Film Forum
209 W. Houston Street,
New York,
NY
10014
209 W. Houston Street,
New York,
NY
10014
44 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 205 comments
Not only are the screens small, but the sight lines are lousy. I guess stadium seating has spoiled me.
Meanwhile is anyone excited as I am about the Film Forum’s next program? They are doing a 70-film retrospective called “B Noir” for six weeks starting May 5. I’ll be making frequent treks down there. Some real obscurities that not only haven’t I seen, but haven’t even heard of.
Noir retros seem to do well and FF has done at least three for four of them since ‘92.
I also can’t remember a retrospective being bigger than 70 films. I know rep houses in the city have done Hitchcock, Fassbinder, Bergman retros, but I don’t think they’ve topped 70 films.
Glad there are revivals, but the screens are smaller than TV monitors!
A high school chum of mine saw “Night Of The Living Dead” and the Betty Boop Restrospective at the Elgin in Manhattan at 23rd and 8th in 1973 or 74.
I can vouch for the Lafayette. I took myself up there Saturday morning to see a sparkling b & w print of “The Road To Morocco.” My only complaint was not seeing Dottie’s name on the marquee ! Fond memories of technicolor musicals at the Biograph (with sheet music on the walls !) and Mae West at the Elgin. I wonder if anybody ever found that gorgeous white scarf I lost there that was given to me by my father’s girlfriend Rita ? (The things we remember !) Radio City Music Hall ? I took my 4th grade class there in the ‘70’s to see “1776”, and they kept getting up for refreshments ! But they loved hearing the cast album in class. Film Forum had a jam-packed showing of the deathless “Cobra Woman.” (“What have you got against Maria ? She was a GOOD WOMAN !!!”) frankie from Brooklyn
Vincent, Robert:
You should make it up to my shows at the Lafayette in Suffern. A Hollywood classic every Saturday and the big HorrorThon this weekend.
Pete Apruzzese
Director of Film Programming
Big Screen Classics at the Lafayette Theatre
Vincent
I agree to me the Loew’s is the perfect venue for classic Hollywood films.
Looking at both the upcoming schedules for Film Forum and Loew’s Jersey they are showing fewer and fewer classic Hollywood films and more and more cult movies which is especially unfortunate for the Loew’s. The Monty Python film recently had a run in Manhattan and Strangelove is shown fairly regularly. Is there no more audience for the great old studio product? (The upcoming Godzilla and Red Death should be good but they showed the Abbott and Costello film a year or two ago.)
If you look at the block ad here for New York Cinemas they were booking one screen of the old Film Forum. I thought at one time it may even have been booked by Walter Reade. The old FF deserves it’s own listing since it was a totally seperate house.
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Samurai festival on all three Film Forum screens ? Have you complained to Bruce Goldstein yet ?
I just checked the latest ‘Film Forum" calender for Fall-Winter and there will not be a Hollywood film untill Dec.2. (Paths Of Glory) They are in the midst of a Samuri festival so in late Oct. the Forum is having another 4 week Japanese Film Festival! 5 months without classic Hollywood films is just not fair to people like myself who buy yearly memberships to the Film Forum. I think Mr. Goldstein is a great programer but he really should vary the programs more so nobody has to wait almost half a year to see a genre of film. 6 months of foriegn films is just not right.
Amen!
Despite my moaning and groaning about screen size it still is a great place(but not for widescreen.) Bruce and Steve are as I have mentioned above two reasons to live in New York at this moment in time if you love film.
Preach it Brother Vincent!
I missed ‘Rebel Without A Cause’ and ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (in 70mm!!) at The Paris. There was a great screening of ‘The Band Wagon’ there also a few years ago.
Screen size can be a problem at FF. In the theater where they were showing “Gang’s All Here” it was so packed that we had to sit in the back 6 rows or so. Seemed like the screen was a mile away. But regardless of the minor problems with Film Forum it is still a great place. I’ll be there for ‘Once Upon A Time In the West’. Hopefully The Paris wil continue it Saturday Midnight series with some wide-screen stuff.
Irv,
I saw it as well at the Lincoln Square and though I saw it a little later in the run and saw it at one of the smaller theaters it was still pretty good. Vistavision is probably great at the Paris. I wish they would get the major revivals like the Rialto films that have extended runs at FF. For instance revivals like Cherbourg, Rochefort,Contempt and Cabiria would have been great at the Paris.
The Gang’s All Here as well!
Hey Vincent-
I think the last time I saw a classic film in a great wide-screen room os when ‘The Wild Bunch’ had a revival screening a few years back at the Lincoln Square Loews Cineplex. I also recently saw ‘North By Northwest’ at The Paris. Shown in Vista Vision not ‘Scope. Would love to see a film there in 'Scope.
Vincent——my sentiments exactly. The Film Forum is a totally unacctable venue for scope/stereo films.
The right side theater of the old watts house had a wonderful cinemascope screen where the screen doubled in size. Now the screen is reduced by half when scope is done.
I know I keep whining about this but when is New York going to have a true widescreen theater to show classic films?
I have a pretty good film collection on video but I always perfer to see a film on a screen with an audiance even if I could watch it at home. I have “The Gang’s All Here” on a laser disc but I will still go see it at the Film Forum. Unfortunatly it will be the last film I see there untill October. (If the next program has some classic Hollywood films on it)
I wouldn’t know WHERE to BEGIN looking for some of the films I’ve seen at Film Forum (anyone can find the Maysles' “Gimme Shelter”, but what about “Islands” ?). Fortunately, the last film I saw at Film Forum, “Lenny Bruce : Swear To Tell The Truth”, on 2 November 1998, I got from an e-friend last Sept. 9th because her brother had taped it off HBO digital cable.
Yeah, the old Watts St. Film Forum was great. the theaters and the screens were much bigger. Not to take anything away from the Houston St. Film Forum mind you. I remember seeing Godard’s ‘Two or Three Things I Know About Her’ at the old Film Forum. It was in Cinemascope (or a comparable format) and the image was huge. Same for all the other ‘Scope stuff they showed there. The Sci-Fi and Fantasy Festivals were great as well. Speaking of not being able to get the same experience on home video, how about all these great films I saw at the FF Sci-Fi and Fantasy’s LSD Week. “The Big Cube” Lana Turner on acid! “Skidoo” Jackie Gleason on acid!!!!! “Taking Off” Buck Henry high on dope (ok that’s not too surprising). What do these films have in common? You cannot go out and rent them. MAYBE 'Skidoo’ is available in a bootleg or foreign release, but in general these films are hard to come by.
Right on, Irv. I haunted them all except for The Public Theater and the Bleecker Street Cinema. No, nothing will replace the ambience of a movie theater, the big screen, audience reaction. The Watts St. Film Forum seemed especially good that way, waiting outside on line, chatting with other fans, like kids queued up for a Saturday matinee, especially during the summer sci fi, fantasy and horror festivals.
Yankee Mike-
I agree with you. While their repertory schedule is decent it’s a bit on the inconsistent side. They need to bring back some of the programming they used to have. For some reason I remember more classic Holywood films and more sort of ‘off the beaten path’ Hollywood and foriegn stuff in the past at FF. I was at the 7pm “Gang’s All Here”/“Cobra Woman” screening last night (Sunday) and it was completely sold out. I know “Gang’s” is a hard one to come by and that’s probably why there was such a good turn out, but since the early 90s New York has lacked good repertory film programing. It used to happen all the time, now it just comes in waves and it’s dry until you get a Michael Powell festival at Walter Reade or a ‘Before the Code’ or a rare one like “Gang’s All Here” at Film Forum. Back in the day you had Thalia Soho & Uptown, The Regency, The Biograph, Cinema Village, Theater 80 St. Mark’s, The Public Theater, Bleecker Street Cinema, etc. all showing repertory. What happened?? Yeah..I know…home video, but does home video and DVD really replace the experience of seeing a film on the big screen? No way.
New York’s film schedule should be more active than it is these days. If the screening at Film Forum last night is any indication, there is still an audience who would go out and pay for good revival film here in the city.
If you look at the calendar there are only 2 weeks of classic Hollywood films for the entire Summer/Fall. The Seven Year Itch playing now and “The Gang’s All Here” & “Cobra Woman” next month. (Both 1 week shows). I have no problem with a Samurai series because I know there are a lot of fans of those films. But I think more of the rest of the calendar could have been devoted to another classic Hollywood theme. 3 Hollywood films in 3 months is just not enough considering how many people buy memberships to the Film Forum. (Like myself.)
A number of people seem to be disappointed with this summer film program. Especially after the Paramount.
I agree. I might be there once in the next few months. For the Carman Miranda/Alice Faye film. Hope there are better films on tap on the Fall/Winter schedule.
Well, after practically living down on East Houston Street to see all those obscure Paramount Pre-Code films (many not even listed in the “Maltin Guide”) the Summer/Fall schedule doesn’t really float my boat. The big retro is a Samurai series, heavy on Kurosawa films. Not my cup of tea.