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As newlyweds, whenever we visited Mrs. Pessimist's hometown, we would go out to dinner or to a movie with some of her high school friends. There were three other couples that we were closest to, so it was often a combination of two to four couples. I recall going to a horror movie about werewolves one night, and as we approached the theater, I noted that the movie poster promised that the movie would portray your greatest fear. I pointed that out to our companions and asked, "Whose idea was it to go to a movie about erectile dysfunction?"
Speaking of erectile dysfunction and movies, Mrs. Pessimist and I went to the local premier of I Am Curious (Yellow), in downtown Durham, NC. The theater was across the street from the county jail and the prisoners yelled obscenities at us as we waited in line for tickets. There was a very long line. I never figured out what the movie was about. I believe it was the whole point of the movie. It was a Swedish film, the first mainstream movie distributed in the US to feature full male and female nudity. If you saw it, you understand why I associate it with erectile dysfunction. Why the movie was made or why anyone went to see it is still a great mystery to this day.
One other night we went to see The Out-of-Towners, a movie about a hapless couple who travel to New York City. It starred Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis. Jack Lemmon had made a strong career of being a clueless loser and Sandy Dennis had a fine career of being attractive yet obnoxious. The movie parlayed their talents for insufferability into painful comedy that was considered wise and chic at the time. It seems to me that the whole movie was about how anything that can go wrong will only get worse, exacerbated by the fact that Sandy Dennis whined or screamed at her husband the entire movie.
I think Mrs. Pessimist liked it more than I did. All I remember about the night was that we got a flat tire driving home, and while changing it on the side of the road, I thought, "This is absolutely the most appropriate outcome for tonight!"
Preserve your memories, as Paul Simon once said.
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A long while ago, some friends recommended the film "Fade To Black." Whether it was as good as they said, I don't know.
I never got to see the whole thing. Halfway through the film, the theater lost power.
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One of my first projection jobs, back around 1974, was in a Bronx theater called the Melba. It showed Blaxploitation films: Sugar Hill, Scream Blacula Scream. The theater manager was a tough old black guy from down South who did not much like his ghetto customers. He wouldn't spend the money to fix the machines, which kept going out. He'd say, "We promised them the Black Motion Picture experience, now, didn't we?"
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It hasn't happen to me in a very long time but back in the day, the movie projection machine would break down and everyone wondered how long do we sit here before we walk out? As I recall there was a common reaction to the situation that involved throwing popcorn at the screen. Today, I don't know who can afford popcorn. The ones who can, seem to buy a tub so large that it would feed the entire theater. When I was first allowed to go to the movies alone on Friday night with my friends I had my 50 cent allowance that covered the 35 cent admission and a drink or candy bar. Years later when I took my first date to the same theater, the price had gone up. It was now 65 cents for children under twelve and three dollars for adults. The ticket agent looked at the two of us and charged my beautiful date 3 dollars and me 65 cents. I was so embarrassed but my date laughed joyfully and I was too cheap to argue.
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Now, that's just mean!
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Sounds to me like he was making a move on her!
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