Classic westerns ride again at the Ahrya Fine Arts
Disrespected and often left for dead, the western endures as Laemmle’s second annual Western Weekend showcases half a dozen of the great films that made the genre eternally popular.
Each of the six features is worth a visit, including the classic “High Noon” (4:30 p.m. Aug. 20) with Gary Cooper as a lawman fighting the clock, director Philip Kaufman pulling off “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid” (7:30 p.m. Aug. 18), Paul Newman staring in “Hombre” (2 p.m. Aug. 20) and the Kirk Douglas/Burt Lancaster “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” (5:30 p.m. Aug. 19). But two of them are personal favorites.
“Ride the High Country” (3 p.m. Aug. 19), an early effort from Sam Peckinpah, stars veterans Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea in a tale set during the closing of the West. A similar elegiac air infuses “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (8 p.m. Aug. 19). One of John Ford’s indisputable masterpieces, it stars John Wayne, James Stewart and an out-of-control Lee Marvin in an unexpectedly emotional story of lost illusions and missed opportunities. Not your usual western, but a classic nevertheless.
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Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 478-3836 www.laemmle.com/films/42719
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