FACETS CINÉMATHÈQUE
March 2008
The Facets Cinémathèque is located at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. in Chicago. For more information on films playing in the Cinémathèque, please call 773-281-4114. To order advance tickets online, visit the TicketWeb website by clicking here.
with filmmaker Barry Poltermann
THE LIFE OF REILLY
"Thoroughly engaging...light, bright and shamelessly dishy"
-Variety
"Mr. Reilly's exuberant deployment of his reedy voice and expressive hands proves the acting teacher's cliché that the body is the only prop a performer needs"
-New York Times
-New York Post
The Life of Reilly makes a valuable contribution to a record that could easily have been forgotten or reduced to a few double-entendres on
Match Game."
-Washington Post

"Reilly's recollections mix showbiz glitter with vivid glimpses of a baroquely bizarre childhood and reveal a generosity of spirit beneath the knowingly sardonic facade"
-TV Guide
Tip of the Week! "[Reilly's] poignant and oft-hilarious stories show that a life lived well is the best revenge"
-NewCity Chicago
-Chicago Tribune
"[Reilly] keeps it fresh with the sheer force of his personality...he still commands the stage"
-TimeOut Chicago
"A funny and frequently affecting reminiscence"
-Chicago Reader
"Spellbinding"
-The Onion
The late Charles Nelson Reilly directed five Broadway plays, won a Tony for acting, was nominated for three Emmys, and knew full well that his legacy would be as a flamboyant double-entendre machine on '70s game shows. Filmed before he died in May at the age of 76, this warm and hilarious adaptation of Reilly's acclaimed one-man show,
Save It for the Stage, is almost entirely without reference to Match Game. Rambling, blithe, nostalgic, and out for revenge, Reilly presents a witty anecdotal timeline of his life, and the bittersweet milestones play like a Spalding Gray monologue loosened up with a few shots of tequila. There are the stories of his racist mom, lobotomized aunt, and a TV exec who told him he'd never find work as a homosexual -- and the more charming tale of his Uta Hagen acting class, which yielded nothing but future A-listers (Steve McQueen, Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon, and Anne Meara, to name a few). By introducing the performance with man-on-the-street interviews that emphasize how little most of us know about Reilly's talent, directors Frank Anderson and Barry Poltermann give their film and subject added poignancy.
(The Village Voice)Directed by Frank Anderson and Barry Poltermann, U.S.A., 2006, BetaSP, 84 mins.
Filmmaker Barry Poltermann will be here for a Q&A after the 7 pm and before the 9 pm shows on Sat., March 8, as well as after the 3 pm show on Sun., March 9.
Official site
YouTube trailer
Variety
New York Post
Washington Post
TV Guide
Chicago Tribune
NewCity Chicago
TimeOut Chicago
The Onion
Showtimes:
Fri., Mar. 7 at 7 & 9 pm
Sat.-Sun., Mar. 8-9 at 3, 5, 7 & 9 pm
Mon.-Thurs., Mar. 10-13 at 7 & 9 pm
Tickets: