Bernice Bobs Her Hair (2160x1023)
Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976) © Learning in Focus

ACMI Presents

Bernice Bobs Her Hair + Autumn Matinees Launch

Joan Micklin Silver | USA | 1976 | Unclassified (All Ages)
Film

When

Fri 28 Feb - Sat 1 Mar 2025

See below for additional related events

Shelley Duvall stars as the dowdy girl in town who causes a stir when she announces she is going to bob her hair.

Visiting her sophisticated cousin in the big city over summer, Bernice is new to the social scene and she’s a total bore. Tempted to pack up and go home, Bernice instead decides to let her cousin coach her on her social game. Soon, Bernice is transformed into a coquettish flirt. And when she announces rightly or wrongly that she’s going to bob her hair – a thoroughly immoral hairstyle – the apprentice becomes the master.

Curator’s Note

Vale Shelley Duvall.

Adapted from an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story by Joan Micklin Silver (Crossing Delancey), Bernice Bobs Her Hair was originally produced and broadcast as part of the PBS anthology series The American Short Story.

It stars Veronica Cartwright (Alien) as Cousin Marjorie and Bud Cort (Harold and Maude) as one of Bernice’s many admirers. But it’s Shelley Duvall (Nashville, The Shining) who steals every scene as Bernice – no mean feat when you’re tasked with playing an alluring curmudgeon.

Duvall passed away in 2024, leaving behind a remarkable body of work that spanned over 50 years. Bernice Bobs Her Hair is a rarely seen gem from the ACMI Collection that encapsulates her unique on-screen presence and unwavering command over audiences.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)

Format: DCP
Language: English
Source: ACMI Collection
Courtesy: Westchester Films Inc.
Runtime: 48 mins

Event duration

65 mins

Rating

Unclassified (All Ages)

Tickets

Full $14
Concession $12
ACMI Member $9

ACMI Membership is free to Concession Card holders. Sign up online or visit the Ticket desk at ACMI to become a member today.

Autumn Matinees Launch

Each session will be preceded by a curator introduction where we will be looking at the films in the Autumn Matinees program ahead.

Where

Cinema 1, Level 2
ACMI, Fed Square

Plan your visit

More Matinees

There are no upcoming related events at this time.

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