ON CINEMA AND GUNS

I am a movie buff.  For more than 60 years I have spent a portion of almost every weekend in a movie theatre.  When I was five years old my brother took me to my first movie.  I do not remember the feature, but I do remember there was a Serial feature.  It ended with The Phantom stuck in quicksand about to inhale his last breath.  You had to visit the same theatre's Saturday matinee the following week to learn if our hero survived.  I was hooked.

Movies have always been part of my life.  I have sat in movie theatres as far away as Australia, the Philippines (during which I endured an earthquake), and Colombia to assure I did not miss the latest well-reviewed feature. As a pre-teen I walked to the corner to catch the next street car to downtown Baltimore. Arriving downtown I would search among the half dozen first-run movie houses and sit in the usually small dark theatre to enjoy the latest Fellini or Tati flick.  Later,  Pauline Kael, may she rest in peace, became my goddess of movie reviewers.  Her positive review of any film made it a must see. I would go alone, or with someone, but go I did.  I just could not stand to miss the latest first-run films.

This award season is typical of my movie going.  Of award nominated films, I have seen Captain Phillips (B), The Wolf of Wall Street (C), American Hustle (B+), Blue Jasmine (A-, Cate Blanchett my choice for Best Actress Oscar), Inside Llewyn Davis (D-), Dallas Buyers Club (A+, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto my Male Lead and Male Supporting Oscar picks), 12 Years a Slave (A+, Best Film Oscar), Philomena (A), Gravity (B+), and Nebraska (B+).  Still on my list are Her and August: Osage County.

However, something happened January 13^th that kept me from the movies this past weekend.  A retired 71-year-old police captain decided that a father’s text messaging during the previews to the feature film, The Lone Survivor, was enough of an annoyance that he felt compelled to pull a pistol from his pocket and kill the 43-year-old man and wound the man’s wife.

I am someone who has always requested my theatre companions to sit quietly during a feature.  I have even on rare occasion risen from my seat and walked to another person’s seat to ask them, quietly and without anger, to please be quiet and let me and others enjoy the movie.  In my experience 99.99% of movie goers go quiet after something is said.  Since cell phones and text messaging have come on the scene, this has become more challenging.  The light from the telephone is always brighter and more distracting than the texter imagines.  It is very annoying.  However, it is not a capital offense.

Until now I never imagined someone in the theatre would have a gun with them.  I am a Marine Veteran of the Vietnam War and I have never found a reason to own or carry a weapon.  My brain, coupled to my mouth, has gotten me this far and I will continue to use it to get me out of jams.

Curtis Reeves, the former policeman, has changed all of that for me now.  I know I will not sit quietly and let someone spoil my feature by chatting with seat mates, talking on the telephone, or texting.  I do not believe in the rule of standing one’s ground.  So, I have used my brain to tell me to no longer visit movie theatres in Florida.  I will wait for Her and August: Osage County to hit Netflix.  And, next year, I will watch the Oscars to find out which movies I will rent.