Triskel Cinema in Cork City gears up for two film seasons

Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, directed by Don Siegal, shown as part of the Triskel season
GREAT news, movie fans - Triskel Cinema in Cork city is gearing up for two film seasons this month.
The seasons will run concurrently throughout February, which kicks off this evening with a screening of Coogan’s Bluff.
The Eastwood/Siegal season celebrates the partnership between the director Don Siegel and the actor Clint Eastwood, while the Eighties Sci-Fi Classics season commemorates some of the 1980s’ most beloved films.
Chris O’Neill, head of cinema at Triskel, is looking forward to recognising the work of Don Siegal and Clint Eastwood.
“When director Siegel and actor Eastwood first met, Siegel was known for his unpretentious yet taut and punchy style, while Eastwood was just coming off the success of the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns,” said O’Neill.
Beginning with Coogan’s Bluff in 1968 and ending with Escape From Alcatraz in 1979, they collaborated on five pictures in total, and we are looking forward to showing them in February.
Siegel began working in the film industry in the 1940s and, by the 1950s, was regarded as a director of note. With films like Riot In Cell Block 11 and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers under his belt, he proved that he had the talent to tackle different genres and themes, and over his ten-year working relationship with Eastwood, the duo packed in a western, a thriller, a police drama, a psychological gothic-style drama, and a prison drama.

Eastwood had solidified his position as a western star, but his partnership with Siegel brought him to a new audience.
Working together didn’t just bring Eastwood new acting opportunities; it also set down the groundwork for Eastwood’s directing career. He is notorious for filming as few takes as possible, often just doing one take per scene.
This economical way of working emulates Siegel, famed for his snappy style of working on set. Eastwood dedicated his 1992 Oscar-winning western, Unforgiven, to Sergio Leone, who directed Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns, and to Siegel.
Coogan’s Bluff, released in 1968, has the hallmarks of a western but is set in the 1960s and follows Eastwood as Walt Coogan, a deputy sheriff who walks into a trap while escorting a prisoner to New York. With the prisoner on the run, Coogan must employ his tracking skills on the mean streets of Manhattan.
In Two Mules For Sister Sara, Eastwood’s character Hogan forms an unlikely alliance with a nun, Sister Sara (Shirley MacLaine), during the Mexican Revolution of the 1870s. After he saves the nun from bandits, Hogan agrees to help her and the revolutionaries in their bid for freedom from a cruel leader.
The 1971 film The Beguiled is based on the novel by Thomas P. Cullinan and was remade by Sofia Coppola in 2017. Eastwood plays John McBurney, a seriously wounded soldier during the American Civil War. He is taken in by the students at a small all-female school, but rather than finding saviours, he is caught up in a cycle of lust and jealousy in this gothic drama.
Released in 1971, Dirty Harry spawned a slew of catchphrases, from the iconic “Go ahead. Make my day” to “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”
Eastwood plays Harry Callahan, a rough police inspector in San Francisco who is trying to find and stop a deadly sniper known only as Scorpio. It was so popular, it led to four sequels, though none were directed by Siegel.
The last in the Eastwood Siegel season is Escape From Alcatraz, released in 1979 and based on the non-fiction book by J. Campbell Bruce, which charts the real-life 1962 Alcatraz prison escape. It follows the story of Frank Morris, one of the only prisoners said to have escaped the infamous San Francisco Bay prison.

Triskel’s Eighties Sci-Fi season allows audiences to see four monoliths of 1980s filmmaking. O’Neill says the chosen films are perfect for the big screen.
“For the Eighties season, we picked these particular sci-fi classics because they were made to be experienced on the big screen.
They enthralled audiences and critics upon their original cinema release and continue to do so all these years later.
Released in 1981 but set in 1997, the dystopian Escape From New York sees the island of Manhattan converted into a giant, high-security prison, where the worst of the worst serve their sentences. There is one way in or out, which poses a problem when Air Force One crash lands on the island with the US president onboard.
Former hero turned criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is tasked with saving the president in John Carpenter’s classic actioner.
Ridley Scott’s epic Blade Runner was released in 1982. It is an adaptation of Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Triskel is showing the Final Cut, which was released to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary and is digitally remastered.

This iconic film stars Harrison Ford as Deckard, a blade runner, a specialised police officer trained to track down androids. His mission comes under threat when he meets a mysterious woman.
In Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 Robocop, Peter Weller plays a police officer killed in the line of duty, but later revived in the body of a cyborg designed to be the ultimate, uncompromising law enforcer. The film’s success led to sequels, merchandise, and video games.
The final film in the season is Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Released in 1987, he plays Dutch, the leader of an elite commando unit facing off against a terrifying alien creature. Seven films later, Predator is one of the most loved monster franchises.
www.triskelartscentre.ie for more information