When was the last time you went to a drive-in movie?

When I saw Star Wars.

Way to long ago!

1982. And I can’t remember the movie. Not because there was anything going on, but because it was a long time ago!

@ tedibear39 – nudge nudge wink wink say no more ;-)

A summer long ago. They seem to go with summer somehow.

when I was 12 years old and I saw squirm, it was about a town that somehow got worms that bite and they got everywhere.

Bye Bye Birdie.

almost 10 years ago and I don’t remember the movie. The windows were too fogged up. ;)

Drive-in is so much fun. We do it once every year at least. Last time was this early summer.

And, we always buy as much food and drinks as possible there. Drive-in theatres don’t make too much by just selling tickets, and their season is rather short here. We don’t want them go out of business.

1972. McCabe and Mrs. Miller. I didn’t know that drive-ins still exist. In the warmer parts of the country?

We were on vacation and went last Wednesday. We got there – but the movies playing weren’t that great and we were 20 minutes late for the first one, so we didn’t go. At $34 for 4 – it was sort of a deal – two movies, but not if you miss some of the first one! And I usually fall asleep during the second.

We have another drive-in that is near us that we might check out in a few weeks, before it closes. It IS a lot of fun and with the old snack bar with wrapped burgers and dogs, it brings back some great memories.

@Gail – You can go to this website to find a drive in. There are several drive-ins near us in upstate New York. Not exactly warm… We wore long pants and sweatshirts…

http://www.driveinmovie.com/mainmenu.htm

@Autumn = We paid $32 for 4 for three movies. We came in late to Wall-E. We got home about 3:30 AM.

@Gail – here is the link to find ones in New York. http://www.driveinmovie.com/NY.htm

We went to the one in Malta cuz I liked the movies they offered the best. I think the ones in our area will be closing soon.

Let us know if you go to one!!

@Dandy: Thank you. I had no idea. Back in the days, I went for one reason only and that was not to see the movie. Now I like comfort, the right temperature, and proximity. Chatham, NY (my home town) has a monthly indie movie and there is now a really good little triplex in Great Barrington, MA. I can barely drag myself to Albany for occasional medical issues.

Pretty here now, isn’t it, with all the autumn wild flowers and the light getting more slanted?

I think the last drive-in movie I saw, was in the 1970s, and I saw The Godfather in the Twin Cities area.

I didn’t realize it was THAT long ago!

September 2, 2008, 11:32 AM EDT

@Gail: back in the day. I love you very much.
My neighbor Llynnie and I went to see Snakes on a Plane at the drive-in four miles from
home off Highway 101 last summer or the summer it came out. We screamed a lot and laughed like hell. I have a Prius, because I’m so cool, but I didn’t know how to turn on the electrics so we could hear the movie through the radio speakers, so I just kept the whole (electric) engine turned on for the whole movie. Doofus behavior well suited to drive-ins.

@Susan; Thanks for catching that. I didn’t know that “day” was supposed to be singular. Now I do and I’m glad.

Does that treatment of the Prius negate the 800 mpg hype? My friend Howard has one; I see him often in the parking lot at the bank reading the manual.

Back in the 70s we’d all pile into the car, we kids in our footie pajamas, and go to the drive-in every couple of months. In between, we’d sit on my grandmother’s front stoop from which we could see the screen over the tree tops. I’d be mesmerized, even without the benefit of sound.

Hmm…I have never been to a drive in movie. What’s the appeal?

@PnL – It’s hard to describe. For me, it’s being able to make stupid comments to my friends about the movie and not bother other people. I also like the bigger screen. And there’s something romantic about it. Not in the lovey-dovey sense I hear you laughing already Bri_L but in the cozier sense of the word.

The best way to enjoy a drive-in movie, is to sit in your car outside the theater grounds, with a telescope or binoculars aimed at the screen, and a sophisticated “electronic ear” aimed at a speaker. LOL

College kids specialized in that, as well as piling in a bunch of kids into the trunk of a car, prior to entering the theater grounds.

September 2, 2008, 12:37 PM EDT

@Gail. I do get 800mpg, of course. That is pleasant. I had not read the manual and that is why I didn’t know I can have the radio on without the rest of the engineness.

Reading the manual is not a sign of the Prius being overly complex. It’s a sign of interest. He’s a man. I’m a woman. I’m not interested in the tech stuff. I just want it to carry me around. It’s a lovely car to drive and it will carry a lot of art materials in the back.
Rick bought it “used” from the showroom for a huge discount and took delivery in six weeks, back in the day when they were back-ordered for 18 months. Score.

I’ve never been either. I feel like it would have to be a movie I really don’t care much about. Too may distractions.

The appeal to me is that we can talk to each other, you can see the stars, open the windows, take your shoes off, and enjoy your 15 YO son thank you for such a great family bonding experience! Before kids and when we both worked long hours, we could bring the dogs. They loved getting held and petted by us for hours at a time.

@susanc: so that is different from the “Greasemobile?’

We loved drive-ins because it was very difficult to find dark and private spots. Bedrooms were off-limits then, and the local police knew where most of the “Park and Neck” spots were.

Another appeal, and something that every drive-in I ever patronized seemed to have in common, was the terrific food!

I never ordered hot dogs or pizza at a drive-in, that weren’t absolutely fantastic, because drive-ins make the majority of their income from concessions, and I wanted to encourage them, by NOT bringing in an Igloo® Cooler along, to keep sodas cold.

September 2, 2008, 1:00 PM EDT

The perfect “Park & Neck” spots in my hometown were, forgive me, cemeteries.

In my hometown, the cops were afraid to patrol those places, and any gal I took to one, always seemed to sit a lot closer to me, than she would have, otherwise.

September 2, 2008, 1:03 PM EDT

Last year – also the last time I lived at home. I love to go in the summer at home, there is a super great drive in right near my house. My dad usually comes with me. It’s an awesome father-daughter night out thing. Plus they always have good, current movies and it’s $8 a pop (not a flat rate for the car). Still $4 for a first run movie can’t be beat!

If I’m allowed to ask a related question within this thread, when drive-in theaters began charging by the carload (instead of the individual person) how many kids did you manage to cram into a car?

I was in a car that had SEVENTEEN kids in it, with several in the trunk.

It was a lot of fun, but I never did find out just which female was groping me.

September 2, 2008, 1:24 PM EDT

@JackAdams – why do you assume it was a female?

Ha!

not drive-in related, but I rode in a tiny PINTO with 11 teens and an adult driver to go roller skating when I was about 14…long before seat belt laws were in effect!

@tedibear39: No other choice was possible. I was in the trunk with 4 girls. I was the only guy in the trunk.

September 2, 2008, 1:30 PM EDT

And you got out? That must have been some movie!

To be honest, THEY got out.

Shortly after one of them farted.

September 2, 2008, 1:47 PM EDT

I went last summer with four other friends of mine. All girls – between the movies we would go into the snack bar and flirt with the boys. It was a lot of fun.

A few months ago I went and saw Wall E at a drive in. Pretty snazzy.

Wasn’t Wall-E great? I did miss the first 1/2 hour but loved the rest. We all did – ages 15 to 50!

As I recall, when I was a teenager, not too many of us actually WATCHED a movie at the drive-in, particularly if we were driving a station wagon…

September 2, 2008, 6:58 PM EDT

@JA

You’d be surprised what can happen in the back seat of a little Acura Integra.

Even in the front seat ;)

summer of 2003 or 2004, i can’t remember, Xmen and Bruce all mighty.( I think that’s the name of it) I too fell asleep, during xmen. I was sick at the time, and actually didn’t want to go at all.

@ninjaxmarc: I’ll make a note of that, the next time I go shopping for a new car.

September 2, 2008, 8:19 PM EDT

One time when I was dating, we went to the drive-in. We were watching the movie (not) and someone kept beeping their horn. Well, we laughed, but mostly ignored it. UNTIL – the drive-in manager or big guy from the concession stand comes over and knocks on the window of OUR car and tells us we have to leave because we kept beeping our horn. Um, hello? We were watching the movie!!! Geesh!

3 Years Ago, Lake George, NY. The Fantastic Four

I’ve never been to one either.

I feel sorry for those who have never experienced a drive-in theater, because I believe they are slowly vanishing from the American landscape, and that before the end of this century, they will cease to exist.

I know people who have NEVER seen a spinning dial telephone, and they believe that ROTARY INTERNATIONAL is an organization dedicated to bringing them back.

September 3, 2008, 1:55 AM EDT

We are living in a society where we are being multied to distraction. So much so that even the simplest of pleasures aren’t quite as pleasurable as they used to be. That being said, my last Drive-In movie experience was relegated to the Attic of my mind.

Double/triple/Dusk to Dawn features at my home-town Drive-In were a ritual when I was in highschool. What better way to ‘hang’ with friends, away from the ever present ‘evil-eye’ of the parentals!

My last experience was the epitome of “Multi”. Movies played on screens played in unison to the shrieks of excitable kids and drunk teens….I couldn’t tell you what I saw.

Wow….my mom was right!
I am getting old!!

Respectfully, I have just a wee bit of a “problem,” with the way this question was posed, and to explain it in simplistice terms (so I can better understand it), I refer to the late and great Moe Howard, who was once asked by a woman in the audience of a talk show, “What was your last movie?”

Moe sagely replied, “Never say LAST; always say, ‘most recent’.”

When you use the word LAST, you imply that the person will NEVER AGAIN visit a drive-in movie theater, for the rest of their natural lives.

It’s a minor, nit-picky point, I agree, but a valid one.

We need to start saying, “most recent,” instead of “last.”

September 4, 2008, 1:13 AM EDT

Thank you for the correction!

No charge.

September 4, 2008, 9:36 AM EDT

i saw Dirty Dancing at a drive in in Long Island about 20 years ago. i missed the ending because i was getting turned out, so i still, to this day, don’t know the ending to that stupid movie.

jca – what do you mean by “getting turned out” ? and i can tell you the ending if you would like :)

like when someone “turns you out” – meaning we had sex. thanks for the offer of the info, but i did not think it was the best movie.

That’s a new one to me! I learned something new on fluther today! :0)

I loved ‘Dirty Dancing’ – Baby and Patrick Swayze were good!

I used to love Dirty Dancing, then one of my friends spent days trying to convince me that Patrick Swayze is an utter scumbag and pedophile in the movie. I haven’t been able to enjoy it since.

autumn43: i love that avatar.

Thanks, jca.

EmpressPixie – I never liked Patrick Swayze in any other movie after that. But I hadn’t thought of that angle when I watched it…I just like the whole Baby/family dynamic and her being a rebel.

I can’t picture Patrick Swayze accepting any role at all, that would result in his character being thought of, in such a way.

September 5, 2008, 4:46 PM EDT

After seeing this tattoo version of Patrick Swayze it’s hard to take him seriously..

Great Caesar’s ghost? They still have drive-ins? The last time I was at a drive in gas was less than 90 cents a gallon. I can’t even remember that far back. Maybe they had just invented fire or something Too bad they don’t have more.