The Two River Theater Company in Red Bank dives into the movie business July 11-26 with Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow Film Festival.
Chicago is the star in each of nine movies from some of Hollywood’s greatest directors in a festival named for the cow that is said to have knocked over the lantern that began the Great Chicago Fire.
Running three weekends in July, Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow Film Festival presents a 9 p.m. show on Fridays, July 11, 18 and 25 and a 7 and 9 p.m. double-feature on Saturdays, July 12, 19 and 26. Tickets are $8; $5 for theater series subscribers.
The film festival is part of Two River Theater Company’s “12 Nights of Chicago” – a summer celebration of all things Chicago, that includes Chicago’s Neo-Futurists in the Marion Huber Theater performing “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind,” Chicago karaoke and kielbasa on the plaza, and the Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow Film Festival in the Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater.
For more information, call 732-345-1400, visit www.trtc.org or the box office, located at 21 Bridge Ave. Tickets for “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” are $20.
Film listings and schedule:
• Friday, July 11, 9 p.m., “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986) PG-13, Matthew Broderick and Mia Sara. Like its title character, this classic comedy set in the Windy City never lets up and never lets you down.
• Saturday, July 12, double feature: 7 p.m. “In Old Chicago” (1937) not rated, Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche. The sordid story of the two O’Leary brothers, who rise to power and battle for the heart of a dancehall girl – all on the eve of the Great Chicago Fire; 9 p.m. “The Fugitive” (1993) PG-13, Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones. Dr. Richard Kimball is on the run for a murder he didn’t commit. A thrilling chase film.
• Friday, July 18, 9 p.m., “High Fidelity” (2000) R, John Cusack, Jack Black, Catherine Zeta-Jones. The ultimate Chicago slacker movie. A record store owner can’t pull himself together after a break-up. Includes a cameo by Bruce Springsteen.
• Saturday, July 19, double feature: 7 p.m. “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” (1967) not rated, Jason Robards, George Segal. The bad old days of tommy guns and bootleg gin come to life. Features a cameo by Jack Nicholson; 9 p.m. “The Untouchables” (1987) R, Kevin Costner, Robert
DeNiro, Sean Connery. Al Capone runs the city and Elliot Ness has had enough.
• Friday, July 25, 9 p.m., “The Blues Brothers” (1980), R, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi. Hop in the back seat of Jake and Elwood Blues’ 1974 Dodge Monaco as they trash the already garbage-strewn streets of late ’70s Chicago, backed by one of the alltime great film scores.
• Saturday, July 26, double feature: 7 p.m. “Roxie Hart” (1942) not rated, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou. Fred Astaire’s most famous dance partner in this comic tour de force about love, murder and curative powers of good PR; 9 p.m. “Chicago” (2002) PG-13, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellwegger, Richard Gere. Death row never looked so good or so sexy, plus great music from Kander and Ebb.