 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema")
There are movies like “300” that spawn one-liner memes like “This is Sparta!” and get old about six months later, if they manage to last that long. On the other hand, there are movies like “The Princess Bride” that are quotable ad infinitum two decades after being released — especially the immortal line: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
“The Princess Bride” is the movie that inspired the Alamo Drafthouse Quote-Along series. Originally conceived as a low-key one-off to fill in time slots for the Drafthouse’s Colorado Street location before it closed in 2007, the event sold out — which shocked organizer Henri Mazza.
“We had a viewing of Princess Bride scheduled and I was cutting a trailer of all those quotable lines to promote all the screenings we had, and it just hit me — why not let people say these lines out loud?” Mazza said. “We weren’t expecting it to have a full house; we just wanted to use that same idea of seeing something we and audiences love be more interactive. ”
The unexpected success of the event got noticed, and when the Alamo Ritz opened, quote-alongs became a weekly event. Currently, the quote-alongs take place each Thursday, with the movie changing every three to four weeks.
“After we decide on the movie, I and a couple of other people get together and watch the movie through a couple of times finding out the good quotes,” Mazza said. “We brainstorm to come up with props and whatever menu ordering specials we can dream up. We try to go through and look for the magic moments and look for a toy or something to use with it.”
Mazza and his crew just wrapped up “Beetlejuice,” and this week they opened up “Ghostbusters.” Mazza said several movies chosen this year centered around holidays, and this December they plan on showing “Elf.”
While the quote-alongs cater to longtime fans of a movie, Mazza said there are first-time watchers at every showing, and it’s easy to play along and have a good time.
“I haven’t had the luxury of seeing a movie I hadn’t seen at a quote-along,” he said, “But from talking to people, it’s a great way to experience it. Since [the audience isn’t saying] every line and there are props, it makes it that much more interactive — like the old standard ‘Rocky Horror,’ which you should only see with live show and crowd. It enhances the whole thing. Some will be, ‘Oh my gosh, I know this quote, but I’ve never seen this movie.’”
Mazza said the success of the series is most likely due to how audiences collectively perceive the film and enjoy it as a crowd.
“When this started, I had no idea how it was going to go,” he said. “But it was really fun and joyous experience. It’s a celebration of the film instead of just watching.”
WHAT: Action Pack Presents: “Ghostbusters” Quote-Along
WHEN: Tonight, 7:15 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Alamo Drafthouse Downtown
TICKETS: originalalamo.com
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