Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 1, 2007 issue
Compiled by Kathleen McFadden
In February, the big screen at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock will feature such stars as Greta Garbo, Gene Kelly, Audrey Hepburn times two, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks times two. One of those Hanks appearances is a special film selected for Valentine’s Day. Admission to shows is $5 and tickets are available at the box office prior to the show. For info, call the Hayes Center at 828-295-9627.
Movie: Grand Hotel (1932)
Date: Friday, February 2
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: Check out this cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore and Wallace Beery, all playing characters staying or working in the most fashionable hotel in Berlin. This is the film in which Garbo said, “I want to be alone.”
Movie: Going My Way (1944)
Date: Saturday, February 3
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: In this comedy/drama/musical staring Barry Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby, the parish of the grouchy Father Fitzgibbon welcomes a new addition, Father O’Malley. As the new priest struggles to fit in with the old father and his congregation, a positive relationship seems to develop. However, one night the church mysteriously burns to the ground.
Movie: An American in Paris (1951)
Date: Sunday, February 4
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: In this musical romance starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, struggling American painter Jerry Mulligan falls for Lise, an engaged young French girl, right about the time he is discovered by an influential heiress. It soon becomes clear that the heiress is interested in more than his art, leading to all kinds of romantic complications.
Movie: My Fair Lady (1964)
Date: Monday, February 5
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: In this adaptation of the Broadway musical, Audrey Hepburn plays Eliza Doolittle, an unrefined Cockney flower girl, and Rex Harrison is phonetics professor Henry Higgins. On a bet, Higgins sets to work turning Eliza into a proper Victorian lady. Post-transformation, Eliza finds herself the object of more than one man’s admiration.
Movie: The Godfather (1972)
Date: Wednesday, February 7
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: Marlon Brando and Al Pacino are outstanding in this first of the Godfather films that portrays Vito Corleone’s twilight days as head of the Corleone Mafia Family. Corleone’s son Michael returns from fighting in WWII just in time for his sister’s wedding and although he yearns for a normal life outside of the Mafia, he becomes involved in a violent mob war after his father nearly dies from an assassination attempt.
Movie: The Godfather II (1974)
Dates: Thursday, February 8
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: The second of the Godfather films portrays the life of the young Vito Corleone in the 1910s and follows his son Michael in the 1950s as he expands the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.
Movie: Out of Africa (1985)
Date: Monday, February 12
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: Based on a true story, this biographical dramatic romance follows Karen Blixen, played by Meryl Streep, as she establishes a coffee plantation in Africa with her husband. Karen’s life is complicated by her true love Denys, played by Robert Redford, and troubles soon arise on the plantation. Karen is forced to deal with these struggles and many more.
Movie: Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Date: Wednesday, February 14
Times: 2:00 and 9:30 p.m.
Description: Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in this funny romantic drama perfect for Valentine’s Day. Hanks plays the recently widowed Sam, whose son Jonah puts him on national radio to find a new love. Hundreds of women write to Sam, but Annie feels she cannot marry her fiancé until she knows that the widower is not her soul mate. After going to great lengths to meet Sam, Annie goes home determined to marry her current fiancé. Convinced that Annie is right for his dad, Jonah secretly arranges for the adults to meet on the roof of the Empire State building.
Movie: Roman Holiday (1953)
Date: Wednesday, February 14
Times: 4:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: In her Oscar-winning role, Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Anne, a bored and sheltered girl who goes on a tour of Rome. While in Rome, she rebels against her strict schedule, and an American reporter named Joe Bradley, played by Gregory Peck, finds her asleep on a park bench. Bradley takes her to his apartment, unaware of her identity. The next morning, he rushes off to cover the Princess Anne press conference. Once Bradley realizes what’s going on, he promises his editor an exclusive interview with the princess. Professional turns personal, however, when the reporter falls for the princess.
Movie: Forrest Gump (1994)
Date: Monday, February 26
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: Tom Hanks stars in this moving film about the intellectually limited Forest Gump, his accomplishments and his involvement in a number of historic moments. Throughout his life, Forrest loves his childhood playmate Jenny, but her path takes her far from their small southern hometown. Eventually, Jenny returns, but the reunion is bittersweet.
Movie: Gone with the Wind (1939)
Date: Wednesday, February 28
Times: 2:30 and 7:00 p.m.
Description: In this American classic, a turbulent love affair unfolds between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, played by Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. Set in the South during the Civil War, the film follows Scarlett as she deals with war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army invasion and the loss of her true love Ashley when he marries his cousin. Scarlett meets Rhett the day the Civil War begins, and their relationship builds through trying times. Unwilling to admit her true feelings about Rhett, Scarlett loses the one man who truly loves her.