Woody Allen and Mariel Hemingway in Manhattan. 1979. USA. Directed by Woody Allen
These notes accompany screenings of Woody Allen’s </em>Manhattan</a> on August 27, 28, and 29 in Theater 3.</p>
For me, having lived in the city for almost half a century, Woody Allen has been as vital to New York as Hendrik Hudson was. In between, there was a long string of greats, men and occasionally women with extraordinary accomplishments who walked our streets.
Raging Bull. 1980. USA. Directed by Martin Scorsese
These notes accompany screenings of Martin Scorsese’s </em>Raging Bull</a> on August 20, 21, and 22 in Theater 3.</p>
I attribute my lifetime fascination with boxing to my maternal grandfather, Louie Greenberg. Chewy Louie (as he was affectionately known for his steadfast support of the Wrigley franchise) lived upstairs from us in the house he built.
Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now Redux. 1979/2001. USA. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
These notes accompany screenings of Francis Ford Coppola’s </em>Apocalypse Now</a> on August 13, 14, and 15 in Theater 3.</p>
By the time of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola, through his first two Godfather films, had become the American director most able to garner both critical acclaim and box office success. I would be loath to accuse Coppola of hubris, but the heights of his achievement led to an understandable ambition.
Days of Heaven. 1978. USA. Written and directed by Terrence Malick
These notes accompany screenings of Terence Malick’s </em>Days of Heaven</a> on August 6, 7, and 8 in Theater 3.</p>
Terrence Malick, now 70, was still in his twenties when his first feature, Badlands, debuted at the 1973 New York Film Festival. Days of Heaven, released five years later, was not followed by another film for two decades. It is hard to think of another significant filmmaker with that kind of gap in his output.
Annie Hall. 1977. USA. Directed by Woody Allen
These notes accompany screenings of Woody Allen’s </em>Annie Hall</a> on July 30 and 31 and August 1 in Theater 3.</p>
With the release of Magic in the Moonlight last week, Woody Allen has now directed 50 films in slightly less than 50 years. Annie Hall was his eighth and, some suggest, best film.
Taxi Driver. 1976. USA. Directed by Martin Scorsese
These notes accompany screenings of Martin Scorsese’s </em>Taxi Driver</a> on July 23, 24, and 25 in Theater 3.</p>
No director has ever been so closely identified with New York in all its manifestations, its terrors and its glories, as Martin Scorsese, who was born in Flushing, Queens, 71 years ago. (Even Woody Allen has, at this point, become more or less a jet-setter, preferring European jaunts to the streets of New York.)
Barry Lyndon. 1975. Great Britain. Directed by Stanley Kubrick
These notes accompany screenings of Stanley Kubrick’s </em>Barry Lyndon</a> on July 16, 17, and 18 in Theater 3.</p>
Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) has long posed complications for auteur critics. It would be hard to claim that the director lacked a unique personal vision, but it was a fragmentary and misanthropic one.
The Magic Flute. 1975. Sweden. Directed by Ingmar Bergman
These notes accompany screenings of Ingmar Bergman’s </em>The Magic Flute</a> on July 9, 10, and 11 in Theater 3.</p>
Let me say upfront that I know virtually nothing about opera. As I recall, I’ve been to the Met three times to see Der Rosenkavalier, some Leoš Janáček, and William Kentridge’s recent Gogolesque grotesquery.
Jaws. 1975. USA. Directed by Steven Spielberg
These notes accompany screenings of Steven Spielberg’s </em>Jaws</a> on July 2, 3, and 4 in Theater 3.</p>
Back on March 30, 1974, when I was introduced to the young director of Sugarland Express, I had no idea I was playing a miniscule role on the periphery of one of the greatest revolutions in film history.
Klaus Kinski in Aguirre, the Wrath of God. 1973. West Germany. Directed by Werner Herzog
I would argue that no director in film history has moved so successfully back and forth between actuality and narrative as Werner Herzog, and Herzog’s skill in ether genre is nowhere better displayed than in Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aguirre, the Wrath of God).
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