Comments from Mike1997

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Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Golf Mill Theatres 1-2-3 on May 11, 2010 at 2:52 pm

Ditto for me on everything you saw on your list. I also remember seeing THE MUPPET MOVIE, BACK TO SCHOOL, SOLAR BABIES, CLASS, ANIMAL HOUSE, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, EXPLORERS, INNER SPACE, COMING TO AMERICA, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 1, 3 & 4, BAD DREAMS, MOTEL HELL, DEAD AND BURIED, NEAR DARK, EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS, RISKY BUSINESS, ALL THE RIGHT MOVES, TIME BANDITS, JAWS 2, THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN, DREAMSCAPE, MR.MOM, WILLOW, DUNE, etc.

I must have seen THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK at least 10 times that summer. RAIDERS was about 10 times too. I saw RETURN OF THE JEDI on opening day with my friends. We took off school that day and sat through the first two totally packed shows. My dad took me to ROCKY 1, 2 & 3 at the Mill. It was THE place to see movies in the northern suburbs during the 70s and 80s.

I now live in Los Angeles and there are a lot of great movie theaters here, but I still hold them all up to the old Golf Mill as a comparison. The Cinerama Dome in Hollywood reminds me of the Mill and the Edens. It was built in the 60s and has a huge balcony, just like the Golf Mill I & II had. The screen is enormous and curved, just like the Edens was. It was remodeled around 2000-01, but is still exactly the same. They made improvements to the seats and the sound and it is state of the art now, including 3-D. I wish they had done that with the Golf Mill. It was really an amazing place to see movies.

Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Golf Mill Theatres 1-2-3 on May 11, 2010 at 12:39 pm

I’m fairly positive (but could be wrong) that I saw MAD MAX with my friends in theatre III at the Golf Mill and it was shortly (2 to 3 months) after seeing THE ROAD WARRIOR there. I saw BLACK STALLION RETURNS and HIGH ROAD TO CHINA when they played at the Golf Mill, too. I know this because I never saw MM when it was released in ‘80 and when I saw they had it at the Mill, I rallied my friends to see it there, because we all loved THE ROAD WARRIOR.

Anyway, that’s about all the time I want to spend on when these movies were released. My point was to talk about how great the Golf Mill was in its heyday and how many classic movies I saw there when I lived nearby. The place meant a lot to me, my family and my friends for over 17 years.

Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Golf Mill Theatres 1-2-3 on May 11, 2010 at 11:47 am

I believe you, Billymac. I saw THE ROAD WARRIOR at the Golf Mill in August of ‘82. I’m pretty positive I saw MAD MAX at the Golf Mill, a month or two after RW premiered in '82. Someone above says they saw MAD MAX at the McClurg in spring of '83, but that time frame doesn’t match the one I have in my head for when I saw it at the Mill. I remember it was the fall.

Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Cine Lounge at Niles on May 8, 2010 at 8:16 pm

I remember when the Golf Glen opened back in the summer of ‘84. I was a teenager at Maine East High School and the first movie I saw there was KARATE KID. I also remember seeing BACHELOR PARTY, CONAN THE DESTROYER, ELECTRIC DREAMS and REVENGE OF THE NERDS that same year there, too. I liked to grab a bite with my friends after a movie at the Omega restaurant, which was located in the same strip mall. It was never my favorite place to see movies, because it was so small and unimpressive. I’d rather watch the big blockbusters and must-sees at the nearby Golf Mill and Old Orchard theaters and usually check out a lot of the smaller films and B-movies at the Glen. I saw almost every 80s horror, action and sex comedy released from '84 to '90 there, including: CREATURE, JUST ONE OF THE GUYS, PORKY’S 3: PORKY’S REVENGE, HELLRAISER, PHANTASM II, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE, BREAKIN’ 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO, THE HIDDEN, DEADLY FRIEND, THE WRAITH, DEAD AGAIN, UNDER THE CHERRY MOON, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, INVASION U.S.A., MISSING IN ACTION and PREDATOR. I don’t think I saw any films there at all in the 90’s. It was definitely a product of the era.

Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Golf Mill Theatres 1-2-3 on May 8, 2010 at 4:43 pm

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK was a low budget movie, so it was probably shown in 35mm. I saw it at the Golf Mill opening day-summer ‘81 in theater II.

I remember seeing THE ROAD WARRIOR at the Golf Mill on its opening weekend and it played in theater I, I’m pretty sure in 70mm. I’ve always had a very good memory for when and where I saw those films. I always remember ‘81 as the year and either July or August as the months. If it wasn’t actually released in '81 then it was the summer of '82 (as IMDB claims it was). Here’s the thing, IMDB states that the film was released in Austrailia in '81 and started playing the U.S. in April of '82. The fact is, RW was released regionally and kind of toured the country, city to city. I have a friend who says he saw the film before everyone here on the mainland, when he lived in Honolulu. Then about 6 months later his family moved to Boston and it had just opened there. I’m positive it opened in Chicago in the summer and I remember its popularity prompted a re-release of MAD MAX a month or two later and I saw that for the first time at the Golf Mill. IMDB lists the U.S. re-release of MAD MAX as 1983, which is totally incorrect. My point is: if IMDB is incorrect about MAD MAX’s re-release date, maybe they’ve got the ROAD WARRIOR U.S. release date wrong, too. IMDB has tons of inaccuracies. I’m pretty sure it was August '81 for the ROAD WARRIOR at the Golf Mill and September for the MAD MAX re-release, but I wouldn’t bet my life on the year. It was either '81 or '82. Anyone out there know for sure or remember what year and month it played the Golf Mill?

Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Randhurst 16 Theaters on May 8, 2010 at 1:31 pm

I’m pretty sure this is the theatre I saw the original DAWN OF THE DEAD as a midnight movie, in the early 80s. They played it every weekend for a few years, I think. I also remember seeing MEATBALLS there with my Mom, when I was 11.

Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Golf Mill Theatres 1-2-3 on May 7, 2010 at 7:16 pm

I just remembered that in the summer of ‘81, I saw RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in June, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK in July, and THE ROAD WARRIOR came out in August. If memory serves, RAIDERS and ESCAPE both played on screen 2 and ROAD WARRIOR was in the center auditorium. All of them were in 70mm on those huge screens in six track Dolby! Wow, that place was amazing! The 50s era bowling alley was great, too.

Mike1997
Mike1997 commented about Golf Mill Theatres 1-2-3 on May 7, 2010 at 4:04 pm

I grew up a short distance from the original Golf Mill theatre during the 70s and 80s. It was my favorite place to watch movies and I still remember it very vividly. The first film I saw there was JAWS at age 7 and I remember thinking the Golf Mill was like a palace. The two main auditoriums were incredible. Huge screens, great sound, a really cool lobby and spacious seating with big balconies. Even the third smaller screen was big in comparison to today. I saw at least 4 movies a month there for over 17 years of my life. I saw ROCKY, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, SUPERMAN, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, RETURN OF THE JEDI, APOCALYPSE NOW, FLASH GORDON, GREMLINS, GHOSTBUSTERS, THE GOONIES, FRIDAY THE 13TH, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, RED DAWN, ALIENS, TERMINATOR 1 & 2 and countless other classics, in their initial first run at the Golf Mill. I stopped going as frequently when I moved to the city in ‘92. The last movie I saw there before I moved to California was COPLAND in August of '97. I hadn’t been there in about six years and the place really looked rundown. We sat in the center auditorium and the seats were in really bad shape. The once great 60 foot screen was torn and stained in a lot of places. It was sad. In its heyday, it was the coolest and classiest place to see films and there will never be anything like it again.

I noticed several inaccuracies in the above description of the Golf Mill. The third screen was added in the summer of 1974, not 1984 (as it’s listed above). Also, it was always (as long as I can remember) a 3 screen theatre. It incorrectly states above that the Golf Mill was a quad and that the fourth screen was added in the late 80s, which was not the case. I also saw a lot of movies at the nearby Golf Glen, too.