Legend

Tampa Theatre is screening Ridley Scott's Legend on Friday, October 23, in the Historic Duncan Auditorium. The film runs an hour and a half, and the screening is preceded by an introduction from Hector Sotomayor, a professor of Film, Art & Media at the Ringling College of Art & Design.

Legend came out in 1985, and it's a strange one in Scott's career. After The Duellists, he went on to make Alien and Blade Runner, and Legend was his turn at a fairy tale—dark, adult, and heavily stylized. It stars Tom Cruise just before Top Gun put him on the map, and the makeup effects are by Rob Bottin, who did The Howling and The Thing. The movie is often described as confusing or disconnected, and some say it effectively ended Hollywood fantasy movies for a generation. Still, it gave us Tim Curry in a massive prosthetic head with horns five feet across, and it's been called Scott's second-best movie with a unicorn.

It's a good one to see on a big screen, especially with Sotomayor's introduction to set the stage before the film starts. The screening is at 7 PM, with doors opening at 6:30 PM, so you've got a half-hour to get settled before the introduction. Tickets are $13 for general admission and $10 for Tampa Theatre members, plus a $2 service fee for online purchases. Seating is open, so there's no need to pick a specific seat when you buy.