The Chicago Bulls had a really close win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. It was an awesome way to start the 2021-22 season off. Some people were concerned about them because the Pistons aren’t very good and the Bulls struggled to lead at times. However, this is the first time the Bulls won […] Chicago Bulls: New players make an impact in first win of 2021-22 – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

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Old West outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) wants to take down the notorious killer who murdered his parents in “The Harder They Fall.” | Netflix

Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba lead the all-star cast in a dusty 19th century gangland where men brawl and women do, too.

What a ride.

Sergio Leone meets Quentin Tarantino at the drive-in with the darkly funny, cartoonishly violent and greatly entertaining “The Harder They Fall,” a Black Western with an amazingly talented cast, some wonderfully anachronistic dialogue and music — and an abundance of badass fistfights, shootouts, robberies, tavern sequences and showdowns on Main Street.

Not only that, but Idris Elba sheds ALL THE TEARS in a Shakespearean twist of a scene late in the film, and oh by the way: The female characters in director/co-writer/producer Jeymes Samuel’s radical, transformative, jazzy take on the Old West are so much more than mere window dressing who fret about their men’s dangerous ways and hide behind locked doors when the bullets start flying. They’re right there in the middle of the mix, throwing haymakers and cocking rifles and getting knee-deep in the muck and the grime and the blood. (And, just like the male characters, they have fantastic hats. This is one of the better Hat Movies in recent memory.)

“The Harder They Fall” is filled with characters whose names reflect real-life 19th century Black figures, including Rufus Buck, Nat Love, Cherokee Bill and Stagecoach Mary, but the story is 100% fictional. After a harrowing and tense prologue in which we see Idris Elba’s Rufus Buck gun down a preacher and his wife in cold blood and then use a switchblade to carve a cross into the forehead of their 10-year-old son, we fast forward about 25 years, when that boy has grown up to become the outlaw Nat Love (Jonathan Majors, fresh off his triumphant work in “Lovecraft Country”), who has spent much of his adult life robbing other outlaws and hunting down the gang members who were present when his parents were killed, much to the frustration of his on-and-off love interest, the saloon owner Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz). She’s had it with him and she’ll smack him in the face to prove it, but then they’ll start making out again, because love. (Sidebar: “The Harder They Fall” is filled with religious imagery, with crosses appearing in scene after scene.)

Netflix
Rufus Buck (Idris Elba, center) escapes custody on a train with the help of his gang associates Treacherous Trudy (Regina King) and Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield) in “The Harder They Fall.”

In a tightly constructed, expertly rendered and eventually carnage-filled sequence aboard a locomotive, the notorious Rufus Buck, who has been behind bars for years, is liberated by his loyal and lethal gang, including the coldly efficient killer Treacherous Trudy (Regina King), who clearly loves Rufus, and the sharpshooter Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield), who is said to be the fastest gun in all the West. When Nat gets word of Rufus Buck’s escape, he assembles a posse of his own to hunt down Rufus, with the gender-fluid Cuffee (Danielle Deadwyler), the cocky and flashy gunman James Beckwourth (RJ Cyler), the rifleman Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi) and the federal marshal Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo) joining him and Stagecoach Mary.

“The Harder They Fall” devotes equal time to the machinations and adventures of both gangs, adding to the layered complexity of the story and raising the stakes for the inevitable violent confrontation ahead. To be sure, Rufus and his gang are the villains — but it’s not as if Nat and his associates are as pure as the driven snow. Everybody in this story has a past; everybody has blood on their hands.

“The Harder They Fall” is filled with bold and cool creative choices, as when we’re told a neighboring town is “all white” and when Nat and his gang arrive at the town to rob the local bank, it’s literally white — not just the residents, but the buildings, the interiors, you name it … everything is rendered in shades of white. It’s ridiculous and great. Then there’s the soundtrack of the year, which features everything from a remix of Barrington Levy’s seminal reggae tune “Here I Come” to “Let’s Start” by Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti (with Ginger Baker) to a new tune called “Guns Go Bang” from Jay-Z (who is also a producer on the film) and Kid Cudi. This is also a beautifully shot film, with the Cerro Pelon Movie Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., serving as a primary location. For all of the 21st century, profanity-laced dialogue and the modern music, “The Harder They Fall” still has that wide-open-skies look of a classic Western.

Even with all the shootouts and robberies and action sequences, this is also a wonderful showcase for screen-stealing acting, with virtually everyone in the all-star cast getting some center stage moments and knocking it out of the park. This is one of those movies where we sense the cast had just as much making it as we have watching it.

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Wednesday night, the Chicago Bulls took the floor for the first time in the 2021-2022 regular season. Billy Donovan’s crew battled through a hard-fought game that didn’t feature much offense aside from Zach LaVine’s 34-point explosion to beat the Detroit Pistons 94-88. LaVine got extra hot in the third quarter where he scored 15 points, […] Chicago Bulls: Don’t be too worried about the new bench mob – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

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The American Athletic Conference is adding UAB, Texas-San Antonio, Rice, North Texas, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic to the league, replacing Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida. | David J. Phillip/AP

The AAC hopes the move will stabilize the conference in the short term and allow it to withstand future poaching of its members by wealthier leagues.

The American Athletic Conference is adding UAB, Texas-San Antonio, Rice, North Texas, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic to the league, replacing three schools that are scheduled to depart for the Big 12 Conference and growing to 14 teams.

The AAC announced the additions Thursday, a move that it hopes will stabilize the conference in the short term and allow it to withstand future poaching of its members by wealthier leagues.

The conference said when exactly the new members join is still to be determined.

The American, formerly the Big East, has been a feeder conference for Power Five leagues for nearly two decades. Most recently, the Big 12 announced the additions of AAC powers Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida to replace Southeastern Conference-bound Oklahoma and Texas.

The Sooners and Longhorns have said they will join the SEC in 2025, but a quicker move is possible.

The AAC’s move strips Conference USA of six schools, leaving that league both searching for new members and trying to fend off other poachers. The Sun Belt has said it is interested in expanding beyond its current 10 football members and some of C-USA’s remaining eight schools would be geographic fits.

The American was born in 2013 from the downfall of Big East football, rebuilding around mostly C-USA schools. The AAC emerged as the strongest of the so-called Group of Five conferences when it comes to football during the College Football Playoff era. Five times in seven seasons, the American has earned the New Year’s Six bowl spot that goes to the highest ranked G5 conference champion.

But four of those championships were won by the schools now heading to the Big 12.

The AAC targeted schools located in big media markets and fertile recruiting territory, hoping that with better exposure and more revenue, they develop into the next UCF.

The AAC is at the front end of a 10-year deal with ESPN that will pay the conference’s schools between $7 million and $8 million per year over the length of the contract. It is unclear whether the value of the deal will be impacted by the change in membership, but the contract makes the conference the wealthiest in major college football outside the Power Five.

Conference USA has floundered in recent seasons by comparison, with TV deals that have generated well under $1 million per year per school and made the league’s games tricky for its fans to find.

The most recent deal provides more consistency with CBS Sports Network as the primary cable TV home of C-USA’s games and some streaming on ESPN+.

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Glenbard West quarterback Korey Tai (7) is driven out of bounds by York’s Matt Sutter (35). | Kevin Tanaka/For the Sun-Times

A look at this week’s five best games.

No. 4 Brother Rice at No. 12 Marist, 6 p.m. Friday

This game, known locally as the Pulaski Road Super Bowl, is one of the state’s classic rivalries. The schools are barely two miles apart and usually closely matched — Rice leads the series 22-18 and the last five games have been decided by a total of 31 points. The Crusaders (6-2, 1-1 CCL/ESCC Blue) have a Player of the Year candidate in senior quarterback Jack Lausch, heading to Notre Dame as a preferred walk-on for football and baseball. Running back Aaron Vaughn and defensive lineman Roderick Pierce, who has Illinois and Kentucky offers, also are impact players. Marist (6-2, 0-2) also has a premier quarterback in Coastal Carolina recruit Dontrell Jackson Jr.

No. 1 Loyola at No. 11 Mount Carmel, 7:30 p.m. Friday

Can anyone or anything stop Loyola? The Ramblers graduated a deep, talented senior class from the state’s top-ranked team in the pandemic spring season. And they retooled their offense around senior running back Marco Maldonado (763 total yards, 14 TDs) and junior quarterback Jake Stearney (1,391 passing yards, 13 TDs). Maldonado broke his collarbone late in an epic 46-43 win over Brother Rice in Week 4, but Loyola (8-0, 2-0) just keeps rolling along, Mount Carmel (6-2, 1-1) also has a number of new faces after some significant graduation losses. Junior Damarion Arrington, who has lined up at quarterback and running back, has helped keep the Caravan offense rolling.

No. 23 Fenwick at No. 10 St. Ignatius, 7:30 p.m. Friday

Though the Blue gets most of the attention in the CCL/ESCC superconference, these White division teams have turned some heads this season. St. Ignatius (8-0, 2-0) sprung arguably the upset of the season, beating Mount Carrnel 27-0 in Week 5 for its first win in the series since 1928 (the Wolfpack didn’t have a team between 1964 and 2005). Vinny Rugai, whose dad Rob quarterbacked Mount Carmel in the 1980s, was the star of that game as a running back and linebacker. Fenwick (6-2, 2-0), which pushed Loyola to the limit before losing 27-24 on a late field goal, is loaded with Division I talent: quarterback Kaden Cobb (Ball State), receivers Eian Pugh (Illinois) and Max Reese (Eastern Michigan), and center Jimmy Liston (Purdue).

No. 16 Hinsdale Central at No. 24 Glenbard West, 1 p.m. Saturday

Hinsdale Central (7-1, 5-0) has a 12-game winning streak in the West Suburban Silver and is looking to win the conference outright for the second time this calendar year. The Red Devils came from 16 down in the fourth quarter to beat York, the other team still mathematically alive in the conference race. Watch Thomas Skokna, who returned kickoffs for touchdowns against Proviso East and Lyons. Glenbard West (7-1, 4-1), which lost 12-10 to York, has a typically stingy defense with three shutouts and just 65 points allowed all season.

Crete-Monee at Kankakee, 7 p.m. Friday

The de facto Southland championship game matches two of the top Class 6A teams in the state in third-ranked Kankakee (8-0, 4-0) and sixth-ranked Crete-Monee (6-2, 5-0). The Kays have a prolific pass-catch duo in quarterback Tomele Staples and receiver Pierre Allen along with multi-talented junior Jyaire Hill, who has seven Power Five offers. Crete quarterback Joshua Franklin, a state track medalist in the triple jump, had an eight-touchdown game against Thornwood earlier this season.

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Going into Week 7, there may not be a better bet to win the 2021 NFL MVP than veteran quarterback Tom Brady, and that’s exactly who the Chicago Bears draw on Sunday afternoon. At 44 years young, Brady is accomplishing the unthinkable. He is doing the improbable, and darn-near impossible, while making it look second […] Chicago Bears: Tom Brady might just tear them a new one in Week 7 – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

Ballet Folklorico is participating in this year’s Arts in the Dark Halloween Parade on Oct. 30. | Richard IV Photography

From theater and music to museums and family events, we’ve got just the ticket with our entertainment guide to some of the fun kicking off in the week ahead.

Family Fun

— There’s lot of eye-popping fun during Chicago Halloweek, the city’s celebration of all things Halloween. Events include the Upside-Down Parade in Washington Park (noon-3 p.m. Oct. 23) which features dancers, musicians, circus acrobats and more; Arts in the Dark Halloween Parade (6-8 p.m. Oct. 30) features floats, spectacle puppets and performances downtown on State Street; and the Dia de los Muertos Celebration (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) at Maxwell Street Market includes music, a sugar skull workshop, pumpkin decorating and more. All events are outdoors and free. Visit chicagohalloweek.org.

— What scary things lurk in the dark? Find out at Little Park of Horrors, a haunted drive-through only Halloween experience (Rated PG-13) featuring horror displays with music and lighting effects. From Oct. 21-24, 28-31 in Wing Park, 1010 Wing St., Elgin. Admission: $10 tickets must be bought in advance for timed entry. Visit ticketweb.com.

— CSO for Kids returns as members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra introduce children to classical music at a daytime performance (11 a.m. Oct. 23), the orchestra performs John Williams’ score at a screening of “Home Alone” (7:30 p.m. Nov. 26-27, 3 p.m. Nov. 28) and the orchestra shares holiday music for the annual family concert “Merry, Merry Chicago!” (Dec. 17-23). Ticket prices vary. Visit cso.org.

Theater

Joan Marcus
Cassie Beck stars in “What the Constitution Means to Me.”

— Heidi Schreck’s engaging play, “What the Constitution Means to Me,” breathes new life into the U.S. Constitution and imagines how it will shape the next generation of American women. The playwright recalls her teenage self as she earns college money by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the country and uses that memory for a deep dive into the document. From Oct. 26-Nov. 21 at Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut. Tickets: $30+. Visit broadwayinchicago.com.

— Raven Theatre welcomes back audiences with the world premiere of Joshua Allen’s “The Last Pair of Earlies.” The drama is the story of Wayland and Della Rose Early, a couple who 20 years earlier fled Mississippi for Chicago’s South Side but are now facing unrealized dreams and the life-altering question: Are we still enough for each other? Marcus D. Moore and Shadana Patterson star; Wardell Julius Clark directs. From Oct. 27-Dec. 12 at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark. Tickets: $40. Visit raventheatre.com.

Michael Doucett
Frank Ferrante stars in “An Evening with Groucho.”

— Frank Ferrante stars in “An Evening with Groucho,” his laugh-filled portrait of Groucho Marx which celebrates the style and spirit of the comedian. At 7 p.m. Oct. 26 at Spiegeltent ZaZou, Cambria Hotel, 32 W. Randolph. Tickets: $39.50-$59.50. Visit eveningwithgroucho.com.

— Charles Askenaizer directs and performs the title role in Shakespeare’s classic tragedy “Hamlet.” From Oct. 21-Nov. 21 at Invictus Theatre, 1106 W. Thorndale. Tickets: $30. Visit invictustheatreco.com.

— The Artistic Home presents Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice,” the playwright’s take on the ancient myth as told from the perspective of Eurydice rather than Orpheus. Kathy Scambiatterra directs. From Oct. 23-Nov. 21 at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee. Tickets: $34. Visit theartistichome.org.

— Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, in association with The Breath Project, presents “8:46 (Breathing Room),” a new play festival of four commissioned plays each 8 minutes and 46 seconds long. The festival is curated by associate artistic director Denise Yvette Serna and the playwrights are Mari DeOleo, Tina Fakhrid Serna, Gloria Imseih Petrell and Risha Tenae. At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 and 4 p.m. Oct. 23 at Rivendell Theatre, 5779 N. Ridge. Tickets: $15-$30 for live performance or stream. Visit rivendelltheatre.org.

Music

Rich Gilligan Photo
Aoife O’Donovan

— Aoife O’Donovan tours behind her new album, “Age of Apathy,” which was produced by Joe Henry and features guests Allison Russell and Madison Cunningham. The new songs find the singer-songwriter confronting the sense-dulling barrage of the digital age. While her previous albums were composed in a rush between tours, this effort was more deliberate and methodical. (On another note, O’Donovan also recently shared her remarkable live performance of the entirety Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” for Bandcamp Friday.) At 8 p.m. Oct. 21 at Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln. Tickets: $35. Visit oldtownschool.org.

Kim Atkins Photo
Yasmin Williams

— Yasmin Williams first began playing electric guitar in 8th grade via “Guitar Hero 2” making it to expert level and by 10th grade had recorded her first EP of original songs. She quickly moved on to acoustic guitar and perfected her unorthodox, modern style of acoustic fingerstyle playing. Her influences range from Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana to go-go and hip-hop as well as other Black women guitarists — Elizabeth Cotton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Algia Mae Hinton. On her recent album, “Urban Driftwood,” Williams references the music of West African griots through inclusion of the kora, which she learned to play, and the hand drumming of Amadou Kouyate. Eli Winter opens the show a 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at Space, 1245 Chicago, Evanston. Tickets: $18-$28. Visit evanstonspace.com.

Jay Gilbert Photo
Peter Asher (center).

— One half of the British Invasion duo Peter & Gordon takes a trip back in time with “Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the ’60s and Beyond.” Through film footage, photos, stories and song, Asher looks back at his early career and on to his days as a producer, music executive and manager handling the careers of James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and many others. At 8 p.m. Oct. 23 at Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln. Tickets: $38. Visit oldtownschool.org.

— Jake Blount is an award-winning banjo player (winner of the 2020 Steve Martin Banjo Prize), fiddler, singer and ethnomusicologist. His recent album, “Spider Tales,” is drawn from the lost Black and Indigenous histories of Appalachian roots music. The New Yorker says Blount “mines a deep, under-explored vein of roots music, presenting new, often haunted versions of field hollers, murder ballads, and more.” 6’10 and Jake Book open the show at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at Reggies, 2105 S. State. Tickets: $15. Visit reggieslive.com.

Museums

“Rise Up” was developed by the Newseum, an affiliate of the Freedom Forum.
“Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement” is a new exhibit featured at the Illinois Holocaust Museum.

— “Rise Up: Stonewell and the LGBTQ Rights Movement” explores the June 1969 police raid of New York City’s Stonewall Inn as the flashpoint that ignited the modern gay rights movement in the United States. The exhibit features historic images and artifacts of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, including posters from Harvey Milk’s campaign for public office in San Francisco, a rainbow flag in its original colors signed by its creator Gilbert Baker and early LGBTQ magazines and publications. To May 8 at Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Dr., Skokie. Admission: $6-$15, children under 5 free. Visit ilholocaustmuseum.org.

Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Susann Craig
Sister Gertrude Morgan (American, 1900-1980). “Chart of Revelations 10, 11, 12, 13,” c. 1970. Pen and paint on poster board.

— Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art celebrates its late founder Susann Craig with an exhibit, “Building a Legacy,” which features works from its collection donated by Craig. Among the pieces are works by Minnie Evans, Justin McCarthy, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Albert Zahn and more. Craig was a devotee and avid collector of outsider art who befriended many of the genre’s artists and whose stewardship was key to the museum’s long-term success to becoming a premiere museum of outsider and self-taught art. From Oct. 14-Jan. 9 at Intuit, 756 N. Milwaukee. Admission: $5. Visit art.org.

Dance

Ken Carl Photo
Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

— Deeply Rooted Dance Theater returns with a program titled “Roots & Wings,” featuring artistic director Gary Abbott’s “Bach’d,” Kevin Iega Jeff’s “Aisatnaf” and “Gula Matari,” the company premiere of Ulysses Dove’s “Episodes” and excerpts from “Goshen,” the story of Exodus as told in a collaboration of gospel music, dramatic narrative and dance theater rooted in African American traditions. At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr. Tickets: $25+. Visit auditoriumtheatre.org.

Giordano Dance Chicago
Onjelee Phomthirath (clockwise from upper left), Rosario Guillen and Erina Ueda in Giordano Dance Chicago’s “Take a Gambol” (2018).

— Another dance troupe returning to live performances this week is Giordano Dance Chicago with its 13-member resident ensemble performing classic and contemporary jazz pieces, including the company premiere of Adam Houston’s “All for You” as well as works from the company’s repertory including “Flickers,” “A Little Moonlight,” “Shirt Off My Back,” “Take A Gambol” and “Pyrokinesis.” At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22-23 at the Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph. Tickets: $20-$90. Visit harristheaterchicago.org.

Movies

Provided
A scene from Andre Konchalovsky’s film “Shy People.”

— The Chicago Film Society returns with a handful of rarely screened films. The lineup features Andre Konchalovsky’s “Shy People” (Oct. 25), starring Jill Clayburgh, Barbara Hershey and Martha Plimpton; George Loane Tucker’s “Traffic in Souls” (Nov. 6), a silent film about New York sex traffickers; Farah Khan’s “Om Shanti Om” (Nov. 29), a Bollywood film; and Vincente Minnelli’s “Meet Me in St. Louis” (Dec. 13), one of the great Hollywood musicals. All are screened at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. Tickets: $10-$12. Visit musicboxtheatre.com.

NOTE: For COVID-19 safety protocols, visit theaters’ individual websites.

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