The Ride of Your Life
You just never know what you'll find on YouTube. Works two ways: sometimes things will inexplicably pop into my head while I'm otherwise engaged, causing me to scribble a hasty note anywhere I can before I forget it. Other times, I'll be putzing around the site and stumble quite accidentally upon something I hadn't thought about in eons. While enjoying some old trailers for one movie theater chain, I discovered a lost gem from another.
In an earlier posting, I reminisced of the General Cinema(s) of my youth. Well, there was also an AMC Theater, specifically the defunct Cross County 8. It was another important locale for my early celluloid jones. I very clearly recall seeing GREASE there shortly after it opened when I was about 9. I can still hear that little girl singing behind me. I also took in the original run of one of my most highly esteemed sci-fis, BLADE RUNNER, there. Oh, there's a PORKY'S story as well, but we'll just leave that little beauty for another time.
So. The AMC theaters, like the GCs, also had their quota of snappy pre-feature ads. Here is the most memorable-a raucous, wonderfully campy promo for their popular Midnight Movie Express. It wasn't necessarily a showcase for what used to be known as "midnight movies" (ERASERHEAD, PHASE IV, VANISHING POINT, LIQUID SKY, that sort of thing) but merely a shout out that patrons could see their current faves at 12 A.M. or earlier, er, later. This spot is just as manic as I remember, having seen it an untold number of times while I was in high school. Listen very carefully and you'll hear some recreations of famous movie lines.
Climb aboard!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esAjMiRIaW4
In an earlier posting, I reminisced of the General Cinema(s) of my youth. Well, there was also an AMC Theater, specifically the defunct Cross County 8. It was another important locale for my early celluloid jones. I very clearly recall seeing GREASE there shortly after it opened when I was about 9. I can still hear that little girl singing behind me. I also took in the original run of one of my most highly esteemed sci-fis, BLADE RUNNER, there. Oh, there's a PORKY'S story as well, but we'll just leave that little beauty for another time.
So. The AMC theaters, like the GCs, also had their quota of snappy pre-feature ads. Here is the most memorable-a raucous, wonderfully campy promo for their popular Midnight Movie Express. It wasn't necessarily a showcase for what used to be known as "midnight movies" (ERASERHEAD, PHASE IV, VANISHING POINT, LIQUID SKY, that sort of thing) but merely a shout out that patrons could see their current faves at 12 A.M. or earlier, er, later. This spot is just as manic as I remember, having seen it an untold number of times while I was in high school. Listen very carefully and you'll hear some recreations of famous movie lines.
Climb aboard!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esAjMiRIaW4
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