Keeping in Time with the Movies

There was a time not long ago when movie theaters seemed to be everywhere.   

My first memory of going to the movies was in the small town of Bridgewater next to the even smaller town where I grew up in southeastern Massachusetts. In the center of Bridgewater there was a movie theater next to a bowling alley.  Both were conveniently close to a Friendly’s restaurant which was usually packed with kids who were about to go to a movie or who had just come from a movie.  If not, they were bowling.  As a youngster I saw Jeremiah Johnson in this tiny cinema, the 1972 Sydney Pollack film about a Mexican War veteran who became a mountain man.  We were forced to bring bags of homemade popcorn with us, my parents most likely financially opposed to having us buy popcorn at the concession stand.  

It was a cinema in the opposite direction, however, that became the theater of choice for our community.  The Brockton East Twin Cinemas initially had only two screens until being expanded in the 1980s.  Seeing a movie at Brockton East was an event during the 1970s.  The small cinemas were so crowded and in such a state of busy confusion that we learned to hide out in the theater after the movie ended by sliding down in our seats until the ushers allowed a new crowd to enter.  At that point, we had the green light to stay for the next show without surrendering $1.50 for another ticket.  Needless to say, the Brockton East Twin Cinemas closed in 2000, probably due to kids taking in free movies during the 1970s.  

The West Side of Brockton had two movie theaters, one on the perimeter of the Westgate Mall adjacent to the York Steak House and the other bordering the town of Stoughton.  I was brought by my dad to the Westgate Mall Cinema to see The Pink Panther Strikes Again in 1976.  As when he took me to see a James Bond movie while our family was vacationing on Cape Cod one summer, I was told before walking into the theater that I was going to like this movie, the implication being that the film was fine for me to see although maybe not completely appropriate for kids.  I was on board.  I might have been 16 years old at the Westgate Mall Cinema when I deepened my voice and managed to get a small group of my friends into our first R-rated movie which at the time seemed like a major accomplishment to our crew, although I think the movie we ended up seeing was Lassiter starring Tom Selleck which substantially diminished the victory.  The Sack Theater on the West Side of Brockton was relatively close to the Westgate Cinema, but because it did not have an accompanying mall as Westgate did it was not the theater of choice.  Between these two Brockton theaters I saw many movies over the years including Return of the Jedi, The Natural, Ghostbusters, Fletch, Back to the Future, The Three Amigos, and When Harry Met Sally.  The Sack Theater in Brockton closed in 1999.  The Westgate Mall Cinema showed its last film in 2004 and was demolished in 2005.  

The South Shore community of Pembroke had a small movie theater along Route 139, an area that is now populated by, among other things, a 99 Restaurant and a Lowe’s Home Improvement store.  After seeing Midnight Run starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin and later A Fish Called Wanda in Pembroke, my friend and I discovered after leaving the theater that her Volkswagen Rabbit had been broken into while we were watching the movie and her car stereo had been stolen.  On the bright side, we didn’t have to use a key to unlock the doors because the side window had been conveniently smashed in.  Pembroke’s cinema was gone by the summer of 1990, and so was her Rabbit.  The location of this former theater is currently the site of a Mattress Firm store and a Health Express Urgent Care facility in what is now a rather awkward looking retail building.

When I moved into Boston in 1990 I was happy to see that it was filled with movie theaters.  The Charles Cinema on Cambridge Street was a spectacular place to see a movie.  It had enormous areas for seating that curved around the screen like a pavilion.  At the Charles I saw The Grifters and it is also where I critically watched Oliver Stone’s JFK in 1992.  The Charles Cinema closed its doors for good only two years later.  The Loews Paris Cinema was unique in that it was tucked into the buildings along Boylston Street across from the Prudential.  At the Paris I saw What About Bob?, Honeymoon in Vegas, and several Woody Allen movies as this theater tended to show more independent films.  The Paris Cinema closed in 1993.  Larger than the Paris and more popular, the Loews Cheri was just a few blocks up the road near Boston’s Sheraton Hotel.  The Cheri offered a wider variety of films to see and was always packed.  I saw many movies at this theater including Dances with Wolves, Cinema Paradiso, Grand Canyon, Edward Scissorhands, Father of the Bride, and Jurassic Park. The Cheri closed in 2001 and was replaced by Kings Bowling Alley.  The Copley Place Cinema was located on the second floor of what was then the relatively new Copley Place Mall.  The theater at Copley was convenient due to its indoor location, but it had very small cinemas and was often overcrowded as a result.  This did not stop us, however, from seeing many features at Copley over the years such as The Fisher King, Housesitter, and Beauty and the Beast.  The Copley Place Cinema stopped showing films on January 30, 2005, and has since been transformed into additional retail space.  

If you wanted to divert from the typical Boston scene a quick trip to Harvard Square was a great option.  I recall seeing The Crying Game at the Harvard Square Theater during the early 1990s and then An Inconvenient Truth at this cinema years later.  David Bowie and Bob Dylan both did live performances at this theater, and it was once used for original live showings of what became the legendary Rocky Horror Picture Show.  The Harvard Square Theater showed its last film on July 8, 2012 and it currently sits empty.

The ability to profit as a theater owner is a lot harder these days with streaming services and deluxe cineplexes having pervaded the culture.  The Capitol Theatre in Arlington, located just north of Boston, has been able to pull through as a small independent theater offering tickets and concessions at prices significantly lower than multiplex cinemas.  I most recently returned to this historic theater to see the 50 minute Beatles film documenting the band’s famous 1965 New York concert at Shea Stadium.  (Try showing that movie in one of today’s multiplex cinemas. People wouldn’t have time to finish their nachos.)  The Somerville Theatre is another landmark venue that has managed to survive with the capacity to show not only feature films but also offers live concerts on occasion.  Past performers at the Somerville Theatre include Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, and U2.  The Coolidge Corner Theatre in neighboring Brookline has found success operating as a nonprofit since 1989.  A few years back I had the honor of attending the premier of Celling Your Soul at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, a film by WBZ radio voice and communications professor Joni Siani chronicling the effects of cell phone dependence among a group of Boston area students.  

Last winter I went to see the movie Air while on Cape Cod.  When I bought tickets I was also handed a rather detailed folding menu from which I could order a burger, a pizza, a bowl of chili, a steak and cheese sub, and if I was a drinker I could wash it all down with a few Bud Lights and a bottle of pinot grigio.  I still believe that the primary idea of going to the movies means going to see a movie and not neccessarliy trying to manipulate a bowl of chili in the process.  Consistent with the business recipe successfully practiced in Arlington, Somerville, and Coolidge Corner, I would much prefer that theaters keep it simple and give the people what they really want.  In my case that’s a large popcorn, a soda, and a good movie that was not directed by Tom Selleck.