The Sunday Night Series at the Regent Square Theater will open this weekend with "The Maltese Falcon," ranked No. 31 on the American Film Institute's new list of top 100 movies. It will kick off a series of black-and-white movies devoted to 1940s Humphrey Bogart.

"Maltese Falcon," a 1941 film noir classic, stars Bogart as hard-boiled detective Sam Spade, on the hunt for a fabulous jeweled statue. The cast includes Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Mary Astor.

On July 8, Bogart and the screen novice who would become his wife sizzle in "To Have and Have Not." The movie features Lauren Bacall asking her famous question about whistling as she lowers her chin and raises her eyes, a trick she did to steady her nerves. It became her signature look.

"Casablanca," a film that rounds up the usual suspects including Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains and Paul Heinreid, will be shown July 15. It, of course, features some of the most oft-quoted lines and greatest romances in movie history.

Bogie and Bacall sail into "Key Largo," a moody story about the pair holed up during a hurricane with gangster Edward G. Robinson, on July 22.

The series will close July 29 with "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," which mined gold for the Hustons, with father Walter winning an Oscar for best supporting actor and son John scoring a pair for directing and writing.

Admission is $7; all movies start at 8 p.m. at the Regent Square Theater, 1035 S. Braddock Ave. Go to www.pghfilmmakers.org for directions.

(Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette movie editor)

Freebie on PCA lawn

Film lovers can roll threes next week and see "The Triplets of Belleville" Tuesday, which happens to be July 3. The Oscar-nominated animated film will be shown on the lawn of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts at the corner of Fifth and Shady avenues at approximately 9 p.m. Admission is free.

"Triplets of Belleville," nominated for animated feature and song, is about a kidnapped bicycle racer, his indomitable grandmother and three eccentric music-hall divas from the 1930s.

The 2003 movie features an original jazz musical score by Benoit Charest, runs 80 minutes and is rated PG-13 for images involving sensuality, violence and crude humor.

(Vancheri)

Side of climate crisis?

Starbucks Corp. is planning a summer publicity blitz for "Arctic Tale," a movie about a walrus and a polar bear narrated by Queen Latifah, using posters and cup-holders that the company hopes will educate coffee drinkers about the climate crisis.

Starbucks also hopes that this time around, customers will actually go see the movie.

Last year, the chain linked up with Hollywood to promote "Akeelah and the Bee," but the feel-good movie about an inner-city girl who makes it to a national spelling bee got a lukewarm reception at the box office in spite of fun vocabulary-word flash cards in Starbucks shops.

Kenneth Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, said the company is planning a less subtle campaign for the "Arctic Tale" partnership with Paramount Classics, the Viacom Inc. studio behind Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," and National Geographic Films, which produced "March of the Penguins."

Starbucks will play the movie soundtrack, which features Ben Harper, Aimee Mann and the Shins, in stores. The company has also designated Aug. 15 a "National Day of Discussion" and plans to host in-store talks in some cities with environmental awareness groups.

Starbucks said all three partners benefit financially but did not release specific details of the deal.

"Arctic Tale" is set to debut in selected theaters July 25, with a wide release planned for Aug. 17.

(Associated Press)

In brief

Ryan Gosling has joined the cast of Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones," The Hollywood Reporter reports. He will play the father of a murdered girl, a role still to be cast, who watches what happens after her death. Rachel Weisz co-stars.

Variety says Russell Crowe will join Leonardo DiCaprio in "Body of Lies," based on the David Ignatius spy thriller. Ridley Scott will direct and screenwriter William Monahan, who won an Oscar earlier this year for "The Departed," is adapting the book. It will start shooting this fall.

"Die Hard" hero John McClane's dirty undershirt is moving in with the rest of America's favorite movie memorabilia. Bruce Willis gave the Smithsonian Institution the sleeveless shirt, a poster, an ID badge and the original script from the latest film, "Live Free or Die Hard," the AP reports.

Film historian Bob Gazzale, 42, has been named president and chief executive of the American Film Institute, beginning Nov. 1.