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What Movies Have You Seen in a Theater More Than Once?

August 11, 2010 By Jeff 77 Comments

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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Comments

  1. T. Farty McAppleass says

    August 11, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    If you see any pornography movies featuring a guy wearing a viking helmet, it’s probably me.

    Reply
  2. Ed says

    August 11, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    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.

    Reply
  3. johnthebasket says

    August 11, 2010 at 6:47 pm

    Chuck in Belpre, on August 11th, 2010 at 3:38 pm Said:
    .

    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

    Reply
  4. johnthebasket says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    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

    Reply
  5. Not Oprah says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    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.

    Reply
  6. chill says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:19 pm

    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.

    Reply
  7. Brittney says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    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…

    Reply
  8. retrollama says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:46 pm

    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.

    Reply
  9. retrollama says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    Oh. Forgot about “Bladerunner”. One of my top films of all time.

    Reply
  10. t-storm says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    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.

    Reply
  11. retrollama says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:52 pm

    And Tim Burton’s entire ouevre. Sheesh… except for “Planet of the Apes”, I’ve paid to see them all multiple times too.

    Reply
  12. dto says

    August 11, 2010 at 7:56 pm

    icecycle66…when seeking counsel from a council of elders…it is not wise to start with…”Hey old folks”.

    Reply
  13. dto says

    August 11, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    Icey…I think a…”Sorry dude”…is in order.

    Reply
  14. Jersey Scott says

    August 11, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    “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.

    Reply
  15. johnthebasket says

    August 11, 2010 at 11:03 pm

    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

    Reply
  16. mountie9wv says

    August 11, 2010 at 11:16 pm

    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.

    Reply
  17. Not Oprah says

    August 12, 2010 at 4:09 am

    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

    Reply
  18. Not Oprah says

    August 12, 2010 at 4:11 am

    “who’s hav’n relations?” “sometimes I have relations with myself”

    Reply
  19. johnthebasket says

    August 12, 2010 at 6:09 am

    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

    Reply
  20. Dave's not here, man says

    August 12, 2010 at 8:00 am

    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.

    Reply
  21. bikerchick says

    August 12, 2010 at 8:31 am

    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.

    Reply
  22. Shiny Rod says

    August 12, 2010 at 8:37 am

    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.

    Reply
  23. Son Of Sam says

    August 12, 2010 at 10:53 am

    Annie fucking Hall? your kidding right?

    Reply
  24. Chuck in Belpre says

    August 12, 2010 at 11:05 am

    I think he threw that in to see if we were paying attention. I hope.

    Reply
  25. Dave's not here, man says

    August 12, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    @bikerchick – I never understood why he liked Sondra either – she doesn’t do it for me, that’s for sure.

    Reply
  26. Son Of Sam says

    August 12, 2010 at 12:19 pm

    I always figured it had to be the best head he ever had.

    Reply
  27. Juancho says

    August 12, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    http://www.refresheverything.com/senetworkopeningdoors

    Y’all hook a brother up and vote for this non-profit I’m trying to help. They’re good people. As an added bonus you can be influenced by Pepsi’s viral marketing campaign that attempts to link soda to altruism. Score!

    Reply
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