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Lexington Film League producers Lucy Jones (left) and Sarah Wylie A. VanMeter at the Kentucky Theatre, where an exhibit of Harry Dean Stanton art is on display. Photo by Robbie Clark.
As the gosepl-singing convict in “Cool Hand Luke,” Kentucky native actor Harry Dean Stanton was part of Lucy Jones’ first foray into cinematic intrigue as a young “television-obsessed” girl who grew up in a country house with no cable TV.
“We had one VHS copy of ‘Cool Hand Luke’ –– I don’t know where it came from but I watched it probably 100 times, without knowing what the movie was about, without really knowing what the scenes meant, but there was something that resonated with me,” said Jones, who now has a degree in film studies and serves as a producer for the Lexington Film League. She credits her fixation with that flick as a young girl as the beginning of her lifelong love affair with movies.
But it was with Stanton’s appearance in the 1984 film “Repo Man,” which she caught at a midnight screening at the Kentucky Theatre when she was 15, that the actor really struck a chord with Jones.
“I think that’s where it started,” she said. “I was so in love with that movie, and I was so in love with that soundtrack, and I was so in love with him –– he was just the coolest guy.”
This month, the Lexington Film League, will present the second annual film festival in tribute to the character actor, screening a handful of his films at various downtown venues, including the Kentucky Theatre, the newly remodeled Central Library Farish Theater, The Green Lantern and Triangle Park.
“[The venues] have all been all been amazing, and super generous, in working with us,” said Jones. While Stanton himself (now 85 years old) won’t be able to make it to town for the event, the festival is bringing in actor Donnie Fritts, a friend and co-star of Stanton’s, to talk about some memories he has of Stanton.
Beginning on May 18, the festival’s first event this year is a free, all-ages screening of the 1986 John Hughes film “Pretty in Pink,” presented in conjunction with the Downtown Lexington Corporation as the inaugural event for the DLC’s Friday Fountain Flicks series at Triangle Park. On May 19, the festival will host an afternoon showing of the 1978 drama “Straight Time,” also starring Dustin Hoffman, as well as an evening screening of “Repo Man” at The Green Lantern followed by a live rendition of that film’s soundtrack by local band The Palisades. Events on May 20 include a screening of the 2011 documentary “Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland,” by Lexington filmmaker and KET writer and producer Tom Thurman, and conclude with an evening screening of “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” to be followed by a conversation between Thurman and Fritts, who co-starred in “Pat Garrett” alongside Stanton.
Born in West Irvine, Ky., in 1926, Stanton went to college at UK and lived with his aunt on Preston Avenue in Kenwick for a spell after serving in the Navy during World War II. His acting career has included a diverse lot of prominent support roles, including the flippant spaceship technician in “Alien,” an eccentric private detective in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart,” and Roman Grant, the self-proclaimed prophet and polygamist leader of the Grant clan in the HBO series “Big Love.”
“He’s made a lot of smart choices and a lot of talented directors are drawn to him,” Thurman said. “That makes him very intriguing to me –– of course, the Kentucky connections reinforce that.”
Thurman is particularly excited to see “Pat Garrett,” a 1973 western directed by Sam Peckinpah that also features Bob Dylan and James Coburn, featured on the big screen.
“People typically gravitate toward films like Peckinpah’s ‘The Wild Bunch,’ but I think ‘Pat Garrett’ might be his best work –– and certainly one of his most underrated,” Thurman said. “When you have Bob Dylan as an actor and doing the soundtrack, it’s a tip off that it’s not going to be a typical western. But it’s a beautiful film, it’s gorgeous to look at, and the performances are terrific.”
Having appeared in more than 80 films, Stanton provides no shortage of possible films to screen in the future –– which is a good thing, because Jones has plans to continue the festival well into the future.
“I want to do it every year,” she said. “There’s so many films that I know people wanted to see this year that we just don’t have time to show, but that we will in future years.”
2012 Harry Dean Stanton Fest
Friday, May 18
“Pretty in Pink” at Triangle Park
Starts at dusk. Free.
Saturday, May 19
“Straight Time” at Farish Theater (Lexington Public Library)
3 p.m. Free.
“Repo Man” at The Green Lantern
Followed by a live soundtrack tribute with Palisades, feat. special guests
8 p.m. Ages 21 and up.
Sunday, May 20
“Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland” at the Farish Theater
3 p.m. Free.
“Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” at the Kentucky Theatre
Followed by a conversation with actor Donnie Fritts and Tom Thurman, director and producer for “Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland.”
7 p.m. $5.
For more information on the Harry Dean Stanton Festival, visit www.harrydeanstantonfest.com.