The Best of the Best at the Best: this summer the Michigan Theater is proud to present our summer classic film series. The theme of the series is multiple-Oscar winning films; each of the films we'll be showing has won at least one Academy Award. Come enjoy these wonderful classics on the big screen! There are two shows weekly, check below for dates and times. Film listings are subject to change.

Tony (Jimmy Stewart), the eldest son of millionaire Anthony P. Kirby, has fallen in love with Alice Vanderhof. She's a sweet working girl who lives with her eccentric family and a few extra misfits in a decaying old house. It's a building that just happens to stand in the way of Mr. Kirby's plans to construct an impressive office complex. But when Grandpa Vanderhof refuses to sell, it's clash of the cantankerous titans. Unfortunately, the fallout may send lovebirds Tony and Alice flying in different directions.
1939 Academy Award winner: Best Director - Frank Capra, Best Picture.
Running time: 126 minutes

World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz's classic love story. Colorful characters abound in Casablanca, a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe. Humphrey Bogart plays Richard "Rick" Blaine, a cynical but good-hearted American whose café is the gathering place for everyone from the French Police to the black market to the Nazis. When his long-lost love, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), surfaces in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), Rick is pulled into both a love triangle and a web of political intrigue. Ilsa and Victor need to escape from Casablanca, and Rick may be the only one who can help them. The question is, will he?
1944 Academy Award winner: Best Director - Michael Curtiz, Best Picture, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 102 minutes

In the rugged mountains of Mexico a trio of men-- Humphrey Bogart as the unappealing Fred C. Dobbs, Tim Holt as the no-nonsense Bob Curtin, and Walter Huston (father of the director) as the grizzled old prospector Howard-- set out to make a fortune in gold prospecting. After they find gold, their true natures are revealed as greed and paranoia spread among the three.
1949 Academy Award winner: Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Walter Huston, Best Director - John Huston, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 126 minutes

The epic tale of a woman's life during one of the most tumultuous periods in America's history. From her young, innocent days on a feudalistic plantation to the war-torn streets of Atlanta; from her first love whom she has always desired to three husbands; from the utmost luxury to absolute starvation and poverty; from her innocence to her understanding and comprehension of life.
1940 Academy Award winner: Best Actress in a Leading Role - Vivien Leigh, Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Hattie McDaniel, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director - Victor Fleming, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 238 minutes

Patton is a three-dimensional bronze bust of World War II field general George S. Patton (George C. Scott) who wrote poetry, fired pistols at strafing fighter planes, and loved America with a lofty and historical zeal. Tracing his personal rivalries with such generals as Rommel and Montgomery, his problematic treatment of his own men, and his nearly runaway contempt for diplomacy, the film triumphs as an enduring portrait of a complex and larger-than-life figure.
1971 Academy Award winner: Best Actor in a Leading Role - George C. Scott, Best Art Direction, Best Director - Franklin J. Schaffner, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 170 minutes

A musical about a young G.I. who remains in Paris after World War II to study art. Jerry Mulligan wants to live the life of the great painters -- holed up in a Montmartre garret, starving for his art. But the reality is less romantic than the fantasy, so when a rich American gallery owner offers to support him, he agrees -- even if the bargain means joining her entourage of lovers. Then he meets Lise, a young French girl, and instantly falls in love. Unfortunately, she's already engaged to Henri Bourel, an older man who saved her from the Nazis.
1952 Academy Award winner: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Music, Best Picture, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 113 minutes

It's 1941. Robert E. Lee Prewitt has requested Army transfer and has ended up at Schofield in Hawaii. His new captain, Dana Holmes, has heard of his boxing prowess and is keen to get him to represent the company. However, 'Prew' is adamant that he doesn't box anymore, so Captain Holmes gets his subordinates to make his life a living hell. Meanwhile Sargeant Warden starts seeing the captain's wife, who has a history of seeking external relief from a troubled marriage. Prew's friend Maggio has a few altercations with the sadistic stockade sargeant 'Fatso' Judson, and Prew begins falling in love with social club employee Lorene. Unbeknownst to anyone, the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor looms in the distance.
1954 Academy Award winner: Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Frank Sinatra, Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Donna Reed, Best Cinematography, Best Director - Fred Zinnemann, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 118 minutes

C.C. Baxter, insurance clerk and only a face in a crowd of 30,000 employees, has a little problem: He can't use his own apartment. Since he once lent out his key to one of his superiors and his mistress, this custom has spread ever since. Now, different superiors from different departments take his place for their afternoon dalliance. Being promised not to be forgotten when it comes to shifts in personnel, C.C. Baxter swallows his anger - until he finds out who the company's boss is sleeping with.
1961 Academy Award winner: Best Art Direction, Best Director - Billy Wilder, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 125 minutes

David Lean's masterpiece, perhaps the greatest of screen epics, stars Peter O'Toole in one of the most electrifying debuts in film history. The film is less an ordinary adventure than an experience that leaves an overwhelming sense memory of the struggle between two powerful forces: the Arabian deserts, immense, intractable, ever-shifting, punishing; and T.E. Lawrence, humble as a monk, flamboyant as a rock star, protean, polymathic, heroic, enigmatic, mad. While working on the staff of British Intelligence in Cairo in 1916, Lawrence's fluency in Arabic earns him a post on a mission sent to establish contact with Prince Feisal (Alec Guinness), leader of the Arab revolt and ally of the British against the German-sponsored Turks in WWI. Impressed by Lawrence's knowledge of their culture, the prince allows the young officer to join his staff, and Lawrence quickly earns the Arabs' respect after he executes acts of extraordinary heroism. As the Englishman's genius for guerrilla warfare becomes evident, he assumes the role of de facto leader of the Arab revolt, uniting the heretofore warring tribes into a devastatingly effective weapon. But the chaos of war also unleashes the repressed officer's powerful need for self-abasement and mortification of the flesh. A visionary work that unfolds one indelible image after another, Lawrence of Arabia fuses the conflict of man against man, man against nature, and man against himself into a sublime poem of force. The film features a literate script by Robert Bolt and an outstanding cast, which also includes Claude Rains, Jack Hawkins, Arthur Kennedy, Anthony Quinn, Jose Ferrer, and Omar Sharif in his unforgettable desert-crossing debut.
1963 Academy Award winner: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director - David Lean, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Best Picture, Best Sound.
Running time: 216 minutes

Virgil Tibbs is a Philadelphia Homicide detective home to see his mother in the rural south. He is arrested when a rich white man is found dead and, in the racist environment of the era, Tibbs's being black is considered sufficient reason. When his identity is established, his boss offers his services to the small town sheriff who has little experience with murder investigations. As the two policemen learn how to work together, they begin to make progress on the crime.
1968 Academy Award winner: Best Actor in a Leading Role - Rod Steiger, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 109 minutes

The very first U.S. release of the original, uncut Japanese version that launched one of the most enduring and beloved screen monsters ever. Directed by the legendary Ishirô Honda, Gojira (its original title, a mixture of the Japanese words for "gorilla" and "whale") is much darker in tone than the U.S. release edition, which de-emphasized the film's underlying theme of burgeoning nuclear menace, effectively obscuring a narrative meant as a cry for world peace and disarmament. New 35mm print coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the film's premiere. (Fully subtitled)
Running time: 98 minutes

Aurora and Emma are mother and daughter who march to different drummers. Beginning with Emma's marriage, Aurora shows how difficult and loving she can be. The movie covers several years of their lives as each finds different reasons to go on living and find joy. Terms of Endearment is a deeply observed drama about the intimate relationship between a mother and daughter, based on the novel by Larry McMurtry. Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger are at their absolute best, with terrific support from Jack Nicholson, Jeff Daniels, and John Lithgow.
1984 Academy Award winner: Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Jack Nicholson, Best Actress in a Leading Role - Shirley MacLaine, Best Director - James L. Brooks, Best Picture, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 132 minutes

Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins will likely be forever associated with their roles in this bone-chilling masterpiece, based on the novel by Thomas Harris and directed by Jonathan Demme. FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Foster) is sent by her supervisor (Scott Glenn) to interview ferociously intelligent serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lechter (Hopkins) at his cell in a Maryland mental hospital. The FBI hopes Lechter can provide insight into the mind of killer-at-large, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), whose current abductee happens to be the daughter of a senator. Intrigued by Clairice, Lechter demands information about her personal life and in exchange for clues, and the two begin to form a strangely intimate connection, with a girl's life hanging in the balance.
1992 Academy Award winner: Best Actor in a Leading Role - Anthony Hopkins, Best Actress in a Leading Role - Jodie Foster, Best Director - Jonathan Demme, Best Picture, Best Screenplay.
Running time: 118 minutes

James Cameron's award-winning Titanic stands as one of the greatest Hollywood spectaculars of all time. Beginning with an undersea expedition in the 1990s, in which scuba divers are searching the sunken ship for lost relics, a painting of young Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is found. This triggers a flashback to the young woman's story as it happened on the doomed Titanic. Rose is a daughter of privilege on her way to be married to an arrogant but wealthy young man (Billy Zane). Despairing, Rose finds herself falling in love with Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a carefree and poor young artist who is also aboard. When the great ship strikes an iceberg and begins to sink, Rose and Jack have only each other as their world falls apart around them.
1998 Academy Award winner: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director - James Cameron, Best Sound Effects, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Music - Score, Best Music - Song, Best Picture, Best Sound.
Running time: 194 minutes