Who would fly 1600 miles round trip to watch a film that has been on home video since 1990? We would. A-Bomb and I went to watch The Last Crusade in glorious 70mm film. For those of you who don't know, standard film (before Digital became ubiquitous) is on 35mm. The width of the film is what gives the picture its size on the screen. Now double that, format it properly, and what you get is a grand scale movie you can only dream of if you don't see it for yourself. When the legendary Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, TX brought out their 70mm series I was intrigued. They were going to show films in the magnificent format for a 1 week run only per title. The Last Crusade was week 2 in the series, and I read about this 3 weeks before it was to happen. I was giddy that an opportunity to watch a film in the greatest series ever was going to be available on the big screen. Other than the 4th installment, I had not seen any of the first three in a theatre setting. One text message later this far flung dream was closer to reality than I could have expected. I mean, in reality, who would spend in excess of $500 to go see a movie? A movie I have owned since the day it hit DVD. A movie I also owned in the VHS format. A movie I have seen 30+ times. Me. I would, but to go alone would be foolish. The dumb part is, who would share such a strange adventure with me. Only one person I could think of. And sure enough, without hesitation, A-Bomb immediately replies with, "Let's do it" or something to that nature. I had not expected that response to what I assumed was a joke question on my part. Now it is somewhat real. The next day we had flight tickets before we even had seats to the show. Awesome, right? I will say this, when people find out you are flying somewhere to watch a film, you get 2 initial responses. The first is an assumption that I/we somehow had something to do with the making of the film. That we are film makers/producers. Those are from the people that think like me. The other half immediately question, What movie? Anxiously waiting on our answer, desperately hoping they are meeting someone important, we respond with Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, to which we are met with one of two replies. "That is AWESOME!!!", or "Okay?" which is paired with an expression that really lets us know what they are thinking. These guys are morons. In fact, we are geniuses. We know what makes us happy, and we will have no regrets later that we didn't do something because it may be considered ludicrous by normal standards. It was an adventure that gave us several stories we will be able to pass down. A fun filled 3 days that I will forever embrace as one of the best times of my life, oh ya, and the movie was pretty good as well. Now on to the theatre itself. The Alamo Drafthouse Ritz is in downtown Austin. It is a twin theatre with one huge house that is equipped with the 70mm projector and a smaller house that shows first run films in standard format. It was very cool that we were able to reserve specific seats, so we didn't have to stress about getting there early to snatch up prime viewing real estate. The absolute coolest aspect of it though was what seats we actually reserved. Semi private balcony. Two balconies bookended the auditorium. With a balcony reservation came several perks that made the $20 add on well worth it. Each balcony only had seating for 4. The seating was broken up into 2's, where we were set up in leather, reclining, over sized loveseat that was so cush, it felt like we were at home if our home was equipped with awesome loveseats. If the seating comfort wasn't enough, we were escorted by our personal waiter up a private elevator which led to the projector booth. We walked through the "room where the magic happens" to get to our seats where our waiter asked us what we would like to order. Cool, huh? It gets better. Not only were we able to get a top notch pizza with so many pork bi-products on it, it was called "Porky's Revenge", but it was brought to us mid feature and set on our personal tables so we didn't miss even a single over sized frame of the film. Now, what kind of tasty beverage would we want to wash down this delicious pie? Coke? Water? Naw, how bout a Vodka Tonic. Ya, I'll have that, and when I'm done with it, go ahead and bring me another. Without ever leaving our seats, we were fed and liquored up to perfection while watching Indy ask the castle if they have tapestries. It could not have been a better experience, and yes, I would do it all over again. This story is dedicated to my friend Aaron. With you, apparently even stupid, off the wall notions are possible. Thank You.
NBM rates Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - A Work of Art
NBM rates The Alamo Drafthouse Ritz - A Work of Art
Jester rates the overall trip - A Work of Art
