Last summer, when the River City Cinema Society took over downtown Bangor’s Pickering Square for six consecutive Friday nights in July through mid-August, Bangor became one tough, ugly place.

Guns were drawn at twilight, people were murdered in the streets, wanton women lingered under lamplights, men minced in shadows, and bourbon, served neat, was the drink of choice.

From this, the uninformed reader might assume that the society is little more than a bunch of street hooligans shaking things up as the Brady Gang did 68 years before them. But no. The truth is that all of this mayhem took place onscreen in the society’s first summer film festival, Noir Beneath the Stars, which found upwards of 400 people arriving each Friday at sundown to see a free series of noir classics.

By anyone’s standards, the series was a smash, so much so that tonight, the society will begin offering its second free summer series, Smiles on a Summer Night, a collection of classic comedies composing six films: The Marx Bros. comedy, “A Night at the Opera” (July 8); Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” (July 15); Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in Howard Hawkes’ “His Girl Friday” (July 22); Alfred Hitchcock’s New England-based black comedy, “The Trouble with Harry” (July 29); Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” (Aug. 5); and Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” (Aug. 12).

Popcorn and soft drinks will be sold. People are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Shows begin at sundown, with a rain date planned for Aug. 19.

Why comedies this year?

“With everything that’s happening in the world, we believe people need a good laugh,” says society co-founder Jorge Gonzalez. “These movies are considered classics in the genre. If last year’s turnout told us anything, it’s that people love movies – all movies – and that they will come downtown to see them.”

“Think of it as a cross between a drive-in theater and a big community picnic,” says Gonzalez’s wife and society co-founder, Kathy Tenga-Gonzalez. “Being outside is the fun factor. For us, there’s nothing better than to see hundreds of people watching a movie and laughing at the same time. It’s a community feeling. What we’re happy about is that people of all ages will be able to see these movies the way they were intended to be seen – on the big screen.”

And what a screen. Thanks to a grant by the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, the society was able to purchase an enormous, portable screen and state-of-the-art digital video and sound equipment that allows for a bright, crisp picture and rich sound even in locations designed with neither in mind, such as Pickering Square.

To raise money for the event, the society secured 11 sponsors – WBRC Architects and Engineers, Bangor Savings Bank, Eaton Peabody, Granville Lumber, Bangor Center Corporation, Cuddy & Lanham, Bennett Auto Center, Merrill Bank, Bangor True Value Hardware, Quirk Auto and VBK Attorneys – before it got creative. Really creative. It devised a unique opportunity for the public to participate in the series.

For a tax-deductible donation of $50, those interested in supporting the society and the event can take part in their Smile and be a Groucho fund-raiser, in which donors will be photographed wearing Groucho glasses and sporting a chocolate cigar. The photo will appear in a fun, personalized promotional poster designed by the Gonzalezes, of which two copies will be made – one for the donor to keep (along with the Groucho glasses and the chocolate cigar) and another to be hung in an undisclosed area of Downtown Bangor.

“The idea is to get people to rediscover downtown,” says Tenga-Gonzalez. “In order for donors to see where their posters are hung, they’ll need to visit downtown-area shops to find them. Our hope is that the posters will be a draw to businesses some people have never seen before. We’ll also show the photos in a special section of our Web site (www.rivercitycinema.com) and on the big screen just before the movie begins.”

Founded in 2001 by the Gonzalezes, Barbara Clark, David Clark, Michael Grillo and Sandra Johnson, the society’s longtime goal has been to have their own cinema in the Bangor area. For those eager for the group to succeed, the realization of that goal has been a while in coming.

“A plan is in place for it to happen,” says Gonzalez. “We have a vision and it’s clear. First, we want to find a downtown location for a cinema center that will support diverse audiences. By the end of the year, we hope to have a board of key people that will help with fund raising. By the first of next year, we hope to be showing movies. Phase two is to grow into an educational facility.”

Such a facility would contain editing bays to assist local filmmakers in the cutting of their movies. Also available to them would be the necessary equipment to polish dialogue and sound. “Eventually, we want to have a center where people can learn about cinema, where they can have a place to complete and exhibit their work, where classes and summer camps can be held, where we can provide outreach activities to schools, and of course where we can show great movies.”

It’s a broad, ambitious vision, with the roadblocks to achieving it being the usual – time and money. When asked why the society hadn’t secured bank financing to move forward, the response was clear.

“We are a nonprofit organization,” says Gonzalez. “A commercial center such as this would fail because there is no money in it. Like a museum, we need the financial support of the community. Think of it as the Met in New York City. In order to sustain it over the long term, we need the commitment of the community.”

According to Tenga-Gonzalez, such a complex would be the perfect engine for moving traffic downtown – foot traffic – with businesses benefiting as a result. “A few years ago, when the Met closed for expansion and temporarily relocated to Queens, businesses there saw a huge lift,” she says. “But once the Met left, it was like someone let the air out of a balloon. Now, they are trying to bring something back to Queens – something that promotes the arts – to enjoy the economic lift provided by that audience.”

“What we learned from Noir is how supportive the people of Bangor are about our ideas,” says Gonzalez. “Businesses and the community pulled together to make the series possible and to make it a success. There is a lot of interest in a downtown cinema, particularly after the opening of The Strand in Rockland. People are eager to see the independent films not shown at the commercial cinemas around town. If we had a year-round presence, it would allow that to happen.”

This year, as last year, the society is collaborating with the Maine International Film Festival to bring two films to the Bangor Opera House on July 16 – Ruaridh Webster’s “The Barn,” a British indie in which two crooked men find themselves locked in a barn with increasingly surreal results, and “Reel Paradise,” in which a man moves his family from New York City to a remote Fiji island so they can bring free movies to the public.

It’s the sort of movie that likely will have some significance to the Gonzalezes, who hail from New York City themselves. Indeed, the idea that they will join the rest of the society next Friday night in bringing free movies to the public is an irony that can’t be ignored.

More information about the series, the society, and how to become a Groucho can be found on the society’s Web site, www.rivercitycinema.com.

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Discovering and Happening, respectively, Weekends in Television, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.