Some recent screen captures I made of the Prospect in Flushing, as seen in Fulci's New York Ripper, the Beacon, as seen in Scorsese's Who's That Knocking at My Door, and the Wakefield, as seen in Mulligan's Bloodbrothers. The Beacon remains open, but not as a movie house. I looked through some old New York Magazine movie listings from Summer to late 1981, which are searchable via Google, and couldn't find a time when Werewolf and Nighthawks were playing together there. They did play at neighboring theaters around that time, however.
The scene in Bloodbrothers actually includes footage from Enter the Dragon, the matinee that Richard Gere takes his kid brother to. Both were Warner Bros. properties so there was some synergy there. Enter the Dragon would also appear in movie-within-movie form in Polanski's The Tenant, a Paramount picture, and, if I'm not mistaken, its use in the Polanski film did not thrill Warner Bros., but I can't find verification of that at the moment. I'm left to wonder if the Beacon really was playing Rio Bravo at that time, or if Scorsese paid someone to dress the marquee specially for his film.
The scene in Bloodbrothers actually includes footage from Enter the Dragon, the matinee that Richard Gere takes his kid brother to. Both were Warner Bros. properties so there was some synergy there. Enter the Dragon would also appear in movie-within-movie form in Polanski's The Tenant, a Paramount picture, and, if I'm not mistaken, its use in the Polanski film did not thrill Warner Bros., but I can't find verification of that at the moment. I'm left to wonder if the Beacon really was playing Rio Bravo at that time, or if Scorsese paid someone to dress the marquee specially for his film.
3 comments:
Just watch the wonderfully awful "Riot on 42nd Street" last night. All shot on the deuce, so lots shots of long gone theaters, but also of interest are the movies playing on the marquee and some movie posters. A lot of the movie takes place inside theaters and venues. Available on a double feature disc with Tim Kincaid's other trash classic, Bad Girls Dormitory.
Thanks for the tip, Garfinkel! I haven't seen it yet.
I grew up in Jackson Heights and Flushing. The Prospect was a literal two block walk from the latter, the legendary RKO Keith's maybe five. Homes away from dysfunctional broken homes. Oases. Thanks for this post.
Post a Comment