THE BAD OLD DAYS OF NYC AT FILM FORUM

Film Forum in NYC have announced a massive 23 Day, 44 Film festival lovingly titled “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD - NEW YORK IN THE 70s,” spotlighting movies made in and about the city during the 1970s, running Wednesday, July 5 through Thursday, July 27.
 
The title of the series is taken from the classic Daily News headline – the most famous in the paper’s history. On October 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford declared that a near-bankrupt New York City would be denied federal aid. The following day, the News’ front page carried the banner headline (written by managing editor Bill Brink) “FORD TO CITY:  DROP DEAD.” It became one of the most iconic images of the decade and helped seal Ford’s fate for a 1976 presidential run. (Only last week, the News revived the headline after the current administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Accord: “TRUMP TO WORLD:  DROP DEAD.”)
 
New York City in the 1970s was perceived as a place of danger, decay, and paranoia, where people “didn’t get involved” (especially following high-profile crimes like the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese). The disastrous decade was marked by the financial crisis of 1975 and the 25-hour mid-summer blackout of 1977, the spread of crack and heroin, and the ubiquity of violent crimes (1,814 homicides in 1980, compared to 335 in 2016). The decline of the city would inspire homegrown filmmakers like Sidney Lumet, John Cassavetes, Martin Scorsese, Jerry Schatzberg, along with transplants William Friedkin, Miloš Forman, John Schlesinger, Gordon Parks Jr., Hal Ashby and Chantal Akerman to create a body of films of gritty intensity that perfectly captured the mood of this chapter in NYC history.
 
The festival opens with Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, one of the first movies to dwell on the city’s seedier side. Other directors represented in the series include Woody Allen, Elaine May, Joseph Sargent, Carl Reiner, Ivan Passer, Otto Preminger, Arthur Hiller, Anthony Harvey, and Sidney Pollack. Films in the series include Serpico, The French Connection, Taxi Driver, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Saturday Night Fever, Marathon Man, Mean Streets, Network, Dog Day Afternoon, Klute, All That Jazz, News from Home, A New Leaf, The Panic in Needle Park, Shaft, and many more movies that defined a decade.

Full Schedule:

Wed July 5th 12:30pm, 4:40pm, 9:15pm
MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969, John Schlesinger) 35mm
Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight

Wed July 5th 2:45pm, 7:00pm
TAKING OFF (1971, Miloš Forman) 35mm
Buck Henry

Thurs July 6th 12:30pm, 6:00pm, 10:10pm
NEWS FROM HOME (1976, Chantal Akerman) DCP

Thurs July 6th 2:45pm, 7:45pm
GLORIA (1980, John Cassavetes) DCP restoration
Gena Rowlands

Fri July 7th 12:30pm, 2:40pm, 4:50pm, 7:00pm*
* 7pm screening followed by Q&A with director Jerry Schatzberg
THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK (1971, Jerry Schatzberg) DCP restoration
Al Pacino, Kitty Winn

Fri July 7th 9:40pm
SERPICO (1973, Sidney Lumet) 35mm
Al Pacino, Tony Roberts

Sat July 8th 12:30pm, 2:40pm, 7:15pm
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971, William Friedkin) DCP
Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider

Sat July 8th 4:45pm
THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974, Joseph Sargent) 35mm
Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Jerry Stiller

Sat July 8th 9:45pm
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977, Joseph Sargent) 35mm
John Travolta

Sun 9th July 12:30pm, 5:10pm
KLUTE (1971, Alan J. Pakula) 35mm
Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland

Sun 9th July 2:45pm, 7:25pm
DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975, Sidney Lumet) DCP
Al Pacino, John Cazale

Mon July 10th 12:30pm, 4:00pm, 7:30pm
Double Feature
WHERE’S POPPA? (1970, Carl Reiner) 35mm
plus
BORN TO WIN (1971, Ivan Passer) 35mm
George Segal, Karen Black, Robert De Niro

Tues July 11th 3:05pm, 7:40pm
Double Feature
GODSPELL (1973, David Greene) 35mm
plus
THE WIZ (1978, Sidney Lumet) 35mm
Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor

Wed July 12th 12:30pm, 4:30om, 8:30pm
Double Feature
A NEW LEAF (1971, Elaine May) 35mm, Walter Matthau, Elaine May
plus
SUCH GOOD FRIENDS (1971, Otto Preminger) DCP
Dyan Cannon, Screenplay by Elaine May

Thursday July 13th 12:30pm
DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975, Sidney Lumet) DCP

Thursday July 13th 2:55pm
KLUTE (1971, Alan J. Pakula) 35mm

Thurs July 13th 5:10pm, 9:45pm
CRUISING (1980, William Friedkin) DCP
Al Pacino

Thurs July 13th 7:15pm
SERPICO (1973, Sidney Lumet) 35mm

Fri July 14th 12:30pm, 4:25pm, 8:20pm
Double Feature
SHAFT (1971, Gordon Parks) 35mm
Richard Roundtree
plus
SUPER FLY (1972, Gordon Parks, Jr.) 35mm
Ron O’Neal

Sat July 15th 12:30pm, 5:05pm, 9:35pm
TAXI DRIVER (1976, Martin Scorsese) 35mm
Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster

Sat July 15th 2:45pm, 7:20pm
MEAN STREETS (1973, Martin Scorsese) 35mm
Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro

Sun July 16th 1pm
NETWORK (1976, Sidney Lumet) 35mm print courtesy Harvard Film Archive
William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch

Sun July 16th 3:20pm
HUSBANDS (1970, John Cassavetes) DCP restoration
Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, Cassavetes

Sun July 16th 6:20pm
THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974, Joseph Sargent) 35mm

Sun July 16th 8:25pm
MEAN STREETS (1973, Martin Scorsese) 35mm
 
Mon July 17th 12:30pm, 4:30pm, 8:30pm
Double Feature
THE HOT ROCK (1972, Peter Yates) 35mm studio archive print
Robert Redford, George Segal
plus
THE ANDERSON TAPES (1971, Sidney Lumet) 35mm
Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Christopher Walken

Tues July 18th 12:30pm, 4:30pm, 8:30pm
Double Feature
INTERIORS (1978, Woody Allen) 35mm
Diane Keaton, Mary Beth Hurt, Geraldine Page
plus
DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE (1970, Frank Perry) 35mm
Carrie Snodgress, Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella

Wed July 19th 12:30pm, 4:20pm, 8:20pm
Double Feature
THE HOSPITAL (1971, Arthur Hiller) 35mm
George C. Scott, Diana Rigg
plus
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (1971, Anthony Harvey) 35mm
George C. Scott, Joanne Woodward

Thurs July 20th 2:35pm, 7:55pm
JULY 20 THU – DOUBLE FEATURE
THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975, Sydney Pollack) DCP
Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow
plus
EYES OF LAURA MARS (1978, Irvin Kershner) 35mm
Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones
 
Fri July 21st 12:30pm, 2:55pm, 7:35pm
ALL THAT JAZZ (1979, Bob Fosse) DCP
Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking

Fri July 21st 5:30pm, 10:00pm
THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974, Joseph Sargent) 35mm

Sat July 22nd 12:30pm, 5:20pm
MARATHON MAN (1976, John Schlesinger) 35mm
Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider

Sat July 22nd 3:00pm, 7:45pm, 10:00pm
MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969, John Schlesinger) 35mm

Sun July 23rd 2:45pm, 6:45pm
MANHATTAN (1979, Woody Allen) 35mm
Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway

Sun July 23rd 12:30pm, 4:30pm, 8:30pm
THE LANDLORD (1970, Hal Ashby) 35mm
Beau Bridges, Pearl Bailey, Lou Gossett Jr., Diana Sands

Mon July 24th 12:30pm, 4:50pm, 9:15pm
Double Feature
AN UNMARRIED WOMAN (1978, Paul Mazursky) 35mm studio archive print
Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy
plus
LOVING (1970, Irvin Kershner) 35mm
George Segal, Eva Marie Saint

Tues July 25th 12:30pm, 4:20pm, 8:10pm
ACROSS 110TH STREET (1972, Barry Shear) 35mm
Tony Franciosa, Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto
plus
COPS AND ROBBERS (1973, Aram Avakian) 35mm
Cliff Gorman, Joseph Bologna

Wed July 26th 12:30pm, 4:30pm, 9:15pm
Double Feature
DEATH WISH (1974, Michael Winner) Original IB Technicolor 35mm print
Charles Bronson
plus
DRESSED TO KILL (1980, Brian De Palma) 35mm
Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine

Thurs July 27th 12:30pm, 4:20pm, 8:10pm
Double Feature
THE WARRIORS (1979, Walter Hill) 35mm
Michael Beck, James Remar
plus
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981, John Carpenter) DCP
Kurt Russell, Donald Pleasance

Program notes by Film Forum.