Big Laughs on the Big Screen March 25, 2011

A Comedy Smorgasbord On Screen
Sturges, Burton & Edwards (in the Pink)

At The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel. (201) 798-6055 Fax: (201) 798-4020 Web: www.loewsjersey.org

A Not-For-Profit Arts Center in a Landmark Movie Palace

All Titles Screened in 35mm.

Friday, March 25 at 8PM
"The Lady Eve" Starring Barbara Stanwyck & Henry Fonda. Directed by Preston Sturges. 1941, 93 mins., B&W.

Always the ironic satirist with a gift for terrific characters, improbably wild scenarios and perfectly tuned dialogue, the great writer/director Preston Sturges had what is, arguably, his most glittering success in “The Lady Eve”. Without doubt, the film is one of the most sparklingly funny screwball comedies ever made, replete with beguilingly ribald sexual innuendo and such overt overtones about the appeals of dishonesty and criminality it’s a wonder that Sturges got away it all in the face of the puritanical Hollywood Production Code. Barbara Stanwyck is absolutely brilliant as she glides effortlessly from hard boiled to sensual to romantic, and back again. Henry Fonda is amazingly good in a rare comedic role as a nerdy innocent whom con-artist Stanwyck first plans to scam but then falls in love with. The romantic and cynical tables are turned several times in the ensuing battle of the sexes that is not only hilarious but surprisingly moving.

$7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (65+) and Children (12 & younger).

Saturday, March 26 at 6PM
"Beetlejuice" Starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin & Winona Ryder. Directed by Tim Burton. 1988, 92 mins., Color.

A deliciously off-the-wall, fast paced comedy-horror, Beetlejuice was Tim Burton’s second feature – and it not only defined his signature mix of wild imagination, sweetly fractured characters, surreal sensibility, gothic whimsy and dazzling special effects, but also firmly established him as one of the most original movie makers of our time. Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are a young married couple who are killed in a car accident but are stuck haunting this world before they can move on to the next (shades of “Topper”). When an obnoxious yuppie-esque couple and their unhappy, Goth-obsessed daughter (played by Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones and Winona Ryder in her break-out role) move in to their old home, Davis and Baldwin try to frighten them away. But when their fledgling haunting skills prove less than effective, the two turn in desperation to a veteran spook: a yellow-haired, profane and thoroughly gonzo spirit played to over-the-top perfection by Michael Keaton. And that’s when the unique Burton blend of comedy and the macabre really takes off.

$7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (65+) and Children (12 & younger).

Saturday, March 26 at 8:20PM
"A Shot in the Dark" (Pink Panther) Starring Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, Herbert Lom. Directed by Blake Edwards. 1964, 101 mins., Color.

A comic triumph from beginning to end, “A Shot in the Dark” is not only the funniest film in the famous Pink Panther series, but also one of the funniest, laugh-out-loud movies of all time. A murder has been committed at the palatial Parisian residence of George Sanders. All the evidence points to sexy, wide-eyed housemaid Elke Sommer. But then the gloriously, monumentally inept Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) arrives on the scene and sets out to prove her innocence. What follows is an unbroken series of impeccable gags played out at a mad pace. While Inspector Clouseau was first seen on screen as a character in the earlier “The Pink Panther”, “A Shot in the Dark” is the film that made the character central and truly established the Clouseau mythos: the festive clumsiness, the convoluted dialogue, the Fractured French ("A beump on zee head!"), the twitching lunacy of poor Chief Inspector Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom), the unexpected judo “lessons" of Clouseau's houseboy Kato (Burt Kwouk), and of course the hilariously macabre jokes involving dead or seriously injured bystanders. Director Blake Edward’s sense of slapstick never worked better than here, teamed with Seller’s uncanny comic ability to seamlessly merge the outrageous with the subtle in perfect timing.

$7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (65+) and Children (12 & younger).

- - - Combo discounts available for multiple screenings in a weekend. - - -

**Film descriptions are compiled from various sources.

The Loew's Is Easy To Get To: The Loew's Jersey Theatre, at 54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ, is directly across JFK Boulevard from the JSQ PATH Center with trains to and from Lower and Midtown Manhattan and Newark's Penn Station, and is minutes from the NJ Turnpike, Rts 3 and 1&9 and the Holland & Lincoln Tunnels. We're easy to reach by car or mass transit from throughout the Metro Region.

Discount off-street parking is available in Square Ramp Garage adjoining the Loew's at the foot of Magnolia Avenue off of Tonnelle Avenue, behind the Loew's. Patrons must validate their parking ticket before leaving the Theatre.

What’s Special About Seeing A Movie At The Loew’s? The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre is one of America’s grandest surviving Movie Palaces. We show movies the way they were meant to be seen: in a grandly ornate setting – on our BIG 50 ft wide screen! The Loew’s runs reel-to-reel -- not platter -- projection, which often allows us to screen an archival or studio vault print that is the best available copy of a movie title.

PLUS – Live organ entrance music (from the Loew’s magnificently restored pipe organ) before most screenings.

The Loew’s Jersey is managed by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc. as a non-profit, multi-discipline performing arts center.

Classic Film Weekends are presented by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc.

The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre receives support from the City of Jersey City, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and the Municipal Council, and the Hudson County Open Space Trust Fund, administered by the Hudson County Division of Planning, Thomas A. DeGise, County Executive, and the Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Official Website: http://www.loewsjersey.org