Old Country Twin Theatre
1097 Old Country Road,
Plainview,
NY
11803
1097 Old Country Road,
Plainview,
NY
11803
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: GG Theaters
Functions: Medical Center
Previous Names: Old Country Theatre
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Another one of Plainview, Long Island’s long lost neighborhood theatres. The Old Country Theatre was opened as an art-house theatre on June 26, 1962 with Toshiro Mifune in “The Important Man”. It was twinned on December 16, 1977. This theatre did great business in the 1970’s and early-1980’s, and always seemed to get the big hits - I definitely remember seeing the original “Terminator” and “Ghostbusters” here in 1984.
Unfortunately management seemed second only to the infamous Westbury in their ability to chase away customers, and it closed on July 2, 1987 with Rod Steagall in “Benji the Hunted” & Matthew Broderick in “Project X). The building still stands as a medical-dental arts plaza.
Contributed by
Michael Cohen
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
I get the funny feeling that this one is already listed. There’s at least two other theaters for Plainview on this site.
No, this is correct. Plainview, New York once had 4 theaters (down to zero currently) and they are now all listed here. This theater may have often been confused with the single-screen Morton Village theater, which was on the opposite side of Old Country Road about a quarter mile to the west, almost within sight of each other. I’m not sure, but I think the Old Country was the last of the Plainview theaters to close.
Actually this theatre was called the “Old Country Twin”, if memory serves. Often a film playing there would be Rated R, while the same film playing down the road at Morton Village would be PG, and vice versa, so we’d have to check Newsday sometimes to see if we could get in without a problem.
An “X” double bill
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Before this was “twinned”, it was another good LI house with a big screen. I saw “2001” here for the first time in 1969 (and if you’ve only seen this on TV or DVD – you have NOT seen it – it only works on a big screen!!) and it blew my mind (and I was not stoned, at that young age). In April 1970, the Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film – “Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion” – was playing here on a double bill with another Foreign Film nominee – Bunuel’s “Tristana” – both dubbed in English (a standard practice around that time, for foreign films that made it to the suburbs). I persuaded my Dad (it was R-rated)to take me and two other friends on
a Saturday night. It was completely sold out, and we had to sit way on the side. “Investigation” had a kinkily erotic opening scene and
an interesting story line, and everyone liked it. The consensus on “Tristana”, from my three companions, was that it was the most boring movie of all time, though I found that riveting as well.
In January 71, there was a double bill of “The Go-Between” (Julie Christie, Alan Bates) and the French film “Claire’s Knee”. It was my
third time seeing “Claire’s Knee”, and the projectionist had screwed up the order of the reels! but I was too inhibited a teenager at the time to make a fuss or even say anything when it was over.
The last things I remember seeing there, in the late 70’s,
were “Alien” and “Apocalypse Now”.
I worked at this theater in the mid 1970’s as an usher. It was one of the independent “GG” theaters owned by a large Syrian..Carmine. It had the Disney Film Festivals in the summer. It was a single screen theater back then that sat about 300 patrons and used the old carbon-arc projectors.
The first time I was in this theatre I was impressed by what an uninviting space it was from the drab color to the most …awful sconces on the walls. Years later after it was twinned I was amazed to see they had found even more of the …awful sconces since now they were, in effect, on four walls not just two.
The Old Country theatre opened on June 26th, 1962, and reopened as a twin cinema by GG Theatres on December 16th, 1977, and closed in 1987. Grand opening ads posted.
The actual closing date is July 2, 1987 with “Benji The Hunted” in Screen 1 and “Project X” in Screen 2.