Cine Capri
2323 East Camelback Road,
Phoenix,
AZ
85016
2323 East Camelback Road,
Phoenix,
AZ
85016
12 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 86 comments found
My understanding is that the theater was not demolished but rather dismantled and rebuilt at another location. I was never able to see where it was rebuilt and it may be closed by now. Does anyone know for sure?
Great ad, Mike Rivest!
March 30th, 1966 grand opening ad is at:
View link
Charlton Heston was in person.
IA, Carl is Kent’s father. Yes, I remember him from his Pacific Theatre days too. The studios would do a Dolby tech for a opening of a picture. And after they left he would come in and turn down the surround channel in the main house of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre. And I would come in and turn the amps back to the Dolby tech setting the day before.
Kent Peterson, You last posted here in 2004. As knowledgeable as you seem to be, I’m wondering if you are related to Carl Peterson; once owner of a service and supply business in Salt Lake. When I last heard of him, he was Director of Projection Engineering for Pacific Theaters. I knew him from projectionist days at Catalina in Tucson.
The Cine Capri was truly a beloved piece of Phoenix history and it was a real tragedy to have it lost forever. Many groups tried to stop the demolition over the years; the best they did was post pone the inevitable. Like many other people that posted, if a movie came out that I was really excited to see, this was the only place to see it. I waited in multiple lines that wrapped around the parking lot on opening nights just to see a movie there. I was priviliged to see the Star Wars re-releases, the opening of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, “Citizen Kane”, “Doctor Zhivago”, “The Lion King”, and probably many more. One that particularly sticks out in my mind was a day viewing of “The Silence of the Lambs”, one where I snuck out of a college course just in order to take it in. The theater truly had no equal and I could hardly believe it when they finally tore it down.
You are right Stan. I have been watching myself.Guess i am just too big a fanatic of 2001.
Re: “Star Wars”
Wish I owned 10% of that “Overrated and it Sucks”
What a dumb thing to say.
I have a comment on the entry of 5/20/10 by Mike Rogers regarding Star Wars. I do not think that it was an appropriate comment for this site. This is a place where people come to read and share stories on movie THEATRES, not the movies themselves. Now I know that it is hard to talk about one without the other because without the movie there would be no theatre. Part of the history of theatres is what movie opened the theatre, which one closed it, which blockbusters played here, and the source of this discussion, what was playing when a particular event took place. All of that is as relevant as events such as when a place was twinned, converted to platters or digital, or was robbed, flooded, raided, damaged by weather, or any number of the countless events that take place in theatres. However discussions about how good or bad a movie was is not really relevant here. That is blog and chatroom stuff. I am sure that Mike could find such a site and start a thread along the lines of:
STAR WARS: Overrated and it Sucks.
I have only read through these comments once, but I do not recall anyone talking about the worthiness of the movie, only its place in the history of this theatre. The fact that it was such a mega hit makes it worth noting that it played here. The fact that the theatre made the upgrade to Dolby during its run was a notable milestone in its history. You youngsters who did not grow up during the 1955-1975 era of movies where you only got stereo sound on big magnetic track roadshows will have a hard time understanding how big a deal the advent of Dolby stereo systems was to us. Now we could have stereo and surround sound in our neighborhood theatres all of the time although it was still early to mid 80’s before you could count on all movies being encoded.
As for myself, I will, in the spirit of full disclosure, partially break my rule and comment on the movie itself. I enjoyed it. I found it a good, entertaining, action adventure movie, but it meant no more to me than a good western or war movie would have. Once I had seen it, then I had seen it and probably would not have again except for one thing; presentation. Getting back to the spirit of this site though not this page, I saw it four times. First, at the Loews Tara in mono. I have often been critical of Loews, who I worked for at the time, for not going to the expense of installing a Dolby system in their showcase Atlanta house for this big event movie. That may still be valid although the information I found on this page makes me think that it is possible that one was not available during this period.
My second viewing was at the Canton Corners (Blackwell Square), a theatre far into the Atlanta burbs. I went to this trouble because Norm Schneider, the long time Altec serviceman had retired and did what most of us only dream of doing, opening his own theatre with a presentation built to his specs. A lot of people made that trek in those days where mono still dominated theatres and were rewarded with a sound presentation that I have only heard equaled at the New Neon Movies in Dayton Ohio during their Cinerama days. I still judge all theatre sound experiences by this standard.
Third was later that year at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Big event, packed house, lot of fun had by all, but I was there mainly to see what it would be like in this huge place with a big crowd. This was well before my days of working in the Fox booth so I was not as aware of why the Fox is such a poor place to see a movie. Although a lot of improvements have been made to correct this, back then the cavernous auditorium, plaster walls, dozens of nooks and alcoves, and no wall to separate the lobby from the theatre itself made the sound just bounce and rattle around the place. The explosions and laser blasts sounded great, but as for dialogue, well, it is a good thing that I had seen the movie before so I could follow the story.
My last Star Wars show was the 1983 re-release which was more notable for the Revenge of the Jedi preview attached to the front. I wish I had kept it and the one sheet as I am sure both went up in value when they changed the name to Return. We ran it in our Yamaha brand 4 track Dolby house. Sounded good, but pretty pale compared to the Canton Corners, which was custom designed by someone who had forgotten more about sound than most techs will ever know.
So, I am sorry that I got somewhat off topic here, but I would like to see people be able to come to this site and read and hopefully add information about these great theatres without having to wade through a bunch of extraneous material. So many of these theatres are gone now that this is one of the few places we can come to relive the good old days.
Mike: I have read a good many of your posts and enjoy the ones where you relate what was playing. A lot of us are fans of the style and layout of movie ads in the days before it became plain block listings resembling the phone book. It seems that you may be looking at some old ads you have kept. If so it would be great if you could scan and post them on flickr or some such site.
Michael: Thanks for the listings. Even though I have no connection to this theatre, it is fun to scan the list and recall what was playing when and think about where it played in Atlanta.
See I double clicked Sorry,still learning.
See that you have been on C.T. since 2004,well Mike and I did not find C.T. till 2009 of course we had to learn how to use a computer first,we are just old school I quess.
See that you have been on C.T. since 2004,well Mike and I did not find C.T. till 2009 of course we had to learn how to use a computer first,we are just old school I quess.
Thanks MarkL it was a nice theatre,and Mike is just and old theatre DAWG like me,Cinema Treasures is my favorite site on the internet,although I check many others.
No fight intended, and certainly no disrespect to MikeRogers. I wish only that the Force stay strong among us, and we resume discussing one of the the most memorable theatres of its time. All hail the Cine Capri, with the hope that we DO see the likes of it again.
O.K. Men lets not fight about it.I did not care for STAR WARS myself but I know many,many,many,people did.Its like people who say they do not like THE BEATLES, “the biggest music act of all time” I love their music and films but a few do not,live and let live.Have a good day.Now we are all off-topic!
Please allow me to go off-topic here and address MikeRogers comment.
While growing up, we all want to be something special. Sure, while a child, we say we want to be a fireman or policeman, but, deep in our hearts, we want to be a hero. For my generation, it was Davy Crockett and, later, the 7 Mercury astronauts. For those growing up in the last decade loved and idolized the LORD OF THE RINGS. More recent folk seem to be especially entranced by AVATAR.
That group that grew up in the late 70’s and early 80’s, and even, to some extent, those just a bit younger, STAR WARS was one of the most memorable events of their childhood and adolescence. Luke and Han Solo were men without peer, Princess Leia was the most beautiful creature in the universe, and Darth Vader was the epitome of evil. They read the books, hung the posters and listened to the music until their lives matured.
Seeing STAR WARS and its companion films was a big moment. Folks of those years remember where and when they first saw it, and tell the tales of standing in lines as badges of honor. They argue about which theatres got the coveted 70mm prints, and who saw it in the new process of Dolby Stereo.
Sure, its a “B” movie…even George Lucas will admit to that. But, its a darn good story that really captures people.
That, MikeRogers, is why there are so many comments about the STAR WARS series and the theatres where it played. And they were very significant money makers for the theatre owners.
I enjoy the STAR WARS comments, and I really hope to see many more.
I wish you guys would get over where and when and how long “StarWars” played somewhere it was a B movie at best.Almost every theatre there is some debate about it.
Another great one gone.
The person who claimed in the intro at the top of the page that the Cine Capri opened with “Butterfield 8” is confusing this theater with the Kachina, which opened with “Butterfield 8” in 1960. The Cine Capri opened in 1966 with “The Agony And The Ecstasy.”
What a uniquely beautiful-looking theatre that was. Too bad it closed.
Just wanted to say Hito you Mark, where are you now? I know you weren’t very happy when you were working for cinePlex, they were a little rough around the edges. I do remember! Hope all is well with you.
I was lucky enough to be a manager at the Cine Capri. I was there for the “Aliens” thru “The Mission” era. I was the that last manager for the Plitt/Cineplex-Odeon era, handing the reigns over to Cinemark. It would be nice to see other comments from former employees, managers, and projectionists from the REAL Cine Capri.
Thanks to Michael Coate for the great list of memories.
There are some office buildings there and right on Camelback is a Starbucks (where the Cafe Casino used to be).
Can anyone confirm what was built on the site of the Cine Capri? I just ran a search on Google Maps and it looks as if one large building (retail, perhaps?) was constructed on the site.
CINE CAPRI
PART IV: THE 1990s
Compiled by Michael Coate
Theater Ownership
Harkins Theatres 1990-98
01.05.1990 … BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (8 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
03.02.1990 … THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (12 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
05.25.1990 … BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III (5 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
06.27.1990 … DAYS OF THUNDER (7 weeks, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
08.17.1990 … WILD AT HEART (3 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
09.07.1990 … LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (RE, 1 week, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
09.14.1990 … POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (4 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
10.12.1990 … MEMPHIS BELLE (6 weeks, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
11.21.1990 … THREE MEN AND A LITTLE LADY (5 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
12.25.1990 … THE GODFATHER PART III (8 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
02.15.1991 … THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (11 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
05.03.1991 … SPARTACUS (RE, 4 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
05.31.1991 … CITIZEN KANE (RE, 2 weeks)
06.14.1991 … ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (10 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
08.23.1991 … DEAD AGAIN (5 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
09.27.1991 … FANTASIA (RE, 2 weeks, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
10.11.1991 … FRANKIE & JOHNNY (3 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
11.01.1991 … BILLY BATHGATE (3 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
11.22.1991 … THE ADDAMS FAMILY (4 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
12.20.1991 … JFK (6 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
01.31.1992 … SHINING THROUGH (3 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
02.21.1992 … RADIO FLYER (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
03.06.1992 … HEARTS OF DARKNESS (2 weeks)
03.20.1992 … THE INNER CIRCLE (1 week, Dolby Stereo)
03.27.1992 … THE POWER OF ONE (6 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
05.08.1992 … CASABLANCA (RE, 2 weeks)
05.22.1992 … FAR AND AWAY (4 weeks, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
06.19.1992 … BATMAN RETURNS (6 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
07.31.1992 … DEATH BECOMES HER (1 week, Dolby Stereo SR)
08.07.1992 … UNFORGIVEN (5 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
09.11.1992 … BLADE RUNNER (RE, “The Director’s Cut,†3 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
10.02.1992 … HERO (3 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
10.23.1992 … A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT (7 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
12.11.1992 … A FEW GOOD MEN (8 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
02.05.1993 … STAR WARS (RE, 1 week, Dolby Stereo)
02.12.1993 … THE CEMETERY CLUB (3 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
03.05.1993 … MAD DOG AND GLORY (1 week, Dolby Stereo)
03.12.1993 … A FAR OFF PLACE (1 week, Dolby Stereo)
03.19.1993 … RICH IN LOVE (1 week, Dolby Stereo)
03.26.1993 … UNFORGIVEN (RE, 2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
04.09.1993 … INDOCHINE (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
04.23.1993 … THIS BOY’S LIFE (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
05.07.1993 … MY FAIR LADY (RE, 1 week)
05.14.1993 … LOST IN YONKERS (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
05.28.1993 … SUPER MARIO BROS. (3 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
06.18.1993 … LAST ACTION HERO (3 weeks, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
07.09.1993 … JURASSIC PARK (MO, 4 weeks, DTS)
08.06.1993 … THE FUGITIVE (6 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
09.17.1993 … THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (4 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
10.15.1993 … EL CID (RE, 1 week, Dolby Stereo)
10.22.1993 … THE NIGHMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (5 weeks, Dolby Digital)
11.24.1993 … SHORT CUTS (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
12.10.1993 … GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
12.25.1993 … HEAVEN & EARTH (4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
01.21.1994 … WRESTLING ERNEST HEMINGWAY (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
02.04.1994 … The “Star Wars†Trilogy (RE, 1 week, Dolby Stereo)
02.11.1994 … THE GETAWAY (1 week, DTS)
02.18.1994 … BODY SNATCHERS (1 week, Dolby Stereo SR)
02.25.1994 … THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (RE, 1 week, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
03.04.1994 … ANGIE (1 week, Dolby Stereo)
03.11.1994 … THE REF (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
03.25.1994 … THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (8 weeks, Dolby Digital)
05.20.1994 … MAVERICK (4 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
06.17.1994 … theater closed (1 week)
06.24.1994 … THE LION KING (12 weeks, Dolby Digital)
09.16.1994 … WOODSTOCK (RE, 1 week, Dolby Digital)
09.23.1994 … THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (4 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
10.21.1994 … LOVE AFFAIR (2 weeks, Dolby Digital)
11.04.1994 … MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN (2 weeks, Dolby Stereo)
11.18.1994 … STAR TREK: GENERATIONS (5 weeks, Dolby Digital)
12.25.1994 … I.Q. (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
01.13.1995 … LEGENDS OF THE FALL (8 weeks, Dolby Stereo SR)
03.10.1995 … OUTBREAK (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
03.31.1995 … THE WILD BUNCH (RE, “The Director’s Cut,†2 weeks, 70mm-Dolby Stereo)
04.12.1995 … ROB ROY (4 weeks, DTS)
05.12.1995 … DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (RE, 2 weeks, DTS)
05.24.1995 … BRAVEHEART (4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
06.23.1995 … POCAHONTAS (5 weeks, Dolby Digital)
07.28.1995 … THE NET (4 weeks, SDDS)
08.25.1995 … BEYOND RANGOON (2 weeks, SDDS)
09.08.1995 … BELLE DE JOUR (RE, 1 week)
09.15.1995 … BRAVEHEART (RE, 4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
10.13.1995 … THE SCARLET LETTER (2 weeks, Dolby Digital)
10.27.1995 … COPYCAT (5 weeks, Dolby Digital)
11.22.1995 … TOY STORY (4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
12.20.1995 … NIXON (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
01.12.1996 … TOY STORY (RE, 1 week, Dolby Digital)
01.19.1996 … MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS (10 weeks, Dolby Digital)
03.29.1996 … BRAVEHEART (RE, 1 week, Dolby Digital)
04.03.1996 … PRIMAL FEAR (5 weeks, Dolby Digital)
05.10.1996 … TWISTER (2 weeks, Dolby Digital)
05.22.1996 … MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (6 weeks, Dolby Digital)
07.03.1996 … INDEPENDENCE DAY (11 weeks, Dolby Digital)
09.20.1996 … THE FIRST WIVES CLUB (4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
10.18.1996 … SLEEPERS (5 weeks, Dolby Digital)
11.22.1996 … STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
12.13.1996 … MARS ATTACKS! (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
01.01.1997 … EVITA (4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
01.31.1997 … STAR WARS (RE, “Special Edition,†3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
02.21.1997 … THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (RE, “Special Edition,†3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
03.14.1997 … RETURN OF THE JEDI (RE, “Special Edition,†5 weeks, Dolby Digital)
04.18.1997 … DAS BOOT (RE, “The Director’s Cut,†2 weeks, SDDS-8)
05.02.1997 … ANNA KARENINA (1 week, Dolby Digital)
05.09.1997 … FATHERS’ DAY (2 weeks, Dolby Digital)
05.23.1997 … ADDICTED TO LOVE (4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
06.20.1997 … BATMAN & ROBIN (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
07.11.1997 … CONTACT (10 weeks, Dolby Digital)
09.19.1997 … L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (4 weeks, Dolby Digital)
10.17.1997 … THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
11.07.1997 … STARSHIP TROOPERS (6 weeks, SDDS)
12.19.1997 … TITANIC (3 weeks, Dolby Digital)
01.05.1998 … theater closed