| Our special
thanks to Timothy Carey’s son Romeo for opening up his father’s archive of rare
materials to us for this series.
Additional Thanks to: John
Kirk/MGM-UA; Linda Evans-Smith & Marilee Womack/WARNER BROS. CLASSICS; Ivory
Harris/CASTLE HILL FILMS; Steve DeJarnatt.
Home
SCHEDULE
MEMBERSHIP
TICKETS
EGYPTIAN THEATRE |
|
A combination of hepcat messiah, hulking loner and
life-long loose cannon, the great character actor Timothy Carey (1925 – 1994)
cut a fearsome, unforgettable figure on-screen, whether it was manhandling James Dean in
EAST OF EDEN, throwing beer in Brando’s face in THE WILD ONE, or moaning
pitifully on his way to execution in PATHS OF GLORY. Carey was cast most often as a
menacing gunman/enforcer, a role he played with relish in crime classics like THE KILLING,
CRIME WAVE and THE OUTFIT. His off-screen reputation was just as notorious – Carey
once got caught scaling the fence at 20th Century Fox in full armor to audition
for PRINCE VALIANT, and he faked his own kidnapping in Germany during shooting on PATHS OF
GLORY. In reality, Carey was a restless, completely dedicated performer who counted John
Cassavetes among his closest friends, and acted each role "like it’s the last
film I’m gonna make, and I want it to be the best" (Carey.) His self-made 1962
masterpiece THE WORLD’S GREATEST SINNER – in which an ordinary man declares
himself "God" in a SoCal suburb – fully deserves its reputation as one of
the most outrageous underground movies ever made.
Saturday, November 4 – 6:00 PM
Ultra-Rare Screening! Romeo Carey In Person!
THE WORLD’S GREATEST SINNER, 1962, 82 min. Director/writer/actor Timothy Carey’s astounding
low-budget parable of Good and Evil in Southern California is one of the most notorious
underground films ever made, a jaw-dropping fusion of garage rock, drive-in movie madness
and the theories of Friedrich Nietzsche! Carey stars as Clarence Hilliard, a restless
insurance salesman who decides to rename himself "God," start his own religion,
political party and rock & roll band, all in the belief that each one of us is a
"superhuman being." Carey’s performance, screaming in the streets of El
Monte at dazed housewives, seducing a 70 year old granny for her life-savings, howling
"Please! Take my hand!" to legions of teenage fans, is simply unbelievable.
Soundtrack by Frank Zappa. Plus, Romeo Carey’s
work-in-progress documentary portrait of his father (30 min.). Discussion following with Romeo Carey. [repeats 11/5 at 7:45 PM)
Saturday, November 4 – 9:00 PM
Double Feature
THE KILLING, 1956, MGM/UA, 83 min. Director Stanley Kubrick’s tough-as-nails heist
film about a robbery at a race-track features an incredible rogues’ gallery of great
character actors, including Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Elisha Cook, Jr., Marie Windsor,
and Timothy Carey as a hepcat killer with a soft spot for both puppies and high-powered
rifles. One of the most entertaining crime films ever made, propelled by Kubrick’s
no-nonsense approach and screenwriter Jim Thompson’s biting, chiseled in stone
dialogue (based on Lionel White’s novel Clean Break).
THE OUTFIT, 1973, MGM (Warners), 103 min. Dir. John Flynn. Excellent, unsentimental
1970’s crime film in the tradition of GET CARTER, with professional thief Robert
Duvall out to avenge his brother’s death at the hands of the mob, and running smack
into gangland chief Robert Ryan and sadistic enforcer Timothy Carey. Joe Don Baker and
Karen Black turn in fine supporting performances, along with a virtual Who’s Who of
film noir greats including Jane Greer, Richard Jaeckel, Sheree North, Marie Windsor and
Elisha Cook, Jr. Another taut adaptation of one of Richard Stark/Donald Westlake’s
Parker novels (John Boorman’s POINT BLANK was the first).
Sunday, November 5 – 5:00 PM
THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, 1976, Castle Hill, 129 min. A close friend of director/writer John
Cassavetes (who also cast him in MINNIE & MOSKOWITZ), Carey stars here as Flo, a
hulking Hollywood mobster who plots to take over the Sunset Boulevard strip club run by
Ben Gazzara. Cassevetes perfectly captures the outcast world of grifters, deadbeats and
gunmen that Carey seemed to inhabit in so many of his films.
Sunday, November 5 – 7:45 PM
THE WORLD’S GREATEST SINNER, 1962, 82 min. Dir. Timothy Carey. [Repeat. See above for
description.]
Plus, "TWEET’S LADIES OF PASADENA,"
1972, 60 min. Dir. Timothy Carey. A pet project of Carey’s (he reportedly turned down
a role in THE GODFATHER so he could work on it), TWEET’S was the pilot for a
never-aired late-night TV series, starring Carey as the only male member of a Pasadena
ladies’ sewing circle, whose mission in life is to find clothes for naked animals!
Rampant, John Waters style madness ensues.
Plus short,
"Cinema Justice," 1972, 6 min. An outtake from director Steve
DeJarnatt’s featurette TARZANA, "Cinema Justice" is a single, 6-minute shot
of Carey as a Korean War vet raving about exploding bombs and drawers full of useless
medals. Totally improvised, totally Carey. |