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"1939 Redux: Digging Deeper Into Hollywood's Greatest Year" Film Screenings

Saturday, November 7, 2009
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm, UCLA Hammer Museum - Billy Wilder Theater

"Jesse James" and "Destry Rides Again"

Admission

Tickets: $10 in advance online. $9 general; $8 Cineclub members, students, seniors and UCLA Alumni Association members with ID.

Contact

UCLA Film & Television Archive
(310) 206-8013

Website

http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/calendar/calendardetails.asp...

Additional Information

Jesse James and Destry Rides Again screen as part of the UCLA Film and Television Archive film series 1939 Redux: Digging Deeper Into 'Hollywood's Greatest Year'.

Jesse James
(1939) Directed by Henry King

A star-studded epic directed by Henry King, Jesse James was the first Western shot in Technicolor and features Tyrone Power, as the titular outlaw, in his first Western role. Nunnally Johnson’s script focuses on the myth of James as a peace-loving family man wronged by a greedy railroad but despite such historical inaccuracies, Jesse James remains one of the great Hollywood Westerns of all time.

Destry Rides Again
(1939) Directed by George Marshall

Jimmy Stewart stars as Destry, an unorthodox sheriff who cleans up a crooked frontier town without wearing a gun. A comedic remake of a Tom Mix Western, this box office hit miraculously revived the career of Marlene Dietrich who had been declared “box office poison” a year earlier. Her song, “Boys in the Backroom,” became a signature of her stage show for decades.

About the Series:

On January 3, 1939, the Los Angeles Times declared that "Hollywood is primed for a big year ... the rubber bands which have more or less restricted production pursues are to be thrown away, and from plans already announced, theatergoers are in for some outstanding entertainment." From that initial bit of ballyhoo to the present day, 1939 has been widely regarded as "Hollywood's Greatest Year." The 12 months that followed that Times article saw the release of an unprecedented number of films now considered exemplary classics, evidence of the “genius of the system,” including Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and The Women and Ninotchka, to name a few. The Archive celebrates this milestone year with a series that includes films that have not only stood the test of time but also those that were decidedly of their time, and so provide an often overlooked context for rest. All films released in 1939.

  • November 6: Only Angels Have Wings and Five Came Back
  • November 7: Jesse James and Destry Rides Again
  • November 14: Fifth Avenue Girl and The Great Man Votes
  • November 15: Babes in Arms and First Love
  • November 22: In Name Only and Remember?
  • December 6: Idiot's Delight and Confessions of a Nazi Spy
  • December 11: The Cat and the Canary and Son of Frankenstein

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