FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Scarecrow is a lesser-seen film from the explosion of brilliant creativity that was 70s New Hollywood. Your choices, then, for what we'll be screening on Tuesday 7 April are out of three more lesser-seen New Hollywood classics. Up for the vote are:
California Split (Robert Altman, USA, 1974)
“California Split is a work of art and Robert Altman's best movie.” Kevin Kelly, Boston Globe
When Elliot Gould’s freewheeling Charlie meets George Segal's pensive sportswriter Bill at a poker game, the pair quickly bond over their shared love of gambling (and alcohol). Delighting in one another’s company they promptly embark on a hedonistic betting binge in search of the ever-elusive big payday that will hopefully transform their lives forever... Altman's sublime mix of comedy and drama subtly exposes the desperation that lies at the heart of the pair's passion for gambling - and for one another - and the chemistry between Gould and Segal is both a comedic delight to behold and a genuinely touching portrayal of a friendship that was never meant to last.
Rancho Deluxe (Frank Perry, USA, 1975)
“It's become quite clear that any movie with Bridges is a movie worth seeing.” Jerry Oster, New York Daily News
Jeff Bridges and Sam Waterson star as Jack McKee and Cecil Colson, a couple of cattle rustlers in Montana, steadily stealing cows from wealthy rancher John Brown (Clifton James). When his two hapless ranch hands (Harry Dean Stanton, Richard Bright) fail at capturing the thieves, Brown calls upon the services of detective Henry Beige (Slim Pickens), while McKee and Colson become just a little bit too confident… Rancho Deluxe is sly, offbeat take on the modern American West brought to life through Jeff Bridges’ laid-back charm and a wry script by Thomas McGuane that turns cattle rustling into a quietly existential joke.
Saint Jack (Peter Bogdanovich, USA, 1979)
“Sometimes a character in a movie inhabits his world so freely, so easily, that he creates it for us as well. Ben Gazzara does that in Saint Jack ... and what a revelation it is .... here everything is right again. Everything.”” — Roger Ebert
Ben Gazzara stars as Jack Flowers, a small-time hustler based in Singapore, who dreams of one day running a brothel of his own and making a fortune. But not everyone involved in the sex industry is as genial as Jack and he finds himself struggling to do the right thing... Based on the novel by Paul Theroux and shot on location in Singapore, Saint Jack is one of Bogdanovich's greatest movies, Ben Gazzara gives one of his greatest performances and there is brilliant support from the like of Rodney Bewes, Joss Ackland, George Lazenby and Denholm Elliot as the auditor befriended by Jack.