Ah, the drive-in.
Yeah, this is going to be another one of those articles about a pleasure of a bygone era, though I have to admit that in this case I don’t really have that many childhood memories of going to the drive-in. Yes, there was one less than five miles from my house – and actually on the way to my grandmother’s, and I remember going there a few times, but by the time I was old enough for it to really make an impression, it was mostly showing R-rated films, and sadly it was torn down in the early 70s to make way fro a new Kroger plaza with a CVS and other stores. It’s actually hard to believe now that there was ever even a drive-in there as the area has grown so much that the light pollution from surrounding businesses would seemingly make showing a film outdoors in the area nearly impossible.
I am, however, lucky enough to have a couple of drive-ins within reasonable driving distance of where I’m living even today, and even though going requires some planning and is something of an excursion, I do try to get to one of them as often as possible, and it’s still a great way to spend an evening with family and friends.
It’s this shared experience that is at the heart of Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-In.
“Definitive” is actually a good description of this documentary. Not only is it a celebration of the outdoor theater, but a history lesson which touches on both the cultural and financial factors that led to both the rise and eventual fall of the drive-in.
Packed with interviews with drive-in owners both past and present (including Barry Floyd, the owner of the Stardust Drive-In in Watertown, Tn, one of those relatively local theaters I mentioned above), along with stills of theaters and (sadly) places where theaters used to be the film is a treasure trove of information for those who have an interest in the subject. .
Going Attractions traces the roots of the drive-in from the earliest days when they were little more than a sheet strung between two trees through the post-war years and the rise of car culture in the U.S. until it reached the point where more people were going to see movies outside than inside.
It also does a good job of emphasizing that a big part of the rise of the drive-in was the fact that it was family friendly entertainment, even more so than indoor movie theaters which tend to be – or at least at the time tended – to be more of a formal exercise and not all that kid friendly, as opposed to the drive-in which would often have a playground off to the side and by its very nature was a place where children could roam and of course since these were community theaters all the adults would be looking out for each other’s children.
Of course, things change, and so did the fortunes of the drive-in theater. Going Attractions tracks the gas crisis of the 70s and the resultant faltering of America’s car culture as a large part of the downfall of the drive-in. Also impactful was the change in the tenor of movies at the time.
As movies became more permissive and nudity and sex became more a part of mainstream fare, there was something of a backlash against these films in the indoor theaters, so the drive-ins decided to embrace these movies in order to keep themselves a viable alternative. Unfortunately this led to the drive-ins gaining a reputation for showing “dirty movies” and/or graphic horror films, and losing their family-friendly reputation, instead becoming known more as a place you wouldn’t want your kids anywhere near.
There were other factors which led to the decline of the drive-ins, of course. Changing technology, America becoming more of a stay at home and mall-centric culture, the spread of cities outward making the property many of these theaters sat on worth more to developers who bought out many of them to put up big box stores or, as I noted in the example of my own local drive-in, a Kroger.
Still all is not lost. There are still those drive-ins that survived and held on throughout all the years and all the changes. Plus, there are new drive-ins that have opened in recent years. And these new theaters are working hard to regain the family-friendly atmosphere that will keep them going in the future.. Will the outdoor theaters ever regain the prominence that they once had? Probably not. But they do endure, and I urge you to check DriveInMovies.com to find one near you.
Me, I’m just waiting for March, when the Stardust opens for the season so I can have some outdoor fun.
durnmoosemovies.wordpress.com 