Ace in the Hole

press release:

SUN., 10/9, 2 p.m. ACE IN THE HOLE: USA | 1951 | 35mm | 111 min.

Director: Billy Wilder; Cast: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Porter Hall

Wilder’s dialogue (“I don't pray, kneeling bags my nylons”) and direction were never more cynical, and rarely more powerful, than in this bitter and thoroughly compelling expose on newspaper journalism. When an amateur spelunker is trapped in an old Indian mine, an opportunistic and ambitious journalist  (Douglas as Chuck Tatum) finds a way to exploit the story for his own career advancement.

Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen: Kirk Douglas and Olivia de Havilland at 100!

For our Fall 2016 Sunday afternoon series at the Chazen Museum of Art, we will salute two legendary actors who turn 100 years-old in 2016. A force in Hollywood for over four decades, Olivia de Havilland (born July 1, 1916) distinguished herself as a contract player at Warner Bros. during the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing as leading lady to Errol Flynn in several action spectaculars like Captain Blood. Later on at Paramount Studios, she won two Oscars for The Heiress and To Each His Own. A supporting player in a handful of late '40s features, Kirk Douglas quickly rose to the ranks of leading man and practically invented the notion of the anti-hero in such Hollywood features as Champion and Ace in the Hole. Later, Douglas formed his own powerful production company, Bryna, and appeared in some of the best-remembered films of the '50s and '60s, like Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, The Vikings and Lonely are the Brave. Douglas 100th birthday will be observed in our regular venue, 4070 Vilas Hall, on December 11 with a newly restored version of the Douglas/Kubrick classic Spartacus.