I remember a hot summer day in 1977 I was visiting my grandparents in Springfield and my Grandma(RIP) dropped me off at Tower to see Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. While waiting outside there was this strange movie poster of a movie called “Star Wars”..this had to be late June or early July so Star Wars must’ve already released but I guess Tower wasn’t able to show it just yet. Anyway, I ended up seeing Herbie and don’t remember a thing about it except that Dean Jones was one of the main actors.
I’d say from 78-92 I probably saw more movies at this theater than any other in the KC area. This includes Independence Center 2, Midland, Independence Square, Brywood 6, Bannister Mall(both of them),Blue Ridge Cinema West, and 40 Hiway Drive In. Some of the movies I saw here were Tootsie, The Shining, Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner(small theater as you entered on the left), The Thing(probably my greatest movie experience), Platoon, Richard Pryor on the Sunset Strip, Star Trek TMP, The Black Hole, The Electric Horseman, A Few Good Men, Return of the Jedi, High Anxiety, Indiana Jones, Superman II, The Right Stuff, 2010 Odyssey 2. So many good times RIP Blue Ridge Cinema East!
This was the first movie theater I went to when my family moved to Independence in Jan, 1978. We had just moved from a very small town in middle MO so going to the Independence Center mall was a big deal. I was 12 years old and remember riding up and down the escalators over and over in that mall. Man, everything was new and shiny, we’d drive by and this theater and I remember Blazing Saddles and Heroes(w/Henry Winkler) wer on the marquee for weeks. I didn’t really understand why they showed the same movie for week after week, why didn’t they show other movies? Anyway, we did go see Blazing Saddles so that must’ve been the first movie I saw there. A few weeks later they finally showed another movie—Grey Lady Down with Charleton Heston and I remember it was a Friday or Saturday night and the theater was jam packed, for such a sub-par movie :). After I turned 13 I did one crazy thing and that was to walk from our apt. complex(Glendale) all the way down I-291 to see Animal House. I bought a ticket for the other PG movie showing and snuck in and watched R rated Animal House, might have went with my friend Anthony..must’ve because I don’t think I would ever walk those several miles alone. Other movies I saw there were Saturn 3, The Fish that saved Pittsburgh, Top Secret! and the first Terminator. There were a few others but really we mostly would go to see movies at Blue Ridge Cinema East as that was a much more lively theater with bigger screens and 5 selections instead of just 2. Years later I remember coming home on leave and they had torn this theater down and I think it was a Circuit City(where service is state of the art). Kind of missed the old place.
My most vivid memory of the 40 Hiway Drive In was about a week or two before I went into basic training in late July 1983..one of the flicks was Officer and a Gentleman and you could see the microphone and boom in almost every scene. The only other movie I remember seeing here was Zapped! in 1982 and some scary movie that really only had one good scene, which was mentioned in the K.C. Times movie review.
I first went to this theater in 1978 or 79. Some of the movies I saw there were Superman, Dragonslayer, Porky’s II, and the first Nightmare on Elm Street. Nice theater, there were other choices back then such as Blue Ridge Cinema East and Independence I & II. My best memory is going to see Porky’s II the week before I went to Basic Training..it was a hot July weeknight, just me and my friends trying to think of something to do. Fond memories.
I think this was the Bannister Square 6, which was run by AMC and operated across the street—south from Bannister Mall. Starting around 1983 I went there many times. I distinctly remember seeing Jaws3D(July 83?) and Dead Zone(Oct 83?) and I would often go to their Fri or Sat midnight movies, which would typically show R rated fare like Flesh Gordon or an obscure AC/DC rockumentary..either way I saw both lol.
Back in 1983 the Bannister Square 6 was a nice, new theater, there was a convenient little restaurant across the parking lot, it might have been a Godfather’s pizza or a Friday’s. The Bannister Mall across the street was pretty upscale and there wasn’t a lot of riff-raff, at least in the mid 80’s. I hear by the mid 90’s there were gangs riding to the mall via Bus from Raytown, which was not only the beginning of the end but THE END.
I remember this theater from when I was stationed at nearby Homestead Air Force Base back in 1990-1992. This was the best theater around and I distinctly remember seeing Terminator 2, Silence of the Lambs, Star Trek 6, and Dead Again to name just a few. The other theaters I remember in the area were one in downtown Homestead, a small theater in Cutler Ridge mall, and Town and Country in Kendall but this was the one I went to the most.
I remember a hot summer day in 1977 I was visiting my grandparents in Springfield and my Grandma(RIP) dropped me off at Tower to see Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. While waiting outside there was this strange movie poster of a movie called “Star Wars”..this had to be late June or early July so Star Wars must’ve already released but I guess Tower wasn’t able to show it just yet. Anyway, I ended up seeing Herbie and don’t remember a thing about it except that Dean Jones was one of the main actors.
I’d say from 78-92 I probably saw more movies at this theater than any other in the KC area. This includes Independence Center 2, Midland, Independence Square, Brywood 6, Bannister Mall(both of them),Blue Ridge Cinema West, and 40 Hiway Drive In. Some of the movies I saw here were Tootsie, The Shining, Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner(small theater as you entered on the left), The Thing(probably my greatest movie experience), Platoon, Richard Pryor on the Sunset Strip, Star Trek TMP, The Black Hole, The Electric Horseman, A Few Good Men, Return of the Jedi, High Anxiety, Indiana Jones, Superman II, The Right Stuff, 2010 Odyssey 2. So many good times RIP Blue Ridge Cinema East!
I believe 40 Hiway closed down for good around 1986. The last time I saw a movie there was in 83 or 84.
This was the first movie theater I went to when my family moved to Independence in Jan, 1978. We had just moved from a very small town in middle MO so going to the Independence Center mall was a big deal. I was 12 years old and remember riding up and down the escalators over and over in that mall. Man, everything was new and shiny, we’d drive by and this theater and I remember Blazing Saddles and Heroes(w/Henry Winkler) wer on the marquee for weeks. I didn’t really understand why they showed the same movie for week after week, why didn’t they show other movies? Anyway, we did go see Blazing Saddles so that must’ve been the first movie I saw there. A few weeks later they finally showed another movie—Grey Lady Down with Charleton Heston and I remember it was a Friday or Saturday night and the theater was jam packed, for such a sub-par movie :). After I turned 13 I did one crazy thing and that was to walk from our apt. complex(Glendale) all the way down I-291 to see Animal House. I bought a ticket for the other PG movie showing and snuck in and watched R rated Animal House, might have went with my friend Anthony..must’ve because I don’t think I would ever walk those several miles alone. Other movies I saw there were Saturn 3, The Fish that saved Pittsburgh, Top Secret! and the first Terminator. There were a few others but really we mostly would go to see movies at Blue Ridge Cinema East as that was a much more lively theater with bigger screens and 5 selections instead of just 2. Years later I remember coming home on leave and they had torn this theater down and I think it was a Circuit City(where service is state of the art). Kind of missed the old place.
My most vivid memory of the 40 Hiway Drive In was about a week or two before I went into basic training in late July 1983..one of the flicks was Officer and a Gentleman and you could see the microphone and boom in almost every scene. The only other movie I remember seeing here was Zapped! in 1982 and some scary movie that really only had one good scene, which was mentioned in the K.C. Times movie review.
I first went to this theater in 1978 or 79. Some of the movies I saw there were Superman, Dragonslayer, Porky’s II, and the first Nightmare on Elm Street. Nice theater, there were other choices back then such as Blue Ridge Cinema East and Independence I & II. My best memory is going to see Porky’s II the week before I went to Basic Training..it was a hot July weeknight, just me and my friends trying to think of something to do. Fond memories.
I think this was the Bannister Square 6, which was run by AMC and operated across the street—south from Bannister Mall. Starting around 1983 I went there many times. I distinctly remember seeing Jaws3D(July 83?) and Dead Zone(Oct 83?) and I would often go to their Fri or Sat midnight movies, which would typically show R rated fare like Flesh Gordon or an obscure AC/DC rockumentary..either way I saw both lol.
Back in 1983 the Bannister Square 6 was a nice, new theater, there was a convenient little restaurant across the parking lot, it might have been a Godfather’s pizza or a Friday’s. The Bannister Mall across the street was pretty upscale and there wasn’t a lot of riff-raff, at least in the mid 80’s. I hear by the mid 90’s there were gangs riding to the mall via Bus from Raytown, which was not only the beginning of the end but THE END.
RIP AMC Bannister Square 6.
I remember this theater from when I was stationed at nearby Homestead Air Force Base back in 1990-1992. This was the best theater around and I distinctly remember seeing Terminator 2, Silence of the Lambs, Star Trek 6, and Dead Again to name just a few. The other theaters I remember in the area were one in downtown Homestead, a small theater in Cutler Ridge mall, and Town and Country in Kendall but this was the one I went to the most.