Screening world cinema and forgotten gems since 1990
The Reel McCoy Film Group is a not-for-profit film society that since 1990 has been catering for people interested in cinema, particularly those who like to see timeless classics and overlooked gems at low cost. Our membership fees are:
$50 for 12 months
Membership runs from the date of joining.
$35 for 6 months $20 for 3 months
With very grateful support from
Canberra Museum and Gallery Members of CMAG are welcome to join the Reel McCoy at a substantial discount: membership for a year for only $20. Screenings are held in the Theatre of Canberra Museum and Gallery (corner of London Circuit and City Square, Canberra City), usually on the second and last Sundays of each month at 12:30 pm. Next screening: Sunday, 10 March 2024 at 12:30 pm
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Based on the evocative novel by Larry McMurtry, this wonderful film follows the lives of a number of residents of a small Texan town in the 1950s. The local picture theatre is closing down and this acts as a symbol for the passing of time and the changing of the guard: an older generation with some poignant memories and the younger people, reaching upwards and outwards and finding that life is not as easy as it looks. All the cast are superb, with Cybill Shepherd making her debut. Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman were deservedly rewarded with Academy Awards for their very moving performances.
For more information, e-mail us or come along to a screening The Reel McCoy Film Group is a member of the Australian Film Societies Federation. Contact them to learn how to start and run a film society or group of your own. Programme for the first half of 2024:
Sunday 11 February 2024
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY USA · 1940 · 112 min. Director George Cukor Cast Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, Virginia Weidler A classic American film, based on the successful stage play by Philip Barry. A socialite daughter (Hepburn) of a rich, prominent Philadelphia family is getting married for the second time. The wedding of course attracts media attention and two reporters (Hussey and Stewart) from a gossip mag turn up for some interviews. Also interested, though pretending not to be, is the first husband (Grant). There is also a fabulously funny younger sister (Weidler) who asks awkward questions and plays inappropriate songs on the piano. It’s all very witty, very funny, and very pointed about the behaviour of the American moneyed class.
Sunday 25 February 2024
THE GETAWAY USA · 1972 · 122 min. Director Sam Peckinpah Cast Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, Sally Struthers Carter "Doc" McCoy (McQueen) rots in the big house. Wife Carol (MacGraw) gets a crime boss to arrange his release on the condition that they rob a bank. They are double-crossed by their accomplices and head for the Texas/Mexico border; both the law and the mob chase them. Adapted by the author Jim Thompson from his novel about chancers taking on the world while struggling with their own issues of fidelity, The Getaway blends the narrative of classic film noir with the dry sensibility of the disaffected generation of the Vietnam era. Suspenseful and unsentimental it is a significant contribution to the crime genre.
Sunday 10 March 2024
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW USA · 1971 · 118 min. Director Peter Bogdanovich Cast Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Cybill Shepherd Based on the evocative novel by Larry McMurtry, this wonderful film follows the lives of a number of residents of a small Texan town in the 1950s. The local picture theatre is closing down and this acts as a symbol for the passing of time and the changing of the guard: an older generation with some poignant memories and the younger people, reaching upwards and outwards and finding that life is not as easy as it looks. All the cast are superb, with Cybill Shepherd making her debut. Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman were deservedly rewarded with Academy Awards for their very moving performances.
Sunday 31 March 2024
THE LAST DAYS OF CHEZ NOUS Australia · 1992 · 93 min. Director Gillian Armstrong Cast Lisa Harrow, Bruno Ganz, Kerry Fox, Miranda Otto, Bill Hunter Beth (Harrow in an AFI Award-winning performance) is a modern matriarch doing her best to raise her teenage daughter Annie (Otto) whilst enjoying the best of an easy-going marriage to Frenchman JP (Ganz). When younger sister Vicki (Fox) returns from abroad and moves into the household she is instantly drawn to the ideal family structure and develops a longing for what is missing in her own life. Nominated for 10 AFI Awards and with an original and nuanced script by Australian writer Helen Garner, this Australian drama delves into the lives of a family dealing with emotional intricacies amidst shifting relationships.
Sunday 14 April 2024
REBECCA USA · 1940 · 130 min. Director Alfred Hitchcock Cast Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson, George Sanders A naïve young woman (Fontaine) marries a charming English aristocrat with A Past (Olivier) – and she discovers that when she goes to live at his mansion, she finds herself constantly tripping over and running into this past: especially the memory of his former wife, Rebecca. Alfred Hitchcock launched his American career with this work, a gothic romance – a style slightly foreign to him, which he never again perfected to this degree – and directed his only film to win the Best Picture Oscar®. The great Australian actress, Judith Anderson, is wonderful as the ominous Mrs Danvers.
Sunday 28 April 2024
THE AMERICAN FRIEND Germany · 1977 · 127 min. Director Wim Wenders Cast Dennia Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gerard Blain, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel, the film follows the enigmatic friendship between a terminally ill picture framer (Ganz) and a mysterious American art dealer (Hopper) drawn into the world of contract killing. Bruno Ganz (The Last Days of Chez Nous and Wings of Desire) gives an extraordinary performance. Set against a backdrop of existential dread and moral ambiguity, the movie unfolds a suspenseful tale marked by haunting cinematography and intense performances. Wenders crafts a mesmerising noir thriller, blending European arthouse sensibilities with the tension of American cinema. This is as introspective and psychologically tangled as thrillers come, and all the more compelling for it.
Sunday 12 May 2024
ELECTION USA · 1999 · 99 min. Director Alexander Payne Cast Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick, Chris Klein Reese Witherspoon, in a breakthrough starring role, plays a peppy schoolgirl obsessed with winning the presidency of her high school's student council. Her civics teacher (Broderick) is appalled at her naked ambition and the inevitability of her success as the sole candidate. He attempts to manipulate the process while his private life becomes unhinged. Alexander Payne's film was unsuccessful on release but has since become a cult classic both as a black comedy satirising American morals and as a skewering of US politics by analogy. This study of ruthless ambitions makes it an appropriate screening for this US election year.
Sunday 26 May 2024
HEATWAVE Australia · 1982 · 91 min. Director Phillip Noyce Cast Judy Davis, Richard Moir, Chris Haywood As Sydney endures an especially oppressive summer, architect Stephen West (Moir) is hired to design an ambitious redevelopment project in the inner city. Working-class residents of the area resist their displacement by ambitious Cockney builder Peter Houseman (Haywood) and are mobilised by idealistic activist Kate Dean (Davis). Architect and activist clash but form a relationship. Inspired by the real-life murder of socialite Juanita Nielsen, Heatwave relates aspects of the still unsolved crime, blends neo-noir sensibilities with the radical politics of the 1970s, and commemorates a world that has since been utterly erased by gentrification.
Sunday 9 June 2024
THE PRODUCERS USA · 1967 · 88 min. Director Mel Brooks Cast Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shaw, Kenneth Mars A theatre producer and his accountant scheme to get rich by fraudulently overselling interests in a stage musical designed to fail. And surely nothing will flop harder than a sentimental musical about Adolf Hitler – right? This film (Mel Brooks’s directorial debut) is anchored by superb performances from Mostel and Wilder, and the film’s sharp humour and witty storytelling. Controversial in its day, The Producers is now held by many to be Brooks' finest work. The film remains a classic that inspired a musical which went on to become a film itself.
Sunday 30 June 2024
THE NAKED CITY USA · 1948 · 96 min. Director Jules Dassin Cast Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor A model is found dead in her bathtub and two detectives are assigned to a murder case, the veteran detective (Fitzgerald) and the novice (Taylor). The film details the work of the police force as they follow a trail that leads all over New York. The Naked City is a landmark film directed by Jules Dassin, a master of film noir. It is famous for being filmed almost entirely on location in New York. It also revolutionised the genre by incorporating documentary style techniques. The cinematography of William H. Daniels won a well-deserved Oscar®. Please note that programme details are subject to change without notice
List of films screened by Reel McCoy Film Group and
Big House Film Society, |