Walk-In Drive-In
Of the many hateful things associated with summer in New York City, nothing seems as creepy as the lines outside of movie theaters for the summer blockbusters-whether it's mainstream fare like Miami Vice or relatively-more-mainstream fare like that upcoming documentary on Leonard Cohen. It doesn't even make sense for there to be lines. Nearly everyone in this city seems to be a film critic, anyway.
The only allowable exemption is when modern appliances can't compete with the miserable temperatures. Some of us even sat through Judge Dredd over a broken air conditioner. It is, however, perfectly acceptable to take advantage of free summertime films here-especially since so many of the series are outdoors, providing both cooling breezes and the closest that NYC has to offer as a drive-in theater (right down to a consistent starting time of "dusk").
As always, the most reliable and touristy of these series is the Bryant Park Movie Screenings-which now probably has the name of corporate sponsor HBO included in there somewhere. This is the best place to watch young idiots who just moved to town showing up with plastic trays from deli buffets promptly at 5 p.m., holding places for all their officemates who moved here the summer before.
It's also a miserable place to be reminded that everyone in NYC thinks free movie screenings are a license to talk way too loud. Still, the Bryant Park screenings remain admirably classic in their selection. Maybe your mother's coming to town, so you'll want to know the following:
June 19: Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963); June 26:
To Have and Have Not (1944); July 3: M*A*S*H (1970); July 10:
Bullitt (1968); July 17: The Band Wagon (1953); July 24: High Noon (1952); July 31: A Shot in the Dark (1964); August 7: The Manchurian Candidate (1962); August 14: Charade (1963); August 21: Rocky (1976).
Veteran summer filmgoers, however, long ago gave up on Bryant Park in favor of the more romantic setting of the Movies With a View Film Series. The folks at Brooklyn Bridge Park have also managed a more eclectic roster of modern classics, although the last booking seems more like an insane bid to recreate the summer of '77:
July 6: The Wizard of Oz (1939); July 13: Easy Rider (1969); July 20: Strangers on a Train (1951); July 27: Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985); August 2: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994); August 10: Bonnie and Clyde (1967); August 17: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); August 24: The Warriors (1979).
Completists can also rely upon the lesser-known Movies Under The Stars Series at the West Side's Riverside Park South. It's a shorter schedule and a weirder selection, as dictated by a nautical theme:
July 12: On The Waterfront (1954); July 19: Show Boat (1951); July 26: The African Queen (1951); August 2: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004); August 9: On The Town (1949); August 16: A River Runs Through It (1992).
Of course, what the aforementioned film series have in common is a tight schedule designed to get you home before the babysitter starts charging double. Lowlifes of drinking age, though, have a true friend in the Cine Noir Summer Film Series-taking place this summer at the East River Bar (97 S.6th St, Williamsburg; 718-302-0521).
Instead of waiting until dusk-in admittedly fine drive-in style-Cine Noir starts their features at 8 pm. Then you'll wisely loiter into the night (and on Sundays until 2 a.m.) to a series of cartoons, coming attractions, bizarre short subjects, and other cinematic curios that include features, too. These titles may be less recognizable, but each is an amazing film experience in some pop culture context. Keep the bar's phone number handy, too, since Cine Noir adds films throughout the summer-especially if someone worthy of tribute suddenly drops dead:
May 14: "An Evening of Scopitone Music Films"; May 21: Sister Streetfighter (1975); June 4: Casino Royale (1967); June 11: The Thing (1951); June 18: Good Times (1967); June 25: The Touchables (1968); July 2: Friday Foster (1975); July 9: Night of the Sorcerers (1973); July 23: Fury of Hercules (1961); July 30: Lightning Swords of Death (1974); August 6: Blue Surf-Ari (1968); August 13: Viva Maria (1965); August 20: "A Night of Beatles Films."
In closing, there's one great outdoors left open to a hardcore hipster contingent. This year's Celebrate Brooklyn Music Series offers another fine series of live soundtrack performances at the Prospect Park Bandshell. These screenings are also one of the rare places where talking during a film can truly have dire consequences. That's in the form of withering glances from behind fashionable dorky eyewear, which can be really more devastating than you think:
July 13: Yo La Tengo performs to the marine life documentaries of French filmmaker Jean Painlevé; July 21: Alloy Orchestra performs to Blackmail (1929); July 27: Philip Glass & Kronos Quartet perform their score to Dracula (1931); August 3: Bill Frisell performs to shorts by Buster Keaton, Jim Woodring and Bill Morrison.