SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our EARLY PROMISES Series, Wednesday, March 15, 2023
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
7:30pm HI MOM! (1970, dir. Brian De Palma, Park Circus, USA, 87mns, 35mm)
9:20pm WHO'S THAT KNOCKING AT MY DOOR (1967, dir. Martin Scorsese, Warner Bros., USA, 90mns, Digital)
Tonight, come see two of the earliest works by Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese respectively. Works that offered early promise of the mastery we would later see.
First up is De Palma’s wild satire Hi Mom! starring Robert De Niro. De Niro is actually reprising his role as Jon Rubin from Greetings. Now Jon is a New York filmmaker trying to make money filming secret pornographic movies before getting involved with an avante gard theater troupe that attacks White Liberal Theater Goers so they can get a taste of the American black experience.
Hi Mom! courses with the electricity of young late 1960’s moviemaking married to an astute Paddy Chayefsky-like eye towards the satire, excesses, and hypocrisies of the moment. Though De Palma would ultimately go the more cinematic entertainment route in his later movies, Hi Mom! is a window into the kind of satirical comedic moviemaker he also could have been. One of De Palma’s best movies (in this programmer’s humble opinion).
Next is Martin Scorsese’s very first feature Who’s That Knocking At My Door? starring a very young Harvey Keitel as J.R., a conflicted Italian-American young man, unable to get over his prejudices when dating a non-Catholic young Woman (Zina Bethune) whose traumatic past proves too much for J.R. to overcome.
Scorsese had to fight tooth and nail to get this movie made. He then re-edited it, added footage, changed the title several times before its final form (the one we screen). A young Roger Ebert recognized the genius in the picture and wrote one of Scorsese’s very first glowing reviews.
Although Who’s That Knocking is rough and erratic and uneven, it is also a stunning motion picture achievement. It plays like a rough draft of Mean Streets yet contains one of Scorsese’s greatest early sequences (a party that gets out of control set to the needle drop of Ray Barretto’s "El Watusi").
Come see how two moviemakers put themselves on the path to a career.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.