A Totally Off Subject Request...

As most everyone here knows, I am a filmmaker who earns my living doing film and video work. Well, the movie that first turned me onto my life long dream and career was Spielberg's Jaws. I have a petition w/ close to 1200 names (but only about 400 are validated). For those that wouldn't mind (and those that would actually be really interested), please follow the below link and sign the petition. I'm trying to get as many names as I can. And, next to your name put (CS), so I'll know where you came from. Thanks!

http://www.jawsmovie.com/bin/petition.asp

I just signed that petition.

Good luck!

I just wanted to let everyone know that, eventually, you will recieve a verification email. In that email just click on the link provided and your name will be tallied to the final master petition. Thanks again everyone!

I just signed it. I hope they listen & put out a new DVD. it would be great to get to see all of those things that you listed.

Dear Chuck,
Signed!
Wow, you were really into that flick!
Awesome...that's pure love right there...
Always,

I've signed your petition, Meow Man! I surely hope it helps you achieve your goal, vis a vis Jaws.



I saw that film when I was at university during the early 1970s; and our little group stood in a huge line, on a very rainy/muddy night, to see what all the fuss was about. I thought it was an entertaining film.



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I new it was coming out because I had seen my parents reading the novel and swiped it to read (In fact, it was where I learned the F word. See, Jaws was very educational for an 8 yr old boy.lol). I turned 9 in 75' and 3 days later the movie opened. After about 3 weeks of badgering they finally took me to see it. I do the work that I do because of it in fact.

The theatre I saw it at (a HUGE twin. Remember those?) is now a Picadilly Cafateria. It saddens me that it is gone and everytime I eat there now I find a table near where I know I sat and saw it. OK, OK, I know thats a bit obsessive, but as a 9 yr old it made SUCH an impression on me that I knew I wanted to make movies. It really did change my life and send me in a direction (albiet, a bumpy and always struggling one).

Yeah, I can relate to your sadness at the passing of yet another really-neat theater. The one often tugging at my heartstrings is the Hollywood Theater here in Portland, Oregon. It's still standing; and it's still a theater, but it's grown old and tired.

When I first moved here, in the summer of 1969, I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey in the Hollywood Theater — in Cinerama, no less. It was a wonderful experience! The Hollywood Theater was first rate: the seats were very plush and very comfortable (they even rocked); the theater itself was in excellent condition, even though it had been built back in the 1920s; and the Cinerama screen was a marvel to behold.

Although I still consider 2001: A Space Odyssey to be one of the finest films ever made, it will never again be seen as was intended by its creators. (Revisionist history's assertions of supposed problems with Cinerama projection are lost on me. It looked just fine! It's all a pack of blatant mendacity dreamed up by theater chains to justify chopping up theaters and to avoid hiring projectionists.) So much of that film, two-thirds in fact, is lost due to our inability to view it in Cinerama that for all practical purposes 2001: A Space Odyssey is lost to history — as is the Hollywood Theater.

The theater was eventually chopped up into small auditoriums, all the rage in worship of The Almighty Dollar. Over the past few years, some cinema buffs have made attempts to rejuvenate the place. But gone are its first-run days of glory!



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[Edited by Mr. Cat on 04-13-2001 at 02:41 AM]

Yes, I can relate. It sickens me to see the huge single screen theatres having gone the way of the dinasour. I saw Star Wars and Jaws in HUMONGOUS theatres with those rocking theatre seats. One even had an enclosed smoking room upstairs near the bathrooms (and a balcony section!)with an open window to watch the screen and speakers too.

I am glad that my impressionable childhood years were in a time where everything wasn't about the bottom line and more about a good presentation. The art of showing a film is just totally missed by kids today. Though there are some decent audatoriums in some of the bigger multiplexes, there just not the same as they used to be and, still, no where near as large.

That is so cool that you got to see 2001 in cinerama. I wish I could have been just a bit older so that I could have experienced things as such (and Woodstock).

Chuck,

Signed. Now that there are video stores and pay-per-view, the day of the single screen movie theater is gone. Too bad. There's a drive-in movie theater in Connecticut called the Hartford Drive-In. It's been closed for many years. But I have very fond memories growing up and going there with my parents. They had a playground with a merry-go-round and ferris wheel too. I used to sometimes go in my pj's. The property has been up for sale for years with no takers. It is used for a flea market now.

Have a great holiday!

Oh, yes, Donna! Drive Ins. I grew up going to drive ins. I saw my first Godzilla and Bruce Lee movie in 74' in a drive in. The one that stands out to me is partly a putt-putt golf and the rest is just overgrown. The screens aren't even up anymore. The only thing left is part of the projection booth. Man, I miss drve-ins too.

Another thing kids today don't have the fortitude of being able to experience (well, rarely. There are drive ins still out there, but very few).

Okay Chuck....I signed it too! Hope it helps.