Movies used to be so much more fun.
Sorry for the “old man rants” lede, but the way films were made — and released — in the pre-blockbuster era was a lot more subtle and it gave us a feeling of curiosity and of anticipation as we waited to see them.
From age 13 to 32, except for two years overseas in my mid 20s, I lived in the Washington, D.C., area. Until I was 17 of 18, I didn’t have a whole lot of flexibility as far as seeing movies. If it played within five miles or so of where I lived, I could see it.
In fact, with a couple of exceptions in those pre-multiplex days, there were two different places I could see movies. There was the old, rundown Fairfax theatre, where in 1963 movies were 60 cents for adults and 30 cents for children. I saw movies like Elvis Presley in “It Happened at the World’s Fair” and Jackie Gleason in “Papa’s Delicate Condition” there.
Then in late 1965, there was a new theater that was a movie palace of sorts down at Fairfax Circle. It had a seating capacity of at least 2,000 and a massive screen. It opened with Disney’s “That Darn Cat,” and in the summer of ’66 I saw “Modesty Blaise” there.
I know I saw other movies there, but my memory isn’t all that comprehensive at age 72 of movies I saw in my teens.
What’s my point?
Well, back then and even into the early ’80s, movies were released differently. Instead of opening on 3,000 screens nationwide the first weekend, plenty of movies would start their run at just one theater in the entire metropolitan area.
When “The Graduate” opened in 1967, it played at one theater on upper Wisconsin Avenue for the better part of a year before opening wider. I think the theater was called the Uptown, and I recall going all the way up there to see “The Exorcist” in 1974, “The Deer Hunter” in 1979 and “The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980.
Not all big films were that exclusive. In 1972 I saw “The Godfather” in the Virginia suburbs, but it was only playing at a couple of theaters at first.
Woody Allen movies didn’t open wide. I don’t remember where I saw “Bananas” in 1971, but when “Sleeper” came out just before Christmas 1973, it was playing at just one theater on Connecticut Avenue up near the Maryland line.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t make it up there till January 1974, which is why I always think of “Sleeper” as a ’74 movie. I remember my date was the woman who a year later would become my first wife, and I recall the night being bitterly cold with snow on the ground.
I remember the night so vividly, nearly freezing as we walked the two blocks from where we parked to the theater.
Woody’s movies were so funny back then, and usually in an intelligent way that made you feel good you got the jokes.
When doctors in 2173 are bring Woody’s character up to date, they tell him a war was caused when a man named Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear weapon. Few people would get the joke now, and plenty didn’t get it even then, but Shanker was head of the teachers union in New York City.
Allen’s movies were never blockbusters, but Sleeper cost about $2 million to make and grossed more than $18 million.
Leslie and I saw so many movies together, including the original “Star Wars” in a massive old movie palace in London during Christmas week 1977.
In fact, that might be the biggest theater in which I ever saw a movie, with the possible exception of seeing “Around the World in Eighty Days” at Radio City Music Hall when I was 7 years old. As I recall, we were seated in the front row, which is hardly ever the best place to see a movie.
Now more than 90 percent of the movies I see never involve leaving my own house. I have a 55-inch UHD screen, but I found myself watching Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story” on my iPhone 13.
At least it’s the pro max version.
As I said at the beginning, movies used to be so much more fun.