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Three Classics by the Maysles Brothers: Showman, Meet Marlon Brando, A Visit with Truman Capote

Sunday, Jun 11, 2023 at 3:00 pm

Location: Redstone Theater

Dirs. Albert and David Maysles, 1963–1966

Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson have been devoted fans of groundbreaking documentarians Albert and David Maysles for their entire careers together. In the late nineties they were invited to watch their films, which were at that point difficult to screen, in the filmmakers’ office. Says Anderson in the interview included in DO NOT DETONATE…, “Somehow we arranged to go over to where they were in those days. It was before they moved uptown. They were in midtown. We went there and they put us into a sort of closet, and we went two days in a row and watched one Maysles film after another.”  This program features three Maysles films that evoke the period or locations depicted in Asteroid City.

Showman (Dir. Albert and David Maysles. 1963, 53 mins, 35mm): Raised on the streets of Boston’s West End, movie producer Joe Levine hustled and fought his way up the Hollywood ladder and is set to stroll down the red carpet in Cannes with Sophia Loren.

Meet Marlon Brando (Dir. Albert and David Maysles. 1966, 29 mins, DCP): Filmed entirely during a press junket for Brando’s latest film, this short is a landmark of documentary portraiture, with the world’s biggest movie star refusing to abide by the rules of self-promotion while implicitly performing the role of an object of global fascination.

A Visit with Truman Capote (Dir. Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin. 1966, 29 mins, 16mm): Much like Meet Marlon Brando, completed in the same year, this portrait of Capote offers a vantage on both the iconoclastic American author and his process of self-presentation, with a print reporter following him through his beachfront home and hearing all about his nonfiction novel In Cold Blood. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.