A Freudian thriller at the verge between film noir and New Hollywood, which anticipated the rise of independent cinema. Russian premiere as part of the retrospective programme of the Festival of Films Regained.
Private Property
- Date:
- 21 Sep 2025,
19:00–20:20
- Age restrictions
- 18+
1960, Leslie Stephens
United States
79 minutes, English with Russian subtitles
Starring: Corey Allen, Warren Oates, Kate Manx, Jerome Cowan
T
California drifters Duke and Boots are fed up with terrorising suburban gas stations and head for a wealthy neighbourhood of Los Angeles. There, sociopathic Duke plans to fix a woman for slowpoke Butts, whether it’s of her own free will or not. To her misfortune, a bored blonde in her husband’s absence catches the couple’s eye, and the two break into the house next door.
Shot form Private property, 1960
Leslie Stevens’s rediscovered rough diamond Private Property, shot over five days for $59,000, marks a hinge point in American film.
— Jonathan Stevenson, Brooklyn Mag
Playwright and director Leslie Stevens was an adept of the French New Wave, and in its swagger and audacity, Private Property starkly stood out in the American cinema of its time. Shortly after its release, the movie disappeared from public view and was considered lost for 30 years. After being recently discovered and restored, it turned out to be one of the most extraordinary American films of its time.
