The intro. that explains this thing a little more.
From summer of 1981 until summer of 1989, I saw nearly every G-, PG-, or PG-13-rated movie shown at the Mission Theater (aka Mission Twins) in Dalhart, Texas. And later, yes, the occasional R-rated one.
This amounted to quite a few movies, and I thought it might be fun to reflect on them and the memories from that time.
True to its name, the Mission Twins had two screens, and the movies would change every Friday. Only the most popular features would be held longer than a single week. And even this was a rare occurrence until the late 80s. It was pure churn and burn.
Throughout my formative years, if not interrupted by a high school football game, most of these movies were viewed on a Friday night. Saturday was a big night, too. Especially if there were two good movies showing that week. But Friday night was where it was at.
Keep in mind that this was prior to the advent of renting home videos, so all the kids in town would show up. Going to “The Show” (a small town term I despised at first but soon embraced), was the only way to catch a movie. This wasn’t counting TV, of course. But we didn't have HBO. And how many times could you watch Big Jake or Walking Tall on WTBS?
Given all this, I can think of no better movie to start this adventure with than Raiders of the Lost Ark. But how about tomorrow? It’s been a busy couple of days. My son graduated from pre-school last night and we went out for ice cream to celebrate. Then I stayed up late watching a James Stewart movie on TCM, commemorating what would’ve been his 100th birthday.
And thinking about 100-year-old Jimmy makes me tired.
