5/20,21,22: Risky Business; Wichita Big Screen; Palace 1:10, 3:40, 6:30, 8:50, 11:10 (no 11:10 on Sunday)
5/23, 24: Taxi Driver; Wichita Big Screen; Old Town Warren 7:00 & 10:00
5/27, 28, 29: Excalibur; Wichita Big Screen; Palace (showtimes tba)
In what might otherwise be a slow time for screenings around town, Wichita Big Screen is picking up the slack with three different movies over the next couple weeks.
Tonight, tomorrow and Sunday, they’ll be showing the movie that pretty much rocketed Tom Cruise and his underwear to stardom, 1983’s Risky Business. It, of course, follows Cruise’s high school student whose parents leave town, affording him the opportunity to engage in all kinds of irresponsible antics, which lead to very, very unintended consequences. The movie was very well reviewed at the time, and obviously we know what Tom Cruise went on to do. Risky Business shows multiple times throughout the weekend at the Palace Theatre.
Next week, on the 23rd and 24th, there’ll be screenings of Martin Scorsese’s searing 1976 drama-thriller Taxi Driver, which was nominated for about a billion awards and won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie itself can be difficult to watch at times, and even the events surrounding the movie contain some level of mayhem, as it’s partly inspired by Arthur Bremer, who shot presidential candidate George Wallace a few years earlier, and then the movie itself inspired John Hinckley to try to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to impress Jodie Foster, who stars alongside Robert DeNiro in the movie. And the movie itself isn’t any less nuts than the reality around it, but it is an essential part of American film history and must be seen by anyone with the stomach for it. Taxi Driver will play at the Warren Old Town next Monday and Tuesday nights.
And then next weekend on the 27th, 28th, and 29th, Wichita Big Screen will show John Boorman’s 1981 interpretation of the King Arthur legend, Excalibur. The movie had mixed reviews at the time but has certainly held on to a strong and loyal audience and it helped to launch or blow up the careers of a ton of recognizable faces, including Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne, and Liam Neeson, not to mention Nicol Williamson’s turn as Merlin and Nigel Terry’s as King Arthur. Excalibur plays multiple times each night next weekend at the Palace.
