Spring & Summer 2025 AG

QUIET ON THE SET! | 50+ YRS Richard Bloom

As America grew from toddling infant into muscular superpower, Americans have always found a way to take the edge off their growing pains with some manner, shape or form of entertainment. Camp shows grew into minstrel and stage shows and they in turn gave way to vaudeville. Then a new medium began to emerge from the cities at the hands of entrepreneurs and visionaries, a medium called film. The people loved it. Settle in, explore and watch American cinema by decades, movies that often reflected the tenor of the times. PART I

PART II 6/23 - (1960s) More Than Entertainment: The 1960s was a decade of significant social and cultural change and the movies reflected this transformation. From the rise of the New Hollywood movement to the emergence of European art cinema, the 1960s saw the release of some of the most influential and groundbreaking films in the history of cinema. 6/30 - (1970s) Fresh Blood: With new and young filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese taking greater risks and restrictions regarding language and sexuality lifted, a “new Hollywood” produced some of the most critically acclaimed and financially successful films since the “golden era” of classical cinema. 7/7 - (1980s) The Dead Zone: For a long time, the Eighties were considered a bit of a cinematic dead zone stuck between the New Hollywood/modern blockbuster-inventing Seventies and the edgier, irony-heavy Indie Revolution Nineties. It was a lull, a pressed pause button, a clearing of the throat in between arias. But that 10-year period minted a handful of Hall of Fame movie stars. 7/14 - (1990s) A Film Fan’s Buffet: The 1990s cinema menu truly did offer something for everyone - from Robin Williams’ comedic genius in Mrs. Doubtfire to Hannibal Lecter’s appetite in Silence of the Lambs. Throw in Forest Gump, Toy Story and Armageddon and the cash register just kept ringing. 7/21 - (2000-2024) Bubblegum & Box Office: Computer generated graphics, Disney cartoons and Marvel superheroes eclipsed serious cinema as Hollywood pandered to a demographic that thrived on multiple ways to die. 7/28 - Class favorites, great scenes, great lines, great characters and great goofs . 552514 A 10-11 am M 6/23-7/28 BCCC, Level 5, Event Center Room C $30 R-BCCC M | $36 NR O 6 sessions

4/28 - (Late 1890s-early 1900s) In the Beginning: A host of hustlers saw a great future in the new medium of film and wasted little time capitalizing on it. Nickelodeon appeared by the hundreds overnight and urban audiences’ appetites demanded more and more. Then legendary filmmaker D.W. Griffith game them Birth of a Nation. 5/5 - (1900s) The Movies Move: Though it began on the East Coast, the film industry soon realized what a warmer climate - like California’s - would do for the industry’s bottom line. So most everyone packed up and headed West and set up shop at a place called Hollywoodland. 5/12 - (1920s) The Sounds of Silence: The decade roared and so did MGM’s lion as filmmakers continued to refine this new medium and changed its entire dynamic when Warner Bos. scored a coup with Al Jolson’s voice in The Jazz Singer. 5/19 - (1930s) A Year Like No Other: Every major studio jumped on the sound bandwagon and began to define themselves with the type of pictures bearing their name. Warner Bros. led the pack with a barrage of crime films, like Public Enemy and by 1939 the industry had its best year ever - in quality and cash. 6/2 - (1940s) War!: Sophisticated comedies, tension filled drama and biographies topped the list of escapist entertainment, but the film industry, like everyone else, could not escape a world war. 6/9 - (1950s) Competition!: With the advent of television, Hollywood studios pulled out all the stops to lure folks back to the big screen. Cinemascope, VistaVision and Cinerama gave film a new dimension and 3-D captured the imagination of thousands. 552513 A 10-11 am M 4/28-6/9 (skip 5/26) BCCC, Level 5, Event Center Room C $30 R-BCCC M | $36 NR O 6 sessions

ENRICHMENT

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