The El Paso Community Foundation’s Plaza Classic Film Festival will step back in time with two summer blockbusters that reflect fondly on more innocent times.
The Plaza Classic, which returns to downtown El Paso for its eighth year Aug. 6-16, will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Robert Zemeckis’ sci-fi comedy “Back to the Future,” which stars Michael J. Fox as a teenager who travels from 1985 to 1955 in a souped-up DeLorean (remember those?) to save eccentric inventor Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd).
PCFF also will show George Lucas’ 1973 comedy-drama “American Graffiti,” which chronicles a night in the lives of some recent high school graduates in Modesto, CA, in the early ‘60s. Its cast includes future superstars Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams and Harrison Ford.
They are among 10 Plaza Classic announced today. Also scheduled:
• “In the Heat of the Night” (1967) — Norman Jewison’s racially tense Southern murder mystery and five-time Oscar winner starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.
• “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) — William Wyler’s stirring drama about three soldiers’ struggles to adjust to civilian life won seven Academy Awards.
• “Midnight Cowboy” (1969) — The controversial Best Picture winner stars Jon Voight as a male prostitute and Dustin Hoffman as a con man who meet up on the streets of New York City.
• “Enter the Dragon” (1973) — Bruce Lee’s last movie is considered one of the best martial arts films ever made.
• “Rope” (1948) — James Stewart stars in this Alfred Hitchcock film noir about a pair of friends who try to get away with the “perfect murder.”
• “Red River” (1948) — John Wayne showed off his acting chops in this Howard Hawks Western about a rancher who feuds with his adopted son (Montgomery Clift) on the Chisholm Trail.
• “The Stranger” (1946) — We honor Orson Welles’ centenary with this film noir he directed and starred in as a Nazi fugitive hiding in New England.
• “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002) — The boy wizard takes on a giant snake in the second installment of the series based on J.K. Rowling’s wildly popular books.
Previously announced titles include “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Help!,” ‘The King and I,” “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “Shall We Dance,” “The Mark of Zorro” (1920 silent), “Hondo,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “The Bicycle Thief,” “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Ladies & Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones” and the Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense.”
Tickets go on sale in early July. Festival passes are $200 and include admission to all ticketed events, an express lane and more. Film Club passes, for teenagers 14 to 18, are $100. They are available at 915-533-4020 and plazaclassic.com.
The Beatles will return to the El Paso Community Foundation’s Plaza Classic Film Festival — by popular demand.
Their 1965 comedy “Help!” will be part of this year’s PCFF lineup. It stars John, Paul, George and Ringo in a caper that spoofed the popular James Bonds movies and their imitators. It will be shown by special arrangement with the Beatles’ company, Apple Corps. It is one of the Plaza Classic’s most requested movies this year, following last year’s showing of a 50th anniversary restoration of “A Hard Day’s Night.”
The Plaza Classic Film Festival returns for its eighth year Aug. 6-16 in and around the Plaza Theatre.
Also announced:
• “Yankee Doodle Dandy” — The 1942 musical starring James Cagney as singer, songwriter, playwright and producer George M. Cohan, who wrote the title song, among other standards.
• “The Mark of Zorro” — Douglas Fairbanks stars in the 1920 silent classic about the so-called Mexican Robin Hood. PCFF regular Walt Strony will accompany on the Plaza Theatre’s Wyler Mighty Wurlitzer organ.
• “Hondo” — Western icon John Wayne headlines the 1953 classic, shot on location in Chihuahua, one of the first movies made by Wayne’s Batjac Productions. It will be shown by special arrangement with Batjac.
• “Y Tu Mama Tambien” — Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s controversial 2001 road/coming-of-age story, which helped launch the careers of Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal.
• “Stop Making Sense” — Jonathan Demme’s absorbing concert documentary of new wave auteurs the Talking Heads’ 1983 American tour.
They join the previously announced “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “The King and I,” “Shall We Dance,” “The Bicycle Thief,” “Ladies & Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Tickets go on sale in early July. Festival passes are $200 and include admission to all ticketed events, an express lane and more. Film Club passes, for teenagers 14 to 18, are $100. They are available at 915-533-4020 and plazaclassic.com.
Two very different classics from 1975 — five-time Academy Award-winner “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and Arthurian send-up “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” — are among the first titles announced for the El Paso Community Foundation’s Plaza Classic Film Festival. The eighth annual edition will be Aug. 6-16, 2015 in and around the historic Plaza Theatre.
Director Milos Forman’s Cuckoo’s Nest, about a mental institution’s attempt to tame anti-authoritarian patient Randle McMurphy, was the first movie since 1934’s “It Happened One Night” to win Academy Awards in the five major categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), and Best Actress (Louise Fletcher).
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is the cult comedy that made the British troupe a global sensation. It spawned the Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot and introduced memorable characters such as the not-so-brave Sir Robin, the Black Knight, the Knights Who Say Ni and the French Taunter.
Also scheduled for PCFF 2015:
• “The King and I” (1956) — Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, and PCFF 2013 guest Rita Moreno star in the heartwarming Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about a stubborn king and the woman who tames his heart. It includes the standards Getting to Know You and I Whistle a Happy Tune.
• “Shall We Dance” (1937) — Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers star in this musical about a ballet star who falls for a tap dancer. It features the Gershwin brothers’ classic Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, which features an Astaire-Rogers routine on roller skates.
• “The Bicycle Thief” (1948) — Vittorio de Sica’s poignant post-WWII story about a destitute father’s frantic search for his stolen bicycle is one of the most famous examples of neorealism in Italian cinema and is considered one of the greatest movies of all time.
• “Ladies & Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones” (1974) — This no-frills concert documentary captures the legendary band, who just announced their “Zip Code” American tour, at their best during the Texas leg of their 1972 American tour supporting the classic Exile on Main St.
Tickets for the Plaza Classic Film Festival go on sale in early July. Festival passes are $200 and include admission to all ticketed events, an express lane and other perks. Plaza Classic Film Club passes, for teenagers 14 to 18, are $100. They are available at 915-533-4020 and plazaclassic.com.
The Plaza Classic Film Festival is about more than classic movies. It’s also about showcasing future classics by area filmmakers in PCFF’s popular Local Flavor series.
Submissions for this year’s Plaza Classic Film Festival Local Flavor series are now being accepted. Just go to the Submissions page for details.
There is no cost to enter a film. Shorts, features, documentaries, animated, videos and other types of films will be accepted.
Local Flavor, which is sponsored by the Texas Film Commission, is not a competition. It’s a showcase for area filmmakers seeking a wider audience for their work, and an opportunity to network.
Last year’s Local Flavor series, the first held in the El Paso Community Foundation’s Foundation Room, included “Los Chidos,” by writer, director and At the Drive-In/The Mars Volta/Antemasque guitarist Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Jellyfish Colectivo’s award-winning animation “9:30am,” and “El Fuego Detras,” short by El Paso’s Leo Aguirre that was accepted into the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and more.
The deadline for submissions is June 12. The list of movies chosen will be announced closer to this year’s film festival.
Email us at local@plazaclassic.com if you have questions.
The eighth annual Plaza Classic Film Festival will be Aug. 6-16 at the Plaza Theatre and other venues in downtown El Paso.
PCFF tickets will go on sale in early July. Festival passes, which are transferable and include admission to all movies, are on sale now for $200. Teen Film Club passes are $100. They are available at 915-533-4020 and the Tickets & Passes page on this site.
Don’t be left out in the cold. Get an early, and cheaper, jump on PCFF 2015 with a Festival Pass. They will be for sale for $175 from Dec. 1 to Dec. 31. That’s $25 off the regular price. A Festival Pass is a great gift for the classic film fans in your circle. Perks include admission to all PCFF movies, an express lane, reservations for Philanthropy Theatre movies, special events and more. So what are you waiting for? Call 915-533-4020 or go to the Tickets & Passes page on this website and get a jump on next year’s festival. The eighth annual Plaza Classic Film Festival will be Aug. 6-16, 2015.
