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UCLA Film & Television Archive and Autry Museum of the American West present

Save the Man

Actors Ramon Novarro and Lupe Velez smiling and sharing bread.
February 2, 2024 -
February 10, 2024


Save the Man presents an assembly of titles showcasing an overlooked trend in pre-Code Hollywood: studio films that openly confronted the contemporary consequences of this nation’s fraught history with Indigenous peoples after they were granted citizenship in 1924. Featuring a melodrama about a mixed-race woman coming to terms with her identity, a tale of Native Alaskan revenge, a doomed Navajo Nation bordertown romance, and a violent uprising led by a Wild West show performer against a corrupt government, these four forgotten films each reflect the era’s affinity for breaking on-screen taboos and imperfect examinations of contemporaneous prejudices. They stand out as being both of their time and beyond the studio filmmaking of today.

Notes written and program curated by Adam Piron.

Special thanks to our community partners: The Chapter House, LA Skins Fest.

Past Programs & Events

Title Date and Time Location
Actor Clara Bow holding a whip and glaring at a man.

Off-site: Call Her Savage

Saturday, February 10, 2024 - 1:30 pm Autry Museum of the American West
Actors Ann Dvorak and Richard Barthelmess looking at each other, in old Western clothing.

Massacre

Sunday, February 4, 2024 - 7:00 pm Billy Wilder Theater
Actors Ramon Novarro and Lupe Velez smiling and sharing bread.

Eskimo / Laughing Boy

Friday, February 2, 2024 - 7:30 pm Billy Wilder Theater