MELINA MERCOURI Film Series at Film Forum in New York City

ENDED

Presented in association with The National Gallery of Art, The Embassy of Greece
and the Melina Mercouri Foundation

Melina Mercouri (1925-1994) set new standards for volatility in the cinema; in comedy or tragedy she went all out: the most robust and carefree of playgirls; the greediest of thieves; the most passionate of adulterers; the most tortured and intense of artists. The daughter and granddaughter of politicians (Minister of the Interior, mayor of Athens), she opted early for a more bohemian life, conquering the Athens stage in "Mourning Becomes Electra," "A Streetcar Named Desire," and "The Seven-Year Itch" then going on to be a smash in Paris as well. After filming in Greece, England, France, and Italy, her fifth film Never On Sunday (the third of nine collaborations with her husband, director Jules Dassin) made her an international star - Greece's only one to date - and she would use that eminence to rally worldwide condemnation of the post-1967 repressive colonels' regime in her native land. In the wake of the return of democracy, she curtailed her film career to become Minister of Culture in the reformed government.

Special thanks to Connie Mourtoupalas, Greek Embassy, Washington; Peggy Parsons, National Gallery of Art; Pauline Tzeiranis, Melina Mercouri Foundation, Athens; John Kirk, MGM Distribution; Marina Kotzamani, Hellenic Studies Department, Columbia University; Voula Georgakakou, Greek Film Center, Athens; Dimitri Gemelos, Greek Press Office, New York; Ron Halpern, StudioCanal, Paris; Richelle Dassin; Julie Dassin; and Jules Dassin.

FOR A SCHEDULE OF ALL FILMS IN THE SERIES
Melina Mercouri Links
Melina Mercouri CDs

OCTOBER 5-9 FRI-TUE
(matinee only on Tue)
DOUBLE FEATURE

NEVER ON SUNDAY

(1960, Jules Dassin) In the Athens seaport of Piraeus, an uptight American writer (played by director Dassin) - fired up by a little ouzo - gets divested of that darn idealism and puritanism by Melina Mercouri's fun-loving prostitute (Cannes Best Actress award and Oscar nomination), to the tune of bouzouki-playing Manos Hadjidakis' Oscar-winning theme song. "One of the great liberating films." - David Shipman.
FRI-MON 3:45, 7:45*
TUE 3:45

*JULES DASSIN In Person

Director, Writer & Co-star Jules Dassin will appear following
the 7:45 show of NEVER ON SUNDAY on Friday, October 5.

TOPKAPI
NEW 35mm PRINT! (1964, Jules Dassin) The peak of that echt 60s genre, the big caper picture, as Mercouri and lover Maximilian Schell, backed by a hand-picked team, find their carefully laid plans to heist emeralds from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul laid low by the bumblings of hanger-on Peter Ustinov - in an Oscar-winning performance - then decide to go ahead anyway! Pioneer of the genre Dassin (Rififi) keeps his tongue firmly in cheek but the suspense taut in this adaptation from intrigue titan Eric Ambler. The high-tech heist has been appropriated by everyone from Brian DePalma (Mission: Impossible) to Wallace & Gromit!
FRI-MON 1:30, 5:30, 9:30
TUE 1:30, 5:30
Scene from TOPKAPI

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9
AT 8:00 pm
(Separate Admission)

AN EVENING WITH JULES DASSIN

The legendary director Jules Dassin will appear in person to discuss his stage career (starting with the Yiddish theater of the 1930s), his film career (from servitude at MGM to his own independently produced films), the Hollywood blacklist, and his wife and muse Melina Mercouri, as well as his continuation of her lifelong dream: to bring the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece. Plus excerpts from many of his classic films including The Naked City, Topkapi, Never on Sunday and Rififi. 8:00 pm
Sorry - Event is SOLD OUT

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OCTOBER 10/11/12
WED/THU/FRI
DOUBLE FEATURE

STELLA

(1956, Michael Cacoyannis) In her first film, Mercouri is a night club singer and full-time free spirit in revolt against the values of a patriarchal society, running through a series of lovers and even refusing marriage in the face of true love. The second film of the soon-to-be-eminent Cacoyannis (Zorba the Greek), and a decisive break with a cinema of gentility, via Mercouri's matchless vitality, exalting working class pride and legitimizing the often suppressed rebetico music of the bouzouki. 1:45, 5:40, 9:35

PHAEDRA

(1962, Jules Dassin) Grand, doomed passion among the jet-setters, as shipping tycoon Raf Vallone sends second wife Mercouri ("luminous with fervor and honesty" - NY Times) to drag alienated son Anthony Perkins back from Parisian exile, with dire results for all concerned. Dassin teamed with avant-garde writer Liberaki to update Euripides, contrasting the accoutrements of cosmopolitan 60s life styles with age-old passions and old-world customs. 3:35, 7:30

The Internet Movie database PHAEDRA Page

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OCTOBER 13-16 SAT-TUE
DOUBLE FEATURE

HE WHO MUST DIE

(1957, Jules Dassin) In a 1920s Greek village under Turkish rule, it's time for the traditional Passion Play, with Pierre Vaneck's stuttering shepherd slated for the Christ role, and prostitute Melina Mercouri (in her first collaboration with husband-to-be Dassin) as Mary Magdalene. But when refugees led by Rififi's Jean Servais flood in, those roles start to become real, to the consternation of local officials. Adapted from Kazantzaki's novel The Greek Passion and shot on location in Crete. 1:45, 5:40, 9:35

The Internet Movie database HE WHO MUST DIE Page

10:30 PM SUMMER

(1966, Jules Dassin) "What would you do if you came face to face with a murderer?" "I would take him in my arms." Melina hits the bottle hard when she realizes hubby Peter Finch is dallying with travelling companion Romy Schneider, then decides to help out a local Spaniard on the run, in this brooding adaptation of the Marguerite Duras novel. 4:00, 7:55

The Internet Movie database 10:30 PM SUMMER Page

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OCTOBER 17/18 WED/THU
DOUBLE FEATURE

A DREAM OF PASSION

(1978, Jules Dassin) Persona/Medea in Greece, as famous actress Mercouri - in her last film - is berated during rehearsals for Euripides' play by temperamental director Andreas Voutsinas, while a camera crew for "The Creative Process" looks on. News of Ellen Burstyn's murder of her children spurs a speedy prison visit as a publicity stunt, which turns into mutual therapy sessions as Mercouri looks for artistic inspiration from a real-life exemplar. "Boldly inventive and shockingly convincing...takes chances right and left." - Gary Arnold. 1:30, 5:15, 9:00

The Internet Movie database A DREAM OF PASSION Page

THE REHEARSAL

U.S. THEATRICAL PREMIERE!
(1974, Jules Dassin) In a New York warehouse, a theatrical troupe - including Laurence Olivier, Maximilian Schell, Arthur Miller, Olympia Dukakis, Lillian Hellman, and director Dassin - rehearses their reenactment of a famous atrocity under the colonels' regime: the November '73 massacre of students at Athens Polytechnic University. Powerful play-within-a-film agitprop - most of whose incredible cast appeared gratis - unreleased theatrically for the best of reasons: the Greek junta actually fell days before its intended opening. This is its U.S. theatrical premiere. 3:30, 7:15

The Internet Movie database THE REHEARSAL Page

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Questions/Comments? E-mail Film Forum. Box Office: 212-727-8110. Repertory screen is programmed by Bruce Goldstein. (Schedule subject to change). © 2001, The Moving Image, Inc. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission. Website Manager: Richard J. Hutchins. This page was last updated on October 19, 2001 .