2011

	Sunday, Oct. 16 3:00 p.m. The Caine Mutiny (1954) “As big as the ocean!”
Stanley Kramer directed this film based on Herman Wouk’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel and a successful Broadway play.  Humphrey Bogart plays Captain Queeg whose erratic behavior forces a group of officers led by Fred MacMurray and Van Johnson to assume command, resulting in a sensational court martial trial for the mutineers. 125 Minutes • Columbia Co-sponsored by Stanislaus County Bar Association
	Sunday, Sept. 18 3:00 p.m. Shane (1953) “There’s A Score to Settle… and This is it!”
	Sunday, July 17 3:00 p.m. South Pacific (1958) “There is nothing you can name that is anything like…South Pacific!”
Roger and Hamerstein’s award winning musical about life and romance on a lonely Pacific outpost during WWII. Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor and Ray Walston star, and songs include “There is Nothin’Like a Dame,”“Some Enchanted Evening,”“Happy Talk” and more. 171 Minutes • 20th Century Fox

 

	Sunday, May 15 3:00 p.m. Road to Morocco (1942) “You’ll Shriek at these Sheiks!”
Shipwreck survivors Bob Hope and Bing Crosby wash up on the North African coast, eventually winding up fighting desert warrior Anthony Quinn for the attention of princess Dorothy Lamour. Most critics rate this film as the best of the Hope/Crosby collaborations. 83 Minutes • Paramount

	Sunday, April 17 3:00 p.m. The 39 Steps (1935) “Fated to be Mated with the One Man She Hated.”
Considered the best of Alfred Hitchcock's British films, The Thirty Nine Steps follows the escapades of Canadian Richard Hannay(Robert Donat) who stumbles into a international conspiracy that involves him in a hectic chase across the Scottish moors with an attractive blonde (Madeleine Carroll), a chase in which he is both the pursuer and the pursued. 87 Minutes • Gaumont-British Picture Corp.

	Sunday, March 20 3:00 p.m. On The Waterfront (1954) “The Man Lived by the Jungle Law of the Docks!”
Winner of eight Oscars® including Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), Best Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint) and Director (Elia Kazan), the film is an expose of union corruption on the docks of the East Coast.  Brando’s taxicab scene with brother (Rod Steiger) is a film highlight. 108 Minutes • Columbia

	Sunday, February 20 3:00 p.m. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) “Holly Golightly, the craziest heroine who every crept between the pages of a best seller.”
Truman Capote’s heroine Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) has to choose between New York’s party set and settling down with neighbor George Peppard. The cast includes Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam and Mickey Rooney.  Blake Edwards directs and Henry Mancini’s “Moon River” wins the Best Song Oscar®. 114 Minutes • Paramount
	Sunday, January 16 3:00 p.m. From Here to Eternity (1953) “Pouring out of impassioned pages…brawling their way to greatness on the screen!”
Winner of eight Oscars®, including Best Picture, Director and both supporting roles, this classic drama is the story of the relationships between men and women at an Army base prior to Pearl Harbor. The cast includes Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine.  Fred Zinnemann directed. 118 Minutes • Columbia

 

2010

Winner of a record eleven Oscars®, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Charlton Heston), this Biblical spectacle
is notable for the famous chariot race, one of cinema’s
most memorable action sequences.  “Rome is an affront
to God.  Rome is strangling my people and my country
and the whole earth.”  MGM

Stanley Kramer directs this powerful drama depicting the 1948 war crimes trials of German judges. The stellar cast includes Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich and Maximilian Schell (Best Actor Oscar). “Ernest Janning said he is guilty. If he is, Ernest Janning’s guilt is the world’s guilt.”

Cosponsored by the Stanislaus County Bar Association.

United Artists
(178 Minutes) (1961)

 

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman star in this adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel of romance and action during the Spanish Civil War.  “I don’t know how to kiss, or I would kiss you.  Where do the noses go?”  Print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Paramount
(166 Minutes) (1943)

Duel in the Sun

Seven years after blockbuster GONE WITH THE WIND, David O. Selznick both produced and wrote the script for in this epic western featuring a sterling cast including Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotton, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish and Walter Huston. “Pearl, you’re curved in the flesh of temptation.”

Selznick Productions
(134 Minutes) (1946

Regarded as the first screwball comedy, Frank Capra’s film won a record five major Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Clark Gable) and Best Actress (Claudette Colbert).  “Well, I proved once and for all that the limb is mightier than the thumb.”

 

Billy Wilder directed this fascinating and cynical expose of the film industry starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Eric von Stroheim, Nancy Olson and Cecil B. DeMille.  “Just us and the cameras and those wonderful people out there in the dark.  All right, Mr. De Mille, I’m ready for my close-up.”

A small Kansas girl (Judy Garland) and her dog Toto are caught in a tornado and carried off to the enchanted land of Oz where they encounter a series of strange beings, both good and evil.  “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

 

1950’s Best Picture features Bette Davis, Ann Baxter, George Sanders, Gary Merrill, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter (and a brief appearance by Marilyn Monroe) in a behind the scenes look at the seamy side of the entertainment business.  “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”

 

Julie Andrews stars in one of the most popular musicals of all time.  Winner of five Oscars® with music by Rogers and Hammerstein, the film also features Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker and Peggy Wood.  Come sing along with “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi” and “Edelweis.”

 

2009

Otto Preminger directs Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price and Judith Anderson in this film noir thriller.

 

 “Science couldn’t explain it!  But there it was, alive!”

The Modesto Film Society celebrates Halloween with a showing of this 1954 Universal classic, in 3-D.  A scientific expedition searching for fossils along the Amazon River discovers a prehistoric Gill-Man in the legendary Black Lagoon. The explorers capture the mysterious creature, but it breaks free. The Gill-Man returns to kidnap the lovely Kay, fiancée of one of the expedition, with whom it has fallen in love.  The admission price includes 3-D glasses.

 

Academy Award® winner Gregory Peck stars as Atticus Finch in this adaptation of the Harper Lee novel about a small town lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman in the 1930’s south.

Cosponsored by the Stanislaus County Bar Association.

 

Jack Lemmon (Best Supporting Actor as Ensign Pulver), Henry Fonda, James Cagney, and William Powell are featured in this World War II comedy/drama about the dehumanizing aspects of war.

Gene Kelly’s struggling painter falls for a young French girl (Leslie Caron) in 1951’s Best Picture. Packed with show-stopping dance numbers and hits by George and Ira Gershwin.

Outlaws Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) rob banks on two continents while being relentlessly pursued by the law. Katharine Ross costars in this multiple Oscar® award winner. Directed by George Roy Hill  (112 minutes)

William Powell and Carol Lombard star in this classic screwball comedy about a rich socialite who hires a hobo as a butler. Film print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Cary Grant’s reformed jewel thief needs the help of Grace Kelly to prove his innocence in this Alfred Hitchcock comedy-thriller. Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color. (1955)

David Lean's adaptation of Boris Pasternak's epic set amid the turmoil of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution.  Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger and Alec Guinness star in a film that won five Oscars, including Best Original Score. (1965)

The Modesto Film Society celebrated its Fifth Anniversary (and the 75th Anniversary of the State Theatre) with a reprise of 1943’s Best Picture.  Join Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains at Rick ’s Café Americain. When Rick discovers his old flame Ilsa is in town, she calls on him to help her and her husband, Resistance leader Victor Laslo, out of the country—but will he?

 

2008

Errol Flynn steals from the rich to give to the poor, romances Olivia de Havilland and duels with Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains in this colorful classic, partially filmed in Chico.

Frank Capra’s black comedy about an odd Brooklyn family with a basement full of grisly secrets. Memorable performances by Cary Grant, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane and Josephine Hull.

 

Billy Wilder directs Agatha Christie’s courtroom drama in which Charles Laughton, ignoring the advice of his physician, defends a drifter accused of killing a wealthy widow. Print courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION: Preservation Funded by the Film Foundation. 

Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s music drives this updating of “Romeo and Juliet,” set in the conflict between two rival New York street gangs. Winner of 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

 

Nominated for seven Academy Awards®, this coming of age comedy launched Dustin Hoffman’s career. Anne Bancroft stars as the seductive Mrs. Robinson and Simon and Garfunkel’s music still resonates.

 

Alfred Hitchcock directs James Stewart and Grace Kelly in this stylishthriller, filmed from Stewart’s perspective as a temporarily disabled photographer who, while spying on his neighbors, discovers a possible murder.

 

    

Bogart's back with Tim Holt and Walter Huston in John Huston's study of greed and gold.  Winner of three Academy Awards®, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Walter Huston), and Best Director and Screenplay honors for John Huston.  Alfonso Bedoya is remembered as the bandit who "ain't got no stinking badges."

 

Rita Hayworth, George Macready and Glenn ord are involved in a love triangle, set against the background of a South American casino. Hayworth’s “Put the Blame on Mame” lights up the screen.

Print courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

 

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler are featured in this epic of love and loyalty in the Civil War South. Winner of 10 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel), GWTW was the audience favorite in a survey of Modesto Film Society members.

 

2007

Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson

Winner of the Oscar® as Best Picture of the Year for 1940, Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's American film debut. Based on Daphne du Maurier's mystery novel and set in the Cornish estate of Manderley, the film features tormented husband Laurence Olivier, newly wed wife Joan Fontaine (in her first major role, George Sanders, and the unforgettable Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers. “A splendid example of the cinema as a popular storyteller, “raves Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion.

Starring: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall

Fred MacMurray's insurance salesman is willingly seduced by femme fatale Barbara Stanwyck into helping murder her older husband in order to collect on his insurance policy. MacMurray's colleague and friend Edward G. Robinson leads the investigation into the suspicious death in one of the earliest examples of film noir. Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler wrote the script which is based on one of the three James M. Cain's novels to be made into films in the 1940's. Leonard Maltin describes DOUBLE INDEMNITY as “an American classic, with crackling dialogue throughout.”

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper and Jeremy Brett.

Winner of eight Oscars®, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Rex Harrison) and Best Director (Cukor), My Fair Lady successfully joins George Bernard Shaw's “Pygmalion” with the music and lyrics of Lerner and Lowe. While not nominated for Best Actress, Audrey Hepburn is “de lovely” as Eliza. “Sumptuously filmed,” says critic Leonard Maltin, “with ‘The Rain in Spain ,' (and) Harrison 's soliloquies among highlights.”

	Grease When: Wednesday, June 27th Riverbank's Galaxy Theatre, the City of Riverbank and the Modesto Film Society invite you to "follow the bouncing ball" and sing along with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John and the whole gang from Rydell High. There will be a custom car show in the Theatre parking lot, costume and hula hoop contests and root beer floats.
	American Graffiti When: Saturday, June 2nd Modesto's historic State Theatre kicks off Graffiti month with two showings of George Lucas' "American Graffiti", featuring Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss and Harrison Ford. Return to 1962 and sing along with the most memorable hits of that era.
	Blue Hawaii When: Sunday, June 17th Celebrate Father's Day with Elvis at the State Theatre! Wear your best Hawaiian shirt or muu muu and sing along as The King sings "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" and other hits. Free popcorn for Dad and other surprises!

Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, Andy Devine, Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Tim Holt

Director John Ford's classic western, using Monument Valley as a backdrop, launched John Wayne's career as a major star. On board with Wayne through Indian territory is a divergent ensemble that includes dance hall girl Trevor, alcoholic physician  Mitchell, gambler Carradine and coach driver Devine. Oscars® for Mitchell and musical score. Critic Leonard Maltin calls STAGECOACH "a landmark in the maturing of the Western, balancing character study...and peerless action...." Print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Tracy Reed.

Producer/Director Stanley Kubrick's black comedy, set during the height of the Cold War, features Oscar nominee Peter Sellers in three roles: Group Captain Mandrake, President Muffley and the ominous Dr. Strangelove. Convinced that the Evil Empire is threatening this country's “precious body fluids,” mad General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union . Memorable performances include George C. Scott as General “Buck” Turgidson, Keenan Wynn as Col. “Bat” Guano and Slim Pickens (Major “King” Kong), astride a nuclear bomb, at the film's conclusion. Film critic Roger Ebert describes Dr. Strangelove as "arguably the best political satire of the century."

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn,
Robert Morley

Humphrey Bogart won an Oscar® for his performance as hard-bitten riverboat captain who, together with feisty missionary (Katharine Hepburn), undertakes a perilous journey to destroy a German warship in World War I Africa. Directed by John Huston, who coauthored the script with James Agee from C.S. Forester's novel, The African Queen was filmed entirely in the then Belgian Congo . Print courtesy of the UCLA Film Archives.

2006

Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis and Leo G. Carroll, Martin Landau, Ed Platt

Cary Grant stars as an advertising executive who is drawn into an espionage plot in which he is targeted by both the spies and the authorities. Eva Marie Saint, who seems to know more than she lets on, aids Grant in his quest for the Soviet Spy Master Vandamm (James Mason). Hallowell’s Filmgoer’s Companion says NORTH BY NORTHWEST is “possibly Hitchcock’s most likeable film, if only because it is an over-size bag of his best old tricks,” including the crop dusting and Mount Rushmore sequences.

 

Director James Whale's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) mixes pathos, dark comedy and horror in what is regarded as one of Universal's finest classic horror films. Boris Karloff reprises his role as The Monster in search of a mate, accompanied by Elsa Lanchester (as both the “bride” and Mary Shelley), Ernest Thesiger and Valerie Hobson.

Mel Brooks' YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) features an all star cast including Gene Wilder as The Mad Doctor, Peter Boyle as the Monster, Marty Feldman as Igor, Gene Hackman as The Blind Monk, Teri Garr as Inga, Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher and Madeline Kahn as Elizabeth in a comedic homage to monster films of the 1930's, complete with the original laboratory equipment from the original Frankenstein films. Film critic Leonard Maltin praises it as “one of the funniest (and most quotable movies of all time…”. Are you ready for The Monster's dance routine to “Putting on the Ritz?”

Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, and Cesar Romero

William Powell and Myrna Loy star as Nick and Nora Charles, a sophisticated couple who, together with their dog Asta, manage to solve murders while enjoying the good life. Based on a story by Dashiell Hammett and nominated for four Oscars, THE THIN MAN launched a series of five sequels between 1936 and 1947. Roger Ebert describes the film as a "drawing room comedy with dead bodies," and says that it resembles an "all dialogue version of an Astaire and Rogers musical, with elegant people in luxury hotel penthouses and no hint of the Depression anywhere in sight."

Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa

Winner of seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor (Guinness) and Scoring (who can forget "Col. Bogey March"?), BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI is a war film and a suspense story that focuses on the conflicts between its main characters. Film critic Leonard Maltin writes that the "psychological battle of wills combined with high powered action sequences make this a blockbuster."

Starring: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse

SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, "the greatest Hollywood musical ever made," according to critic Roger Ebert, ranks 10th on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Best American Films.  Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen are cast as idols of the silent era as Hollywood makes the difficult transition to the talkies.  Donald O'Connor plays Cosmo Brown, Kelly's buddy, and Debbie Reynolds is Kelly's prospective singing co-star and love interest.  In addition to the title song, which Kelly sings and dances, the film features 14 other musical numbers.

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown

First on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Funniest Movies, SOME LIKE IT HOT follows Lemmon and Curtis, disguised as members of an all-women's orchestra, as they flee from gangster George Raft and his mob. Complications arise when Curtis falls for band member Sugar Cane (Monroe) and Joe E. Brown is smitten by Lemmon.

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Starring:  Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges, Thomas Mitchell, Katy Jurado

HIGH NOON is regarded by many critics as the first "adult" western.  Gary Cooper won an Academy Award for his performance as Marshal Will Kane whose devotion to duty stands in marked contrast to the moral cowardice of his community.  Dimitri Tiomkin won two Academy Awards for Best Musical Score and-with Ned Washington-Best Song ("Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darlin"), sung by Tex Ritter.

Inaugural Season 2005 

• January   CASABLANCA
• March   THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
• May  THE MALTESE FALCON
• September  CITZEN KANE
• October  PSYCHO
• December  MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS