The Wizard of Oz – Memphis Flyer

Tonight at Malco Ridgeway, Indie Memphis presents Filmworker, the story of Leon Vitali. An actor who landed the part of Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon, Vitali gave up a promising acting career to become Stanley Kubrick’s right hand man through the 1970s, 80s, and 1990s. The documentary is a story of creativity’s highs and lows, and a warts-and-all account of the making of some of the greatest films ever. Tickets are going fast for this one. They are available over on the Indie Memphis website.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot

Meanwhile, over at the Paradiso, there’s a 25th anniversary screening of The Sandlot, a cult coming-of-age film about a young boy who moves to Los Angeles and wants to learn to play baseball.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (2)

On Thursday at the Paradiso, there’s a filmed version of a Broadway musical version of a film: Newsies.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (3)

This week, the Orpheum Theatre’s Summer Movie Series hits a trio of high notes. First on Friday is the all-time classic The Wizard of Oz. If your kids have never seen it, they need to. If you haven’t seen it in a while, it richly rewards repeated viewings. If you don’t know anything about it, educate yourself with this trailer:

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (4)

Once you’ve gotten your fix of Judy Garland fighting witches, head on over to the Midnight at the Studio, where Mike McCarthy is presenting one of the most unlikely onscreen love stories ever made, Harold and Maude. The film about a May-December romance between a young pessimist and an old optimist plays at the witching hour on both Friday and Saturday.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (5)

Saturday night, The Orpheum returns with a sorely needed double feature for our superhero-obsessed times. At 5 PM, it’s Superman. Richard Donner’s 1978 film is a tour de force of pre-CGI special effects. Even 40 years and literally hundred of superhero movies later, no actors have come close to either Christopher Reeve’s performance as Superman or the recently departed Margo Kidder’s turn as Lois Lane.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (6)

Then, after you freshen your soda and popcorn, The Orpheum presents Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Often considered the first modern superhero movie, its success in 1989 was by no means a sure thing. That’s why Warner Brothers attached their biggest musical star to do the soundtrack. It doesn’t get much attention now, but “Batdance” was Prince’s fourth song to hit #1 on the Billboard pop charts, the R&B charts, and the dance charts all at the same time. Check out this batshit crazy video, directed by Purple Rain helmer Albert Magnoli.

This Week At The Cinema: Behind The Scenes With Kubrick and The Sandlot (7)

See you at the cinema!

Make no mistake, The Wizard of Oz has one star, and he walks on four legs. When the touring show docks at the Orpheum, Dorothy’s canine companion, Toto, will be played by a pair of rescued terriers named Nigel and Loki. Both were adopted and coached by Bill Berloni, an unconventional animal trainer with a great origin story.

Berloni wasn’t supposed to work with critters. He wanted to be an actor and landed an apprenticeship working backstage at the Goodspeed Opera House in central Connecticut. The Goodspeed’s a professional house known for introducing musicals like Man of La Mancha and Shenandoah, and in 1976, it was trying out an unknown piece called Annie based on the popular Little Orphan Annie comic strip. They needed a dog to play Sandy.

Sarah Lasko as Dorothy and Nigel as Toto in “Over the Rainbow”

“They called trainers in New York, but they were too expensive,” Berloni says. “The producer was stuck and needed a sucker. So I was called into the office, young and naive. He said. ‘How would you like a part in one of our plays and your Equity card?’ So I said, ‘Sure.’ And he said, ‘All you have to do is find and train a dog for no money.'”

“I’d never been to an animal shelter before,” Berloni says. He’d never thought about animals having an “expiration date” before. “And I was profoundly moved by what I saw.” Although the first production of Annie was a huge flop, Sandy was a hit and Berloni was invited to train another rescue dog when the musical opened on Broadway a year later.

“And so I became a famous animal trainer,” says Berloni, who continues the practice of rescuing dogs and making them feel at home on stage.