WEDNESDAY - They Thought I Was a Nice Girl: The Films of Elaine May
Programmed by: Liam Flanigan
First rising to prominence as half of iconic comedy duo Nichols and May, Elaine May has worked steadily as a performer, writer, and director over the past sixty years. This series seeks to celebrate May’s work, including the two screenplays for which she earned Oscar nominations as well as early film performances from the 1960s. In addition, special attention is paid to the four feature films she has directed in her career. Although all are wildly different in concept and creation, each is the work of an assured and precise filmmaker whose career has been unfortunately complicated by sexism and studio interference.
May’s films are the work of a meticulous observer of human shortcomings. Each is full of selfish, greedy characters—particularly men—who betray the trust of others with almost no hesitation. These characters are sometimes deployed in uproarious comedies, including 1971’s A New Leaf or 1972’s The Heartbreak Kid, but May is just as masterful in the realm of drama, as demonstrated in the merciless gangster picture Mikey and Nicky (1976). Of particular note is Ishtar (1987), a dead-on-arrival comedy that is ripe for rediscovery as an ahead-of-its-time masterwork. On the strength of these four movies—each full of vibrant performances complemented by exacting filmmaking—May and her oeuvre more than deserve a place in the canon of New Hollywood.
7:00PM Wednesday, April 13th
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Warren Beatty and Buck Henry · 101m · DCP
A critical and commercial success upon release, this film brought May her first Oscar nomination. Her script, adapted with star and director Warren Beatty, tells the story of Joe Pendleton, an NFL quarterback who is prematurely summoned to heaven by an overeager angel. Joe's efforts to return in a new body are complicated by an elderly industrialist, a beautiful environmental activist, and his own team's run to the Super Bowl in this romantic fantasy.
First screening of the series due to cancellations of ENTER LAUGHING and LUV (material damage)
7:00PM Wednesday, April 20th
Wolf (1994)
Mike Nichols · 125m · 35mm
Although her contributions to the screenplay are uncredited, Wolf marked the rekindling of May's working relationship with director Mike Nichols. The resultant film, a strange blend of romance, horror, and workplace drama, features Jack Nicholson as Will Randall, a New York publishing executive turned werewolf. Michelle Pfeiffer co-stars, Ennio Morricone scores, and the end product offers invigoration and bewilderment in equal measure.
7:00PM Wednesday, April 27th
Primary Colors (1998)
Mike Nichols · 143m · 35mm
Working from May's Oscar-nominated screenplay, Mike Nichols directs this political dramedy about a Southern governor's presidential campaign and multiple sexual scandals. John Travolta and Emma Thompson are the thinly-veiled Bill and Hillary with an all-star supporting cast including Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, and Billy Bob Thornton. Based on reporter Joe Klein's roman à clef, Primary Colors is a swirl of cynicism and hope—just like real politics.
7:00PM Wednesday, May 4th
A New Leaf (1971)
Elaine May · 102m · 35mm
In May's directorial debut, Walter Matthau stars as a playboy with a depleted trust fund in desperate need of a rich woman to marry and murder. May also adapted the script and co-stars as Henrietta Lowell, the bumbling botanist whom Matthau targets. The result of several edits and eventual court proceedings between May and Columbia Pictures, A New Leaf features hilarious bitterness, genuine tenderness, and the funniest wedding ever set to celluloid.
7:00PM Wednesday, May 11th
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Elaine May · 119m · 35mm
The authority of May's cinematic voice is perhaps never clearer than in The Heartbreak Kid. Working from a Neil Simon screenplay, May crafts a biting comedy about Lenny (Charles Grodin), a newlywed who falls in love with a different woman on his honeymoon. Jeannie Berlin (May's daughter) was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of the scorned bride in this restless comedy about disillusionment, sunburns, and the honesty of Midwestern vegetables.
7:00PM Wednesday, May 18th
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
Elaine May · 119m · DCP
A chokingly claustrophobic gangster picture, Mikey and Nicky is May's first wholly original film. When a hit is put out on low-level gangster Nicky (John Cassavetes), he calls on his old friend and fellow criminal Mikey (Peter Falk). May creates a stirring portrait of love and enmity set over the course of one endless night. Falk and Cassavetes offer powerhouse performances and the final sequence stays with the viewer long after leaving the theater.
7:00PM Wednesday, May 25th
Ishtar (1987)
Elaine May · 107m · 35mm
35 years after its legendary initial failure, May's final feature to date has re-emerged as another comedic masterwork and a biting political satire. Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty star as two monumentally untalented songwriters trying to be the next Simon and Garfunkel but end up pulled into civil unrest in the fictitious nation of Ishtar. A musical, a buddy comedy, a political thriller, and more, Ishtar has to be seen to be believed.
