FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

While Jack Nicholson may have been cast against type in playing Warren Schmidt and his life of quiet desperation, he was most definitely playing his age. Your choices, then, for what we’ll be screening on Tuesday 19 May are out of three more films that feature stars at the far end of their careers. Up for the vote are:

Limelight (Charlie Chaplin, USA, 1952)

“Few cinema artists have delved into their own lives and emotions with such ruthlessness and with such moving results.” Geoff Andrew, Time Out

London, 1914, and Charlie Chaplin stars as washed-up comedian, Calvero, who prevents depressed ballet dancer Thereza Ambroseand (Claire Bloom) from killing herself. Calvero encourages Thereza to resume her career, in the process regaining his self respect, and begins to consider making a comeback... Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed and starred in this late-period masterpiece: a poignant mix of comedy and tragedy.

Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, USA, 1962)

“Symbols of a waning era who eventually clash over right and wrong, Messrs. McCrea and Scott mesh perfectly, with the latter getting the drollest lines -- and there are plenty.” - Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Joel McCrea stars as retired lawman, Steve Judd, reduced to transporting gold from a distant mine to a small-town bank. Judd recruits ageing gunman and old friend Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott), to help guard the gold, not realising that when money is involved his loyalty to Gil may be misplaced... Peckinpah's Ride the High Country is both a loving homage to the long careers of Scott and McCrea and one of the finest revisionist Westerns ever made.

Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, USA, 1950)

“Remains the best drama ever made about the movies because it sees through the illusions, even if Norma doesn’t.” — Roger Ebert

Gloria Swanson plays one-time star of the silent screen, Norma Desmond, eeking out the butt-end her days as a recluse in her big ol Hollywood mansion. But when she crosses paths with struggling young writer Joe Gillis (William Holden), she sees a way of staging a comeback - and he of kick-starting his career... Billy Wilder's classic satire is one of the finest of the finest examples of biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you ever committed to celluloid: a pitch dark portrait of Tinseltown.