The Walk

Robert Zemeckis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz in person for 6pm screening at Alice Tully Hall

Robert Zemeckis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,  and Philippe Petit in person for 9pm screening at Alice Tully Hall

Robert Zemeckis’s magical and enthralling new film, the story of Philippe Petit (winningly played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his walk between the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, plays like a heist movie in the grand tradition of Rififi and Bob le flambeur. Zemeckis takes us through every detail—the stakeouts, the acquisition of equipment, the elaborate planning and rehearsing that it took to get Petit, his crew of raucous cohorts, and hundreds of pounds of rigging to the top of what was then the world’s tallest building. When Petit steps out on his wire, The Walk, a technical marvel and perfect 3-D re-creation of Lower Manhattan in the 1970s, shifts into another heart-stopping gear, and Zemeckis and his hero transport us into pure sublimity. With Ben Kingsley as Petit’s mentor. A Sony Pictures release.

Standby tickets for tonight’s premiere screenings of The Walk at Alice Tully Hall will be $20 for Members/Students and $25 for Non-Members. Standby lines for all venues will form 1-2 hours prior to showtime at the corresponding box office.