Dan's Papers - November 3, 2006 - Dan's Papers They Made The Movie Here Film Festival 2006

Just when we all thought Hollywood had left the Hamptons, another film festival has appeared on our horizons. From November 4th until December 16th, the Dan's Papers They Made The Movie Here Film Festival will be lighting up the big screen at the Westhampton Performing Arts Center for its twentieth season, and you can see the films for free. The idea for the festival came to founder (and Dan's Papers Publisher and Editor in Chief) Dan Rattiner about ten years ago, when he realized that "Hollywood is starting to take notice of us." From congregating here to celebrate new films at the Hamptons International Film Festival, to dotting the beaches with movie cameras all summer long, filmmakers are using the Hamptons' beautiful vistas as frequently as they use Los Angeles's palm tree-lined boulevards and the busy streets of New York. Dan noticed the Hamptons' rising status as one of film's most sought-after locations, and says that he was inspired to begin the festival because "the area is so photogenic. There is a law in East Hampton town (I don't know if it's still a law) that you have to get a permit if you want to take a picture of anything in the town and use it for films or model shoots." Dan also thought that this would be "a good thing for the Chamber of Commerce." In the long run, promoting the Hamptons' beauty as a location for movies may bring more money to the community, but every screening at the festival, and wine and cheese reception that follows, is free. Each film is introduced by a film historian, critic, or judge and, in the past, those who have been in the films have been known to drop by occasionally and discuss their experiences with the audience.

Because every film in the festival was either shot in the Hamptons or made by people who live here, local viewers from all over the East End should be able to find their hometown in at least one of this year's six spectacular choices.

On Saturday, November 4th, Deathtrap, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, kicks off the festival on a mysterious note. Made in 1982, Deathtrap follows Sidney, an out of work playwright-turned-professor, on his quest to appropriate his student's play and sell it as his own. Although his plan to simply "rub out" his student seems foolproof, once the prey falls into the trap, the simple scheme develops more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, and nothing goes as planned.

Anne Bancroft, Carrie Fisher and Betty Comden star in Garbo Talks, the second film in the series, on November 11th. Plucky Estelle, played by the ravishing Anne Bancroft, is diagnosed with cancer, and decides that before she dies, she must meet her idol, Greta Garbo. Estelle's dutiful son decides that he will fulfill his mother's wish, and stakes out Garbo's apartment, delivering food in the hopes of a face-to-face meeting with the star, even if it means sacrificing his marriage in the process.

The most accurate portrait of the media ever made, Academy-Award-winning Network, starring Peter Finch and Faye Dunaway, serves as the festival's centerpiece on November 18th. Famous for the line "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore," Network's protagonist, Howard Beale, is the personification of the pre-1970s news, when journalists uncovered stories instead of spinning them, and cared about getting the news to the people more than they cared about their ratings. His relationship with Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway), herself a personification of the slick, heartless modern media, as well as the propensity of his network to lean towards Christensen's philosophies, drives him to make the ultimate sacrifice for his audience, in the end pleasing not only the audience, but the network as well. Although this film was considered a masterpiece when it was first released, the recent homage to Beale's famous speech on NBC's new show "Studio 60" proves that Network is perhaps even more relevant today than it was in 1976.

Rocket Gibraltar, Burt Lancaster's final film about an ailing Sagaponack patriarch, plays the following Saturday, December 2nd. In Rocket Gibraltar, Levi Rockwell (Lancaster) invites his children and grandchildren to celebrate his 77th birthday with him at his beachfront home. Although he loves them all, only his grandchildren understand him, and they try to make his birthday wish come true, despite their parents' constant feuding and personal struggles.

Rob Lowe, Meg Tilly and Kim Cattrall star in the December 9th selection, 1988's Masquerade. A deliciously 80s story about lust, murder and money, Masquerade follows spoiled heiress Olivia (Tilly) from Southampton to Shelter Island during her illicit love affair with handsome, yacht-racing Captain Tim, played by a young, tanned and preternaturally perfect-looking Rob Lowe. Olivia's love affair, coupled with her intense hatred for her stepfather, lends this seductive thriller a classic 1980s air of debauchery and decadence.

The festival closes with Something's Gotta Give, starring Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Amanda Peet and Keanu Reeves. Erica, a brilliant writer with the most stunning Hamptons home on film to date, is caught in an incestuous love triangle when she falls for her daughter's older boyfriend (Nicholson) and a handsome young doctor (Reeves). Although her daughter Marin (Peet) dumps her boyfriend early on, and gives her mother the green light to go after him, love triangles are never easy and the audience won't know which man Erica chooses until the very last scene.

With so many different films to choose from, this year's Dan's Papers Film Festival promises to delight movie-goers of all ages. Best of all (besides it being free, of course) the festival is a biannual event, so if you are not in town for this one, mark your calendar for the next festival, which will begin this coming Spring. The Hamptons are all over the silver screen these days, but instead of having to scout out the best Hamptons films yourself, why not let Dan Rattiner pick them out for you, and then enjoy some wine and cheese with the stars- on Dan, of course.