The following post was co-written with Jenny Paxson, an Administrative Assistant at the Packard Campus.
Thursday, May 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Love, Betty: A Betty White Retrospective (1957-2015)
Considered the reigning Queen of TV, Betty White will be showcased in this evening-long retrospective that will include full episodes of such White-starring series as 1957’s Date with the Angels; 1974’s Mary Tyler Moore; 1986’s The Golden Girls, and the recent Hot in Cleveland. Also included will be a sampling of some of White’s best appearances on game shows, talk shows and commercials.
Friday, May 29 (7:30 p.m.)
The Parallax View (Paramount, 1974, *R-rated)
Arguably the definitive conspiracy thriller of the ’70s, director Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View bears an unmistakable resemblance to the Kennedy assassination. In the film, based on a novel by Loren Singer, Warren Beatty plays a reporter who uncovers a deadly plot behind a political assassination. The adaptation was not a hit when it was released, but its stature has only grown over the years. Pakula described the film as “sort of an American myth based on some things that have happened, some fantasies we may have had of what might have happened, and a lot of fears a lot of us have had.” William Daniels, Paula Prentiss and Hume Cronyn are featured in the cast.
* No one under the age of 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.
Saturday, May 30 (7:30 p.m.)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (New Yorker Films, 1974)
An elderly German woman falls in love with a much younger Moroccan immigrant in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s powerful remake of Douglas Sirk’s masterful melodrama All That Heaven Allows. Like Sirk, the New German Cinema wunderkind used melodrama as a means of cultural commentary, and never to such effect as in Ali. Emmi (Brigitte Mira) and Ali (El Hedi ben Salem) are drawn to each other out of a sense of isolation, horrifying Emmi’s family and friends who react with barely concealed loathing. Although the film stands as pointed critique of mid-’70s West German society, the film has a universal and timeless quality, truly one of the highlights of Fassbinder’s astonishingly prolific career (40 features, two TV miniseries and many theatrical productions and acting gigs before his death at age 37). The film was produced in German and Arabic with English subtitles.
For more information on our programs, please visit the web site at www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.