Jason Apuzzo blogs…did I say blogs? I meant to say “does a doctoral thesis”…on Star Wars and the end of Hollywood’s last great age.
Why We’re Going to Miss ‘Star Wars’
The opening where he recalls what it was like to watch a movie in the 1970s, in the days before piracy, home theaters and leaked movie details, is wonderful. It takes me back to 1982, when “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” played at a single-screen theater in La Crosse, WI, for over 52 weeks. 52 WEEKS! A solid year that movie was on that marquee! That was the last time that happened; within a couple years, everyone would have VCRs and movie rentals, and never again would people think that if they missed a movie in theaters they may never see it again. These days, if you don’t see a movie in the first three weeks, it’s not worth going because you’re at the halfway mark for it to debut on DVD.
As for the rest of his dissertation, Jason’s much more affectionate towards Lucas than most of us are, but Jason’s a movie-maker who envies Lucas’ abilities as an auteur while we all wish that Lucas had turned over the writing and directing chores to people who understand Star Wars better than he does.
That ET the Extra-Terrestrial story brought back memories for me. I can remember back in the 80’s when the local theater would run ads for their showtimes and would advertise X movie being “held over for the Y week”. You just don’t see that anymore. Heck, we barely get a showtimes ad anymore. Back then they did these huge ads with the movie logos above the showtimes. Now we just get the theater name, location and the phone number of the showtime hotline.
The only recent movies I can remember hearing about being held over locally were Titanic, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Passion of the Christ.
R.B.