Legacy

Free admission. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

In person: director Karen Arthur; editor Carol Littleton; Paula Chambers, daughter of screenwriter and actor Joan Hotchkis; Eric Morris, acting teacher and director of the theatrical production of Legacy.

Legacy is the story of Bissie Hapgood, a woman unraveling under the pressures of a vapid and materialistic society consumed with dinner-plate settings, soap operas and sexual frustration. The material originated as a one-woman show in 1973, written and performed by Joan Hotchkis, a versatile talent celebrated for her roles on television series including The Odd Couple and The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts. Karen Arthur, a first-time filmmaker, saw Hotchkis on stage and convinced the actor to adapt the screenplay and star in the film. Independently produced and financed, Legacy, like its peers Wanda (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), confounds 1970s Hollywood’s expectations with the introduction of a new kind of cinematic woman. Bissie stuns audiences with her honesty that is confrontational, yet heartfelt and a vulnerability that is never sentimental and always surprising.

Legacy features an exceptional crew at the start of what would become a set of accomplished careers. Arthur, who would go on to direct The Mafu Cage (1978) and become a prolific television director, winning an Emmy Award for Cagney & Lacey, collaborated with cinematographer John Bailey (Ordinary People, 1980, In the Line of Fire, 1993) and editor Carol Littleton (E.T., 1982, The Manchurian Candidate, 2004).

Note written by Archive Research and Study Center Officer Maya Montañez Smukler.

Legacy

Year: 1974
Country: U.S.
Language: English
Runtime: 88 min.
35mm. Color.

Director/Producer: Karen Arthur. Screenwriter: Joan Hotchkis. With: Joan Hotchkis.