Donald Sutherland: (Never) The Guy Next Door

Wednesday, January 8 - Thursday, January 16, 2025

“It’s this marriage of suspicion and empathy, human feeling and the fear of humanity gone wrong, that secured [Sutherland’s] place in acting history and made him an uncommon kind of star. He didn’t disappear into a role, not exactly; he was too distinctive for that. More often, the role disappeared into him, and the result was something unforgettable.” – Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times

Donald Sutherland (1935 – 2024) was once told by a producer that he’d never be up for any guy-next-door parts because “we don’t think you look like you’ve ever lived next door to anybody.”  But Sutherland’s tremendous range and one-of-a-kind screen presence won him many indelible roles over the course of his nearly seven-decade career.

In this retrospective, we honor Sutherland’s remarkable work in both leading roles like rebellious army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H, opposite Karen Black as ur-incel Homer Simpson (really!) in THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, and as a loving family man in ORDINARY PEOPLE, as well as his reliably scene-stealing appearances in LITTLE MURDERS and SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (both screening on 35mm prints), BACKDRAFT, JFK and more. Join us this January as we present a baker’s (dirty) dozen of some of Sutherland’s most memorable performances. 

See more and save! Get a Donald Sutherland Ticket Pack ($30 for IFC Center members and $45 for non-members). Ticket packs are good for any three shows in the retrospective.

Click the film titles below for individual showtimes, or to see the full series schedule at a glance, click here.

Series Films

Current and Upcoming Films