMBRE SIN ROSTRO/THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE (Mexico, 1950) that will end our MID/MAD '22 series with a bang!

Links to the Roxie Theatre site and tickets will be posted here as they become available. Watch for additional updates on Facebook, Twitter and email blasts.

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