The Movie-Going Experience

Alright, quiz time:  Who knows what these are?  Any guesses?  Clues?  Alright, I’ll tell ya:  These are drive-in theater speakers.  Every movie drive-in theater up until the mid-90’s had these.  I honestly hope that some drive-ins still have them.  How you used these was you took one, hooked it on to your door or window, so the people in your vehicle could hear the movie.  For the drive-ins that are still in existence, I wish they still had these.  It’s a novelty these days, sure, but way back in the day, these were the only way to hear the movie.  During the mid-90’s, most drive-ins opted for a particular radio frequency instead.  Is there a point to all of this?  Yes.  Yes there is.  This post is not just about MY personal movie-going experience, but also how the movie-going experience evolved/devolved to what it is today.

As a kid, when we went to a movie theater, it was generally a drive-in theater, since those were really the big ones around.  There were two in particular that we went to:  Pioneer Drive-In in Provo, Utah, and Redwood Drive-In Theaters on Redwood Road in Salt Lake county.  The Redwood Drive-In is STILL there.  Unfortunately, Pioneer closed in 2001 to make room for housing developments….dammit.  Going to these drive-ins was an experience for somebody my age during the 80’s and 90’s.  It was very unique.  What you did was you bought tickets at the entrance to the theater and then you slowly found your way to a good spot to see the movie, hoping that somebody didn’t have a huge-ass truck in front of you.  Most of these theaters had just gravel on the ground so it was a bit of a bumpy drive, but it was fun.  At the center of the theater…field was a concession stand where you would buy drinks, popcorn and/or candy.  They also had bathrooms should the need arise.  Generally you ended up getting to the theater about 20 or so minutes before the film starts so you can find a spot.  So, you find a spot, get your junk food, grab a speaker and wait for the film to start.  This is where the experience begins, because it’s not just about the movie, it’s also about spending time with your loved ones or friends, and that’s what the whole movie-going experience was really about:  Spending time with friends and family.

One of the more interesting aspects of the drive-in theater was the double-feature.  We would sometimes pay for one ticket, but end up staying for the following feature.  That’s what happened most times when my family and I went to these drive-ins.  I remember seeing both Batman and The Abyss on the same screen at Pioneer Drive-In.  At Redwood Drive-In a couple of years later, we ended up seeing Batman Returns and Total Recall.  So, yeah, you payed for one movie, but you ended up staying for two.  Obviously, we only did these on weekends or during the summer when school was out.  These are some of the most memorably moments in my life that I will treasure until the day I die.  It’s amazing how the movie-going experience has changed over the years.  With the decline of movie drive-ins, we saw an up-swing of sit-in movie theaters until that’s almost what we have today.  It’s a damn shame, to be truthful with you.  Call me nostalgic, call me old-fashioned, but I still feel that the best way to experience the big movies is in a drive-in theater.  You’re not sitting right next to a complete stranger who may or may not have some bizarre disease, but you were surrounded by fellow movie-goers who were there for the experience as well.  It was an interesting time to be a movie-goer.

Now, with the onslaught of sit-in movie theaters, the whole movie-going experience, at least to me, seems to have been diluted somewhat.  Instead of driving into a theater and watching from a car, you have to go inside a building and in close proximity with complete strangers.  Walk-in theaters have been around since the beginning of film making so I shouldn’t complain about that.  What I will complain about though, is the level of rudeness and indiscretion of your average movie-goer today.  Kicking the back of your seat, talking through the movie and being a complete ass is now the norm.  Whereas, people had respectable from each other and didn’t distract each other with gadgets and shit like that has now been hijacked by this:

Yeah, phones.  Cell phones, iPhones, and tablets are now the “in” thing.  I can tell you right now, there is nothing more distracting that seeing a bright light out of the corner of your eye while something awesome is happening on the big screen.  It pulls you out of the fucking moment.  I don’t get it:  You payed for the ticket to see the movie and you’re on your phone?  There are theaters around the country that will kick your ass out of the theater for doing that, with no refund.  I like that idea.  I always turn off my phone when the lights dim, and I wish other people would do the same.  Even if they do that, they still end up talking through the movie.  As YouTuber Chris Stuckmann says, “If I wanted a commentary, I’d buy the DVD.”  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve had to turn around to tell the people behind me to shut the fuck up.  Literally.  I’m polite at first, but they kept going, so I told them to shut their fucking mouths and watch the fucking movie.

The movie-going experience is not what it once was and never will be again.  With the advent of Video on Demand with services like Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix, the entire experience of going to the movies has changed, and I’m not entirely sure it’s for the better.  Not only that, the turn-around for movies to hit home video has been shortened from 6 months to 3 and a half.  So, if you didn’t want to see that movie in the theater, all you had to do was wait a few months.  Things have changed with technology and we have to accept that, but there are times when I miss going to a drive-in theater to see a movie.  I may end up hitting up Redwood Drive-In sometime this summer, and I would encourage anybody who loves movies to find a still-operating drive-in theater and support it as best you can.  Why?  There’s going to be a point when there will be no more drive-ins.  Anywhere.

 

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