My Film’s Inspiration

UCLA Film and Television Archives "The Treasure of Sierra Madre
(1948)" will be showing tomorrow evening at James Bridges
Theater.

By CJ Yu
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]

Screenwriter-director Sam Raimi, recently known for his work on
the film “Spider-man,” will be on campus tomorrow night
as part of an ongoing series sponsored by the UCLA Film and
Television Archive entitled “The Movie That Inspired
Me.”

Raimi, whose career spans over twenty years, has directing
credits that include the feature films “The Gift,” and
“A Simple Plan,” as well as an executive producing
credit for the television series “Xena: Warrior
Princess.”

Those who are curious about how filmmakers like Raimi got their
start in movies will especially benefit from the series at the
James Bridges Theater as it allows attendees to ask filmmakers and
actors questions about the films they choose to highlight.

Designed to bridge the gap between filmmakers and audiences, the
original creation of the series was conceived by the chairman of
the archive, Curtis Hanson.

“The idea of the series is very simple. We invite a
filmmaker who we admire to pick a movie,” Hanson said.
“Not the best movie ever made in his or her opinion, not even
their favorite movie, but a movie they saw at some point in their
lives that had a powerful influence on them.”

“It grew out of talking about movies with people, and
especially talking about them with people who make movies,”
he continued.

Hanson, a filmmaker himself, with credits including “L.A.
Confidential” and “Wonder Boys,” also serves as
the host and moderator of the screenings, which normally occur six
to 12 times a year.

Hanson urges students to take the opportunity to attend the
screenings if not to see the film, but at least to hear what the
notable filmmaker or actor has to say.

“First and foremost, they get to see a picture that was
significant in the creative life of someone who they probably
admire, and they then get to hear and, through a Q&A session,
participate in a dialogue with that person. It’s a very rare
opportunity to interact with top filmmakers,” Hanson
said.

The program, which has been on campus for three years, has
brought such notables as actor-producer Drew Barrymore and actor
Robert Downey Jr. to UCLA during previous screenings.

This month, invited guests included actor-director Diane Keaton
and screenwriter-director Michael Mann, who came to speak about
“Stagecoach” and “Dr. Strangelove,”
respectively.

Following the screening of “Dr. Strangelove” last
Thursday, Michael Mann discussed the impact the movie had on his
early filmmaking career. Mann, famous for directing the long
running “Miami Vice” television series and the recent
films “The Insider” and “Ali,” spoke both
to Hanson and to audience members about why he chose to screen
“Dr. Strangelove.”

Released in 1964, the quirky Stanley Kubrick satire poses the
hypothetical situation of what would happen if the United States
were to accidentally go into nuclear war with the former Soviet
Union.

“I picked Strangelove not because it influenced exactly
what I wanted to do in film “¦ but it was the effect of
Strangelove on myself and a whole generation of people who were in
school in January ’64 that motivated us to go into
cinema,” said Mann during the discussion.

There are a variety of factors that determine who the archive
chooses to participate in the screenings and what movies they
screen, according to Jesse Zigelstein, programming associate for
the archive.

“The films that were chosen still especially resonate with
audiences, and students can get a lot out of this. The films are
well worth seeing for their own merits and entertainment
value,” Zigelstein said.

Although the UCLA Film and Television Archive will continue to
show films throughout the end of the school year, tomorrow
night’s screening of John Huston’s “The Treasure
of the Sierra Madre,” will culminate the year-long
“Movie That Inspired Me” series.

The Oscar-winning film, released in 1948, stars Humphrey Bogart
as a miner who invests his money with two other friends in
prospecting equipment in hopes of striking it rich.

The print that will be shown tomorrow night is on loan from the
Library of Congress in Washington D.C., meaning that attendees will
get to view the classic print in near mint condition.

“I think any student who has not seen a program at the
archive would do well to come this Thursday to check it out because
“˜The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ is a great movie,
and this is a rare opportunity to see it on the big screen, which
is the way it should be seen,” Hanson said.

For information on upcoming screenings from the UCLA film
archives, visit www.cinema.ucla.edu.