The Huston Family

The Hustons occupy a unique position in moviemaking history: a family of actors, writers and directors whose careers jointly span over seventy-five years at the forefront of an industry that they both challenge and embody. Patriarch Walter (1884–1950), a prolific character actor with roots on the stage, excelled at portraying the sinful and saintly sides of humanity in films by D. W. Griffith, William Wyler, Josef von Sternberg, and Jean Renoir, and gave his signature performance in his son John’s Treasure of the Sierra Madre. John (1906–1987) defined the spirit of independent filmmaking on both sides of the camera, zigzagging between studio-financed projects (The Maltese Falcon, The Kremlin Letter) and labors of love (Beat the Devil, Wise Blood). His daughter Anjelica (born 1951) and son Danny (born 1962) have made acting and directing choices that exhibit the same strength of character and literary inspiration that distinguish their father’s work. Regal and poised on screen, Anjelica has succeeded as a director, evoking the wrenching as well as celebratory elements in strident stories of family life (Bastard Out of Carolina, Agnes Browne). Beginning his career with colorful adaptations of classics (Mr. North), Danny has given bravura performances fueled by a rich voice and towering presence. This retrospective demonstrates the intertwined nature of the Hustons’ careers and highlights their range and influence throughout virtually every genre of narrative cinema.

Organized by Mary Lea Bandy, Chief Curator Emerita; Ron Magliozzi, Assistant Curator, Research and Collections; and Leigh Goldstein, Executive Assistant, Department of Film and Media.

Special thanks to Anjelica and Danny Huston for their invaluable help and participation in this series. With grateful thanks to Snowden Becker, Michael Pogorzelski (Academy Film Archive); Fleur Buckley ( bfi National Film and Television Archive); Sue Jones (bfi Distribution); Claude Bertemes (Cinematheque Municipale de Luxembourg); Barnard Rose and Lisa Enos (Enos Rose Productions); Barnaby Thompson, Tabitha Jenkins (Fragile Films); Neil Moryson (First Look Pictures); Michael Fitzgerald; Donna Dickman, Sonia Pachmayer (Focus Features); Caroline Yeager (George Eastman House); Eric Grayson; Steven Haft; Gary Hoffman; Gary Kaskel; Gary Palmucci (Kino Pictures International); Mike Mashon (Library of Congress); Clark Woods (MGM); Paramount Pictures; Marlene Haegele (Showtime Networks); Michael Schlesinger, Susanne Jacobson (Sony Pictures Entertainment); Laura de Castro (Tartan Distribution); Schawn Belston (Twentieth Century Fox); Todd Wiener (UCLA Film and Television Archive); Paul Ginsburg (Universal); Linda Evans-Smith, Marilee Womack (Warner Brothers).

Filme:

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. 1948. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston, based on the novel by B. Traven. With Walter Huston, Humphrey Bogart. As a genial gold prospector, Walter has the last—near-crazy—laugh in this iconic collaboration between father and son. New print. 103 min. Preceded by footage of Walter Huston singing September Song on Texaco Star Theater. Friday, August 18, 5:45 (introduced by Anjelica Huston); Monday, September 4, 3:30. T1

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. 1972. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by John Milius. With Huston, Paul Newman. In this eccentric Western, former bank robber Roy Bean crowns himself judge and legislator after killing the town’s motley crew of whores, barmen, and outlaws. Full of campy cameos—including Anthony Perkins as a fey preacher, and old John himself. 124 min. Friday, August 18, 8:00; Thursday, September 21, 6:00. T1

Prizzi’s Honor. 1985. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screen-play by Richard Condon, Janet Roach, based on Condon’s novel. With Anjelica Huston, Jack Nicholson. Anjelica’s breakthrough role came in this mature satire on the constraints of love and family honor. As Maerose, a salacious Mafia princess who favors the fuschia end of the lipstick spectrum, she steals the film from her first moment on screen. 130 min. Saturday, August 19, 3:30; Sunday, September 3, 6:00. T1

Bastard out of Carolina. 1996. USA. Directed by Anjelica Huston. Screenplay by Anne Meredith, based on the novel by Dorothy Allison. With Jena Malone, Jennifer Jason Leigh. A nuanced portrait of a mother-daughter relationship in which love, neglect, and abuse are captured with an intensity that sidesteps sensationalism and sentimentality. 97 min. Saturday, August 19, 6:00 (introduced by Anjelica Huston); Sunday, September 17, 1:30. T1

Mr. Corbett’s Ghost. 1987. Great Britain/USA. Directed by Danny Huston. Based on a short story by Leon Garfield. With Paul Scofield, John Huston, Burgess Meredith. In his final performance, fittingly directed by his son, Huston trades for the soul of a young apprentice intent on eliminating his boss in this period comedy. 60 min. Saturday, August 19, 8:00; Friday, September 22, 7:00 (introduced by Danny Huston). T1

Rain. 1932. USA. Directed by Lewis Milestone. Screenplay by Maxwell Anderson, based on a story by Somerset Maugham. With Walter Huston, Joan Crawford. Trapped on an island in the tropics, a prostitute (Crawford, of course) repents—only to find herself at the mercy of a lustful preacher (Walter). 92 min. Sunday, August 20, 1:30; Thursday, September 7, 6:30. T1

Fat City. 1972. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston, Leonard Gardner, based on the novel by Gardner. With Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges. Drawing on his abbreviated career inside the ring, Huston evokes the listless days of Tully, a former boxer turned full-time drinker. Beautifully photographed by famed cinematographer Conrad Hall. 100 min. Sunday, August 20, 3:30; Wednesday, September 13, 8:30. T1

ivansxtc: To Live and Die in Hollywood. 2001. USA. Directed by Bernard Rose. Screenplay by Rose, Lisa Enos. With Danny Huston, Peter Weller. Based on Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, this dark look at life in Hollywood examines the last days of a powerful agent (Danny) surrounded by unloved ones and ill-wishers. 94 min. Sunday, August 20, 5:30; Monday, September 11, 6:30. T1

Beat the Devil. 1954. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston, Truman Capote, based on the novel by James Helvick. With Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones. A low-key satire of Maltese Falcon–like intrigue on the coast of Italy, with a sense of the absurd that has made it a cult favorite. 92 min. Monday, August 21, 6:15; Saturday, September 16, 7:00. T1

Wise Blood. 1979. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Michael Fitzgerald. With Brad Dourif, Harry Dean Stanton. Adapted from Flannery O’Connor’s novel, this Southern Gothic tale of a hell-and-salvation preacher is Huston’s strongest statement on the terrors of religious extremism. 106 min. Monday, August 21, 8:15; Sunday, September 10, 5:00. T1

Swamp Water. 1941. USA. Directed by Jean Renoir. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols. With Walter Huston, Anne Baxter. In Renoir’s first American film, Walter plays a stern patriarch in a Faulkneresque melodrama set in the Okefenokee. New print courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox. 90 min. Wednesday, August 23, 6:15; Saturday, September 2, 2:00. T1

The African Queen. 1951. USA. Cowritten and directed by John Huston. With Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart. Filmed on location in the Belgian Congo, this romantic adventure film set a new standard for the genre, thanks to the powerful chemistry Huston drew from his stars. Vintage IB-Technicolor print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive. 105 min.

Battle of San Pietro (September 16 screening only). 1945. USA. Directed by John Huston. Narrated by Walter Huston. 32 min. Wednesday, August 23, 8:15; Saturday, September 16, 4:00. T1

The Maltese Falcon. 1941. USA. Written and directed by John Huston. With Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor. John’s first directorial effort was this quintessential adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s detective novel. 100 min. Thursday, August 24, 6:30; Friday, September 1, 6:30. T1

The Grifters. 1990. USA. Directed by Stephen Frears. Screenplay by David Westlake, based on the novel by Jim Thompson. With Anjelica Huston, John Cusack. As the sexy corner of a mother-son-floozy triangle of con artists, Anjelica brandishes a head of platinum and a heart of ice. 119 min. Thursday, August 24, 8:30; Sunday, September 3, 3:30. T1

A Walk with Love and Death. 1969. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Dale Wasserman, Hans Koningsberger, based on the novel by Koningsberger. With Anjelica Huston, John Huston. In her screen debut, Anjelica plays a star-crossed lover in a film, set in medieval France, that explores themes of beauty and war. Print preserved by Twentieth Century Fox. 90 min. Friday, August 25, 4:30; Wednesday, August 30, 6:00. T1

Agnes Browne. 1999. USA/Ireland. Directed by Anjelica Huston. Screenplay by John Goldsmith. With Huston, Marion O’Dwyer. Favoring a surprisingly bright and often comedic tone, Anjelica’s second feature centers on a recent widow struggling to raise a brood of seven in 1960s Dublin. 92 min. Friday, August 25, 6:30; Sunday, September 17, 3:30. T1

The Dead. 1987. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Tony Huston, based on the short story by James Joyce. With Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann. His last film, The Dead was a realization of John’s lifelong ambition of adapting Joyce’s story for the screen. A complete and detailed portrait of a holiday party that evokes all that is joyful and finite in life. 83 min.

John Huston and the Dubliners (September 17 screening only). 1988. USA. Directed by Lilyan Sievernich. With John Huston, Anjelica Huston, Danny Huston. Shot during the making of The Dead, this documentary captures, with an intimate and informal tone, a great director in the midst of his last project. 60 min. Friday, August 25, 8:30; Sunday, September 17, 5:30. T1

Law and Order. 1932. USA. Directed by Edward L. Cahn. Screenplay by Tom Reed, John Huston, based on the novel by W. R. Burnett. With Walter Huston, Harry Carey. An early take on Burnett’s endlessly adapted tale of Doc Holliday and the gunslinging that went down in the old-West town of Tombstone. 73 min. Saturday, August 26, 2:00; Saturday, September 16, 2:00. T1

The Shanghai Gesture. 1941. USA. Directed by Josef von Sternberg. Screenplay by Sternberg, Karl Vollmoeller, Geza Herczeg. With Walter Huston, Gene Tierney. The sins of the father, Walter, are visited on the child in this lavishly visual stage melodrama heavy with Hollywood Orientalism. Preserved by George Eastman House with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. 98 min. Saturday, August 26, 3:45; Thursday, August 31, 8:30. T1

The Night of the Iguana. 1964. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston, Tennessee Williams, based on Williams’s play. With Richard Burton, Ava Gardner. A defrocked priest fends off the affections of a young Christian maiden and the threats of her less-than-approving chaperone in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 125 min. Saturday, August 26, 6:00. T1; Sunday, September 17, 1:30. T2

The Cardinal. 1963. USA. Directed by Otto Preminger. Screenplay by Robert Dozier. With John Huston, Tom Tryon. An Irish American’s epic rise through the church hierarchy features John in the first of the fatherly performances that he built upon later in his career. 175 min. Sunday, August 27, 1:30; Sunday, September 10, 1:30. T1

The Kremlin Letter. 1970. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston, Gladys Hill, based on the novel by Noel Behn. With Bibi Anderson, Max von Sydow. A cynical Cold War spy thriller with an all-star international cast, the film boasts even more story twists than stars. 116 min. Sunday, August 27, 5:00; Monday, September 11, 8:30. T1

Mr. North. 1988. USA. Directed by Danny Huston. Screenplay by John Huston and Janet Roach.With Anjelica Huston, Anthony Edwards. Based on Thorton Wilder’s last novel, this comedy of manners set in 1920s Rhode Island was John’s last collaboration with his family. Full of colorful performances from Lauren Bacall, Harry Dean Stanton, and Robert Mitchum (stepping in to the grand patriarchal role intended for John), all veterans from earlier Huston films. 93 min. Monday, August 28, 5:30; Sunday, September 3, 1:30. T1

Freud. 1962. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Wolfgang Reinhardt, Charles Kaufman. With Montgomery Clift, Susannah York. John’s portrait of Sigmund Freud, a young doctor revealing his psychiatric theories to the world, is shot in clinical black and white and steeped in Christian metaphor. 139 min. Monday, August 28, 7:30; Friday, September 8, 6:00. T1

The Royal Tenenbaums. 2001. USA. Written and directed by Wes Anderson. With Anjelica Huston, Gene Hackman. As the presiding matriarch of a clan of aging child prodigies, Anjelica is the stable and subdued center in Anderson’s elaborately wacky third feature. 108 min. Wednesday, August 30, 8:15. T1

Abraham Lincoln. 1930. USA. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Screen-play by Gerrit J. Lloyd, Stephen Vincent Benét. With Walter Huston, Una Merkel. Walter’s most prestigious role in his first year on the screen was his sincere impersonation in this presidential biography. Premiere of MoMA’s newly restored print, preserved with funds from The Film Foundation and The Lillian Gish Trust for Film Preservation. 97 min. Thursday, August 31, 6:30. T1

Dodsworth. 1936. USA. Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by Sidney Howard, based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis. With Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton. Walter reprises his Broadway role as a retired American industrialist torn between his loyalty to a vain wife (Chatterton) and his love for a nurturing expatriate played by Mary Astor, in the first of her career-high performances with the Hustons. 101 min. Friday, September 1, 4:30. T1

Chinatown. 1974. USA. Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Robert Towne. With John Huston, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway. John gives his most celebrated performance as wealthy and all-powerful landowner Noah Cross in this stylish late entry into the film noir canon. 131 min. Friday, September 1, 8:30; Monday, September 18, 8:00. T1

And Then There Were None. 1945. USA. Directed by René Clair. Screenplay by Dudley Nichols, based on the story by Agatha Christie. With Walter Huston, Judith Anderson. Ten people are murdered one by one in this atmospheric adaptation. 98 min. Saturday, September 2, 4:15; Thursday, September 7, 8:30. T1

The Great Sinner. 1949. USA. Directed by Robert Siodmak. Screenplay by Ladislas Fodor, Christopher Isherwood, based on the novel by Fodor, Rene Rueloep Miller. With Walter Huston, Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck. Walter gives an amusing performance as a decadent member of the Russian aristocracy in this period drama about gambling addiction. 110 min. Saturday, September 2, 6:45. T1

Key Largo. 1948. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Richard Brooks, Huston, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson. With Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall. In the first of John’s stage adaptations, his recurring subject of group isolation appears in the claustrophobic environment of a hotel terrorized by a gangster during a hurricane. 101 min. Monday, September 4, 1:30. T1

Moulin Rouge. 1952. USA/Great Britain. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston, Anthony Veiller, based on the novel by Pierre La Mure. With José Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon. Opening with exuberant cancans and unladylike brawls on the music hall floor, John’s take on the life and unrequited loves of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was shot on location in Paris. Famed at the time of its release for its dramatic experiments with Technicolor, the film was John’s first of many collaborations with cinematographer Oswald Morris. 119 min.

Monday, September 4, 6:00; Wednesday, September 20, 6:00. T1

The Asphalt Jungle. 1950. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Huston, Ben Maddow, based on the novel by W. R. Burnett. With Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe. A classic jewel heist story, this urban crime drama shines a brief spotlight on Marilyn Monroe in her breakout role. 112 min. Preceded by Huston’s statement on the film for Hearst Newsreel. 10 min. Wednesday, September 6, 6:00. T1

The Misfits. 1961. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Arthur Miller. With Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift. Roslyn (Monroe), a beautiful but disconsolate woman, goes to Reno for a divorce and falls in with three cowboys. Written for Monroe, The Misfits was the final film for both Monroe and Gable. 124 min. Preceded by behind-the-scenes footage shot by Huston. 15 min. Wednesday, September 6, 8:30; Saturday, September 9, 7:00. T1

Reflections in a Golden Eye. 1967. USA. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by Chapman Mortimer, Gladys Hill, based on the novel by Carson McCullers. With Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Harris. Playing against type, Brando is a sexually repressed officer on a southern Army base, struggling with his desire for a young recruit (Robert Forster) and the blatant disgust of his sexually unfulfilled wife (Taylor). With strong ensemble performances, the film is, in Huston’s own estimation, one of his best. 115 min. Friday, September 8, 8:45; Friday, September 22, 8:30. T1

A House Divided. 1931. USA. Directed by William Wyler. Screenplay by John Clymer, Dale Van Emery, John Huston, based on the novel by Olive Edens. With Walter Huston, Helen Chandler, Kent Douglas. With dialogue written for him by his son John, Walter is an alcoholic fisherman whose mail-order bride falls for his estranged son, in this melodrama set in Eugene O’Neill’s New England. 68 min. Saturday, September 9, 5:30; Monday, September 18, 6:30. T1

Buffalo ’66. 1998. USA. Directed by Vincent Gallo. Screenplay by Gallo, Alison Bagnall. With Anjelica Huston, Gallo, Christina Ricci. Recently released from prison, Billy (Gallo) hijacks the nearest young lady (Ricci) and convinces her to pose as his beloved for a quick trip to meet the parents. Armed with team paraphernalia and a chipper manner, Anjelica is a lunatic Buffalo Bills fan who gives no love and even less notice to her palpably lonely and mildly deranged son. 110 min. Wednesday, September 20, 6:00. T2

The Proposition. 2005. Australia/Great Britain. Directed by John Hillcoat. Screenplay by Nick Cave. With Danny Huston, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, Guy Pearce. Danny brings a “touch of the poet” to his role as a psychotic outlaw chief in this violent Western set in the bleak Australian outback. 104 min. Wednesday, September 20, 8:30 (introduced by Danny Huston). T1

The Devil and Daniel Webster. 1941. USA. Directed by William Dieterle. Screenplay by Dan Totheroh, based on the novel by Stephen Vincent Benét. With Walter Huston, Edward Arnold. Walter plays the devil himself in this morality tale of a poor farmer (James Craig) who pledges his soul for a pot of gold, only to repent. 107 min. Friday, September 22, 4:30. T1

Fade to Black. 2006. Great Britain. Directed by Oliver Parker. Screenplay by Parker, Davide Ferrario. With Danny Huston, Paz Vega, Christopher Walken. In Danny’s latest film, he plays famed director Orson Welles, caught in a web of political intrigue when an actor is murdered on his Italian film set. 104 min. North American premiere. Thursday, September 21, 8:30 (introduced by Danny Huston). T1

Pressetext

The Huston Family: 75 Years on Film
Kuratoren: Mary Lea Bandy, Ron Magliozzi, Leigh Goldstein

Filme von John Huston, Anjelica Huston, Danny Huston, Lewis Milestone, Bernard Rose, Jean Renoir, Stephen Frears, Lilyan Sievernich, Edward L. Cahn, Josef von Sternberg, Otto Preminger, D. W. Griffith, William Wyler, Roman Polanski, Rene Clair, Robert Siodmak, Vincent Gallo, John Hillcoat, William Dieterle, Oliver Parker