Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives
OVERDUE: RICHARD FLEISCHER
March 7 – March 17
ALL ON FILM!
Following on the heels of our recent, two-part Delmer Daves retrospective, Anthology joins forces once again with the peripatetic cine-club OVERDUE – programmed by critics Nick Pinkerton and Nicolas Rapold – for a curated cross-section of the career of the late, great, astonishingly prolific, and peerlessly versatile Richard Fleischer.
Fleischer, the master of the Viking/serial killer/heist/vigilante/car chase/courtroom drama/sci-fi/Biblical epic movie, was the son of legendary animator Max Fleischer (who, along with his brother Dave, was responsible for such national treasures as the Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons). Richard came to Hollywood from Yale Drama School and, despite his pedigree, started at the B-unit bottom, directing air-tight, perfectly-constructed noirs such as TRAPPED and ARMORED CAR ROBBERY. These ingenious programmers launched a career that would ultimately encompass true-life crime films (THE BOSTON STRANGLER, 10 RILLINGTON PLACE), 70s cop movies (THE NEW CENTURIONS), big budget spectacles (BARABBAS and 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA), 80s fantasy blockbusters (CONAN THE DESTROYER), and much, much more.
It would take a full, sprawling retrospective (and the better part of a month) to give a complete picture of Fleischer’s accomplishment. But this selection, designed to showcase his amazing flexibility and to highlight some of the lesser-known, seldom-screened gems in his filmography, represents a chance to survey his remarkable body of work – an opportunity that is, truly, overdue.
About ‘Overdue’:
In olden times, back when people gave a damn, video stores would set aside certain movies on an altar to refined, idiosyncratic expertise called ‘Employee Picks’. In that spirit, Pinkerton and Rapold present their very own secret history of cinema – genre gems, misunderstood art, music movies – leading with torches of knowledge into the catacombs of culture.
Special thanks to Paul Ginsburg (Universal), Michael Horne & Christopher Lane (Sony), Caitlin Robertson & Joe Reid (20th Century Fox), Mary Tallungan (Disney), Todd Wiener & Steven Hill (UCLA Fim & Television Archive), Nicki Woods & Kristie Nakamura (WB Classics).
