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    'Guerilla drive-in movies'

    Just seen this, even though it dates from nearly a year ago.

    What a brilliant idea! Not sure it'd work in this country, but all the same...

    #2
    'Guerilla drive-in movies'

    How do they do the sound? In the old old days, the place had a shitty little tinny speaker next to each parking spot. Then they figured out how to broadcast the sound on the radio for a short distance so patrons could listen to it through their car speakers.

    When they do "Screen on the Green," as it always seems to be called, they just play it loud. I saw Citizen Kane on the lawn by the Washington Monument. It was cool to see that on the big screen, but it was really uncomfortable sitting on the ground for the whole film so I haven't been back. They do it over at the Strathmore too. I think that's got a nice hillside so that helps. Haven't been though. I don't need to see Wizard of Oz or Ghostbusters with mosquitoes. I guess, however, that kids who have never seen those on the big screen would really enjoy it.

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      #3
      'Guerilla drive-in movies'

      I love this idea. The local independent theater here in Austin (Alamo Drafthouse) shows movies around the country on a portable screen. The location is usually related to the movie, so they showed Jaws on the beach somewhere (maybe Martha's Vineyard, now I can't remember) and Lost Boys in Santa Cruz, etc. I think they showed The Searchers in Monument Valley, too. I've never been able to go to one, but it's a great idea.

      One of the public swimming pools in Austin shows kids movies on summer nights, though, and you can swim in the spring water and watch the movie. (Which is very nice, as in the summer it is often humid and 85 degrees [30 celsius] here even long after the sun has gone down.)

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        #4
        'Guerilla drive-in movies'

        Your local indy cinema is a chain?
        Texas is strange.

        Though that Pope film looks like just the thing for the Austin OTFathon.

        BTW, what does this mean "18 AND UP ALL SHOWS - NO CHILDREN UNDER 6 UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED"?

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          #5
          'Guerilla drive-in movies'

          Well, it started out with just one theater, and has grown steadily to nine or so. They're still all owned by the same couple, though. So I guess it's a chain, technically, but it's not like AMC or Cinemark. They definitely have an independent programming spirit.

          The reason most shows are 18 and up is that they sell beer (as well as food). There's a long table that runs in front of every row of seats where you can set pitchers, plates, glasses, etc., and a waiter comes by occasionally to collect orders, which you write down on slips of paper (so you don't have to talk over the movie).

          They do have some under-18 matinees occasionally. When I was freelancing I took my daughter to see one of the Narnia movies and then felt a bit sheepish as I realized that I was the only grown man in the place, and the only person drinking beer.

          And yes, if there's ever an Austin OTFathon, something like Gone with the Pope should definitely be on the agenda. "Weird Wednesdays" (midnight showings of bizarre and cult films for a dollar) can be very fun, as that sort of film is best enjoyed with a drunken, rowdy audience.

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            #6
            'Guerilla drive-in movies'

            I can understand the 18 and up part; it's the connection of that (for "all shows") with "no children under 6" that confused me. But y'all talk funny down there.

            And isn't the drinking age in Texas 21? Are they carding people during the movie as well?

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              #7
              'Guerilla drive-in movies'

              The no children under six policy is so you don't have children squirming, crying, whining, etc. while others try to watch the movie, I would guess. They do have some matinees where mothers and fathers can bring infants and watch movies.

              I think they card at the door, but now I can't remember for sure. And I think Texas might have a weird rule that you can enter a bar at age 18 but only drink at 21, but it's been years since I've had to worry about such policies so I might have that wrong.

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                #8
                'Guerilla drive-in movies'

                But if the policy is "18 and up all shows", how do children of any age get in?

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                  #9
                  'Guerilla drive-in movies'

                  I think "unless otherwise noted" is supposed to apply to "18 and up," as well, but they could have written the policy much more clearly than they have. I've been to kids' matinees there, so it can't be a blanket policy for all shows.

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                    #10
                    'Guerilla drive-in movies'

                    I was walking around Brighton a few months ago when I saw a Woody Allen film being projected from someone's window onto a white wall opposite, which I thought was really cool. No sound or anything, but I love living in a town where you can turn a corner and randomly see a Woody Allen film in an alleyway.

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                      #11
                      'Guerilla drive-in movies'

                      We had a laserdisc player at the movie theatre that showed the previews for the month in between shows. One night we put on Good-Bad-Ugly for a 2am showing, and it turned out pretty good. However, it had those tv lines.

                      What I'm saying is with a good enough video projector, and somehow getting a podcast of the soundtrack in every car, it may be able to be replicated with modern technology.

                      The bottom line is that the death of the drive-in in America at least was an unforgivable sin.

                      The funniest story I heard with the North Brunswick drive-in (the one I saw Airplane, ET, Ghostbusters, etc) was this guy who drove 18 wheelers/big rigs in the 70s. His town enacted many anti-noise ordinances for his truck alone, as the muffler was so loud that it would wake everyone up at 4am as it shook the windows of every house it passed.

                      He was a prototypical late 70s blue collar unionized truck driving coke addict, so he rolled with that rough and tumble, greasy-haired, balls-hanging-out-from-short-cut-off-denim-jean-frayed-edges-shorts, Stones-loving, pot-smoking, coke-snorting, Lynyrd Skynyrd Play Freebird crowd. Since the drive-in only charged for each person that they saw in the car (leading to my brother and I hiding under blankets in the foot-well when my parents approached the ticket booth,) this jabroni would load up the trailer of his 18-wheeler with his cronies, park in the back, and suddenly an encampment of The Devil's Woodstock Rejects would form an army by the edge of the woods.

                      Each Friday-Saturday they'd spend smoking, drinking, breaking bottles, snorting, fighting, fucking until they'd sleep (my parents made it clear to me to NEVER walk out of the car.) This guy would wake up at the crack of dawn, fire up that loud-ass earthquake-causing big rig, which was the signal that the army of dead better wake up and pile in the trailer because their ass was about to get left.

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                        #12
                        'Guerilla drive-in movies'

                        jason voorhees wrote:
                        Each Friday-Saturday they'd spend smoking, drinking, breaking bottles, snorting, fighting, fucking until they'd sleep (my parents made it clear to me to NEVER walk out of the car.) This guy would wake up at the crack of dawn, fire up that loud-ass earthquake-causing big rig, which was the signal that the army of dead better wake up and pile in the trailer because their ass was about to get left.
                        I can't even begin to explain how great it was to read this post, but especially this last part. F***ing classic.

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