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Now Playing at the Packard Campus Theater (July 6-8, 2017)

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The following is a post by Jenny Paxson of the Packard Campus.

Thursday, July 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Bonnie and Clyde (Warner Bros., 1967 – R rated*)
Setting filmmaking and style trends that linger today, Bonnie and Clyde veered from comedy to social commentary to melodrama and caught audiences unaware, especially with its graphic and violent ending. Arthur Penn deftly directs David Newman and Robert Benton’s script, aided by the film’s star and producer Warren Beatty, who was always eager to push the envelope. Faye Dunaway captures the Depression-era yearning for glamour and escape from poverty and hopelessness. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Picture and five Best Acting nominations in all four categories (both Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard received Best Supporting Actor nominations). Estelle Parsons won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and Burnett Guffey won for Best Cinematography. Bonnie and Clyde was added to the National Film Registry in 1992. * No one under the age of 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.

Star Wars (20th Century-Fox, 1977)

Friday, July 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (20th Century Fox, 1977)
This first film in the epic American space opera created by George Lucas continues to be one of the most popular movies of all time. Film critic Leonard Maltin called it an “elaborate imaginative update of Flash Gordon” and “a hip homage to B-movie ethics and heroism in the space age.” Young Luke Skywalker is aided by a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the universe from the Empire’s world-destroying battle-station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader. Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Alec Guinness, the film received 10 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; it won six. The original release version of Star Wars was added to the National Film Registry in its inaugural year of 1989. We will be screening the special edition released in 1997.

Cool Hand Luke (Warner Bros., 1967)

Saturday, July 8 (7:30 p.m.)
Cool Hand Luke (Warner Bros., 1967)
Paul Newman, who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, portrays the classic antihero loner Luke:  a prisoner on a Southern chain-gang who refuses to give in to the guards’ efforts to break his spirit. As Luke becomes a symbol of hope and resilience to the other inmates, prison captain Strother Martin drawls sadistically, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” George Kennedy received a Best Supporting Oscar for his portrayal of Dragline, the unofficial leader of the cons who yields first place to Luke. Additional Oscar nominations went to Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson for their screenplay and to Lalo Shifrin for his original score. Cool Hand Luke was selected for the National Film Registry in 2005.

 For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.

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