Saturday, September 19, 2009

Welp, one of the two is better than none!

Well, what are you going to do about it? You spend numerous weeks getting all excited about getting to see one of your favorite movies in an environment that is almost perfect for the film, even placing an upcoming trip to Disney World out of your mind due to the excitement of seeing said favorite film in said environment, but as you near the theater your wife says "huh...why do you think it only says Invasion Of The Body Snatchers on the marquee? Where is Creature?"
It's at about this point your stomach begins to sink lower into your body...replacing vital organs that inhabit the space below it.
As you near the box office you see the big sign outside that says "sorry, all you lowly Creature fans, but your damn film was lost along with Amelia Earhart". Yes, as it turns out, the movie I was most looking forward to was lost in transit.
So I looked, with hopeful eyes, to the fine gentleman in the ticket booth and asked if there was a chance they would have the ol' Gill'ed one there tomorrow night.
"I doubt it" he said.
Again...the stomach sank.
Ah well...what are you going to do?
The theater though did drop their prices down to $2 for adults, $1 for kids. Again, those in the trunk are still free.
So the wife, son and I went in to watch the town of Santa Mira be overtaken by aliens.
I'm not really a big fan of the drive-in, to be honest with you. But the idea of seeing these movies on the big screen, and then someplace that much more rare, makes them become special events for me. It also gives you a bit more of a great idea of how powerful these films must have been on first viewings way back in their time.
I've always loved Invasion, easily rating it amongst my favorites. The film seems so subtle, what with no visual monsters. But in all reality it is a powerhouse of a film that really slams into you. This becomes much more obvious on the BIG screen. The musical cues really drive this fact home. My son, who is 6, was beyond terrified at times. The seriousness of the performances, the low angles of the shots, the close-ups of the faces were enough to get through to him that this was a scary situation. But then add into it all that powerful film score, and the kid was just downright freaked out of his mind at times. He also though sat there, glued to the screen, as did my wife.
I've been married to my wife now for 15 years, and to my surprise she says she has not seen Invasion before. This I don't believe and could swear I have shown it to her. Lord knows I have watched the movie enough times in my life that she must have seen bits of it at least. But when the movie ended she surprised me by saying how much she actually did enjoy it. I was also taken a bit by surprise when the audience actually applauded the film! This was a drive-in, but all around you could hear people clapping and cheering!
So in the end, I did not get to see my Creature From The Black Lagoon, but my daughter and I are leaving in about an hour to try again. Hopefully the film will have shown up. But if it didn't, my daughter has said that she wants to stay to watch Invasion. She was at a birthday party last night and had to miss the show last night. But she says she likes Invasion a whole lot and wants to see it at the drive-in, on the big screen. She's 12 by the way (and is right now in her room watching the Hammer film Dracula: Prince Of Darkness), so it is very cool that she wants to see it no matter what.
I'll let you know what happens!

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