The auld days of cinema!!!!

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

Remember in ma childhood going to the cinema when all the big movies came to town.Started going to the cinema in 1978,went to see Superman(three times) and Grease(twice).
In the 80's The Empire Strikes Back(3 times),Return of the Jedi(3 times),The Fox and the Hound(5 times)...loved this film,still do.

The reason for ma gossip.Is it just me or are the days of getting addicted to the cinema gone or is it still there.

Still go up to Thurso to catch a film if I can.Is it the expense,or DVD's oot four months after the film.Or are their some of ye who are still addicted?:lol:

[canuck]

I can approach this somewhat objectively. Cinema addiction was never one of my issues. I had others though, but that is another thread.

However, on the theme of addictions, it helps to have a source for ones addictions. In Wick there is no cinema. Pretty hard to be addicted to something that doesn't exist. On a more global front, I think that you are right in your observation that cinema addiction seems to be waning. With so many other options for entertainment (addiction) the cinema no longer commands the same place in society.

[changilass]

Would love to be able to go to the cinema, but watching films with the lights out isn't an option, the bright flickering lights on the screen set my migraine off.[disgust]

I used to love going when I was younger, saw Silver Dream Machine and Grease a number of times. Went to see Monty Python's Meaning of life, It was great, everyone in the audience singing along with "Every sperm is sacred....":lol:

[Kolskegg]

I have many good memories from the cinemas in both Wick and Thurso.

I can recall queuing for a good long time to see "Jaws" for the first time. I also remember Bruce Lee pictures playing to a packed house. I have vivid memories of seeing "Rollerball" with a bunch of mates - on video or DVD the movie seems fairly dull, but at the time the atmosphere was great. I had a blast watching "Stir Crazy" in Wick, and literally falling out of the seat I was laughing so much. The last movie I saw in the '80s would have been John Carpenter's "The Thing" in Thurso.

Possibly the best movie experience of all was "Alien" in an Edinburgh cinema. The audience was feeding off its own fear, and the tension was palpable.

[sjwahwah]

Would love to be able to go to the cinema, but watching films with the lights out isn't an option, the bright flickering lights on the screen set my migraine off.[disgust]

I used to love going when I was younger, saw Silver Dream Machine and Grease a number of times. Went to see Monty Python's Meaning of life, It was great, everyone in the audience singing along with "Every sperm is sacred....":lol:

have you tried feverfew for the migraines?

[Ricco]

Remember in ma childhood going to the cinema when all the big movies came to town.Started going to the cinema in 1978,went to see Superman(three times) and Grease(twice).
In the 80's The Empire Strikes Back(3 times),Return of the Jedi(3 times),The Fox and the Hound(5 times)...loved this film,still do.

The reason for ma gossip.Is it just me or are the days of getting addicted to the cinema gone or is it still there.

Still go up to Thurso to catch a film if I can.Is it the expense,or DVD's oot four months after the film.Or are their some of ye who are still addicted?:lol:

Ha, ha! Oh, I had to laugh (sorry) but the good old days? I was going to the 'flea pit' in Thurso back in '61 - '64. Now that was th :lol: e good old days... not! I think I saw Dam Busters, Macbeth amongst others.

[Dreadnought]

I started going to the pictures in the mid-seventies. I remember the seats used to have ashtrays built into the backs and somehow the carpet was sticky. First film I went to see (without a parent) was Live And Let Die. There was always a B feature before the main movie, so you got two films for the price of one, and if you enjoyed it you could stay in your seat for the next showing.

[brokencross]

I vividly remember when I was at the North School, we had a school trip to the pictures. I lived at 47 Coach Road and I remember i was in the procession children going past my house. We went to see Greyfriars Bobby at the Pavilion. That was in 1961 and yes I cried. Haven't been to a cinema for ages now though.

[katarina]

I started going to the pictures in the mid-seventies. I remember the seats used to have ashtrays built into the backs and somehow the carpet was sticky. First film I went to see (without a parent) was Live And Let Die. There was always a B feature before the main movie, so you got two films for the price of one, and if you enjoyed it you could stay in your seat for the next showing.

memories memoties - and those locely ice lolllies - I think they were called Duos the thought still tickles my salavery glands!

[sapphire]

I have very fond memories of going to the 'pictures' in the days of the old Pavillion .In my day it was the place to go for a date (do they still use that word for it now ?).I like to think of it fondly as atmospheric....as opposed to dark and shabby, with its old uncomfy seats and who could forget the usherette with her torch forever keeping a watchful eye on the back row!.....
Not that I ever partook of any nonsense, perhaps I was just a shade too young for that!! I used to worry about getting past the ticket collector to see the 18 rated film when we weren't old enough...who wanted the embarrassment of being turned away at the door (and no I don't think that any of the films I went to see could ever be regarded as 'naughty'!!!)
Aye ,I just don't think that the cinema in Thurso can compare.But memories are great...aren't they ? :)

[brokencross]

Sapphire, I think back with fondess to the days of the back row, my girlfriend and I used to get lumbered with taking our younger siblings to the pictures. We used to sit in the back row with them down the front. If I remember rightly there used to be "twin seats" near the back row.

[obiron]

I mind going to see a star trek at the wick cinema had to get woken up when it was done. Did go to the films when they had it at the assembly rooms. now i go to thurso when its a film i can take my boys to the last one being pirates of the caribbean 2. Its a dear day out once you add the bus the tickets, the popcorn kids have to have and our lunch.
still its a day out though.

[cuddlepop]

I remember growing up in Glasgow every Saturday morning was spent at the pictures.It was a matinee session and me and my friend had to take our wee brothers.We were only eight and no one batted an eye lid about all these kids watching kids.Think it made me more responsible.Still love going although at £5 50 a go here its expensive and the seats so un comfortable..
Need to take a cushion..[lol]

[sapphire]

Sapphire, I think back with fondess to the days of the back row, my girlfriend and I used to get lumbered with taking our younger siblings to the pictures. We used to sit in the back row with them down the front. If I remember rightly there used to be "twin seats" near the back row.


You have to laugh...were'nt parents sneaky then ,making you take the younger ones with you!!I bet it kept you on the straight and narrow though.lol.
I also remember the queues for ice-cream at the interval and how on a busy night the little pots (you know ...the ones with the wooden 'stick' for want of a better word ) would be all melted and runny ,and you'd drip it down your front just when you were trying to impress your companion!!

[brokencross]

At the end everyone used to stand for the national anthem, and I remember if you had been to a matinee and came out from the dark into the sunshine everything and everybody looked odd until your eyes adjusted. as a child I used to go every Saturday morning when it was only pennies to get in; then spend the rest of the day reliving all the action, whether it was a good old cowboy or a war film...great stuff.

[sapphire]

When young we used to watch the saturday morning matinees at the cinema in Thurso.Buck Rodgers,if I remember correctly, although I'm NOT THAT OLD.!!
What used to get me though was the fact that the next weeks episode never quite seemed to continue where the last one finished....he always managed to escape before it was too late even though you would have put good money on it that he was a goner for sure!!!!
Funny how I remember that but not the actual films!...they must have been really good! lol :D

[brokencross]

I am sure when I went they still had the old Pathe newsreels and I always remember the Pearl and Dean music with the big pillars. When I was little I wasn't too impressed by the lion roaring at the start of some films..MGM I think.

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

Ha, ha! Oh, I had to laugh (sorry) but the good old days? I was going to the 'flea pit' in Thurso back in '61 - '64. Now that was th :lol: e good old days... not! I think I saw Dam Busters, Macbeth amongst others.

Good one Ricco.Ma good auld days meant that I could go to the cinema with 75p.....this would get me into the cinema,bag o' popcorn and a bottle o' ginger(juice).:lol:

[Rheghead]

The thing that I miss nowadays in the cinema is the National Anthem being played before the curtain raise, I remember feeling such a rush of emotion at that time.

[The Pepsi Challenge]

I remember the Thurso Picture House fondly and very vividly (after all I lived right next door to it). The atmosphere was amazing, the art deco furnishing and design fabulous; who could forget buying a Strawberry Mivvi or an Orange Maid from the ushers during the changing of the reels? And what was the name of the wee wifie who used to serve confectionary from the wee window just inside the foyer? I heard she passed away after a long period suffering Alzhiemers. Anyway, she was as sweet as the macaroon bars they served there. I clearly remember seeing The Fox And The Hound, Star Wars-Empire Strikes Back (double bill), The Dark Crystal, Tron (amazing on that size of a screen), and, of course, the very last film ever shown there - Superman III. I remember coming out after the film and the sun was still shining hot - it was one of the hottest days ever in Thurso, that year ('84). I used to love walking past Sir George Street and looking forward to what films were appearing on the 'bubble' boards. And who can forget the time when The Retrun of the Jedi (or Revenge as it was known for a brief time) posters were posted up inside the cinema, informing people about pirated copies and such like. (There was a reward, wasn't there?) What's really sad about it, though, is that closing the cinema was a huge mistake: when it closed audience figures were actually back on the rise. I'll never forgive them for that. And because it turned into Skinandis - but that's another story...

[Errogie]

The two seats at the back of the balcony in Thurso were known as the "crows nest". You always got street cred if you could manuevre a young lady into that location!

Cinema is alive and kicking in Inverness with the multi plex at Inshes but it's a different experience from the old days, wrap around sound and screen really pull you into feature. My most memorable cinema experience has to be being taken to see Dr. Shivago in the Odeon Leicester Square at age 18 by my cousin's gorgeous Irish nanny. Leaving home for the first time and a great landmark in growing up and making that inevitable break with the northlands.
Ah, nostalgia!