Unlikely Heroes Film Series

Thursdays, March 17 – April 14, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Guys like the guys in our Unlikely Heroes film series have always been in the movies as sidekicks or comic relief, but when did they become the stars? These are men who aren’t really men. They’re more like man-boys or—as we get to the end of our series—boy-men.

We’re no longer in an era of grown-up leads. Assured, self-possessed fellows like Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant aren’t our idols anymore. Instead, the new male archetype is ordinary like us and lost in the world like we are, too.

Our unlikely heroes are in varying degrees iconoclastic, sweet, vulnerable, ambitious and obtuse, but they’re all fascinating, each in their own way. Here’s a list of the films and what they’re about.

Unlikely Heroes

March 17
Harold and Maude (1971)

Twenty-something Harold rebels against adulthood by staging fake suicides and driving a hearse. But when he bumps into Maude, an eighty-year-old free spirit, he finds new possibilities for living.

March 24
Raising Arizona (1987)

H. I. McDonnough is an unsuccessful stick-up man who promises his gal Ed he’ll go straight. But when Ed finds out she can’t have children, she puts Hi up to kidnapping one of the Arizona quintuplets.

March 31
Dead Man (1995)

William Blake is a bookish Easterner out of place in the brutal West. After he’s shot and becomes an outlaw, an unconventional Blackfoot named Nobody helps him make the harsh and poetic journey to the end of his life. This movie contains the strong language that would be expected from real 19th century Westerners.

April 7
Rushmore (1998)

15-year-old Max Fisher is a smart and ambitious kid who wants to be admired. But his outlandish plans to impress his peers and win the heart of a teacher can’t keep him from having to grow up.

April 14
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Napoleon Dynamite is a mouth-breathing high schooler who’s bothered by bullies, cheerleaders, a brother and his uncle. He makes friends, too, and even saves the day. But he doesn’t change a bit.