In honor of its new Pop Art exhibit, the Wichita Art Museum has a new series called Pop Cinema featuring three FREE movies at the museum. There will also be a cash bar during the flicks, which begin at 6 p.m.
Pop artists revered mass culture and reflected popular trends with wry commentary. Cinema was a key source of imagery and critique for artists of the pop era. WAM will screen iconic feature films that captured the style and mod mood of the times.
Wednesday, October 5 – Goldfinger
The James Bond flick Goldfinger captured the era brilliantly. It launched many firsts for the Bond empire–the first Aston Martin, use of crazy tech gadgets, and a hit song by a pop icon. The American Film Institute honored the film for its best movie quote, as Bond instructs: “A Martini. Shaken, not stirred!” Don’t miss this 1960s classic with a finger on the pulse of pop culture.
Wednesday, October 26 – Yellow Submarine
The loveable mop tops –The Beatles–star in a British animated musical fantasy comedy film inspired by their music. Yellow Submarine, 1968, is a meandering journey, filled with puns and dry British humor, where psychedelic music video takes precedent over a linear story. The plot concerns a vibrantly colored place called Pepperland that resembles the album cover for Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. The swirling animation is a mixture of pop-culture images and modern artistic styles brought loosely together with clever political commentary.
Wednesday, November 9 – Artists and Models
This Paramount musical comedy marked Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’ 14th feature together. The film co-stars Shirley MacLaine and Dorothy Malone, and features Eva Gabor. Artists and Models is one of the most exuberant and colorful American movies of the 1950s. It uses the era’s comics as a visual reference and plot point, spinning a story about two pairs of mismatched roommates into a quasi-surreal satire. was shot in VistaVision, which would eventually lose the wide-screen-format war to CinemaScope. Don’t miss this captivating classic!
