Sneaking Off to Movies

[Pumpkin_Man]

Hi Folks:

I just related a story on another thread about some of the very first movies I saw, and I remember sneaking off to see a few of them. We lived in Chicago, and my parents, particularly my mother, was a major 'worry ward' when it came to me just hopping on a CTA Bus and going off to movies. At any rate, I started sneaking to movies in the Fall of 1974. The very first one was a movie called "Gold." It was playing at the Evergreen Plaze Cinema. The 2nd time was a movie called "Murder on the Orient Express." That movie was so BORING that my buddy and I started shooting ice at each other through our soft drink drinking straws. The 3rd time, which was the "charm" was when we wen to Ford City to see "Earth Quake." My friend's mom called my mom, they got to talking, and I was caught. When I got home, I was in major trouble. Of course, that didn't stop me from sneaking off to see various other movies through my freshman and sophmore year in High School. Then I got my drivers license, and it was no longer a matter of sneaking. But I think my favorite experience with sneaking off to the movies was when I snuck and saw "Race With the Devil" at the Marquette Theatre in the early fall of 75.

So how about you guys. Anyone here ever sneak off to the movies when you were young? What was your favorite "guilty pleasure" movie that you snuck off to see to the shagrin of your parents?

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Sorry, Mike, I never had to sneak.

I remember seeing Murder on the Orient Express with a girlfriend and liking it well enough. Not my favorite, but not the worst, either.

My mother was never a person who would "forbid" me to see or read anything. Her attitude was, go ahead, read it, view it, and then, let's talk about it. I remember, when we went to NYC when I was 10, we attended Radio City Music Hall. My mother wanted me to see the Rockettes, but after the Rockettes performed, there was a movie. It was The Sandpiper, with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. It was not considered a "bad" movie, but it was an adult movie, not intended for 10-yr-olds. (Burton plays an Episcopal priest who has an extra-marital affair with Liz Taylor, a Bohemian artist). When we got back home, one of my aunts was disapproving that I had seen this film. She said she would never have allowed my cousin, who was my age, to see it. My mother said that she wanted me to know things like that happened in real life. She said she didn't want me to grow up so innocent that I would be blindsided if something like that happened to me or to someone in my social circle.

[Pumpkin_Man]

My mom was the same way about many movies except for horror movies. Her main worry about me going out to movies back in those days, however was the fact that I had to ride on CTA Busses through not so nice areas to get to some of those theatres, and she didn't like it. She was very strict about movies like "The Exorcist," which had some scenes in it of an "adult" nature, and she did not want us to see anything too gory. It was okay once a movie was on tv, as they usualy edited them for tv back in those days, but she was rather strict about movie watching. She did teach us, in what she thought of as a more constructive way, about the "birds and the bees,' and about how situations like that do happen.

But sneaking off to movies was a relatively dangerous thing to do in Chicago back in the early 70s, and my mother was a major 'worry wart.'

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I can see how that would have concerned your mom. In Jackson, MS, we didn't have those concerns during my teenage years. I went to lots of movies with my friends.

I never saw The Exorcist in its first release (didn't see it until years later on HBO or something). I think I was old enough and could have gone, but I was squeamish about seeing some of those very scenes you are talking about, the foul language and all. That stuff was still pretty new in movies in those days. I remember that there was a big debate in the media about whether or not it was appropriate for a girl Linda Blair's age to be put into a role like that. Years later, viewing it as a mother, I can say that I don't think I would have wanted my daughter in that kind of role. It's a good movie of its type, though.

Yesterday I viewed The Haunting on DVD (Julie Harris version) with my 19-yr-old son. Interestingly, he told me that he enjoys scary movies but does not want to see movies about exorcism. He said that, to him, movies about exorcism are using something deadly serious as an entertainment. I guess he thinks the demonic realm is too dangerous to use for fun. I do have about three movies like that in my collection, though--The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and The Last Exorcism. Emily Rose is my favorite.

[Pumpkin_Man]

In Chicago, the tv news was allways chuck full of stories about people who got themselvs shot or stabbed because they got off at the "wrong" bus stop, or the "wrong" free way exit ro the "wrong" train station. The neighborhood where I grew up was no paradise either. It wasn't a slum, but we had our fair share of street gangs, drugs and crime. That's part of the reason why my mom wanted to move to that New Lenox arm pit, which was not really that different, just more affluent.

At any rate, going out to movies alone or by CTA was pretty much a 'no go' when we live in the old neighborhood.

"The Exorcist," was one of those gems that I've only seen the 'edited for television' version of, but FINALY will be seeing on DVD next week as I added it to my Netflix quey. THe stories I heard about the people who went to see that movie in the theatres, however, were hair raising. I heard that people actualy ran out of the theatre, some of them were actualy sick to their stomaches.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Yeah, I think those visceral reactions are unique to the era, though. I have heard that women fainted when they first saw Lon Chaney's make-up for the silent version of Phantom of the Opera. Granted, that is pretty gruesome, but almost everyone has seen it now, so no one would faint today. And then there was Psycho, everyone's pick for scariest movie ever, before The Exorcist. I heard tell of people who would never shower again after that first murder! But when I saw Psycho for the first time in adulthood, it was so intensively Freudian that it seemed a little funny to me. So much of its impact depended on people's not knowing who the murderer was until the end. Sort of like, if you know the trick of The Sixth Sense, it doesn't work as well.

The Exorcist is well made, but it doesn't really scare me that much. I think I had heard too much about it before I ever saw it.

[Boogeyman]

I wonder how much of those stories weren't part of the marketing. You know, to increase interest in the film.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Good point, Murf. I actualy remember watching "Psycho" on tv during the day time, believe it or not. I was home sick from school, and there was a program which aired on Channel 7, "The Prize Movie with Ione." It was a movie and a gam show where contestants can call in, and gues the title of two songs. The first sone was easy, the 2nd song was much harder, and the prises ranged from anything from a free meal at a restaurant to a new color tv.

Anyway, I saw it fir the first time, knowing nothing aabout it, and it really took me by storm.

Boogyman, I think you could also have a point. A lot of those stories are probably spread around so to generate marketing.

Mike

[VanHelsingStandIn]

I guess those of us who hit our teen years back in the 70s looked at things a bit different than y'all. We snuck into movies alright, but NOT the scary kind. Porno movie theaters were still around, and there was one that was notorious for letting underage kids in. Law said you had to be 18, but they figured if you were 16, that was close enough.

Of course I just went because of the fine acting and musical score that accompanied such great acting.

I never realized how many lonely women wanted pizza during all hours of the day and night.

Especially pepperoni.

[Boogeyman]

I would have thought it would be sausage pizza....

[Murfreesboro]

On Oct. 30 I impulsively bought a DVD called The Rite, with Anthony Hopkins, and watched it. It is about exorcism, supposedly based on an actual event (of course, they always say that). It has some good scares but ends well, which makes it unique in my experience of movies about exorcism. Has anyone else seen this one?

[Pumpkin_Man]

VanHelsing, I snuck into a few of those kind of movies, too, but my situation is that my mom was a major 'worry wart,' and she did not allow us to just get on a CTA bus and go off to the movies in Chicago. The tv news was chuck full of all kinds of stories about people who got mugged, shot, shot up with drugs and all kinds of other horror stories, just for getting off at the wrong freeway exit or riding a bus through the wrong neighborhood.

I snuck off to a few movies when I had a few bucks in my pocket, but for the most part, I really didn't start going to movies on a regular basis until I was driving.

Mike

[VanHelsingStandIn]

I would have thought it would be sausage pizza....

I've been told the ladies prefer "pepperoni" because it stays harder longer......And leaves no bitter aftertaste.

[Pumpkin_Man]

NARF NARF