Nathaniel BellSaturday, March 24
The Art Deco Society of Los Angeles presents a 35mm screening of The Three Musketeers, featuring Douglas Fairbanks at his swashbuckling-est as d'Artagnan. The show will be preceded by an hourlong presentation by Sherri Snyder titled “Barbara La Marr: The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful for Hollywood.” La Marr was a popular (and yes, beautiful) leading lady before her untimely death in 1926. Snyder will sign copies of her new La Marr biography in the lobby. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Sat., March 24, 2 p.m.; $12. (323) 466-3456, americancinemathequecalendar.com.
Burt Reynolds' autumnal performance in The Last Movie Star has occasioned a weekend tribute to the bankable American actor by the American Cinematheque. The first program is a triple feature that kicks off with Smokey and the Bandit, the popular 1977 action-comedy featuring Reynolds at his most virile as a wisecracking trucker hauling illegal beer across state lines. In Hooper, he plays an aging stuntman challenged to perform the stunt of a lifetime before throwing in the towel. In Sharky's Machine, Reynolds directs himself as a vice cop who gathers a team to take down an underworld drug dealer. Reynolds will appear after the first film for a discussion. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Sat., March 24, 7:30 p.m.; $15. (323) 466-3456, americancinemathequecalendar.com.
Molly Ringwald in Office Killer; Credit: Miramax
Cindy Sherman's deliciously dark comedy Office Killer gets a 35mm airing as part of UCLA's ambitious series Working Girls: America's Career Women on Screen. A mousy Carol Kane plays an accountant at a fictitious magazine whose firing sets off a series of murders. The satirical jabs at corporate culture (the magazine she works for is called Constant Consumer) are augmented by Sherman's off-kilter compositions, creating a genuinely unstable environment. Dahlia Schweitzer will sign copies of her books, Cindy Sherman's Office Killer and Going Viral, in the lobby before the show. UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood; Sat., March 24, 7:30 p.m.; $10. (310) 206-8013, cinema.ucla.edu.
The Late Show; Credit: Warner Bros.
One of the unsung gems of the 1970s, Robert Benton's The Late Show brilliantly updates the film noir/gumshoe genre by setting a geriatric detective (wonderfully played by Art Carney) adrift in a blandly nihilistic landscape. Lily Tomlin nearly walks away with the movie as a hippie client who becomes an unlikely ally, and the film balances pathos with rueful nostalgia for a simpler era. It screens at the Ahrya as part of Laemmle's ongoing Anniversary Classics series. Laemmle Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, Sat., March 24, 7:30 p.m.; $15. (310) 478-3836, laemmle.com.
The Human Comedy; Credit: MGM
Tuesday, March 27
LACMA's monthlong tribute to Marsha Hunt concludes with the MGM heart-tugger The Human Comedy. Mickey Rooney stars as Homer Macauley, a teenager in a small town who supports his family as a delivery boy during World War II. Hunt, in a characteristically tender performance, plays his girlfriend. William Saroyan wrote the original screenplay and wanted to direct, but Louis B. Mayer refused. A defiant Saroyan then novelized the story and published the book just ahead of the film's 1943 release. (He took home an Oscar for Best Original Story.) Hunt, whose political activism landed her in hot water during the McCarthy era, turned 100 last year. LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire; Tue., March 27, 1 p.m.; $4. (323) 857-6000, lacma.org.
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