The films of Claire Trevor at the Aero; celebrating Steve Tesich at the Egyptian

Claire Trevor could play tough. She sometimes even got to play tender. And on Thursday, the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre is celebrating her centenary with a classy, brassy double bill: 1948’s “Key Largo,” for which she won the supporting actress Oscar as gangster Edward G. Robinson’s booze-hound moll, and 1944’s terrific “Murder, My Sweet,” starring Dick Powell as gumshoe Philip Marlowe, and Trevor as the quintessential femme fatale.

The Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre celebrates the “Criminally Unknown Steve Tesich” on Thursday. The screenwriter won the 1979 original screenplay Oscar for “Breaking Away,” but his promising career was cut short when he died at the age of 53 in 1996. The Egyptian is presenting his 1981 autobiographical drama, “Four Friends,” directed by Arthur Penn, and his underrated 1981 murder mystery, “Eyewitness,” which starred William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver under Peter Yates’ direction. www .americancinematheque .com.

Finkelstein videos

New York artist David Finkelstein presents his video work Thursday night at the Echo Park Film Center. Finkelstein’s films revolve around improvisational dialogue between two actors as they explore their dreams. Finkelstein will offer another program on Sunday at the Egyptian Theatre, which will be presented by the L.A. Filmforum.

On Friday, Stefan Droessler of the Munich Film Museum will talk about the restoration of Walter Ruttmann’s classic 1927 silent documentary, “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City,” followed by a screening of the film at Echo Park. www .echoparkfilmcenter.org; lafilmforum.org.

Buck Henry night

Writer-actor Buck Henry will discuss his career with scribe Larry Karaszewski on Sunday at the Aero. Karaszewski will screen the rarely seen 1971 comedy “Taking Off,” in which Henry and Lynn Carlin play parents of a young hippie daughter. The film also marked Milos Forman’s first American effort. Rounding out the evening is 1970’s “Catch-22,” which reunited screenwriter Henry with director Mike Nichols (“The Graduate”). Henry also appears in the film, which was based on Joseph Heller’s classic novel about soldiers in World War II.

The late producer David Brown will be remembered Wednesday at the Aero with two early Steven Spielberg films he produced: 1974’s “Sugarland Express,” which marked Spielberg’s feature directorial debut, and the 1975 blockbuster “Jaws.” www.aerotheatre .com.

susan.king@latimes.com