"Walk the Line"
The Orpheum on South Main and the Levitt Shell in Overton Park probably are the city's two most historic functioning performance spaces. In the past, their stages — one alfresco, the other beneath an ornate ceiling and crystal chandeliers — have welcomed such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Cary Grant, Lena Horne, Gregory Peck, Elvis, the Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Arcade Fire.
Friday, the venues become linked — unofficially — as they inaugurate a pair of monthlong series that will bring even more movie stars and musicians to Memphis, onscreen if not onstage.
"The Last Picture Show"
"The Firm"
"Hustle & Flow"
"The Concert for Bangladesh"
"Lightning in a Bottle"
"The Last Waltz"
"Gimme Shelter"
The "Memphis Film Fest" at the 83-year-old Orpheum begins Friday with a 7:15 screening of "Hustle & Flow," the 2005 pimp-symp Oscar-winner from Craig Brewer. The Memphis director will take part in a question-and- answer session before the film, which he will introduce.
Eight films, either made in Memphis ("The Firm") or with a strong Memphis connection ("The Blind Side"), will screen during the series, which concludes July 29. The mini-film fest functions as a sort of sidebar to the Orpheum's regularly scheduled "Summer Classic Movie Series," which resumes Aug. 4.
"I'm really excited about seeing ('Hustle') in that theater," said Brewer, who said he will screen a trailer for his upcoming "Footloose" remake before the movie. "I've seen 'Gone with the Wind' there, 'North by Northwest,' and now 'Hustle & Flow.'"
Brewer said his first trip to the Orpheum, in his youth, was to see a stage production of "Camelot" with Richard Harris as King Arthur. It also was one of his first trips Downtown from Collierville.
"I went with my grandmother and my great-aunts, and it was a big deal. We got a little lost on the freeway system and went all the way to Arkansas before we figured it out."
Meanwhile, at the 75-year-old Levitt Shell, Indie Memphis inaugurates the free "Concert Film Series," which begins Friday with director Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz" (1978), a chronicle of The Band's famous farewell performance featuring Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and others.
Another five concert films — featuring The Rolling Stones ("Gimme Shelter") and U2 (the partly made-in-Memphis "Rattle and Hum"), among others — will screen each Friday at the Shell, through Aug. 5. Funded by a First Tennessee Foundation Award for Innovation in the Arts, the film series gives music lovers a reason to return to Overton Park, even if the spring concert series ended in June.
Movies start at dusk; Friday's start time is 8:48.
Indie Memphis executive director Erik Jambor said the partnership with the Levitt Shell was "an exciting way to combine our audiences, so the live music the Shell is known for and the film we're known for can come together in one historic venue."
Jambor said the dusk starting time is late enough that a person could watch "Hustle & Flow" and then head to Overton Park for "The Last Waltz." In fact, because the free films in the outdoor series are performance documentaries that lack traditional narrative plots, busy viewers should feel few qualms about arriving late or leaving early.
Although not every movie at either venue is Memphis-oriented, both series celebrate the city's status as a musical wellspring and mecca — a status recognized in the productions of the Tony-winning musicals "Memphis" and "Million Dollar Quartet," both set for the Orpheum in the coming months.
"We thought this gave us an opportunity to focus the spotlight on what Memphis has to offer," said Kanette Rodgers, Orpheum vice president of marketing, referencing the city's filmmaking heritage as well as its musical fame.
She pointed out that two of the films in the Orpheum series — "Great Balls of Fire!," the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic with Dennis Quaid, and "Walk the Line," with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash — focus on characters who are featured in "Million Dollar Quartet." Orpheum videographer Jesse Scherr is creating an original minidocumentary about Sun Studio to screen before those films.
The Orpheum Memphis Film Fest
Movies start at 7:15 p.m. Tickets: $7 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under.
Friday: "Hustle & Flow"
Thursday: "The Firm"
July 8: "The Last Picture Show"
July 14: "The Rainmaker"
July 15: "The Blind Side"
July 21: "Great Balls of Fire!"
July 22: "Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin'"
July 29: "Walk the Line"
Overton Park Levitt Shell Concert Film Series
Movies begin at dusk. Admission is free. Beverages and snacks available for purchase beginning at 8 p.m. For more information, go to Indiememphis.com.
Friday: "The Last Waltz"
July 8: "Radiohead: Live in Prague"
July 15: "Gimme Shelter"
July 22: "Rattle and Hum"
July 29: "The Concert for Bangladesh"
Aug. 5: "Lightning in a Bottle"
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