Film Flashback: October 25, 1974

I know I looked back at the movies playing on October 18, 1974 just a mere week ago, but I have to stay in October of 1974 for one more glimpse into what was being screened in Murfreesboro on October 25, 1974. Why am I hanging around when some of the films were even held over. The answer is quite momentous to me. The first movie I can remember seeing in the theatre began playing at the Martin Twin on this date.

Where The Red Fern Grows is that movie. I was 7 years old. It's possible I had gone to see other films, but this is the one I first remember. The big screen. The plush seats. Popcorn in the dark. A movie about a young barefooted blond kid with his heart set on acquiring some coonhounds he would name Dan and Ann. The Ozark Mountains were the backdrop and my young mind soaked it up completely. I was a young city kid whose parents had both grown up as sharecroppers so the country was still a huge part of my young soul...a tug of war between town and country that has always been part of my makeup. Once the movie began being run run on television I would always watch it. Later, my mother would give me a copy of the film on VHS. I have not seen it in many years, but I'm sure if I did watch it I would still feel the same thrills, chills, and enjoy both the laughter and tears it inevitably produces. It is a truly great family film. I believe it has fallen into some copyright netherworld and I have heard that the film negatives have been lost, but it can be seen in its entirety on YouTube at least as of the date this post gets published.

The held over movies at the Martin Twin was the double feature from Walt Disney: the Bears and I and The Shaggy Dog. I don't recall ever seeing the Bears and I, but I caught The Shaggy Dog on television several times. It was always good for a life and is much better than the sequel The Shaggy D.A.. 

The Martin Theatre had only recently become the Martin Twin. October 4, 1974 was the first date so getting to go see Where The Red Fern Grows was a real treat just a few weeks later. A newspaper article from the 4th quoted the manager Joe Tomlinson, "each of the theatres had 301 Grigg push-back seats, walls covered with gold fabric, gold carpets, new screens, and new projection equipment." 

The Mar-bro Drive-In was showing a couple of awesome biker movies, The Wild Rebels and The Hellcats for the last time that night. That would have been a fantastic night at the drive-in.

On the South side of town you could see one of the biggest hits of 1974: Benji was playing at Cinema One. So basically on this Friday in Murfreesboro back in 1974 you could see movies about dogs, bears, and bikers. It's up to you to decide which animals you like best. Next week I promise to get out of 1974.