The Best Classic Movies Showing in Miami in September

Another month of classic goodies pass and a new one takes its place. Don't worry, there are plenty of classic films to see this month. It's a great mix of 35mm and digital screenings as well as a pretty cool series of films and retrospectives. Green Day once sang, "Wake me up when September ends," but with classics like these, you won't ever want to sleep. So without further ado here are the best classics to seek out in September.

1. Gables Retrospectives Galore
The Coral Gables Art Cinema is killing it yet again this month with their line-up of classics. Hell, there's more old than there is new, and that's fantastic! The month kicks off with a retrospective of  films by the inimitable Preston Sturges on DCP including The Palm Beach Story on Monday the 7th (which is Labor Day, so you have no excuse). All the showings fall into the matinee realm at 1 p.m. It's actually perfectly timed with the release of Mistress America over at O Cinema (considering it's practically a modern day Sturges film), so make it a double feature.

As the month moves along, there's the second free Great Adaptations screening of the month  which features From Here to Eternity on Wednesday the 9th at 1 p.m. Following that is another retrospective of French filmmaker Claude Sautet, featuring five of his films over a week. Les Choses de la vie, César and Rosalie, and Max et les ferrailleurs will be showing Friday the 11th through Sunday the 13th throughout the day, while Vincent, François, Paul and the Others and Nelly and Monseiur Arnaud will be showing from Monday the 14th to Thursday the 17th.

But that's not all! Two more sets of classics fill in the back half of the month at Gables Cinema. The first is a pairing of films by Akira Kurosawa in which he works with the always brilliant Toshiro Mifune: Yojimbo (Saturday the 19th) and Sanjuro (Sunday the 20th). The second, closing the month and paired off with the modern documentary How Strange to be Named Federico, is a Fellini retrospective! The three films included are La Dolce Vita (Friday the 25th through Sunday the 27th), 8 1/2 (Monday the 28th and Tuesday the 29th), and - the only film on 35mm in this entire section - Amarcord (Wednesday the 30th and October 1st).

2. Fashion Project
If you haven't heard of the Fashion Project over in Bal Harbour Shops yet, you've sadly missed out on an abundance of films (Pandora's Box, The Women and Mildred Pierce among others). But, thankfully, there's even more to go around throughout this entire month that's well-worth it. The whole series explores fashion in different films, spanning decades and entirely different styles, and you'll get a chance to check things out from the 50s and on for, quite literally, every day in September.

When it comes to the '50s, there's Bonjour Tristesse on the 7th, and North by Northwest on the 8th and 9th. Slip into the '60s right after with Ocean's 11 on the 10th and 11th, Last Year at Marienbad on the 12th and 13th, Blowup on the 14th and 15th, Bonnie and Clyde on the 16th and 17th, and Barbarella on the 18th and 19th. Finally come the '70s, '80s and '90s with six films to close out the series: Ciao! Manhattan on the 20th and 21st, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant on the 22nd and 23rd, Annie Hall on the 24th and 25th, American Gigolo on the 26th and 27th, Desperately Seeking Susan on the 28th and 29th, and Ready to Wear on the 30th.


3. Secret Celluloid Society's After Hours
Secret Celluloid Society - whose 2001 event we just talked up last month - is at it again with a great line-up this month (and an even better one for October which we'll get to then) every Saturday at 11:30 p.m. Up next on the 12th is another musical, this time a real oldie: Grease!

On the 19th is Revenge of the Nerds. And closing out the month is another special event, very much in the vein of the Rocky Horror Picture Show screening earlier in the year. That event, friends, is the director's cut of Little Shop of Horrors, accompanied by a shadow cast! It's the only film on DCP in the line-up instead of 35mm, due to it being the first time the original ending is screened in Miami, but it'll be well worth it for all the theatricality that comes along with these casts.

4. 3-D Rarities at Miami Beach Cinematheque 
Now, 3-D movies don't show up all that often on classics list because of the limited availability of 'em, but here's an exciting prospect: an abundance of shorts showing one night that spans decades worth of 3-D art. All of the works have been restored in 2K from their original 35mm forms and will be presented at the Miami Beach Cinematheque on Wednesday the 30th. The lack of availability on them in this format makes it a surprisingly rare experience (hence the title), and this portion of the collection includes over a dozen short films and trailers from 1922 to 1953. 

5. At the Drive-In
At their new location in Kennedy Park, Blue Starlite Miami is kicking off their new season by showing plenty of the usual with some new tossed in. They'll be showing Grease on the 9th and 11th, followed by Pee Wee's Big Adventure on the 11th as well, as part of a grand opening celebration. The schedule continues on the 12th with a double feature of Tron and the modern documentary, World 1-1. On the 19th, a double feature of Pee Wee's Big Adventure and The Goonies takes place, with The Goonies showing on its own on the 25th, followed by Alice in Wonderland with the option of hearing Pink Floyd's The Wall alongside it. That same event takes place on the 26th again, preceded by The Princess Bride, and the month closes off on the 30th with Jaws.