SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our SAM PECKINPAH DOUBLE! Friday, January 21, 2022
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. We’ll have staff to help guide/park you.
715pm THE WILD BUNCH (1969, dir by Sam Peckinpah, Warner Brothers, 35mm, 145mns)
10pm STRAW DOGS (1971, dir by Sam Peckinpah, Disney, 117mns)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
***ALL AUDIENCE will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door. PLEASE HAVE YOUR VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL VACCINATION CARD READY BEFORE ENTERING THE THEATER. If you have an exemption, please have proof of a negative PCR level COVID test within 3 days of the screening.
***ALL GUESTS WILL BE TAKEN THROUGH PROTOCOLS PRIOR TO ENTERING THEATER SO EVERYONE CAN HAVE A FUN AND SAFE TIME.
***EVERYONE WILL STILL BE REQUIRED TO WEAR MASKS INDOORS WHEN NOT EATING/DRINKING CONCESSIONS IN THEIR ASSIGNED SEATS.
HOW TO:
1)PLEASE BRING AND WEAR A PROPER MASK AT ALL TIMES WHEN NOT EATING/DRINKING INSIDE THE THEATER AS A SAFETY PRECAUTION.
2)PRE-ORDER ANY CONCESSIONS OR MOVIE MERCHANDISE you would like from the additional Add-Ons. You can pick up all concessions & merchandise at our tables in our lobby prior to the screening.
We will be able to sell concessions & merchandise at the theater. But it will make everything much quicker and easier if you pre-order!
3)PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANYONE EXHIBITING COVID OR FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS AT THE DOOR, WILL BE OFFERED COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS TO A FUTURE SHOW AND ASKED TO RETURN WHEN HEALTHY. So please, if you’re feeling sick, just write us at community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer your complimentary tickets to a future screening when you’re healthy. Let’s all do our part to beat this thing so we can go back to the complete movie going experience!
Tonight we dive into the belly of the beast with two of Sam Peckinpah's best movies THE WILD BUNCH and STRAW DOGS.
THE WILD BUNCH (on 35mm!) radically altered almost all action movies that came after it. Taking advantage of the fracturing and cracking hold Hollywood had on limiting the kind of intensity and violence that could be shown in movies, Peckinpah turned in what, in many ways, is the first modern American action movie.
The Wild Bunch follows a group of outlaws headed by a career high William Holden as they rob banks and cavort around Mexico. Trailed for the bounty by Robert Ryan who used to be part of the gang, the gang slowly comes to realize their lawless frontier time is coming to an end as the new more technological age of the 20th century dawns.
Culminating in what was (at that time) the bloodiest climax every put to screen and made more jarring to the public at that time with incredible slow-motion and editing, The Wild Bunch is filled with vital performances, violence, and shocking insight.
Peckinpah was always problematic and probably more so now in our times. But his work has also surprisingly stood the test of time because it acknowledges and examines how violence, self-destructive behavior, human cruelty have ALWAYS been a part of every generation. And can never be escaped.
In some ways his STRAW DOGS (this programmer's personal favorite Peckinpah) gets at this issue more directly than any of his other movies even though it is at the same time a bit of departure.
Peckinpah trades in the period western he had come to be known for for a modern day (1971 at the time) story of pacifist mathematician David (Dustin Hoffman) and his British wife , Amy, who move to the English countryside partially (as its revealed) for David to avoid the Vietnam draft.
But confrontation and violence almost karmically seem to find David anyway as Amy's ex-boyfriend and his violent, drunk pals take it on themselves to terrorize David who they view as an interloper and a coward. Even Amy comes to view David this way.
Ultimately David has to make a choice to run or fight. And in true Peckinpah style, we get a shocking violent climax.
Still a bracing, ultra violent shocking movie 50 years later, Straw Dogs still asks an essential question: if violence is often inescapable in existence what will one do when one is confronted by it against oneself and one's loved ones?
Peckinpah's answer isn't of course the only answer. But it's still a very bracing, thought provoking, and dynamic take on an irresolvable human dilemma.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
35mm Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR OUR IN-DOOR THEATER SCREENINGS
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 us at: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening.
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.
We will have a staff member on duty to monitor all cars parked in the street-art alleyway at our entrance.
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 Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm or Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter by writing 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.