The long friendship Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart is the focus of terrific 3-week series at Film Forum
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
October 27 – November 16
212-727-8110
filmforum.org
If only America were more like the long relationship between Nebraska-built-in Oscar winner Henry Jaynes Fonda and Pennsylvania-born Oscar winner James Maitland Stewart. Fonda, who served in the Navy during WWII and passed away in 1982 at the age of 70-seven, was a liberal Democrat who was married five times; Stewart, who served in the Regular army during WWII and passed away in 1997 at the age of eighty-nine, was married to the same woman for twoscore-iv years. Non only did Hank and Jim disagree on politics, which they early on on decided never to talk well-nigh in each other's company, only they also went head-to-head for the All-time Thespian Oscar in 1941, when Stewart (The Philadelphia Story) crush Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath). Still, they remained best buddies, which is documented in Scott Eyman's new book, Hank and Jim: the Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart (October 24, Simon & Schuster, $29), a tome that serves as the inspiration backside the fab Film Forum series "Hank and Jim," running Oct 27 through November 16, consisting of more than three dozen movies fabricated by the ii actors, who both experienced success on Broadway besides every bit in Hollywood. (The one-time roommates met while trying to plant their careers in New York City.) Eyman will exist at Film Forum to introduce several screenings and sign copies of his book.
The serial begins October 27 with an Alfred Hitchcock double feature, The Incorrect Human being, starring Fonda every bit a jazz musician defendant of murder, and Rope, in which Stewart plays a professor invited to a dinner party with an unexpected guest. That is followed Oct 28 with Sidney Lumet'south 12 Angry Men and Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, in which Fonda and Stewart both portray men with consciences who care about fairness and the truth. Other double features with films made by each man include The Ox-Bow Incident and Cleaved Arrow, Call Northside 777 and The Boston Strangler, The Moon's Our Dwelling house and Next Fourth dimension We Love, and Destry Rides Once more and Daisy Kenyon, in add-on to double features with simply one of them and private screenings of some of their greatest solo films. Fonda and Stewart made only iii movies in which they appeared together, On Our Merry Way, Vincent McEveety'due south Firecreek, and Gene Kelly's The Cheyenne Social Society, but, oddly, none of them is part of this festival, nor is How the West Was Won, which stars both of them but they are never in the same scene.
Sidney Lumet'due south 12 Angry Men explores the consciences and more of a dozen jurors deciding a murder case
12 ANGRY MEN (Sidney Lumet, 1957)
Moving picture Forum
Saturday, October 28, 3:00, 7:30
www.filmforum.org
The fate of an eighteen-yr-former boy charged with the murder of his father is at stake in Sidney Lumet's start motion-picture show, the gripping, genre-defining 12 Aroused Men. After a series of establishing shots, a judge sends a dozen New Yorkers into the jurors room, where they need to come to a unanimous verdict that could lead to the execution of the teen. Over the class of about ninety minutes, an all-star cast examines and reexamines the instance — and their ain personal biases — as the heat increases, both literally and figuratively. At beginning, the nameless dozen men make minor talk, trying to be friendly, simply information technology's not long earlier some of them are at others' throats, primarily the gruff Lee J. Cobb, who has it in for the at-home and thoughtful Henry Fonda, who is ready to stand alone if necessary for what he believes in. The other uniformly excellent actors playing a very specific cross-department of white, male America are John Fiedler, Martin Balsam, Robert Webber, E. G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Ed Begley, Joseph Sweeney, and George Voskovec. "I tell you, we were lucky to get a murder case," Webber tells Fonda, but he won't experience the aforementioned as the tension reaches near-vehement proportions. 12 Angry Men is a searing exam of the criminal justice system as well as basic human instincts, beliefs, and common decency. The Philadelphia-born Lumet, whose parents were both in the Yiddish theater, is able to tell the story in cinematic ways despite its taking place more often than not in ane small, sweaty room, letting the intense interim bulldoze the narrative; the director, who was nominated for an Oscar for the moving-picture show, would go on to make such other classic New York City dramas as The Pawnbroker, The Anderson Tapes, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Prince of the City. Nominated for a Best Pic Oscar and winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin, 12 Angry Men, based on an original teleplay by Reginald Rose, is screening October 28 as part of a double feature with Frank Capra'southward Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in the Film Forum serial "Hank and Jim"; the seven:30 evidence volition be introduced past Scott Eyman, author of Hank and Jim: the 50-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart, and followed by a volume signing.
Jimmy Stewart takes filibustering to a whole new level in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (Frank Capra, 1939)
Film Forum
Saturday, Oct 28, 12:30, 4:55
www.filmforum.org
We love Jimmy Stewart; we really do. Who doesn't? But a few years ago we had the audacity to claim that Jim Parsons'due south functioning as Elwood P. Dowd in the 2012 Broadway revival of Harvey outshined that of Stewart in the treacly 1950 moving picture, and now we're here to tell y'all that another of his iconic films is nowhere nigh every bit bully every bit you might remember, although it even so has its place in the Hollywood canon. Nominated for eleven Academy Awards, Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington caused quite a scandal in America's capital when it was released in 1939, depicting a corrupt democracy that only might be saved by a filibustering junior senator from a minor state whose about relevant feel is existence head of the Boy Rangers. (The Boy Scouts would not allow their name to exist used in the film.) Stewart plays the aptly named Jefferson Smith, a dreamer who believes in truth, justice, and the American way. "I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules," Smith says of the Senate, "if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, besides." He's shocked — shocked! — to discover that his mentor, the immensely respected Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine (played past Claude Rains, who was similarly shocked that there was gambling at Rick's in Casablanca), is not nearly equally squeaky clean as he thought, involved in high-level corruption, manipulation, and pay-offs that nearly drains Smith of his dreams. Having recently historic its seventy-fifth ceremony, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is nevertheless, unfortunately, rather relevant, as things haven't changed all that much, merely Capra's dependence on over-the-top melodrama has worn thin. It's a good picture show, but it's no longer a great i. But in time for ballot day, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is screening Oct 28 equally part of a double characteristic with Sidney Lumet'south 12 Aroused Men in the Pic Forum series "Hank and Jim"; the 4:55 show will exist introduced by Scott Eyman, author of Hank and Jim: the Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart, and followed by a book signing.
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