The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson of the Packard Campus.
Thursday, May 3 (7:30 p.m.)
Overboard (MGM/UA, 1987)
Spoiled heiress Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) hires carpenter Dean Proffitt (Kurt Russell) to build a closet on her yacht, then refuses to pay when the project is completed. When Joanna accidentally falls overboard and loses her memory, Dean takes advantage of the situation to seek revenge. This romantic comedy was directed by Garry Marshall and includes Edward Herrmann, Katherine Helmond and Roddy McDowell (who also co-produced the film) in the cast. Overboard was the third and (so far) final movie that real-life couple Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell starred in together. A role-reversal remake starring Anna Farris and Eugenio Derbez is scheduled for release on May 4, 2018. 106 min.
Friday, May 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Rachel and the Stranger (RKO, 1948)
William Holden stars as a widowed farmer who takes an indentured servant, Rachel (Loretta Young), as his new wife, a marriage intended to be in name only, to help care for his son. The arrival of his old friend, a smooth-talking drifter (Robert Mitchum), threatens the burgeoning relationship of the bride and groom. Directed by Norman Foster, this charming pioneer love story was a box office hit and earned screen writer Waldo Salt a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Written American Western. 80 min.
Saturday, May 5 (2 p.m.)
The Last Starfighter (Universal, 1984)
Trailer-park teenager Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) has become an expert at the video game Starfighter, which attracts the attention of a seemingly genial stranger (Robert Preston). The stranger turns out to be an alien in charge of a Star League who recruits Alex to fight in a real life-or-die battle with the wicked Kodan forces in outer space. Directed by Nick Castle, Jr., The Last Starfighter is one of the earliest films to employ extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI), used in the film to depict its many starships, environments and battle scenes. This was Robert Preston’s final role on the big screen, and his character, a “lovable con-man,” paid homage to his most famous role as Harold Hill in The Music Man (1962). 101 min.
Saturday, May 5 (7:30 p.m.)
Bell, Book and Candle (Columbia, 1958)
Two months after completing work on Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo, James Stewart and Kim Novak were reteamed for this romantic comedy based on the successful Broadway play by John Van Druten. Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a witch in Greenwich Village, who admires from afar her neighbor, publisher Shep Henderson (Stewart). When she finds out that he is engaged to her old college enemy, Gillian casts a love spell on Shep, but then falls for him for real–but it’s a dilemma as witches who fall in love lose their supernatural powers. Rounding out the supporting cast are Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold and Elsa Lanchester and Pyewacket as Gillian’s Siamese cat and spirit guide. Directed by Richard Quine, Bell, Book and Candle received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction (Cary Odell and Louis Diage) and Best Costume Design (Jean Louis). 106 min.
For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.