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A Message from Pete Hammond, Host of KCET Cinema Series

By Pete Hammond
April 6, 2020
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Here’s hoping you and everyone who has supported the KCET Cinema Series, some members going back 25+ years since producer Michele Garza first started it (!), are safe and well during these trying times. 

This message is just to say we're thinking of you and looking forward to welcoming you back to our Cinema Series just as soon as it is the proper time to do so. We miss it as much as you do and can’t wait to once again share movie-going experiences not only with each other, but also the filmmakers and stars who make the films we're so delighted to show week in and week out. We'll let you know just as soon as we can do just that, and hope it will be a way to put this all behind us and get back to seeing new movies on the big screen. 

In the meantime, KCET still offers ways to experience the best in classic movies right in the comfort of your home. Every Friday night and Saturday afternoon we're showcasing some of Hollywood and the world’s finest on KCET Must See Movies!, which I'm happy to host.

Throughout the month of April, as we are all still confined to our homes, we'll continue to offer a rich variety of vintage, but classic cinema, including "The Natural" starring Robert Redford (Friday, April 10, 10 p.m.), "Fail Safe" with Henry Fonda (Friday, April 10, 8 p.m.), the Oscar winning Best Picture of 1966, "A Man For All Seasons" (Friday, April 17, 8 p.m.) and the still very timely "The China Syndrome" starring Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas (Friday, April 24, 8 p.m.).

It’s amazing how many people I run into who tell me having these movies (uncut and commercial free) on KCET every week is something they look forward to, and we're so happy to provide the entertainment.  

Beyond KCET’s movie watching opportunities on T.V. and in the near future, hopefully, in person again, there are plenty of ways to stream or see new movies on Video On Demand. These include the gripping "Resistance," sadly one of the three remaining films in our Spring series that we didn’t get the chance to show. 

As for me, I'm catching up nightly with all kinds of classic films, finally getting to make a lot of use from my own vast movie collection that has overtaken the house for all these years. In recent days my wife and I have watched a couple of Bette Davis gems ("The Letter," "The Star"), a terrific and little seen 1969 film about marriage called "The Happy Ending" which won Jean Simmons an Oscar nomination, Paul Newman in Tennessee Williams’ "Sweet Bird Of Youth," and Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine in 1962’s "Two For The Seesaw," among others I am catching up with again or for the first time.

Remember my motto: Every movie is a new movie if you haven’t seen it.

Here’s to good movie-going times to come and, as always, thanks for your support of the KCET Cinema Series which, as they like to say in the business, will once again be “coming soon.”

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