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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1981)
October 1, 1981 emerald arts & entertainment supplement although Eugene could never be mistaken as a Mecca for movie-nuts, it does offer quite a variety of movies and theaters. From the high-tech plastic world of the modern quads and twins to the simple quaintness of a theater housed in an old funeral home, Eugene movie houses vary in style, price and quality With ticket prices pushing four dollars at many theaters in the area, it now pays to know what you’re getting into before you plunk your dough on the counter and the machine spits those expensive tickets back at you. Half of the struggle is to find a good movie — the other half is to find a good theater While a nice theater may not improve a bad flick, a bad theater will certainly detract from an otherwise pleasant movie experience. Thus, in a fit of benevolence, distractions guides you through the world of walk in theaters in the Eugene-Springfield area The Bijou The Bijou 492 E. 13th Ave. Admission: $2.50; $2 Monday with University I.D. Midnight: $2.50 Friday and Saturday, $1.50 Thursday. The Bijou is housed in the old Will cox Building, which was built as a church, and then used as a combination funeral parlor-wedding chapel Though the idea of viewing a film in the same room where others have viewed their dearly departed may sound strange, the Bijou has established itself as one of the few movie houses in Eugene to have any personality There's a surprise in store for an yone who hasn't visited the Bijou since last spring you can see the screen The old tiny screen has been replaced by a good large one suitable for wide-screen movies While they were at it they re placed the old sound system with Klipsch speakers and added new 35mm projec tion equipment to their old 16mm equip ment The result is one of the best screen images in town accompanied by a good sound system Gone also are the sticky floors and uncomfortable wooden chairs Instead, the Bijou sports full carpeting and good, soft seats Where a double feature at the Bijou used to be a test of endurance, it is now a real pleasure A lot of people are starting to dis cover the Bijou, which means seats are in short supply, (it being a rather small room) Any economics professor can tell you that this means one of two things: (1) you pay more, because demand exceeds supply, or (2) you get to the theater a little early and have some tea The Bijou is aimed at campus audiences, and shows mostly specialty flicks and foreign films The Midnight movies are usually either "Rocky Horror Picture Show" or concert movies (where, as I understand, the speakers release all their pent-up power) Cinema 7 Cinema 7 Atrium Building, W. 10th Avenue and Olive Street. Admission: $3, Sunday matinees $2. If you thought the Bijou was small, try getting a ticket to a good movie at Cinema 7 five minutes before the show Although most of the seats permit a good view of the screen, beware of the seats right next to the massive speakers locat ed between the audience and the screen All the projectionists I've talked to blame it on the print of the film they got, but the volume level varies between painful and unintelligible In true Eugene spirit, Cinema 7 sells fruit juices and animal crackers instead of soft drinks and other "poison " Yes. you can still get popcorn Between fea tures at Cinema 7 you can lounge in the comfy furniture and watch the fish in their aquarium The atmosphere goes well with the standard film fare at the theater: little-known films, cult films, foreign flicks, and a few oldies To pay the bills (so we hear), Cinema 7 has been running "Behind The Green Door" at midnight on weekends as long as anyone can remember Somehow it’s difficult to imagine watching a porno flick while eating animal crackers and drinking or ganic papaya juice, but that’s Eugene for you Cinema World Cinema World Valley River Center Admission: $3.50, Economy Hour $2, Thursday nights $1.50 Perhaps you've been to one of the lavish theaters that used to be in style long ago You know, the kind with foun tains. statues, lots of sofas, and carpet ing so thick you sink up to your knees in it Well, Cinema World isn't like that Cinema World is a normal, modern, high-tech quad theater It's got four rooms (of various sizes), plastic seats which rock, crowded bathrooms, lots of cement and sticky floors Although you probably wouldn't want to live there, it's a fairly nice place to visit Nothing really detracts from the movie, unless they happen to get a par ticularly bad print For instance, Superman II is in such bad shape you might think it was raining upside down through half of the movie. It was so grainy that the sky looked like it was full of pepper Lots of people like Cinema World, and they bring all their cars to the parking lot. On weekends, finding a parking space is almost impossible Sur prisingly enough, Economy Hours and Thursday Night specials aren't too crowded, so save time and money and go then Fine Arts Fine Arts 630 Main St. Springfield. Admission: 99 cents — always. Going to the Fine Arts is quite an experience, whether you see a movie or not Like all other 99 cent-ers, they have an old building with lots of broken seats, warmed-over popcorn, and floors that are so thickly covered with dried Cokes that you can't tell whether it was origin ally cement or what The Fine Arts is cute, if only for its seediness The recorded message on the box office answering machine (747-2201 )is well, amazing When you arrive at the box office, you give your money to a woman who looks at you as if you were Charles Manson's brother and unfolds every crease of your money to make sure you're not pulling a fast one Only then will she carefully slide a penny toward you. being careful not to look at your face. Once inside, you can count on two things: the film will break at least once and every male in the audience will be wearing a baseball cap with a ‘ Mac" truck patch on the front. For a truly moving experience, go to The Univer sity Museum of Art will be filled with masks this month Find out why on Page 2. Tom Lass well and Bob Friedman bat tle it out as the University Theatre revives “In herit The Wind" this weekend Find out more on Page 3. ! i Christopher Cross wasn’t that great when he ap peared in Portland on Sunday Find out what went wrong on Page 6
