Ziegfeld Theatre

I’ve waited all week to see Planet of the Apes, Wednesday 8PM show, at the Ziegfeld. Moviefone on line says it’s playing that day. The Ziegfeld’s box recording says it’s playing March 28th – April 3rd. No interruptions.

Except it’s not. Now that’s it’s Wednesday Moviefone says “Sorry for the inconvenience, showtime information is currently not available for this theater on April 02, 2008. Please try again later.”

The Ziegfeld’s box office recording still says Planet of the Apes is playing thru April 3rd. No interruptions.

Why suddenly spring this? Apparently they did the same last Sunday. This has happened several times before during classic screenings. I’m not saying that they can’t have a screening (or a fashion shoot, or etc). But please make it part of the Moviephone and box office recording calendar so us loyal patrons and fans know what is going on and don’t miss the movie. And put up notices on the doors. Tell US!

I think I know why Ziegfeld audiences laugh at the opening monologue. It sounds like one of J. Peterman’s catalog entries from Seinfeld.

In retrospect, actor John O'Hurley must have been imitating Heston all along.

Went to a 5PM screening of ‘Planet of the Apes’ yesterday. Great job once again by the Ziegfeld. It was absolutely amazing to see this film, which I had never seen before, on that beautiful big screen. POA was a little different than I expected to be. It was less of an action picture than I thought. By no means a disappointment. I found the ‘message’ pretty interesting, and was surprised by how much of the 60s zeitgeist was included in the ideas of the script. Heston even says ‘Don’t trust anyone over 30’ at the end of the film. What was also interesting WAS the ending of the film itself. The director chose to ignore going out with a bang. Instead the film kind of glided out still having an impact. Really great!
This film was definitely ahead of it’s time, not as much as say ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, but I would put it up there as groundbreaking film.

Seeing this film at the Ziegfeld once again shows how IMPORTANT it is to see these films on the big screen. I mean how many 19" TVs or 46" flat screen TVs would it take to fill that screen? Think about it.

Looking forward to seeing the Scorcese/Stones film, all of the Bond week, and I think I’ll even see the new Indiana Jones flick even though I am not a big Spielberg fan. Unless that film tanks, which I’m betting it won’t, it will probably be playing there for the entire summer.

Ed:

Redford and Fonda, absolutely. I can think of a whole bunch of their films that I would love to see in the Classics series. My favorite Redford is “The Sting”;my favorite Fonda, well actually two, “Coming Home” and “Klute.”

Best

Ziegfeld Man,

Great, glad we resolved everything. And I had no idea Mr. Heston was that close to death. I knew he had Alzheimer’s, but didn’t realize the disease had progressed that far against him. Fortunately he is getting the care he needs at this point.

Hi Scott:

No fight at all, we are exactly on the same page, politics are also of no interest to me and that is exactly what I meant when I said “however one feels about his politics.” I said it because I know people, actually, quite a few people, who refused to come to see “Planet of the Apes,” because of their feelings about Heston’s politics. And these are people who love “Planet of The Apes."
Likewise there are people now who won’t see Woody Allen films or Tom Cruise films. I only care if the film is good and the actor is good.

My real motivation for bringing this point up at all has to do with Heston’s impending death, and ironically, shortly after my post someone e-mailed me this:

This is what was printed in “Parade” (3/30/08):

Q: Charlton Heston’s family hasn’t commented on his condition since he revealed he has Alzheimer’s. What can you tell us?

A: Heston, 83, is in the final stages of the disease and has 24-hour care at his home in Beverly Hills, which he built with his pay from “Ben-Hur”. His son and daughter visit regularly. “He’s not plugged into machines”, a family friend tells us, “and his wife Lydia doesn’t plan to use any to extend his life”.
It also has a picture of Heston and Lydia from 2002.

To me, Alzheimer’s, like ALS, is an incredible tragedy that NOBODY deserves “however one feels about his politics.” Scott, unlike you, and me, and Howard, and 99.999% of humanity, someone, somewhere will even disagree with this. That is unfortunate, but true. This is why I said what I said.

Peace

On tonight’s episode of Big Bang Theory, the main guys hang out at the Nuart, not the Ziegfeld, for a showing of all Apes movies. Look at my comment for the Nuart regarding how they changed the concessions. All the audience members in that episode are wearing ape masks.

Scott, don’t pick on Ziegfeld Man.
He wrote “however one feels about his politics”
(I’m no leftist, and saw no slight in that).

Ed asked what was going on at the Ziegfeld on Sunday to make them cancel the “Apes” shows. I heard on the radio this morning that the Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese held the premiere of “Shine a Light” there last night. Now that I recall, they were putting up tents for that premiere when I left the theater on Friday night.

How I knew it was a reel to reel show: I know that movie inside out, and at each reel change there were a number of frames missing or maybe a word or two of dialogue got skipped. Also, Reel 5 (the escape from Ape City) came on slightly out of focus. I was going to look back to the projection booths to confirm it, but I literally couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.

Gary, thanks for the tribute you gave to Charlton Heston. Did anyone laugh at his acting or dialogue on Saturday? On Friday they started in on him from his very first scene.

Well Taken:

This is why I have always believed that a great film, like any true work of art, requires repeated viewings. Roger Ebert once asked,“ Why watch a film a second time when you already know the ending?” His answer was,“Style.” A great film has so many elements:including, among other things, screenplay,lighting, editing, camera angles and themes that it’s absolutely impossible to catch it all the first time. To me that’s what makes cinema so much fun. At one point I was looking at all the assorted camera angles and movements that commented on Taylor’s words about the whole place being a “madhouse.” And the final angle in the revelatory scene—that is cinema history!!

I saw “No Country For Old Men” four times. Each time I saw more and more. And that’s because I kept asking myself, “Who are these people,what is the filmmaker saying about them, and most importantly, how is he saying it cinematically?” It takes practice, but great fun. Even better when you get a group of people together and they see things that you missed!!!

Best

Excellent speech, I remember when i first ran the picture wondering how mant people got that. I am afraid the message was lost to the talking apes. oh well no matter, a great film to be sure.

Jeff,
My goodness you brought back some memories of rapid cue marks flooding the ends of reels. I never understood why so many guys had to add their own “mark” to add to the existing cues. But they did, and sometimes it was quite a show. I recall mostly in the 50s when we would get a print that had played around a bit and the cues punch big holes in the print, scratch a big ole X across the frame, it was ridiculous, unnecessary and totally unprofessional.
As for the splices, Zebra tape is not necessary either, as you know generally you can tell where the reel ends by the grain of the print, looking down on a print mounted on a platter or at a 6k reel you can usually see where the reel change is. But the boys had to take the easy ay out, poor blind bastards, so we had white shoe polish painted on the edge of the print, which sometimes was applied so poorly that evidence of it could be seen on the image as it passed through the gate.
You mentioned the lab splices which are used on many prints, those are nasty buggers and should be removed, and they are not only ugly but weak as well and subject to come apart after a few runs. Some of the boys would cover over them with clear splicing tape to reinforce them. They would also cause a big POP in the sound they passed by the sound gate ion an analog print. For that matter, just about any spice would make some sort of sound as it passed through the sound gate, especially when made with a poorly aligned splicer. But in this Digital age I guess analog sound is all but dead.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with lab splices, let me explain that they are, splices made in the original stock before they are used to make prints. What happens is, a roll of stock might be about 2000 feet in length and if it were used to make a print of a reel of film that was only 1500 ft in length, the balance of the roll or 5oo feet of stock was put aside and later joined up with another roll of extra stock to make up a full roll of 2000 feet. The spices were made with a negative splicer which creates a very narrow patch and is not very strong. I don’t know if it is still done today but in my day a studio or producer could request “No Splice Stock” in their print order. That way no lab splices would be present. As I recall the cost per print was a bit higher.

I would have to disagree with you about slices being noticeable; I don’t think a splice no matter how well it was made could get by my eye. But you are right; most folks don’t see em or care about em very much. However people like us sure do.
Good for you about not removing leaders, I did the same thing with many of my 16mm prints. I did not have the heart to cut the leaders off. Some might say that was excessive, but I say no, not when you are a true lover of film.