Film Flashback June 5, 1981

Good ole stoner humor. I think it dates back to ancient times. There's movies with stoners about being stoned and then there are stoner movies which are great to watch if you are high. What's funny to me is these films appeal to those who like to get high and to those who don't.

Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams didn't make either of the lists I linked to above, but it was definitely playing at the Martin Twin on June 5, 1981. They play a couple of stoners dealing dope out of a really whacked out looking ice cream truck. Stacy Keach and Paul Rubens star with our leading guys Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. I couldn't find a decently made trailer so enjoy them performing "Save The Whales" instead.

There's a double dose of comedy at the Martin with Richard Pryor starring in Bustin' Loose which was also playing. Pryor is a parolee who is assigned to drive a bus load of special needs children across the country. The fantastic Cicely Tyson plays the school teacher and it's her dynamic with Pryor that really drives the movie. It was a huge hit making over 6 million dollars during its opening weekend having been released on May 22.

Save The Whales

Bustin' Loose

If I had just looked at the June 5, 1981 Daily News Journal I would have thought that was all that was playing at the Martin Twin on that night, but I decided to look through Thursday's paper to see if I could find a cool restaurant ad to include this week. I didn't find a restaurant ad. I found something much cooler. Perhaps you saw the ad and knew what was going on or perhaps you just went to see Bustin' Loose and got surprised with a free ticket to see the preview of Raiders Of The Lost Ark on June 5th, 1981. I don't think you need a summary of that movie. It went on to be the highest grossing film of 1981 with almost $400 million made worldwide and in addition to the sequels it spawned all sorts of pop culture items. It's interesting to think of the movie getting a sneak preview a week before its general release. Paramount had a lot of money invested in Lucasfilm and there was some concern when Raiders only made $8 million on its opening weekend, but I think Paramount ended up happy in the end.

Raiders of the Lost Ark trailer

The Marbro Drive In has one of their all night weekend extravaganzas. I have compiled an almost complete history of the movies that played the Marbro and these themed all night events happened every few months. I will be posting the list of all of the movies beginning in July of this year once I figure out exactly how I want to do it. The Marbro always fascinated me when I was a kid since I never got to see a movie there. It would have been awesome to be around for this particular horror movie night. You can click on the movie titles if you want to know more about them. After the weekend ended two of the movies would play the rest of the week.

The Unseen

Screams Of A Night

The Dark

Beyond The Door

You could often see Mark Hamill in the Star Wars movies at Cinema One, but on this night you could see him play a policeman who falls for Kristy McNichol in The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia. Dennis Quaid and Kristy McNichol are siblings on their way to Nashville trying to make it in the music business. Both of them sing in the film! Dennis Quaid's character runs afoul of the law and the cop played by Hamill tries to help them out. I have not seen this film and it's out of print so I'm hoping to find a complete version online or maybe pick up a bootleg DVD of it soon. The filming locations are Trenton and Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, Chattanooga and Manchester (opening credits), Tennessee which makes me want to see it even more. 

The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia

Kristy McNichol sings!

Film Flashback December 13, 1978

We begin our trip back in time this week to what was showing in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on December 13, 1978 with a strange film in which Atticus Finch falls into some warped fabric of time becoming US diplomat Robert Thorn and perhaps due to the influence of his adopted son Damien he decides to mutate into Dr. Josef Mengele in the movie The Boys From Brazil. It's a rather bizarre turn to the dark side for actor Gregory Peck and the trailer shows him chewing up the scenery. Sir Laurence Olivier is also in the cast of this weird movie. I remember it showing up in the little HBO guide we'd get when we had cable and the blurb for it seemed pretty creepy scary to me. I have yet to see it and doubt I will, but the fact that YouTube advised me I might find the trailer offensive tempts me to want to watch it. It seems an odd movie to be showing around Christmas.

 I say let's skip that one and head to the outskirts of Murfreesboro to see what's playing at the theater I always called the Marlboro even though it was really the Marbro Drive In. You get a double shot of Cheri Caffaro tonight. Girls Are For Loving is a sleazy sexploitation film which involves insider trading and the CIA. She's Too Hot To Handle has Cheri playing a hit lady involved in spy capers in Manila. Both films are quite funky and fun.

The Martin Twin has got a couple of comedies. There's Almost Summer with Bruno Kirby and the very adorable Didi Conn. The title song is by Celebration featuring Mike Love with music by Brian Wilson. The other film playing is the now classic CHEECHyCHONG's Up In Smoke. It will make you feel very funny! Lots of great music in it too!

Bonus: The Daily News Journal would feature a family every year going out and shopping for Christmas. It was obvious that the places they visited had paid for these entries and the Martin Theatre made sure they were a part of these pieces that ran in November and December for years. I've been sharing them the last few weeks. Here's the one from 1978 that ran in the November 19th paper. The movies playing that week were National Lampoon's Animal House and Smokey And The Bandit. Not mentioned is the movie that the Mathieu family appears to be going to see: The Alaska Wilderness Adventure. It was a true story about a family moving to Alaska.