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Conversation Piece (1974); Atlantic City (1981)

Conversation Piece (1974)
June 30, 2013 - 7:00 pm

Conversation Piece (Gruppo di famiglia in un interno) (Italy/France, 1974)

Directed by Luchino Visconti

An underappreciated masterpiece from the mature Luchino Visconti, Conversation Piece stars Burt Lancaster as a retired art historian settling into a life of virtual seclusion in a picturesque Roman palazzo. His self-imposed solitude, however, is swiftly disrupted by the intrusion of unruly new neighbors—namely Silvana Mangano, as an imperious upper-crust matron, and Visconti mainstay Helmut Berger, glamorously sullen as the conflicted left-wing lover Mangano installs in the apartment above Lancaster's.

Screenwriters: L. Visconti, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Enrico Medioli. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Helmut Berger, Claudia Marsani, Silvana Mangano.

35mm, color, in Italian with English subtitles, 126 min

Print Courtesy of Cinecitta Luce

 

 

 

Atlantic City (1981)

"Atlantic City" is a sophisticated fairy tale, beautifully acted and beautiful to behold; it is as funny as it is touching." Los Angeles Times

Directed by Louis Malle

While the world he knew is literally being torn down around him, a two-bit gangster in his autumn years finally gets the chance to be the big man he always wanted to be when a young woman (Sarandon) puts a kick back in his step. In director Louis Malle's bittersweet, whimsical ode to an American dreamer awash in the end of the American dream, Burt Lancaster delivers a winning performance—by turns warm and heartbreaking—earning him his fourth Academy Award nomination.

Paramount Pictures Corp. Producer: Denis Heroux. Screenwriter: John Guare. Cinematographer: Richard Ciupka. Editor: Suzanne Baron. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli, Hollis McLaren, Robert Joy.  

35mm, color, 103 min.

Watch the trailer below.