While I know at this point most people’s minds are racing towards the long weekend, beach fun and the glorious prospect of standing in line to see the new Indiana Jones movie, there is still something to be said for the joy of beating the strains of capitalist society and enjoying some free entertainment.

Wednesday

4 FREE MOVIES TO CHOOSE FROM TODAY.

First of,
The Big Sleep @ Smithsonian American Art Museum @ 6 pm which closes down their “Film Noir” series.
Lauren Bacall.
Humphrey Bogart.
Murder.
Intrigue.
Snappy dialogue.
Chemistry oozing off the screen.
Completely inconvenient showing time of 6 pm.

alternatively
Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust @ Japanese Cultural Center @ 6:30 pm
+
The Littlest Rebel @ Library of Congress @ 7 pm

the very promisingly titled

Stewardess School @ Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse @ 8 pm which sounds like the 80s teen sex comedy version of “The Dirty Dozen”
And a parody trailer only YouTube could love:

Thursday

While not a movie, the week of free for all showings of “Hamlet” begins today and you all should hustle out and see it.

Additionally we have:

Stormy Weather @ Library of Congress @ 7 pm
In Stormy Weather , dancing legend Bill “Williamson,” just back from World War I, meets lovely singer Selina Rogers (Horne) at a soldiers’ ball and promises to come back to her when he establishes his career. Years later, Bill’s and Selina’s rising careers intersect only briefly, as Selina is unwilling to “settle down.” Will she ever change her mind? This was Bojangles’s biggest role–a part that he played with dignity and clarity–and his dancing was the most contextual. Concludes with an all-star show hosted by Cab Calloway.

Goldfinger @ Capitol Plaza @ 8 pm
Words are NOT necessary for tis one:

Friday

A Rage to Live @ Library of Congress @ 7 pm
Prior to her success as second banana in The Bob Newhart Show, Suzanne Pleshette, who died on Jan. 19 this year, appeared as the sexually insatiable society belle in this somewhat underrated melodrama. In this loose film adaptation from the novel by John O’Hara, Ms. Pleshette holds the screen as a remarkably self-contained yet clearly troubled young woman. Her steamiest scenes are with Ben Gazzara, who played sexual angst better than any young actor in the 1960’s.

Then, National Gallery of Art hijacks your (non-beach) weekend

Saturday

To Die at Thirty @ National Gallery of Art @ 2 pm
I don’t even want to know what this is about.
But it IS French.

slightly more optimistic sounding (even though Russian and dealing with Moscow’s 1920s housing shortage and social problems between the sexes)
Bed and Sofa @ National Gallery of Art @ 4:30 pm is billed by the Gallery as a cool comedy of manners.

which finally brings us to

Sunday

and
Battleship Potemkin @ National Gallery of Art @ 5:45 pm, Eisenstein’s seminal mix of film and pure, unadultured propaganda. If you have not seen it yet (I cannot see how, but still) go!
The stroller scene is a film studies lesson in itself:

And that is all folks.
If I missed someting, let me know, we will calendar it up promptly.
(if it doesn’t suck, that is)

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