raiders

So I have a bit of a confession, I've never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, at least in it's entirety. I've caught glimpses and seen fragments here and there while flipping up and down the channels. Nope, never seen it. That is until last night.

On Friday afternoon, I was sitting down with Brett during his break and taking a cursory glance at the paper. He spotted a picture in the paper (same af the one one the left) and asked me what the "Raiders" picture was about. I read a bit of the copy and the caption and told him that the Castro Theatre was running Raiders of the Lost Ark because of the 25th anniversary of the film. His eyes lit up and, with the mention of me never having seen the movie, he decided we should go. I agreed and it was set for the the next evening.

All in all it was quite an great evening. I knew exactly what we seeing because I'd seen bits and pieces of it on TV all these years. I got there at 8:30 PM for a 9:20 PM show. I bought my ticket, walked across the street for a slice of pizza and a coke, and then got in line. Brett and his friend, Aaron, got there a little later and we stood around and talked a bit. The Castro had gotten a hold of new 35mm print for this run and, according to the theater owner, it was an original print with no added CGI and other "special edition" crap. We watched the 7:00PM show getting out and marveled at all the people that brought their kids to see this classic that was probably part of their own childhood. We watched as a new crop of wide-eyed, curious kids shuffled out into the night air talking about the cool movie they'd just seen. One kid was leaving sporting a leather jacket and talking about Indy. His father was ecstatically talking to him and commenting about how he and Indy had "matching" jackets and now he just needed the fedora.

The Castro is a historic old theater. I'd been there once before for a San Francisco International Film Festival Event. At that time I wasn't privy to seeing the organ at work. There is a pipe organ in the theatre and an organist plays before the movie. It was awesome and everyone cheered as he went into the Indiana Jones theme.

The movie was great and holds up very well after 25 years . The effects were kind of hokey but it is a 25 year old film. The action was great and Marion is as beautiful as ever (man, I love freckles). Indy rocks and now I probably have to go watch Temple of Doom and the Last Crusade. Maybe for next weekend.