Bob Le Flambeur at the Whistle Stop on Sunday

Like crime movies? Like Paris's Montmartre district in the 1950's? Like beer? Then you'll love watching BOB LE FLAMBEUR at the Whistle Stop on Sunday at 4pm.

Citizen Video has been showing movie matinees at the Whistle Stop the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month for almost as long as we've been open. It's fun. It's free. Some say it's even more entertaining than watching football.

Every month we choose a theme (and I have to admit I've been on a Jarmusch kick for a while - showing some of his movies as well as movies/directors that have influenced him). Bob Le Flambeur (by Jean-Pierre Melville) is reported to have been widely influential, on everything from the French New Wave to numerous directors including Jean-Luc Godard, Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood). Jim Jarmusch recommends it as a companion movie to his DOWN BY LAW (which we showed earlier this month). Perhaps BOB LE FLAMBEUR inspired the name for Jarmusch's character Bob (Roberto Begnini) in DOWN BY LAW, but I think you'll be able to find other similarities as well. A thoroughly enjoyable crime genre movie (even if you're not into all that other stuff).

I think I'll finish up my Jarmusch obsession next month by showing his first movie - Stranger Than Paradise - as well as the Finnish movie Ariel by one of Jarmusch's favorite directors, Aki Kaurismäki. Ariel is short so I'll pair it with the Helsinki scene in Night On Earth.