The theme for the 2019 Rancho Mirage Writers Festival Film Club centers around the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.
A series of free films are coming to the Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory beginning in September. The Rancho Mirage Writers Festival Film Club features movies that have been selected to complement and explore the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. Movies begin at 3 p.m. every third Thursday from September 2018 to June 2019.
Head to the movies in Rancho Mirage
September 20, 2018: The Longest Day
This Academy Award-winning epic war film about the D-Day landings at Normandy features a multi-star ensemble cast, including John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda and Robert Wagner.
October 18, 2018: Is Paris Burning
Kirk Douglas, Orson Welles and Anthony Perkins star in this film about the liberation of Paris in August 1944 by the French Resistance and the Free French Forces.
November 15, 2018: The Bridge on the River Kwai
Winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, this fictionalized story uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942 and 1943.
December 20, 2018: The Dirty Dozen
Lee Marvin stars in a film inspired by the real-life “Filthy Thirteen,” a group assigned and trained as demolition saboteurs to destroy enemy targets behind the lines.
January 17, 2019: Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood directed, co-produced, and scored this film about the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima and the five Marines and one Navy corpsman involved in raising the flag there.
February 21, 2019: Empire of the Sun
Steven Spielberg’s film about a young boy who goes from living in a wealthy British family in Shanghai, to becoming a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp.
March 21, 2019: Von Ryan’s Express
Frank Sinatra in this adventure film about a group of Allied prisoners of war who conduct a daring escape by hijacking a freight train and fleeing through German-occupied Italy to Switzerland.
April 18, 2019: The Great Escape
Based on the 1950 book of the same name, this is a non-fiction first-hand account of the mass escape from a German POW camp.
May 16, 2019: Saving Private Ryan
Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Tom Hanks stars in this Steven Spielberg film that follows the search for Private Ryan, the last-surviving brother of four servicemen.
June 20, 2019: The Guns of Navarone
This film, based on the book of the same name, showcases the efforts of an Allied commando unit to destroy a seemingly impregnable German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea.
More showing on the silver screen
If you love the movies, there’s plenty to see in the desert such as previously successful events like Films on the Great Lawn and Cinema Under the Stars. Be sure to also save the date for the upcoming The Palm Springs International Film Festival, one of the largest film festivals in North America. Tickets are on sale now for this 12-day event featuring more than 180 films.
Much more in Rancho Mirage
In addition to hosting the Rancho Mirage Writers Festival Film Club, the Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory has a number of great events for young and old. Enjoy yoga during Family Night, take in the talents of seasoned performers during OperaArts, build something with the kids during Lego Club, or take in the observatory lecture, “The Surface of the Sun and Space Weather.”
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This blog is maintained by the City of Rancho Mirage Marketing Team.