So today I'm going to tell another story about my friend Bill, and that story will lead into a story about something Wendi Aarons wrote about HATING Kevin Costner and then that story will lead into a story about the first time that I witnessed a riot in a movie theatre.
My friend Bill is somewhat of a film buff. Not snobby mind you, but he'll watch something with subtitles and enjoy it. Me? I like films, but I'll happily sit through a sappy sports movie where you have to suspend just enough disbelief to allow the underdogs to win the big football or baseball game like in The Replacements or Major League.
Well, this one day Bill and I were talking about Notorious which is an old black and white movie with Claude Rains and Ingrid Bergman. I was discussing the fact that I had a hard time with the idea of Claude Rains as a love interest for Ingrid Bergman and Bill was discussing the merits of the plot. We went back and forth like that for a bit and then Bill took out his notebook and gave me a couple of suggestions for other movies that he thought that I might like. [and yes, Bill is a has a tiny notebook in his pocket at all times kind of guy] We chatted about some other things and then he paused and said with a smile something along the lines of he'd looked at my blogger bio and was really surprised at one of my choices of favorite movies. I did the eyebrow lift thing and said which one? And he said Field of Dreams…..and ….well, we were off and running…..
See, I really like Field of Dreams…..and I KNOW IT'S NOT ART…..so you don't have to tell me in the comment thread that it's NOT ART…..I know it's not art…..and that it's not even a great movie…..but it strikes a chord in me. There's just something about all that hokeyness that works for me. Plus I get to see Burt Lancaster in a driving cap. That's a treat all by itself, and James Earl Jones chasing Costner around with a baseball bat? And then later giggling? I mean flat out giggling? Darth Vader giggling? Oh man. That just stinking kills me. And Ray Liotta smoldering in his Yankee uniform isn't tough to watch either. Oh hey, I think I might just have figured out what I actually like about the movie…..
But it's not necessarily Kevin Costner…who Wendy Aarons apparently HATES with a passion because…
The other day Wendi Aarons who is freaking hilarious by the way and if you've never read her you should go back in time and fix that right now, or just start reading her as soon as you're done reading this, whichever way works for you……said that she saw Field of Dreams on cable tv and she wondered out loud to her husband why the channel had cut out all of the language. He said that there wasn't any language to be cut out and asked her what she was talking about…..
Well, according to her…and she may very well have been stretching the truth here a bit….she had seen the movie in the dollar theatre and some of the people in the theatre had embellished the lines in such a way that she had always had another version of the tag line "If you build it he will come" in her head…..
And although I laughed and laughed at her story and her subsequent Kevin Costner hate fest I didn't comment yet because it made me remember seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Midnight movies in the early eighties and I wanted to share that story here first….THEN I'll go comment…..
So…..
One night I went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the midnight movies. There were a LOT of people in line. And it was quite an eclectic mix ....a lot of Rocky Horror regulars who were dressed for the event, some folks like me and my date who were virgin to the movie and some really stinking drunk high school football players who were harassing the crowd and being generally obnoxious.
After a long delay at the end of which the manager came out and explained that they were having some technical difficulties, we finally got in, the movie started, people were reciting the lines with the actors, there was the usual rain during the rain scenes, popcorn throwing, using the Plain Dealer as a head cover, dancing in the aisles….in short, GREAT street theatre for someone like me who loves to people watch.
But part way through the movie the film broke.
And then….basically? All hell broke loose. Screaming, fighting, mayhem ….culminating in the crescendo of the inebriated football players actually WRENCHING A COUPLE OF THE SEATS out of the floor and throwing them at the screen. [which makes an AWESOME ripping sound btw] So those of us with sense and who were already standing near the exits departed at that point to sit in our cars in the McDonald's nearby and watch the cops come screaming in, sirens and lights and probably night sticks and then handcuffs at the ready.
The funny thing is I never saw the whole movie until about 2003. And then yes, I found that it's bizarre and strange and was probably shocking at the time of its release….but seeing it in on dvd in the privacy of my living room just didn't live up to the first time I saw it.
Just goes to show…..you can never go home again….
