Now before you think that I’m breaking out of my writer’s block with a vengeance, based on that title, I’ll have to let you down ever so easily. It’s actually the title of a really interesting film lecture series coming up at the Miles Nadal JCC. Each Monday night from January 16 through March 26, from 7:00 until about 9:00, critic and author Kevin Courrier (Critics at Large) is going to examine this meaty-sounding subject with a selection of film clips. The films under discussion make this sound fascinating:
- Monday January 16: The Kennedy Era (The Godfather, Part II, The Manchurian Candidate, JFK assassination news coverage)
- Monday January 23: The Johnson Era (Bonnie and Clyde, Dr. Strangelove, In the Heat of the Night, Cool Hand Luke, Night of the Living Dead, The Wild Bunch, Bullitt)
- Monday January 30: The Nixon Era (Midnight Cowboy, Easy Rider, Alice’s Restaurant, Dirty Harry, Billy Jack)
- Monday February 6: The Carter Era (The Conversation, All the President’s Men, Taxi Driver, Winter Kills, Who’ll Stop the Rain, Nashville, Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, Star Wars)
- Monday February 13: The Reagan Era (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Blow Out, Pennies from Heaven, Diner, The Border, The Survivors, Moscow on the Hudson, Under Fire)
- Monday February 20: No class
- Monday February 27: The Bush Era (Field of Dreams, True Believer)
- Monday March 5: The Clinton Era (Primary Colors, Forrest Gump, JFK, In the Line of Fire, Love Field, Three Kings, The Contender, Wag the Dog, The West Wing (TV))
- Monday March 12: No class
- Monday March 19: The GW Bush Era (We Were Soldiers, Tears of the Sun, The 25th Hour, Team America: World Police, Fahrenheit/Fahrenhype 9/11)
- Monday March 26: The Obama Era (Rachel Getting Married, Definitely, Maybe, No Country for Old Men, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Hurt Locker, The Visitor)
Tickets are $12 for each class ($6 for students) or $100 for the entire series, and are available in person at the Miles Nadal JCC information desk (750 Spadina Ave. at Bloor St.). Hope to see you there!