“The proprieties must be observed at all times.”
— Michael Flynn (as played by Barry Fitzgerald), “The Quiet Man”
As far as your humble writer is concerned, motion pictures were made to be shown to audiences in real honest to goodness movie theaters. Not cracker box, shoe horned, cinder block multiplexes.
A pox on the house of whomever decided that this was an acceptable alternative.
Mercifully, up here in the San Francisco Bay Area, there still exist a few places where this can be said to be true. And even though the number of proper movie theaters seems to shrink all the time, some of the better gems still earn their keep as intended.
Once upon a time, I practically lived in the local movie theaters. In my area (a.k.a. the Diablo Valley — Danville, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Martinez, Concord and Pleasant Hill), we had the following all during a 10 year period from 1975 to 1985:
The El Rey (a small town place with a great Main Street corner location)
The Festival Cinemas (a first generation cinderblock multiplex with 5 screens)
The Century Theaters (multiplex anchored by the big dome — part of the Syufy chain also with five screens)
The Park Theater
The Orinda Theater (great art deco murals)
The Village Theater
The Rheem Theater
The Enea (became the Showcase and switched to “adult” films; ironically later owned by a Baptist church around the corner where we got married — now their community center.)
The Capri Theater (another big screen cut up into four smaller houses)
The Regency Theaters (a Festival cinderblock clone and one of the chain with 5 screens)
The Sun Valley Cinema (a big screen in the local mall, cut into 2 houses)
The Contra Costa Cinemas (another Festival operation with 5 screens)
The Crow Canyon Cinemas (one more for Festival and five more screens!)
Throw in three drive in theaters to the mix — the Pleasant Hill Motor Movies, the Concord Drive In and the Solano Drive In and that was a bunch of places to watch movies! Oh and not to forget that there were always free films being shown at the local junior college — Diablo Valley College (as immortalized on a Mark Harmon t-shirt in the film, “Summer School”) — everything from “Citizen Kane” to “Forbidden Planet”.
Was it any wonder that it seemed like I lived at the movies? It didn’t hurt that a good friend, who I met the same afternoon as Michele on that BART train to the Star Trek Convention in San Francisco (over the Presidents Weekend in February of 1977) ended up working in a number of those places. When Michael was on duty, I could go visit him and sneak a peak or two at what was playing that week. There were many nights when I was there as he closed the doors after the last guests left the building.
And if that wasn’t going on, Michele and I managed to make a date for a movie most Saturday nights before we got married and every now and then afterwards.
I’ll admit to having seen my share of dogs amongst the good films. Guilty pleasures abound, such as “1941” or “The Blues Brothers.” Guilty as charged also for seeing such things as “Battlestar Galactica” or “Xanadu” or the animated “Lord of the Rings.” Michele still says I didn’t take her to watch “The Beastmaster,” but I know I wouldn’t have gone to see the ferrets in action unless she had wanted to!
Out of that list above, of the 38 screens, a fair number are still around, some have gone on to greater glory and have been replaced by new stadium style theaters. Almost for what was lost, new screens have come along to take their places. Many of them are as busy as ever, but I’m just not falling in like I used to.
That’s not to say I’m still not a movie junkie. Cable TV does it’s bit and DVD sales as well. And the titles get better all the time, cursed marketing blitzes… And I bought a laser disc player a few years before DVD’s hit, so I have a fair number of titles to watch on disc.
Thank your favorite deity for DVD’s!
Yes, I am a child of the mass media age, okay?
Where is all this leading? Well, in the words of Gloria Swanson in “Sunset Boulevard,” “It’s the pictures that got small.”
When it comes to the new crop of pictures, I’m just not interested in watching something I’ve seen done better before. Call that shallow, but why should I fork out nine bucks for another round of the same old nonsense?
I’d rather sit at home watching John Wayne and Ward Bond in “They Were Expendable” in glorious black and white than see something from today’s color and THX era that isn’t written, directed or acted a quarter as well.
It took me a while to go see “Saving Private Ryan.” I had heard all about it and seen previews. As much as I appreciate the past, I was not in a rush to go see it for various reasons. Maybe it was just a bit too close to the modern day. I won’t explain in detail (no, I didn’t serve in the military, but have great respect for those who have) however I’ve seen my share of blood and gore, and I really don’t need to fantasy to understand it, or explain it.
Yet in another era, I took an afternoon off work to go see “Gettysburg” when it first came out in theaters. The moments with Richard Jordan as the dying General Lewis Armistead always seem to strike a serious emotional chord with me. (And yet, I laughed out loud when Ted Turner dropped dead crossing the Emmitsburg Road — much to the annoyance of the few others in the theater with me that day.)
Part of the lure of movies for me always has been special moments. It’s the kind of thing that’s personal but can be shared. We all have them.
Maybe it was that first movie I went to see by without my parents. John Wayne in “The Alamo.”
Or the moment from “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy opens the door of the Kansas farmhouse and the world changes from sepia tone to Technicolor.
“2010” (yes, I know it wasn’t much of a film) when the HAL 9000 comes back to life. Made the hairs on the back up my neck stand up.
Or Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois, from “Streetcar Named Desire”: “Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
And I’ll never forget watching the opening scenes of “Star Wars” with Michele, sitting in the front row of the theater when the ships fly overhead.
And when the “Titanic” set sail for it’s maiden voyage, all I could say was “Wow!” Even though I knew the story and the realized the fact that I was watching a movie, there was just something about that moment that I got caught up in.
Even something as simple as watching “Gone With the Wind” on a big screen for that first time… It is a different experience than on a small screen at home or in a cinderblock.
For the most part, I don’t think times like that are gone. Maybe as I’m getting older, I don’t expect them as often as I used to. And truth be told, when they do happen, it’s all the more powerful.
Like when they are showing great features at Oakland’s Paramount Theater with the Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ capably operated by the talented Jim Riggs. That’s entertainment and for only five bucks! Complete evening with short subjects and the ever popular Deco-Win…
Now pay attention to the Paramount’s coming line up of films.
We get the following in the next few months:
10/17 — Harold Lloyd in “Safety Last” — Considered by many as “the most brilliantly sustained comic climax in film history.” And don’t forget, live organ accompaniment by Jim Riggs!
10/31 — “Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein” and “The Bride of Frankenstein” — Now that’s a classic way to spend Halloween Night!
11/28 — “Top Hat” — Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at their best!
12/5 — “The Road To Morocco” — Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.
12/26 — “The Wizard of Oz” — A family favorite being seen as intended!
All of these for only $6. That’s right. Six bucks for a night of great entertainment in one of the area’s best preserved movie palaces. Heck, you can even enjoy a smart cocktail or two before the fun begins.
Well worth your patronage…
Now slightly to the south, here is another event you don’t want to miss. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is offering an evening of “Animation at War.” From their web page:
“Featuring rarely-screened 35mm prints of World War II animation from the major Hollywood studios.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003, at 8:00 p.m.
in the Samuel Goldwyn TheaterMore than any other time in film history, World War II saw a direct request from the U.S. government for Hollywood’s aid in educating and galvanizing the public for its war efforts. Because of the unique and entertaining elements that animation processes could bring to political propaganda, some of the most creative and unusual war films to come out of this period were produced by Hollywood’s animation community. Animation film historian Jerry Beck will introduce and offer a historical perspective to this representative collection of films.
The evening will include a 60th anniversary presentation of the Walt Disney feature Victory through Air Power, a film not screened in Los Angeles for nearly twenty years and rarely since its original release on July 17, 1943. This part documentary, part animated-cartoon is based on Alexander P. de Seversky’s 1942 book. Contrary to the predominant thinking among our military leaders of the day, de Seversky’s book contained progressive ideas and then-radical solutions to traditional methods of warfare. This attracted Disney’s attention, and a filmed version was quickly put into production.
The resulting motion picture is powerful wartime propaganda, stating its case using spectacular effects animation, historical events, an Oscar®-nominated musical score and humorous cartooning. It begins with an entertaining (and completely accurate) history of aviation, explains how air power has become a true threat, and describes how to defend ourselves using strategic aviation.
The program will also feature several war-themed animated short subjects, including Blitz Wolf (MGM, Oscar Nominee, 1942), Russian Rhapsody (Warner Bros., 1943), Song of Victory (Columbia, 1943), Reason & Emotion (Disney, Oscar Nominee, 1943) and Out of the Frying Pan into the Firing Line (Disney, 1942).
Tickets are $5.00 for the general public and $3.00 for students and Academy members with valid I.D. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Tickets go on sale beginning October 1, 2003, at the Academy during regular business hours, by mail, or on the night of the screening, if still available.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.
For more program information, please call (310) 247-3600.
Presented as part of the Academy Standards series. Academy Standards is a monthly series presenting high-quality prints of Academy Award-winning and -nominated films”
How can I say this? If you can be there, do so. You won’t find such a bargain anywhere else, and there is no guarantee you’ll see these films again.
I’m trying to figure out how I can make it down south, even only for the night…
Now back to the current crop of films falling out of the Hollywood machine today.
Perhaps Bart Simpson says it best. “Crap, crap, crappy crap.”
I just can’t get excited about the retreads. And I seriously do not buy the “all out of story ideas” line. Lots of tales yet to be told. It’s just the folks green-lighting projects who don’t get the clue anymore. Some times, I think you could back a truck full of quarters up to certain studios and no one could buy a clue. Until then I guess I’ll be buying more DVD’s and enjoying those gems from the past.
As an example, last Tuesday saw the release of some great Warner Brothers films with great new documentaries to go along with them. “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” both have been favorites of mine since way back. (And lately, we’ve discovered that one of Michele’s distant relations, Morgan Padelford, was the Technicolor consultant on “Robin Hood”; so we’re especially interested in the documentary on that subject on that DVD.)
And as far as I’m concerned, now that “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” is out on DVD, it should be required viewing at every corporate retreat around the world. Simply no finer example of how individual greed has it’s downfalls. And some of the best performances of Walter Huston and Humphrey Bogart to be found anywhere, in my humble opinion…
Yet, if I had the chance, I’d rather watch them in a real movie theater.
In 1989, another one of the classic movie palaces in the area reopened after an involved restoration. The Orinda Theater was and still is today a true Art Deco movie masterpiece. For that first evening, we were treated to a showing of a 1950 Warner Brothers cartoon, “The Hypo-chondri-cat” and then “Casablanca.” It was pure magic to watch this film as it should be seen, and with a whole new generation of folks, who hadn’t experienced it before.
Another evening even more years ago, I enjoyed a full program of Warner Brothers cartoons at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater. Oddly enough, it’s operated by the same folks (Rialto Renaissance) as the Orinda. A great feature of that place is on it’s roof. A massive electrical wonder of an animated sign announces the name in individual incandescent bulbs (each with their own colored cover).
They have a classic film series of their own also showing a great selection as intended at the former Alameda Naval Air Station base theater. From their web page:
Directions to their Alameda Location
“All films shown twice nightly at 7:00 & 9:30pm (unless otherwise noted)
Friday, October 3 The Gay Divorcee
Saturday, October 4 Some Like It Hot
Sunday, October 5 To Kill A Mockingbird
Friday, October 10 The Killing (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Saturday, October 11 The Searchers
Sunday, October12 Vertigo
Friday, October 17 Out Of The Past (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Saturday, October 18 Gone With The Wind (2:30 & 7:30pm)
Sunday, October 19 On The Town (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Friday, October 24 Sullivan’s Travels (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Saturday, October 25 Sweet Smell of Success (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Sunday, October 26 All About Eve (7:00 & 9:45pm)
Friday, October 31 Among The Living (6:00 & 9:00pm)
Friday, October 31 The Lady & The Monster (7:20 & 10:20pm)
Saturday, November 1 Them! (2:30, 5:45 & 9:10)
Saturday, November 1 The Thing (4:15 & 7:30)
Sunday, November 2 King Kong (7:00 & 9:15pm)
Friday, November 7 The Palm Beach Story (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Saturday, November 8 The Band Wagon
Sunday, November 9 On The Waterfront (7:00 & 9:15pm)
Friday, November 14 The Tin Man (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Saturday, November 15 Casablanca (7:00 & 9:15pm)
Sunday, November 16 Charade
Friday, November 21 The Woman in the Window (7:00 & 9:15pm)
Saturday, November 22 Sunset Blvd.
Sunday, November 23 Night of the Hunter
Friday, November 28 Holiday (7:00 & 9:00pm)
Saturday, November 29 Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Sunday, November 30 Meet Me in St. Louis (2:00, 5:00 & 8:00pm)Advance tickets available at the box office of Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater.
Admission prices are $7.00 general and $5 for children and senior citizens.
Additional information available at 510-835-6187.”
How’s that for a deal? So, get off your butt, pass the popcorn and make a beeline to the theater for one of those classic films events. I don’t think you’ll regret one minute of it.
Thanks to everyone who helped me keep this first year of columns. I’m hoping to keep going churning out more for you’re here as long as Jim lets me do so.
And the only way I make anything from these pieces is through your generous donations to my Amazon Honor System Paybox. Your support continues to be graciously appreciated.