Picnic (1955)
(Joshua Logan, US 1955, 115 min., 35mm)
William Holden takes his shirt off and an entire town swoons . Charismatic drifter Hal Carter (Holden) arrives in a small Kansas town, looking for his college roommate, Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson), and a job. Instead, he falls for Alan’s beautiful girlfriend, Madge (Kim Novak), and disrupts the lives of everyone he meets. The legendary Joshua Logan brings the play he directed on Broadway to the screen, capturing the essence of the Eisenhower era with stunning cinematography by James Wong Howe and Haskell Wexler. The wonderful supporting cast includes Arthur O’Connell, Susan Strasberg, Betty Field, and Rosalind Russell, who gives a heartbreaking performance as the schoolteacher, Rosemary.