SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our JOHN FORD FUNDAMENTALS Series, Friday, December 23, 2022
LOCATION: The Million Dollar Theater Movie Palace, 307 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013
6pm THE QUIET MAN (1952, dir. John Ford, USA, 129mns, 35mm)
8:45pm THE SEARCHERS (1956, dir. John Ford, USA, 119mns, 35mm)
Today, the Stagecoach pulls into Lordesbourg and the wild, beautiful, tumultuous journey comes to an end (at least for now) as we screen our final two movies of our The Ford Fundamentals series. Two of Ford’s absolute best.
First up, the movie for which Ford won his fourth and final Oscar for Best Direction, The Quiet Man. Much like John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King or Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Ford spent years trying to get a studio interested in his small story of former boxer Sean Thornton (John Wayne) who comes home to his parent’s village in Ireland to escape the demons of his past. When he meets Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O Hara), he resolves to court and marry her. But their mutual stubbornness threatens to destroy a clear deep love.
Ford poured it all into this picture. And it’s almost certainly his most successful romance (a genre he was not known for). Many folks now know that Mary & Kate were the first names of Ford’s purported true loves-his wife Mary (whom he was married to until his death) and Katherine Hepburn (the one woman with whom he had a deep intense affair in the 1930’s). The Quiet Man has almost the entire Ford Repertory company of actors making appearances from Ward Bond to Barry Fitzgerald to Victor McLaglen (in a near scene-stealing supporting role as Mary Kate’s bullish older brother) to Barry Fitzgerald. And the movie culminates with one of the most joyous fist fights you ever going to see.
This movie is all Irish. And it’s also all genius.
We follow this up with the movie that now routinely makes the Top 10 All Time list of great movies as voted by both critics and directors-The Searchers. Ethan Edwards, an alienated Confederate veteran, returns home and after helping on a cattle robbery discovers that Comanche have killed his brother’s family and stolen his niece, Debbie.
Ethan embarks on a years long search for his niece along with the family’s adopted son Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) who is part Native American himself. Ethan’s rage, at the Comanche, at life, at always being part of losing causes, turns to horrific violence as he becomes more and more hellbent on finding Debbie and then, if she’s assimilated as a Native American, to killing her.
Ultimately things end up much more complicated and ambiguous than either Ethan or Martin or anyone would have it. A shocking film, even today, in that the central character (played amazingly by John Wayne) borders on psychosis in his strange motivations for devoting his life to the search (or is it a hunt) for his niece. The movie has since been the inspiration for countless others including Martin Scorsese’s approach to Taxi Driver and key scenes in George Lucas’s Star Wars.
It’s hard to completely tell where the movie’s sympathies lie. And that may be why it is as hotly debated and relevant today as it was upon its release. Ford, in The Searchers, seems to get at the heart of a certain kind of alienated, self-destructive American personality. And yet, for all that, there is still forgiveness in Ford’s heart. But also a clear eyed understanding on the fate of such men and women.
Join us for a double header of two of Ford’s absolute best. On 35mm.
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.