Celebrate the comedic genius of Mel Brooks as we celebrate his 100th birthday by rolling out a Cinemascope print of Blazing Saddles courtesy of our friends at See It On 16mm!
A town (where everyone seems to be named Johnson) stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.
One of the most outrageous and relentlessly quotable comedies ever unleashed on American screens, Blazing Saddles remains both a landmark of boundary-pushing studio comedy and a fearless reminder that Brooks’ sharpest target was always bigotry itself. Featuring all-time great comedic performances from Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, and of course…Madeline Kahn, it’s an absolutely unhinged ride from first punchline to last explosion through the studio backlot.
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Three men. One fortune. And a whole lot of dust.
Celebrate 60 years of Sergio Leone’s sprawling Western epic The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly with a new 4K restoration!
The film follows the uneasy alliance between Blondie (Clint Eastwood), the ruthless Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), and the volatile Tuco (Eli Wallach) as they race to uncover a buried cache of gold. As betrayals pile up and loyalties shift, there’s only one way to settle their differences…in one of cinema’s greatest final showdowns.
With its operatic scale and iconic score by Ennio Morricone, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly redefined the Western, turning it into real spectacle and electrifying the hearts of filmgoers for decades past its initial release.
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Our Classic Movie Nights series is headed out West as we present the trailblazing Gary Cooper film High Noon!
Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his gang are coming to kill him, Kane is determined to stand his ground, so he attempts to gather a posse from among the local townspeople.
High Noon holds a massive legacy as an Oscar-winning revisionist Western that redefined the genre by emphasizing tension over shoot-em-up tropes. It is famously interpreted as an allegory for McCarthy-era blacklisting, symbolizing moral courage against cowardice. The film also introduced the now-iconic cinematic trope of a real-time, high-noon showdown, which has been oft-imitated but never replicated.
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The nearer they get to their treasure, the farther they get from the law.
Bogie Fest heads south of the border for one of the greatest adventure dramas ever put to film: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre! Directed by John Huston, this gripping tale of greed and survival unfolds in the rugged mountains of Mexico, where desperation and fortune are two sides to the same coin.
Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), a down-on-his-luck drifter, teams up with fellow American Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) and a seasoned old prospector, Howard (Walter Huston), to strike gold in the Sierra Madre. What begins as a hopeful quest for riches slowly unravels into a tense psychological battle, as paranoia and mistrust creep in and threaten to destroy everything they’ve worked for.
With its stark realism, iconic lines (“We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!”), and one hell of a performance from our beloved Bogie, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre remains a towering achievement in classic cinema. Walter Huston’s colorful turn as the wise and weathered Howard earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while his son, John Huston, took home Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay!
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This March, Frida Cinema Film Club Members are being treated to Jim Jarmusch’s acid Western Dead Man , now with a new 4K restoration!
Accountant William Blake (Johnny Depp) has hardly arrived in the godforsaken outpost of Machine before he’s caught in the middle of a fatal lovers’ quarrel. Wounded and on the lam, Blake falls under the watch of the outcast Nobody (Gary Farmer), who guides his companion on a spiritual journey, teaching him to dispense poetic justice along the way.
Featuring austerely beautiful black-and-white photography by Robby Müller and a live-wire score by Neil Young, Dead Man is a profound and unique revision of the western genre. Thank you to our friends at Janus Films for allowing us to screen this starkly beautiful film on the big screen!
Not a Frida Cinema Film Club member? Sign up here!
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Our series on the Lost Films Of Covid is moving on to American auteur Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow, a small story with an enormous heart.
In the rough Oregon Territory of the 1820s, a skilled cook and a Chinese immigrant form an unlikely partnership — baking sweet cakes with stolen milk and daring to imagine a better life.
Shot with Reichardt’s signature patience and intimacy, First Cow finds poetry in the fleeting bonds of survival. Five years after theaters went quiet, it’s a reminder that history isn’t written by conquerors, but by those who share what little they have.
Thank you to our friends at Filmbot for their support in presenting this amazing series.
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Our In Defense Of…series for November is Chloe’s pick, and she’s chosen the 2011 animated classic Rango!
When Rango, a lost family pet, accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt, the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stands out. Welcomed as the last hope the town has been waiting for, new Sheriff Rango is forced to play his new role to the hilt.
A love letter to Spaghetti Westerns and cinematic misfits alike, Rango dazzles with eye-popping animation that can’t be missed on the big screen!
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From the twisted mind of writer/director Ari Aster springs Eddington, his surrealist (or is it?) nightmare time capsule comedy. And thanks to our friends over at Production Designers Collective, stick around after the screening for a very special Q&A with the film’s Production Designer–Elliott Hostetter (The Neon Demon, Bones & All).
In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico. Hindsight is 2020.
Starring an all-star cast of Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler, the film debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and was released just this past Summer.
This event will be an official part of International Production Design Week.
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For the first time in The Frida Cinema’s history, we are presenting a very special run of the 1993 Western classic Tombstone, with an emphasis on celebrating Val Kilmer’s electric performance as the legendary Doc Holliday! And to mark the occasion, we are, of course, running the brand new 4K restoration!
Directed by George P. Cosmatos (and, unofficially, co-directed by Kurt Russell), Tombstone tells the true-ish story of Wyatt Earp and his brothers as they attempt to leave the law behind and settle into a quiet life in Arizona—only to be drawn into a violent showdown with the outlaw gang known as the Cowboys. It’s lightning-fast, guns-blazing, and has an absolutely stacked cast.
In honor of Kilmer’s legendary performance and enduring legacy, we’re bringing the O.K. Corral back to the big screen—where legends belong.
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Santo Sundays continue with Santo Contra Los Jinetes Del Terror!
After a group of violent lepers escapes from a sanitarium, robbing several farms, residents of the town demand the the sheriff – take action. Meanwhile, a local criminal joins forces with the lepers – to commit even more robberies. As the disfigured madmen keep the – entire town indoors with its reign of terror, the sheriff has no – choice but to call on the only man who can help–legendary wrestling – superhero, Santo!
Trash-Mex is proud to collaborate with Permanencia Voluntaria Archivo Cinematográfico for a special screening series of Mexican icon El Santo. Join us every other Sunday this Summer for a total of eight of his greatest hits! All films will be presented in Spanish with English subtitles. Admission is $9.
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