Ed, my one and only NC-17 film was SHOWGIRLS! No comment.
DEBBIE DOES DALLAS was partly filmed at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where I got my college degree. The story is that those that were running the college at the time didn’t realize that a porn film was going to be shot there. Just a single example of the ongoing stupidity of those involved.
Justin, the wicked witch turning into an evil-looking hag had to be intense, even for a toddler. My son is 22 months old and I don’t think I’d show him that movie yet. Besides, he’s too obssessed with the Wiggles right now to watch anything else.
Gary, my first PG-rated film was KING KONG in 1976. After having seen nothing on the screen but Benji, the Wilderness Family and Disney re-releases, this was a major movie event for me!
When my parents took me to see SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER at the age of ten, they knew it was R-rated, but rationalized that perhaps the music and the dancing would be enough to make it safe for me. WRONG! My mother almost made us leave the theater because the profanity was so raw. But for a ten year-old boy, my first R-rated movie was like a rite of passage; my first exposure to profanity, mild violence and nudity! What’s not to love?
I would not see another R-rated movie for two years – AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. And then another three years – 48 HOURS. Talk about taking it ridiculously slow!
Justin, I saw both re-releases of both films. The originals were still the best. Back then, though, before VHS tapes were made available and before my family got a VCR, studio re-releases were the only way I could enjoy a movie more than once. I would take it any way I could get it, be it Special Editions or PG-rated versions.
I can remember, very briefly, a double feature of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (PG) and GREASE. What kid could resist that at the time?
Speaking of GREASE – between 1978 and 1979, my family paid to see that movie six (6) times! That’s right! Six times! Two of those times, we stayed in the theater to watch it twice. Theaters often let you do that back then.
I think that many of us, when we look at our lives, can probably recall one particular year that was our favorite. 1977 was that year for me! Movies like STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER helped to further define it for me.
It was only ten, and I wasn’t living in New York City during the horror of the July blackout, the high crime rate and the inability of Mayor Abraham Beame’s administration to do anything about it. However, I can remember fondly, not only the popular movies, but Reggie Jackson’s 3 home runs in Game 6 of the World Series against L.A., my insane schoolboy crush on Cheryl Ladd and the awesome sounds of musicians like the Bee Gees, Peter Frampton and Kiss!
I can also remember being glued to WOR-TV Channel 9 on Thanksgiving day watching the annual ape triple feature of KING KONG, SON OF KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, all while my mother was preparing a huge feast for us and the extended family due to arrive.
Finally, I remember a massive New York blizzard in December 1977 that kept me out of school for four days! Our apartment complex had golf course property surrounding it, making it perfect for sledding.
1977 was my favorite year and there may never be another year like it for me. So for the movies; thank you George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Travolta and even Woody Allen (Annie Hall) for helping me to appreciate my first adult-themed comedy.
Alto, this sounds like one of the restaurants they have at Walt Disney World in Florida where you can eat dinner in a vintage car and watch vintage cartoons on the drive-in screen. FUN!
It is a twin and has been since 1984. If my memory is correct, the first two features upon becoming a twin were THE WOMAN IN RED and OXFORD BLUES.
The theater is still open thanks to the Hamtons Synagogue, who purchased the theater and the property several years ago. The theater is certainly widespread in it’s selection of films – from Hollywood summer blockbusters (they showed EVERY part III sequel this past summer!) to independent gems in the Fall. The synagogue also holds their film festivals there.
Those who have seen BLADE RUNNER will know that Million Dollar is seen very clearly the film, as is the Bradbury building. I just recently saw the film again on the big screen at the Zeigfeld Theatre in New York City during a limited engagement.
Although I’m happy to say that they are not yet in danger of closing, I proudly recommend the HAMPTON ARTS THEATRE in Westhampton Beach and MONTAUK THE MOVIE in Montauk!
If you’re a fan of Warner Brothers cartoons, there’s a great videotape I urge you to try and find on Amazon.com or Ebay. It’s called BUGS AND DAFFY – THE WARTIME CARTOONS. These were cartoons shown in theaters before the movie that reflected the spirit of the United States during World War II. There is one particularly hilarious one where Daffy Duck does battle with huge black crows with German accents that are supposed to represent the Nazis and even an animated Adolf Hitler himself.
I’m not old enough to know, but it must have been incredible to sit in a movie theater and watch beloved heroes like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck take on the war effort!
Fedoozle, it sounds like you were in NYC that day, as I was. I watched much of what happened from the street in Greenwich Village. By the end of the day, I was part of a massive exodus, walking uptown. I walked from the Village to my apartment on East 86th Street and held my fiance like I never had before.
The first movie I managed to come across on television after days of news and images was Spielberg’s CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Suddenly, it was 1977, I was ten years-old, and all seemed more innocent and better with the world. And in those brief moments, I was watching a classic movie favorite of mine, which managed to give some form of meaning and hope in my life – without having anything to do with religion.
The problem with movies today, and I think that Roger Ebert says it best in his book, THE GREAT MOVIES II, is that audiences would rather be assaulted than seduced by a movie. I think this may account for why many action movies are made with so many fast edits and jump cuts that practically give you a headache. Tony Scott’s MAN ON FIRE is a perfect example. When I walked out of that one, I felt dizzy and very angry. I could not believe what movies had just turned into! Everything it seems has to be fast, fast, fast and in your face!
Do you think today’s audiences would wait patiently to finally see Harry Lime appear in THE THIRD MAN? I doubt it.
Regarding a 9/11 based movie – somewhere down the road, we are inevitably looking at a big budget, action-filled, event-type film along the lines of TITANIC and PEARL HARBOR. Whether it’s done with any taste or sensitivity is anyone’s guess.
Probably not.
Oh, and to set the record straight – I am NOT necessarily looking for any type of enlightened spirituality in my life. I mearly suggested that when I’ve come out of a movie, I would rather feel a little brighter and wiser instead of dumber and intelligence-insulted.
Justin – the first 9/11 film to be released after the events was called THE GUYS, with Anthony LaPaglia and Sigourney Weaver; about the death of several firefighters and the writer who is challenged to write their eulogies. It was a decent film.
Jonathan – believe me, I have just as much contempt for mainstream Hollywood as you do. However, it is a fact that during the first few weeks after 9/11, there was a sensitivity shift toward the people. It was very, very brief…
Comedies like SHREK and LEGALLY BLONDE were immediately re-released.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE which was due to open then, was pushed back to Spring 2002.
Cinemax cable channel cancelled a broadcasting of PASSENGER 57 (for obvious reasons).
NBC-TV broadcasted BACK TO THE FUTURE and deleted the word terrorist from its dialogue.
Like I said, it didn’t last long. The violence and the crap returned quickly and with a vengeance.
Oh yeah, and to correct you on one other point – TRAINING DAY was released in 2000. Denzel Washington won the Oscar for best actor for that movie is March 2001.
Chris, your definition of Hollywood and the MBA “pimps” that run it may be cynical, but it’s certainly dead-on! I’m glad you can still find the weekend escape enjoyable. I wish I could.
I live in New York, but just looking at the picture of this beautiful marquee makes me mad to think that it’s forced to close down because it’s not taking in enough money to stay afloat!
Do people honestly prefer the chaos and the insanity of the multiplex experience over a gem like this???
I would like to see HAIR revived on Broadway. Obvisously, I was too young to see it on stage in the late ‘60’s, but it’s one of the few movie musicals (a Milos Forman film) that I enjoyed.
“Let if fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees, give a home to the bees in my hair!”
CWalczak, since you mentioned Broadway, I have my small share of gripes with that, too.
My wife is a Broadway and showtune guru. She loves to see every new musical that opens, and I’ve been dragged to a number of them. But lately I told her that I refused to go to anymore shows that were based on movies. I realize that legendary shows like 42ND STREET and SWEET CHARITY (based on Fellini’s NIGHTS OF CABIRIA) were originally films, but those are just examples of few exceptions.
Over the last ten years or so, the Broadway stage has seen a lot of movie-based musicals, including THE LION KING, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, THE PRODUCERS, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, SPAM-A-LOT (based on MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL), LEGALLY BLONDE (?), and the soon-to-open YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (???).
It would seem that Broadway audiences feel most comfortable with material they already know. Broadway producers and those responsible for the theater cash cow seem to have no problem in recycling old material into a musical to make their money good and fast!
Well, just like the movies, it’s no longer going to be me who helps to contribute to the ongoing recycling effort of todays entertainment!
As we’ve all said before, it can all come to a crashing end if audiences simply refuse to spend their hard-earned money on recycled garbage any longer!
I also recently learned that they’re remaking the 1972 film, SLEUTH, with Michael Caine and Jude Law. The original starred Lawrence Olivier and Michael Caine.
Once again, Hollywood has nothing original to contribute to the world. The only credible factor I can find in this is that the remake is directed by Kenneth Branagh, whose past films, like DEAD AGAIN, PETER’S FRIENDS and HAMLET, I enjoyed. Still, that’s not enough of a reason to get me to pay full ticket price at the theater. Perhaps when it becomes available on Netflix, we’ll see.
Ed, my one and only NC-17 film was SHOWGIRLS! No comment.
DEBBIE DOES DALLAS was partly filmed at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where I got my college degree. The story is that those that were running the college at the time didn’t realize that a porn film was going to be shot there. Just a single example of the ongoing stupidity of those involved.
Justin, the wicked witch turning into an evil-looking hag had to be intense, even for a toddler. My son is 22 months old and I don’t think I’d show him that movie yet. Besides, he’s too obssessed with the Wiggles right now to watch anything else.
You were a brave kid! Bravo!
My pleasure, Ed!
Gary, my first PG-rated film was KING KONG in 1976. After having seen nothing on the screen but Benji, the Wilderness Family and Disney re-releases, this was a major movie event for me!
When my parents took me to see SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER at the age of ten, they knew it was R-rated, but rationalized that perhaps the music and the dancing would be enough to make it safe for me. WRONG! My mother almost made us leave the theater because the profanity was so raw. But for a ten year-old boy, my first R-rated movie was like a rite of passage; my first exposure to profanity, mild violence and nudity! What’s not to love?
I would not see another R-rated movie for two years – AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. And then another three years – 48 HOURS. Talk about taking it ridiculously slow!
Justin, I saw both re-releases of both films. The originals were still the best. Back then, though, before VHS tapes were made available and before my family got a VCR, studio re-releases were the only way I could enjoy a movie more than once. I would take it any way I could get it, be it Special Editions or PG-rated versions.
I can remember, very briefly, a double feature of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (PG) and GREASE. What kid could resist that at the time?
Speaking of GREASE – between 1978 and 1979, my family paid to see that movie six (6) times! That’s right! Six times! Two of those times, we stayed in the theater to watch it twice. Theaters often let you do that back then.
I think that many of us, when we look at our lives, can probably recall one particular year that was our favorite. 1977 was that year for me! Movies like STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER helped to further define it for me.
It was only ten, and I wasn’t living in New York City during the horror of the July blackout, the high crime rate and the inability of Mayor Abraham Beame’s administration to do anything about it. However, I can remember fondly, not only the popular movies, but Reggie Jackson’s 3 home runs in Game 6 of the World Series against L.A., my insane schoolboy crush on Cheryl Ladd and the awesome sounds of musicians like the Bee Gees, Peter Frampton and Kiss!
I can also remember being glued to WOR-TV Channel 9 on Thanksgiving day watching the annual ape triple feature of KING KONG, SON OF KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, all while my mother was preparing a huge feast for us and the extended family due to arrive.
Finally, I remember a massive New York blizzard in December 1977 that kept me out of school for four days! Our apartment complex had golf course property surrounding it, making it perfect for sledding.
1977 was my favorite year and there may never be another year like it for me. So for the movies; thank you George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Travolta and even Woody Allen (Annie Hall) for helping me to appreciate my first adult-themed comedy.
Alto, this sounds like one of the restaurants they have at Walt Disney World in Florida where you can eat dinner in a vintage car and watch vintage cartoons on the drive-in screen. FUN!
It is a twin and has been since 1984. If my memory is correct, the first two features upon becoming a twin were THE WOMAN IN RED and OXFORD BLUES.
The theater is still open thanks to the Hamtons Synagogue, who purchased the theater and the property several years ago. The theater is certainly widespread in it’s selection of films – from Hollywood summer blockbusters (they showed EVERY part III sequel this past summer!) to independent gems in the Fall. The synagogue also holds their film festivals there.
Those who have seen BLADE RUNNER will know that Million Dollar is seen very clearly the film, as is the Bradbury building. I just recently saw the film again on the big screen at the Zeigfeld Theatre in New York City during a limited engagement.
The theatre IS open. It has never closed.
Oh, yeah, and of course, the WESTHAMPTON BEACH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER in Westhampton Beach!
Although I’m happy to say that they are not yet in danger of closing, I proudly recommend the HAMPTON ARTS THEATRE in Westhampton Beach and MONTAUK THE MOVIE in Montauk!
If you’re a fan of Warner Brothers cartoons, there’s a great videotape I urge you to try and find on Amazon.com or Ebay. It’s called BUGS AND DAFFY – THE WARTIME CARTOONS. These were cartoons shown in theaters before the movie that reflected the spirit of the United States during World War II. There is one particularly hilarious one where Daffy Duck does battle with huge black crows with German accents that are supposed to represent the Nazis and even an animated Adolf Hitler himself.
I’m not old enough to know, but it must have been incredible to sit in a movie theater and watch beloved heroes like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck take on the war effort!
Fedoozle, it sounds like you were in NYC that day, as I was. I watched much of what happened from the street in Greenwich Village. By the end of the day, I was part of a massive exodus, walking uptown. I walked from the Village to my apartment on East 86th Street and held my fiance like I never had before.
The first movie I managed to come across on television after days of news and images was Spielberg’s CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Suddenly, it was 1977, I was ten years-old, and all seemed more innocent and better with the world. And in those brief moments, I was watching a classic movie favorite of mine, which managed to give some form of meaning and hope in my life – without having anything to do with religion.
The problem with movies today, and I think that Roger Ebert says it best in his book, THE GREAT MOVIES II, is that audiences would rather be assaulted than seduced by a movie. I think this may account for why many action movies are made with so many fast edits and jump cuts that practically give you a headache. Tony Scott’s MAN ON FIRE is a perfect example. When I walked out of that one, I felt dizzy and very angry. I could not believe what movies had just turned into! Everything it seems has to be fast, fast, fast and in your face!
Do you think today’s audiences would wait patiently to finally see Harry Lime appear in THE THIRD MAN? I doubt it.
Regarding a 9/11 based movie – somewhere down the road, we are inevitably looking at a big budget, action-filled, event-type film along the lines of TITANIC and PEARL HARBOR. Whether it’s done with any taste or sensitivity is anyone’s guess.
Probably not.
Oh, and to set the record straight – I am NOT necessarily looking for any type of enlightened spirituality in my life. I mearly suggested that when I’ve come out of a movie, I would rather feel a little brighter and wiser instead of dumber and intelligence-insulted.
Justin – the first 9/11 film to be released after the events was called THE GUYS, with Anthony LaPaglia and Sigourney Weaver; about the death of several firefighters and the writer who is challenged to write their eulogies. It was a decent film.
Jonathan – believe me, I have just as much contempt for mainstream Hollywood as you do. However, it is a fact that during the first few weeks after 9/11, there was a sensitivity shift toward the people. It was very, very brief…
Like I said, it didn’t last long. The violence and the crap returned quickly and with a vengeance.
Oh yeah, and to correct you on one other point – TRAINING DAY was released in 2000. Denzel Washington won the Oscar for best actor for that movie is March 2001.
Chris, your definition of Hollywood and the MBA “pimps” that run it may be cynical, but it’s certainly dead-on! I’m glad you can still find the weekend escape enjoyable. I wish I could.
I watched Cameron Crowe’s SINGLES (1992) over the weekend. The Neptune Theatre is shown with a director’s cut of BRAZIL on the marquee.
I live in New York, but just looking at the picture of this beautiful marquee makes me mad to think that it’s forced to close down because it’s not taking in enough money to stay afloat!
Do people honestly prefer the chaos and the insanity of the multiplex experience over a gem like this???
“Is there anybody out there?”
I would like to see HAIR revived on Broadway. Obvisously, I was too young to see it on stage in the late ‘60’s, but it’s one of the few movie musicals (a Milos Forman film) that I enjoyed.
“Let if fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees, give a home to the bees in my hair!”
CWalczak, since you mentioned Broadway, I have my small share of gripes with that, too.
My wife is a Broadway and showtune guru. She loves to see every new musical that opens, and I’ve been dragged to a number of them. But lately I told her that I refused to go to anymore shows that were based on movies. I realize that legendary shows like 42ND STREET and SWEET CHARITY (based on Fellini’s NIGHTS OF CABIRIA) were originally films, but those are just examples of few exceptions.
Over the last ten years or so, the Broadway stage has seen a lot of movie-based musicals, including THE LION KING, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, THE PRODUCERS, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, SPAM-A-LOT (based on MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL), LEGALLY BLONDE (?), and the soon-to-open YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (???).
It would seem that Broadway audiences feel most comfortable with material they already know. Broadway producers and those responsible for the theater cash cow seem to have no problem in recycling old material into a musical to make their money good and fast!
Well, just like the movies, it’s no longer going to be me who helps to contribute to the ongoing recycling effort of todays entertainment!
As we’ve all said before, it can all come to a crashing end if audiences simply refuse to spend their hard-earned money on recycled garbage any longer!
As a theatrically-released motion picture, I’m only aware of four (4) versions:
Am I missing anything?
I also recently learned that they’re remaking the 1972 film, SLEUTH, with Michael Caine and Jude Law. The original starred Lawrence Olivier and Michael Caine.
Once again, Hollywood has nothing original to contribute to the world. The only credible factor I can find in this is that the remake is directed by Kenneth Branagh, whose past films, like DEAD AGAIN, PETER’S FRIENDS and HAMLET, I enjoyed. Still, that’s not enough of a reason to get me to pay full ticket price at the theater. Perhaps when it becomes available on Netflix, we’ll see.