Film critic Walter Chaw (filmfreakcentral.net) hosts this series dedicated to second bananas. Sidekicks is a celebration of support: from helpers to foils to the secondary characters who reflect and illuminate the hero’s fractured, intimate persona. |
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Rear Window (1954)
Tuesday, August 18, 6-9 p.m.
New location (for Rear Window only):
Central Library, Level 5 Gates Conference Room
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Thelma Ritter.
Jimmy Stewart plays a wheelchair bound photographer who entertains himself by turning his neighbors into his own personal reality show. But when a potential murder becomes part of the plot, it’s Stewart’s world-weary, wisecracking rehab nurse, played by Thelma Ritter, who becomes the voice of reason. Hitchcock’s stylish film also stars Raymond Burr and Grace Kelly, but Ritter shines as the all-knowing and cantankerous second fiddle. 112 minutes. Unrated. |
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Roman Holiday (1953)
Tuesday, August 25, 6-9 p.m.
Central Library, Level B2 Conference Center
Directed by William Wyler. Starring Eddie Albert.
Courting disaster with an AWOL Princess (Audrey Hepburn), Gregory Peck struggles with fellow newsman, Eddie Albert – who competes with Peck’s conscience by encouraging him to take the route of our modern media: get the story and the photo at all costs. Deftly directed by Wyler from a story by Dalton Trumbo, Roman Holiday garnered ten Oscar nominations and won three. 118 minutes. Unrated.
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The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
Tuesday, September 1, 6-9 p.m.
Central Library, Level B2 Conference Center
Directed by William Keighley. Starring Bette Davis.
Davis took the part of Maggie, sidekick to Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooley) because she’d been playing, to quote Davis, “too many bitches” and wanted to present a gentler, comedic side in her films. Davis is the top of the heap in this hilarious comedy that is overflowing with second bananas including Ann Sheridan, Jimmy Durante, Mary Wickes and the incomparable Billie Burke. The Man Who Came to Dinner is a veritable Central Casting of sidekicks! 112 minutes. Unrated.
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The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Tuesday, September 8, 6-9 p.m.
Central Library, Level B2 Conference Center
Directed by Victor Fleming. Starring Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton.
Join Fresh City Life for a 70th Anniversary showing of this classic film. You liked it for very different reasons as a child; as an adult, the subtext becomes richer and weirder with each viewing. Oz is a classic sidekick film with a cast of characters that represent different personality flaws and foibles, who must each learn lessons along the yellow brick road. A must-see presentation! 101 minutes. Unrated.
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The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Tuesday, September 15, 6-9 p.m.
Central Library, Level B2 Conference Center
Directed by Wes Anderson. Starring Gene Hackman, Angelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow.
A perfect companion to The Wizard of Oz, Tenenbaums is the Oz for the new millennium. There’s no Wizard, and no easy-to-follow yellow brick road, but The Royal Tenenbaums echoes Dorothy’s mantra of, “There’s no place like home” and highlights the same fractured personalities and flawed, lovable losers of Oz. 110 minutes. Rated R.
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