That tradition of holding over bigger movies and rotating older ones in and out at discounted prices, is what I grew up with. Sometimes I would wait months to see a movie instead of ponying up the new movie price at the first-run theatre. No, not because I knew it would be on cable or out on videotape, there was no such thing! Rather, I knew that after a few months it would be playing at later hours at the respectable theatre for half-price or all throughout the day at the second-run theatres in the area. Seeing a movie at the second-run theatre was kind of like waiting for it to come out on DVD is now. Only better because at the second-run theatre I went to with my brother, The Pinehaven, you could pretty much do anything: Drink, smoke, bring in food. No one cared. There was no concession stand. If I traveled back in time and went to it now I'd probably get nauseous but at the time it was a pretty sweet deal. Ah, the good bad old days.
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Ah, those good old days before cable or DVDs or even VCRs.
Waiting for big movies was our only option; living out in the sticks as we did, some of the biggest ones didn't get to us until months after they were first released. And everything ran at the local theatre for one week only. If it was held over for a second week, it was a big deal. I recall "The Godfather" ran for a unprecented four weeks (although my parents didn't let me see it, since I was only 12 at the time.)
OK, now I feel very old and grandmotherly. But thanks for the memories, Greg!
I love the second-run Pinehaven and sometimes wish I could go back. Of course, I don't smoke anymore and the place reeked of cigarettes and booze but I got to see a lot of movies there for a buck (or less!).
And, yeah, there was this anticipation for the big movies (I was in Charleston, SC so it took some time) which could, as you say, take months to arrive. You'd hear about them forever, it seemed, before you finally got to see them.
When I my serious film watching got into full gear, I lived in Evanston, IL. This meant waiting for the film to end it's first run in downtown Chicago. The upside was that most films were shown in double features, like The Great Escape plus Mouse on the Moon, Fail Safe plus Youngblood Hawke, X - The Man with the X-ray Eyes plus Comedy of Terrors.
Even in Denver, it was not unusual to see a first run film in a double feature, as when I saw Help! with The Rounders. Most inspired was a pairing of the film, Moonrunners with Thunder Road.
And I remember when a really popular film played at the same theater for months, or even longer.
Chaplin was no longer at the Lyric by the time I started seeing movies on 42nd Street during my time in NYC, by the way.
Fail Safe plus Youngblood Hawke
There's a double-bill I would have never seen coming.
A movie being "held over" for more than a month was usually a sign of massive blockbuster status in my neighborhood. Two weeks was usually the limit.
The Lyric today
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ny-lyric-theatre.jpg
only a decade before it had seen the lives shows of Flo Ziegfeld,Sarah Bernhardt and The Marx Bros. in Cocoanuts
Cool. Thanks for the link, Christopher.
Boy, you're not kidding. I didn't even get the DVD of MODERN TIMES until last week!
"Held over for the 3,897th week: Chaplin's Modern Times!"
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