Down These Mean Streets at the PFA
In the midst of two larger, sprawling programs devoted to the ninety-year history of United Artists and widescreen formats, the Pacific Film Archive begins a smaller program focused on the movies based on books and screenplays by the hard-boiled noir writer David Goodis, revered by both French and American auteurs alike for his tough yet romantic takes on bad guys and girls doomed by destiny.
Ten movies, including Francois Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player, Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall, and and Vincent Sherman's The Unfaithful, featuring Ann Sheridan, will be playing between August 1st and August 23rd. Of special interest: several programs will be introduced by local authors and noir aficionados: Barry Gifford for the San Francisco-set Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall vehicle Dark Passage, and Eddie Muller for Tourneur’s Nightfall, Paul Wendkos’ The Burglar, featuring Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield as brother and sister. The most unusual program, on Thursday August 23rd, pairs two takes on the same story, The Professional Man, by Steven Soderbergh in 1995, with Brendan Fraser, and Nicholas Kazan in 1989, with Christian Slater, and Kazan will be in attendance. Who says summer has to be sunny? -Meredith Brody
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