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Event
CFS & The Numero Group present: Stony Island
Monday, June 13 @ 7:00 PM / Music Box
ONLINE TICKET SALES END 2 HRS BEFORE SCREENING START. TICKETS WILL STILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR!
STONY ISLAND
Directed by Andrew Davis 1978
Stony Island, perhaps the only cinematic love letter to Chicago soul music, is also a unique document of the city prior to the formation of the Chicago Film Office, which beginning in 1980 facilitated the production of tourist-friendly Hollywood blockbusters like Ferris Buellers Day Off and The Blues Brothers. Independently-made Stony Island was a different kind of movie, shot mostly guerrilla-style, capturing scenes of the South Side rarely seen in other films and incorporating vérité footage of landmark places and events (like the funeral procession of Mayor Daley, written into the script after the Boss died during shooting). Directed by a still-young and unknown Andrew Davis (The Fugitive), shot by Tak Fujimoto (who would soon move on to the likes of Melvin and Howard and Silence of the Lambs) and featuring pre-fame appearances from Rae Dawn Chong, Dennis Franz, and Susanna Hoffs, Stony Island channeled the efforts of the rising talents of the time at their freshest. But all of this is burying the lede: this is a music film, and one of the most credible featuring musicians not only on the soundtrack but in front of the camera, cast in starring roles and recorded doing their thing in numerous rehearsals and dazzling live performances. The film follows the formation of the Stony Island Band, assembled for the production but made up of real-life musicians whose discographies you should dig into if their names aren't familiar to you: Gene Daddy G Barge, Tennyson Stephens, a cameo from Phil Upchurch, and Stoney Robinson as the band's lead vocalist (and as if the joyous soundtrack provided by the band on screen weren't enough, James Brown band director David Matthews supplied the film's non-diegetic score). Tragically, Stoney Robinson died unexpectedly in 1979, just before a planned tour with the Stony Island Band to support the national release of the film and soundtrack album. In the wake, Stony Island's lead actor Richie Davis would join forces with Stoney's brother, Stevie Robinson, to form noted underground soul acts Third Rail and Maxx Traxx. A rare presentation of this local cinema classic on 35mm. (RS)
Co-presented with The Numero Group, with star Richie Davis in person!
95 min Chicago Pacific Entertainment 35mm
Preceded by: Excerpts from "The Chicago Party" (1982), a public access TV program produced by South Side nightclub The CopHerBox II. Courtesy of Numero Group.
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LocationMusic Box Theatre (View)
3733 N Southport
Chicago, IL 60613
United States
Categories
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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