Cinema Magic !

There was a John Wayne fan club in England called "The John Wayne Film Society," it used to screen several of his movies on the big screen each year, I don't know if this society still exists however.

At the Duke's 100th B-Day celebration in Winterset they played some of his movies on the Saturday/Sunday on there local cinema screen. The best thing was that is was free. It would be nice if they still played old movies once in awhile.

Apart from the recent Queen's Festival in Belfast of some of Duke's best movies it is rare to see his movies in commerical cinema. I have a cinema set via DVD projection so can get a nice 5ft wide picture and it does make a bigger impact than TV.


Mike

I saw one of Duke's movies on the big screen two years ago. True Grit.

Quote from SXViper

At the Duke's 100th B-Day celebration in Winterset they played some of his movies on the Saturday/Sunday on there local cinema screen. The best thing was that is was free. It would be nice if they still played old movies once in awhile.

Todd, that reminded me that in Springerville, for Duke's 100th birthday, they ran three John Wayne films that Saturday in the local theater, for FREE! Unfortunately, we didn't get to any of the shows, as we were helping Chilibill at the 26 Bar, with the many visitors.

We did get to see The Quiet Man on the big screen a couple of years ago (or more), at a theater about a two-hour drive from our home. Neat old theater that has been refurbished - a truly fun experience.

A local theater to us has a series of films - they call it Flashback . . . something and it runs about 3 months, and they show older movies (from Gone with the Wind to Ferris Bueller's Day Off), though I have yet to see them bring in a JW movie. We did go a couple of weeks ago to see Singin' in the Rain and the theater was packed! Reduced ticket price ($5) and only one showing (Thursday night, 8 PM). The Mrs. knows someone who is involved in putting on the series (she only learned that the night we went), so will do a little more investigating to find out how they choose the movies for the series, and maybe plant a seed . . . .

Chester

Seed planting is always good. I think most of the theaters in our area are owned by big corporations so I would almost bet that they wouldn't go for a "old movie" night 1 night a month or something similar. They would say they would not be able to make money if a new film wasn't showing in the theater. Lots of times though I have seen almost empty or empty theaters for bad movies that have been there.

Quote from SXViper

Seed planting is always good. I think most of the theaters in our area are owned by big corporations so I would almost bet that they wouldn't go for a "old movie" night 1 night a month or something similar.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, Todd. The theater which I referenced above is owned by the Regal Entertainment Group. I think if there are enough screens in a theater, there is probably some latitude in what a local theater can decide to do.

Plant some seeds in your local neighborhood, with the theater manager . You never know what might come of it.

The film series they run every year is sponsored by two or three local businesses, along with the movie theater. They offer some prizes for answering trivia questions correctly, and they advertise with a little card showing the scheduled films, which is placed in the downtown businesses.

Chester

As I was typing that, I started thinking the same thing. I think I will stop in and see if anyone else has mentioned it before and maybe see if they have something planned or see if there is some type of "grass roots " effort that might be done.

Quote from Johnc

Also Robbie, it depends where it is ? It could be a long way from me

It major cinema companies put on a saturday matinee - like the old days that would great

I did a little research and found the following:

The John Wayne Film Society
129, Huthwaite Road
Sutton in Ashfield
Nottinghamshire
NG17 2GY

Tel: 01623 442946

Perhaps someone on here knows if this society still exists.