cinemadaily | BAM Brings Back ‘62
by Andy Lauer (October 23, 2009)
A scene from George Cukor's "The Chapman Report," part of the series 1962: New York Film Critics Circle, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
BAMcinématek celebrates the films of 1962 with the series 1962: New York Film Critics Circle, which kicks off tonight at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. The only year that the New York Film Critics Circle did not give out awards (due to a newspaper strike), 1962 “marked the highpoint of international, art-film exhibition as well as the beginning of the end of the old Hollywood system, all culminating in extraordinary but—up until now—overlooked riches,” according to the New York Press’ Armond White, chair of the New York Film Critics Circle and co-programmer of the series. “In any given year, of course, the roster of movie openings is a matter of coincidence rather than cosmic design,” writes A.O. Scott in the New York Times. “But a large part of history is happenstance, and the ingenuity of the Academy retrospective is that it isolates precisely the kind of cultural change depicted in some of the movies themselves. In 1962 you encounter some giants of the old studio system in vigorous if melancholy twilight (a mood that resonates with the Brooklyn Academy’s brilliantly selected series, The Late Film, last spring). George Cukor tackles the sexual adventurism of suburbia in ‘The Chapman Report,’ while Howard Hawks hunts big game in ‘Hatari!’ And the decadence of Old Hollywood is both the subject and subtext of Robert Aldrich’s sublimely creepy ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’” “The series runs the gamut from classics such as John Ford’s ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ and François Truffaut’s overshown ‘Jules and Jim’ (introduced by my colleague Kyle Smith) to quirkier choices such as Robert Aldrich’s ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ and Jerry Lewis’ ‘The Errand Boy,’” notes the New York Post’s Lou Lumenick. “An even less obvious pick is George Cukor’s infrequently revived and not-on-video ‘The Chapman Report,’ based on a pulpy best seller about a Kinsey-like sex survey.”
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great comment. Don’t forget that a number of the exhibition was dedicated to webcam girls. I guess it’s shows the rapid movement of technology since webcam tube have basically made them obsolete.
Every year has its own treasure trove and its the job of the curator to collect, identify, and discuss them in the exhibition context. AO Scott’s suggestion that “But a large part of history is happenstance, and the ingenuity of the Academy retrospective is that it isolates precisely the kind of cultural change depicted in some of the movies themselves” is perhaps the most interesting observation.
I do however think that Mr. White’s suggestion that venues in other cities follow suit is simply another example of provincialism of the New York “elite”. As a great example of a similar series, taking a greater scope than even this 62 series I might suggest turning to one that’s been going on in Seattle, Washington over the entire year; 69.
Read up on it here:
http://www.nwfilmforum.org/live/collection/press/659
Maybe New York was paying attention to Seattle with 62, and took a cue from the outside. Its just disappointing that the New York press establishment can’t get its head out of New York’s proverbial ass.