Movie of the Week:
Duel. Motorist Dennis Weaver is terrorized by a mysterious semi in Steven Spielberg's riveting thriller. Shot in 13 days, Duelmanages to keep the tension high despite an exteremely minimalist plot. You'll never feel comfortable driving across America's rural highways again. Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton, (714) 738-6595; www.themuck.org. Mon., 9 p.m. $5.
Also Showing:
Bande à Part (Band of Outsiders). The best part of Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à Part comes in the first half of the film, when the three protagonists execute a dance number in a café to a jukebox tune. The scene has little to do with the rest of the plot, which concerns two small-time hoodlums and their attempts to convince a beautiful woman to help them in their larcenous endeavors. Subverting the usual laws of cinema, Godard takes a moment from the mundane plot to breathe and indulge in a few minutes of pure, surreal joy. It is this kind of moment for which Godard is known, and it is his willful disregard for narrative convention that revolutionized filmmaking. Come see where Tarantino got most of his good ideas. Lucille Kuehn Auditorium, Humanities Instructional Building, Room 100, UC Irvine, Campus & W. Peltason drs., Irvine, (949) 824-7418; www.filmandvideocenter.com. 7 p.m. $3-$5.
The Breakfast Club.Some of the most memorable moments in cinematic history: the door shutting slowly as a stunned Annie Hall catches a glimpse of Clemenza anointing Michael the next don; the reunion atop the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building, six months later; Travis Bickle practicing his smooth gun-drawing moves in front of the mirror; an eyeball being sliced by a straight-edge razor. And Allison Reynolds (played by Ally Sheedy) shaking dandruff "snow" onto a penciled landscape drawing. Just one of a slew of coming-of-age films by John Hughes in the '80s, The Breakfast Club has become a cult classic—and influenced about three dozen reincarnations in the years to come. If you're unfamiliar (and how could you be?), the film follows the lives of five kids who meet for the first time in detention. There's the popular girl, the athlete, the nerd, the troublemaker and the recluse, and chances are, you found at least one character onscreen you could identify with. Head to Classic Film Wednesdays to relive that dreamy romance with Claire (Molly Ringwald) that never played out—but we all know Allison was the real hot one anyway. Regency South Coast Village, 1561 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 557-5701; www.regencymovies.com. 7:30 p.m. $6.50.
Breathless. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, crackling personalities of rising stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and anything-goes crime narrative, Jean Luc-Godard's debut fashioned a simultaneous homage to and critique of the American film genres that influenced him. UC Irvine Film and Video Center, UCI, Humanities Instructional Building 100, Campus & W. Peltason drs., Irvine, (949) 824-7418; www.filmandvideocenter.com. Fri., 7 p.m. $3-$5.
Stella Dallas. Barbara Stanwyck stars in the award-winning adaptation of Olive Higgins Prouty's famous story of love and sacrifice. Long Beach School for Adults, 3701 E. Willow St., Long Beach, (562) 997-8000. Fri., 7 p.m. $1.
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