Go to the Movies

This week I want to say a few words in praise of the small single-screen theater. I grew up in a small, windswept farm town in southeastern Idaho. The tallest building in town was two stories, the most popular activity on Friday nights was dragging Main Street, and the town was surrounded by potato fields and lava flows in every direction for a hundred miles. As much as I loved growing up there, it was not what you would call glamorous. But there was one place that did have a little sparkle and excitement to it. The Westwood Theater was a cavernous single screen theater built in 1917 and located right on Main Street. Whether it was the hot, dusty summer or the bitter cold winter, The Westwood was always there, its marquee lit up and gleaming in dim evening light.

There was an actual glassed-in box office window that faced the street that was flanked by frames displaying that week’s movie poster. The lobby was a cozy, little den with a glass concession counter, more movie posters, and even those little velvet rope dividers for people standing in line. The whole place was presided over by the manager, Mr. Wilson, who, with his slicked back hair and impeccably manicured pencil ‘stache looked to a small-town kid like me like a French concierge.

With 430 seats, the theater itself seemed huge. Red velvet curtains covered the screen until it was showtime.  The triangular sconces on the walls would imperceptibly dim and then the massive red curtain over the screen would slowly and ceremoniously rise as the trailers began to play.

I have so many memories of leaving the Westwood through the back alley doors and being punched in the face by Idaho’s winter wind or walking back out into the lobby and being surprised because it was still light at 8:30 on a July evening. Leaving the Westwood, regardless of the movie I saw, I always felt like I had been part of an event. Seeing a movie there was meaningful and important, even if the film wasn’t.

These days, movie watching is an entirely different experience. With DVD and Blu Ray, streaming, and video-on-demand, along with laptops, phones, tablets, and wristwatches that you can watch films on, anyone can watch a movie any time, anywhere. But there’s very little sense of “going to the Movies” with a capital M.

This holiday season, I intend to see as many movies as I can, but I don’t want to just watch a movie – I want to go to the movies. One of the great things about central Michigan is that many small towns still have locally owned single screen theaters on their Main Streets. The Ideal in Clare, the Strand in Caro, the Vassar in Vassar. The bumpy, yellow bulbs and buzzing neon lights of the marquee still invite us in to those den-like lobbies for popcorn, soda, and ridiculously overpriced boxes of M & M’s.

There are disadvantages to theaters like this, of course. They only show one movie at a time, generally, and you don’t get the overwhelming sensory experience of super-ultra-mega digital surround sound or seats that convert into a small bed from IKEA. But in exchange for regular speakers and seats, you get the feeling of going somewhere special, instead of just watching a movie on your laptop in your sweats on your couch while your 5 year old tugs at your sleeve. This holiday, try finding the nearest single screen theater. Get a sitter for the kids, or better yet, take them with you. Get a little dressed up. Maybe grab some dinner at the local diner before the show. Let it be an event. Go out into the cold snowy weather so you can be welcomed into the warm glow of the theater lobby. 

Don’t just watch a movie this Christmas. Go to the Movies.

This review originally appeared on Q90.1. For more information, visit www.deltabroadcasting.org.