ROBERT REDFORD!
Yesterday, a good friend of mine who lives on South Beach in Miami called me to discuss a future magazine project. He shot me an e-mail that said "fone me". When I did, he hesitated and asked, "Where's the voice?" That's always been a compliment for an ex-radio guy. But for someone who is sneezing with air conditioning in summer and blowing his nose with Ragweed everywhere I must have sounded like it was mid-December!
Last night, I took myself out for a meal and came back to the pad and clicked on cable. There was Robert Redford narratiing his film work with a lady I think we men have fallen in love with many times--the late Natalie Wood. Bob is my kind of an actor--very intuitive, he picks up on the slightest nuances. Such as the way Natalie used to look at an actor and sort of cock her head and give you that mischievous expression--so coy and intelligent. The more footage they showed of her, the more I ached. Love that lady! Then, a surprise!
On Bravo, "Inside The Actors Studio", host Jim Lipton had Bob as a Guest! Redford is one guy I can say never made a film I disliked. He's just that damned good! But his last comment to the young audience was powerful. He shared how his family couldn't afford 35 cents for a movie long ago when he was a kid. Back then, you were treated to a newsreel about WWII, maybe two cartoons and then the Feature Presentation. He said that when he created The Sundance Institute in Utah, it was after he looked around and realized how commercialized theaters had become. He's right! Today we have Movieplexes showing 20 films with a screen between theaters where the sound often waffles through from another movie, people are herded like cattle in and out and the object is to get everyone to the Concession Stand as fast as possible to make big bucks. He ended by saying that he's afraid we've lost a part of the experience in America he had as a kid going to the movie theater that none of us will ever get to see in the same way. I agree completely. What are your thoughts?
posted by Michael Manning @ 1:55 AM
10 comments
links to this post
10 Comments:
I have to agree... At one time I really enjoyed going to a movie theater... Now I really hate it. The sound was so loud at the last movie I went to, I got up and left within the half hour.
I went to one theater where they had an entertainment room directly above the space where I was trying to watch a movie... I heard clanging and bells going off during the entire showing.
I didn't go to movies as a kid, lived in the country. But later on, when I was in college the theaters were different than they are now, showed only one movie at a time and sometimes had intermissions!
I didn't realize Redford was that old. I too remember going to the movies for twenty cents and seeing a ton of cartoons a newsreel and a double feature. Popcorn was a dime, I think. I mostly wait a few monts and rent the films. They are so not worth $8. The only exceptions are the art and foreign films which I do pay to see because I want to support them and because they may not be found at Blockbuster. I'm the sme way with music. I aslways by independent musicians disks. I have no qualms about downloading a single from some mega star. I have along and complicated explanation for that but I feel totally justified.
I agree too. I could never allow my kids to walk two miles to see a movie like I did. They could never get in for a buck, like I did. They could never see wholesome movies like I did. The whole movie experience is, in a way, a lost art form.
Lois Lane
They have changed so much just in the last 15 years! Remember when a movie time said "4:15" and you would have been late if you had walked in at 4:17? Nowadays there is so much crap before a movie you could walk in at 4:30 and still see the entire movie, missing nothing. Trailers are fine, but you aren't going to make me buy a diet coke while I'm in there, you are only going to make me mad!
That Man of Mine hates to go to the movies and can't understand why I like it so much. "We can get the DVD," he says, as if that experience is ever going to be the same. I love the going-to-the-movies experience; it's not just about the movie, it's about the Event.
First of all I'm incredibly bummed I missed Robert Redford on "Inside the Actor's Studio." Love both the show and Redford!!!
I still like old fashioned movie theaters. Alas they are few and far between.
WOW! This isn't even Haloscan and it's messing up. I'll repost:
Denny: Such a shame you had that frustrating experience. It would be nice if others would be a little considerate.
pbs: A Directors Cut of "The Sand Pebbles" taught me that Intermissions went away around 1968.
Bud: Well, if Paul is 80, Bob has to be in his 60's but in a new film!
Lois: Sadly, yes. Very lost.
paige: I once sat throughh 25 previews!
golfwidow: I see both your points. Hubby wants the freedom to get up and make a sandwich w/o hassles of crowds. You like to escape to thhe movies like me!!lol
Lisab: Yeah, I know. Sort of like "The Last Picture Show".
We have definitely lost something along the way. Our old movie theater was really cool with it's single screen and 10 cent popcorn. Wait - we STILL have a single screen and only 50 cent popcorn! :) But I have to admit, I prefer the bigger seats of the cineplex in the suburb a twenty-minute drive away, unfortunately. Although, I hate how I can hear the rumbling of the theater nextdoor. You've nailed that one!
So we did the next best thing at our house by making it a production right at home. I was spoiled last Christmas with a projector to hook up to the DVD/VCR and we get to play our movies on the wall at home. We don't have to sit through commercials or pay the ridiculous prices for the sodas and other concessions. Of course, we don't get the movies when they are first out, either. *sigh* Ah well. I guess you can't win 'em all! ;)
Keri: What a cool idea! I think YOU nailed that one! lol
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home