UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program celebrate the centennial of Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster with a series dedicated to his films. Two of them are alsomasterpieces directed by Italian Luchino Visconti and will be screened this June at the Billy Wilder theater in Westwood.
On Sunday, June 9, don’t miss The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) (1963), starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, and Alain Delon. Burt Lancaster is the proud Sicilian prince at the center of his sumptuous, epic set during the convulsive 1860s Risorgimento that transformed Italy into a unified nation; but when the film was shoot, Lancaster wasn’t Visconti’s first choice. Even after watching Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Visconti, according to Lancaster, only offered “Well, maybe.”
Director Luchino Visconti and actor Burt Lancaster go over a scene of “Il Gattopardo”
Director Luchino Visconti and actor Burt Lancaster go over a scene of “Il Gattopardo”
The production proved challenging for both, but the result is a towering landmark of postwar cinema. Lancaster delivers the performance of his career as the dignified aristocrat holding fast to aristocratic values in the face of inexorable change.
Based on the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the film was recently restored in association with Cineteca di Bologna.
Sunday, June 30th, join UCLA Film & Television Archive for Conversation Piece (Gruppo di famiglia in un interno) (1971) with its all-star international cast, including Helmut Berger and Silvana Mangano. An underappreciated masterpiece from the mature Luchino Visconti, Conversation shows Burt Lancaster as a retired art historian settling into a life of virtual seclusion in a picturesque Roman palazzo. His self-imposed solitude, however, is swiftly disrupted by the intrusion of unruly new neighbors—namely Silvana Mangano, as an imperious upper-crust matron, and Visconti mainstay Helmut Berger, glamorously sullen as the conflicted left-wing lover Mangano installs in the apartment above Lancaster’s.
All programs screen at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood Village, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024. Advance tickets are available for $10 at www.cinema.ucla.edu, or at the Billy Wilder Theater box office starting one hour before showtime: $9, general admission; FREE to all UCLA students with valid ID; $8, other students, seniors and UCLA Alumni Association members with ID. Films will be screened in Italian with English subtitles.
More information at www.cinema.ucla.edu
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