Amc

For AMC's Mad Men, the network's wry summer drama about life, love and identity at a mid-century-era Madison Avenue advertising agency, the actors appear smooth-shaven and dress in skinny neckties and cordovan shoes. Their characters drink early and often. The actresses, trussed in tight dresses, wear pointy "bullet bras" and painful screw-on earrings. Their characters care less about careers than making a good catch and moving to Connecticut. On TV Mad Men premieres at 10 tonight on AMC.

Broken Trail, the made-for-TV western starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, set a ratings record for AMC cable channel Sunday. Part 1 of the two-night production was seen by 9.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched cable telecast of the year. The audience was almost three times larger than the next largest attracted by AMC. (By comparison, the season premiere of TNT's hit drama, The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick was seen by 8.2 million viewers on June 12, making it the most-watched scripted weekly series on basic cable in 2006.

When her parents forget her birthday, life stinks even more for a girl in Sixteen Candles (8 p.m.-10 p.m., AMC), with Molly Ringwald (above).

Mozelle Brown knew she'd be climbing the walls when she retired after 33 years of teaching fifth grade, so she started looking for a diversion five years before retirement. The Churchville resident hobnobbed with area volunteers, which in 1984 culminated in volunteer work for the Bel Air branch of the AMC Cancer Research Center. In 1985, after local high school football coach Al Cesky died, she spearheaded efforts to start a foundation in his honor. Since then, Brown has served in various positions for the AMC at a local level, as well as being the current national president.

When a movie has barely made back half its cost - especially when it's a big-budget film that was supposed to be one of the so-called tent poles of the summer schedule - drastic measures are called for. The AMC theater chain, faced with an under-performing film that its top brass think deserves better, is offering a money-back guarantee on Cinderella Man, director Ron Howard's take on the underdog career of Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock....

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s buyout unit agreed yesterday to acquire a majority stake in AMC Entertainment Inc. for $2 billion and plans to take the movie chain private. Marquee Holdings Inc., a joint operation of private equity firm J.P. Morgan Partners LLC and AMC's current majority owner, Apollo Management LP, plans to buy the company and take it private, paying stockholders $19.50 per share for 50.1 percent of AMC, the companies said. The New York bank also will assume $748 million in debt.

CRAWFORD NOTCH, N.H. - At one end of the building, a mass of rambunctious sixth-graders is learning about geology. At the other, a group from Elderhostel, which runs programs for people 55 and over, readies for its first overnight backpacking trip into the White Mountains. And in between, a hand-lettered sign on the otherwise-bare bulletin board issues this disclaimer: "When it came down to the last minute, we could either make the beds or finish the signs ... " All 122 beds at the Appalachian Mountain Club's new Highland Center are in proper order, I'm pleased to say. The AMC is known for maintaining the hut system in the mountains and for its hiker-friendly Joe Dodge Lodge at the base of 6,288-foot Mount Washington.

Rock music and the movies haven't always worked together well - some early efforts to showcase them together proved embarrassing to both - but when the connection has clicked, the results have been some of the most entertaining movies of the past 40 years. They've also proven some of the most culturally significant, signposts forever capturing not only a time and place, but an attitude. This weekend, AMC's annual Film Preservation Festival showcases some of the best films to come out of that mix of genres.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Shares of AMC Entertainment Inc. fell 21 percent yesterday after the company reported a bigger fiscal first-quarter loss than analysts had estimated. The loss was the result of a $19.8 million expense from forgiving loans to two executives. The shares fell $2.35 to $8.80 and are down 27 percent for the year. AMC, the second-biggest publicly traded U.S. movie-theater chain, said its loss in the quarter that ended June 27 was $875,000, or 28 cents a share. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call was loss of 18 cents a share.

Dead for almost 29 years now, martial arts legend Bruce Lee still commands attention on the screen. Perhaps it was his smile/sneer, an expression that conveyed both baleful threat toward bad guys and the unassailable certainty that they were going down. Or maybe it was the eyes, which danced between amusement and a sort of remorseless contempt. His body - just over 5-foot-7 and violin-string taut - was every bit as expressive, capable of grace and the sort of kinetic display that seemed to push the boundaries of physical possibility.