Theater In The Found

What kind of a person would go out to the theater and pay good money to see a movie that already was there forty-five years ago, is available on home video and regularly plays on television? I guess that I am exactly that kind of a person. This is something I have done a few times. I have perhaps seen old movies in the theater more often lately than I have seen new movies there. It may be odd, but that's just the kind of guy that I am.

I find it very enjoyable to see at long last a movie that I have come to love dearly on tv screens. How can one seriously be enriched and inspired by something they have never seen on the big screen- how can they call it their favorite movie of all time? I know they can and do, but only for lack of opportunity. One of the things that is best about this town is that such opportunities abound. Theaters all over Los Angeles screen great old films every week, and I'm appreciative of how fortunate I am to be here. I believe there was one such place where I came from, and to my knowledge it's gone now.

You go to the theater very excited because it's your thing to to that, but there is a downside. I take pleasure in being rather unique. I am the only one like me at many places I go. Like everyone, I had to come to terms with that, but got to loving it. At a department store, I stand out, and that's good. A theater which screens old movies is crawling with guys like me, and that makes it tough to make my mark. I tend to shrink back some. I guess that works well enough when I'm just looking to sit and watch a movie.

It's a different experience. Somebody introduces the movie, and it's some film lover who has worked hard to make the thing happen and probably is getting little out of the bargain except satisfaction. The print often is in lousy shape, but this is excused. At your typical metroplex, some lout with jumbo popcorn and soda will belligerently demand instant redress, so much does the universe owe them a perfect experience. The patrons of an old movie screening tend to be more understanding, and for good reason. They also are more expressive of their love for the movie. I think this must be because they often never have had the chance to see the movie in public before, and there's a pent-up well of affection to let out.

If you get the chance, do yourself a favor and get out to see some old movie. You may get the idea that you're being ripped off by paying eleven dollars to watch something that runs on Turner Classic Movies, but consider this: at least you can be assured of a movie you'll like, which is more than can be said for any first-run feature. Those are a real crapshoot. Give them fifty years and see if they have any legs still then.