Charles Cinema
185 Cambridge Street,
Boston,
MA
02114
185 Cambridge Street,
Boston,
MA
02114
9 people
favorited this theater
The Charles Cinema had, for a time, the biggest movie screen in Massachusetts. It was a great place to see an ‘event’ movie, like “The Empire Strikes Back” or other blockbusters. The style was modern and simple. The Charles Cinema was the “Astor Plaza” of Boston: a top-notch presentation with a huge audience.
The Charles Cinema was built for the Walter Reade circuit. The Charles Cinema eventually became part of Loews and was closed in the early-1990’s.
If anybody else knows more history on the Charles, please share!
Contributed by
Ian Judge
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Recent comments (view all 47 comments)
The Charles Cinema was not the biggest screen in Boston. The Astor had the biggest screen until it closed in the late 70’s. Originally a stage theater the stage at the Astor was ripped out to accomodate the large curved Todd-AO screen. The screen at the Beacon Hill theater was also bigger than the Charles screen. In fact, the screen at the Charles may have been reduced in size by Sack theaters. After Ben Sack was ousted from the company they made an effort to get away from large screens and when Sack took over the Charles they reduced the size of the screen. It was Sack company policy to avoid 70mm when ever possible. I was responsible for getting a 70mm print of Star Wars shown at the Charles and Sack theaters was very much against it.
The Charles Cinema, as I mentioned before, was a cool place, especially the large screen. Other movies that I saw there, in addition to West Side Story and Star Wars I, included Dr. Zhivago, Sounder, and The Empire Strikes back, and probably some others that I don’t remember.
Soon after moving to Boston in 1978, I saw “The Last Waltz” at the Sack Charles. About a month later, I got a job there as an usher, and stayed until 1982. I was there for “The Rose,” “Deer Hunter,” “Alien,” and of course “The Empire Strikes Back.”
But I also remember many of the movies that played downstairs. Two in particular: “Chariots of Fire” played for a while, and as I recall its run had just ended when it was nominated for several Oscars, so they brought it back for a very successful run. Also, “La Cage aux Folles” played there for over a year – there was a one-year party in the parking lot.
Anyone know the answer to the trivia question above? (Famous usher) I believe I know who they mean. A hint: He was one of many Emerson College students who worked at the Charles.
I’m too young to have caught anything at the Charles in it’s heyday. The only movie I saw there before it closed was Gettysburg.
Having been to the Walter Reade(CHAZRLES CINEMA) many times I felt it was a great place to see movies. The screen was huge(Coolidge Corner and The Metropolitan(MUSIC HALL) were bigger screens and the Stereo Soun was wonderful especially on 70MM screenings. Ryans Daughter was beautiful as was Star Wars. But my fondest memory was the night in 1972 when my wife and I went to see Deliverance(which we walked out after the male rape scene)but had to sit through a preview of Pete and Tillie(which was cute) with Carol Burnett. Carol was there along with director Martin Ritt. Carol and Martin were very open and friendly and the sat right behind us. This was a fun night. I loved the Charles but when Sack took over they let it go to hell just like everything else they took over. Especially after they became USA.
I moved to Boston in the fall of 67 and I went to the Charles Cinema a lot before I went down to new York and college in 1972. I remember thinking that the Charles was a pretty classy place, I saw Truffauts The Bride Wore Black there as well as William Friedkin’s film of Pinter’s The Birthday Party and I even saw a Richard Attenborough film called Only When I Larf there. I was saddened when it became a triplex theatre but such is the way of the world.
Bill, this was a triplex pretty much from the beginning. The two small cinemas downstairs were not subdivided from the main screen above.
Really? I have no memory of that at all. yikes.
The zip code for this theatre should be 02114, not 02134. Right now the map and street view are pointing to the wrong Cambridge Street. (Boston has multiple streets with the same name in different neighborhoods.)
The picture above should display this location: Charles River Plaza. If you look down the driveway, the theater was around the corner in back with the two smaller screens at ground level and the big screen upstairs. The front building is sitting on what was once just an open parking lot.
I think a lot of people are remembering just pieces of the theater’s history. As for sound, Sack upgraded the sound system just before Star Wars, placing two big sub-woofers in front of the screen, and the sound was pretty spectacular in the late 1970s-early ‘80s. Francis Ford Coppola wanted “Apocalypse Now” to play there because of its sound system, but the Charles played Fox films then and Sack upgraded the sound in one of the 57’s auditoriums to satisfy him. The sound probably did deteriorate after this time.
As for 70mm, Sack regularly featured 70mm prints at many of their theaters in Boston during that time period when 70mm prints were being used to provide upgraded 4-track Dolby Stereo. 35mm could only do 2-track matrixed soundtracks. After Star Wars, the Charles hosted 70mm runs of Alien, Empire, ET, and others.
When Star Wars opened May 25, 1977, there were only 8 70mm prints in circulation out of the 43 theaters that played the film. As Fox made more prints available, many theaters switched over, including the Charles on Sept 21, 1977. I don’t think Sack was purposely keeping 70mm prints out of its theaters.
As for screen size, Sack’s old-time vaudeville theaters such as the Astor, Saxon, Savoy, etc. all closed in the ‘80s which left the Charles the largest screen in Boston until it closed in the 1990s.