Fortunately, these people were outside, so I didn’t have to deal with them during the matinee.
I was standing in the line for tickets. A fellow approached the box office window and demanded to know what Good Night, and Good Luck is about.
The cashier replied, “I don’t know, but it’s in black and white.”
The inquirer headed away, found his friend and said, “He doesn’t know what it’s about, but it’s in black and white.” To this, his friend replied, “Well, FUCK that!”
I can excuse the cashier for not knowing the content of every movie at the 30-screen gigantiplex. I’m not quite sure why he felt it necessary to mention the b/w factor. But I don’t know anyone, personally, who doesn’t bother to find out the content of a movie before going to the theatre. (Okay, well, now I’m aware of at least two.) And is b/w so terrible?
I wouldn’t think so but people’s tastes differ. Perhaps the cinema complex has had complaints in the past from patrons who didn’t realise that certain films would be in black and white and now warns prospective patrons accordingly.
I wouldn’t think so but people’s tastes differ. Perhaps the cinema complex has had complaints in the past from patrons who didn’t realise that certain films would be in black and white and now warns prospective patrons accordingly.
If I were the theater employee, I would definitely try to disabuse patrons of the notion that I was there to provide a review for every movie there. Lines are long enough without having to explain 10 movies to every moron who doesn’t know what he wants to see.
As for the black-and-white comment, it strikes me a tactful way to say, “It’s an art film that you’re not bright enough to appreciate.”
Disclaimer: I haven’t seen the movie in question, so don’t flame me if you think it doesn’t qualify as art, or if I said anything else that was stupid. In fact, don’t flame me at all. Say really nice things about me. Then send money to my house.
When I was a theater box office worker, we were required to tell any patron that we hadn’t seen the movie in question. We were told that it was so that customers couldn’t come to the service desk after the movie and demand a refund because the cashier had told them it was a good movie, and the customers had thought it sucked. But maybe it was also the lines.
I agree, quite a number of such overhearings have me convinced that there is a substantial portion of society who just won’t see a black and white film. They associate the idea with arty or foreign films which they usually don’t enjoy and so are unlikely to consider seeing one an entertaining prospect.
It probably wasn’t necessary for the cashier to make that particular comment, perhaps they themselves wouldn’t see a b/w film if they could help it and they considered it a valid ‘warning’? Perhaps it truly was the only thing they knew about the film and they blurted it out in an attempt to be a little more helpful. I couldn’t say without knowing the cashier.
I honestly don’t know why people would go to all the trouble of taking themselves to the cinema with no prior knowledge of what they want to see, what the films are vaguely about - or at least know the genres - or what time they start. Relying on the cashier to waste everybody’s time explaining them too is more than a little silly.
Were I in charge of said cashier, I think I’d instruct my staff that if they didn’t know anything much about a film, the best idea was to say you didn’t know and leave it at that - direct them to someone who does know rather than blurt out a single fact. Stating just one aspect of any film is going to paint it a certain way unless you give further information. Saying ‘I don’t know, but it has such-and-such-big-name-actors in it’ will immediately cause the listener to make a decision about the film based on their current opinion of the actors. Even if the film is a great departure from the norm for that actor, or a totally different style or genre to those the actor is usually associated with.
I don’t understand that either. ‘Good lord, you mean we’ll have to READ??!!??’
I can understand if people who are naturally slower readers choose non-subtitled features over subtitled ones, it would be annoying to be unable to keep up. But everyone else, is it really that bad? I barely notice.
Three. I can think of at least two movies that I bought tickets to without really knowing their plots in the past year and a half. One of them, Garden State, wound up becoming one of my most favorite movies to date and the one, while not great, wasn’t an unenjoyable way to kill a couple hours.
OMG! I have been to see Boys Don’t Cry with my pair of lesbians girlfriends who had no clue what the film was about beyond that it was about lesbians, kinda. I had read up on it prior to seeing it and knew that it was about the hate crime prepitrated upon the young women. So when the film got to the beating/rape scene I had to leave the theatre because it upset me so much. :eek: The two of them sat there horrified and motionless just letting the story unfold and wash over them. They were shellshocked at the end of the film.
And just recently (Christmas actually) I went to see Munich with my husband, sister, newest BIL, and Mom. Mom doesn’t believe Israel should exist as a state. So we have that brewing the whole movie. :smack: Sis is under the misaprehension that the film will be about the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and had no idea what overshadowed the occacion. My husband is also tired and sick to the teeth of whiney Jews-his phrase, not mine. So my BIL and I are just “Okay, how ironic that they became like their enemies. (Killing people and afraid of the Israeli government.)” But Mom and sis are complaining that it is the worst film they have ever seen becuse of their views about the state of the state.
I apparently was the only one in each group who had read the TIME magazine articles EACH TIME. :rolleyes:
So, VLW there are six people who don’t know what the film will be about. And I personally love B/W films.
There are other valid reasons. My step mother dislikes movies with subtitles because she constantly has to move her point of view from the action to the subtitles, which makes her miss a lot of things and feel a bit queasy. She’s borderline motion sick watching a movie at all. Constantly shifting her attention would aggravate her motion sickness and make watching a movie with subtitles an unpleasant experience.
It’s a stereotype, but black & white films DO tend to be artsy, art films DO tend to be pretentious, and that’s not a “fun” way to enjoy movie night.
That being said, I love independent films. But they seem to fall into two categories, those that came to remind Hollywood how to make films, and those that desperately try to create a new director’s style. I have nothing against experimentation, but too many movies are examples of what the cutting room floor is for.
From listening to other people complain, the problem with black and white movies is that in some people’s heads, black and white = old, and old = boring.
Most theatres have a synopsis available to either the cashier or for the public to pick up and read.
And at many of these google-plexes, customers just show up and see what is about to start or, the film they wanted is sold out in the 85 seat theatre and so they see what is up next.
And yes, there are some people so stupid that they think that somehow the theatre equipment is responsible. “Don’t you have color projectors?”
“Keep that Ted Turner and his damn Crayola crayons the hell away from my movie.” – Orson Welles
Good Night, And Good Luck is an excellent movie, by the way, but it does demand that you know something about both early television journalism and McCarthyism and HUAC. It would make a great companion piece with the original The Manchurian Candidate.
Stranger, that is a great idea for a double feature.
My experience with college students over the years has shown me that many of the younger ones (18 to 22) have never seen a B/W movie other than Schindler’s List, and I don’t even know what prompted them to see it in the first place. Maybe the director’s name? I LOVE b/w films. Just had to say it.
Miller, if you’d seen these two guys, I’m sure you’d have pegged them as a couple of knuckle-draggers just as I did; they even looked like it. All I could think was “Ape Guy #1” and “Ape Guy #2.”
Not to insult apes or anything.
I think I can top the story of two idiots who won’t watch a black and white film:
I once worked for a legitimate, stage theater - you know the kind, with real people on stage? At any rate, there was a hit, funny musical there that had been running for about two years - almost sold out every night.
One night, two couples came in, sat down and as I walked through the theater they stopped me and said, “when does the movie begin?”
I thought they simply misspoke and said, “the show starts in about five minutes.”
Five minutes after the show started, one of the women came out and said, “so, is this a preview or something? When does the movie begin?”
I explained there was no “movie”, that this was a theater with live actors and music. She went back in and a few minutes later all four of them came out and left the theater. One of the men came to me and said, “you should advertise this isn’t a movie.”
You would have figured the price of the tickets alone would have been a hint…
I get pissy sometimes with regard to subtitles. Mostly because I can’t watch the movie and read very involved dialogue at the same time. If the dialogue is sparse, I’m cool.
I’ve noticed that my niece doesn’t dig black and white flicks. She’s 13 and doesn’t relate to the format the way we geezers do. But her mom exposes her to it nonetheless. I’m sure as she gets older, she’ll learn to appreciate it.
The oddest thing I heard in a movie line happened one Sunday afternoon. It was around 5pm in Westwood, Ca. This showing was the last bargain matinee of the day. Waiting in line to buy ticket, when I overhear the guy behind me complain about the price of a ticket." Wow, 10 bucks is a lot to see a film". I turn, to tell this gent that it was the last 5 dollar showing of the day, and it turns out to be John Landis. To this day, I don’t know if he was just funnin’ or was serious.
We had an independent contractor come in last week to pick up a check, and he asked us if we knew what the movie Brokeback Mountain was about. He thought it was a western about a couple of ranchers, but had no clue that it is “the gay cowboy movie”*, as so many people like to call it.
*I never would have put this in a spoiler, but apparently, there are some people who don’t know the true storyline.