A meat and potatoes market
Why we get the movies we do — it’s a combination of common sense, appeal
The motion picture world is frequently
littered with the glitter of stardom — as
witnessed at the most recent display of
Oscardom. Today more and more
directors, technical crews and the like
are gaining their own fame and
popularity.
Though the likes of John Huston and
Francois Truffaut have been around and
drawing their own crowds for some time
now, it is only recently that a majority of
the film-viewing public is cuing into the
director or producer, for example, of a
film.
This is the age of the package film.
Just like toothpaste, nylons and Big
Mac's, the marketers dress up the film
real nicely: just the right actor(s), and
director and cinematographer and
producer. VOILA! You have a winner.
Today actors and others are crossing
over the traditional lines and roles
involved with making a film come to life
on the screen. Consider Lee Grant s Tell
Me a Riddle and Robert Redford’s
Ordinary People — or even Sylvester
Stallone’s Rocky.
The old walls that kept actors acting
and directors directing and
cinematographers photographing appear
to be giving way.
There is glory in the cinema world —
and then, there is devastation. Picking
the movies that are shown in the
Eugene/Springfield theaters is just an
extension of the overall movie industry:
you either make it or you don't.
Tom Lunt is the Eugene/Springfield
booker for the Luxury Theatre chain
based in Portland Theaters under the
domain of Luxury include: Cinema World,
National, McDonald, Mayflower, North
End Drive In, Springfield Quad and Motor
Vu Drive In. Covering Idaho, Washington,
Oregon and California with 160 theaters,
the chain is in the commercial market for
movies.
With the demise of blind bidding
(frequently, bids were made before the
film was even completed — when it was
literally just a germ of an idea), and the
growth of trade screenings, the theater
owner can feel sure that s/he won't lose
his or her skin on the deal.
"It’s a competitive market,” Lunt says.
To feel out a film and to place it in the
appropriate theater, says Lunt, he
basically goes back and looks at the past
records and tries to draw parallels —
whether or not a film was a "stiff” or a
"hit.”
Comedies and escapist movies will
dominate this coming summer, say all the
bookers questioned “Everybody's
depressed," says Lunt, adding: "the
economy's in terrible shape and people
want to be distracted.”
9 to 5 is the current big hit all over the
country. Since times are so bad, 20th
Century Fox is reissuing Star Wars. This
summer you can look forward to a new
Cheech and Chong movie: Nice Dreams,
a new Mel Brooks film: History of the
World Parti, Bill Murray in Stripes, Blake
Edwards and Julie Andrews in S.O.B.
and Dudley Moore in Arthur.
George Hamilton rides into summer
with Zoro the Gay Blade, and Roger
Moore’s 007 hits the screen with For
Your Eyes Only.
There are lots more.
All the movies have one thing in
common; whether comedy, horror or
science-fiction/fantasy, they are a great
form of escapism. A splendid way of
avoiding the foul winds of the political
and economic worlds (if you can afford
the ticket price).
The big escapist film to finally reach us
this summer is Superman II.
Chris Moyer, Eugene/Springfield
I
booker for Portland-based Moyer
Theatres (Valley River Twin, West 11th
and the Eugene Drive In — with other
theaters located throughout Oregon and
California), says that when choosing a
film, she also looks at past records and
works with movie popularity charts.
In Eugene/Springfield, Moyer says that
the West 11th theater is more slapstick,
whereas, the Valley River Twin is more
sophomoric. That’s why, she says, she
can book a foreign film (with great
commercial possibilities) like La Cage
Aux Folles II at the Valley River Twin. The
West 11th, on the other hand, sports
Going Ape and Jerry Lewis' new comedy
Hardly Working.
Both Lunt and Moyer are wary of
taking too many chances when booking.
Claiming that "this isn’t New York or
L A.” and that there just isn't as great a
cultural appetite (in foreign films, for
example), Lunt says he booked the
Japanese film Kagemusha at the
Mayflower — close to campus. But, that
just wasn’t enough to ignite interest in
the film. POOF! It’s gone.
“This is not the art film business," Lunt
says, “it's more meat and potatoes."
Theaters more willing to take chances
with the films shown include the Oakway,
Cinema 7 and the Bijou.
Lee Roy Hallsey at the Oakway says
people like a bargain. Showing good
pictures at a low price, the Oakway
usually has classic films or recent
popular movies. For example, Hallsey
says the theater had the exclusive run of
Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories.
Tomorrow Fame and Hair take the
screen; Private Benjamin and Tell Me
What You Want follow in the coming
weeks.
Hallsey has a rather unique position.
As District Manager for Western
Amusement Company (based in Los
Angeles), Hallsey is able to suggest to
the booker which films he'd like to show:
"Good pictures at a low price."
Independent theater owner Steve Bove
at Cinema 7 listens to his viewers and
combines their suggestions with his
co-workers’, and his film programming
instincts and his connections with film
distributors, when choosing a film to
show.
"I want Eugene to get them (good
international cinema) as soon as
possible," Bove says.
Underlying this decision-making, Bove
says there's always the desire to pay
homage to American and Foreign film
classics.
Aside from movies, Cinema 7 also
houses the wild-and-not-so-normal (but
then, what is normal?) Live Matinee.
Michael Lamont at the Bijou Theatre is
also an independent movie house owner
(there are only two altogether). The
Bijou, the most recent theater arrival on
the local film scene, offers people a
chance to see a "hopefully worthwhile
film in a pleasant place,” says Lamont.
“I’m showing films I hope people want
to see" — such films include Richard III,
Pygmalion, Being There, Rocky Horror
Picture Show and Eraserhead.
On campus, Nina Rumely is the film
programmer for the EMU Cultural Forum.
On Friday and Saturday nights, she
says, films are generally popular movies
that "people have waited to see
cheaper.” On Sundays, Rumely tries to
slip in something different and to
"encourage the idea that for $1.25, you
can afford to take a chance.”
On a larger scale, Ruth Hayler of
Seven Gales, based in Seattle, with
theaters in Portland, hopes that people
will like the movies she likes and
chooses. But, she says, the Portland
theater market is "extremely” difficult
Hayler’s complaint echoes throughout
the Eugene/Springfield and Portland
theater business. The Moyer brothers —
Tom owns the Luxury chain and Larry
owns the Moyer chain — with so many
theaters under their controls, combined
with a bit of in-fighting, make it difficult
for the "little guy" in the theater
business.
Complaints aside, film
booking/programming requires basic
business sense combined with sensitivity
to general appeal.
Eugene/Springfield is a smaller market
though, and even with the campus and
its supposedly intellectual level, we
generally are fed movies like Hooper or
Any Which Way You Can; only at smaller
theater or independent showings are you
likely to find those special or cult films.
Story By Erzsi De’ak
Photos provided by the motion picture
companies
L_:
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