KANSAS CITY by Native Robert Altman


(From Wikipedia) Kansas City is a 1996 crime film, directed by Robert Altman and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy and Steve Buscemi. Kansas City is also notable for its musical score being integrated into the film, with modern-day musicians recreating the Kansas City jazz of 1930s.

The film was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

A kidnapping goes down in 1934 Kansas City. Blondie O’Hara’s (Leigh) petty thief husband Johnny is taken by gangster “Seldom Seen” and held prisoner at the Hey Hey Club, one of the hot spots of the Kansas City jazz scene. Blondie herself kidnaps Mrs. Stilton, the wife of a local politician, played by Michael Murphy; Mrs. Stilton is addicted to laudanum (an opium liquid) and has secrets of her own. Blondie’s plan is to blackmail Mr. Stilton into helping to free Johnny.

Despite the risk to his re-election campaign, Mr. Stilton does everything he can in order to free his wife by saving Johnny. Meanwhile, Mrs. Stilton comes to befriend Blondie. She is impressed by Blondie’s devotion to her husband, contrasted to her own loveless marriage.

A subplot concerns political fixer Johnny Flynn (Buscemi) paying vagrants and addicts to vote in the upcoming election and sway the outcome.

Sunday, June 10, 2018, at 3:30 p.m. at the Screenland Medallion Theatre at Plexpod Westport Commons at 300 E. 39th Street in Kansas City, Mo. General Admission Suggested Donation $10 for Open Forum, Screening and Q&A afterwards. VIP Jazz Reception $15 at 2:15 p.m. in The Sundry at Plexpod Westport Commons. Includes VIP Jazz Reception and Appetizers; Screening purchased separately. Purchase tickets at Eventbrite.com

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PATRICIA HAMARSTROM WILLIAMS, M.F.A., Ph.D.abd is storyteller with international film and theatre directing and new media credits. Her film credits include “A Tomb for Boris Davidovich”, “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, “Othello”, and “Tiger Dance”; work at Cinecitta and for Universal Studios. She has also directed at major theatres, including Lincoln Center, American Repertory Theatre, Missouri (now Kansas City) Repertory Theatre, national Shakespeare Festivals, and the National Theatre of Serbia.

Hamarstrom Williams has served as Executive Director of both the Kansas City Film Festival and the KAN Film Festival. She is Vice President of the Board of CinemaKC, having joined in 2014.