'Seabiscuit' rides again in Little Italy

By Courtney Pomeroy | Sun reporter

July 18, 2008

The Little Italy Open Air Film Festival continues its weekly outdoor movie screenings tonight with Seabiscuit. Red Pollard - Tobey Maguire's first major film role after starring in Spider-Man - is a Depression-era jockey with a broken spirit who finds hope through his exceptional horse, Seabiscuit. One of Seabiscuit's most memorable and inspiring races in the film takes place at Pimlico Race Course. This historical, inspirational and Oscar-nominated movie will be playing at 9 p.m. at High and Stiles streets. Don't forget your lawn chair. Admission is free. Go to littleitalymd.com.

'Baby' under the stars

Two of the biggest stars of early Hollywood, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, meet on the big screen at 8:30 tonight at Columbia Town Center Lakefront. A truly kooky tale of two unlikely friends who get mixed up in all kinds of unlikely problems, Bringing Up Baby is full of old-fashioned, family-friendly humor. This includes a dog who buries a museum's dinosaur bones and a leopard that is mistakenly shipped to a cramped New York apartment. Take your own blanket or lawn chair. The Lakefront is at 10221 Wincopin Circle in Columbia. Admission is free. Go to lakefrontfestival.com.

No drag

Mix one part It's aMad Mad Mad Mad World and two parts Vanishing Point, and it equals Two-Lane Blacktop. This little-known '70s flick about a car race across the country is one of the first in an entire decade's worth of movies in which cars almost become characters themselves. The suspense builds as, in the words of drag-racing greasers, the main characters drive across the country "racing for pinks." Showtime at the Charles Theatre, 1711 N. Charles St., is at noon tomorrow with encore presentations at 7 p.m. Monday and 9 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $6 tomorrow; $8 other times. Information: 410-727-3456 or thecharles.com.

Fun in '1941'

One of Steven Spielberg's less popular flicks, 1941, still calls for some laughs and features some of the best comedic actors of the '70s, including Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi (a superb duo even before they paired up for The Blues Brothers) and John Candy. As a World War II spoof, the film does an excellent job making fun of paranoid wartime Americans. Showtime at the AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, is at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $6 for children. Information: 301-495-6720 or afi.com/silver.

'Tin Men' return

Barry Levinson's comedy Tin Men finds Danny DeVito and Richard Dreyfuss starring as two aluminum-siding salesmen in head-to-head competition in 1960s Baltimore. Showtime at the Baltimore Hostel, 17 W. Mulberry St., is 8 p.m. Tuesday. Admission is free. Information: 410-576-8880.

Killer instinct

Center Plaza Film Series continues its string of action movies this week with Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the film that brought Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together. They play married assassins unknowingly assigned to kill each other. Showtime at Center Plaza, at Charles and Fayette streets, is 9 p.m. Wednesday. The park opens at 7 p.m.; arrive early for the best seating. Admission is free. Call 410-244-1030.

courtney.pomeroy@baltsun.com