For Immediate Release
July 24, 2023
CLARK ART INSTITUTE PRESENTS
SUMMER OUTDOOR MOVIE SERIES
Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute presents five film screenings as part of its summer outdoor movie series. From the charm of old Hollywood to the creativity of modern animation, this film series spans a century of movie magic. The Clark screens Playtime on Wednesday, August 2, Our Hospitality on Wednesday, August 9, Some Like It Hot on Wednesday, August 16, Inside Out on Wednesday, August 23, and Johnny Guitar on Wednesday, August 30. All screenings are free and take place near the Reflecting Pool.
Playtime
August 2, 8:15 pm
Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in an age of high technology reached their apotheosis with Playtime (1967; 2 hours, 4 minutes). For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the lovably old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a baffling modern world, this time Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lasting record of the modern confusion around what it means to be human in our modern world.
Our Hospitality
August 9, 8:05 pm
Our Hospitality (1923; 1 hour, 14 minutes) broadened the boundaries of slapstick and justified the European avant-garde’s fascination with American comedy. Just a few years after women had won the right to vote in the United States, Buster Keaton retools the classic story of the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s in order to figuratively (and literally, several times) explode the conventional idea of the home. Keaton upends gender expectations and, if you are a student of film history, skewers the regressive ideals of one D.W. Griffith, burlesquing Way Down East with one of the great set pieces of silent cinema.
Some Like It Hot
August 16, 7:55 pm
One of the most beloved films of all time, this sizzling masterpiece by Billy Wilder set a new standard for Hollywood comedy. After witnessing a mob hit, Chicago musicians Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, in landmark performances) skip town by donning drag and joining an all-female band en route to Miami. The charm of the group’s singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), leads them ever further into extravagant lies, as Joe assumes the persona of a millionaire to woo her, and Jerry’s female alter ego winds up engaged to a tycoon. With a whip-smart script by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, and sparking chemistry among its finely tuned cast, Some Like It Hot (1959; 2 hours, 1 minute) is as deliriously funny and fresh today as it was when it first knocked audiences out six decades ago.
Inside Out
August 23, 7:45 pm
If Some Like It Hot tackled the confusion around gender and desire in Classic Hollywood with panache, Inside Out (2015; 1 hour, 35 minutes) did something similar for the confusion around emotions today. A brilliantly paced film, fast-moving yet whimsical, Inside Out dives into the interior world of an eleven-year-old girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias). With splendid casting, we meet her emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith from The Office), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), to name a few. Get ready to feel your feelings.
Johnny Guitar
August 30, 7:30 pm
One of the boldest and most stylized films of its time, Johnny Guitar (1954; 1 hour, 50 minutes) is quirky, political, and twisted—a psychosexual drama between two powerful women, wrapped up in the duds of a B-Western. Joan Crawford stars as the tavern-owner, Vienna. Her arch enemy, Emma—a cattle baron (never baroness)—is played by Mercedes McCambridge. All the energy of the film is between those two women, no matter what they say about the men. Keep in mind that Crawford had bought the rights of the original novel, when you hear one of Vienna’s employees observe, “I never met a woman who was more man.”
All screenings are free. Bring a picnic and your own seating. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of some 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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