I don't know if those of us who lived in Murfreesboro in 1981 (I had just moved back after living in Smyrna for a year) realized that Big K was on its last legs, but that was the case which makes this 3 page ad from the April 22, 1981 Daily News Journal even more bittersweet than mere nostalgia would suggest. We had moved right into the S curve off Clark Boulevard by Mitchell-Neilson Elementary so Memorial Village was an easy bicycle ride away when I had a bicycle that didn't have a flat tire or broken chain otherwise I was hoofing it over there. I spent most of my time in Family Billiards playing pinball since I could often play for hours on just 1 or 2 quarters on the Playboy or Mata Hari pinball machines. It would be June of 1981 when Big K merged (more like they got consumed) with Wal-Mart.
Check out all of the awesome things you could purchase during the outdoor sale 40 years ago. I think I'll grab some of those over the calf tube socks.
Here's a photo of the front of the Murfreesboro Big K which I may have shared before. It was posted to Facebook by Danny Campbell who I believe was the photographer.
It's once again time for a Film Flashback to see what was playing at the movies in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and the date this time is: October 30, 1979. Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw (in his last performance) star in the movie Avalanche Express about a Russian spy who has decided to defect. The beautiful Linda Evans is also in the film. The trailer is odd as it almost only features still images.
Avalanche Express trailer
The Amazing Maurice would be appearing at Big K at 5:30 PM so you can catch his show and still have plenty of time to see a movie on this night.
October 30, 1979 was a Tuesday night so you could see movies at the Martin Twin for just $1.50. Dracula and Skatetown, U.S.A. were what was playing on this evening. Saturday Night Fever director John Badham helmed Dracula which starred Frank Langella, Donald Pleasance, Laurence Olivier, and Kate Nelligan. The romantic horror tale was a modest hit.
Scott Baio and Patrick Swayze are two of the many stars in Skatetown U.S.A. which was billed as "The Rock and Roller Disco Movie of the Year!" Maureen McCormick is in it which makes it a winner in my book as anything with a Brady kid is awesome. Billy Barty is in it too and he is another one of my favorite actors from the Seventies. The movie was an attempt to cash in on the roller skating disco fad, but by the time the movie came out times had changed and the interest in the film was minimal. I think it's a fun movie and a really great time capsule of that era.
This week's film flashback to July 10, 1974 brings us a sequel of sorts at the Cinema_One. Reader's Digest had a big success with the musical adaptation of Tony Sawyer the year before so Jeff East is brought back to play Huck Finn in a musical adaptation of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Paul Winfield plays Jim. Harvey Korman is the King of France.
I don't know why Papa Smurf appears
Before we go see another movie let's hit the Big K clearance sale. The "Big Blaster" by Marx looks like it would be fun, but I thought they were called Big Wheels.
Marbro Drive-In is showing $ (Dollars) which features Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn and you can catch Elizabeth Taylor in X, Y & Zee. $'s plot is about a bank employee played by Beatty who joins with a call girl (Goldie Hawn) to steal the money from several criminals's safe deposit boxes. X, Y, & Zee has Michael Caine and Susannah Yorke along with Liz Taylor who plays the venomous wife of Caine's character. Extra-marital affair films are not really my bag, but Liz chews up the scenery in the trailer (note the alternate UK title Zee and Co. is used).
banks are where the money is...
Elizabeth Taylor was one dynamic actress
All of this running from movie to movie has worn out my shoes so I'm off to Pic'n Pay to get me some of these cool summer shoes called "White Lightnin'" which I'll be sure to box up after Labor Day. Dig that cool mustache on the dude in the ad.
The Martin Theatre has Macon County Line which has been held over. It had been playing at the Martin since Wednesday July 3rd and would run through July 16th. It was a sleeper smash of the year ending up the year as the 24th top grossing movie of the year with an estimated $18,800,000 performance against an estimated budget of $225,000. It would inspire a sort of sequel Return To Macon County, which was actually filmed in Georgia, while Macon County Line was filmed outside of Sacramento, California. 1950's nostalgia was peaking so that's the draw to get you in to the theatre, but it's not sock hops and poodle skirts here, it's murder and mayhem and Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) becoming a crazy deputy sheriff named Morgan Reed. Macon County Line would play the Marbro Drive-In from July 27, 1974 through August 6, 1974. I would think Macon County Line would have been standard drive-in fare and played the Marbro repeatedly, but that was it.
I have always loved Polaroid cameras. So how about some old Polaroid advertisements from Murfreesboro, Tennessee's paper The Daily News Journal from the the 1960's and 1970's. My all time favorite Polaroid is the SX-70. It's design was pure perfection.
