25 YEARS OF RESERVOIR DOGS AT THE NEW BEV L.A
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Reservoir Dogs, The New Beverly Cinema in L.A premieres a beautiful BRAND NEW 35mm print of Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut, at the cinema the legendary Director owns.
Seven total strangers team up for the perfect crime. They don’t know each other’s name. But they’ve got each other’s color. Quentin Tarantino’s incendiary directorial debut ignited the filmmaker’s distinctive voice and united him with some of his key players. When a jewelry store robbery goes wrong, Reservoir Dogs jumps between the crime’s setup and its bloody aftermath as the men try to ferret out who might be the rat in their ranks.
Each night this week, catch the influential crime thriller paired with a film a key film that serves as inspiration to Tarantino's variedcinematic output.
Sunday April 9th & Monday April 10th
Double Feature with THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Tarantino's personal 35mm Print)
During a deadly snowstorm, a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell) rushes to bring his fugitive (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to justice. But losing their lead on the blizzard, they must seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery where the mysterious strangers inside may not be who they seem. Written & directed by Quentin Tarantino and co-starring a stunning ensemble of QT favorites and pitch-perfect additions to his troupe: Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern round out The Hateful Eight.
Tuesday April 11th
Double Feature with CITY ON FIRE (1987 / 35mm Print) one of the most influential Hong Kong crime films of the '80s.
Director Ringo Lam ignites a powder keg of Hong Kong action, carefully choreographed shootouts and violent double-crosses in his influential & incendiary international blockbuster City on Fire. Two years before facing off in John Woo’s The Killer, Chow Yun-fat plays an undercover cop tasked with infiltrating a dangerous crime ring led by Danny Lee. As the duo begin to form a personal bond, loyalties will be tested when a jewel heist goes wrong and tension mounts among the thieves who suspect a traitor in their midst.
Wednesday April 12th & Thursday April 13th
Double Feature with KAANTE (2002 / 35mm Print), the epic Bollywood imitation that was inspired by Reservoir Dogs
We're excited to present director Sanjay Gupta’s massive 2002 heist epic (and delirious Reservoir Dogs knockoff) Kaante. An ambitious undertaking by anyone’s standards, Kaante was the first Bollywood production to be shot entirely in Los Angeles, with the lion’s share of the principal cast flown in from Mumbai for the compact month-long shooting schedule. One of the major differences from Quentin Tarantino’s original is that we get a peek at the tragedies going on in the crazy quilt of the heist members’ existence, spotlighting their love lives with their significant others. With the intersection of the fugitive men’s occupations – from nightclub life to drug-dealing and their contentious relations with the LAPD – director Gupta hits all the bases, including wild musical numbers and comedy bits! Unspooling like an unruly ball of yarn from cinematic antecedents such as John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Jules Dassin’s Rififi (1955), Ringo Lam’s City on Fire (1987), Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) - not to mention Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects, Michael Mann’s Heat and Takashi Ishii’s Gonin (all from 1995!) - Kaante fires on all cylinders.
Also this month, Fred C. Brannons action-packed 1951 Republic Pictures serial Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion comes to the New Beverly in glorious 35mm! An exciting new chapter of the rare cliffhanger plays this month before each of our Sunday / Monday and Wednesday / Thursday programs.
Program notes by New Beverly Cinema