Officially Announcing the "Celebrate the Drive-In Week"

An event of epic proportions with a chance for audience participation. Hang on for the final reel (below)!

Note (after the fact): I just realized that I forgot to include a thanks to Rachel (Hamlette) in this post for the button.  Thanks, Rachel!

 

 

Drive-In Movie Day is Saturday, June 6th. If you have been following along all these years, you know of my endearing love for the drive-in movie experience. Many of my favorite memories involved going to the drive-in, either with my folks and my sister, or, as I got older, with a bunch of friends, or even sometimes solo. At the time, my only two sources were two drive-ins in Sherman/Denison area of north Texas. Both of these (pictured below), coincidentally, were located directly across the highway from each other, on the Sherman/Denison city limits dividing line (where FM 691 intersected Hwy 75, if you are of a mind to Google map the location...). My vague memory is one of them actually being on Denison side of that dividing line and the other actually being on the Sherman side, but my memory may be faulty... Both of them were torn down sometime late last century. (I was not living in the area at the time, so I can't actually say when, but one has been replaced by apartments and the other has a couple of convenience stores on the property formerly occupied by them).

 

 

(Photos courtesy of a website I found:  Pinball Rebel.) 

Of course, if I wanted to drive that far, there were plenty of drive-in options all over the Dallas - Ft. Worth area. Joe Bob Briggs, a columnist and drive-in movie critic for the Dallas Times Herald, had a weekly column that came in the Weekend supplement of the Friday issue of the newspaper.  Based on his recommendations, after I moved to that area, I found my way to the local D/FW drive-ins.

Memories abound in my recollections of movies I saw. The standard format for the drive-in was a double feature. The headliner, the draw, was a major recent release, while the second feature was an older movie, sometimes as much as 3 or 4 years prior. 

 

 

Many is the time that I remember that second feature and can't recall what the first feature was, the one I ostensibly went to see.  The Warriors is a perfect example. I went to the drive-in to see some film, I can't recall what, and the second feature was The Warriors. (Possibly could have been Conan the Barbarian, since I DID go to the drive-in for that one, but I'm not sure..) 

Another one was Partners, a buddy cop film with Ryan O'Neal as a straight cop and John Hurt as a gay cop going undercover as a gay couple to find a serial killer. Probably some gritty cop drama was the first bill movie.

For the week of this event, Celebrate the Drive-In Week, I am going to write up some of those movies I wish I had had the chance to see at the drive-in... I wasn't born until 1961, so I didn't see any of the 50's entries (not even born yet) or even 60's entries (too young). Even the 70's movies were not available for me for the most part, since I had a very restrictive upbringing. (Nothing rated higher than G, until I finally broke down my father's resolve and he let us kids go see Star Wars.) 

 

 

Over the week of the celebration you will see various reminiscences as well as reviews of the movies I chose. I did not pick any movies from the 1940's simply for the fact that the drive-in did not really come into its own as far as popularity until the 50's. The list, below in chronological order, rather than order I am going to present them (since even I don't know what order that is going to be...), are:

Hot Rod Girl (1956)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

Day of the Triffids (1962)   

The Born Losers (1967)

Coffy (1973)

Drive-In (1976) 

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)  

There is a variety there, indicative of the kinds of stuff you could get at the drive-in in it's heyday. As I described this blog for the Classic Movie Blog Association, the essence of the drive-in movie can be distilled down to what I call the three "b"s, "beasts, bikes and babes".

For "beasts" you are getting "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Day of the Triffids". For bikes (and by association, cars) you are getting "The Born Losers" and "Hot Rod Girl" (and "Smokey and the Bandit"). For "babes" you are getting "Coffy" featuring a butt-kicking Pam Grier and "Smokey and the Bandit", featuring a fairly enticing Sally Field. And as an added bonus, I am going to feature a comedy from the late 1970's simply titled "Drive-In".

Audience Participation! 

But, there is also a chance for you to join in the fun. If you would like to share memories of attending drive-in theaters in your younger days, or if you would like to highlight a movie that features a significant scene that takes place at the drive-in, or if you, like me, love those old cheesy low-budget movies you could only find at the drive-in and want to review one of them, then you can sign up to participate.

The following list is people who have agreed to participate in the celebration. Remember. This is NOT a blogathon. There are no rules about multiple entries on the same subject. If everyone wants to do a piece on the drive-in scene in Grease, that's fine by me. And last minute jump ins are totally acceptable.

Hamlette's Soliloquy: The drive-in scene in The Outsiders (1983). Also a personal memory at the drive-in.

Angelman's Place: "Stranded at the Drive-In" from Grease (1978). 

RealWeegieMidget Reviews: Enter the Dragon (1973).

Whimsically Classic: The Facts of Life (1960).

I Found It at the Movies: Smokey and the Bandit (1977). 

 

There will be door prizes involved.  Everyone who joins in and posts something about drive-in movies or a drive-in experience will get their names entered into a hat. I have a few drive-in theater related trinkets that I will send out after the event. I don't have access to a program, so if you are interested in a specific set, you will have to let me know in comments.

The items are a sticker and a postcard (one of the following three sets) Left side is the postcard, right side is the sticker.

Set #1:

 

 

Set #2:

 

 

Set #3:

 

Quiggy

 

 

 

 

 

Save the Drive-In

 

So, some of you may know I recently changed locations of residency. I now live with my sister in Pottsboro, just south of the Oklahoma border.  The move has been a bit stressful, in terms of library access.  Pottsboro, a town of only about 2000, has a small library (in what used to be the post office when I was growing up, although the town got big enough it built a bigger post office.) The two nearest towns, Denison (pop. 25,000) and Sherman (pop. 44,000) each have their own libraries, although the combined 3 libraries only have maybe 1/4 of what was available in the library of my last residence in south Texas.

As such, my resources are limited.  But as I was looking through the available DVDs at the Sherman library  I came across this gem.  I had never even heard of it, although it has won a few awards in the film community albeit mostly local... For instance one of the awards for it was Best Local Feature at the Philadelphia Film Festival (fitting since  the subject drive-in is a Philly drive-in).

The dedication of the people involved and their love of the drive-in experience really shines through here.  And, at least currently, it is still going strong. Their Facebook page has updates often (I just found it).  Unfortunately, from my perspective, they don't dwell too much with the 50's and 60's themes.  Much of what I saw in the film, as well as what I saw in my brief scan of the FB page, the movies tend to be 70's, 80's and some 90's stuff.  But that's a far cry from some of the more recent "new wave" drive-in theaters which are showing current run movies. The Stars and Stripes Theater which opened down the road from my old stomping grounds in New Braunfels fits that category. 

(Note: I realize that in it's heyday drive-ins ran first run films. I just wish there was a retro drive-in that ran that same stuff now.)

Of course, if you know this blog from it's beginnings, I grew up here in north Texas, where I now reside, and the Sherman and Denison area had two twin theaters (Coincidentally located directly across the highway from each other; The She-Den Twin and The Twin Cities Twin). I spent quite a bit of my early teens and twenties going to just such theaters.

At the Drive-In (2017):

The film basically opens at the start of the 2016 season. Jeff Mattox, the owner of the Mahonic Drive-In in Lehighton is preparing for the new season.  He says he got his start at showing films while still serving in the Armed Forces.  After his term of service he got involved with the local drive-in.

One of the problems he ran into prior to the start of the current season was trying to get keep theater running with the new digital age, but he found that the cost of doing so was prohibitive. So he made a decision to run movies that were still available in the old 35MM format. Of course, that meant only older movies.

 

The first few weeks they were sometimes showing these old movies to only 4 or 5 cars. And they ran in the red for a while.    The film points out that their first double feature was The Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka (the Gene Wilder version). That apparently is now a tradition that they run those first two films on opening night at the beginning of each season.

Jeff managed to get two helpers who had the same dedication as he and whom eventually became partners in his venture, Matt and Virgil.  He also had a holdover from the days when it was still running newer movies, Jessica. These 4 people are the driving force behind keeping the Mahonic a going concern.

 

 

The Mahonic managed to acquire many dedicated advocates including several people who went on to volunteer helping out, including one guy who drove 6 1/2 hours one way because of his dedication. One of the guys says he is a fan of the place because he loves old "shitty" movies. (Sounds like a fellow I would enjoy spending a few hours with in conversation). A few of them spend their entire weekend at the Mahonic, going so far as to crash at the place to save $$ so they can get up in the morning to do the necessary maintenance of the place. 

The ultimate end for me is I now would like to put a trip to the drive-in some day on my bucket list. An interesting little piece for anyone interested in the background in this classic movie venue.

Quiggy

The Return of the Midnite Drive-In

 

 

 

Well, folks, it's been about two months since I last logged on.  In the interim I transitioned the drive-in (and by the same token, my residence) from south Texas to north Texas, where I am now living with my sister.  As a result,  I had to put the drive-in on hiatus.  And entries will be less frequent over the next couple of months, at least until I can get internet set up at my sister's house.  But rejoice, dear hearts, because following this post will be a new entry, and it's going to be one of my infrequent book reviews.

 

Keep watching the ether.

Quiggy

Joe Bob Briggs and Me

 Been a long time, folks.  This confounded crisis has taken the motivation out of me something fierce.  No, I haven't been sick, not even one day.  That might have given me the inspiration to watch a ton of movies and do reviews.  No, my problem was just an apathy for doing much of anything.  My apologies to those who have been waiting.  I plan to get going again in the next week or so on movies.  But for now I will tantalize you with a book review.

Joe Bob Briggs Goes to the Drive-In (1987) and Joe Bob Briggs Goes Back to the Drive-In (1990):

In 1982, a college friend of mine invited me to move in with him and help deliver The Dallas Times Herald to residents in a small north Texas town.  Delivering a paper a few hours a day was a nice way to earn a living back in those days.  Especially since I was entirely unmotivated to do much of any real strenuous work.

One of the benefits of delivering the paper was there was always an extra copy or two to take home.  I admit I wasn't much interested in the world at that time.  But I did enjoy reading the supplements about culture.  On Fridays the weekend section always had reviews of movies that were currently in release.  And one of the features was a section written by one of the writers, John Bloom.  He adopted a persona named Joe Bob Briggs to write about the drive-in movies of the day.

Drive-ins, in case you are a neophyte to the halcyon days of bygone years, were these monolithic venues that showed movies outdoors.   And the typical fare was not exactly Oscar material.  If you've seen some of my earlier work you know I have addressed some pretty outre movies (such as the one I wrote last year for my 5th anniversary post; Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman  and The Amazing Colossal Man).  

Drive-in movies were pretty much horror, sci-fi, and crime run rampant types of movies.  Joe Bob Briggs would review these movies, giving them a rating of 1 to 4 stars, depending on a number of elements that were present in the movies (naked breasts counts, the amount of blood that flowed, how much kung fu was used, car chases, dead body counts etc.)

The great thing about Joe Bob Briggs' column was also the insight he gave in his own private life.  None of the people were any more real than Joe Bob was (he was all in the mind of his creator, Bloom, after all.)  But the stories were funny in their own way.  You ought to know, however, that Joe Bob Briggs would probably never get in print in today's repressive PC society, however.  He even had his own run-ins with the "high sheriffs" (the editors) even in his own day.  Reading Joe Bob today is still a guilty thrill for those of us who can appreciate his wit, though.

Joe  Bob got into trouble finally with his un-PC attitude when he made some disparaging remarks and got canned at The Dallas Times Herald, but he just went underground.  He continued on as syndicated columnist for several years afterwards and even transitioned to film, hosting a midnight drive-in show on TV where they would air some of those same types of flicks on TNT.  

I used to have a letter that Joe Bob sent to me.  I wrote to him once back in 1983, and he responded with a personal letter. (For all I know it may have been a form letter he sent out to all his correspondents.  I can't remember, and I no longer have the letter; it got lost in all the moves I made over the years.)

Anyway, the two books listed above are a collection of his newspaper columns over the years that he wrote it.  You get some insight into various hangers-on in his world, including his women (Vida Stegall, Cherry Findlay, ) and his buddies (like Chubb Fricke and Rhett ).  Plus a review of a current movie in release that week that was of such quality that it could only been shown at drive-ins.  (Joe Bob called the normal fare "indoor bullstuff", ie your current Oscar eligible movies.)  Nothing at the drive-in would qualify for even being considered Oscar material.  That, of course, didn't deter Joe Bob.  He even created his own award, the Hubbies (a hubcap with the award engraved upon it) for such accomplishments as Best Breasts, Best Kung-Fu etc.

Both of these books are, sadly, out-of-print.  Amazon has copies going for hundreds of dollars each.  They are obviously collectors items.  I happen to have bought both when they were still within my budget (the list price for the first run).  And, no, before you ask, you can't borrow mine.  Although if you happen to be visiting I'm not so anal that I won't let you browse them... 

I appreciate the kinds of movies that were the steak and potatoes of Joe Bob and his regular readers. And when I finally get back to writing this blog I plan on getting back to the drive-in fare for which this blog was originally created.  In the meantime, haunt your local bookstores or more freedom minded libraries to see if you can find these gems.

Quiggy

Rules of the Road

A Brief History and the Rules of the Road

I thought at this point it might be a good idea to establish the rules of my movie blog, if nothing else to keep me honest.  But before that I'd like to establish a brief history of the drive-in movie theater.

The first drive-in theater appeared in New Jersey in 1933, the inspiration of a guy named Richard Hollingshead.  He worked out the details in his front yard, then used the information to open the first one.  More opened over the next few years, but it really didn't take off as a phenomenon, until after the development of car speakers in 1941.  (Imagine the noise regulations broken by having to broadcast the sound from one central point before that!!!)

The 1950's saw the drive-in movie taking off like gangbusters.  According to wikipedia there were around 4000 of them across the US by the early 60's.  It was a family friendly type place.  As I said in an earlier post, my parents could take my sister and I to one without a worry about crying babies or noisy kids.

Several factors led to the decline of the drive-in.  The oil crises of the 70's led to more people just staying home.  The advent of VCRs and Betamaxes made watching movies in your home a more viable option than gassing up to go sit outside to watch one.  But the real culprit, in the end, I believe, was the value of the land  being used for the theaters.  As with the two in my home area, most of the ones closed down to be bulldozed and used as other higher-profit ventures.

By the 1990's, there were very few drive-ins left.  They had "gone the way of the dodo" so to speak.  But I have seen a revived interest and some new ones being opened in recent years.  It may just be a fad for the nostalgia driven and older retirees wanting to relive the bygone days.  But at least there is hope.

Rules of the Road

To establish this blog I need to set some rules.

1.  With the only exception of entering a blog-a-thon that requires it, I will refrain from reviewing silent movies.  In the early days there may have been drive-ins that ran silents on occasion, but those are better seen in indoor theaters in my opinion and thus not fodder for the drive-in.

2.  Movies I review will almost always be in double feature format, because that is my experience.  When I grew up and, into my twenties and thirties, going to the drive-in ALWAYS meant two movies.  If I review and extremely long movie, however, (over 3 hours) I will only review one movie.  Sticking to the true essence of the drive-ins, none of them would still be running movies into the wee hours of the morning.

3.  I will TRY to set the upper limit of the date of the movies to 1990, thus keeping it real.  I only want to review movies I could have conceivably been able to see in drive-ins at the time they came out.

4.  It's a family friendly site.  There were theaters with a screen that showed adult movies, but I will not review those.  Sorry about that...:-D


Quiggy

The Age of Innocence (and the End of It)

When I was a kid, back in the 70's, my father would occasionally take my mother, my sister and me to the drive-in.  We would load up the old Dodge Rambler station wagon with some snacks (my father was very frugal, there was NO WAY he was paying concession stand prices for stuff), some blankets and a couple of pillows for us kids in case we dozed off (which we usually did).

I can only remember a few of those movies.  One was a Sinbad movie (one of the old Ray Harryhausen special effects laden ones).  I can vividly remember a giant statue of a six-armed god coming to life with a sword in each hand, fighting Sinbad and his mates.  I have since watched it as an adult.  (It was The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, BTW).  I found that I remembered a few more things from that movie that I had forgotten.

One that I have absolutely no recollection of seeing in the drive-in was Patton.  It was rated PG, and the PG was as much for the language as the violence.  My father was very straight-laced and did not cotton to having his young children hear such language.  I guess he never thought we might hear it as easily among our friends as on the big screen....

Anyway, flash forward a few years.  We, my sister and I, are still under the age of accountability when Star Wars came out.  I desperately wanted to see this movie, but it was PG, and my father was adamant that we were not going to be exposed to the language a PG movie might have.  But, yet, they had allowed me to obtain the movie  tie-in book.  I pointed out that I was reading the book and there wasn't a bad word in it.  It took some begging, but I finally got my folks to relent and let us see it.  Not at the drive-in, unfortunately, but a few years later, after I turned 18, the sequel came out, and they paired it with Star Wars, so I got to see both in a drive-in after all.

Quiggy

The Return of The Midnite Drive-In

Remember the days when you could pile the wife and 2.3 kids into the station wagon, with the back end stuffed with blankets and pillows and head off to the drive-in for a double feature movie night?  Or maybe just you and the girlfriend (with the same blankets and pillows in the car, albeit not for the same reasons)?  Or just you and a bunch of the guys (with a couple of cases of beer in lieu of the blankets and pillows...)?

Maybe not if you are under the age of 30.  But when I was growing up and even into my late 20's, there were drive-ins all over the place.  Nowadays most of them have been torn down and replaced with convenience stores, shopping malls, or in the case of one back home where I grew up, God help us, condominiums.

I have decided to resurrect this blog, and, in the interest of being a more family friendly site, have deleted the old entries and am starting anew.  The goal will still be the same, reviewing movies on a related theme, two at a time, as if we were really going to one of those old double feature drive ins.  Occasionally I will interject some reminiscences of my own, and on occasion I will be playing along with certain "blogathons" that catch my eye on one of my favorite Movie websites.  Enjoy.

Quiggy