The Avon Theater located on 272 Bedford Street in Stamford is offering a roster of classic films throughout the summer. This non-profit cultural hub is dedicated to presenting film in its highest form to entertain visitors and residents alike. In addition to an exciting slate of new releases The Avon is proud to present a series of classic movies, lectures and other monthly programs.
This spring and summer The Avon has announced it will bring back a series of bimonthly Cult Classics through April. Ticket prices are: Carte Blanche Members: FREE, Members: $6, Students & Seniors: $8, Nonmembers: $11. Call the Avon business office at 203-661-0321 or the box office at 203-967-3660, x2 for tickets. For more information http://www.avontheatre.org. For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com
The line up planned include the following shows from May – September are as follows:
2001: A SPACE ODDYSSEY (1968) Thursday, May 9 at 9:00 p.m.
At the dawn of mankind, a colony of apes awaken to find a glowing black monolith standing in their midst. After reaching out to touch the mysterious object, the apes become carnivores, employing bones for weapons. Four million years later, in the year 2001, Dr. Heywood Floyd, an American scientist, travels to the moon to investigate a monolith that has been discovered below the lunar surface. Knowing only that the slab emits a deafening sound directed toward the planet Jupiter, the USA sends a spaceship, the Discovery, on a 9-month, half billion-mile journey to the distant planet. Aboard are astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole, plus three others in frozen hibernation, and a computer called Hal. During the voyage, Hal predicts the failure of a component on one of the spacecraft’s antennae. Bowman leaves the ship in a one-man space pod to replace the crucial part; the prediction proves incorrect, however, and when Poole ventures out to replace the original part, Hal severs his lifeline. Bowman goes to rescue him, but Hal closes the pod entry doors and terminates the life functions of the three hibernating astronauts. Forced to abandon Poole, who is already dead, Bowman reenters the Discovery through the emergency hatch and reduces Hal to manual control by performing a mechanical lobotomy on the computer’s logic and memory circuits. Now alone, Bowman continues his flight until he encounters a third monolith among Jupiter’s moons. Suddenly hurtled into a new dimension of time and space, he is swept into a maelstrom of swirling colors, erupting landscapes, and exploding galaxies. At last coming to rest in a pale green bedroom, Bowman emerges from the nonfunctioning space capsule. A witness to the final stages of his life, the withered Bowman looks up from his deathbed at the giant black monolith standing in the center of the room. As he reaches toward it, he is perhaps reborn, perhaps evolved, perhaps transcended, into a new “child of the universe,” a fetus floating above the Earth. –tcm.com
Not Rated | 160 minutes | In English
C.H.U.D. (1984) Thursday, May 23 at 9:00 p.m.
People are disappearing all over the Big Apple. Nobody cares, though, because most of the missing are homeless. But when investigative reporter Murphy tips off principled photographer George Cooper to a government conspiracy involving the dumping of nuclear waste beneath the streets, Cooper decides to dig a little deeper. Soon he discovers the existence of C.H.U.D.s, or “Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers,” derelicts that have become grotesque monsters after being exposed to the mountains of hazardous waste. Meanwhile, Captain Bosch, a cop whose wife is among the missing, forms an unlikely alliance with the Reverend, a leftist soup-kitchen cook who knows the score. Murphy, Cooper, Bosch, and the Reverend soon run up against the stonewalling tactics of Wilson, a government toadie. As the titular monsters begin to tire of their underground habitat, the protagonists — including Cooper’s wife, beautiful model Lauren Daniels — face a race against time to defeat not only the C.H.U.D.s, but also the government’s cover-up. –Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
Rated R | 96 minutes | In English
DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993) Thursday, June 13 at 9:00 p.m.
Like George Lucas’ AMERICAN GRAFFITTI, Richard Linklater’s DAZED AND CONFUSED is an affectionate look at the youth culture of a bygone era. While Lucas took aim at the conservative 1950s, Linklater jumps ahead a generation to the bicentennial year of 1976 to celebrate the joys of beer blasts and pot smoking. Set on the last day of the academic year, the film follows the random activities of a sprawling group of Texas high schoolers as they celebrate the arrival of summer, their paths variously intersecting at a freshmen hazing, a local pool parlor and finally at a keg party. –Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Rated R | 103 minutes | In English
MISSING IN ACTION (1984) Thursday, June 27 at 9:00 p.m.
Colonel James Braddock is an American officer who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese POW camp, then escaped 10 years ago. After the bloodiest war, Braddock accompanies a government investigation team that goes to Ho Chi Minh City to check out reports of Americans still held prisoner. Braddock gets the evidence then travels to Thailand, where he meets Tuck, an old Army buddy turned black-market kingpin. Together, they launch a mission deep into the jungle to free the American POWs from General Trau. –Anthony Pereyra
Rated R | 101 minutes | In English
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) Thursday, July 11 at 9:00 p.m.
The plot of this Raymond Chandler-esque comedy crime caper from the Coen Brothers pivots around a case of mistaken identity complicated by extortion, double-crosses, deception, embezzlement, sex, pot, and gallons of White Russians. In 1991, unemployed ’60s refugee Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski grooves into his laid-back Los Angeles lifestyle. One of the laziest men in LA, he enjoys hanging with his bowling buddies, pompous security-store owner Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and mild-mannered ex-surfer Donny (Steve Buscemi). However, the Dude’s life takes an alternate route the afternoon two goons break into his threadbare Venice, California, bungalow, rough him up, and urinate on his living room rug. Why? Because Jackie Treehorn is owed money by the wife of a certain Jeff Lebowski. However, the goons had the wrong Jeff Lebowski. They should have invaded the home of philanthropic Pasadena millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski. The Dude looks up his wealthy namesake, manages to get a replacement for his rug, and meets the millionaire’s sexy young wife Bunny. Later, Jeffrey (“The Big”) Lebowski calls in the Dude to deliver a $1 million ransom for the return of his kidnapped wife. Fine — except that Walter intrudes and botches the ransom drop. As events unravel, the Dude gets caught up in the schemes of Lebowski’s daughter, erotic artist Maude, encounters both cops and bad guys, and drifts through an elaborate bowling fantasy sequence titled Gutterballs. –Bhob Stewart, Rovi
Rated R | 117 minutes | In English
SCANNERS (1981) Thursday, July 25 at 9:00 p.m.
The title of this David Cronenberg sci-fi horror film refers to a group of people who have telekinetic powers that allow them to read minds and give them the ability to make other people’s heads explode. The children of a group of women who took an experimental tranquilizer during their pregnancies, the scanners are now adults and have become outcasts from society. But Darryl decides to create an army of scanners to take over the world. The only person who can stop him is his brother Cameron, who wants to forget that he was ever a scanner. –Matthew Tobey, Rovi
Rated R | 120 minutes | In English
THE KARATE KID (1984) Thursday, August 8 at 9:00 p.m.
Newly arrived in California from New Jersey, teenager Daniel almost immediately runs afoul of karate-trained high school bullies. He is rescued by Japanese janitor Miyagi, who agrees to teach Daniel how to harness karate for good instead of brutality. The film culminates in a championship karate bout, pitting Daniel against his sworn enemy Johnny — the cruel and thuggish boyfriend of Ali, with whom Daniel has fallen in love (and vice versa). Real-life karate champ Chuck Norris was offered the role of Kreese, the sadistic coach who goads Johnny into fighting dirty, but Norris turned down the role, refusing to be shown utilizing his skills negatively onscreen. –Hal Erickson, Rovi
Rated PG | 122 minutes | In English
THE WARRIORS (1979) Thursday, August 22 at 9:00 p.m.
In a dystopian near-future, when various gangs control New York City, each gang sports a unique moniker (‘The Warriors,’ ‘The Baseball Furies,’ ‘The Rogues’), with a costume underscoring its “theme”; each, in turn, is also responsible for one geographic area. The city is a massive, violent playground – with vacant subway tunnels, abandoned buildings and the like. As the tale opens, Coney Island’s The Warriors have traveled to the Bronx to attend a city-wide meeting of all gangs; at that event, however, the psychotic leader of a rival gang, The Rogues, assassinates the head of the city’s foremost gang, but The Warriors are pegged as culpable. This sends the gang fleeing through the labyrinthine city. With every thug in Manhattan in vicious, homicidal pursuit. –Nathan Southern, Rovi
Rated R | 93 minutes | In English
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) Thursday, September 5 at 9:00 p.m.
The second in the series of James Bond films, is the film that solidifies all the Bond film elements into a formula. Sean Connery as Bond has nailed down his role as 007 — accentuating Bond’s stylishness and sophistication, while toning down his cold-bloodedness. In FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, the bad guys don’t want to take over the world. They want something more mundane — a Russian decoding device. Assigned the mission of stealing the decoding device are No. 3, former KGB agent Rosa Klebb, and No. 5, Kronsteen, an expert chess player who has plotted every move of the mission. Kronsteen’s plan requires using Bond’s weakness for women as an element in acquiring the decoding device. Once Bond obtains the decoding device from Russian cipher clerk Tatiana Romanova, SPECTRE muscleman Red Grant is to forcibly take it from Bond and kill him. Though Bond suspects a trap, he can’t resist the lure of a beautiful woman. So, flaunting danger, Bond travels to Istanbul to meet Tatiana. The centerpiece of this 007 feature is the thrilling fight to the death between Bond and enemy agent Red Grant aboard the Orient Express. –Paul Brenner, Rovi
Not Rated | 118 minutes | In English
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