2/21- HIGH NOON  |  3/21- THE BIG SLEEP  |  4/3 -THE SEARCHERS  |  4/18 - A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM

Charles Ramírez Berg presents HIGH NOON -  Thursday, Feb. 21, 7 - 9:30 pm

UT's Radio-Television-Film department kicks off a series of free community screenings with Charles Ramírez Berg (Joe M. Dealey, Sr. Professor in Media Studies) presenting the classic Hollywood western HIGH NOON (1952), starring Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, and Katy Jurado. Stick around after the screening for a Q&A and brief discussion of cinematic techniques used in the film. 

From The New York Times' original review of HIGH NOON: ". . . this tale of a brave and stubborn sheriff in a town full of do- nothings and cowards has the rhythm and roll of a ballad spun in pictorial terms...Meaningful in its implications, as well as loaded with interest and suspense, High Noon is a western to challenge Stagecoach for the all-time championship."

A former National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, Professor Charles Ramírez Berg was recently appointed to the National Film Preservation Board of The Library of Congress. Ramírez Berg is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers (1996) and has won every major teaching award at The University of Texas. 

 

 

 

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Caroline Frick presents THE BIG SLEEP -  Thursday, Mar. 21, 7 - 9:30 pm

Interpreting THE BIG SLEEP:  How Film Preservation Can Unlock Film Mysteries

Known and beloved as one of the most iconic film noirs of the 1940s, director Howard Hawks’s THE BIG SLEEP, starring screen legends Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, continues to entertain audiences decades after its production. The film is also known for its convoluted story. Dr. Caroline Frick, RTF Assistant Professor and film archivist, will introduce and provide context to the film, its popularity and why film history and preservation can help explain the mysterious plot.

Caroline Frick's research and teaching interests focus upon media history, the evolution of the moving image archiving movement, cross-cultural approaches to historical preservation, and online media libraries. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, an organization devoted to the discovery and preservation of media related to the state. Prior to her work in Texas, Dr. Frick worked in film preservation at Warner Bros., the Library of Congress, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. 

 

 

 

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Glenn Frankel, in conversation with Charles Ramírez Berg, presents THE SEARCHERS - Wednesday, April 3, 7 - 9:30 pm
co-sponsored with the School of Journalism and the Texas Book Festival

Watch one of Hollywood's most legendary films, John Ford's THE SEARCHERS (1956), starring John Wayne, and enjoy a conversation between RTF's Charles Ramírez Berg and Glenn Frankel, author of recent book "The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend."

THE SEARCHERS tells the story of one man's relentless search for his young niece kidnapped by Comanches. The movie, hailed as "The Biggest, Roughest, Toughest... and Most Beautiful Picture Ever Made!" was based on a novel by Alan LeMay. But the true origins of the story can be traced back to the kidnapping of a nine-year-old girl in East Texas in 1836. The story of Cynthia Ann Parker and her Comanche son Quanah has been told and re-told over generations to become a foundational Texas tale.

In his new book "The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend," Glenn Frankel creates a rich and nuanced anatomy of a timeless film and a quintessentially American myth. Frankel, G.B. Dealey Regents Professor, is Director of the School of Journalism. Before coming to UT, he spent 27 years as a reporter and editor at the Washington Post and won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. "The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend" is his third book. 

A former National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, Charles Ramírez Berg  (Joe M. Dealey, Sr. Professor in Media Studies) was recently appointed to the National Film Preservation Board of The Library of Congress. Ramírez Berg is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers (1996) and has won every major teaching award at The University of Texas. 

 

 

 

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Richard Lewis presents A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM -  Thursday, April. 18, 7 - 9:30 pm

Mid-Life Crisis Goes to the Movies

How do we respond when our lives don’t turn out as we had planned? In darkly comic A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM (1990) the irrepressible Michael Caine plays Graham Marshall, a mid-level advertising exec who is jolted into taking stock of his life when his long anticipated promotion goes to someone else. His twisted version of mid-life crisis takes him down an unexpectedly lethal path (which presumably inspired the film’s tagline: “Die yuppie scum!”). Associate Professor and Screenwriting Area Head Richard Lewis will contrast Caine’s character’s simultaneous moral descent and professional ascent with other cinematic midlife crises, as depicted in films such as THELMA AND LOUISE and AMERICAN BEAUTY.

Richard Lewis has worked as an editor, producer, director, story analyst, management consultant, and writer. Some of the companies he’s worked for include National Geographic Television, Channel 4 (UK), A&E, PBS, Sierra Club Productions, and Devillier-Donegan Enterprises. His most recent script, Acceleration, a finalist for a Sundance Sloan grant, is currently under option. Another feature script, Small Fryes, was recently optioned by Broken Road Productions (The Zookeeper, Knight & Day).

 

 

 

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