The set-up
Jim owns and operates the local movie theater. He has worked there his entire life, for his father owned it before him. I met the gentleman years ago. He is a fixture in our community, a community booster and one of the good guys. I first met him more than forty years ago. Jim is 85
The incident
I met Jim this particular morning in the lobby of the local post office as I do occasionally. We are both sorting our mail at the tall table, putting the discards into the tall round file at the end of the table.
"Nice catalog," Jim said. "I get one from them about once a month, but I have no idea how I got on their list. I always leave them here on the counter."
"I do that, too. I sometimes get duplicate magazines."
We walked out the front door and down the steps together. "Any good moom pitchers on the schedule?" I asked.
"You bet. I've never seen a bad one."
The take-away
Imagine that. A man who has been in that theater virtually every day of his life for eight decades who has never seen a bad movie. Now that is loving your work.
Got me to thinking about the motion picture industry. (But not too much.) I doubt any writer sets out to write a "bad movie;" it is unlikely that any movie-maker aspires to make a bad movie, and I doubt that a producer would "kick in the bucks" to deliberately shoot a bad movie. Yet I have seen many movies that certainly could not be described as "good."
Guess Jim is one of the lucky ones.
7 comments:
The question in my mind is how does he rate good a not good. Is it by what's on the screen or how many are in the seats. Just saying . . .
Chuck, I would have thought he would have measured the quality by the box office receipts, but I know he's had some that drew skimpy crowds. So maybe he really does simply like movies, no matter what? Still, I bet he likes the ones he has to "hold over" better than he likes the bow-wows.
Sometimes I watch a bad movie to the end, when all I would have to do is push a button and it would be gone. Maybe this is because I think it will get better, or perhaps it is because I have Hollywood in my soul. Tee hee.
I think Jim has never seen a bad one because he hasn't had to pay for them. Drives me crazy when I drop a good chunk of dough to view a stinker.
Ilene, funny. I guess once it jumps in, Hollywood cannot be eradicated from some souls. And yes, I remember.
Lin,I am so with you on this. I recall one occasion about a decade ago when BBBH and I "dropped" the price of two adult ducats at Jim's theater and about twelve minutes into the much-touted feature we nudged each other, nodded, and walked out. The flic went on to be given six Academy Awards including best picture. Ant it is still a stinker.
A recent Hallmark movie left me scratching my head. It starts with a couple losing their baby. Then, while getting rid of baby stuff, the guy picks up board books from the bookshelf and decides they can cope by starting a bookstore. Obviously, no writer, screenwriter, director, or producer involved in this film has lost a baby. I - and I'm sure many others who did not hold the baby they carried - could not get by that and give the film a fair viewing.
BTW: I think Ilene should be required to make a video of herself singing, "Hollywood In My Soul." (and on and on an on.) Dad was appalled when, at age six, she came up with that song.
Vee, back when Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn were featured in HM pix I would watch that channel. Have given it up.
I agree with you on the video. How can we force her to do it?
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