Get Out for Gangsters and Silent Film Classic at Strand

Essential Marietta happenings for the weekend:

1 and 2. The certainly does all of the right things in reliving and re-establishing itself as the premier movie exhibitor in this part of Georgia. This weekend alone, the venerable moviehouse is showing not one but two essential movies.

The first, The Godfather, probably needs no introduction. This quintessential mob-drama set the standard not only for every gangster movie of the last 40 years, but set the high bar for American cinema. Marlon Brando, in a role that spawned countless impersonations and characterizations, portrays Don Corleone as an aging patriach of an organized crime dynasty who transfers control to his son, Michael, played by Al Pacino.

The film is rated R and won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. It airs at 8 p.m. Friday. (But show up at 7:30 p.m. for the live organ pops variety show and sing-along featuring The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ.) Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 students, and seniors.

The second film is one of the greatest films of the silent era and rarely projected today. Sunrise, or A Song of Two Humans is a hauntingly beautiful 1927 movie about a farmer who has been tempted by a city woman to murder his wife. This movie helped Janet Gaynor win the first Best Actress Oscar.

The film plays at 3 p.m. Sunday with live accompaniment by Ron Carter on the Mighty Allen Theatre Organ. Live organ pops variety show and sing-along at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for children, students, and seniors.

For information, visit http://www.EarlSmithStrand.org or call 770-293-0080.

3. The Cobb County Senior Games wrap up the 2011 season from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday at with horseshoe toss at 10:15 a.m., apple peeling at 10:30 a.m., corn shucking and checkers at 11 a.m. and the picnic at 11:45 a.m.

4. Don't forget the Marietta Square Farmers Market and the Marietta Square Artist Market from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. The Artist Market, returns for the second time this year and an open-air market and cultural event that will be held on the second Saturday of each month through November. The market is a fine art juried event that will be located on Mill Street from Church Street to the railroad tracks. Look for Marietta Patch!

5. For tennis fans, perhaps you should visit the Harrison Tennis Center over the weekend as it hosts the USTA National Open for boys and girls ages 16 and younger. This event attracts many top players from around the country and past participants have included several players who are currently playing on the professional tour, including rising star and local Melanie Oudin. The public is invited to come to the tournament and see some of the nation's best young players.