The Bangor Drive-In

Like shaking a box of Cracker Jacks looking for  the prize I went to the Facebook page for the Bangor Drive-In (which is located just outside of the Bangor city limits, as if it was both somewhat disreputable but needed at the same time). On Tuesdays they would announce the movies and showtimes. Each screen would have a double feature, however, sometimes on Mondays if you played around on the site they used for their online ticket sales (though it was cheaper to pay in person) you could see what was coming for the next weekend before they posted it on Facebook.

However, on this Monday my search came up blank, which had happened every now and again, there was no need for panic. However, on Tuesday we received the bad news, there was a black and white image of a drive-in movie screen  on Facebook with the words "Closed for the season" on it. Though this was a disappointment we did get  bonus season time Last year the drive-in closed on October 6 after playing the latest film version of  "It," and its sequel one too many times in a row. 

In May when the season started the theater was open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Then  later in the summer we lost Thursdays followed by Fridays after Labor Day. On holiday weekends additional days were added.  For this past Thanksgiving weekend they were open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. 

Lisa and I did not want to see Buddy Games, even the trailer grossed us out and made us mourn for the days of more refined fare like the Porky's series of films. Normally we went to Govnor's, a local bakery and restaurant well known for it comfort food (try the fried pickles); but this time we made our food at home: chicken fingers and french fries; a dinner we used to buy at the drive-in's concession stand; but more about that later.

We came in as late as we could into Buddy Games, but still had to watch about forty-five minutes of it. It was one thing to have a gross scene in a film for shock value, it is another thing to be gross for the sake of being gross; and this film hit every mark. Fortunately the heat of the food steamed the windows creating a sort of mercy cataract. 

The next film was 1983's Trading Places, with Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis. I forgot how good the it was, and was impressed on how well it held up. Eddie Murphy has been around now for decades, but it always seemed to me that his best work was in the 1980s when he was a bit dangerous. Though Dan Aykroyd is a favorite of mine, I still had flashbacks to 1941, a film that I had avoided watching for years until recently. Through watching 1941, I learned that  even Steven Spielberg could have a misstep; the comedy seems forced and strained and not even the late great John Belushi paired with his fellow Blues Brother could not save this film.

After watching Aykroyd and Murphy hold a coup in the commodity exchange and before combing Wikipedia for more information on the film we had just seen, Lisa and I played our favorite game: "What would you do to run the Bangor Drive In Better?" As usual it all came back to David Bowie.

A few months ago a local charity group staged a friendly "take-over" of the drive-in to raise money, and the film they chose was Labyrinth, with David Bowie. That night the place was packed, and the concession stand went into meltdown. 

All summer long I had been giving the guy at the counter a dollar tip, and if you are up in Maine you will see that tipping seems to be a lost art or myth. That night I went up to order Lisa and I some snacks and the guy said I'd have to come back in a half hour just to order as they were getting slammed. Goes to show you that my weekly dollar bribe did not buy much in the form of preferential treatment. This would be the last time I used the concession stand as if I  had waited the extra half hour I would have got my food as the closing credits started to roll, just after the young star of the film takes all the lessons of maturity she learned and ditched them for a mass muppet hallucination. 

Fortunately suspecting this treachery we had bought some snacks at the gas station, including the fabled Red Circle K banana bread.  As we freed out banana bread from its wrappings we wonder why was it that a charity group running a single feature had packed the drive-in tighter than it had ever been, even  when compared to last year when Hollywood was open for business.

One thing was the films they picked, the pairing of the films, and the follow through. One example is when you are going to repeat a film the next week make it the second film, that way those who had been at the theater the previous week can see something new and then ditch the second film if they want to. One weekend they had Boss Baby" followed by The Empire Strikes Back; the two films do not make a good pairing. Oddly enough Bohemian Rhapsody and Iron Man worked as they featured geniuses with mustaches. But more often than not the pairings failed. 

They had run the entire Harry Potter film series, with some small cuts that made me wonder what was missing from other films I had seen. Sitting through two of these films in a single night was a test of endurance. Other film series were interrupted such as showing the first two Back to the Future films and not the third. You can get away with that with some films such as The Empire Strikes Back which can stand on its own.

Sometimes they could also be deaf to what the patrons want. Cries for the Rocky Horror Picture Show around Halloween failed (though it was shown in other drive-ins in Maine), which is just as well as the theater had suddenly cancelled all shows on Halloween night due to: "circumstances beyond their control."

On Halloween night many who drove past the drive-in  wondered why there were tents set up within. Was there to be a zombie convention? No, the answer was somewhat worse in how pedestrian it was. Sara Gideon, the democratic nominee for the the U. S. Senate in Maine had taken  over the drive-in for a rally on Sunday.

Now, nobody likes to be called stupid, and that's how a lot of people around town felt when they found out what had dashed their Halloween plans. Did the owners of the drive-in not think anyone would have heard of what had happened? To date  and to the best of my knowledge nobody has explained to me how a planned political rally could be described as circumstances beyond their control.

Outraged patrons vented their anger on Facebook, so much so that the post regarding the cancellation and all associated comments was eliminated. It was like something a child does when they sob and hope to "Make it go away!" But it did not. When the drive-in posted again the subject came up over and over. A simple apology or acknowledgement might have cooled things down, but it was never coming.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving Lisa and I sat in the car while on the screen a man was shot in his testicles by a woman at a resort. The man was shot because he had been slapping his testicles on the forehead of another man. When the bullet exited there was a spraying of green fluid (which is why I am grateful I did not see all of Buddy Games). Around us were about seven cars, there were most likely more cars in the other lot where they were showing more children friendly films. Little did we realize that this weekend would be the last one for the 2020 season.

When the credits for Bubby Games started to roll six of the cars left leaving just us and another car that might have belonged to the projectionist.When the credits for Trade Places started to roll we pulled out of our spot, but this time there was no dust cloud as the lot had been muddy from a recent rain. I always turned the car stereo off as it was set to the station that carried the sound of the film to our car and I did not want to be distracted when it cut off. The end of movies are to me like the loss of a friend. We spent two hours together and now with the closing credits we drifted apart. 

In retrospect the management (I have trouble calling them that) of the drive-in made a good call. This past weekend there was a mixture of rain, snow and wind that will had many of my neighbors chasing down garbage can lids and decorations. 

Will I be back at the drive-in next season? Yes! Do I wish it would be better? Yes! But complaining is the American way and I think it will be a long time until I would feel comfortable going to an indoor movie theater. 

Living through the winter in Maine is waiting for all the spring joys to come back; from yard sales, to your favorite ice cream  place  to reopen, or for the next season at the drive-in to start. But this winter we are not just waiting for Maine to reopen, we are waiting for the world to reopen again, and that might take a bit longer.