Aug 16 2008
The Big Apple runs red in August
Blood-red with cinematic splatter! From August 21-24, the East Village’s very own Anthology Film Archives will be screening a series of classic ’70s and ’80s American vigilante movies. Fed up with the world? Can’t take it anymore? Ready to go a little Travis Bickle? Well…get a grip, man, and vent your frustrations in a healthy manner. With movies!
Bickle won’t be there though. Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver isn’t part of the line-up, although it wouldn’t necessarily be out of place. Surprisingly, Anthology (which generally focuses more on American avant-garde cinema rather than gritty grindhouse fare) is pulling out all the stops and going for 42nd street crowd-pleasers rather than Academy Award classics.
Their four-night schedule is packed with real down-and-dirty gems. All of them are (or have been) available on DVD, but come on: the big screen is where you should be seeing these flicks, along with a rowdy crowd (which we can hope will turn up for the series). My personal picks are cult favorite Abel Ferrara’s brutalized mute seamstress saga Ms. 45, the Robert Forster and Fred Williamson starrer Vigilante (which sports one of the most kick-ass soundtracks ever by Jay Chattaway), and the little seen Maniac Cop 2, which was directed by Vigilante’s William Lusting and co-stars none other than the ever-entertaining Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead fame. I mean, the Maniac Cop 2 tag line was “You have the right to remain silent…forever!” How can you lose?
If you’re curious about the schedule, you can visit Anthology’s site here and just poke around on the August 2008 calendar dates from the 21st through the 24th. It’s not the most handy or user-friendly means of checking a schedule, but it works.
And in true grindhouse style, here are trailers for films in the series (click on the titles to see them): Vigilante, Ms. 45, Death Wish, Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2.
