Actress Lana Wood comes to Park Ridge for 'The Searchers'
<h3 class="briefHead">Wood at the Pickwick</h3>
Actress Lana Wood, sister of the late Natalie Wood, will appear at a 60th anniversary screening of John Ford's classic western "The Searchers" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, at the Pickwick Theatre, 5 S. Prospect Ave., Park Ridge. Both Natalie and Lana Wood played the character Debbie Edwards at different ages.
Lana Wood, who also played Plenty O'Toole in the James Bond thriller "Diamonds are Forever," will be interviewed on stage before the 7 p.m. show. She will conduct a Q&A following the movie, but will not answer questions about the 1981 drowning of her sister.
She will be available to sign autographs for $20.
"The Searchers" will also be shown at 2 p.m. on Sept. 15. Go to parkridgeclassicfilm.com/blog.
<h3 class="briefHead">Third time not a charm</h3>
Hollywood writers love using "three-counts" because they seem to work. Except that once you become aware of three-counts, they become tiresome, predictable clichés you can see coming a mile down Hollywood Boulevard.
• Jennifer Grey stops feeling ticklish the third time Patrick Swayze touches her in "Dirty Dancing."
• Gregory Peck finds scissors in the third drawer he opens during "The Omen."
• Eric Bana stumbles upon the perfect Chicago home on his third house inspection in "The Time Traveler's Wife."
• A thief finally finds an open door on the third car he checks in "In the Still of the Night."
• A man tries to lasso the foot of a corpse and succeeds on the third try in "Physical Evidence."
• A victim gets attacked in a parking lot the third time she hears a sound in "Phantom of the Mall."
Of course, some filmmakers avoid three-counts.
Take Chicago's notorious rule-breaking director John McNaughton. In the horror tale "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," Michael Rooker flags down the driver of the second car to pass by on Lower Wacker Drive. Then, Tom Towles kills him. With three bullets.
<h3 class="briefHead">His story is 'Unknown'</h3>
Director Joshua Marston will introduce evening showings of his new movie "Complete Unknown" and conduct a Q&A afterward on Friday, Sept. 9 and Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Century Centre Cinema, 2828 N. Clark St., Chicago.
The movie stars Rachel Weisz as a mysterious woman who connects with an old flame (Chicago's Michael Shannon). See review in this section. Or go to landmarktheatres.com/chicago/century-center-cinema#upcoming.
<h3 class="briefHead">Film fest earns Grant</h3>
Award-winning director Julian Grant's "Finding Hope," will have its Midwest premiere Sunday, Sept. 11, at the 9th annual Naperville Independent Film Festival. It begins Saturday, Sept. 10. Go to naperfilmfest.org for tickets and times.
<h3 class="briefHead">Theater goes to dogs</h3>
Chicago's Music Box Theatre presents the Dog Film Festival at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, at the theater, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Two programs of documentaries, animation and live-action shorts by international filmmakers will be shown.
Each screening runs about 90 minutes. Tickets $15. Fifty percent of festival proceeds will go to PAWS Chicago, which will have canines on hand for adoptions. (Viewers should not bring their own pets to the movies.) dogfilmfestival.com.
<h3 class="briefHead">'Innocents' at Tivoli</h3>
The After Hours Film Society presents Anne Fontaine's "The Innocents" at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, at the Tivoli Theater, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. The drama takes place in 1945 Warsaw where a French Red Cross doctor (Lou de Laage) goes to a convent and finds a holy sister about to give birth, plus several other pregnant nuns. Admission costs $10 ($6 members). Go to afterhoursfilmsociety.com for tickets.
<h3 class="briefHead">'President's Men' back</h3>
The Chicago Film Critics Association presents a special showing of the 1976 journalism classic "All the President's Men" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14, at the Elk Grove Theater, 1050 Arlington Heights Road, Elk Grove Village. Cary resident and Chicago Film Critics Association board member Peter Sobczynski will introduce the film and conduct a brief post-program Q&A. Admission costs $6. chicagofilmcritics.org or classiccinemas.com.
• Dann Gire's column runs Friday in Time out!