# Ok memorial weekend 1977 your at the movies which one would or did you see **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395 "2020-05-24T21:18:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/1 "2020-05-24T21:18:07Z")
here’s an article talking about a rare feat … this weekend saw two popular movies open at the theaters at the same time and the sales pitch to the theatre bookers and it attempts to dispel a few myths about a certain movie series … So which one did you see if they were in your area? [https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/the-real-story-behind-the-star-wars-opening-weekend-43-years-ago/ar-BB14wNxu?ocid=hplocalnews](https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/the-real-story-behind-the-star-wars-opening-weekend-43-years-ago/ar-BB14wNxu?ocid=hplocalnews) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/2 "2020-05-24T21:35:25Z")
I know I watched both but could not tell you which one that weekend. But I seem to recall _Smokey_ had the bigger promotion. _Star Wars_ I ended up watching 19 times in the movie theater, but on this weekend it was not that well known yet. It was really a sleeper. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/3 "2020-05-24T21:41:27Z")
Before Empire Strikes Back, seeing a movie during its opening week wasn’t really a thing you made a point of doing. At least not for a teenager. I wasn’t even aware of Star Wars until it had been out for a few weeks. I don’t even remember any TV ads. If I saw a movie that weekend it was probably something that had already been out for a few weeks like Annie Hall. I didn’t see Star Wars or Smokey & The Bandit until well into Summer break. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/4 "2020-05-24T21:42:10Z")
I didn’t see _Star Wars_ until later in the summer, and I never saw Smokey and the Bandit in a theater. (I’m not even sure I’ve seen more than a few scenes.) So I voted for _Star Wars_ (which IIRC I saw several times that summer). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/5 "2020-05-24T21:54:51Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I know I watched both but could not tell you which one that weekend. But I seem to recall _Smokey_ had the bigger promotion. _Star Wars_ I ended up watching 19 times in the movie theater, but on this weekend it was not that well known yet. It was really a sleeper. Oops! I voted _Star Wars_ based on which one I would see _now_, knowing what I do about the two movies. But if I _had_ seen one that weekend, the opening weekend for both, it would almost certainly have been _Smokey_, so I would like to change my vote. My 19 times for _Star Wars_ did not start until later, after it became such a phenomenon. I even remember reading in _Time_ or _Newsweek_ about the long lines _Star Wars_ was generating. I see from the linked article in the OP that _Smokey_ was No. 1 that weekend, and that would be right. Burt Reynolds was hugely popular at that time, and lots of people wanted to see that movie, especially in West Texas, where I was stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/6 "2020-05-24T22:01:45Z")
In fact, I’m highly suspicious of the poll answers. Six for _Star Wars_ and zero for _Smokey_ so far. I think _Smokey_ would win out if honestly based on the situation at the time, not what you know now. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/7 "2020-05-24T22:29:51Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Before Empire Strikes Back, seeing a movie during its opening week wasn’t really a thing you made a point of doing. I agree. Opening weekend wasn’t a big deal back in the seventies. It wasn’t like you were going to post about a new movie on the internet the next day. I’m not even sure movies had national opening weekends back then. Movies were still on film and had to be physically transported to theaters. I think studios only made a certain number of copies and different areas saw them at different times. I grew up in rural New England and we were probably seeing movies several weeks after they had been released in big cities. For what it’s worth, I did see both _Smokey and the Bandit_ and _Star Wars_ during their original theatrical runs. I also watched _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_, _The Deep_, _High Anxiety_, _The Last Remake of Beau Geste_, _Oh God!_, _The Spy Who Loved Me_, and _Wizards_ in theaters that year. Mostly at [this theater](http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/10212). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/8 "2020-05-24T22:46:06Z")
This was when I was graduating from high school. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m not even sure movies had national opening weekends back then. Movies were still on film and had to be physically transported to theaters. I think studios only made a certain number of copies and different areas saw them at different times. This. In Cleveland, Ohio, I remember _Star Wars_ arriving with some hoopla, some buzz, behind it already in late June. I never heard of it until I read about it in the newspaper in late June—the day before I went overseas. On my way back to America 6 weeks later, all the Americans I met were talking about _Star Wars_. I had missed the great summer hoopla, but once back in America the whole nation was in the grip of _Star Wars_ fever. I never did participate, though. I have no memory at all of _Smoky and the Bandit_ from that time. If asked, I could not have given its year as 1977. I took no notice of it. All I remember from the movies from the given time frame is _Annie Hall_. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/9 "2020-05-24T22:55:57Z")
My then-boyfriend and I went to see Star Wars the day it opened. And then went back the next day to see it again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/10 "2020-05-24T23:27:30Z")
It might have been the first time I’d gone to a movie on opening day. All I knew about it was that there was a news anchor on TV the night before saying “This Star Wars looks like kind of a western, but… in space?” That’s all I had to hear. I was up early and waiting in the longest line I’d ever seen. A friend and I got the last two tickets, but we had to sit in the front row. Why’s that a problem? It was in an old vaudeville theater, and the seats went right to the bottom of the screen. We watched with our necks thrown back, staring straight up… and had trouble telling what was going on. We saw it again that night, from the back. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/11 "2020-05-24T23:29:42Z")
Saw Star Wars. I was a SF/Fantasy fan, not a whatever you call S&tB type flicks. I vaguely remember S&tB on TV - it isn’t something I would have spent money upon. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/12 "2020-05-24T23:45:33Z")
I saw Star Wars in a General Cinema twin (before they quaded it) in August. BIG screen then, and the Star Destroyer kept coming, and coming and coming. Fast forward to 1980 and The Empire Strikes Back. At the Sack Charles in Boston, 70mm and STEREO. Couple hundred crazed fans and a big screen, second show. After the movie, we cross the line that had wrapped around the cinema and meandered down the block, to discover the head of the English department at my high school, and one of the teachers. They were, of course, playing hookie from their jobs. As seniors, we were out already. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/13 "2020-05-25T00:59:45Z")
I “saw” Star Wars that week. I was six weeks old. My parents learned that night that movie theaters are no place for a six week old baby. When my brother was born we got cable. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/14 "2020-05-25T01:18:12Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In fact, I’m highly suspicious of the poll answers. Six for _Star Wars_ and zero for _Smokey_ so far. I think _Smokey_ would win out if honestly based on the situation at the time, not what you know now. > [@Johanna](#): > > I have no memory at all of _Smoky and the Bandit_ from that time. If asked, I could not have given its year as 1977. I took no notice of it. I’ll go **Johanna** one further. To this day I have never seen\* Smokey and the Bandit\* from start to finish. _Star Wars_ got a cover blurb (although not a cover photo) on the[May 30, 1977 issue of _Time_ magazine](https://time.com/3836877/1977-star-wars-facts/), and a dozen photos in the story within. According to Wikipedia, SATB opened in 386 theaters and grossed $2.7 million over Memorial Day weekend. Star Wars opened in just 32 (and a few more a couple days later ) theaters the first weekend, but grossed $2.55 million. Neither one went into a truly national release until July. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/15 "2020-05-25T02:21:35Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > I saw Star Wars in a General Cinema twin (before they quaded it) in August. BIG screen then, and the Star Destroyer kept coming, and coming and coming. That sounds like the Showcase Cinemas theater in which my brother and I saw Star Wars. We went there several times before we were finally able to see the movie. The first few attempts, the theater sold out before we got to the ticket office. (BTW, in those days, if you want to know what was playing and when, you had to look for the ads in the entertainment section of the newspaper, or you called the theater directly. They had a recording, playing on a loop, in which someone listed the movies and show times.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/16 "2020-05-25T02:29:07Z")
I saw **Star Wars** several times that summer. I don’t recall what I saw Memorial Day Weekend, but among the flicks I saw that summer were: \*\*The Spy who Loved Me Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger The Rescuers Harry and Tonto A Bridge Too Far The Island of DR. Moreau The Deep \*\* I saw _Sorceror_ a lot later, and I’m not sure if I’ve seen all of _Smokey and the Bandit_ even now. But I saw Star WArs about half a dozen times that summer, at the Charles Street Cinema in Boston (where it played for a solid year) and in Rochester, NY. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/17 "2020-05-25T02:39:03Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In fact, I’m highly suspicious of the poll answers. Six for _Star Wars_ and zero for _Smokey_ so far. I think _Smokey_ would win out if honestly based on the situation at the time, not what you know now. You might be right if we were polling the general public at random, but this site is sufficiently geeky that that’s what I would expect.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/18 "2020-05-25T03:28:11Z")
It was Smokey and the Bandit because my mom wanted to see it. My pal Scott and I didn’t get to Star Wars until it became a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/19 "2020-05-25T04:05:52Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You might be right if we were polling the general public at random, but this site is sufficiently geeky that that’s what I would expect.🙂 Yeah, I’d expect it too. But I feel a lot are voting from the perspective of 2020. Of course you’re going to pick _Star Wars_ _now_. Imagine it is 43 years ago. Now, maybe this would be mainly for places like West Texas, but _Smokey_ was being looked forward to by a lot of people including non-rednecks. I know I saw it, just don’t know if it was that weekend. But if I did see one that weekend, it would have been _Smokey_ just from all the expectations. _Star Wars_ simply did not appear on my radar until _Time_ et al started gushing over it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395/20 "2020-05-25T04:16:25Z")
In my suburban Midwest crowd, Smokey and the Bandit was considered a redneck movie for Southern hicks who listened to country music radio stations and watched Dukes of Hazzard. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-memorial-weekend-1977-your-at-the-movies-which-one-would-or-did-you-see/854395.md?page=2)