| What's Playing at the Movies? |
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| Written by Jeff Summers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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What exactly is there to do on a weekend in a small farming community (oh sorry, a thriving metropolitan city)? Well, looking back at it we didn’t really have too many choices when it came to entertainment. There was bingo night at the Moose Lodge and there was bowling if you could get over the fact that you were wearing someone else’s shoes. There was television but we didn’t have the VCR yet. Come to think of it we barely had cable. ESPN was barely a network and HBO didn’t start broadcasting until 6 PM each night. We could go down to the river but that would take a hit to your reputation and seriously did anyone ever find a submarine racing down there? We could cruise First Street but there was just so many times you could go up and down that street before you and your gas tank were drained. No we didn’t have much to except go to the movies. Ah the movies. How could we forget the Paramount downtown with its regal character and the wine-o’s that lived in the alley behind it? There was the Rio next to that barber shop your dad always got his haircut at. If you were really brave or wanted an international flair to your viewing experience there was the Centre which played some of the more interesting Spanish movies. And then of course there was the “multi-plex”. I guess you could call it a “multi-plex” because it had 2 screens and it was at a mall; how cool was that? When the weather warmed up and the snow finally melted there were the Drive-Ins. You had to love the Motor-Vu and its giant chrome looking screen that was a landmark if you were travelling from Ririe or Palisades. And on the south end of town there was the Sky-Vu with its state-of-the-art hot dog cooker at the snack bar. There was just something cool about sitting in the car with your date or your best buddies and listening to a movie through a speaker that was tethered to a pole. Not only were you treated to a double feature but it was probably the one excuse your parents would accept when you stumbled into the house at 1:30 AM especially if you brought the speaker with you because you forgot to take it off before driving out of the theater. So what movies do you remember most from your senior year?
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