Film News: Chicago’s Music Box Theatre Pays Off Roger Ebert Bet, Will Screen ‘Red Rock West’

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CHICAGO – In Feb. 2012, the Music Box Theatre (on Chicago’s north side) offered a challenge to Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert. If he could beat them in predicting the 86th Annual Oscars – as part of his “Outguess Ebert” contest – then the theatre would screen any film chosen by the Pulitzer Prize-winning legend. Roger Ebert presents “Red Rock West” at the Music Box Theatre on May 1, 2012.

“Red Rock West” is a noir thriller from 1994 starring Nicolas Cage, J.T. Walsh, Laura Flynn Boyle and Dennis Hopper, and directed by John Dahl. Cage portrays Michael Williams, a drifter who is mistaken for a hit man hired to kill the wife (Boyle) of a local bar owner (Walsh). Williams takes the upfront money, and attempts to warn the potential victim of the set-up. Things get a bit complicated when the real hit man, “Lyle from Dallas” (Hopper) finally gets to town. Roger Ebert said in his review, it’s “a diabolical movie that exists sneakily between a western and a thriller, between a film noir and a black comedy.”

Nicolas Cage and Laura Flynn Boyle of ‘Red Rock West’ Photo credit: Red Rock Films

Tickets for the event are only $3, and the screen will take place at 7:40pm on May 1st.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com