Just got back from a screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Palace Theater (our local vaudeville theater in Albany, NY). They've been showing older movies on Monday nights for 5 bucks, and this weeks was the original Indy film so it was pretty much required viewing.

The print was original from when Raiders was first released, and despite the scratches in the film and the few spots where it had broken and been spliced back together, it was amazing. Watching Raiders on the big screen really drove home the difference between seeing a movie in a movie theater and seeing one on your TV, even if you have an HDTV. There is so much going on in this movie that I never noticed before, from Marion's freckles to the seemingly inconsequential actions of background characters that actually add to the flow of the movie. Even though I knew the plot and many of the lines by heart, I noticed so many new things that it was like watching it for the first time.

Of course, the audience was packed with people wearing fedoras. The great part though was that it wasn't just nerds, the theater was filled with ordinary people, and everyone got really into it- cheering Indy on, laughing at the one liners, and squirming and squealing at the sight of the snakes. Everyone had seen the movie countless times before of course, but it did not diminish the enthusiasm the audience had for the movie at all. At the end when the credits started to roll, the audience all burst into applause, which was awesome. (Also, you could tell that there were some Family Guy fans in the audience- some people giggled at the "top men" line at the very end.)

If you ever get a chance to watch Raiders on the big screen in an actual theater with a big audience, don't pass it up!

Uhg. I hate it when people do stuff like "cheer PERSON on"

Laugh at the jokes. There is no other reason to make noise.


... aside from you setting off a pet peeve .. that's really awesome. There are so many movies I'd love to watch on the big screen (Godfather trilogy on the top)

It really is a completely different viewing experience. (Which is why Avatar will probably suck on TVs)

The first Godfather is one of the movies they will be showing in May.

I'm coming to your house and we're going to watch movies on the big screen.

I wonder if Edmonton has anywhere that does this.

The theater I worked at in Columbus did a half assed version of this. They just showed the movies on dvd using a digital projector on the big screen. It sucked.

There was a little 2 screen cinema that catered to mostly students behind my old uni that did this kind of thing. I only ever saw The Blues Brothers there but it was awesome.

Haha I went to Paddy's Pub in Philly last weekend and they were already playing bootlegged Avatar. The subtitles were in Russian or something, though, so half the movie was incomprehensible.

I saw The Wall like that in college.

You obviously never went to the theatre in its golden age. Cheering for the protagonist used to be commonplace in movie theaters, as well as all sorts of other crowd interaction. At the end of every feature, crowds used to stand and applaud during the credits. I miss that. I think you need to quit being a hater. The one reason to go to a movie into a theatre is to be immersed in the movie -- clapping, applauding, and cheering included. Otherwise just sit at home in silence and watch it by yourself.

I'll never forget Trilogy Tuesday... after sitting through FotR, TTT, the moment we all were waiting for... RotK. The open credits start to roll, and everyone starts cheering. 2 rows in front of me, some guy, in all seriousness, shouts out at the top of his lungs, "Guys, be quiet! I'm trying to listen to the music!"

We all just laughed at him and started cheering even more loudly.