Walter Mirisch Book Signing at the Egyptian Theater
by Andre Soares
At 6:30 pm on Thursday, June 19, producer Walter Mirisch, 86, will sign copies of his new book of memoirs, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History, at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The book signing will be followed by a screening of two Oscar-winning Mirisch productions: Billy Wilder’s mordant 1960 comedy The Apartment, starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and (gasp!) an excellent Fred MacMurray, and Norman Jewison’s well-intentioned but weak 1967 cop melodrama-cum-social commentary In the Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier and best actor Oscar winner Rod Steiger.
Mirisch will introduce the double feature.
By the way, among Mirisch’s other productions or co-productions are Bomba, the Jungle Boy (1949, he began modestly), Flight to Mars (1951), The Magnificent Seven (1960), West Side Story (1961), Toys in the Attic (1963), Hawaii (1966), Midway (1976), Same Time, Next Year (1978), and Dracula (1979).
The American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater is located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd. Ph: 323.466.3456.
The information below is from the American Cinematheque website:
(I believe that "MGM Repertory" means "United Artists production that is currently part of the MGM library.")
THE APARTMENT, 1960, MGM Repertory, 125 min. Dir. Billy Wilder. Jack Lemmon ingratiates himself with his corporate colleagues by lending out his apartment for their extra-marital affairs - but his promotion plans backfire when he falls head-over-heels for boss Fred MacMurray’s new gal-pal Shirley MacLaine. Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay (Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond). "By the time he made THE APARTMENT, Wilder had become a master at a kind of sardonic, satiric comedy that had sadness at its center…the summation of what Wilder had done to date, and the key transition in Lemmon’s career…The valuable element in Wilder is his adult sensibility; his characters can’t take flight with formula plots, because they are weighted down with the trials and responsibilities of working for a living. In many movies, the characters hardly even seem to have jobs, but in THE APARTMENT they have to be reminded that they have anything else." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, 1967, MGM Repertory, 109 min. Director Norman Jewison’s hard-hitting Southern murder mystery garnered five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Rod Steiger), Best Screenplay (Sterling Silliphant) and Best Editing (Hal Ashby). Philadelphia homicide detective Sidney Poitier arrives in a small Southern town to visit his mother but becomes embroiled in a murder investigation when he is picked up by the local constabulary for no other reason than the color of his skin. When his profession is verified, Poitier’s Philadelphia boss offers his services to redneck Sheriff Steiger to help on the investigation. Incredulous, wary and unapologetically racist, Steiger reluctantly accepts and eventually learns to respect his northern colleague. The outstanding cast includes Lee Grant (SHAMPOO), Warren Oates, Beah Richards, Scott Wilson (IN COLD BLOOD) and Larry Gates. "A film that has the look and sound of actuality and the pounding pulse of truth." – Bosley Crowther, The New York Times.
Also, at 8 pm on Thursday, June 12, Mirisch will discuss I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History at the Skirball Cultural Center, which is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in the Santa Monica Mountains. Ph: 310.440.4500. Admission: $5, Free to Skirball members
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