Sarah Steinhauer, A lover of old movies!
Thursdays, 2:00-4:00 pm. October 8, 15, 22, 29. Bohm Theatre. Class size unlimited. There is a $10 charge to help cover the cost of the theatre rental.
I was inspired to assemble this film series after watching a 6-part documentary aired on HBO MAX called The Last Movie Stars.
In the early 2000’s, Paul Newman asked his good friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern to help him tape over 100 interviews with everyone in Paul’s life: family, friends, famous people, nannies, assistants. Although Paul burned all the tapes before he died in 2008, Stewart had already made transcripts of them.
During Covid, Paul and Joanne’s children asked Ethen Hawke to work with these transcripts to tell the story of their parents. Ethen gathered many celebrities on zoom to plan the series that included actors reading the parts that were transcribed. Most notable are George Clooney as Paul and Laura Linney as Joanne. The words were woven in with scenes from their many movies.
We will watch four films that epitomize the couple’s cinema legacy.
Three Faces of Eve (1957)—Based on a true story, Joanne plays a woman with three personalities. This was her first movie, and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The Long Hot Summer (1958)—Paul and Joanne are paired on the screen for the first time.. Based on William Faulkner’s works, Paul plays a drifter arriving in a small Mississippi town who clashes with patriarch played by Orson Welles as he woes his daughter, played by Joanne.
Winning (1969)—Paul plays a rising star on the car racing circuit who dreams of winning the Indianapolis 500. But to get there, he runs the risk of losing his wife, (Joanna) and his stepson (Richard Thomas). It is the most autobiographical story of Paul’s life, touching real life issues of car racing, alcoholism, and a troubled son.
The Sting (1973)—Set in 1936, it involves a complicated plot by two grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw).