BRANDO 100, a two-week festival of classics starring Marlon Brando, with many films screening in 35mm, will run at Film Forum from Friday, December 13 to Thursday, December 26, in commemoration of the actor’s centennial year in 2024.
The series features performances by Brando (1924-2004), the rebellious iconoclast in his most iconic and lesser seen roles. From his rarely-screened feature debut as a paralyzed, depressed ex-GI in Fred Zinnemann’s THE MEN (1950); to his definitive Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams’ A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (adapted to film in 1951 by Elia Kazan); to his Oscar-winning performance as dockworker Terry Malloy in Kazan’s ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), and his turn as the suave, wisecracking Sky Masterson in the 1955 musical GUYS AND DOLLS. Brando’s return to form as Mafia patriarch Don Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER (1972) reminded Hollywood of his brilliance and earned Brando his second Oscar (which he refused in protest of Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans). The following triumph, Bernardo Bertolucci’s X-rated sensation LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972) would go on to spark debate about the ethics of consent in filmmaking, and APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), his second collaboration with Coppola, in which he plays a rogue Army officer who descends into madness, is remembered as one of Brando’s most enigmatic performances.
Other festival highlights include Brando’s sole directorial effort ONE-EYED JACKS (1961), Gillo Pontecorvo’s sweeping 19th-century anticolonial drama BURN! (1969), John Huston’s rarely-screened psychosexual drama REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE (1967) starring Brando as an Army major with a lusty wife (Elizabeth Taylor) who finds himself attracted to a young male private in the 1940s South, and one of his last major roles in Andrew Bergman’s THE FRESHMAN (1990).
“Nobody, nothing, no amount of money can make him behave,” a 1954 profile in The New York Times Magazine stated of Brando. He shunned the Hollywood establishment and was selective about his roles, only choosing to take on projects that aligned with his vision to explore complex, nuanced characters, which he created using the intense, immersive acting style that would come to be known as the Method. “He has the ability to hold the reality of his character and the needs of the script simultaneously, making every performance electric,” wrote Stella Adler, Brando’s mentor who introduced him to the Stanislavski method.
Film historian and author Foster Hirsch will introduce the opening night screening of ON THE WATERFRONT on Friday, December 13 at 7:10 and REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE on Thursday, December 26 at 1:00. Hirsch is Professor of Film at Brooklyn College and the author of numerous books on film and theater including A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio and Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties.
Public Screening Schedule
Subject to change; check web for latest
JULIUS CAESAR
U.S., 1953
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring Louis Calhern, Marlon Brando, James Mason, Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr
Based on the Shakespeare play
Approx. 120 min. 35mm.
Friday, December 13 at 12:15
Monday, December 16 at 1:00
Tuesday, December 17 at 6:00
Monday, December 23 at 7:30 |
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THE MEN
U.S., 1950
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Starring Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb
Approx. 87 min. 35mm.
Friday, December 13 at 2:45
Saturday, December 14 at 12:30
Monday, December 16 at 8:00 |
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A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
U.S., 1951
Directed by Elia Kazan
Starring Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden
Screenplay by Tennessee Williams, Elia Kazan, Oscar Saul, based on Williams’ play
Approx. 122 min. DCP.
Friday, December 13 at 4:45
Saturday, December 14 at 2:30
Sunday, December 15 at 7:45
Monday, December 23 at 3:30 |
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ON THE WATERFRONT
U.S., 1954
Directed by Elia Kazan
Starring Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger
Screenplay by Budd Schulberg
Music by Leonard Bernstein.
Approx. 108 min. DCP.
Friday, December 13 at 7:10 – Introduced by author and Film Historian Foster Hirsch
Saturday, December 14 at 5:10
Sunday, December 15 at 2:00
Tuesday, December 17 at 3:30 |
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THE WILD ONE
U.S., 1953
Directed by László Benedek
Starring Marlon Brando, Mary Murphy, Lee Marvin
Screenplay by John Paxton, Ben Maddow
Approx. 79 min. DCP.
Friday, December 13 at 9:30
Wednesday, Dec 18 at 9:30
Friday, December 20 at 2:45 |
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THE GODFATHER
U.S., 1972
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton
Screenplay by Coppola and Mario Puzo, based on Puzo’s novel
Music by Nino Rota
WINNER Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), Best Adapted Screenplay, 1973
Approx. 175 min. DCP.
Saturday, December 14 at 7:30
Sunday, December 15 at 4:15
Wednesday, December 18 at 1:00
Wednesday, December 25 at 3:30 |
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SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE
U.S., 1978
Directed by Richard Donner
Starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty, Marlon Brando
Based on Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman
WINNER Academy Awards - Best Visual Effects, 1979
Approx. 143 min. DCP.
Sunday, December 15 at 11:00 (Part of Film Forum Jr.)
Tuesday, December 17 at 12:30 |
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VIVA ZAPATA!
U.S., 1952
Directed by Elia Kazan
Starring Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn
Written by John Steinbeck
WINNER Cannes Film Festival - Best Actor (Marlon Brando), 1952
Approx. 113 min. DCP.
Monday, December 16 at 3:30
Thursday, December 19 at 6:00
Monday, December 23 at 1:00 |
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A DRY WHITE SEASON
U.S., 1989
Directed by Euzhan Palcy
Starring Donald Sutherland, Janet Suzman, Susan Sarandon, Marlon Brando
Based on Andre Brink’s novel
Approx. 107 min. 35mm.
Tuesday, December 17 at 8:30
Thursday, December 19 at 12:30 |
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THE MISSOURI BREAKS
U.S., 1976
Directed by Arthur Penn
Starring Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Harry Dean Stanton
Music by John Williams
Approx. 126 min. 35mm.
Wednesday, December 18 at 4:30
Thursday, December 19 at 8:30 |
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THE FRESHMAN
U.S., 1990
Directed by Andrew Bergman
Starring Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller
Approx. 102 min. 35mm.
Wednesday, December 18 at 7:00
Friday, December 20 at 12:30 |
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ONE-EYED JACKS
U.S., 1961
Directed by Marlon Brando
Starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Katy Jurado
Approx. 141 min. DCP.
Thursday, December 19 at 2:50
Friday, December 20 at 4:30
Saturday, December 21 at 4:00 |
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LAST TANGO IN PARIS
Italy, 1972
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Maria Michi
Approx. 126 min. DCP.
Friday, December 20 at 7:30
Thursday, December 26 at 8:30 |
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THE CHASE
U.S., 1966
Directed by Arthur Penn
Starring Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford
Adapted by Lillian Hellman, from Horton Foote’s novel and play
Approx. 134 min. DCP.
Saturday, December 21 at 1:00
Sunday, December 22 at 8:00 |
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APOCALYPSE NOW
U.S., 1979
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen
Cinematography by Vittorio Storaro
WINNER Cannes Film Festival - Palme d’Or, 1979
Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Approx. 182 min. DCP.
Saturday, December 21 at 7:00
Sunday, December 22 at 4:30
Wednesday, December 25 at 7:00 |
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GUYS AND DOLLS
U.S., 1955
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra
Music by Frank Loesser
Approx. 150 min. DCP.
Sunday, December 22 at 11:00
Tuesday, December 24 at 3:00 |
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THE FUGITIVE KIND
U.S., 1960
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward
Based on the Tennessee Williams play
Approx. 121 min. DCP.
Sunday, December 22 at 2:00
Tuesday, December 24 at 12:30
Thursday, December 26 at 3:30
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REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE
U.S., 1967
Directed by John Huston
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Brian Keith, Robert Forster, Julie Harris
Based on Carson McCullers’ novel
Approx. 108 min. 35mm.
Tuesday, December 24 at 6:00
Thursday, December 26 at 1:00 – Introduced by author and Film Historian Foster Hirsch |
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BURN!
Italy, 1969
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
Starring Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez, Renato Salvatori
Music by Ennio Morricone
Approx. 119 min. 35mm.
Tuesday, December 24 at 8:20
Thursday, December 26 at 6:00 |
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