Hot Films to Warm Up Your Winter!
Saturday 21 January - Monday 27 February
We know winter can be a drag here in Chicago. Last year, the Groundhog’s Day blizzard forced us to close the theatre for the first time in decades. Hearing about the potential for record-breaking low temperatures this season, we thought it best to engage in a little wishful thinking. We’ve gathered some of the hottest films we can think of to keep you nice and toasty. Point your fingers and toes at the screen, cause its gonna get hot!
Films include:
In the Heat of the Night
directed by Norman Jewison (1967)
The Southern swelter underscores the tension between black city detective Sidney Poitier and the Mississippi town where he’s stuck, first as a suspect and then as an unlikely detective in a murder investigation. Rod Steiger won an Oscar for Best Actor playing the white local sheriff that comes to an uneasy alliance with Poitier.
12 Angry Men
directed by Sidney Lumet (1957)
In his directorial debut, Lumet highlights all the petty impediments to justice. Knowing full well that a guilty verdict means death, a jury of 12 men must decide the fate of an 18-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his father. But only one juror (Henry Fonda) wants to take the time during a sweltering heatwave to coolly (hah!) deliberate the case.
Dog Day Afternoon
directed by Sidney Lumet (1975)
Based on an actual event, Al Pacino plays Sonny, a man desperate to get money for his gay lover’s sex-change operation He teams up with Sal (John Cazale in an exquisite performance) to rob a New York bank on a scorching-hot summer day. The stickup goes awry when the press gets wind of the circus sideshow story.
Do the Right Thing
directed by Spike Lee (1989)
It’s the hottest day of the year on a street in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, and the heat’s putting everyone on edge. Long simmering racial tensions come to head at Sal’s Pizza, forcing deliveryman Mookie to make a choice. Will he join in the violence, or will he…