SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our HEISTS, CAPERS & CONS Series, Friday, August 4, 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 OCEAN'S ELEVEN (2001, dir. Steven Soderbergh, Warner Bros., USA, 116mns, 35mm)
9:50pm THE HOT ROCK (1972, dir. Peter Yates, Fox, USA, 105mns, Digital)
Our finale to our Heists, Capers, and Cons series are two pure pleasures of perfidious perfection: Steven Soderberg’s near miraculous improvement of its source material Ocean’s Eleven and the William Goldman penned clever caper The Hot Rock.
Both boast all-star casts in caper comedies with felicitous felonies!
First up, Soderberg took on the near thankless task of re-making the 1960’s rat pack movie Ocean’s Eleven with a stacked cast of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, and many others about a group of talented thieves determined to knock off the strip’s most heavily guarded casino. At the same time, Clooney’s mastermind Danny Ocean tries to make a play to win back the heart of his ex-wife Tess Ocean played by a game Julia Roberts from the clutches of Casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia having a great mustache twirling time) .
Ocean’s Eleven may ultimately come to be viewed as the pinnacle achievement of Soderberg’s middle period which starts roughly here and ends with his first announced retirement from features (don’t worry he’s back). Soderberg somehow finds a way to deliver a blockbuster entertainment (which was a must given the cast and material) while somehow making a deeply authorial movie filled with 60’s haphazard new wave inventiveness and flair.
The definition of delight. On 35mm!
We follow this with an undersung classic, the early 1970’s The Hot Rock penned by master scribe William Goldman (All The President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride. . .) This comedy caper begins as many heist movies begin with our hero getting out of jail. Robert Redford’s John Dortmunder gets tasked by Bill Gunn’s Dr. Amusa to recover a precious gem from the Brooklyn museum.
But misfortune and mishap mars the machinations from the beginning. Here the group of thieves seem as incompetent as they seem roguishly lovable and nothing but nothing goes their way so that they have to make multiple attempts to acquire the jewel.
A very funny, very 1970’s riff on the heist movie, we end here with a movie that shows the fountain of cinematic criminality is seemingly bottomless. Now go make your own amazing heist movie. . .
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.