All By Myself

Saturday, June 19th, I decided that I wanted to go see a movie in a theater. My wife is away visiting her parents and I thought it was a good time go head to the local movie house and see the new movie "Whiteout", which, to me, looked good.

I got to the theater, asked for one adult ticket please, paid $8.50 and got a paper ticket (tickets were made of cardboard years ago and cost much less). I got some popcorn and Pepsi and tramped down the hallway in search of the room (there were about 8 films showing a once) where my film was showing.

I found it after going turning several corners and looking up a the signs above the entrance doors looking for one that said "Whiteout". I entered and to my shock, (this movie was supposed to start at 7:40, it was 7:20 now) the entire theater was empty! Great choice in seatings, so I settled down in the middle of the middle, which is where I like to sit. I munched on my popcorn, watched some interesting things on the screen (movie quizes, picture scrambles) which I got wrong on the first try, but aced them when they came by for the third time.

I was expecting a bit of a crowd to suddenly appear to keep me company. After all, you don't go to theaters just to see the movie, you want to enjoy it in the company of about 100 or so others. It's much more enjoyable then.

Only one other person showed up, sat several seats behind me, and then left during the preview and did not come back. Yes, indeed, I was now the only one to see this particular showing. That beats a current record when I saw a film with my cousin years ago and it was only he and I and the manager watching "The Seven Faces of Dr. Lau".

Is this the sign of very hard times? Would the film had run even if I didn't show up? Is there anything more pathetic (I would think so, but...) than showing a film to an empty movie house.

Well, the film was OK, nothing spectacular, and Kate looked nice as a Marshall. It was interesting to try and figure out who the bad guys were and there were a few surprises. I would give this movie a 6 out of 10. The next time I go see a film, I hope there are more people there.