Bryant Park Summer Movies 2015

The annual FREE Bryant Park Summer Film Festival on Monday evenings begins next Monday, June 22nd, so consider this a “save the date” card to your personal list of must see movies on your NYC summer calendar.

This year’s schedule includes Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and Footloose and a couple of classic Clark Gable, Spencer Try and Katherine Hepburn gems.

Bryant Park Summer Movie Festival Screenings begin at sunset, and the Lawn opens at 5pm to snag a chair or a picnic spot on the lawn. Here’s the schedule:

Monday, June 22, 2015

• Ghostbusters: Who ya gonna call? Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis are the best paranormal exterminators in the city, trying to save NYC from all sorts of pesky spooks, specters and goblins, as well as Sigourney Weaver from Rick Moranis. Directed by Ivan Reitman and featuring Annie Potts and Ernie Hudson in supporting roles. (1984) 105 min. (PG) Sony

Monday, June 29, 2015

• The Killers: Burt Lancaster, the acrobat-turned acclaimed actor starring in his first film, is a former boxer fleeing his checkered past on a cross country journey with a double-crossing dame, Ava Gardner in her sultry best. Based on an Ernest Hemingway story and directed by Richard Siodmak, this is a flawless and enduring film noir. (1946) 97 min. (NR) Universal

Monday, July 6, 2015

• The Poseidon Adventure: The model for all disaster movies is an epic featuring the biggest stars of the time: Gene Hackman, Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Winters, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall, and more. A luxury liner is capsized by a rogue wave and with the entire world turned upside down, the survivors must fight for their lives. (1972) 117 min. (PG) Fox

Monday, July 13, 2015

• I’m No Angel:  Brooklyn-born Mae West plays a platinum blonde lion tamer in a tacky carnival and becomes the toast of NYC. One of cinema’s greatest comedy/musicals, written by Mae West, co-starring a young Cary Grant in one of his first film roles, and and includes some of the most enduring lines in film. When she’s good, she’s VERY good. (1933) 87 min. (NR) Universal

Monday, July 20, 2015

• Badlands: Director Terrence Malick’s masterful debut film starring the superb Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, and based on the actual Starkweather/Fugate murder spree across several states in the 1950s. Gorgeous cinematography and haunting use of music. (1973) 94 min. (PG) Warner Bros.

Monday, July 27, 2015

• Footlose: Put on your dancing shoes. Kevin Bacon moves from Chicago to a small Midwestern town where he can’t believe that rock music and dancing are banned. He meets a girl (Lori Singer) and convinces the town council and the uptight preacher (John Lithgow) to let the prom go on. The songs Footloose and Let’s Hear It for the Boy were Oscar nominated. Directed by Herbert Ross. (1984) 107 min. (R) Paramount

Monday, August 3, 2015

• Marathon Man: Dustin Hoffman, Roy Sheider and Sir Lawrence Olivier stars in this harrowing thriller, directed by John Schlesinger. Dustin Hoffman is a Columbia grad student and runner who gets mixed up with international intrigue, stolen diamonds, a government agent (Roy Scheider) who is his brother, and a Nazi war criminal (Sir Laurence Olivier) with a penchant for oral surgery. You may never look at your dentist the same way again.  (1976) 125 min. (R) Paramount

Monday, August 10, 2015

• Desk Set: Screen legends Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy do office politics, romance and comedy better than just about anyone. He’s an efficiency expert who wants to update her TV research department by installing a room-sized computer. She vows to fight any attempt to replace her brain with a mechanical one. Based on a Broadway comedy, this is the eighth of their nine movie pairings, and one of the best. (1957) 103 min. (NR) Fox