Film Flashback October 11, 1979

What was playing at the movies in Murfreesboro 40 years ago? Sheesh....40 years is a long time ago. I grew up watching Leave It To Beaver and it was closer to the 70's than these films are to the teens of our present day 21st century. Time is just wild. Perhaps Ram Dass had it right: Be here now. And what's happening now is films from yesteryear. It's a total mind melter I know.

Since it was October there had to be a scary movie. Cinema One wouldn't morph into Cinema Two for several more years. The exact date in case you're interested was April 20, 1984 showing The Ice Pirates and Romancing The Stone. Senior citizens would continue to get 40% off their tickets all the time. I wonder how many were scared out of their wits (For God's Sake, Get Out!) while viewing The Amityville Horror on what was a Wednesday in 1979. Since it was rated R there was no way I could get to see this one in the theater since I was only 12 at the time. I wanted to go see it since I loved horror movies, but would have to wait until it played on HBO or Cinemax later. It was okay. Maybe it would have been better on the big screen.

The Martin Twin across town couldn't let the Cinema One steal all of the spooky movie dollars during October so The Legacy was one of the two films playing there. I have never seen this one. Starting Over was also playing which was disappointing to me at the time even though I didn't see it. The disappointment came from it being a Burt Reynolds movie without cars, action, or Dom DeLuise (not that I was allowed to see The End in the theater, but at least it looked as crazy as its plot.) Starting Over was a romantic comedy also starring Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen. I have still not seen it, but I will get around to it. Burt Reynolds movies are, for the most part, all worth watching at least once.

Finally we come to the "Now equipped with radio sound" Marbro Drive-In  What movies were trunk loads of people going to see? Nothing scary going on at the place I used to call Marlboro Drive-In. The Kirk Douglas and Ann Margaret movie The Villain, which also featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ruth Buzzi, Mel Tillis, and Paul Lynde, and Peter Falk's Neil Simon written The Cheap Detective also starring Ann Margaret were what you'd see there. I didn't see these in the theatre either, but saw them often on HBO as they seemed to play in high rotation on it during the early 80's. I really need to catch The Cheap Detective again as Peter Falk's appeal just grows as one ages, but The Villain was a really terrible flick.

Hope you have enjoyed this trip into the past. If you like it tell your friends. I do this every Friday. Why? Why not.