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Boston in the Movies: A Spring 2007 Film Series
In conjunction with a new undergraduate course about Boston, Space is limited, contact Polly O’Brien to RSVP The Verdict Wednesday, February 21, 2007 In this 1982 film directed by Sidney Lumet, Paul Newman plays a Boston-based lawyer who sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by trying rather than settling a medical malpractice case involving a hospital owned by the archdiocese of Boston. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards Commentary by Walter V. Robinson, Professor of Journalism, Northeastern University and former director of The Boston Globe's Spotlight Team investigation of the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, for which the newspaper received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003. The Last Hurrah Wednesday, March 7 at 6:00 p.m. In this 1958 film directed by John Ford,. Spencer Tracy plays an aging politician based loosely on the career of James Michael Curley, who used ethnic and class tensions to win four elections as mayor of Boston but lost his bid for a fifth term in the city’s watershed 1949 election. The film won awards for best director and best actor from the National Board of Review. Commentary by Jerome Lyle Rappaport, Sr., Chairman of the Board, The New Boston Fund and Founder and Advisory Board Chair of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. A mover and shaker in the greater Boston area for more than 50 years, Jerry Rappaport began his involvement in public policy while a student at Harvard College and Harvard Law School in the 1940s. He played an integral role in John Hynes's 1949 campaign for mayor of Boston against James Michael Curley. He went on to serve in Hynes' administration and in 1950 created The New Boston Committee, which became an essential element in the revitalization of Boston. Mystic River Wednesday, April 11 In this 2003 movie directed by Clint Eastwood. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins play three men who still live in the Boston neighborhood where they grew up. Penn plays Jimmy, an ex-con whose daughter is murdered. Bacon plays Sean, a homicide detective who is investigating the murder. Robbins plays Dave, a blue-collar worker who is still haunted by his abduction as a child and who becomes a suspect in the case. Penn and Robbins both won Oscars for their performances and the film was nominated for another four Oscars as well. Commentary by Anthony Braga, lecturer in sociology and at the Kennedy School of Government, who studies criminal justice issues in Boston. To reserve a space at one of the films, please send an email to Polly O'Brien or call 617-495-5091. | |
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