Impressively written by Eric Monte and directed with an almost unwavering sense of pace by Michael Schultz, "Cooley High" pulsates with the careless exuberance of youth and captivates with characterizations and incidents presented not for the sake of nostalgia but out of the kind of understanding that cherishes and makes peace with the past. "Cooley High" is good history, good entertainment and good art. - New York Times

 

 

 

Friday & Saturday, March 18 & 19

Drive-In

1976, USA, 96 minutes - Not Available On DVD!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074433/
directed by Rod Amateau; starring Lisa Lemole, Gary Lee Cavagnaro, Glenn Morshower, Billy Milliken, Lee Newsom, Reagan Kee, Andy Parks
Fri: 7:30; Sat: 3:35 & 7:30

There are two movies going on here at once - one about the activities of the patrons of a rural Texas drive-in and the second a movie within a movie at the drive-in. - TV Guide

- plus on the same bill -

Dazed and Confused

1993, USA, 102 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106677/
written & directed by Richard Linklater; starring Jason London, Rory Cochrane, Matthew McConaughey, Adam Goldberg, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Burke, Anthony Rapp
Fri: 9:30; Sat: 5:30 & 9:30, Trailer

 

The ultimate party movie - loud, crude, socially irresponsible and totally irresistible. - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone 

 

The film's real inspiration, I think, is to depict some high school kids from the 1970s with such unblinking attention that we will realize how romanticized most movie teenagers are. - Roger Ebert

 

 

 

Friday & Saturday, March 18 & 19

Pretty Maids All In A Row

1971, USA, 91 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067610/
directed by Roger Vadim; written by Gene Roddenberry based on a novel by Francis Pollini; starring Rock Hudson, Angie Dickinson, Telly Savalas, John David Carson, Roddy McDowall, Keenan Wynn, James Doohan
Fri/Sat: 11:59pm (Midnight), All Tickets $7

 

A whole bunch of crazy shit came out of Hollywood in the 1970s, but Pretty Maids All In a Row stands out as some particularly crazy shit.

- Nathan Rabin, The Onion AV Club  

 

It's the best kind of pleasant surprise, in which a bunch of seemingly disparate elements come together in such a way as to make something unique and special. It's absolutely worth seeking out.  

- DVD Verdict 

 

 

 

Sunday & Monday, March 20 & 21

Charley One-Eye

1973, USA / UK, 96 minutes  

Not available on DVD! 35mm print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068358/
directed by Don Chaffey; starring Richard Roundtree, Roy Thinnes, Nigel Davenport, Jill Pearson, Aldo Sambrell
Sun: 7:30; Mon: 7:30

 

Chaffey copes well with the Spanish desert locations, and draws excellent performances from Roundtree and Thinnes as the black Union Army deserter and the Indian outcast who find common ground in oppression - Time Out Film Guide 

- plus on the same bill -   

 

Kid Blue

1973, USA, 100 minutes - Not available on DVD!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070267/
directed by James Frawley; starring Dennis Hopper, Warren Oates, Peter Boyle, Ben Johnson, Lee Purcell
Sun: 9:30; Mon: 9:30

 

Kid Blue has a meandering jug band sensibility and a premise hilariously relevant to Hopper's situation.  

- J. Hoberman, Village Voice 

 

Director James Frawley neatly revitalizes the classic townspeople-gunfighter-wilderness formula and adds just enough bizarre and wry touches to keep up with 70s revisionist attitudes regarding the movie western. - Don Druker, Chicago Reader

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 22

Grindhouse Night

The Hot, The Cool and The Vicious

1976, Taiwan, 93 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074647/
directed by Tso Nam Lee; starring Tommy Lee, Tao-liang Tan, Don Wong, Alan Chui Chung San
Tues: 7:30, Trailer

The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious kung-fus its way through a twisty plot involving a wandering street fighter sought by police, an undercover agent in a gang of counterfeiters and a ninja girl out for revenge. The kicks are swift and the pain is palpable, which is probably why Tarantino likes it. - Derek Thomas, LA Weekly

- plus on the same bill -

Fearless Fighters

1971, Hong Kong / Taiwan, 83 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0191127/
directed by Min-hsiung Wu; starring Yuen Yi, Ching Ching Chang, Ming Hsia Wu, Min-hsiung Wu, Hung Lieh Chen, Chi Ma, Ming Chiang

Tues: 9:25

 

Everything about the film is over-the-top, as people leap through the air, fly across bodies of waters, and catch arrows from the three different bows in a single grab - all what makes it a grand achievement in popcorn entertainment. This is simply one of the most engaging martial arts films of the 1970s  

- George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In 

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 23

 

Closed For Private Event

 

   

 

Thursday, March 24

Thunder Road

1958, USA, 92 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052293/
directed by Arthur Ripley; starring Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry, Jacques Aubuchon, Keely Smith, Trevor Bardette, Sandra Knight, James Mitchum
Thurs: 7:30

Southern drive-in staple Thunder Road is basically The Robert Mitchum Show. - Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

Cheaply made, disreputable, and blatantly anti-authority, it's a winner all the way, what with a stunningly laconic performance from Mitchum, white-hot night-time road scenes, and an affectionate but unsentimental vision of backwoods America rarely seen in cinema to this day. - Time Out Film Guide

- plus on the same bill -

Five Minutes To Live

1961, USA, 80 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054817/
directed by Bill Karn; starring Johnny Cash, Donald Woods, Cay Forrester, Pamela Mason, Vic Tayback, Ron Howard
Thurs: 9:25, Trailer

Director Bill Karn gives Five Minutes to Live a breathless, desperate energy that transcends its obvious exploitation roots, sometimes coming close to capturing the same vibe as Russ Meyer's early black-and-white melodramas. It's a hard film to find, but if the prospect of seeing a twitchy, bug-eyed Johnny Cash use six-year-old Ron Howard as a human shield during a violent shootout sounds promising, then Five Minutes To Live delivers in spades.
- Fred Beldin, All Movie