Last Saturday, my older brother and I went to see HARRY POTTER at one of the better theatres here in Cincinnati, with the stadium style seating, the food court, the works. From the time the trailers started, a rowdy group of teenage black hip hoppers began to fight amongst themselves very loudly in the very last row. So much so that indeed the people in the theatre kept turning around more focused on these kids than the movie itself. This continued the entire film with them running up and down the side steps. They were probably about 18-20 years old. Old enough to know better.

The lights were turned on once and a manager and security guard came in like three times. He really did nothing except look at them and then they'd quiet down a little, erupting back up when they left.

The one who did the most was a rather large white gentleman who got up out of his seat and forced one of the louder ones out, following him down the aisle to the steps saying,"You're outta here. Get out." This was a patron, an audience member who did this - more than the management.

I, of course, did not want to leave as it was my brother who wanted to see this movie pretty badly. Although, generally I liked what I could take in, the entire movie was ruined for me because of these interruptions. Eventually, I could not concentrate at all. Now if I have to get up during the movie to go to the management for any reason I'm not coming back into the film. I've already missed part of it, so to me it is not worth it. The film's been ruined. I don't even get up for a bathroom break like many people do. I have never understood this. I am very particular about staying from opening trailer to closing credit. Especially with prices the way they are now. Thus, I didn't want to leave because my brother had wanted to see this movie. Otherwise, I would have left immediately, if by myself, and demanded my money back.

And so, after the movie was over, passing all of the angered bathroom waiters anticipating their significant others and friends, I told my brother I wasn't going to let this one go... I went to the management and told them how ridiculous the lack of attempt to do anything to rectify this screening was. They informed me they had done something by coming in and looking at them. I told them that the attempt was minimal if anything and that an audience member did more than they had done. I went on to tell them it is absurd for people to pay this much money for an experience that is ruined like this. They (three managers) proceeded to say "What do you want us to do? It's a bad crowd." I said "Remove them. Physically, if need be." If I am in a bar or a restaurant and act like this I will be physically removed from the place. Why should it be any different?

Then they said, "Sir we can't always do that because we fear the racial lawsuit card being dealt." Excuse me, but WWWWWHHHHAAAAATTTTTTTTT????!!!!!!!!! So if I am black, that excuses my assinine behavior in a public place????

I told them it was not a racial issue. It's an ignorance issue. I am paying for a service and it is being ruined. Jesus, what the hell is wrong with our country's priorities.

Anyway, I got two free passes out of complaining but it doesn't solve the greater problem which is the toleration that we have for the mediocre, the ruined experience,the banal, the idiocy that goes on daily.

So here's my call to all of you who's passion is film which is most of us here. We pay $5.50 - $8 for the filmgoing experience. I feel that it should be up to par every time. There should be no more excuses. If your steak is burnt, you send it back to the kitchen. If your CD has scratches, you return it to the store. Why should it be any different with the theatre going experience. If you are not satisfied, demand your money back. Let the theatre owners know that this is not a McDonalds they are running and in the words of The Dude "This will not stand, man!"

Thanks for bearing my rant, guys, but I can't stand how we just tolerate idiocy like this. It's insane.

I suggest that you then write a very straightforward, dignified letter of complaint to the company's CEO or president, including the location, date, time of the screening in question, AND THE NAME(S) OF THE MANAGER(S) who failed to enforce a policy of relative silence conducive to the great majority of the audience's enjoying the film.

The buck's obviously got to stop somewhere, but you failed to pursue it high enough up the chain of command to get positive results.

Letters to the editor of your local paper, mentioning the overly lax managers by name, as well as to the paper's film critic may also have a beneficial effect.

I've been working at a theatre for a few years for a couple different companies. And you know the theater staff is not really told what to do if they run into a problem like this. And theaters are always afraid of getting suid since most of them are already in dept anyway. This is probaly why they did not physically remove the juveniles. But if they had security guards then it should have been ok. SO it seems like they just didn't really know how to handle the situation.

The few times I've actually had to walk into an auditorium to quiet someone down have been successful. Perhaps I just use the right tone when I speak to them, I don't know. Just standing there watching them like the manager you spoke of only works when stopping them from exposing themselves while having sex,....but thats another issue.

While I was a projectionist, the chain I worked for told us (employees) that we could not physically touch a patron in any attempt to remove them from the premises. It invited assault and battery lawsuits. We had to sternly insist that they leave. If that didn't work then we reported it to the manager. The manger was then to go in and insist that the troublemakers leave. Failing that, then we were authorized to call the police. Early on, I quickly found out that you CANNOT reason with an inebriated person. CANNOT. It's impossible. They will argue with you until your teeth fall out. I would not tolerate any troublemakers in my theatre. If they would not leave upon being asked once, then I would literally shut the movie off (so that nothing would be missed), turn the lights up and call the police (I figure this would be better than a running commentary while the movie is still playing; besides, it gives everyone a break to get more concessions or for Lightborne to go to the bathroom). Rowdy young'uns will bolt as soon as the lights come up. I have no problem going in a crowded theatre and humiliating riff-raff in front of everybody. Public humiliation works wonders. One thing I would say out loud is,"Anybody who wants their money back for the interuption, please see these people (pointing at the troublemakers)". I remember having to do this during sold out showings of 'The Lion King', 'Dances With Wolves', and 'Batman Returns' (where I got a standing ovation) among others. Only once were the troublemakers not gone before the police arrived. The troublemakers argued with the police and eventually had to be handcuffed and removed physically. About 5 years ago, I got pretty good at spotting the troublemakers before they even bought their tickets. I would verbally warn them BEFORE they bought their tickets. Then, if an employee (or patron) came out during the movie to complain, the police would be speed-dialed instantly.

Starblade, kudos to you, sir. If only more people ran businesses like you had. You were well deserving of a standing ovation for ytour efforts.

While writing up the chain of command at the theatre may do something...I think the more people demand their money back or receive free tickets the more a monetary dent may be inflicted upon the theatre chains. Since they care about this factor of receipts, perhaps new policys will be instituted.

Public humiliation is a WONDERFUL idea, I love it!

And I remember seeing Gods And Monsters with a bunch of rowdy teenagers in the next row. I think they expected a horror movie because of the title, and when they saw what it was there was no stopping the stupid comments. I fumed for twenty minutes (missing the film because of trying to lower my blood pressure), then I got up and barked at them. That shut them up, but then I couldn't concentrate because I was wondering how to fight them if they attacked me later in the street!

The best though was when a mobile phone went off:

Actually, though I know you all want to see the latest releases, the above-mentioned travails seldom, if ever, occur at two kinds of movie houses: those that specialize in classic repertory and foreign films -- the sort of places in which teenagers wouldn't be caught dead (though the generally affluent patrons do have a predictably high degree of cell phone- and beeper-ownership).

If your town or local university has one or more odf these establishments, get reacquainted with the great works of the cinema and leave the modern crap to the teenagers for whom it was extruded -- er, crafted, anyway.

quote:

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Originally posted by starblade:
My theatre was my kingdom.......I was the absolute dictator and you did what I said to do or you were banished. I had many a (loud) conversation with parents (some good, some bad).

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Let's hope Lou G and the freedom fighters don't show up, blade! You'll have a real fight on your hands.....

Of course, I kid, but the parallels are entertaining nonetheless.

No - I did it 'for' the paying customers that want to see the movie because I wanted to give them the absolute best showing of the movie that I possibly could. I'm perfectly happy to melt into the shadows and never be seen.......

Constant interference with my cinematic experienece really grates my cheese and I'll even tell my friends to shut-up if need be.

But the worst of all...worse that chatter....worse than ruffling chip bags
..worse than mobiles....worse than a new print with a picture scratch in the final 10 mins....is somebody who continually bumps or taps the back of your chair with their feet. The last person that crossed me in a theatre moved ten rows away.

As you can see I'm quite anal about this but I'm pretty cool in most other circumstances

Rochelle

I guess some people have been trained to be tolerant of this, but I refuse and cannot accept that. It's nice to see comrades in arms feeling the same.

Clayton

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few -- especially if the few are a bunch of moronic teenagers."

Live long and prosper.

T'was not always so, of course, but the last time I had anything even remotely resembling this was an idiot who sat next to me at Jurassic Park and wouldn't shut the hell up.

The sad fact is that between the home video explosion and the rise of the multiplex with postage-stamp sized screens, there was a group of people raised who don't understand that when in the theater they are not in their living rooms.

I can't believe that the theatre lady yelled at you when you tried to get a refund. This is totally out of line. The audience was disruptive AND the film kept stopping???!!!! This is pure ignorance on her part. I'm sorry, but how dare she!!! From now on I challenge you to demand your money back, raise your tone if need be. Speak to them above their intellect and cite how ridiculous the situation is. Demand their superior's name and keep going up the chain of command.

When my situation happend last week, the managers kept telling me there was only so much they could do, it's a bad crowd, blah blah blah. I kept repeating,"That's not an excuse. That's not an excuse and unacceptable as one."

As a patron, you have just paid for a service and thus there is an obligation there for the establishment to fulfill that service...just like when you order a steak at a restaurant.

The managers may take you less seriously because of your age. Still make demands. Demand their superior's name and get phone numbers. Take them to your mom. When I was your age, I recall my mother did amazing things on the phone. She was a crusader in that way. She could topple empires it seemed with just a couple dials. It's just an inherant ability mothers possess.

But for god's sake, don't let anyone yell at you when you are clearly in a situation where you are right!!!

Concerning this topic which I posted awhile back, he goes on to say, "My favorite recent moment was at the UNBREAKABLE premiere when a cell phone started going off during the quiet title sequence. Finally, Bruce Willis got up and said, 'Answer your ****ing phone, *******!' and got big applause because that's what we were all thinking. As a kid, I took movies and moviegoing really seriously, but growing up in L.A. and practically living in theatres in Westwood, I also had to deal with UCLA students-who I thought were such *******s, they actually turned me off to college. I never went to movies without a switchblade in my pocket. I thought, 'If I'm going to get into an altercation with some ****ing frat *******, I want to have a blade on me.' Fortunately, that didn't happen, and I didn't wind up in jail because of my hostility toward idiot audiences. I've mellowed some. I now go unarmed to theatres."

This coming from the Funfa King himself!!!

It's nice to know that even our idols share the same heartaches upon the same stirring oceans we do...

Here's to you Danny boy!!! May the icing on your Donuts see their Glory Glaze!!!

Right, Andre?

Anyway, speaking of the movie-going experience, I saw THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS today. Wes Anderson is great and his framing of shots is once again, symmetrically and compositionally, brilliant. Gene Hackman is a riot. Go see it!!!

A couple in the same row as me had a child with them that could not have been older than 2 years. And this was a 9:00 PM show. I understand that some parents aren't keen to the idea of baby-sitters nowadays, but if you don't call on that service then R-rated movies are one of the sacrifices you have to make as a parent. Wait for the video, DVD, or HBO showing. Bringing a baby that will cry at every crucial scene of the film (as this one did) is rude to both the audience and the child itself.

Back in August, while visiting the ViewAskew.com message board, I came upon a rant from one Kevin Smith fan complaining that the theater wouldn't let her and her husband into a showing of JAY AND SILENT BOB STIRKE BACK because they had a 2-year-old with them. It was nice to see so many other people on the message board (most of them probably the very age group this entire thread has been complaining about) gang up on her about it. Hopefully it taught her a lesson.

The only other problem I had recently was a cell phone that kept ringing during THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE. And since that's generally a very quiet film, it was especially annoying. At the fourth or fifth ring, everyone in the theater was shouting, so the culprit finally turned the phone off.

That, and the myriad non-readers who can't help but exclaim "Where's the rest of the f***ing movie?!?!" when the end credits come up for THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. But by that time the film is over, and for anyone who doesn't know its a trilogy, that behavior is forgivable.

That Elfman anecdote was pure gold, Lightborne! Thanks for sharing.

Judging by your previous racist remarks at this message board, I take your story with a very large pinch of salt.

If you don't like watching movies with other people in the cinema, wait for the DVD.......that goes for Graham Watt too.

Oh, and the 'racial lawsuit card' is in the deck to help protect innocent people from ignorant right-wing bigots like you and priggish snobs such as perfpitch, as well as many of the other prejudiced and intolerant individuals who have contributed to this thread.

Being a far more culturally and racially integrated, broadminded and enlightened society, here in the UK we take a very dim view of your kind of Victorian small-mindedness........Still, even in the US, conservative, WASP-ish, prudish and blue-blooded colonists like you are thankfully a dying breed.

Having read this entire thread, I find it very disappointing that so many people here regard their fellow man with such contempt......still, what do you expect from a bunch of a$$holes, freaks and social misfits who collect soundtrack albums?

Daniel

"Didn't we put you back in your playpen? The adults are speaking now. Go to bed."

You, and Commandant K, have no choice in the matter.

Whilst scum like you continue to peddle your racist KKK propaganda, I shall delight in contributing to message board discussion.

The fact that you have evaded the issues I have raised here, like the bigoted coward you are, does tend to validate my opinion of you.

Daniel

........'hip hopper'.......ha, ha.....any relation to Hedda?

I wish someone would take that word, RACISM, which you toss around as though it were a kite in the wind, and flog people like you with it...naive people who use it so freely in such disdainful and accusatory manner.

I will say this, as I have before to you, Daniel. I am prejudiced. Prejudiced against ignorance, of which you continually display vast amounts. That, I am guilty of.

I will thus end here because I care about this board too much to take up more of its space with a ridiculous debate such as this...with you...and your defense team of 40 lawyers..Remember: Ignorance and idiocy deserves rights of NO kind.

Thanks once again for ruining another thread that was posted to promote good on this board. Can't you just go somewhere else?

Sorry, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for taking the trouble to 'address' my 'accusations' (although 'challenge' and 'statements of fact' would have been a more appropriate choice of words)........but all you have actually done is reaffirmed your racist and bigoted world-view (an outlook which obviously does not extend beyond your own backyard, your line of sight apparently being impeded by a wall of small-mindedness, intolerance and Victorian hypocrisy)........

Of course, you could choose to 'ignore' my statements of fact here, but that would be as foolhardy as turning a blind eye to a charging rhinoceros, for what I have said here reflects the sentiment of the vast majority of today's society - the enlightened, tolerant and broadminded majority - I guess there will always be some people who need the help of others to recognize their own prejudices and shortcomings......you are one such person. In that respect, it gives me great satisfaction to be the one to save you from yourself.

Lightborne - "Racism has nothing to do with this posted thread."

Let me rephrase that for you.......racism should have nothing to do with this posted thread.......you have made racism an issue by pointedly describing the perceived offenders as being 'black' and the 'public hero no.1' as being 'white'...... This isn't a 'chicken and egg' situation. It is the words and actions of evil racists and bigots (such as you and the KKK) that has encouraged society's relentless and noble pursuit of racial harmony. The protection of the individual from race discrimination is paramount.....and only when the evil face of racism (as personified by you) is expunged, can the 'race issue' be put to bed. As things stand, I'd rather share my multiplex with a thousand 'rowdy black hip hoppers' than with just one fascist reprobate like you.

As I made clear in my earlier posting, your racist statements at this thread could be forgiven, unfortunate and misguided though they are, if it weren't for your long history of bigoted and racist sentiment at this message board.

Lightborne - "Thus, I, as well as the rest of the public, must sit and watch the service we have rightfully paid for and earned burn up before our very eyes."

You obviously place more importance on one's ability to watch a movie without so much as a farting mouse to 'disturb your pleasure' than on the ongoing fight against racism........and that speaks volumes about you - someone who not only condones racism, but practices it also......

Lightborne - "I will thus end here because I care about this board too much to take up more of its space with a ridiculous debate such as this...with you...and your defense team of 40 lawyers....."

I don't need lawyers to defend the principles I espouse......the caring majority of civilization stands foursquare beind me......your description of this vitally important issue as being 'ridiculous' is indicative of your own profound insensitivity, incorrigible prejudice and incurable naïveté.

Lightborne - "Can't you just go somewhere else?"

Coming from the likes of you, that question alone provides reason enough for me to stay........

There is only one thing as bad as a knowing racist, and that's an unwitting racist.......

Which are you.......?

Daniel

PS - Thank you to all of those who have contacted me privately to register their support for my statements here. It is gratifying to learn that the silent majority continue to pursue racial equality with such passion.

What enormous fingers you must have!

Daniel - "...what do you expect from a bunch of a$$holes, freaks and social misfits who collect soundtrack albums?"

Nothing exemplifies a "broadminded and enlightened society" better than calling your fellow men "a bunch of a$$holes, freaks, and social misfits."

Daniel - "Whilst scum like you continue your racist KKK propaganda, I shall delight in contributing to message board discussion."

I'm very disappointed to hear you admit that you wish to condone the brutal actions and position of the Ku Klux Klan by contributing to a message board that so openly supports them.

Daniel "...but that would be as foolhardy as turning a blind eye to a charging rhinoceros..."

Not only enormous fingers, but a nose to match!

Daniel "...I guess there will always be some people who need the help of others to recognize their own prejudices and shortcomings..."

You are one such person. In that respect, it gives me great satisfaction to be the one to save you from yourself.

Daniel - "It is the words and actions of evil racists and bigots (such as you and the KKK) that has encouraged society's relentless and noble pursuit of racial harmony."

Again, it is disheartening to hear you support their cause in such an inflammatory fashion. Equating the hateful and disturbing words and actions of racist and prejudiced individuals like Lightborne and Graham Watt with civilization's "noble pursuit of racial harmony" only reaffirms your hidden but rampant racial and social bigotry.