In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Marlon Brando’s birth, the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center and the Film Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will screen six of Brando’s films, illustrating various facets and periods of his career (see schedule below). Students from Dr. Michael Page’s Film Genre class have prepared video presentations on the actor’s life and career. Special screenings of the student projects will kickoff and conclude the event on Thursday and Sunday.

Marlon Brando (1924-2004) is one of the most iconic and influential actors in film history. Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska on April 3, 1924. When Brando was a child, his mother would entertain actors from the local theatrical community, including a young Henry Fonda. Although the family moved to Illinois in 1930, Brando continued to have ties to Nebraska, owning ranchland in the Sandhills when he became a star. Before his first film role in The Men (1950), Brando developed his acting craft on stage in New York under the tutelage of Stella Adler, one of the most influential teachers of actors in the 20th century and a key figure in the development of what might be the most famous of all (screen) acting styles: method-acting.

As one of the first “method” actors to emerge in the early 1950s, Brando’s screen performance in such films as A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), The Wild One (1953), and On the Waterfront (1954) and his celebrity persona influenced many of his immediate contemporaries (James Dean, Paul Newman, etc.) as well as subsequent generations of actors from Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Jack Nicholson to Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, and Ryan Gosling. His comeback performance in The Godfather (1972) continues to demarcate Brando as a central cultural icon. Brando’s enigmatic approach to life and acting were of endless fascination to his fans, the press, and the intelligentsia during his lifetime and continue to elicit comment and analysis today.

Tickets: Students: free admission. All members of the public: $5

SCHEDULE:

Thursday, April 4:
* 5:30 p.m. – Student Projects Presentation [30-40 min | admission free]
Students from Dr. Michael Page’s Film Genre class have prepared short presentations on the periods of Brando’s career. Come join us for this overview of Brando and his legacy.
* 6:30 p.m. – The Wild One (1953) [1 hour, 19 minutes]
* 8:30 p.m. – A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) [2 hours, 2 minutes]
Brando’s groundbreaking early performances. In Streetcar, as the volatile Stanley Kowalski, Brando became a star; in The Wild One, as the consummate biker rebel Johnny, Brando became an icon.

Friday, April 5:
* 6:30 p.m. – The Godfather (1972) [2 hours, 55 minutes]
Brando’s Oscar-winning performance as mafia family patriarch Don Vito Corleone ranks as one of the most iconic and influential performances in film history.

Saturday, April 6:
* 3:00 p.m. – Bedtime Story (1964) [1 hour, 39 minutes]
* 5:10 p.m. – The Freshman (1990) [1 hour, 42 minutes]
Two Brando comedies from different periods. Bedtime Story pits two rival conmen (Brando and David Niven) in a hilarious romp to defraud an heiress. Later remade three times. In The Freshmen, Brando revisits and parodies his Don Corleone performance in a plot that involves film student Matthew Broderick and a Komodo Dragon.

Sunday, April 7:
* 5:00 p.m. – Student Projects Presentation [30-40 min | admission free]
Students from Dr. Michael Page’s Film Genre class have prepared short presentations on the periods of Brando’s career. Come join us for this overview of Brando and his legacy. (A repeat of Thursday’s opening event).
* 6:00 p.m. - One-Eyed Jacks (1961) [2 hours, 21 minutes]
Brando starred in and directed this epic Western, his only directorial credit. Notable for its vivid cinematography, for which it was nominated for an Oscar. Stanley Kubrick was originally slated to direct but dropped out, and Brando took the directing helm himself. His good friend, Karl Malden, plays villain Dad Longworth.