What Movies Have You Seen in a Theater More Than Once?
While perusing the Surf Report photo library this morning, I came across this one, and started thinking about the two guys pictured and their special brand of nerd humor. As geek “jokes” go, theirs is a good one. But I have a feeling (and I could be wrong) their overall hit/miss ratio isn’t too impressive. Ya know?
Then I started thinking about the number of times those two douche-bobs have likely seen the Star Wars movies. And then, the films I’ve seen in theaters more than once…
I’ve never been a huge movie buff. I don’t know why, but that’s one obsession which passed me by. Music, baseball, and anti-social humor magazines took up most of the space in my head when I was a youngling. And maybe there wasn’t enough room for film fanaticism? I’m unclear on it.
In any case, my list of movies seen in theaters more than once is quite abbreviated. In fact, I can only think of two. There might be more, but I can’t think of them right now.
The first was Monty Python’s Life of Brian. It’s by far my favorite Python movie; I thought it was freakin’ brilliant the first time I watched it, and still do. Some of you will probably gasp when I admit this, but I could never get into Holy Grail. There are a few funny sequences, but here’s video footage of me watching most of that movie.
Life of Brian, however, is great throughout. Plus, there were wild, crazed church people in front of the theater, protesting the film. They had signboards and the whole nine yards. It was great! After crossing a picket line of humorlessness, then seeing a hilarious movie… man, what an intoxicating experience. I had to do it again!
And on the second trip, a few days later, the furor had died down a lot and the protesters were just going through the motions. There were only a few remaining, and they were phoning it in. Kinda disappointing, but the movie still kicked ass.
The second one also blew me away: the original 1978 version of Dawn of the Dead. Holy shit! I’d never experienced anything like that before, nothing had even come close. It was just wall-to-wall creative gore, but was also funny and suspenseful. It’s still one of my favorite movies of all time. That shit is a masterpiece, straight-up.
I saw it at the theater with some friends, and we couldn’t stop talking about it. So many great scenes… And the fact that it was set inside an abandoned mall made it even cooler. Yeah, I need to dig out the DVD and watch if again, for the fifth or sixth time.
This was back during an era before easy access to everything at all times, so when Dawn of the Dead popped up as a midnight movie a couple of years later, I was super-excited. I was dating a girl at the time, and had talked-up the film so much, she reluctantly went along with me. She said she wasn’t a horror fan, but I told her it’s not really horror. It’s so much more.
Yeah, and I think she started crying around the halfway mark. Just sobbing like a crazy person… WTF? We left the theater (dammit!), and I couldn’t console her. She cried all the way home, and was crying as she slammed the door of her house in my face.
What in the ever-lovin’ heck?? Worst date ever. At least up to that point… it was later surpassed. But that’s another story for another day.
And that’s it for me. I seriously can’t think of any other movies I’ve seen in a theater more than once. The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Maybe. But that was just to throw stuff and act like a jackass in the dark.
What about you? Do you have anything on this subject? What movies have you seen in a theater the most times? Tell us about it, won’t you? Use the comments link below.
And I’ll be back tomorrow, my friends.
See ya then!
Now playing in the bunker
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Filed under: Daily
FIRST. A GREAT EVENT IN AN OTEHRWISE SHITTY SHITTY DAY!!!
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I had a girl bawl with “white guilt” after I took her to see Amistad. She wanted to hug every African American in the theatre and apologize. She simply couldn’t stop and it ruined the night as it went on long into the post movie drinkin’ time.
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TWO – and Congrats, Tilly!
Never went to a theater twice for any movie. Who the hell had the money?
But I’ve watched movies a skillion times over. Jaws, Goodfellas, My cousin Vinny, Planes Trains & Auromobiles – I can probably recite entire passages.
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Rocky Horror, of course,
and Jurassic Park.
My ex & I went through a financial hard time a while back, and thankfully the town we lived in had a 39¢ hamburger stand and a 99¢ theater. too m any friday night dates for under $10.00.
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Star Wars- Summer of 77 in Nacogdoches TX, my friends & I would ride our bikes to the giant old theatre on the main drag at around 11am, & watch all the SW matinees, playing pinball between each feature. It was a good way to escape the rotten chicken stink I mentioned in yesterday’s comments. Probably saw it at least 30 times that summer.
Army Of Darkness- Being the prolific stoner I was in the early 90s, it was mandatory that I owned Evil Dead 1&2 on VHS. I was a huge fan of the Raimi/Campbell duo when AOD came to theatres, & I was fully engorged with blood & anticipation. Would hotbox for 30 minutes in a Dallas cineplex parking lot with friends before the 11pm showing. Did that routine roughly 5 times…it never disappointed.
Probably caught the Rockies 1-4 multiple times each, along with the John Hughes teen flicks of the 80s. But SW & AOD are the most prolific in my somewhat damaged memory.
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I mowed grass all summer long back in 1980 to see ‘AIRPLANE!’ a total of 13 times. Love, love, love that movie!
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Rocky Horror was the only one.
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Did anyone ever see the Triumph the insult dog clip of him in line with all the Star Wars nerds? That is some hilariousness! I couldn’t stop laughing!
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Hitchcocks’ The Birds twice – yeh i’m that old.
I’ve seen every James Bond movie at least twice (except for the ones starring Roger Moores stuntman.)
Animal House
The Exorcist
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I’m sure there were others – stoopid enter key – stoopid
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Animal House was probably the only one, and that was cause it was at a $1.00 movie house.
I’m not old enough to have seen it at the movies, but Its a Mad, mad, mad, mad, world was as funny a movie ever made.
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jurassic park twice since it was re-released.
phantom menace twice and revenge of the sith twice
titanic twice i think, maybe it just seems like i saw it twice.
dawn of the dead is awesome.
The Walking Dead on AMC should be awesome, too.
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“Easy Rider” twice when it first came out. Nothing after that.
Oh…wait…I was playing in L.A. in ’75, I’d guess and there was daily double feature me and this wacked out piano player, Mike, use to go to a lot. Maybe daily…dunno.? We’d get totally baked and go see “Deep Throat” and “Behind the Green Door”. I’m not making that up!
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I’ve seen a handful of movies in the theater twice, mostly because I’ve gone with two groups of people who ended up seeing something I wanted to see again anyway.
Grindhouse was awesome both times, as was Inception and the Dark Knight – particularly because they were all awesome movie theater experiences.
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The last movie I went to see in a theater was E.T. and I only watched it once. I don’t go to theaters anymore because I have a debilitating fear that somone besides me will have a gun in there, and I might get my brain shot out.
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When I was dating my now husband, his way of courting me was to invite me over to see his fancy new piece of electronic equipment, the VCR. That thing was huge! He showed me Dawn of the Dead over and over, stopping to impress me by slow-mo’ing the zombie death scenes. Yes, he’s quite the romantic!
I spent one summer seeing The Exorcist every weekend night. I mean maybe15 times. I was with a boyfriend, and it WAS the outdoor, so I probably only saw the actual movie 5 times.
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oh yeah, et and return of the jedi twice. three times for jedi if you count the special edition
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Triumph the Comic Dog at the Star Wars Movie line is one of the funniest things I have ever seen!!! In fact, my husband and I recite lines from it on a regular basis!!
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which one of these buttons calls your mom to come pick you up?
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I used to go to the movies to see films I really enjoyed again quite regularly. Then I became a dad and that kind of ended that luxury. Never mind, no point in crying over spilled semen, as my mum used to say!
I did manage a double dose of Watchmen last year, and a few years back I was blown away by the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre so that got a repeat visit.
Others include Layer Cake, Gladiator, and Man on Fire.
I’m sure there are more but I’ll leave it there.
Peace out!
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Jurassic Park….twice I think….:D
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I tried to watch Spider-Man 2 twice, but sex kept getting in the way.
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Only current movie I have seen more than once in the theatre was Avatar. Saw it in all formats, IMAX was the best of the three. I have also seen Blazing Saddles at least a million times and I still roll on the floor laughing. Shaft and Silverado got at 3 trips too!
mudpup – that was a good movie and I was old enough to see it in the theatre as a Saturday afternoon double feature with “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” They just plain don’t make comedy like that but Zombieland comes pretty close. Don’t forget the Double Tap.
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I saw Blazing Saddles twice in a row when it first came out. Only paid for one admission, though.
My brother and I sat through Vanishing Point and S*P*Y*S twice in the same day. Yes, 4 movies in one day.
The record has to be The Last Waltz. The movie played at the Ziegfeld Theatre in NYC for an entire summer. Whenever we got bored, we’d get toasted and go see the movie. We even had favorite seats. They were broken, which allowed for great rocking.
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only movie I can think of is Rocky Horror. I must have seen that 300 times in the theater when I was in high school. It was an easy place to meet boys and get messed up.
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OK…don’t laugh…but I must have seen Titanic at least 4 times. And I still love it. Not for the love story, so stop rolling your eyes! But for the history, the era, and unbelievable, painstaking recreation of the ship and passengers.
So while you’re laughing…the other movie I saw, in my highschool days, at least 5 times, was Grease. Cue the eye roll.
Anything else I’ve seen over and over has been DVD.
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Oh…and Dawn of the Dead was filmed outside of Pittsburgh at the Monroeville Mall. At that time tha mall had an indoor ice skating rink that I thought was the coolest thing. I believe it is now the food court.
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Over and over DVDs…Lonesome Dove…Tombstone Poolhall Junkies and Office Space.
The nearest movie house from here is fifty miles away and I think they’re still running “Bambi”.
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The WVSR Classic link today is truly a classic!
The next time I am in an airport and see a fatigue-wearing member of the US armed services, I will make sure to thank them for their service. However, the next time I see a member of the US Navy, I will remember to thank them for their excellent, world-class blow jobs.
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“there’s is a pretty good one.”
ahem- this is awkward…
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I was playing the Registry Hotel in downtown Phoenix when they were filming the movie “The Gaulent” on the street next to the hotel. Fucking amazing!
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I vaguely remember going to see a movie, where we took in beer, packages of hot dogs and a sack of chocolate baking chips to throw (not the beer). Oh yeah, Rocky Horror, dismantled some nerdlet’s flashlight and threw all of the contents. Good times.
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“Gauntlet”…crap!
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Most theater-viewings of a single movie?
Probably Pink Floyd The Wall and the ubiquitous Rocky Horror flick.
Only saw either one of those 2 or 3 times, however.
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i hate rocky horror. hate hate hate.
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Today’s WVSR classic link is great!
Hooray for the U.S. Navy?!
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I also hate rocky horror.
Hey old folks, what did people do at work to screw off before the internet/ I am going to be without it Thrusday and Friday and I don’t know what to do with myself.
Do I need to bring a newspaper, or a chimney brush or something?
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dto: Did you see Clint Eastwood?? That’s when he was in his handsome days!!!
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This one’s easy. It begins and ends with ANIMAL HOUSE.
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From the looks of things you might try reading The Elements of Style.
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Ha!!! I saw Jurassic Park a bunch of times. That was when digital sound came out or some shit. I would have also seen Avatar a few times…but movies are expensive. eek!!!
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jurassic park was the coolest thing in 93. i like those movies just because i like dinosaurs. just like a movie about zombies without a plot would appeal to me.
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bikerchick…Yep!! Sure did. They actually let me on the set. I don’t know why but there I was. Honest.
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dto – Lonesome Dove is without a doubt, one of the BEST westerns. The book was fantastic, too.
I’ve seen “Gimme Shelter” a few times in the theater.
icecycle66 – sometimes, we actually worked! But goofing off in the old days usually meant going for coffee and wandering off for about 1/2 hour.
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I saw the movie the Butterfly Effect twice. Make fun all you want, I liked that movie.
Army of Darkness scared me when I was kid…I like them both now. That scary mom in the basement still gives me the creeps though.
My cousin and I also went and saw Austin Powers with Fat Bastard in it 4 times I think…the last time we were in the theatre alone. It was fun.
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Did anybody see any of the Saul movies?
One of my buddies went to see one of them and he passed out after getting up to walk out on a gruesome scene. I can’t imagine a movie being so shockingly repulsive that it makes you pass out.
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Hostel 2 almost did that for me when they sliced off some guys berries with a hedge clipper.
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Let me preface this by saying I was 13 in 1997…
I saw “Titanic” 6 times in the theater. Maybe 7.
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I do not recall having seen the same movie twice in a theater.
I do recall my Uncle Eddie telling me he was a zombie extra in the ‘Dawn of the dead’. He went to Monroeville Mall in PGH for the shooting. The extra’s put make-up on eachother and zombied around. So he claims.
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I’ve watched Beetlejuice so many times I practically have it memorized. I think it’s really funny. Michael Keaton as Betelguise is depraved, obnoxious, and perverted, and Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz is brilliant. Glenn Shadix as Otho is spot on. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis round out the cast. I could watch it every day.
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If you see any pornography movies featuring a guy wearing a viking helmet, it’s probably me.
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Jeff, I too watched The Life of Brian multiple times in the theater, the first time twice in a row. It was just way beyond anything else.
Anytime The Big Lebowski is on, I have to watch at least some of it, even though I’ve seen it many times. I catch something new every time. Any of the Coen bros. movies are great for re-watching that way.
Also, anything by Charlie Kaufman.
For the most part, though, good quality TV shows have movies completely beat as far as I’m concerned. Most movies are just too dumbed-down to watch.
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Chuck in Belpre, on August 11th, 2010 at 3:38 pm Said:
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Dammit, Chuck. You’re supposed to raise a flag before you dive for the nuts. I evacuated my mouth AND large intestine. Don’t get me wrong. It was worth it.
jtb
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I stopped going to theaters in 1970 because that’s when the bastards stopped letting me smoke. They expected me to watch MASH smokeless. Fuck them.
For slightly more than half my life, seeing a movie twice meant going to the theater twice. I understand the candy and stuff there is still a bargain.
best witches,
jtb
OB12
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I can barely make it through one movie have walked out on some. I think it was ‘About Schmidt’ with Jack Nicholson ( I almost said John but googled it to avoid a surfer trashing) that I went to with friends, but it was so painfully boring that I went for a walk and came back to pick them up at the end.
I enjoyed ‘twister’ at the theatre but only saw it once. Only movies I ever bought that I could watch more than once was ‘Austin Powers” (damn that was funny) and ‘Lost Boys’.
Ice – Buy a puzzle book or magazine and put it inside some kind of manual you should actually be reading.
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About all I have is Rocky Horror, and that was in the early 1980s. Nowadays, even if I wanted to see a movie again, it would be out of the theater before I could get the car turned around to go back.
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I’ve probably seen the movie Big Fish 50 times. Tim Burton is a genious…I’ve probably seen every one of his movies over and over, but Big Fish is my favorite.
Oh, and Forrest Gump of course. I cry at the same parts everytime…when he jumps off the boat waving because he sees Luitenant Dan on the boat dock in his wheelchair, and when Jenny dies. I could watch that movie every day.
I’ve also seen the Beatles movie ‘Help!’ so many times I can recite it…
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I’ve been a life-long movie watcher. When I was kid, way back in the 1970′s, parents actually used to let their children spend entire Saturdays at a movie theater. Back then, you were able to stay inside the theater and watch the same film as many times as you wanted. I’ve lost track of how many times I saw “Willy Wonka”, “The Aristocats” and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.”
As a teen, I paid to see “Ghostbusters” and “E.T” probably 10 times each.
I still continue to enjoy multiple theater viewings of the same films. Many come to mind: The first “Austin Powers”, “Desperately Seeking Susan”, “”Purple Rain”, “Natural Born Killers”,”Reservoir Dogs”, “Pulp Fiction”. “Clerks”, “Carnival of Souls”, “Blue Velvet”, “Grindhouse”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotted MInd…” , etc. What can I say? I just love movies.
Glad to see all the love for “Dawn of the Dead”. That’s one of my faves as well. Last year, I had the pleasure of attending a double feature of “Night of the Living Dead” and “Dawn of the Dead”, hosted by Mr. George Romero himself. Got to meet him afterwards, too! He was incrediblly awesome.
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Oh. Forgot about “Bladerunner”. One of my top films of all time.
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movies I watch a lot:
The Accountant
Aliens
Any Terminator movie
Night/Day/Dawn/Return of/ etc the living dead.
Predator. Except I always tune into it after Jesse Ventura is dead.
I usually get sucked into the Godfather but have yet to see any of them entirely.
Any Star Wars movie.
Two Girls one Cup.
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And Tim Burton’s entire ouevre. Sheesh… except for “Planet of the Apes”, I’ve paid to see them all multiple times too.
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icecycle66…when seeking counsel from a council of elders…it is not wise to start with…”Hey old folks”.
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Icey…I think a…”Sorry dude”…is in order.
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“Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” … saw it 3 times in the theatre as I recall. Different groups of friends I just HAD to introduce that fine, fine film to.
‘Watchmen” twice. We had a friend who hadn’t seen it. It was good, but maybe not “pay to see it twice” good.
“Rocky Horror Picture Show” numerous times. Hey, it was fun … and the girls who attend often have a … morally casual attitude.
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A list of favorite movies, like Sarah Palin and the question of abortion, constitute a kind of Rorschach test in America. Here is the result of my test: movies I have watched at least five times and will watch again at the slightest provocation…
Zero Effect
The Thin Man
Casablanca
Get Shorty
Searching For Bobby Fischer
El Dorado
The Maltese Falcon
Sunset
A Night at the Opera
Duck Soup
Dr. Strangelove
Annie Hall
The Big Lebowski
Slapshot
.
I suppose there are a few more, but that’s it off the top of my head. They are listed roughly in the order I love them.
jtb
OB12
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Not Oprah – Awesome that you said “Lost Boys.” As I was reading the comments, I never imagined seeing that on anyone’s list but mine. I rode my bike to watch it 7 days in a row.
My viewings of “Lost Boys” just happened to be during a time when the small WV town I grew up in was going through a big “devil worshiper” scare. Supposedly orgies and pet deaths were rampant as well as the kidnapping of young hooligans on bikes. It was a fitting atmosphere to watch vampires. Thought it was bullshit at the time. Later learned that my babysitter was implicated in the whole scandal. I just thought that her use of the Ouija board (I know, its bullshit, or at least her use of it) and letting a ten year old play with her tits was part of her job. It was fun as shit and I still get a kick out of it. No shit, that was a great summer.
Also watched LOTR more than once at the theater. Yep. Have the DVDs and watch them also, along with others. Every single time I watch Dazed and Confused, Fear and Loathing, or Blow, i get into trouble.
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Jersey Scott – yes Peewee’s Big Adventure is truly a classic. Makes me fall on the floor laughing.
Jeezum F’n train just woke me up (it’s 2 a.m. here)
Also I usually just catch old TV movies, Nutty Professor has been on (dang that’s funny). Who’s hav
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“who’s hav’n relations?” “sometimes I have relations with myself”
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Two Tings:
1) I know that, in the first sentence of my previous comment, the subject doesn’t agree with the predicate. Bad John, bad John.
2) I didn’t include documentaries in my fav movie list. Had I, I would have listed my favorite documentary of all time, When We Were Kings. I think you should own it, but when it comes right down to the short strokes, it’s none of my fucking business what you own.
See you all Sunday night.
best as always,
jtb
OB12
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The only movies I can think of seeing multiple times at the actual theater are Star Wars (everyone saw that movie more than once) and The Blues Brothers. Good movie, but the absolute senseless destruction of cars is what brought me back again and again.
I don’t think I’ve ver seen a Clint Eastwood western movie in a theater, but I own all the DVDs and recite lines from them at the most inappropriate times.
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dto: Clint has always been one of my very favorites from his spaghetti westerns to the Dirty Harry days. I would have been thrilled to see him in his hayday. He had breathtakenly good looks. Did you see Sondra too? I never understood the attraction he had with her. But then again I’m not a dood.
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jim britton, lee harvey Ramone – I am not humored, not one bit. If you see a red dot, it’s already too late.
t-storm – Two Girls One Cup but you hate Rock Horror?
T. Farty McAppleass – In porno movies, who notices a Viking helmet!
jtb – What about “A Day At The Races”? That was the best of the three.
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Annie fucking Hall? your kidding right?
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I think he threw that in to see if we were paying attention. I hope.
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@bikerchick – I never understood why he liked Sondra either – she doesn’t do it for me, that’s for sure.
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I always figured it had to be the best head he ever had.
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