Broward Mall 4

This was another fun theater that I went to alot in the 80s. I don’t remember it being there in 1978 though. That was the year the Broward Mall opened and there wasn’t much around it at the time. I seem to remember the UA Movies at Plantation opening before this theater, which was literally right down the road. I’d say Broward Mall 4 opened somewhere in the very early 80s. Perhaps ‘80, '81. Here are the flicks I remember seeing there:

Bachelor Party
Vision Quest
Tightrope
The Breakfast Club
9 ½ Weeks
Hitchcock’s Vertigo (in a theatrical re-release)
E.T. ( thought it was a sappy film then and still do)
Unfaithfully Yours w/Dudley Moore (it wasn’t a critical or box office hit but I remember laughing my ass off. I thought it was so frickin funny that I convinced my sister to go see it with me a second time. As I recall she didn’t think it was nearly as funny as I did.)o

I probably saw other films there that I can’t remember off-hand, but two others that I saw there that stand out were the theatrical re-release of Blazing Saddles and the first run of Prince’s Purple Rain.
The night I went to see Blazing Saddles the theater was packed and was in complete stiches all during the film. Uproarious laughter the whole time. I had never seen the film before that, and it had me cracking up pretty hard as well.

Purple Rain was interesting because it was the first time I think I had seen a movie conceived by and starring a current Rock/Pop star that was specifically geared to my age group. The teens of the 80s really didn’t have their own version of something like ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, so when Purple Rain came along it seemed to validate or galvinize whatever was happening as far as the music and the attitudes of alot of the kids then. MTV sort of did that for the first year or two that it was on, but actually having a ‘rock and roll’ film with uncensored material in it brought up a slightly a notch or two. Prince was a huge star but he was also unique enough to appeal to one’s underground tastes, so if you liked this movie then you didn’t feel like a ‘sell-out’. Sounds silly now but it was pretty important then…

The address was 8010 W. Broward Boulevard. The Broward Mall 4 operated from 1980 to 1991 and was opened by General Cinema.

Broward Mall 4’s 1980 opening coincided with the debut of “Caddyshack” on two screens — of tremendous neighborhood interest due to filming at nearby Rolling Hills Country Club, among other South Florida shooting locations. Throughout the 80s, occasional specialty bookings (often coinciding with or following runs at GCC’s Riviera in Coral Gables) drew audiences from Broward County’s furthest corners, including exclusive engagements of “Blood Simple,” “Das Boot,” and “Sid and Nancy.”

When GCC opened the Fountains Cinema 8 around the corner in the late 80s, the Broward Mall 4 looked somewhat antiquated already (especially with the traditional GCC corrugated metal wall treatments). Possibly noting the success of independent and international films a few miles away at the then-new Fox Sunrise (later Sunrise Cinema 11), GCC renamed the old fourplex Art Cinema at Broward Mall. GCC did retain ownership (and tagged features with its jazz-riff logos) but downplayed its association in much of the marketing.

ACaBM nabbed exclusive runs of “One False Move,” “Delicatessen,” “My Own Private Idaho,” “Naked Lunch,” and other popular/acclaimed indies of the day. For every packed-housed booking, though, there were sometimes I was the only paying customer (“Golden Braid” on opening night, for instance, and a huge ad had appeared in the local press).

Shortly after I saw “Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut” there, the cinema closed. Never reused, it was eventually demolished. A short 12-year life, but home to some remarkable films.

If I am not mistaken this theater was last run by United Artists.

rivest how do you find so many pictures of theater grand opening ads. they’re cool and i’m just wondering.