Monday, July 3------Now that summer has officially arrived (although the cool, wet weather makes it feel more like late Fall), one of New York's rites of the season is the outdoor film screening series held in Bryant Park, hosted by pay cable giant Home Box Office. This is a great opportunity to join several thousand other film buffs to enjoy certifiable film classics in beautiful Bryant Park in the heart of Manhattan. Happening every Monday through the end of August, this could be New York's most perfect (and cheap) date night.

The series began, appropriately enough, with one of the great New York films by one of the great New York filmmakers: Woody Allen's classic ANNIE HALL (1976) on June 18th. That was followed by the 1950s sci-fi chiller THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951). Last Monday saw a rare screening of the Peter Bogdanovich-directed Depression comedy PAPER MOON (1972), starring Ryan O'Neal and, in her Oscar winning turn, daughter Tatum O'Neal.

Bus StopPsychoFuture Monday treats include the Audrey Hepburn starrer WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967); Sidney Poitier as everyone's favorite teacher in TO SIR, WITH LOVE (1967); the Oscar-winning THE STING (a classic teaming of Robert Redford and Paul Newman); the original politically devastating ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949), adapted from the Pultizer Prize winning novel of Robert Penn Warren; the Marilyn Monroe showstopper BUS STOP (1956); and everyone's sentimental favorite CASABLANCA (1941....here's looking at you, Ingrid). The series closes on August 20th with the Alfred Hitchcock shocker PSYCHO (1960), the film that forever killed the pleasure of taking long, hot showers. And it's all for free.....so bring your folding chair, picnic basket and bottles of wine, this is New York at its summertime best.

Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor