All showings are free and will begin at 7:15 pm in the second floor meeting room of the Socorro Public Library. The library itself will be closed and people should enter the meeting room by the side door off of McCutcheon Street. The following movies will be shown:*

Them! (1954)   B&W, starring James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, and Onslow Stevens; directed by Gordon Douglas.    Nuclear tests in the New Mexico desert produce gigantic mutant ants who terrorize American cities. The US army tries to find a way to keep the menacing ants from spreading. The tight screen play is complemented by a genuinely inspired sound track guaranteed to raise the heebie jeebies. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Special Effects, and originally intended to be in color, it was the last black and white big studio science fiction film. Filmed in Palmdale, CA. "This science-fiction shocker has a well-plotted story, expertly directed and acted in a matter-of-fact style." -Variety.  "One of the best creature features of the early atomic age." -RottenTomatoes.com.  Them! is an oft-credited influence for Alien and countless other "big bug" movies. (Warner Brothers)

Forbidden Planet (1956)   starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Jack Kelly and Robby the Robot; directed by Fred McLeod Wilcox.    An interstellar expedition to planet Altair-4 looks for survivors from an earlier voyage, to find only Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his daughter Altaira (Anne Francis). Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen) is quite taken by Altaira, leaving the crew to raise mischief. Inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, it is a love story and an exploration of the heights and depths of the human mind. Forbidden Planet was the debut of Robby the Robot. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

TBA (date)   starring _ and _; directed by _.    (company)

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LIBRARIAN'S CHOICE SUMMER MOVIE SERIES 2006

Medicine Man (1992) with Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco, directed by John McTiernan.   An eccentric scientist working for a large drug company is seeking a cure for cancer in the Amazon jungle. He sends for a research assistant and a gas chromatograph because he's close to a cure. When the assistant turns out to be a "mere woman," he rejects her help. Meanwhile the bulldozers get closer to the area in which they are conducting research. (Hollywood Pictures)

The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) with Anthony Quinn, Oskar Werner, David Janssen and Vittorio DeSica, directed by Michael Anderson.   A foreshadowing of the Pope Jean-Paul II story -- the former Archbishop of Lvov is released from the gulag, and becomes Pope at a time of crisis, testing his faith. The rituals of the conclave process and the pageantry of the coronation ceremony are rendered with remarkable persuasiveness. (Turner Entertainment)

Smoke Signals (1998) starring Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer and Tantoo Cardinal, directed by Chris Eyre.   The Coeur d'Alene Indian reservation in Idaho is poor and ravaged by alcoholism and desperation. A young man goes to retrieve his father's earthly belongings in Arizona, taking along a nerdly acquaitance to help pay for the bus trip. It is an episodic road movie, both of the trip and of their lives. (Miramax)

Blue Hawaii (1961) with Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman and Angela Lansbury, directed by Norman Taurog.   Rich in quality music, who cares that Chad Gates has just gotten home to Hawaii from the Army, and is happy to be back with his surf-board, beach buddies, and girlfriend; but that parent troubles drive him to become a tour guide. But don't miss Angela Lansbury's outlandish (but sad) parody of Elvis's haughty Georgia belle mother. The song "Can't Help Falling in Love" won an ASCAP award in 1990. (Paramount Studios)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) starring William Holden, Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa, directed by David Lean.   At a work camp in Burma, POWs struggle to build a railroad for the Japanese. The ranking British officer (Alec Guiness) stands up to the Japanese commander (Sessue Hayakawa) only to succumb to the lure of finishing the bridge. In a sub plot American William Holden tries to blow up the bridge. It won seven Academy Awards: best picture, best director, best actor (Alec Guinness), best cinematography, best editing, best scoring, and best screenplay (by Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, based on Pierre Boulle's novel. The writers were blacklisted, so Pierre Boulle, who spoke no English - was credited with the script.) (Columbia Pictures)

Johnny Belinda (1948) with Lew Ayres and Jane Wyman, directed by Jean Negulesco.   Life is hard on MacDonald farm in stony, windswept Nova Scotia - and harder for young Belinda, a deaf mute whose affliction has been confused with mental deficiency. Then the town's new doctor takes an interest in helping her break out of her silent prison. A neighbor, Locky MacCormick, takes quite another interest in her. Jane Wyman won the Oscar for best actress for her portayal of Johnny Belinda. (MGM/UA)

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) with Esther Williams, Victor Mature and Walter Pidgeon, choreography by Busby Berkeley and Audrene Brier.   Loosely based on the life of Annette Kellerman, a famous Australian long distance swimmer, who ended up in silent films after a water ballet career in the New York Hippodrome. Endure the love story and enjoy the finest water ballet ever filmed. The underwater choreography by Audrene Brier is topped only by some spectacular above-water work by Busby Berkeley. Berkeley used more than 100 swimmers, 55-foot-high streams of yellow and red smoke, and ramps upon which the swimmers slid into the water while carrying lit torches. (MGM/UA)

THE TONY HILLERMAN MYSTERY SERIES 2006

A Thief of Time (2004) starring Gary Farmer, Adam Beach and Ernest Tsosie III, directed by Chris Eyre.   In the four-corners area, an anthropologist, Ellie Friedman-Bernal (Rosalia de Aragon), disappears while being suspected of selling ancient Anasazi pottery on the black market. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi) is sent to investigate. Meanwhile Officer Jim Chee (Adam Beach) is looking for a stolen backhoe, and turns up a whole lot more. (Granada Film Productions)

Coyote Waits (2003) starring Adam Beach, Candice Castello, Wes Studi and Alex Rice, directed by Jan Egleson.   Two Navajo cops, Jim Chee and Lt. Joe Leaphorn, race to unravel a dangerous web of myth, murder, and greed, involving a lost fortune, an historical artifact and a mythical(?) Coyote. The scenery is at once mystical, isolating and all-encompassing. The production values lift it far above "made for tv" status. (Granada Film Productions)

Skinwalkers (2002) starring Harrison Lowe, Adam Beach, James Dalgam and Wes Studi, directed by Chris Eyre.    When a local medicine man is murdered within the confines of a Navajo reservation, Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi) is assigned to investigate, with uniformed officer Jim Chee (Adam Beach) assisting. The murder weapon is an arrowhead made out of human bone, associated with Skinwalkers. The conflict between traditional and western ways of life is a recurring theme, underlying the plot. (Granada Film Productions)

THE FALL MOVIE SERIES 2006

Milagro Beanfield War (1988) starring Rubén Blades, Richard Bradford, Sonia Braga and Julie Carmen, directed by Robert Redford.    A small war threatens to erupt in northern New Mexico when a ruthless troubleshooter (played by Christopher Walken) attempts to enforce state water law against a bean farmer (played by Chick Vennera) who irrigates his land in contravention of a developer's water right. (Esparza - Universal Pictures)

Field of Dreams (1988) starring Kevin Costner, Gaby Hoffmann, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta and Timothy Busfield, directed by Phil Alden Robinson.    Field of Dreams is a classic combination of baseball, family, fantasy, faith, reconciliation, and redemption, all set in the heartland. An Iowan farmer (played by Kevin Costner) builds a baseball diamond in the middle of his corn field. He dreams about Shoeless Joe Jackson(played by Ray Liotta) and the 1919 Chicago White Sox. Don't let Ray Liotta fool you, Shoeless Joe was a lefty batter. (Gordon Company - Universal Pictures)

Babette's Feast (1987) starring Stéphane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, Bodil Kjer, Jarl Kulle and Jean-Philippe Lafont, directed by Gabriel Axel.    A pair of Protestant religious sisters, carrying out their late father's work, give shelter to a Babette, a refugee from Paris, who goes to work for them as maid/housekeeper/cook. Babette, with gambling winnings, rewards the sisters' kindness by preparing a memorial dinner for the dwindling religious community to celebrate the late vicar's 100th birthday. (Det Danske Filminstitut - Orion Classics)

Pearl Harbor (2001) starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Jon Voight, directed by Michael Bay.    U.S. Army Air Corps. pilots Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) are like brothers. They grew up together, learned to fly together, and fought in World War II together. But the horrors of war and their love for the same woman, a Navy nurse named Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale), tears their friendship apart. Richard O. Helmer (special effects) recreates the horrific bombing of Pearl Harbor in this epic romance. (Touchstone Pictures - Buena Vista)

THE 2007 MOVIE SERIES

Bull Durham (1988) starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson and Robert Wuhl, directed by Ron Shelton.   Veteran minor-league catcher Crash Davis (Costner) is assigned to the Class A Durham Bulls relegated to the role of educating the team's star rookie, pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh (Robbins), a "million dollar arm and a five-cent brain". Team groupie Annie Savoy romances both players, creating a comic triangle. (The Mount Company - Columbia)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)   Color, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson and Madeleine Sherwood, directed by Richard Brooks.   Tennessee Williams' searing account of greed and sexual frustration in a prominent Southern family. Big Daddy (Ives) is dying of cancer, though he believes he's in good health. His son Gooper (Carson) and his wife (Sherwood) greedily await their inheritence. Meanwhile, Big Daddy's favourite son Brick (Newman) is a drunken ex-football star whose abusiveness is destroying his marriage to the sensuous Maggie 'the cat' (Taylor). As Maggie fights to win back her husband, the various truths ooze out. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)  Color, starring Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen and José Luis de Villalonga , directed by Blake Edwards.   No film better utilizes Audrey Hepburn's flighty charm and svelte beauty than this romantic adaptation of Truman Capote's 1958 novella. Holly Golightly (Hepburn), a socialite with a sordid past, falls for and inspires Paul Varjan (Peppard), a struggling writer in this 'mod' New York romance. (Paramount Pictures)

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)   Black & White, starring Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, and Priscilla Lane, directed by Frank Capra.   Based on Joseph Kesseiring's hit Broadway play, this black comedy/thriller is a blend of the bizarre and the mundane. A mild-mannered drama critic (Cary Grant) learns that Abby and Martha Brewster, his two kindly and loveable aunts, have been poisoning people with elderberry wine. Two murderers (Peter Lorre and Raymond Massey) move into the aunts' house with the idea of adding a few corpses of their own. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)  Color, starring Ziyi Zhang, Suzuka Ohgo, Ken Watanabe, Kôji Yakusho, Youki Kudoh, and Li Gong, directed by Rob Marshall.   This sweeping romantic epic sends us through the mysterious and exotic world of the geisha. Impoverished nine-year-old Chiyo is sold to a geisha house and treated cruelly until her stunning beauty is recognized and she is rescued. Chiyo goes on to become the most famous geisha in Japan, entering a society of wealth, privilege and political intrigue until World War II changes the world forever. (Columbia Pictures)

March of the Penguins (2005)   Color, narrated by Morgan Freeman, directed by Luc Jacquet.   This beautiful nature documentary follows the annual journey of emperor penguins to their breeding ground in Antarctica. Rife with obstacles, the film focuses on one cute and steadfast pair as they face birth and death, dating and mating, predators and even love in their fight for survival. (National Geographic/Bonne Pioche)

Finding Neverland (2004)   Color, starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell, Dustin Hoffman, Freddie Highmore, and Kelly Macdonald, directed by Marc Forster.   Set in London in 1903, this film is a fictional account of the struggle of author James Barrie (Johnny Depp) to bring Peter Pan to the stage. When he meets the next-door neighbors, the four Davies boys and their widowed mother (Kate Winslet), he becomes a friend of the family and Sylvia becomes his muse with her boys the source of inspiration about a magical place where people never have to grow up — his Neverland. (Miramax Films)

The Last Starfighter (1984)   Color, starring Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Dan Mason, and Norman Snow, directed by Nick Castle.   Set in rural California in 1983, a videogaming boy (Lance Guest), seemingly doomed to stay at his trailer park home all his life, finds himself recruited as a gunner for an alien defense force, to "defend the galaxy from Xur and the Kodan armada". This was the first film to eschew models and use entirely comupter generated graphics. (Universal Pictures)

All the King's Men (2006)   Color, starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, and Mark Ruffalo, directed by Steven Zaillian.   Based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren, this is a fictionalized account of Lousiana political boss Huey Long. Willie Stark (Sean Penn), undergoes a radical transformation from an idealistic lawyer into a charismatic and extraordinarily powerful Southern-state governor. In finding his way toward success in politics, Stark comes to embrace various forms of corruption in order to accomplish his vision and centralize enormous power within his office. The 1949 black & white movie version starred Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark. (Columbia Pictures)

The Great Dictator (1940)   Black & White, starring Charlie Chaplinm, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, and Henry Daniell; written and directed by Charles Chaplin.   Charlie Chaplin has a dual role in this film, his first "talkie". He plays a sweet-natured Jewish barber and a murderous Hitler-type dictator (Hynkel). Famous scenes include Hynkel's "pas de deux" with a globe, a barber-chair race, and a cream cake fight between Hynkel and Napoloni (Jack Oakie), the dictator of Bacteria. It was a controversial film at the time, with political satire that is still sharp today. Although some may find the satire heavy-handed, there is plenty of slapstick, with the mood remaining light-hearted, and even a bit schmaltzy at times. (United Artists)

Last of the Dogmen (1995)   Color, starring Tom Berenger, Barbara Hershey, Kurtwood Smith and Steve Reevis, narrated by Wilford Brimley, written and directed by Tab Murphy.   Set in Montana (filmed in British Columbia) with great cinematography, classic sets by Trevor Williams, impressive music by David Arnold, it is a serious movie. The inherent drama of the plot is its star. The romantic tension between Berenger and Hershey underlies much of the movie, but is not allowed to detract from the sense of community that is established. While the dialogue is not snappy repartee, and perhaps too characteristic, it adequately carries the film's message. Roger Ebert called it "a robust movie with a lot of energy and heart." Reevis is impressive as Yellow Wolf, there is a great dog, a nice mystery, and beautiful scenery. Lewis Gates (Tom Berenger), a tracker in Montana, comes upon the bodies of several escaped convicts along with a mysterious Cheyenne arrow. Lillian Sloan (Barbara Hershey), an anthropologist, tells him it is similar to the kind used by Cheyenne "dogmen" warriors. Could their descendants still be alive in the wilderness? (Savoy Pictures - HBO)

THE 2008 MOVIE SERIES

Libeled Lady (1936)   Black & White, starring Spencer Tracy, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Jean Harlow; directed by Jack Conway.   This is fast-paced, pre-Hays code, comedy about attempts to convince a society woman to drop a lawsuit against a newspaper. In its 1936 review, the New York Times called it, "A sardonic comedy, with slapstick smudges and a liberal bedaubing of farce." The clever screenplay by George Oppenheimer, Howard Emmet Rogers, and Maurine Watkins provides good, snappy dialogue, and the consummate actors enjoy a remarkable sense of comic timing. Like most 30's screwball comedies the convoluted plot is not as important as the interplay between the characters, and the actors obviously enjoy taking it to the limit. One critic said that Harlow steals all her scenes, but William Powell and Myra Loy chisel at each other with true sprit. Spencer Tracy is a scream in his role as newspaper editor Warren Haggerty who has been engaged to Gladys (Jean Harlow) for some time, but whose work at the newspaper keeps getting in the way of their relationshipand marriage. When an heiress, Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy), files a 5 million dollar libel suit against the newspaper for having printed that she is a marriage-breaker, Haggaerty puts ex-reporter and don Juan Bill Chandler (William Powell) on the case, hoping that by photographing them together, he can convince Loy to drop the suit. But it will only work if Chandler is a married man, so Haggerty has to convince Gladys to marry Chandler. In supporting roles we get to see some of the best actors of the time: Cora Witherspoon, William Connolly, Charlie Grapevine, William Benedict, and Bunny Beatty. More romantic and less hammy than Twentieth Century (1934) and more screwball and less earnest than The Philadelphia Story (1940), Libeled Lady is the essence of 1930's escapism. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Photos at The Mave.com and DVD Beaver

Redwood Curtain (1995)   starring Jeff Daniels, Lea Salonga, Debra Monk, Catherine Hicks, and John Lithgow; directed by John Korty.    Redwood Curtain is a thoughtful film that addresses the issues of adoption, emotional pairing, personal development and the maturing process. The death of a caring adoptive father (John Lithgow) precipitates his daughter's search for the truth about her Vietnamese mother and the American serviceman father who were forced to give her up at the fall of Saigon. Ths is a well crafted and performed movie where even the small roles are done well, whether in a lumbar yard, a vet's clinic or in the cemetery. (Hallmark Hall of Fame)

In the Time of the Butterflies (2001)   starring Salma Hayek, Edward James Olmos, Mìa Maestro, Demiàn Bichir, Pilar Padilla, Lumi Cavazos, and Marc Anthony; directed by Mariano Barroso.    True story of courage and sisterhood during the rise of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Minerva Mirabal (Salma Hayek ) and her two sisters (Mìa Maestro & Lumi Cavazos) --collectively known as Las Mariposas (The Butterflies ) plot to overthrow the government with tragic consequences. Dramatic and intense, with some superlative acting, this film is ultimately ennobling. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)   starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen; directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly.   Musical comedy about the difficulties in moving from silent film to talkies, Pauline Kael called it "Just about the best Hollywood musical of all time." Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a swashbuckling star of the silent film with a leading lady (Jean Hagen) whose voice rivals a chalkboard. Somehow they have to turn The Duelling Cavalier into a talkie while the leading lady spars with the ingenue (Debbie Reynolds). James Berardinelli called watching it "an exuberant, magical experience -- a journey deep into the heart of feel-good territory." (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

The Trouble with Harry (1955)   starring Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Mildred Natwick, and Shirley MacLaine; directed by Alfred Hitchcock.    This black comedy about a perambulating corpse (Harry) and the guilty feelings of a small New England community is curiously whimsical. Each of various parties feels responsibility for the death, or the disposal, of Harry. No one seems terribly shaken up about Harry's apparent murder, some don't even notice Harry's dead. Throughout the film Hitchcock develops his characters, almost on the sly, and produces beautifully subtle suspense in the final scenes. The score by Bernard Herrmann hits exactly the right note. Jerry Mathers (The Beav) plays the young Arnie Rogers. (Paramount Pictures - DVD released by Universal Studios)

     * The library has purchased public performance rights to these films.

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