For those who have never sampled the Tampa Theatre’s Summer Classic Movie Series: Try it some weekend this summer. I just sampled 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and was reminded all over again what it’s like to be transported.
It was much more than Newman and Redford together again on the big screen. It’s that architecturally eclectic, non-multi-plex, Roaring 20s movie palace – the one with a balcony and no video games in its lobby. It’s the Wurlitzer prelude. It’s the collective experience that only an appreciative crowd can provide. Tampa Theatre, we are gratefully reminded, is no museum piece.
And you always run into people you know. They invariably are the people you enjoy running into since you have classic movies and iconic theaters in common.
This summer’s features include “Casablanca” (June 27-28), “Citizen Kane” (July 26), “Gone With The Wind” (Aug. 15-16) and “The Wizard of Oz” (Aug. 22-23). And while it’s not typically referenced in the context of movie immortality, there’s also the 3-D classic, “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” (Aug. 2). It’s a campy hoot – and played to a packed house a couple of years ago.
Each movie starts at 3 p.m. Tickets are $8.