Course Description
Discover and discuss masterpieces of American cinema in this class for intermediate and advanced English speakers. You’ll watch a film at home on streaming, or borrow the DVD from your local library, before a lively and engaging discussion in class. You’ll be assigned one scene to watch at least three times! Every month you’ll view a film from an influential director so you’ll come to know the stylistic hallmarks of favorite genres and filmmakers.
If you love the movies, this course is an enjoyable way to increase vocabulary, get comfortable with idiomatic expressions, improve your conversational skills, and deepen your understanding of American culture and cinema.
Films for the Spring 2025 trimester:
In 1967, the United States was marked by major racial unrest in cities like Newark, New Jersey and Detroit, Michigan, condemning police brutality and the many other injustices perpetrated against Black people and communities. Also in 1967, the first momentous national protest took place in the US Capital against the Vietnam War. We will be discussing three landmark films from that year.
Two for the Road by Stanley Donen, with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, is a romantic comedy-drama that blends Hollywood glamour, French New Wave editing, and British cynicism. Combining the disparate talents of movie star Audrey Hepburn, British bad boy Albert Finney, writer Fredric Raphael (Darling) and composer Henry Mancini, producer-director Stanley Donen (Charade, and Gene Kelly's collaborator on On the Town and Singin' in the Rain) tells the story of a contentious marriage by interweaving a series of road trips through scenic France that the couple has taken during their twelve-year relationship.
Bonnie and Clyde by Arthur Penn, with Warren Beatty and Faye 
Dunaway, is a seminal film of the decade and one of the highest-grossing films of 1967. It’s a story of the historic outlaws and folk heroes, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, who start as small-time crooks and grow into big-time bank robbers. The film was one of the first New Hollywood films, which turned away from classical film-making by using daring stylistic elements and exhibiting unconventional social mores. The film was nominated for nine Oscars, and won two, for Best Supporting Actress (Estelle Parsons) and Best Cinematography.
In the Heat of the Night by Norman Jewison, with Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, and music by Quincy Jones, is a film about a Black police detective from Philadelphia, who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation in a small Mississippi town. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, and won five, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor for Rod Steiger.
About the instructor:
Ellen Feldman grew up in Philadelphia and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She holds a Ph.D. in cinema studies from New York University and has taught film studies at the State University of New York, Geneseo campus, and Brooklyn College.
