So, Hamlette of Hamlette's Soliloquy and Heidi of Along the Brandywine in their celebration of Legends of Western Cinema Week have a tag to go along with collecting posts dedicated to film and TV westerns.
They ask:
So, Hamlette of Hamlette's Soliloquy and Heidi of Along the Brandywine in their celebration of Legends of Western Cinema Week have a tag to go along with collecting posts dedicated to film and TV westerns.
They ask:
The official start of this event isn't until tomorrow, but here's a preview.
In the Celebrate The Drive-In Week I came up with the following, for those of you who may want to participate. Leave a link in the comments section below if you do post a list on your blog and you will get an entry in the prize giveaway happening at the end of the week. See the announcement page for the prizes.
As I have stated elsewhere, drive-in movies had a more "sensational" aspect than anything that typically got nominated for Oscars. In the profile I wrote for Classic Movie Blog Association (CMBA) I said that drive-in films typically could be distilled down to what I called "the three 'B's: Beasts, bikes and babes". There was a bit more than just that, of course. So in the interest of the celebration I am asking for your favorite films in several categories that typically cropped up in drive-in movies. Your choices don't necessarily have to be strictly low budget fare that was the essence of the typical drive-in flick, however. If Star Wars, for instance, is your "favorite science fiction movie featuring aliens", fine, list that one. You'll note that a few of my choices are closer to standard fare. Have fun.
1. What is your favorite science fiction movie featuring aliens?
Mine would be my #1 favorite movie: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.
2. What is your favorite science fiction movie that has no aliens?
Mine would be 12 Monkeys.
3. What is your favorite movie featuring action heroes or superheroes?
Mine would have to be Flash Gordon.
4. What is your favorite movie featuring outcasts or antiheroes?
Mine would be the first Rambo film, First Blood.
5. What is your favorite horror movie featuring monsters?
Mine would be the original Japanese version of Godzilla.
6. What is your favorite horror movie that has NO monster?
Mine is Jaws. (I don't consider a shark a "monster").
7. What is your favorite movie featuring motorcycles or cars?
Mine would be the two Cannonball Run films.
8. What is your favorite movie featuring gangs or criminals?
No question here. My #2 all time favorite film: The Warriors.
9. What is your favorite movie featuring war or war settings?
Mine would be The Great Escape.
10. What is your favorite movie featuring a mystery?
Mine would be The Maltese Falcon.
11. What is your favorite movie western?
Mine would be El Dorado.
12. What is your favorite adventure film?
Mine would be any of the Indiana Jones films.
13. What is your favorite movie featuring a female lead?
How can you go wrong with Sigourney Weaver (Aliens) which I need to review...
14. What is your favorite movie featuring beaches and rock and roll?
Mine is The Horror of Party Beach (which I also need to get around to reviewing)
That list doesn't include all of the themes that cropped up in drive-in films, of course, and I could subdivide some of those categories even further. For instance, science fiction has numerous possibilities of esoteric topics; time travel, hidden worlds on Earth, robots and AI, mad scientists etc. Feel free to add more on your post if you wish. The important thing is to have fun.
Quiggy
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:
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
Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy is hosting a week of fairy tale love. My previous entry on The Midnite Drive-In, on my favorite fairy tale villain, Hooked on Hook, delves into one aspect of the fairy tale genre. Here is some more fun, a questionnaire posted by the host:
June 6 is the Official Drive-In Movie Day. I decided to go full hog with this beloved day this year.
Keep an eye out for more formal announcements and promotions over the next few months, but there will be an opportunity for you to participate. Be thinking about fond memories of your past at the drive-in, or your favorite movies you saw at a drive-in, or even just movies that have scenes that take place at a drive-in. Bloggers who choose to participate also will have an incentive...
I have three sets of door prizes I will be giving away to people who choose to participate in the fun. I have them on order, so I can't post pictures yet, but each door prize will consist of a drive-in themed sticker and a postcard, names to be thrown into a hat if more than 3 participate.
And, thanks to Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy for creating the above banner.
Until next announcement, drive safely, folks.
Quiggy
The Classic Movie Blog Association recently honored me with an admission to that elite club of bloggers. Here, a few months later, I was privileged to be highlighted in the blog (sort of a long introduction to my blog and blogging tastes and habits, as you will see...)
Most of what follows is my answers to questions that were posed. But the questions themselves are definitely the property of CMBA. The answers are my own, however. So, since I'm not sure about copyright issues, I firstly want to credit the text of this post to the CMBA. The original post, should you want to see it, is here.
** Meet new CMBA member James Brymer, also known as Quiggy, the man behind the blog The Midnite Drive-In. Quiggy took the time to share more about himself and his passion for movies through the following Q&A.
I feel honored to be among the members of this great list of movie bloggers. But I promise I won't let it go to my head. I promise to be the same humble blogger you have come to love (or at least tolerate...)
I love these forays into musings on questionnaires provided by others. One of the ubiquitous such questionnaires is The Sunshine Blogger Award, in which one blogger will answer questions posed by a separate blogger who nominated them for the award. Then said second blogger will create their own set of questions and nominate several more fellow bloggers for the award. Essentially it's kind of like a chain letter (without having to send the original blogger a dollar...) My friend Rachel @ Hamlette's Soliloquy was nominated for the award, and. although she didn't peg me for a nomination, I thought the questions intriguing enough to give my own answers as if she had. After all, when have I ever let anything like normalcy govern my actions? No rules...
So the questions are:
1. What classic movie have you seen recently?
"Classic"? Does this count? Saturday I saw the 41st Anniversary release of This is Spinal Tap. I didn't get a chance to see it in the theater, but I've watched it at least 1/2 a dozen times on DVD. An iconic movie, worth the price, especially in surround sound.
2. What modern movie have you seen recently?
Actually haven't seen a new release since Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Don't get to the theater very often these days.
3. What movie that was made in your birth year that you really enjoy?
The Guns of Navarone and The Hustler are fantastic. One that is still due to appear at The Midnite Drive-In, and one that you may never have heard of, however, is Atlantis: The Lost Continent.
4. What's a movie you wish you had seen much earlier than you did?
I'm ashamed to admit it but I didn't see Big Trouble in Little China in the theater. Which is amazing because I loved John Carpenter movies by then. And it is now my second favorite movie.
5. What's a movie you are hoping to watch soon?
I am greatly anticipating both The Running Man (which I have heard is more faithful to it's original source) and The Long Walk. Both based on Stephen King books he wrote as "Richard Bachman".
6. What's a movie you've been wanting to see for years, but still haven't?
Too many to name. But there is a list of movies they used clips from in It Came From Hollywood, a comedic pseudo-documentary that covered some really cheesy flicks from the 50's and 60's.
7. Have you ever watched the same movie more than once in a theater?
I saw An American Werewolf in London once a week every week it was out when it was released.
8. What's a movie that needs a sequel but never got one?
They teased a sequel at the end of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, but it never got made. There was a novel sequel a few years back, which could have been a good one.
9/ How do you watch most movies? (Streaming? DVD? Theater, TV?)
Mostly DVD. Most of the movies I like were made well before I was old enough to go to the theater, and rarely are shown on TV.
10. Have you ever changed your mind and started liking an actor/actress you formerly disliked?
In a word, NO. I absolutely refuse to watch a movie with that whackadoodle Tom Cruise. And the Kevin Costner movies I DO like have some other actor that make them worth watching.
11. Have you ever visited a filming location? (Share pictures if you can.)
The 1988 remake of D.O.A. had scenes which were filmed at the university I attended. But I didn't go there to see them. As a matter of fact I didn't even know parts of it were filmed there until I saw it in the theater. In one scene the main characters are in a girl's dormitory, which in reality was the library and another had a scene at a church, which was the Theater Center.
Since I wasn't nominated for the award, I will forgo the questions and the nominations. (No rules... remember?)
Quiggy
A Public Service Announcement from the folks at The Midnite Drive-In!
Do you ever think about the messages that movies can teach us?
There are dangers out there that should be taken seriously when dealing with day to day life. These warning signs ought to be posted everywhere. The problem is most people don't know about the threats in this world. So, as a public service The Midnite Drive-In has taken on the role of presenting you with this announcement.
Be wary of these threats! It could be YOUR life you save!
There's no place like home to start with the warnings:
While still in the house, there should be some additional warning signs:
But don't bother your family while you are taking precautions ...
And, really...
Maybe its better if, in the first place, you just...
But, if you leave...
And if you do go out...
Sometimes it might be better if you...
But seriously, folks.
Because this is all just a dream....
Right now you're probably thinking you have a warning for me...
Ha! The joke's on you... This IS my day job!
Quiggy