Join us as we honor the career of Frank Gabrenya, the film critic for the Columbus Dispatch from 1987 to 2009 (and for the Columbus Citizen-Journal for years prior to that).

A longtime supporter of the Wexner Center's film program, Gabrenya introduces one of his favorite movies: Jonathan Demme's "Melvin and Howard," an endearing comedy based on a true story. A hapless milkman and gas station owner, Melvin Dummar (played by American Graffiti's Paul Le Mat), claims to have picked up a mangy old hitchhiker (Jason Robards) in the middle of the desert only to discover that it was the one of the wealthiest-and most reclusive-men in the world, Howard Hughes. No one believes Dummar's tale...until Hughes's will turns up under mysterious circumstances leaving Dummar $156 million. The film received Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Mary Steenburgen, as Dummar's tap-dancing third wife) and Best Original Screenplay (Bo Goldman). (95 mins., 35mm)