Summer Bama Art House films include nostalgic favorites "E.T.," "Jaws," "Raiders" and more
For summer 2023, the long-running Bama Art House film series will take a break from contemporary art house, indie and foreign-language films, and try running a string of familiar hits they're calling "Nostalgic Blockbusters."
When downtown movie palace the Bama Theatre — opened in 1938, and converted to multi-performance use beginning in the late 1970s — began showing movies as part of its offerings again in 1999, it started with oldies, calling the series Silver Screen, borrowing in part the idea from Birmingham's Alabama Theatre, which has successfully booked summer, Halloween and holiday series for its 1933 movie palace.
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The Bama series switched to Cinema Noveau, later Bama Art House, when attendance proved higher for new and acclaimed movies that hadn't or wouldn't play mainstream multiplexes such as Hollywood 16.
This isn't a permanent switch in formats, according to Kevin Ledgewood, public relations director for the Arts Council, which operates the Bama.
"We've had requests for such a series, so we decided to go with it and see what the response would be," he wrote in an email. "In the past, we could beat the 'art house' Oscar (nominations) and notable films to streaming platforms, but now that's almost impossible.
"We're not changing the format for good, just trying a little bit different flavor this summer."
As usual, Bama Art House movies will show one night only, Tuesdays, from June 6 to July 11, with July 4 excepted. Here's the Steven Spielberg-heavy lineup:
"Jaws"
JUNE 6: "Jaws" (1975). Rated PG, running 2 hours 4 minutes. Written by Carl Gottlieb, based on the novel by Peter Benchley, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gray, Richard Dreyfuss, Murray Hamilton, and Bruce the shark. One of the seminal horror-thrillers of contemporary filmmaking, and the movie credited with launching the "summer movie" trend, "Jaws" follows an old seafarer, a young marine biologist and an aquaphobic sheriff hunting down a killer great white shark off the coast of a Cape Cod beach community.
"The Goonies"
JUNE 13: "The Goonies" (1985). Rated PG, running 1 hour 54 minutes. Written by Spielberg and protege Chris Columbus, directed by Richard Donner, and starring Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton, Ke Huy Quan, Anne Ramsay and John Matuszak. A group of misfit kids find a map, and sets out to uncover a a legendary pirate's buried treasure.
"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial"
JUNE 20: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). Rated PG, running 1 hour 55 minutes. Written by Melissa Mathison, directed by Spielberg, and starring Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote and Dee Wallace. Winner of four Oscars, nominated for five more, "E.T." follows a child who discovers and shields an alien with a face like a happy wet cigar who'd been accidentally left behind on Earth, seeking a way to get E.T. back home.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark"
JUNE 27: "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981). Rated PG, running 1 hour 55 minutes. Written by Philip Kaufman, Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, directed by Spielberg, and starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Ronald Lacey, Denhom Elliott and Alfred Molina. Beginning of the film adventures of Indiana Jones, an archaeologist who theoretically has academic credentials, but who spends more of his time whipping and shooting his way through liberation of ancient and mystical artifacts. In 1936, the U.S. government hires Jones to track down the biblical Ark of the Covenant, said to possess immeasurable power, before Hitler and the Nazis can dig it up and use it to win not-yet-World War II. Winner of four Oscars and nominated for four more, it's spun off three sequels, with a fourth and final installment due out this summer, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," currently set for June 30 release in the U.S. The Indiana Jones franchise has also led to 1992 TV show "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," comic books, novels and novelizations, video games and more.
"Back to the Future"
JULY 11: "Back to the Future" (1985). Rated PG, running 1 hour 56 minutes, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, directed by Zemeckis (another Spielberg protege), and starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Tom Wilson. "Back to the Future" is a time-travel comedy following 17-year-old Marty McFly, sent back 30 years, into his parents' past via souped-up DeLorean, invented by wacky scientist Doc Brown. McFly has to be insure his parents meet and date, so he doesn't erase himself, and coincidentally teach Chuck Berry the rock 'n' roll riffs he actually learned from pianist Johnnie Johnson. A massive worldwide hit, making $388 million back when that was big money, pre-Marvel superhero blockbusters, "Back to the Future" spun off two also-hits sequels, along with video games, theme park rides, an animated TV series, and a stage musical.
All Bama Art House movies will screen at 7 p.m., with the doors, box office and Bama Bar (concession stand) open at 6. Tickets are $10 general admission, $9 for students and seniors, and $8 for Arts Council members. Punch-card tickets are available for $70, giving 10 admissions to any films in the ongoing series.
For more, see www.tuscarts.org/bama/bama-art-house.
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Summer film series at Bama Theatre includes "Jaws," "E.T.," "Raiders"
