Monday, February 20, 2012

Phil attends the Cult Movie Series screening of BACK TO THE FUTURE at the Camera 3-February 16, 2012

Theatrical Movie Poster (1985)
For years I was a big fan and supporter of the Camera Cinemas' Midnight Movie series. From May til the end of September, they would show popular, cult and horror films at midnight every week at two locations: The Camera 7 Pruneyard on Friday night and the Camera 12 on Saturday night. For over six years I would be there, winning prizes and watching some true film classics such as ENTER THE DRAGON, BRAZILTHE PROFESSIONAL, and REPO:THE GENETIC OPERA. Last year the Camera Cinemas reformatted the series and rechristened as the Cult Movie series. Now they show the same film twice a month (Thursday nights at 9:30 and Saturday nights at midnight) from February through November at the Camera 3 in downtown San Jose. Tonight was the kick off for the 2012 season and they showed the 1985 classic BACK TO THE FUTURE, starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Claudia Welles and Thomas F. Wilson. The film was produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Robert Zemeckis (FORREST GUMP, CAST AWAY and PART II and III of the trilogy).

Former lead Eric Stoltz and Bob Schmelzer circa 1984
Before the show began, the Camera 3 manager and projectionist Chris had a cool surprise for the audience. He called up skateboard legend Bob Schmelzer who is the owner of the ultra cool skateboard shop Circle-A Skateboards located here in downtown San Jose. He recalled how he was picked to be the skateboard double for then lead actor Eric Stoltz. It's well documented that Zemeckis had shot five weeks with Stoltz and decided that his comic sensibility wasn't working for Zemeckis. After five weeks, he convinced the studio to have him fire Stoltz and get Michael J. Fox. Also Schmelzer said that Fox couldn't ride a skateboard to save his life, however Stoltz had the chops and was quite good at it. Also he was good at tagging so Schmelzer had a lot of respect for Stoltz. Also he had a lot of fun hanging out with Lloyd and Glover. Overall, he had a lot of fun working on the film.

This was a fun night and a great intro to the new season of the Cult Movie Series. Now like I said, the Camera 3 will be showing one cult classic film every month from now till November. To view their upcoming schedule, visit the Camera Cinemas website at www.cameracinemas.com.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!

1 comment:

  1. Huge, huge, huge fan of Back To The Future. It's one of my guilty pleasure movies, although it's hard to picture anyone else but Micheal J. Fox playing Marty even though Eric Stoltz was cast first. Christopher Lloyd as Doc was another brilliant choice.

    I just hope that there's no desire to remake these films. They're perfect the way they are. Thanks hun for the review. Loved it.

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