A Question for the Oldies

[onehitwanda]

Very noticeable in older movies -- entire storylines from that era would fall down if they'd existed at the time. Like, "why didn't she just call him and let him know she couldn't come"?

And where the fuck would Superman change nowadays?

I meant in the theater, but yours is good too!

 

[TheRedChamber]

I think we’re taking talking 30, 40 years ago. You’re right 20 years ago was not fundamentally different.

Even 30 years ago (40 years ago I'd have been five so I'm not the person to ask) I don't think it was 'fundamentally' different. I mean video games have changed out of all recognition since 1993. The act of going to see a movie is still essentially the same as it ever was - barring some minor changes - no intermission, relative prices, and fewer screens (and if we found ourselves in a timewarp, I suspect we'd be surprised at how bad some of the screens were)

Too many inferior remakes, too many sequels, reboots, and reimaging, and each is less than what came before. Too many superhero movies with lessor actors and stories taking over from the originals. Too many action pictures without a single semblance of a plot. Too many fast cars launched across vast valleys and land square on the road on the other side and going in the right direction. Too much Vin Desil, Dwane Rock Johnson, and other overexposed actors. Too many streaming choices and too many bad movies. What else can I say? I wish I were born and raised in Hollywood's Golden Era as an upper-middle-class white chick. Well, no, not that.

Not arguing about the quality of movies. Assuming you're going to see a good movie today (or a lousy one forty years ago) - the experience isn't that different.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Very noticeable in older movies -- entire storylines from that era would fall down if they'd existed at the time. Like, "why didn't she just call him and let him know she couldn't come"?

And where the fuck would Superman change nowadays?

There was a gag on that in the first Christopher Reeve movie. Clark Kent races around a corner from the Daily Planet, ripping his tie off, about to shed his coat. On the wall there's a pay phone, inside a little three sided glass booth. I can't remember where he stripped down to the red undies, but the scene got a laugh from the audience.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

The 80s was before the big soulless multiplexes where half the screens are like a big telly. The local cinemas had two screens, one huge with two aisles, one smaller with one aisle.

Smoking was still permitted in the side sections of the large screen.

There might be a B movie before the main feature, but also the ads, invariably by Pearl & Dean (pa-pah pa-pah p-PAH pa-pah!), mixing the high-value ads for Malibu and Bacardi and Coke and cars with the ones for the local curry house.

There were usherettes with torches showing people to empty seats, and also ensuring people behaved themselves (I would probably have lost my virginity in a cinema with just me and a guy and no other audience, if an usher hadn't shone his torch on us...)

You can now get nachos, can't get Kia-Ora or Um Bongo any more, Baskin-Robbins have disappeared from multiplexes, and the drinks and snacks cost a fortune, as do the tickets. The cinemas aren't getting the money.

People talking and playing on phones during the films has only been a problem for 10 years or so.

 

[alohadave]

Though I did go overseas in the early 90s and my friends told me they always purchased a particular seat).

I went to a theater in Singapore in the late 90s, and you picked your seat. It felt really weird coming from the US where it was all open seating at the time.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Less people in the theater now, generally, from 30 years ago or even five years a go. But for the film industry, the decline is from the 1940s forward. Every person in America watched Gone With the Wind 8 times. As in, 8 times more tickets were sold than America's total population in those days. The choice of where and when to watch a movie has increased to the point the studios are competing with themselves. Some of the best viewing these days are on TV, not in the theaters. Stories can take eight, ten, or thirteen episodes. Or they can tell a continuing story for seasons. They are often well told, more so than movies. Books and book series are converted into streaming or network programming, mining every plot point. The sharing the laughter, drama, suspense, or fear in the confines of a movie theater, is becoming a thing of the past. As drive-ins died from the expanded use of daylight savings time in the 80s and 90s, the small-town movie theater is suffering a slow, agonizing death. The quality of movies is one contributing factor, but only one.

From roughly the end of my 13 year or the beginning of my 14th, I've been exposed to the exhibition of movies, the history of the industry, and falling love with movies, black and white images flickering on a screen bring very warm feelings to me of my adoptive father telling me how they achieved this or that in one movie or another. I learned about all movies, but old Film Noir triggers my loving memories the most.

What we have here, is failure to communicate, is one of my favorite lines from movies. And of course, Paul Newman's version of the line, What we have here, is a failure to communicate. It sums up most problems in the world, and movies pointed it out, 60ish years ago.

Even 30 years ago (40 years ago I'd have been five so I'm not the person to ask) I don't think it was 'fundamentally' different. I mean video games have changed out of all recognition since 1993. The act of going to see a movie is still essentially the same as it ever was - barring some minor changes - no intermission, relative prices, and fewer screens (and if we found ourselves in a timewarp, I suspect we'd be surprised at how bad some of the screens were)


Not arguing about the quality of movies. Assuming you're going to see a good movie today (or a lousy one forty years ago) - the experience isn't that different.

 

[SimonDoom]

I was 12 when Star Wars debuted. It was just Star Wars then; none of this "New Hope" nonsense. I saw it on its opening weekend. I don't recall if it was Saturday or Sunday.

There was enormous buzz about the movie. Time Magazine, which was a big deal then, featured it in a cover story. It was interesting that there was so much buzz because there was no Star Wars "franchise" at the time and George Lucas was just the guy who had directed American Graffiti, a successful movie, but not a movie that gave you any clue that he could pull off an all time blockbuster like Star Wars.

We waited in line at least an hour, maybe more, to get tickets. Back then you didn't have assigned seats so you showed up early to get the best seat possible.

In those days they didn't do anything to keep you entertained before the movie started once you sat down. You'd watch a blank screen and have to keep yourself amused by talking to your companions. There were no smart phones to keep you entertained. Then the lights dimmed and you'd watch a few trailers.

I remember feeling enthralled from the moment the STAR WARS banner hit the screen and the horns of the fanfare to begin John Williams's amazing score (one of the best in movie history) started.

I recall being impressed at how immersive the movie was. Space craft looked dirty and dusty and used. You felt like you really were walking around the sands of Tattooine with the droids. I had never experienced anything like it before. Space and spacecraft had never been presented that way in a movie before that. You knew instantly that the bar for special effects had been raised higher. The closest thing to it might have been 2001:Space Odyssey, but 2001 had a slow, stately pace, whereas Star Wars was nonstop movement.

For all the impressive craft that went into the movie, one of its best features is that it didn't take itself seriously. It was pure, sheer fun. You knew it and George Lucas knew it. Han Solo and Leia interjected some much-needed humor into the story, as did the droids. This is a quality that has been sorely lacking in the subsequent trilogies.

Some other blockbusters of the that era that I can recall seeing and leaving me with a comparable (though not quite equal) sense of wonder and fun were Jaws (which came out two years before Star wars, and perhaps ushered in the summer blockbuster phenomenon), Close Encounters, Superman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. And of course what might have been the most awaited sequel of all time, Empire Strikes Back, which somehow miraculously managed to be every bit as good as people hoped it would be, with all the fun of the original and a little more depth to the story.

 

[ronde]

When I was growing up, we never went to a theater to see a movie because it was pretty expensive for a family of five even back then. Instead, we went to the local drive-in theater. They were second run movies, but Saturday nights were double-feature nights. There was no lack of "new" movies to watch because at the time the actors and actresses were all under contract with a studio. Some were kind of trite, but most were pretty good. We took our own drinks and popcorn, and we kids would usually fall asleep sometime during the second feature. I continued going to the drive-in on dates because it didn't cost much and there was also the added attraction of a little cuddling with my date. October was the month for horror movies and I got in some really neat, well, we'll just leave it at "cuddling".

I loved Jaws, Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I watched those on rented VCR tapes and later on cable. Theaters were too expensive, snacks and drinks were outrageously priced, and my wife is pretty short so she'd spend the entire movie trying to see the screen. It was a lot easier to sit on the couch and have the kitchen close at hand. They were really great movies though, with enough stuff to keep kids entertained but with enough adult content, usually suggested rather than blatant, to keep adults entertained as well.

I haven't had the inclination to go to a theater in years, mostly because of the content of the movies. It's not the nudity or the language. It's that studios seem to have run out of ideas other than remakes of the originals, and the remakes usually aren't as good as the originals. The other thing is the over-use of CGI. Most action movies today tend to be all CGI with just enough plot and character interaction to qualify as a "story". I'm fine watching them at home on my streaming service, but they're not worth the hassle of getting to a theater and then paying a small fortune for a ticket.

 

[MrPixel]

Paul Newman's version of the line, What we have here, is a failure to communicate.

One of my favorites, too. But it was the sadistic warden who said it, not Newman’s character.

 

[nice90sguy]

But Newman repeats it near the end of the movie, and gets a beating for it, IIRC

 

[MillieDynamite]

@MrPixel You're not only wrong, you're dead wrong, the warden said it first, and it was Newman's last line in the movie with the addition of the word 'a' in front of failure. Also, the Warden and Newman said, What we've got here...

 

[MillieDynamite]

And of course, Morgan Woodward was the inspiration for Sunglasses at Night.

 

[MrPixel]

I stand corrected. The chain gang scene was what stands out in my mind.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The cutting off of the parking meter heads has a fantastic effect of getting to know the trickster, LUKE!

I stand corrected. The chain gang scene was what stands out in my mind.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Both Strother Martin as Captian and George Kennedy as Dragline shine.

 

[nice90sguy]

Sorry, missed those last posts, I was remembering the carwashing scene....

 

[Bisexguy70]

I watched the first star wars movie in the theatre. I remember the large ship coming into view and it was AWESOME!! I was overwhelmed. I mean 46 years later and Star Wars is a huge Fan favorite. Does that speak for itself? The experience was a big impact and I still remember it as if it happened yesterday

 

[NewOldGuy77]

"Oldies?"

Geez. That's not gonna make any of us feel better about ourselves now, is it?

Okay, to answer.

I was ten years old when Star Wars came out, and my memory is very vivid.

It's an almost stereotypical response, but it's the truth.

The screen goes black. The theater is silent.

The now famous opening words appear: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

Again, darkness.

Then BLAM. The opening horns of John Williams brilliant score as it plays over the opening crawl.

The pan down from space to a planet.

A spaceship flies into frame.

And then that Star Destroyer enters...and just keeps coming.

And a ten year old boys life is forever changed.

Seeing that opening scene in 1977 was definitely life-changing. It’s so ho-hum now, but at that point in time there’d never been anything like it.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Dragline: Anything so innocent and built like that just gotta be named Lucille.

Sorry, missed those last posts, I was remembering the carwashing scene....

 

[NewOldGuy77]

Watching films was more of a communal experience - everyone laughing at the humor or gasping at a plot twist was fun. Seeing a midnight showing of Rocky Horror where people dressed in costumes and participated in the scenes of the film (shooting squirt guns in the air during the rain scene, throwing rice during the wedding scene, etc) made you feel included in the experience.

 

[BgDaddy33]

I'm atypical because I grew up on the arse end of nowhere, in a country which was fairly culturally isolated from the rest of the world until the early 1990's, though of course American media and music did make its way in.

We watched Star Wars, Superman, Batman etc on VHS, though for some reason our asshat government was totally okay with Robotech being available on TV when I was... 9 or so? (Lisa Hayes, oh my god, first ever girl-crush I think). Ditto Raiders, Temple of Doom, Alien, Star Trek etc etc.

Lisa Hayes.. with those large curls hanging down... and occasionally when it was down...

 

[NewOldGuy77]

@EmilyMiller this is your fault; you got this "oldie" reminiscing...

While Cinaplexes were becoming a thing in the 80s, I saw most movies at an old theater just a few blocks from my house.

Originally built in 1924, it used to be an actual live stage show theater, then turned into a single screen movie theater.

They got one new movie every weekend; most of us in the neighborhood went to see it, didn't really matter what was playing.

We'd hang outside the theater before and after, socializing, smoking, drinking if someone could get their hands on some.

When breakdancing became a thing, there were also boom boxes and cardboard for kids to do their moves on.

Felt my first boob in that theater. Got into my first fight outside it.

I still remember seeing the first Nightmare On Elm Street movie then having to walk home in the dark after. One of the few horror movies to ever freak me out.

Eventually the theater closed. But it's still there. Been restored and again puts on live stage performances.

I was just in there today. Inspecting their fire system. Looks nothing like I remember. And smells a hell of a lot better.

I keep meaning to go see something there. One of these days.

I hate to admit that I grew up in Peoria, IL but there it is. Several of the movie houses - the Rialto, the Palace, the Madison - had been vaudeville theatres and they were so beautiful - red velvet seats, stages, statues, carvings, curtains. Imagine at showtime curtains parting to reveal the screen, and closing after the movie finished. Now theatre interiors are just boring boxes with all the appeal of a dumpster.

 

[NewOldGuy77]

But she was a helluva pilot, from what I understand. Right up there with Amelia Earhart. And quite the character!

Plus she had at least 3 husbands, if I remember correctly

 

[Djmac1031]

I hate to admit that I grew up in Peoria, IL but there it is. Several of the movie houses - the Rialto, the Palace, the Madison - had been vaudeville theatres and they were so beautiful - red velvet seats, stages, statues, carvings, curtains. Imagine at showtime curtains parting to reveal the screen, and closing after the movie finished. Now theatre interiors are just boring boxes with all the appeal of a dumpster.

The theater i went to had, unfortunately, fallen into squalor by the time I was going to it as a kid.

There were remnants of it's former glory, including those curtains, and some old woodwork.

But the place was filthy, musty, old torn dirty seats. Always smelled of mildew.

Still, it was a blast.

It's been completely renovated and is now also a historical monument, thankfully.

It's beautiful inside. But nothing really remains of the theater I remember as a kid except the exterior.

 

[MrPixel]

I hate to admit that I grew up in Peoria, IL but there it is. Several of the movie houses - the Rialto, the Palace, the Madison - had been vaudeville theatres and they were so beautiful - red velvet seats, stages, statues, carvings, curtains. Imagine at showtime curtains parting to reveal the screen, and closing after the movie finished. Now theatre interiors are just boring boxes with all the appeal of a dumpster.

So you had proof positive, then, that whatever you saw would indeed “play in Peoria”.

I can’t help myself sometimes.