A Question for the Oldies

[MrPixel]

There were earlier ones like "The Sound Of Music" and other musical shows, but I was pretty young.

You reminded me that I did see that one in a real theater the week it was released. We were 3000 miles away from home visiting grandparents, and Mom took four of us to a fancy modern cinema in the suburbs, leaving the baby with her sister. The movie was just a movie to this 11-year-old; didn’t leave much of an impression. What I do recall of the experience is the exterior of the building with its fancy staircases.

 

[lovecraft68]

I remember a local theater where every seat for any showing was $1.99. This was called a 'second run' theater where they wouldn't get the new releases until they'd been out a couple months and out of the major ones.

But for $10 I could take my girlfriend to a movie and get a soda and some popcorn...which I did after putting another $10 in my car at .89 a gallon.

I wasn't driving in the late seventies, but I remember the oil crisis(which was real and not gouging) and in addition to higher prices you could only get gas on certain days and it went by the first letter on your license plate and in come places the first letter of your last name and the lines were insane.

 

[lovecraft68]

Now that I'm waxing nostalgic, the first movie I remember seeing, other than some Disney stuff like the Herbie movies, was Star Wars in 1977 and although in modern times the effects might be cheesy-as is some of the story- but back then the word was magical. Also recall the 1978 King Kong remake and being so upset Kong died.

Then there was Empire Strikes back and standing in a line that went around the theater and people coming out and announcing the next showing was sold out and the tickets were now for two showings from now. I don't think we'll ever see that again...these days most people just wait for a movie to hit streaming

 

[Rustyoznail]

I think my experience of watching movies is similar to everyone else of my vintage.

Drive-ins were fun. Chuck a couple of bean bags in the back of the van, park with the rear facing the screen and snuggle down.

Then, there were what's now X-rated movies on the big screen. There were as many cars parked outside than in.

 

[Zootonius]

I still remember the lineup around the block when we went to see "Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask" 1972
As someone else pointed out, there was no advertising to start the film. It was hilarious for the time and moral codes. We talked & giggled about it for a long time after.

There were earlier ones like "The Sound Of Music" and other musical shows, but I was pretty young. My parents raised me on them. The music from R&H was playing constantly in our house.

There's a blast from the past. "Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask" was the first R rated movie I saw. Who knew that bestiality could be funny?

 

[cdstefi]

What was it like going to see one of the 1970s / 80s blockbusters at the theater? Given my fandom, I’ll go for A New Hope or Raiders, but feel free to substitute.

Was it different to the movie experience now?

I’m kinda thinking because I often wait to see things on streaming. Oppenheimer and Barbie for example. What was it like when that wasn’t an option. And when you didn’t have websites dedicated to your fan obsessions.

Em

It was an Event. The ones I remember are Monty Python and the Holy Grail (brilliant) and the very first Star Wars (visually spectacular but narratively surprisingly disappointing).

There wasn't the same saturation coverage as there is now: no IMDB or social media, just word of mouth from people who'd seen them and a handful of brief print reviews/articles. It meant you could truly go and expect to be amazed. Even a small provincial cinema would have a far larger screen and better sound system than anything you had at home.

That said I'd largely let the Barbie furore wash over me, thinking it was just some dumb chick flick, so when my wife insisted we see it at the cinema first I rediscovered that thrill of expectations confounded (I absolutely loved it).

 

[gunhilltrain]

I wasn't driving in the late seventies, but I remember the oil crisis(which was real and not gouging) and in addition to higher prices you could only get gas on certain days and it went by the first letter on your license plate and in come places the first letter of your last name and the lines were insane.

It was real because OPEC (which has many Muslim nations in it) was punishing the West for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur war of 1973 (October, I believe). They made their point however, and they lifted the oil embargo by the spring of the following year.

 

[nice90sguy]

I live in Kelowna

Lucky you, it's a lovely town! Hope the fires didn't mess up your year too much

 

[gunhilltrain]

I still to this day get stressed if we're running behind to get to the theater.

Despite the fact that our seats are reserved. Despite the fact there's now at least 20 minutes worth of trailers.

Because I was used to having to get there early or wind up stuck in the front row.

I was going to mention that once (1970's or so) there were maybe three trailers (or "coming attractions") at most. Now you have all those trailers plus commercials too (Bounty Towels, the Air National Guard, etc.) so the screen is never dark, the theater never quiet. Reserved seating was virtually unheard of then.

The odd thing is, modern trailers usually make me not want to see whatever movie is being touted. They are usually too long, loud, and just bombastic.

 

[tenyari]

I think new movies are about 30% louder than 30 years ago. And the commercials before the movies are twice as loud as the explosions.

That's not just a belief. It's a known thing.

There's plenty of stuff online about how it's getting harder to hear dialogue in movies because sound effects and other things are washing it out - especially when you watch it later on a computer or home TV.

Pacing was different. The "mega blockbuster" was just coming into being in the late 80s I think. A film like Terminator 2 is maybe the start of that. Watch Terminator 1 and despite being an action film with less acting than Terminator 2, it has different pacing to the plot and scenes.

By the mid 90s they had this down to a formula that seems to have made it's way into everything from action films to Disney princess movies and even rom-coms.

Movies weren't made to fill in gaps between the trailer moments, or to sell toys. Selling toys became a thing as a result of Star Wars where Lucas made his money on the toy rights, and the other people just got ticket sales. Lucas made out like a bandit, and so the formula of 'make a film for the merchandise' crept first into kid's cartoons and eventually into everything. Even if that merchandise is coffee cups, t-shirts, and whatever. As for trailers - back then the trailer didn't contain every single last spoiler as well as 90% of both the plot and all the "meme worthy content". I'm not 100% sure why they do now - do studios make more money getting trailer clicks than the actual film? I doubt it, but frankly it's been years since I saw film that had anything more to it than what was in the trailer.

Imagine Star Wars' second movie coming out today. The trailer would be the scene where Vader reveals he's Luke's father. Not just that - it would have that scene the way people incorrectly remember the lines rather than the actual scene because trailers often feature the wrong cut. But the surprise moment would still be lost.

The films were lower resolution, less loud, slower paced, and full of more surprises. They had deeper plots.

The acting wasn't any better or worse - modern films still have great actors, but those actors are given worse material to work with. And there were plenty of movies back in the day where good actors had to work with bad material. But at least you could hear them rising above the script they'd been handed.

 

[Stimtheone]

I only have two memories of going to the movies in my younger days, and that was about late 90's or early 00's, the one was watching Antz with my dad and not much getting a lot other than pretty pictures. I was 7 and the whole war is horrible and such themes slipped by me. I'm tempted to rewatch it to properly enjoy it. The other was when I wanted to watch a particular movie and we did not read the time right, instead arrived at a showing of Memento, but did not go through with it.

Now, the more recent movies, I did watch several more. Watched a 3D version of the second Thor movie and Endgame. I still UTTERLY regret paying to watch The Last Airbender in 3D.

Though if this was a discussion of how older movies were like... I feel like the times up until like 2008 were a lot more... honest. And from honesty came art, and from art came message. Today there is an abundance of THE MESSAGE and so few try to give any other meaning to their work. Even comedies took themselves seriously back then, while now I find myself losing neurons if I watch the average comedy. Look at Austin Powers, where there was a deep message about how holding onto the past might make you a relic or an idiot, but if it were made today it would probably be full of shallow jokes on what idiots people used to be back then. Idiocracy was truly a documentary. And what the previous poster said... maybe they could not do some grand special effects or 2160 resolution to see the bloody pores on an actress's skin, but they made up with PLOT. Oh, and for any that think "oh, the old times were better, we had better movies", no, we had TERRIBLE art in every era, people just blew those away, burned them, forgot them, stopped listening or watching. Would someone save "The Count of Monte Cristo" even if it was black and white? Sure. Would someone save this movie about some director trying to wail at the world because his job hard and people don't treat him as a god? Nah.

 

[Zootonius]

On the subject of old movies, the Hollywood code set back movie progress 30 years. This is a pre-code movie of Claudette Colbert pushing the envelope.

A description of the scene

This includes the leering handmaidens who Poppaea almost seems to be performing for, and later Colbert is joined in the bath by a flighty female companion.

 

[jehoram]

Okay, I'm old. But here's my best memory of a crowded theater:

I went to see "Wait Until Dark" in a sold-out theater with my girlfriend. At the point where Alan Arkin leaps out at Audrey Hepburn just as you think he's been killed, everybody in the theater gasped and tensed in unison. It was almost like a mass orgasm.

 

[alohadave]

There's plenty of stuff online about how it's getting harder to hear dialogue in movies because sound effects and other things are washing it out - especially when you watch it later on a computer or home TV.

I use subtitles for everything I can. The audio mix is one reason.

But also I feel that characters are sometimes not introduced, so they talk to each other and you have no idea what their names are. That may seem minor, but main character names shouldn't be a mystery unless it's intentionally done.

And I get more out of it when I read and can concentrate. When I'm watching something in the background, glancing up at the subtitles helps me catch up easily.

 

[djrip]

I use subtitles for everything I can. The audio mix is one reason.

But also I feel that characters are sometimes not introduced, so they talk to each other and you have no idea what their names are. That may seem minor, but main character names shouldn't be a mystery unless it's intentionally done.

And I get more out of it when I read and can concentrate. When I'm watching something in the background, glancing up at the subtitles helps me catch up easily.

I like being able to see what they said. But I hate that my brain won't let me not read the subtitles, even if I can hear. So I spend the whole time reading words with an occasional glance up to see what the film looks like.

 

[gunhilltrain]

On the subject of old movies, the Hollywood code set back movie progress 30 years. This is a pre-code movie of Claudette Colbert pushing the envelope.

A description of the scene

I did catch a glimpse of her left nipple. Anyway, the Production Code covered a lot of topics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code

For one thing, number 11: "Willful offense to any nation, race or creed." I guess that was suspended for the Germans and Japanese during World War II. Probably for the Soviet Union during the Cold War too, although much of the emphasis then was on domestic Communists.

 

[BodieOhl]

That's not just a belief. It's a known thing.

There's plenty of stuff online about how it's getting harder to hear dialogue in movies because sound effects and other things are washing it out - especially when you watch it later on a computer or home TV.

There's a technical aspect too. Oversimplifying: microphones used to be far away to be out of the shot and actors had to project, but smaller & better mics have made it easier to hide them allowing actors to talk normally and resulting in some very quiet dialogue.

 

[Zootonius]

I did catch a glimpse of her left nipple. Anyway, the Production Code covered a lot of topics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code

For one thing, number 11: "Willful offense to any nation, race or creed." I guess that was suspended for the Germans and Japanese during World War II. Probably for the Soviet Union during the Cold War too, although much of the emphasis then was on domestic Communists.

A photographer did an image satirizing the Hays Code

 

[MillieDynamite]

For the first several years, the Hay's Code was largely ignored. But by the time prohibition was repealed, it was the law of Hollywood. However, what a great photograph.

A photographer did an image satirizing the Hays Code

 

[billrokra]

For me, it really wasn't that different to going to the cinema today, with one exception - the main difference, until video recorders became properly popular, is that you knew that you could only see the film at the cinema for a week or two, then it would be on TV at some point...and that was it. You went thinking that you would hardly ever get the chance to see that film again in your lifetime.

 

[Zootonius]

For the first several years, the Hay's Code was largely ignored. But by the time prohibition was repealed, it was the law of Hollywood. However, what a great photograph.

An interesting web site if you're interested in the pre-code era
https://pre-code.com/

 

[Zootonius]

For the first several years, the Hay's Code was largely ignored. But by the time prohibition was repealed, it was the law of Hollywood. However, what a great photograph.

You never cease to amaze me with your knowledge, Millie.

 

[ctarrantella]

Nothing will ever beat Rocky 4. It was like I was at an actual boxing match with all the cheering going on in the theater.

 

[gunhilltrain]

A photographer did an image satirizing the Hays Code

Looks like an inspiration for a Literotica story. It will only be accepted if she doesn't get any sexual pleasure from shooting cops in the head. (There are hints that it may indeed be true.) But there are other sites that would take it anyway.

 

[MillieDynamite]

My adopted father is a film nut who passed that down to me. So, yes, I'm always interested in movie stuff from the past. I'll read this tomorrow.

An interesting web site if you're interested in the pre-code era
https://pre-code.com/