Hey folks, Harry here... If you've never seen either of these movies, you're seriously missing out. Maybe not the two best known John Saxon titles, but I guarantee you... you'll love em! AND - you get to meet JOHN SAXON, and just how friggin cool is that? I mean, I swear I just got done seeing Jim Kelly at the Drafthouse, and now here comes John Saxon... Who could be next?
INTERNATIONAL MEGASTAR
JOHN SAXON
LIVE IN PERSON!
SATURDAY, NOV. 22
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA VILLAGE
2700 WEST ANDERSON LANE
AUSTIN, TX
Tickets: CLICK HERE
John Saxon has starred in over 80 feature films, as well as every 1970s TV show of any consequence. After a brief stint as a model in the 1950s, Saxon was discovered on the cover of True Confessions by a Hollywood agent. His breakthrough came with the 1955 teen angst drama Running Wild, which established him as a young Hollywood heartthrob, and landed him similar roles in films such as the Reluctant Debutante, Summer Love and Portrait in Black, as well as a slew of westerns including The Appaloosa and Joe Kidd. But Saxon's most loyal fans come from the ranks of the exploitation crowd. Beginning with Mario Bava's early giallo film The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Saxon became a staple in cult, sci-fi, horror and eurotrash films (Blood Beach, Cronenberg's rarely-seen Fast Company, Battle Beyond the Stars, Cannibal Apocalypse, A Nightmare on Elm Street) and found himself a coveted property when it came to tough-guy roles -- the most essential of which may be his turn as Roper in Enter the Dragon (for which his likeness was made into an action figure). Come join us for these rare screenings of Strange Shadows in an Empty Room and Black Christmas and see for yourself why countless cult film fans worship at the altar of Saxon.
BLACK CHRISTMAS
CINEMATIC LEGEND JOHN SAXON LIVE IN PERSON!
SAT, NOV 22, 9:45 PM - ALAMO VILLAGE $9/$7 STUDENT D. BOB CLARK 1974, 98 MIN, R, 35mm
In the 1970s, American talent flocked to Canada to take advantage of the tax-shelter programs that essentially gave birth to the Canadian exploitation film. These included Cronenberg's early films, various Nelvana animated features like Rock and Rule, and to some extent, the ILSA films. Bob Clark's Porky's would become the most successful of these (and is still considered one of the top-grossing Canadian films of all time), but before the Florida-based director helmed his landmark ode to the great 1950s poon-hunt, he made a little film called Black Christmas. Starring Keir Dullea, Olivia Hussey and Canadian mainstays Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin (in a surprisingly un-comic role), as well as the venerable John Saxon, Black Christmas was the template for future hider-in-the-house-type slasher films. As a college sorority and their alcoholic house-mother prepare for the upcoming Christmas break, the sudden disappearance of several girls coincides with an onslaught of chilling prank calls. Could it be that someone -- someone very DISTURBED -- is making their way in and out of the house at will? As the ads proudly proclaimed: "If Black Christmas doesn't make your skin crawl...it's on too tight!" Required viewing. (Kier-La Janisse)
STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM
CINEMATIC LEGEND JOHN SAXON LIVE IN PERSON!
SAT, NOV 22, 7:00 PM, ALAMO VILLAGE $9/$7 STUDENT D. ALBERTO DEMARTINO 1976, 100 MIN., R, 35mm
Stars Stuart Whitman, John Saxon, Martin Landau, Carole Laure, Tisa Farrow. An excellent cast and some eye-popping action scenes highlight this Italian/Canadian crime drama filmed on location in Montreal. Police detective Saitta (Whitman), whom we initially see blasting away a trio of bank robbers Dirty Harry-style, grows suspicious when his beautiful younger sister Louise (Laure) dies unexpectedly. After exhuming the body, Saitta discovers she was poisoned, and his obsessive investigation targets George Tracer (Landau), a middle-aged college physician who was having an extramarital affair with Louise. There are other suspects in this whodunit penned by Vincent Mann and Frank Clark, and, with his partner Sgt. Matthews (Saxon) in tow, Saitta punches, kicks, shoots and drives his way through every lowlife scum in the city before discovering the killer's shocking identity. It's always great to see veteran stars like Whitman, Saxon and Landau bounce off of each other, but STRANGE SHADOWS' real draw are the stunning action set pieces, including Whitman's brutal kickfest with a trio of razor-wielding transvestites and a corker of a car chase in which two autos jump, skid, smash and screech through the busy streets of Montreal. Oddly, the American distributor, American- International, appears to have marketed STRANGE SHADOWS as a horror/mystery rather than the hard-driving crime thriller that it really is. The poster focuses on Farrow's blind music teacher character, which actually has very little to do with the story, and the American title is similar to those of the gialli directed by Dario Argento (it was originally called BLAZING MAGNUMS). I doubt horror fans will be disappointed, and DeMartino (credited as Martin Herbert) even tosses in some final-reel nudity to raise the film's exploitation value up a notch. Armando Trovaioli composed the funky score. Also with Gayle Hunnicutt, Jean LeClerc and Anthony Forrest. Also known as UNA MAGNUM SPECIAL PER TONY SAITTA, A SPECIAL MAGNUM FOR TONY SAITTA and .44 SPECIAL. (Marty McKee)
