My adventure from last night is far too sordid to discuss here. So, I want to bring up the two best sources of movie-watching in Memphis: Black Lodge Video and the Orpheum Summer Movie Series. For completely different reasons, each of these venues represent a mandatory Memphis experience.
When I was in high school, the AFI released an official list of the 100 greatest movies of the 20th century. Qualifying their choices with “the past 100 years” seemed a bit banal considering the American movie industry didn’t get churning until the 40s, but I suppose that’s just semantics. Anyway, back then I lived out on the border of Germantown – which is what people referred to Easternmost Memphis as before Cordova and Bartlett started really growing. There’s a little Malco theater out there called the Ridgeway Four.
It’s apparently some kind of movie diner now, but when I was younger it was just a little fringe theater that showed all kinds of oddball movies and second run flicks. At least one of the theaters was always dedicated to showing a film you couldn’t otherwise see in Memphis. (This was before Studio on the Square.) So when the AFI released their list of movies, Malco decided to use the Ridgeway Four as a vehicle to promote the best of America’s cinema. They showed each movie on the list once a week until they’d covered them all.
I don’t know if I was just bored or particularly insightful at that age, but I decided to see as many of the movies I could. I simply deferred to the judgement of the experts and assumed each movie would be worth the time. I didn’t appreciate every film I saw that summer, but I definitely experienced some of those movies in a way few among my generation ever realize. I gained more perspective on the world that summer than 4 years of high school ever bestowed.
Not all the movies were awe-inspiring, though the ones that were remain my favorites to this day. Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront enthralled me with a mix of tenderness and hollow resentment like I’d never felt before. The tempo of The Bridge on the River Kwai opened my eyes to the futility of life and what men will do to find meaning. I saw From Here To Eternity, Chinatown, and Psycho all on the big screen for the first time. I was inundated with archetypal movie experiences, utterly enchanted by the sheer wealth of wisdom and enjoyment I found.
When you see a movie these days, it feels like the theater experience is condensed down to the most sensory assault that can fit into 2 hours. I’m sure there are still good dramas that don’t need 3D glasses or Dolby Surround Sound to make them great. But with the current price of a theater admission, I’d rather just wait and see it at home. And honestly, most of the new dramas I’ve seen in my adult life are trite and stilted. The people trying to mimic that old Hollywood style just need to stick to romantic comedies.
In my youth, I didn’t invested the kind of energy it takes to dig through the muck and identify worthwhile productions. Nearly any movie I’ve seen, in or out of theaters, since that summer has been based on my partner-at-the-time’s cinematic predilections. That’s not so bad since I was exposed to great things, like The Usual Suspects, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Flash Gordon to name a few. But my own ability to identity “good movies” is woefully underdeveloped.
So there are two things I want to put on the Memphis-Must-Do list.
As previously stated, the Orpheum summer series is one of them. One of the movies I saw during the AFI marathon was Casablanca. It’s one of the most recognizable movies that people have never seen, so I made a point to get out for that one in 1998. Now there’s a chance to relive that experience on Friday August 22, 2014. I just hope I can find a date for that night. If all you know from this film is the overused quotes, do yourself a favor and go in cold. Bogart’s role is breathtaking.
The Orpheum lineup covers pretty much anything you can ask for. From Shirley Temple to Jaws, all kinds of classics are on the list. Cult favorites like Grease, Monty Python, and Rocky Horror Picture Show provide an interactive opportunity for people who have never experienced a show that involves call-backs and costumery. If there’s a movie on the list you’ve never seen, this is the BEST time to go watch. Seeing something for the first time on a big screen is a luxury not to be taken for granted.
The other cinematic experience every Memphian should take advantage of is Black Lodge Video. This little house on Cooper is a truly rare establishment. Back in 2000, two guys who love movies decided to go against the grain and create a place where physical movie rentals still reign. Maintaining a massive collection, the Lodge sorts films by less conventional categories. Instead of the Blockbuster rows of boxed genre groups, Black Lodge sorts their titles in more specific ways – by director for example.
It might feel a little bizarre walking around a rental place, even without some of the unexpected labels. The beauty of the system is that you are exposed to things you might not know existed and, by that, introduced into whole new worlds of possibility.
Recently, I chatted with Matt Martin, the co-founder and owner of Black Lodge, and discovered that they are planning some big changes in the future. After 14 years of staunchly supporting brick & mortar movie rental, the Lodge has decided to pursue new goals. With some renovations potentially starting this fall, the copious shelves of DVDs and videos will be altered to accommodate a more micro-cinema atmosphere. Providing rare movies for rent will still be part of the Black Lodge brand, but they might convert to a mail-out system to make room for audiences.
Quickly becoming a venue of choice for the local music scene, Black Lodge also wants to create a more venue-like atmosphere that gets people excited about shows. Already a great destination for live music at least once a week, the type of bands you can hear there are pleasantly varied.
They also sponsor a monthly movie night called the “Time Warp Drive-In” at the old drive-in theater on Summer Ave. On those nights you get access to a set of 4 movies for only $10 or, if you are more of a night owl, you can catch the last two movies for only $5. The next night of the series is coming up this Saturday at 6PM – the show is “Hell On Wheels” a 4-pack of hot rod movies. That night is also Matt’s 40th birthday. So get out there and wish him well! This is another wonderful opportunity to see classic films the way they were meant to be – on the big screen.