One of my favorite things about Chicago in the summer is the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival
This year they have a great selection. Here’s the schedule. Who wants to go see these movies? (the ones I really want to see are highlighted in underline)
Citizen Kane
July 12
8:59 p.m.
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Everett Sloane
Orson Welles’ masterpiece often tops lists of great movies. Welles, just 25 years old, co-wrote an Oscar winning script, directed, produced and starred in the tale of Charles Foster Kane, wealthy media mogul who amassed fame, fortune and material goods, only to discover it failed to bring him happiness.
(119 minutes)
Annie Hall
July 19
8:54 p.m.
Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Christopher Walken
This is the quintessential movie about the trials and tribulations of dating and relationships. Diane Keaton won an Oscar for her performance as the quirky and insecure Annie, as did Allen for directing and writing. The film is both uproariously funny and uniquely poignant, and one of the few comedies to win Best Picture. Plus it features a great cast that includes Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall and Tony Roberts.
(94 minutes)
My Darling Clementine
July 26
8:48 p.m.
Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Walter Brennan
Henry Fonda is Marshal Wyatt Earp who along with Doc Holiday seeks to tame the town of Tombstone, ultimately leading to the showdown at the OK Corral. Directed by John Ford, it’s one of his most striking black and white films.
1946 (97 minutes)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
August 2
8:39 p.m.
Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Dee Stone
Steven Spielberg directs this well-known story of alien who is left behind in suburban California and the 10 year-old boy who befriends him and helps him to “phone home.”
(115 minutes)
The Night of the Hunter
August 9
8:30 p.m.
Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
In the only film directed by actor Charles Laughton, Mitchum chillingly plays a psychotic preacher with L-O-V-E and H-A-T-E tattooed on his knuckles. He terrorizes his stepchildren in pursuit of a fortune hidden in a little girl’s doll.
(93 minutes)
The Hustler
August 16
8:20 p.m.
Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie
Small-time pool hustler “Fast” Eddie Felson has a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude causes him to challenge the legendary “Minnesota Fats” to a high-stakes match. In a heartbreaking marathon match, he loses everything, so Fast Eddie joins up with a ruthless and cutthroat manager who agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul.
(135 minutes)
Star Wars
August 23
8:09 p.m.
Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Alec Guiness
George Lucas created a cultural phenomenon and iconoclastic characters in what we now know as Chapter #4 of this classic sci-fi serial. It’s where we first meet Princess Leia, captured by an evil tyrant, and the heroes, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, who help to rescue her and destroy his empire.
1977 (121 minutes)