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WEDNESDAY
All things considered, it’s about time the American Film Institute got around to organizing a retrospective of Gregory Peck’s films. In addition to receiving the AFI’s 17th Life Achievement Award (as well as two Academy Awards and several Golden Globes), Peckwhose Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird was recognized by the AFI as the “greatest hero in 100 years of film history”was also the founding chair of the Institute’s Board of Trustees. Screening as part of the tribute series is Henry King’s 1949 wartime drama, Twelve O’Clock High, starring Peck as the brigadier general of a low-morale bomber squadron during the disastrous opening phase of America’s World War II daylight-bombing campaign. Though Mike Nichols’ Catch-22 and Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H would later use satire to examine the theme of soldiers pushed to the emotional brink, King’s filmand Peck’s performancepresented the absurdity of war unadorned. The film screens at 6:35 p.m. at the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $8.50. (301) 495-6700. (Matthew Borlik)