School of Cinematic Arts Events

A Centennial Tribute to Frank Sinatra

November 1, 2015 - November 8, 2015, Varied

The Frank Sinatra Hall at the Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre Complex, 3507 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90007



The USC School of Cinematic Arts, Frank Sinatra Enterprises,
and USC Visions & Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative

Invite you and a guest to attend
 

A Centennial Tribute to Frank Sinatra

Sunday, November 1st: The Musical and Comedic Sinatra
Friday, November 6th: The Dramatic Sinatra
Sunday, November 8th: The Dramatic Sinatra
 
The Frank Sinatra Hall
at the Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre Complex
3507 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90007

FREE ADMISSION. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. RSVPs REQUIRED.
 

About A Centennial Tribute to Frank Sinatra

The USC School of Cinematic Arts is honored to join the Sinatra family and the Sinatra Centennial in commemorating Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday with a film retrospective that will celebrate the man, his art, and his iconic career. One of the best-selling musical artists of all time, Sinatra was also a powerful film actor, appearing in 55 films over 44 years, and wining an Oscar for From Here to Eternity. Screenings will be presented from across three genres -- musicals, comedies, and dramas -- and will be accompanied by a lecture and discussion on Sunday, November 8th by Dr. Drew Casper, The Alma and Alfred Hitchcock Professor of American Film.

Produced by Alessandro Ago and Dr. Drew Casper for the USC School of Cinematic Arts, with the generous support and collaboration of Frank Sinatra Enterprises.

Schedule of Screenings

CLICK ON FILM TITLES FOR MORE INFORMATION ON EACH SCREENING.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST: THE MUSICAL AND COMEDIC SINATRA

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH: THE DRAMATIC SINATRA

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH: THE DRAMATIC SINATRA

About the Films

ON THE TOWN (1949)
11:00 A.M. on Sunday, November 1st, 2015.
Directed by Stanley Donen. Running time: 98 minutes.
35mm print provided courtesy of Warner Bros.
Click here to RSVP

Fun-loving sailors Gabey (Gene Kelly), Chip (Frank Sinatra) and Ozzie (Jules Munshin) have 24 hours of shore leave in New York City, and they want to make every second count. While Chip hooks up with loudmouth cab driver Brunhilde (Betty Garrett) and Ozzie swoons for prim anthropologist Claire (Ann Miller), Gabey falls in love with an actress he sees in an advertisement, Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen). Leonard Bernstein, with lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green, provides the music.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/OnTheTown

 

HIGH SOCIETY (1956)
12:45 P.M. on Sunday, November 1st, 2015.
Directed by Charles Walters. Running time: 111 minutes.
35mm print provided courtesy of Warner Bros.
Click here to RSVP

Jazz artist C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby) is still hung up on his ex-wife and neighbor, socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly), however Tracy is engaged to another man (John Lund). Matters are complicated even further when a magazine reporter (Frank Sinatra), in town to cover Tracy's wedding, also winds up falling for the beautiful bride-to-be. As Tracy tries to decide on the ideal husband, each suitor works hard to convince her he is the best choice.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/HighSociety

 

THE JOKER IS WILD (1957)
3:00 P.M. on Sunday, November 1st, 2015.
Directed by Charles Vidor. Running time: 111 minutes.
Provided courtesy of Paramount Pictures. This film will be screened from a DVD.
Click here to RSVP

Prohibition-era nightclub crooner Joe E. Lewis (Frank Sinatra) has his career and nearly his life cut short when his throat is slashed as payback for leaving the employ of Chicago mob boss Georgie Parker (Ted de Corsia). A broken alcoholic, Joe is brought back from the abyss by his faithful piano player, Austin Mack (Eddie Albert), who helps turn the former singer into a successful stand-up comedian. But Joe's demons plague his romantic life even as he reaches new heights of success.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/TheJokerIsWild

 

THE TENDER TRAP (1955)
5:15 P.M. on Sunday, November 1st, 2015.
Directed by Charles Walters. Running time: 111 minutes.
Provided courtesy of Warner Bros. This film will be screened from a DVD.
Click here to RSVP

Successful theater agent Charlie Reader (Frank Sinatra) lives a playboy's life in New York City. When his childhood friend, Joe McCall (David Wayne), shows up with a desire to leave his wife, the two are awestruck by each other's lifestyle. While Charlie is busy with his newest girlfriend, marriage-obsessed actress Julie Gillis (Debbie Reynolds), Joe falls in with Sylvia (Celeste Holm), a rebuffed former flame of Charlie's, and the two friends must make different but equally important decisions.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/TheTenderTrap

 

GUYS AND DOLLS (1955) - New Restoration!
7:30 P.M. on Sunday, November 1st, 2015.
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Running time: 150 minutes.
DCP provided courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Click here to RSVP

Gambler Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) has few options for the location of his big craps game. Needing $1,000 to pay a garage owner to host the game, Nathan bets Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) that Sky cannot get virtuous Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons) out on a date. Despite some resistance, Sky negotiates a date with her in exchange for bringing people into her mission. Meanwhile, Nathan's longtime fiancée, Adelaide (Vivian Blaine), wants him to go legit and marry her.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/GuysAndDolls

 

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
7:00 P.M. on Friday, November 6th, 2015.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Running time: 118 minutes.
DCP provided courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Click here to RSVP

The scene is Schofield Army Barracks in Honolulu, in the languid days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, where James Jones' acclaimed war novel From Here to Eternity brought the aspirations and frustrations of several people sharply into focus. Sergeant Milt Warden (Burt Lancaster) enters into an affair with Karen (Deborah Kerr), the wife of his commanding officer. Private Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a loner who lives by his own code of ethics and communicates better with his bugle than he does with words. Prew's best friend is wisecracking Maggio (Frank Sinatra, in an Oscar-winning performance that revived his flagging career), who has been targeted for persecution by sadistic stockade sergeant Fatso Judson (Ernest Borgnine). Rounding out the principals is Alma Lorene (Donna Reed), a "hostess" at the euphemistically named whorehouse The New Congress Club. All these melodramatic joys and sufferings are swept away by the Japanese attack on the morning of December 7.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/FromHereToEternity

 

SUDDENLY (1954)
10:00 A.M. on Sunday, November 8th, 2015.
Directed by Lewis Allen. Running time: 75 minutes.
Provided courtesy of Holland Releasing. This film will be screened from a bluray.
Click here to RSVP

In advance of a presidential visit to the small town of Suddenly, California, a trio of FBI agents enters the Benson family's home to assess potential security risks. Once inside, leader John Baron (Frank Sinatra) reveals himself as a psychopathic assassin, and he kidnaps the family in order to use their house as his vantage point in his plot to kill the president. Sheriff Tod Shaw (Sterling Hayden) matches wits with the assassin and his gang in an attempt to save the day.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/Suddenly

 

THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955)
11:30 A.M. on Sunday, November 8th, 2015.
Directed by Otto Preminger. Running time: 119 minutes.
Provided courtesy of Victoria Preminger. 35mm print provided courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
Click here to RSVP

Restored by the Academy Film Archive with funding from the Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

When illegal card dealer and recovering heroin addict Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra) gets out of prison, he decides to straighten up. Armed with nothing but an old drum set, Frankie tries to get honest work as a drummer. But when his former employer, small-time con man Schwiefka (Robert Strauss), and Frankie's old drug dealer, Louis (Darren McGavin), re-enter his life, Frankie finds it hard to stay clean and eventually finds himself succumbing to his old habits.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/TheManWithTheGoldenArm

 

SOME CAME RUNNING (1958)
1:45 P.M. on Sunday, November 8th, 2015.
Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Running time: 137 minutes.
Provided courtesy of MGM. This film will be screened from a DVD.
Click here to RSVP

Hard-drinking novelist Dave Hirsh (Frank Sinatra) returns home after being gone for years. His brother (Arthur Kennedy) wants Dave to settle down, and introduces him to English teacher Gwen French (Martha Hyer). Moody Dave resents his brother, and spends his days hanging out with Bama Dillert (Dean Martin), a professional gambler who parties late into the night. Torn between the admiring Gwen and Ginny Morehead (Shirley MacLaine), an easy woman who loves him, Dave grows increasingly angry.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/SomeCameRunning

 

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
8:00 P.M. on Sunday, November 8th, 2015.
Directed by John Frankenheimer. Running time: 126 minutes.
DCP provided courtesy of United Artists.
Click here to RSVP

Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and, together with fellow soldier Allen Melvin (James Edwards), races to uncover a terrible plot.

Learn more about this screening at http://cinema.usc.edu/TheManchurianCandidate

 

Check-In & Reservations

All screenings are free of charge and open to the public. Please bring a valid photo ID or print out of your reservation confirmation, which will automatically be sent to your e-mail account upon successfully making an RSVP through this website.

All SCA screenings are OVERBOOKED to ensure seating capacity in the theater, therefore seating is not guaranteed based on RSVPs. The RSVP list will be checked in on a first-come, first-served basis until the theater is full. Once the theater has reached capacity, we will no longer be able to admit guests, regardless of RSVP status.

Parking

The USC School of Cinematic Arts is located at 900 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007. Parking passes may be purchased for $12.00 at USC Entrance Gate #5, located at the intersection of W. Jefferson Blvd. & McClintock Ave. We recommend Parking Structure D, at the far end of 34th Street. Metered street parking is also available along Jefferson Blvd.

About USC Visions & Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative

Visions and Voices is a university-wide arts and humanities initiative that is unparalleled in higher education. The initiative was established by USC President C. L. Max Nikias during his tenure as provost in order to fulfill the goals set forth in USC's strategic plan; to communicate USC's core values to students; and to affirm the human spirit. Emphasizing the university's commitment to interdisciplinary approaches, the initiative features a spectacular array of events conceived and organized by faculty and schools throughout the university. The series includes theatrical productions, music and dance performances, conferences, lectures, film screenings and many other special events both on and off campus. Each program invites students to dialogue and interact with artists, writers, professors and special guests. These interactions provide a dynamic experience of the arts and humanities and encourage active exploration of USC's core values, including freedom of inquiry and expression, team spirit, appreciation of diversity, commitment to serving one's community, entrepreneurial spirit, informed risk-taking, ethical conduct and the search for truth.

For more information, visit www.usc.edu/visionsandvoices

Contact Information

Name: Alessandro Ago
Email: aago@cinema.usc.edu