In this classic  farce, adapted from Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, James Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd, a middle-aged eccentric whose best friend is a pooka named Harvey—who takes the form of an invisible six-foot-three-inch tall rabbit. Family and friends are unsure whether Dowd’s obsession with Harvey is due to his propensity to drink, or mental illness. When Dowd’s sister, Veta Louise Simmons, attempts to have him committed to an insane asylum, wacky hijinks ensue. Will Formula 977 stop Dowd from “seeing the rabbit?” Or is it everyone else who is crazy?

Stewart received an Academy Award nomination for his role; his co-star, Josephine Hull, who portrayed Simmons, took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. In recent years, Harvey appeared on the American Film Institute’s list of the ten best American fantasy films of all time, coming in at number seven.

Harvey is presented in conjunction with Intrude, an exhibition on view outside the Brooks in late January 2017.

Director: Henry Koster | USA | 1950 | 104 minutes

$9/$5 Brooks members and students with valid ID/Free with VIP Film Pass.

Tickets

Tickets are available online until 2:30 pm the day of the screening or 2:30 pm on Friday for weekend matinees. Tickets are also available at Visitor Services, or by calling 901.544.6208 during regular business hours. Unsold tickets are also available in the rotunda immediately preceding a screening.

About Brooks Outside: Intrude

Intrude consists of five giant illuminated inflatable rabbits, the largest of which is approximately 23 feet high, 10 feet wide and 16 feet long. Created by Australian artist Amanda Parer (b. 1971), this installation first appeared at Vivid Festival of Light in Sydney and has traveled to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Scotland, Denmark, Italy, and Belgium.

On view at the Brooks January 18 – 22 and 25 – 29, Intrude explores the natural world, its fragility, and our role within it. Rabbits in Parer’s native Australia are out of control pests, leaving a trail of ecological destruction wherever they go and defying attempts at eradication. First introduced by white settlers in 1788 they have caused a great imbalance to the country’s endemic species.

The rabbit also is an animal of contradiction. It represents the fairytale animal from our childhood—a furry innocence, frolicking through idyllic fields. Intrude deliberately evokes this image, and a strong visual humor, to lure you into the artwork only to reveal the more serious environmental messages behind it.

This horror film, based on the 1964 science fiction novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit, depicts a small Arizona town whose citizens must battle thousands of mutated carnivorous rabbits. Starring numerous Western character actors that director William F. Claxton had previously worked with—including Rory Calhoun, DeForest Kelley, and Stuart Whitman—as well as Psycho star Janet Leigh as a scientist who tries to use hormones to stop the killer rabbits, Night of the Lepus was universally panned upon release.

The film gained quick notoriety for its poor plot, stilted acting, and bad direction. The nearly laughable special effects included smearing ketchup on the faces of domesticated rabbits in lieu of blood. In some scenes, rabbits were depicted stomping on miniature structures in slow motion. For others, human actors wore rabbit costumes. Legendary New York Times film critic Vincent Canby noted that despite these attempts to make the rabbits look “huge and scary,” they “still look like Easter bunnies.” John Kenneth Muir, author of Horror Films of the 1970s, deemed Night of the Lepus the “most ridiculous horror film ever conceived,” praising the cast for keeping “straight faces as they heroically stand against the onslaught of the bunnies.”

Night of the Lepus is presented in conjunction with Intrude, an exhibition on view outside the Brooks in late January 2017.

Director: William F. Claxton | USA | 1972 | 88 minutes

$9/$5 Brooks members and students with valid ID/Free with VIP Film Pass.

Tickets

Tickets are available online until 2:30 pm the day of the screening or 2:30 pm on Friday for weekend matinees. Tickets are also available at Visitor Services, or by calling 901.544.6208 during regular business hours. Unsold tickets are also available in the rotunda immediately preceding a screening.

About Brooks Outside: Intrude

Intrude consists of five giant illuminated inflatable rabbits, the largest of which is approximately 23 feet high, 10 feet wide and 16 feet long. Created by Australian artist Amanda Parer (b. 1971), this installation first appeared at Vivid Festival of Light in Sydney and has traveled to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Scotland, Denmark, Italy, and Belgium.

On view at the Brooks January 18 – 22 and 25 – 29, Intrude explores the natural world, its fragility, and our role within it. Rabbits in Parer’s native Australia are out of control pests, leaving a trail of ecological destruction wherever they go and defying attempts at eradication. First introduced by white settlers in 1788 they have caused a great imbalance to the country’s endemic species.

The rabbit also is an animal of contradiction. It represents the fairytale animal from our childhood—a furry innocence, frolicking through idyllic fields. Intrude deliberately evokes this image, and a strong visual humor, to lure you into the artwork only to reveal the more serious environmental messages behind it.

A compilation of classic Looney Tunes shorts with bridge sequences hosted by Bugs Bunny, the animated Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie consists of more than two dozen cartoons including the masterpieces Duck Amuck, Ali Baba Bunny, What’s Opera, Doc? and Duck Dodgers in the 241/2 Century. Art and pop culture references abound, from Daffy Duck’s portrayal of Robin Hood in Robin Hood Daffy and the Batman outfit Wile E. Coyote wears in Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z to the “set” modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house, which is used in the bridge sequences. Pratfalls, rivalries, battles and chases abound in this animated classic, which features Mel Blanc as the voice of dozens of Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote, and Road Runner, and music by Carl Stalling.

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie is presented in conjunction with Intrude, an exhibition on view outside the Brooks in late January 2017.

Directors: Chuck Jones & Phil Monroe | USA | 1979 | 98 minutes

$9/$5 Brooks members and students with valid ID/Free with VIP Film Pass.

Tickets

Tickets are available online until 2:30 pm the day of the screening or 2:30 pm on Friday for weekend matinees. Tickets are also available at Visitor Services, or by calling 901.544.6208 during regular business hours. Unsold tickets are also available in the rotunda immediately preceding a screening.

About Brooks Outside: Intrude

Intrude consists of five giant illuminated inflatable rabbits, the largest of which is approximately 23 feet high, 10 feet wide and 16 feet long. Created by Australian artist Amanda Parer (b. 1971), this installation first appeared at Vivid Festival of Light in Sydney and has traveled to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Scotland, Denmark, Italy, and Belgium.

On view at the Brooks January 18 – 22 and 25 – 29, Intrude explores the natural world, its fragility, and our role within it. Rabbits in Parer’s native Australia are out of control pests, leaving a trail of ecological destruction wherever they go and defying attempts at eradication. First introduced by white settlers in 1788 they have caused a great imbalance to the country’s endemic species.

The rabbit also is an animal of contradiction. It represents the fairytale animal from our childhood—a furry innocence, frolicking through idyllic fields. Intrude deliberately evokes this image, and a strong visual humor, to lure you into the artwork only to reveal the more serious environmental messages behind it.

Recognized as one of the greatest comedy films of all time, this 1974 parody of the sixth century quest to find the Holy Grail stars Monty Python regulars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin as King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Patsy, Sir Robin, Sir Belvedere, and Sir Galahad. Hilariously low budget, the slapstick comedy employs sound-effect coconuts to emulate thundering horses’ hooves, and features a real “Killer Rabbit” which battles the knights. 

The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, or the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh, named for the final utterance of anyone who ever saw it, faces off against King Arthur and his knights in a major battle. According to Monty Python lore, the idea for the scene was taken from an illustration on the façade of Notre Dame de Paris, which illustrates the weakness of cowardice by depicting a knight fleeing from a rabbit. In another pivotal scene in the film, the Knights of the Round Table attempt to breech a French castle via a Trojan Rabbit, yet they forget to hide inside before it’s brought inside the castle keep.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is presented in conjunction with Intrude, an exhibition on view outside the Brooks in late January 2017.

Directors: Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones | UK | 1974 | 91 minutes

$9/$5 Brooks members and students with valid ID/Free with VIP Film Pass.

Tickets

Tickets are available online until 2:30 pm the day of the screening or 2:30 pm on Friday for weekend matinees. Tickets are also available at Visitor Services, or by calling 901.544.6208 during regular business hours. Unsold tickets are also available in the rotunda immediately preceding a screening.

About Brooks Outside: Intrude

Intrude consists of five giant illuminated inflatable rabbits, the largest of which is approximately 23 feet high, 10 feet wide and 16 feet long. Created by Australian artist Amanda Parer (b. 1971), this installation first appeared at Vivid Festival of Light in Sydney and has traveled to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Scotland, Denmark, Italy, and Belgium.

On view at the Brooks January 18 – 22 and 25 – 29, Intrude explores the natural world, its fragility, and our role within it. Rabbits in Parer’s native Australia are out of control pests, leaving a trail of ecological destruction wherever they go and defying attempts at eradication. First introduced by white settlers in 1788 they have caused a great imbalance to the country’s endemic species.

The rabbit also is an animal of contradiction. It represents the fairytale animal from our childhood—a furry innocence, frolicking through idyllic fields. Intrude deliberately evokes this image, and a strong visual humor, to lure you into the artwork only to reveal the more serious environmental messages behind it.