STRAIGHT FROM FATHER GEEK’S BRAIN TO YOUR SCREEN!!!
FATHER GEEK here welcoming you to the Grand Opening of the long awaited "Aint It Cool Museum". I've decided to open the page by relating to you some of the GREATEST CINEMA EXPERIENCES I've had in 50 years of film going and by showing you some images related to those films. Now these are not necessarily the best movies old Father Geek has seen, (though several are) or even the most fun flicks (although many are), they are instead the best , most memorable and exciting TOTAL experiences in movie going that I can remember at this point in time.This list is meant to cover events that spilled out of the screening room cup to stain the hours both before and after a particular film's showing, filling the day or week with joy, excitement, and memories. This register could change at any time, but as of now (Jan. 1999) these are the 25 most funfilled and/or exciting motion picture going encounters of my life. If that holds any interest for you geeks out there that may be just starting on your own trek through the cinema experience then continue reading. These will be listed in reverse order. Boy, it was tough assigning a number to each of these, and I could easily add another 25 film occurrences to the roster, or switch the numbers around on these depending on my mood. (See the final 4 paragraphs to see what I mean)
25. Seeing FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL,KILL at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema last November with Harry, Dannie, and the whole AICN crew from our seats, 2nd row center. I first saw this exploitation classic in 1966 at a little "dive" of a theater on east 6th St. in Austin called The Capri (now defunct), it was so low class you had to step over the sleeping winos to get in the door and then sit on your feet to keep the rats from biting your ankles, but at the time it was the only place you could see a Meyer film in Austin.
A very tipsy Russ Meyer was present at the Alamo to greet us in the lobby before, in my opinion, his best motion picture. You have to understand that "Pussycat" and MOTOR PSYCHO were both made before Russ slipped down that road to self parody and meddling big studio money that came with VIXEN and the films that followed. I've always considered BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS' greatness to be equally the product of Meyer and his writer Roger Ebert, an opinion Russ himself supported during his talk after the film.
Russ gave us a refreshing frank even if somewhat incoherent talk after the film and signed a "Pussycat" 1-sheet for us. He brought some of his personal "Home Movies" made over several years all over the world and they were... well... disreputable to say the least. There was a live strip club band playing and 6 lovely dancing girls from The Crazy Lady all booted up in 60's Go-Go outfits were performing before the flick. Cooooooooool!!!
24. Showing our 16mm prints of COFFY and BORN TO KILL in my backyard last May to a group of about 60 friends and filmmakers who were in town working on THE FACULTY. This marked the 1st time either Harry or I had seen our copies of these two films and they kicked our respective butts. Beautiful prints! The attending rabble went absolutely crazy! We smoked a couple of briskets and devoured several pounds of sausage while emptying a couple of hundred bottles of stout.
I'll tell you something else, once the word spreads that movie professionals are going to be in your backyard, well you can't keep the babes away. I've been throwing very successful screening parties for almost 30 years now, with as many as 1400 guests in attendance on occasion, and the women just never really showed in great numbers, especially unattached ones. Over the years we tried everything, but they just wouldn't manifest themselves in any real numbers. However the series of parties during the filming of THE FACULTY (about 9 of them) were different, at least half of them had more girls than guys. This was the first to show that phenomenon.
We showed films till after 4am including Corman's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, and Charlie Chan's MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. If you've never seen these with an audience before, I recommend you do so at your very 1st opportunity. "Little Shop", especially, is probably one of the most enjoyable Horror spoofs ever made and the long running "Chan" series with Mantan Moreland is just too much fun.
Part Two of An Exploration of the Greatest Film Experiences Known In Father Geek’s Life Span!!!
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