Heist Films – Heist (aka caper) movies, are a sub-genre of crime films that focuses on the planning, execution, and aftermath of an ambitious robbery from the perpetrators’ perspective. Tropes include a team of specialists, an impossible target, an ingenious scheme, fateful monkey wrenches, personality flaws, bad decisions, and hoping they get away with it. The first film to check all the boxes was John Huston’s film noir The Asphalt Jungle (1950), so we’ll start there and branch off into suspense, romance, comedy, international settings, and important details on how you can break into places! The films are:
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Rififi (1955)
The Killing (1956)
The Pink Panther (1963)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
The Italian Job (1969)

Citizen Kane (1941) – Released in 1941, Citizen Kane is hailed as one of the greatest films of all time. Orson Welles, in his feature film debut as both director and star, revolutionized cinema with groundbreaking storytelling, deep focus cinematography, a non-linear narrative, and innovative use of sound and editing. In this session, Al will delve into the intricate details and fascinating backstory of this cinematic masterpiece—connecting insights from his film series to provide a deeper understanding of Welles’ visionary creation.

Westerns – There is no purer Hollywood film genre than the western. It arose at the beginning of American film making in the 1890’s, and it peaked from the 1940’s through 60’s. Since then, it has survived with sporadic successes, and its tropes have invaded other film genres. This series will sample 7 classic westerns from the peak period. Because it’s impossible to explore the western genre without tripping over John Ford and John Wayne, we’ll see 3 of Ford’s films, 2 starring Wayne. We’ll also see the film that arguably presents the purest embodiment of the western myth, a film that extended that myth to include ambiguous heroes, and a film that uses the western as an allegory for the Hollywood blacklist. We’ll end with a film that provides an ironic summation of the Hollywood western, from a European perspective. The films are:
Stagecoach (1939)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Winchester ’73 (1950)
High Noon (1952)
Shane (1953)
The Searchers (1956)
Once upon a Time in the West (1968)

Horror through the Decades – This series samples seven horror films from the 1920’s to the 80’s. All have legitimately influenced the horror genre, if not film making in general, and one is a personal favorite that scared the heck out of me when I first saw it on TV. Prepare to be terrified!
The films are:
Nosferatu (1922)
Dracula (1931)
Cat People (1942)
Psycho (1960)
The Haunting (1963)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Shining (1980)

Pre-Code Films – Between the creation of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1930 and the beginning of its actual enforcement in 1934, Hollywood enjoyed a period of creative freedom, where films could depict more daring and controversial subjects such as sexuality, crime, and social issues without strict censorship. The outcry from conservative and religious circles over the more explicit content and provocative themes in these films led to the formation of the Production Code Administration under Joseph Breen, which slammed the door in mid-1934. This series will sample five pre-code films from different genres, and we’ll discuss why they were so notorious in their day.
The films are:
The Divorcee (1930)
Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Red-Headed Woman (1932)
Scarface (1932)
Baby Face (1933)

Film Noir, Part II – Back by popular demand! We’re picking up where we left off in the Fall of 2021, continuing our exploration of the film noir genre with seven more remarkable noirs from the classic period. This time, we’ll delve into films that fall within the prime noir period of 1944-1949. As per tradition, we’ll delve into the fascinating backstory of each film after our viewing experience.
The films are:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Detour (1945)
The Killers (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Kiss of Death (1947)
D.O.A. (1949)

Biopics – Biopics are movies that dramatize events attributed to the lives of famous people. While many viewers regard them as primarily factual, they are works of fiction that often take extreme liberties with the lives of their subjects. This series will sample 7 biopics that range from the fairly factual to the outrageously white-washed.
The films are:
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
They Died with their Boots on (1941)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Ed Wood (1994)
The Imitation Game (2014)