As the seventh annual Plaza Classic Film Festival draws closer, we thought we’d bring you up to date on the movies we’ll be showing in the featured 7 p.m. prime time slot.
The world’s largest classic film festival, produced by the El Paso Community Foundation, runs Aug. 7-17 in and around the Plaza Theatre. We’ll show about 80 movies and bring in several special guests, including NMSU icon Mark Medoff (who’ll appear with his Oscar-nominated “Children of a Lesser God” on Aug. 14).
We’ll be announcing more guests soon.
As for those 7 p.m. prime time movies, all of which will be in the Plaza Theatre, all but one have been confirmed. We’ll let you know about that one as soon as we can.
Here’s a rundown:
• “The Seven Year Itch” (Aug. 7) — We open the seventh edition with this 1955 romantic comedy featuring Marilyn Monroe and that billowing white dress.
• “Oklahoma!” (Aug. 8) — We’ll roll out a digital restoration of the 1955 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic that’s as big as the plains.
• “The Wizard of Oz” (Aug. 9) — We couldn’t resist bringing back Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and one of the most popular movies of all time in honor of its 75th anniversary.
• “Rear Window” (Aug. 10) — It’s also the 60th anniversary of this enduring voyeuristic thriller from Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart, one of a handful of his movies we’ll be showing this year.
• “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (Aug. 11) — Interracial marriage is the focus of this thoughtful 1967 comedy starring Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
• “Crimes of the Heart” (Aug. 12) — Beth Henley will talk about how she transformed this 1986 dark comedy — starring Sissy Spacek, Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange — from a Pulitzer-winning play to the big screen.
• “A Hard Day’s Night” (Aug. 13) — Meet the Beatles, again! The Fab Four poke fun at themselves at the height of Beatlemania in this delightful comedy from Richard Lester, a new digital restoration that comes on the 50th anniversary of the movie and the band’s U.S. debut.
• “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (Aug. 14) — It’s hard to believe that the second installment of the blockbuster series about a daredevil archaeologist played by Harrison Ford is 30 years old this year. We’ll celebrate that. Please, leave the bullwhips at home.
• “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” (Aug. 16) — It’s the 50th anniversary of the spaghetti Western and what better way to celebrate than with this digitally restored masterpiece from Sergio Leone, starring none other than Clint Eastwood as the anti-hero and that haunting Morricone score.
• “All the President’s Men” (Aug. 17) — We’ll close with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as real journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in this true thriller about the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation 40 years ago.
Festival passes are on sale now for $200 (includes admission to all events and the option to skip the line). Individual tickets will go on sale in July.
