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Good movie audiences/bad movie audiences
This weekend I’ll be heading to the 24-Hour Sci-FI Marathon in Columbus (check the details here). If you think the idea of spending 24 hours in a movie theater sounds loopy, you should see how loopy the audiences at the ‘thon usually get.
And that, dear readers, is today’s topic: the best and worst audience reactions you’ve ever encountered in a theater.
BEST AUDIENCES
At the marathon, the audiences are just as much fun as the movies themselves - more so in some cases. One of my favorite memories of the event comes from a couple of years ago when the thon hit us with brain-melting double-whammy of Fire Maidens from Outer Space and The Apple.
Fire Maidens from Outer Space is one of those delightful 50s cheese-fests with a budget of about $16 that is tailor-made for the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 crowd. One of the many zany talkbacks that occurred came when the titular fire maidens appeared on screen. These were women dressed in toga/miniskirts and they always traveled in packs. So whenever the maidens came-a-calling, the audience would chime in “HeeheeheeHeeheeheeHeeheehee”
Still, the buzz created by that movie paled in comparison to The Apple, a flagrantly weird, stupid and insufferable musical that makes Xanadu look like Singin’ in he Rain. When the twit of a male lead was singing a wreck of a tune about how his woman left him, the camera cut to an exterir shot oh him singing from a high window. We all chanted: “JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!”
Unfortunately, he was as hard of hearing as he was tone deaf.
Fun audiences responses aren’t limited to the ‘thon, however. A few of my other favorites:
One of my favorite kid reactions occurred when I went to a screening of Vanilla Ice’s magnus opus, Cool as Ice. (Yes, I am one of 68 people who saw that thing.) When our zero sang his opening number, a little girl near us piped up loudly, “This ain’t ‘Ice Ice Baby!’” Amen, sister.
One of my other favorite kid reactions was really no reactions at all. When I went to the IMAX 3D screening of The Polar Express, the audience was chock full of children, who too often tend to be prone to noise. But through most of the movie, they were quiet as mice. Why? The movie was working.
Another appropriate response came during a screening of Rising Sun, one of many misbegotten attempts to adapt Michael Chricton to the big screen. One audience member very loudly snored through most of it. Couldn’t blame him, really.
BAD AUDIENCES
I never miss a chance to see one of the greatest movies of all time, Vertigo, when it plays on the big screen. Unfortunately, my last experience made me almost regret going. Many times at these showings, you get one or two yahoos who just don’t “get” the style of the classics, so they sit there laughing at it. At one particular screening of Vertigo, however, the audience was full of these people, who kept laughing more and more as the picture got more and more tragic. Apparently to them, for instance, falling from a tower is hee-larious. I wanted to go up to every single one of these dimwits, smack them each upside the head, and scream “IT’S NOT FUNNY!”
Anytime a kid cries during an R-rated movie. The crying is bad enough in and of itself, but to hear it in a place where it REALLY doesn’t belong is even worse. A toddler bawled almost all the way through a screening of Street Kings, prompting one audience member to shout “Take him HOME!”
So I guess that was a good and bad audience at the same time.
One more note on the marathon: They’ve got a great special guest this year: Patricia Neal, who will appear in person to introduce The Day the Earth Stood Still, in which she uttered the immortal words “Klaatu barada nikto.” Stranger from Venus, also starring Neal, is in the lineup too.
Now I turn to my audience. Tell me about your favorite and not-so favorite comments from the peanut gallery.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Moviegoing
Comments
By SRCputt
April 14, 2008 8:51 PM | Link to this
Steve Allen would have loved Leon’s letter. And what’s a Gore Whore? Is that a big fan of the Saw films?By SRCputt
April 14, 2008 8:46 PM | Link to this
Allie’s comment reminds me of some of the most fun I have had are going to midnight screenings of the opening of films. Those audiences are excited to see the films, and that excitment is contagious. I seen several films that way, but Allie’s comment reminds me that is how I saw Star Wars Episode II. My fondest memory in that line was not the constumes, but a couple of people wearing buttons of a circle with a line through it over a picture of Jar Jar Binks. Now THAT’S funny.By Rich
April 14, 2008 7:56 PM | Link to this
Had a great experience in Cincinnati a couple of years ago, when a beautiful new print of Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” was re-released nationally. There’s nothing like seeing a movie in a theatre, rather than in the home, especially with an audience that hasn’t seen it dozens of times already. Here’s the scene: Near the end, Grace Kelly has broken into murderer Raymond Burr’s apartment and is wagging a finger with the murdered wife’s wedding ring at Jimmy Stewart, who’s across the courtyard. Burr sees this action, and suddenly realizes he’s being watched. His cold eyes slowly turn to the window, trying to see who the watcher is. Stewart wheels his chair back into the shadows of his apartment, trying to escape Burr’s gaze. The audible GASP from the young people in the audience, who knew that Stewart was now in danger, indicated to me they might be seeing “Rear Window” for the very first time that night! It made me a little jealous — how many classic movies would we all like to see for that VERY FIRST TIME? Then, of course, we shouldn’t forget the old Neon Movies and its resurrection of Cinerama several years ago. Those were the days — when Dayton had something truly unique that actually drew national and international attention! And the crowd attending those special Cinerama exhibitions was always highly respectful and “into” the films.By Leon Harrison
April 14, 2008 6:50 PM | Link to this
Leon Harrison West Carrollton, Ohio Monday, April 14, 2008 To: The Editor Subject: Hollywood hypocrisy regarding carbon footprints �How big is Hollywood�s carbon footprint?� I just got back from (driving to and from) seeing �Street Kings�, today�s violent action-packed cop-thriller-killer matinee movie. Now, I wonder about how big Hollywood�s carbon footprint is. The Screenvision �Go Green� preshow will continue until April 24, host Bradford Howe, activist actress [aren�t they all?] Aisha Tyler, and The Alliance for Climate Protection pestering the rest of us to do likewise, with fifteen minutes of nagging-nanny agenda-driven environmentalist propaganda. Tommy Lee Jones narrates a gloomy black-balloon energy-usage piece, followed by Dave Schlafman�s �Sky is Falling� cartoon. I have to laugh when Ms. Tyler reminds us that we can use video/audio conferencing instead of flying. Has she informed these Gore Whores, Jimmy Carter, and three presidential candidates? She also tells us that we can find out how big our carbon footprints are by getting online. During the first Go Green preshow that I had to sit through (now a half-dozen or so ago), this hypocritical Hollywood nagging had me angry and gagging. Especially while I am watching previews of spectacular action-packed movies, seeing aircraft and racing roaring vehicles with squealing tires, fires, explosions and gunfire. How big is the carbon footprint of a typical movie crew, with all of those SUVs, trucks and trailers? Finally, I could not resist yelling at Bradford and Aisha, while they smiled and babbled at me from that big movie screen: �WE COULD QUIT DRIVING TO THE MOVIES!� Other audience members seemed to agree with me. Ah, who can stay home and away from Indiana Jones? PLEASE, LEAVE US ALONE! Leon Harrison West Carrollton, OhioBy SRCputt
April 14, 2008 4:42 PM | Link to this
I fondly remember my experience watching The Crush, a terrible Alicia Silverstone movie. The crowd turned against the film and started insulting it. One of the funniest experiences of my life. As to that experience Eric mentions with Rising Sun, what was funny to me is no one bothered to wake the guy up.By SRCputt
April 14, 2008 4:37 PM | Link to this
Allie, you were not alone on that Exorcist experience. I also experienced a crowd who wanted to laugh their way through it. I think a lot of people experienced that. I think it is because most horror today is: Scare. Laugh. Repeat. Faced with something genuinely horrifying, they instinctively laugh because they don’t know how to respond to something genuinely disturbing. Come to think of it, I think that describes Eric’s Vertigo experience as well.By Allie D.
April 14, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this
I can’t even count the number of bad audiences I’ve been in attendance with. Your Street Kings experience reminded me of my first viewing of No Country for Old Men, I believe it was. Either way, it was not the movie to bring a small child to, and I swear to you, half that theater was about to throw a riot. ONe of the worst was going to see the re-release of The Exorcist and being in the company of numerous teenagers who thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever lay witness to. The thing is, I saw that movie as a teenager. I was 16 years old by the time I saw it for the first time, and it chilled me to the bone. I feel so out of touch with the younger generation. As far as fun audiences, the ones that pop into my mind are the Star Wars Special Edition releases. It was back when old Dayton Cinema 1 was open and the lines would stretch the length of the mall waiting to get in. Everyone was in costumes, everyone was living in this great moment of American movie nostalgia and I felt special to be a part of it, even if now in retrospect, I think Lucas made a bad move with a lot of his additions. But going to see the movies on the big screen was a real treat.