Wednesday, February 11, 2015

"Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen" Showing tonight 7/11 at 7PM the Lyric Theater

Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen Screening and Discussion
with Writer/Director John Mulholland & Producer Richard Zampella
http://www.thelyric.com/events/?ID=1470



EVENT INFORMATION
Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen - (M)
On paper, the friendship between these two celebrated American icons would seem to have been impossible. But Coop and "papa" became the best of friends, right up until their deaths several weeks apart in 1961. Today, 50 years after their deaths, the intriguing and at times contentious friends which roamed from Idaho and New York to Cuba and Paris--resonates on fascinating and diverse levels. And as the extraordinary popularity of "Saving Private Ryan" proved, Americans are fond of looking back to another time to understand what real heroism is, to come to grips with what courage means. Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper dealt with this very subject as no one had before, since Hemingway's fiction and Cooper's persona were not about masculinity as a one-note, smash-mouth force of nature; rather, it was about the self-respect that comes from comporting oneself with courage in impossible circumstances. In many ways it was the perfect match: Ernest Hemingway whose heroes personified his definition of courage--"grace under pressure"--and Gary Cooper, the man who often portrayed those characters on screen. Yet in other ways--politically, intellectually, and personally--Hemingway and Cooper were a study in contradictions.

The story of this extraordinary 20+ year friendship is the focus of this feature documentary. The film, narrated by Sam Waterson, features interviews with such Hollywood luminaries as Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, George Plimpton, and Patricia Neal.