A Bogdanovich Retrospective

Following the successful screenings of “Targets” and “The Last Picture Show” held in its pre-opening phase, Sag Harbor Cinema is devoting a retrospective series to the work of Peter Bogdanovich, who died earlier this year at age 82. “Saint Jack” and a rare 35mm screening of “They All Laughed” will kick off the program on February 26. Both films star former Sag Harbor resident, the late Ben Gazzarra.

A child of the movies like his “New Hollywood” peers Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg, Bogdanovich brought a penchant for film history and curation to his own brand of cinephilia. His passion for, and knowledge of, American classic cinema can be found in the retrospectives he programmed for MoMA, as a young curator, and in the insightful collections of essays and interviews devoted to his favorite stars (Bogart, Cary Grant, Jerry Lewis) and directors John Ford, Howard Hawks, Ernest Lubitsch, Orson Welles, Leo McCarey and Alfred Hitchcock, to name just a few.

That same passion and knowledge colors his own features, among which “Saint Jack” and “They All Laughed” stand out as two of the director’s most personal titles. They are also two of his lesser known films, as screenings are difficult to come by. In a 2006 interview with The New York Times, Bogdanovich said, “‘Saint Jack’ and ‘They All Laughed’ were two of my best films but never received the kind of distribution they should have.”

“I am thrilled to be able to share these two films with our audience,” said the cinema’s artistic director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan. “They both had quite a tormented distribution history and have not been very accessible to the greater public, which makes them a bit more ‘secret’ than, let’s say, ‘The Last Picture Show’ or ‘Paper Moon.’ But they are peaks of Bogdanovich’s career — his sensibility, his mastery, his love of characters, comic touch and slight melancholy are all in them. I never tire of watching ‘They All Laughed’ and its last scene breaks my heart every time I do.”

Tickets are available at sagharborcinema.org. Sag Harbor Cinema is at 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor.