The Arts Theater was a hole in the wall which featured foreign films. For $.75 an hour I experienced the joy of watching all the films. I felt like I was paid to watch Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, and Godard work their cinematic magic. I took tickets, tore them, returned the stubs to the patrons and went inside to watch the running film. The best job I have ever had!
One memorable film directed by Mario Monicelli was “Big Deal on Madonna Street,” starring Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Claudio Cardinale and other notable Italian actors.
With one arm straight out from his shoulder and bent at the elbow, Mastroianni had to accomplish difficult physical movements. His performance, along with those of his zany sidekicks, made the film extraordinary.
I learned how extraordinary “Big Deal” was the night I took tickets from the cast and crew of a film that was being shot off Sabino Canyon Road on the edge of Tucson. In a lobby chat with one of the cast I learned that he and others sought out this film in any city where they happened to be shooting. In Paris, NYC, London, and even in Tucson, “Big Deal” was the go-to film for industry people. Why? The brilliance of director Mario Monicelli in keeping the cast sane while they were being asked to do so many crazy things.
It is a great film and I have watched it several times since 1962. The film has given me one of my standard lines that I use every month or so. When something hits me just right I respond, “Big Deal on Madonna Street.” You have to see the film to get it.
During the lobby chat I was invited to the set where “Lilies of the Field,” starring Sidney Poitier, was being filmed. I skipped classes at the University of Arizona and rode my bike to Sabino Canyon Road where I had lunch with the cast and crew. Met the man and watched the filming for the day. Poitier’s career was underway with “The Defiant Ones”, “A Raisin in the Sun”, and other works, but in 1964 he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in “Lilies of the Field”. A simple story, a simple set and a big performance.
What a thrill for a teenager from Goshen! I continued taking tickets and seeking the next Hollywood connection.
Written a few days after Sidney Poitier’s death at age 94.