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Around Town: ‘Last Picture Show’ and Duncan Jones

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A 40th-anniversary reunion screening of “The Last Picture Show,” a tribute to the vintage TV series “Insight” and a personal appearance by filmmaker Duncan Jones with screenings of his films “Moon” and “Source Code” are among the offerings this weekend.

Director Peter Bogdanovich and stars Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Timothy Bottoms and Eileen Brennan join host Luke Wilson on Thursday evening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater for the special presentation of “The Last Picture Show.”

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Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry, the drama is set in a small dying Texas town, circa 1951, and two high school buddies (Bottoms and Jeff Bridges). Leachman and the late Ben Johnson received supporting acting Oscars. http://www.oscars.org Fifty years ago, the late Paulist priest Father Ellwood E. Keiser, created, produced and hosted the syndicated dramatic anthology series “Insight,” which explored social issues and humanist themes earning numerous awards during its two decades.

Friday evening at the Billy Wilder Theater, the UCLA Film & Television Archive is presenting a celebration of the series with screenings of 1965’s “Locusts have No King” with William Shatner and 1969’s “The Poker Game” with Ed Asner, Bill Bixby, Jeffrey Hunter and Beau Bridges. http://www.cinema.ucla.edu

British filmmaker Duncan Jones, the son of David Bowie who was called Zowie Bowie when he was a child, appears Friday and Saturday at the New Beverly Cinema with the screenings of 2009’s ”Moon” and this year’s “Source Code.” http://www.newbevcinema.com

Sean Astin, Jon Favreau and director David Anspach are reuniting Thursday at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre for a screening of the 1993 cult hit, “Rudy,” in which the undersized Astin dreams of becoming a football player at Notre Dame. Favreau made his film debutas Rudy’s friend. On Friday, the Aero presents its monthly silent comedy film shorts with live musical accompaniment. Among the shorts screening are Charlie Chaplin’s 1922 “Pay Day” and Buster Keaton’s 1918 “Neighbors.”

The Aero’s Terry Gilliam retrospective continues Saturday with 1988’s controversial “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” and 1981’s “Time Bandits.” Its Wim Wenders’ festival winds up Sunday with the 1977 noir, “The American Friend,” with Dennis Hopper, Nicholas Ray and Sam Fuller, and 1974’s “Alice in the Cities.”

And on Wednesday, the Aero welcomes Thanksgiving with the double bill of John Hughes’ 1987 comedy “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and one of Woody Allen’s best, 1986’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” for which he won a screenplay Oscar.

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The Egyptian Theatre presents two 2011 films from Argentina, “The Finger” and “The Student.” On Saturday “The Finger” director Sergio Teubai will be on hand to discuss his film.

The Art Deco Society and Larry Edmunds Book Store are presenting an afternoon devoted to actress Myrna Loy on Sunday at the Egyptian. Emily W. Leider, author of “Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood,” will talk about the MGM star, which will be followed by a screening of the 1934 drama “Manhattan Melodrama,” in which Loy is pursued by both Clark Gable and William Powell. Later that evening, the Egyptian presents a new digital restoration of Steven Spielberg’s 1981 classic adventure “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” with Harrison Ford. http://www.americancinematheque.com

Director Jason Reitman (“Juno,” “Up in the Air”) does a live read Thursday at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art’s Leo S. Bing Theatre of Billy Wilder’s 1960 Oscar-winning best picture, “The Apartment.” The event is sold out, but there will be a standby line. And Tuesday, LACMA’s matinee series presents David Lean’s 1957 Oscar-winning best film, the World War II epic, “The Bridge On the River Kwai.” http://www.lacma.org.

UCLA Film & Television Archive’s “L.A, Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema” welcomes filmmaker Julie Dash Saturday at the Billy Wilder Theater for a screening of her 1977 film, “The Diary of an African Nun,” and Haile Gerima’s 1993 “Sankofa.” On Sunday evening, filmmakers Don Amis, Carroll Parrot Blue and Zeinabu Irene Davis will attend screenings of several short films, including Amis’ 1982, “Festival of Mask,” Blue’s 1979 “Varnette’s World: A Study of a Young Artist” and Davis’ 1989 “Trumpetistically, Clora Bryant.”

The archive’s Wednesday evening screening at the Million Dollar Theatre in downtown L.A. features 1991’s “Barton Fink,” the Coen brothers’ dark look at Hollywood, and Barbet Schroder’s 1987 “Barfly,” with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. http://www.cinema.ucla.edu

Animals run wild at the New Beverly Sunday and Monday with screenings of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller, “The Birds,” and Steven Spielberg’s seminal 1975 “Jaws.” http://www.newbevcinema.com

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And now for something completely different. Cinefamily presents the 1977 rarity, “Aliens from Spaceship Earth,” directed by Don Como, Sunday evening at the Silent Movie Theatre. The documentary speculates that aliens have come to Earth and have taken the human form of Indian yogis and gurus. Donovan does the on-screen narration and music. Como will appear in person. http://www.cinefamily.org

Related:

‘Classic Hollywood: The Last Picture Show

‘’Source Code’ director DuncanJones on science fiction and his famous father’

—Susan King

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