Two fascinating directors, one who has had a strong influence on American mainstream cinema, the other a little less known but all the more adored, are now having their films displayed at two very respectable venues in New York City. The two are Mike Nichols and Jules Dassin, and they have definitely left their mark on cinema during their extensive careers.
Mr. Nichols, aged 77, is having his most prestigious work displayed at the Modern Museum of Art (no better place) from April 14 to May 1, and having an “informal conversation” on April 18, with cohorts Nora Ephron, Buck Henry (writer of Nichols’ “The Graduate,” and “Catch 22”) and Elaine May. Nichols, if you haven’t already known, is known for his brilliant adaptation of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and the aforementioned classic “The Graduate,” both of which landed a spot on the new AFI Top 100 list. Nichols recently directed an adaptation of “Closer,” and the Tom Hanks prestige comedy “Charlie Wilson’s War.” The man has a very respectable body of work, and he deserves this great retrospective.
The estimable Dassin, on the other hand, is a more obscure American director having his films celebrated at the Film Forum from March 27 to April 7 (that starts today). Dassin, who passed away last year at the age of 96, had a circuitous career path that was semi-tragic. He fled Hollywood in the 1950s in an attempt to resuscitate his career after he was blacklisted because of his earlier ties to the Communist Party during the McCarthy propaganda era.
Escaping to France he made perhaps his most well-known work, the the seminal French crime drama, “Rififi,” which François Truffaut himself once called “the greatest film noir I’ve ever seen.” Dassin also won a best-director award for the picture at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival so it wasn’t all for naught and he was permitted back in the U.S. by the mid-60s.
However, the tastemakers at the Criterion collection have done a great job of feting Dassin’s pre-blacklist work in the last few years releasing, “Thieves’ Highway” (1949), “Night In the City” (1950, featuring a great slimeball in the late Richard Widmark), “Naked City” (1948), and “Brutal Force” (1947, starring Burt Lancaster), (they released “Rififi” in their very early days). All of these films are included plus the rare 1968 post MLK-assassination, race riot drama, “Up Tight” which features an original score by Booker T. and the MGs, 1960’s “Never On Sunday” which featured a rare co-starring role by Dassin himself, Romy Schneider and Peter Finch in 1966’s “10:30 PM Summer” and 1978’s “A Dream Of Passion” starring Ellen Burstyn. If you live in New York, we highly recommend you visit both these retrospectives.
– Nick Duval
