One of the most consistently fun and entertaining traditions at The Brattle Theatre is its annual Reunion Week series, which brings together a reliably eclectic mix of films celebrating their 75th, 50th or 25th anniversaries. Chief among the titles on the older end of this year’s program is Billy Wilder’s deathless film noir melodrama “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), a film that remains so electric it’s almost difficult to believe it’s now three-quarters of a century old. Gloria Swanson’s aging silent film siren Norma Desmond remains one of the screen’s most indelible characters, and Wilder’s dialogue is as biting and blackly comic as any written since; its influence can be felt everywhere, from the hagsploitation thrills of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1963) to the jet-black surrealism of David Lynch, who named his “Twin Peaks” avatar Gordon Cole after a “Sunset” supporting character. “Sunset Boulevard” screens Thursday, but if you catch its encore engagement on Sunday you can pair it with “Born Yesterday” (1950), the screwball comedy for which Judy Holliday famously beat Swanson for the Best Actress Oscar.
Also celebrating their 75th anniversaries are a pair of curiously trigger-happy films that run as a double feature on Monday. Film noir doesn’t come much blacker than “Gun Crazy” (1950), which takes the American obsession with firearms to lurid extremes. Penned by the legendary blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, “Crazy” follows a troubled young gun connoisseur (John Dall) who falls in love with a beautiful carnival sharpshooter (Peggy Cummins) before the pair inevitably embark on a cross-country crime spree. Filled with twisted sexual undertones and some daring stylistic choices (including a stunning single-shot robbery sequence), distinct echoes of “Gun Crazy” can be heard in “Breathless” (1960), “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) and “Reservoir Dogs” (1992). It is paired in a double feature with “Winchester ’73” (1950), Anthony Mann’s revisionist Western that follows the titular firearm from one owner to the next – including an against-type Jimmy Stewart.
Of the films celebrating their semicentennial, the superstar this year is “Jaws” (1975), Steven Spielberg’s game-changing blockbuster, which screens on 35 mm Friday through Sunday (it is unclear whether this run precludes The Brattle’s usual Fourth of July screenings, so if seeing it on the big screen is one of your essential yearly traditions, this may be your chance). It is accompanied, however, by a number of lesser-screened films that paint a rich picture of the year’s range. Michael Schultz’s groundbreaking “Cooley High” (1975, screening Saturday in a new digital restoration) plays like a sort of Black answer to “American Graffiti” (1973), following a group of African American teenagers through humor and heartbreak in 1964 to a soundtrack of classic Motown hits. Just as invigorating is “Tommy” (1975, screening Monday), Ken Russell’s outrageous big-screen adaptation of The Who’s classic rock opera. Just as much as “Jaws,” these films capture the pop-cultural zeitgeist of the era.
Of course, 1975 had its darker side, as reflected in a pair of shocking arthouse thrillers. A departure for the director of “My Dinner with Andre” (1981) and “Au Revoir Les Enfants” (1987), Louis Malle’s “Black Moon” (1975, screening Wednesday) foretells a dystopian future (or perhaps alternate present) in which the war between the sexes has devolved into a literal civil war – a metaphor that feels perhaps even more grimly apt today than when the film was shot. This goes double for Pier Paolo Pasolini’s infamous “Saló, or the 120 Days of Sodom” (1975, screening Saturday), which still serves as shorthand for cinematic transgression a half-century on. A cadre of bourgeois fascist aristocrats abduct a number of poor teenagers, holding them hostage in a lavish mansion and forcing them into more degrading acts than I frankly feel like transcribing here. It’s bleak, disgusting, at times appallingly funny and, whether we like it or not, a movie for our times.
On a lighter note, one of the most fun aspects of Reunion Week is the way it serves as an early shot at canonization for films celebrating their 25th anniversaries. In addition to Mary Harron’s “American Psycho” (2000), which we discussed in this space last week and which screens again Saturday, this year’s selections include the Coen brothers’ depression-era bluegrass musical “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000, screening Sunday), which makes a wonderful companion piece to this year’s “Sinners”; Cameron Crowe’s rock ’n’ roll coming-of-age fable “Almost Famous” (2000, screening in a double feature with “Tommy” on Monday), featuring an all-timer supporting turn from the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as the great rock critic Lester Bangs; and Peyton Reed’s deliriously giddy cheerleader epic “Bring It On” (2000, screening Friday). Which contemporary films will prove themselves worthy of Reunion Week? Pop into The Brattle in 2050 and see for yourself.
Oscar Goff is a writer and film critic based in Somerville. He is film editor and senior critic for the Boston Hassle and his work has appeared in the monthly Boston Compass newspaper and publications such as WBUR’s The ARTery and iHeartNoise. He is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, and the Online Film Critics Society.
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