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Posted: |
Dec 18, 2022 - 12:47 PM
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By: |
Zooba
(Member)
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I took my family to see it at the Century 21 theater in San Jose, Ca. I bought tickets in advance at Bass Tickets because we knew there would be lines on opening day May 21, 1980. We got there three hours early to get good seats and fortunately the weather was good because we had to wait out in the parking lot. We had a great time.
That's so cool Adam. I grew up in San Jose starting at age 2 from 1959-1984 and the Century Theaters were a big part of my life. Saw 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY first run at Century 21 in 1968 when I was 10 years old. Years later 1977-1979 I worked at all of the Centurys starting at Century 23 with OH GOD! I mainly worked at 23 but did guest gigs at all of them, even Century 25 out on Saratoga Ave. at Westgate. I remember working the movies SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, JULIA, ANIMAL HOUSE, MEATBALLS, BRASS TARGET, THE GREEK TYCOON, CAPRICORN ONE, ALIEN at Century 22 and worked the Box Office at Century 21 selling advance tickets to APOCALYPSE NOW, STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE, 1941 and more. 1979 was a big year for Advance ticket sales and I think my last year working at the Theaters. I started a job at Pacific Bell in 1980. Of course I saw STAR WARS first run at Century 22 and remember a Riot almost Breaking out at a Sneak Preview of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER at Century 22. I remember some of those front glass doors being shattered. What a night. I attended a Sneak of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK at Century 21 and at 23 we got Stink Bombed through the air conditioner system when there was a Projectionist Strike. Evacuating full houses on a Saturday Night was not fun. Sad that all the Century Theaters accept 21 have now been torn down. They considered Century 21 an Historic Landmark Theater and couldn't touch it, but now I believe it sadly still sits empty, lost in the middle of new Santana Row construction and parking. Santana Row was the old Town and Country Village back in the day. You would remember. Town & Country Cinema where I saw SUPERMAN and THE FURY and PLAYERS first run. I think THE OMEN played there too. Even Steven Spielberg when he attended Saratoga High School in the 60's would frequent Century 21 to see movies. I moved to L.A. from 1984 to 2003 and am now actually back in Campbell in my old place where I lived when I was in High School. Are you or your family still here, Santa Clara Valley? Amazing. Sorry everyone and Adam to ramble on so. But cool memories.
Regarding EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, loved it and most likely saw it at Century 21 as well first run. Loved getting THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Soundtrack LP. What a beautiful presentation.
Perhaps STAR WARS started at Century 21, but I remember seeing it at 22 on their big screen. 22 had one big screen dome and 2 additional side somewhat smaller domes with smaller screens, attached.
https://www.roadarch.com/14/8/sjcentury.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/romleys/13340158075
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Look closely at Harrison Ford's lips when she says that. He's lip syncing her line as she says it. He obviously read the script!
You can see Patrick Stewart do that in "First Contact" also just before he freaks out at Lily. Whoops!
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This is not unheard of for actors, but I've never noticed it with my own eyes. There's an anecdote somewhere, maybe Inside Star Trek (Justman, Solow), saying that Shatner was doing the same thing at one point, and a film editor tipped him off to it.
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Empire remains not only my all time favorite Star Wars film, it is also one of my favorite movies ever. It checks all the boxes. It deepens the characters, raises personal stakes and delivers a knockout punch of a revelation. It somehow makes you not only believe a puppet is a real character, you actually LIKE him. The effects are all great and the asteroid field chase is the perfect meld of music and visuals.
Speaking of the music, this is one of three flawless Williams scores without a single off cue. Along with Superman and Raiders, not a single track is omitted when I add it to a playlist.
I feel the ending of the film is pitch perfect. A defeat but not one that feels devastating. The rebellion is fine, just that the main characters took some hits. The music soars with romance and melancholy and then explodes into joy with the greatest end title music of the series.
I didn’t see this movie during the original run, but in a rerelease just prior to Jedi. It was a double feature of Star Wars and Empire and I remember struggling through the first half of Star Wars, but was utterly captivated in Empire. I walked out of that screening (over 4 hours) totally energized and upbeat. ROTJ could never live up to that feeling and it didn’t. And I truly feel all of interest in Star Wars today is because of the goodwill generated by the first two movies.
Fantastic film, a “perfect as is” movie that never needed a Special Edition (other than to fix the transparent snow speeders) and works well to this day. It kicked off the 80’s in grand style.
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Posted: |
Dec 19, 2022 - 9:48 AM
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By: |
henry
(Member)
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Empire remains not only my all time favorite Star Wars film, it is also one of my favorite movies ever. It checks all the boxes. It deepens the characters, raises personal stakes and delivers a knockout punch of a revelation. It somehow makes you not only believe a puppet is a real character, you actually LIKE him. The effects are all great and the asteroid field chase is the perfect meld of music and visuals.
Speaking of the music, this is one of three flawless Williams scores without a single off cue. Along with Superman and Raiders, not a single track is omitted when I add it to a playlist.
I feel the ending of the film is pitch perfect. A defeat but not one that feels devastating. The rebellion is fine, just that the main characters took some hits. The music soars with romance and melancholy and then explodes into joy with the greatest end title music of the series.
I didn’t see this movie during the original run, but in a rerelease just prior to Jedi. It was a double feature of Star Wars and Empire and I remember struggling through the first half of Star Wars, but was utterly captivated in Empire. I walked out of that screening (over 4 hours) totally energized and upbeat. ROTJ could never live up to that feeling and it didn’t. And I truly feel all of interest in Star Wars today is because of the goodwill generated by the first two movies.
Fantastic film, a “perfect as is” movie that never needed a Special Edition (other than to fix the transparent snow speeders) and works well to this day. It kicked off the 80’s in grand style.
Hi Scott! You probably already know this, but the original theatrical version of EMPIRE was available for a limited time on DVD. You can still find it on ebay and probably other places for a decent price.
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My mom went to see this with her sister when it first came out and they loved it so much that they almost immediately went back in to see it a second time.
She said my dad often has this back-and-forth argument (in good fun) about whether or not this is best of the Star Wars films.
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Hi Scott! You probably already know this, but the original theatrical version of EMPIRE was available for a limited time on DVD. You can still find it on ebay and probably other places for a decent price.
Hey Henry!
Yup, I have that set, sadly they were not transferred in anamorphic wide screen and are straight copies from the same prints the Laserdiscs used.
Thankfully, more talented people than I have created "Despecialized Editions" which are great. Also a very generous collector shared a 35mm print copy with me, with all of the scratches and pops inherent in an old film print. It's glorious!
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