Since July Is Crime Month at the Chronicle, the ruffians and reprobates at this rag want to be sure you find as much trouble as possible before August shows up like a nosy cop asking all the wrong questions. So each week we’ll fill you in on films, readings, book clubs, and more where crime does pay – for a while, anyway.
Here are the trouble spots from July 4-8.
Fargo and The Big Lebowski
Mayhem and murder as only the Coen Brothers can deliver it, in a double feature that shows how schemes and scams can go horribly and hilariously wrong in the frozen North and the sunny Southwest. Study in contrast: Frances McDormand’s Minnesota-practical Marge Gunderson and Jeff Bridges’ sun-baked – accent on “baked” – Dude.
Thu., July 5, Fargo@7pm, Lebowski@9pm, Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress. www.austintheatre.org
Ghosts, Murder, and Mayhem Walking Tour
Take a stroll into Austin’s past and follow the trail of bodies that have littered Downtown through the years. See Guytown, the German District, and the sites of the Servant Girl Annihilator murders.
Thu., July 5, 8:30pm, starts at JW Marriott Hotel, 110 W. Second. www.austinghosttours.com
Mondo Belmondo: Breathless
Another French Revolution was launched when Jean-Luc Godard put a Gallic spin on the Hollywood tale of a crook on the lam and the dame who has the bad luck to fall for him. Jean-Paul Belmondo puts a match to the screen and torches it in the role that made him a star. Part of Austin Film Society’s monthlong celebration of Belmondo on film.
Fri., July 6, 7pm & Sun., July 8, 6:30pm, AFS Cinema, 6406 N. I-35 Ste. 3100. www.austinfilm.org
Austin Detours “Murder Mystery on Sixth Street” Tour
A Dallas socialite has been found dead in an alley off Austin’s party street, and you get to solve the crime in this interactive walking tour from Austin Detours. Complimentary cocktail included, because hard-drinking detective, right? (Not to mention, Sixth Street.) Seventies street clothes encouraged.
Saturdays, 7-9pm, starts at Susanna Dickinson House, 411 E. Fifth. www.austindetours.com
MysteryPeople Presents Ben Rehder: A Tooth for a Tooth, Billy Kring: Hunter’s Moon, Reavis Z. Wortham: Hawke’s War
A triple threat of Texas-based criminality that covers everything from insurance scams to the murder of a CIA agent to a sniper in the Big Bend.
Sun., July 8, 2pm, BookPeople. 603 N. Lamar. www.bookpeople.com
Psycho
Check in to the Bates Motel, which never gets a bad Yelp review because its guests never check out. Hitchcock’s treatment of Robert Bloch’s story and Anthony Perkins’ unnerving turn as Norman Bates set a new standard for screen chills in 1959 and still inspire goosebumps six decades later.
Sun., July 8, 5:15pm, Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress. www.austintheatre.org
This article appears in June 29 • 2018.