How Barry Lyndon took my Movie Lover Virginity

 

I’m not gay.  I don’t know how the people I know that are gay come to the realization they are.  I don’t know if it’s a clarification of some sort like a lightning bolt (rainbow bolt?) or if it’s just a gradual thing that they eventually realize.  But, at some point, I’m sure they realize they’re attracted to people of the same sex.  At some point they realize they’re “different” than what many in society deem “normal” and, of course, I hope that it’s becoming easier and easier to come to the conclusion that they’re NOT different; they just are attracted to people of the same sex.  But this blog isn’t about being or not being gay.  And if I was truly interested when someone comes to the conclusion of being gay – I could ask many of my gay friends but, again, this blog isn’t about being gay – what it’s about is coming to a conclusion about one’s self.

I think this is called playing "forlorn" or, maybe, "sad."

 By 1976 I knew that I was a big movie fan.  I had seen many a Kurt Russell/Disney film at the great Bay Theatre.  We would watch “The Ten Commandments” on our 19” RCA color TV every Easter.  “Sound of Music” every Thanksgiving.  By 1976 movies were already a part of my life even before “Jaws” scared the crap out of me (Coliseum Theatre – now closed ) or “Star Wars” blew me away (Sno-King Drive-in – now closed).  When I started making money at my paper-route I wasn’t one of those kids buying comic books (oh, sure, I had my share of “Richie Rich”) or baseball cards (though I did end up with the complete “Star Wars” collection before I stupidly sold it).  The point was – I was a huge fan and when I got the opportunity to buy cable with Showtime and HBO and the Movie Channel – THAT’S what I spent my money on.  You see, I was lucky enough to have both the TV room and MY room be the same thing.  As money became steadier – I moved on to buying my own phone with my own number.  Something very few kids had back in the day.  By the time I was 12 I had my own checking account, by the time I was 13 I got bills in the mail.

The world of cable TV opened up to me.  And, at this time, it meant maybe 30 channels and they all went off the air around 2 a.m.

As the years wore on and “Star Wars” came and went and then “Damnation Alley” came and went and other films – it was not uncommon to have friends over to watch this movie or that.  Trips to downtown Seattle to see movies at the Cinerama or the King Cinemas (no longer there) and, of course, the UA 150 (no longer there) to see “Star Wars” for the 12^th or 13^th time.

 Great poster - not a great movie.

You get it.  I was a movie buff.  Enjoying those films that I was, as a white male at the age or 13 or 14 is SUPPOSED to enjoy.  If I could sneak into an “R” rated movie like “The Legacy” (crap) at the Aurora Cinemas (now closed), I would.

Films were, in essence, my focus.  Both in making and enjoying.

“Barry Lyndon” was not a film aimed for 14 or 15 year olds.  It’s a 3 hour long epic Stanley Kubrick film based on William Makepeace Thackery’s novel set during the 1700’s.  I probably stumbled across it because I liked Ryan O’Neal who had starred in three of my favorite films:  “What’s Up Doc?,” “Paper Moon” and “Nickelodeon.”  And maybe I stayed because this PG film had a bit more nudity than you find in a PG movie – but this film enveloped me in its music, acting and storytelling.

Sorry - this is just cool.  Okay, maybe I'm not sorry.

 

The cinematography was beautiful (years later I would find out that Kubrick used cameras with larger lenses so he could film in candle-light because he didn’t want to use fake light), the directing stunning and 183 minutes swam by faster than you can say “Apple Dumpling Gang” (Bay Theatre).

Yes, this scene is being lit by those candles.  ONLY those candles.

 

When the film came on again...I watched it again.  Remember, I’m a 13 or 14 year old boy here.  Three hours are supposed to be spent looking for (or at) porn.  Playing pinball at the local bowling alley (now closed) or watching the latest stupid Burt Reynolds film or Charles Bronson movie but I couldn’t take my eyes off of “Barry Lyndon.”

Nice!

 

After it was over.  After I had seen it a second or third time, I knew I was witness to greatness.  I also knew I had changed.  “BL” was not a movie that you call your friends and say:  “Oh my God, you’ve got to see how Kubrick lit the scene in the whore house!  The pacing of this story is amazing!  It’s three hours long but doesn’t feel longer than “Smokey and the Bandit III.”   It’s also not the type of film you brag to someone that you’ve seen.  When most of my friend’s film knowledge is wrapped up in either scenes with bare breasts or who had the best car chase or the biggest explosion – I realized that I couldn’t necessarily share the joy that “Barry Lyndon” was to me.  I was different.  Kubrick in his 3 hour long masterpiece had taken my film lover virginity and turned me from a film loving boy into a film loving man.  This film had such an impact on me I even bought the BOOK!  (Never read it, though.)

Oh, you bet it is!

 

By 1978 I was enjoying “Superman” (Lynn 4 theatre, now closed) but I was also traipsing down to the Kings Cinema to see “The Deer Hunter.”  What other movies came out in 1978?  “Grease” (Lynn 4), “Revenge of the Pink Panther” (Northgate, now closed) and the animated Ralph Bakshi version of “The Lord of the Rings” (Guild 45^th).

But I would remember “Barry Lyndon.”

And as I think about this, I wonder about other people who are huge film buffs and/or film-makers.  What films took their film lover virginity?  What films did they thoroughly enjoy when their friends are looking at them like they’re crazy?  If I think about the films that Nick has watched and I’ve exposed him to, I would think maybe it was “Brick” – though the film is about high school students.  Or maybe it was “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” – not necessarily a film that is geared toward the male 14 to 21 demographic (maybe because it lacks a lot of explosions) and not one you can easily explain while standing in the line to see “Iron Man 3.”

Maybe?

 After my paper-routes (at one point I had three routes and was “shack manager”) I would come home on a Saturday and turn on the Canadian Broadcasting Channel.  They would show classic films from the 40’s including the “Henry Aldrich” movies and films starring the “Dead End Kids" (aka "the East Side Kids").  Once-in-a-while I would slide over to channel 11 and watch movies there, too.  One film that influenced me was the movie “Invasion of the Star Creatures.”  A comedy film about two men who come across giant women and have to save the world.  I found this film to be gut-busting hilarious and channel 11 would show it a couple times a year and I would always seem to find it.

Henry did more than that.

East Side "kids" - I think they were all over 30.

A few years ago I saw that it was on DVD paired with another movie.  I was stunned!  Who knew?!  So I popped the movie in and watched it and realized that it was one of the stupidest, pointless pieces of celluloid put on the planet.  (The Leonard Maltin Movie Guide book doesn’t even list it.)    I imagine this is what it’s like when you remember kissing some gal behind the gym in the 2^nd grade and then you meet her years later taking up two stools at the local bar and you wonder what the hell you were thinking...

Yes, it's a comedy.

 

I haven’t watched “Barry Lyndon” since those fateful afternoons so many years ago.  Maybe I want the experience of having my film loving virginity being taken away to stay in a hazy glow of memory.  I don’t want to watch the film and think:  “Damn, Ryan, could your range of acting go beyond infomercial to something more along the lines of a fast food commercial?  Stan, could you pick up the pace a little faster...this film is just dragging me down!”  Do I own it?  You bet I do...but do I really want to revisit such an important film for fear it may let me down?  Or do I want to just remember the experience for what it was...enjoyable, enlightening, life changing?

All this guy's fault...whoever he is.

 

At some point I’ll sit down with the movie.  Maybe I’ll even talk Nick into watching it with me and maybe I’ll be awakened once again.  Or maybe I’ll just live with the happy memory of change and growth and know that I was different...