Recently I saw “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” in the theater with my 22 year-old daughter. I think we own a VHS copy somewhere—assurance that we haven’t seen it in years, and Caryn said she had never seen it. I thought it would make a nice outing for us; I was right.
The merits of movies at home or in the theater are hotly debated. Each has its benefits, each has its faults. Theater popcorn is professionally prepared, and possibly higher in fats. Some prefer the convenience of the big-screen TV at home. A lot of people like going to the movies because they are new, but nothing quite compares to seeing a classic on the big screen. Especially when it may have been decades since it was first released.
More theater operators are finding out that there is an audience for the oldies. Besides Indiana and company, High Noon, Mary Poppins, and the amazing Casablanca have recently reappeared at mainstream theaters in our area.
My daughter was not alive when Raiders came out in 1981. She loved it, just like I did when I first saw it.
I’ve since talked to friends who took their children, teens and 20-somethings, and the reaction has been the same. Gasps, laughs and moans at all the right places—even after all these years and multiple viewings.
Even with the best HD systems the feeling is not the same when Indie shoots the sword wielding bad guy, fights the Nazi on the airstrip and, of course, falls into the tomb with all those snakes!
Fun like that needs to be shared with an audience—a theater-sized audience.