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The Chinese in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" (Warner Bros., 1974).

"Midnight Movie"

We're at the Avenue Theatre in Downey to watch a horror film with a troubled past in "Midnight Movie" (Bigfoot Entertainment, 2008). It hasn't been screened in years and the staff is unaware that there may be problems but several policemen who tried to sort out the murders that occurred the last time the film was shown decide to attend. The copy on the film's DVD package:

"At a seedy theatre in a sleepy suburban town, a group of friends get together for a midnight screening of an early 1970s horror film, unaware that the director/star of the film has something more in store for them than an evening of innocent jolts. Good natured heckling as the movie begins is replaced with horrified disbelief when the movie's grotesque villain butchers one of their friends on screen -- will they be able to overcome the killer before they are all pulled into his supernatural celluloid world?" 

 

The film features Rebekah Brandes, Daniel Bonjour, Greg Cirulnick, Stan Ellsworth, Melissa Steach, Justin Barick, Mandell Maughn and Jon Bridell. Jack Messitt directed. The cinematography was by Ruben Russ and Clyde W. Smith. Thanks to an anonymous tipster about the use of the Avenue for the film.  

 

 

 

Not much to do at the snackbar. At this point the staff outnumbers the customers.  

 

 

 

The manager, played by Rebekah Brandes. She's sent her kid brother home but he sneaks back in. 

 

 

 

Trying to get the staff in line. She's going to watch the movie because this guy on the left thinks he can be manager as well as the projectionist.  

 

 

Ready for the first customers. It'll be a biker guy and his girlfriend.

 

 

 

A look at the auditorium. 

 

Well, it's not going to be a big crowd. 

 

 

 

Figuring out how to get a show on the screen. The equipment that had been in the booth is long gone. For the film what we get is one 35mm portable. 

 

 

 

A happy projectionist. 

 

 

 

There were supposedly murders last time the film ran -- but bodies were never found. 

 

 

Our projectionist needs to change a soda box in the basement. The killer will get him. 

 

Our first real look at the inner lobby.

 

 

We'll lose another person in the men's room. 

 

 

 

Trying to get out an exit door backstage. 

 

 

 

Justin Baric is the kid, who isn't even supposed to be there. Here he makes a run to backstage. 

 

Heading through the lobby to see if they can get out the front. 

 

 

 

A policeman comes by to investigate and it all looks normal to him. Somehow he can't see the people inside, nor hear them banging on the doors.

 

 

 

Up to the booth. On the way the killer will pick off a couple more of them.

 

They decide that the only answer is to stop the damn film. The projector gets knocked over.

 

 

 

But in this theatre anything is possible. Yes, the machine picks itself up and the screening resumes. 

 

 

 

The killings don't stop until the film is done. Here the tail is running through. 

 

 

The kid is the sole survivor. The cops cart him off to the psych ward, unable to believe the stories he's telling.

See the page about the Avenue Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. The building, at 11022 Downey Ave., has been gutted and is now a pizza parlor.

On IMDb: "Midnight Movie"

"The Last Days of Frankie the Fly"

Dennis Hopper takes a drive down Broadway in "The Last Days of Frankie the Fly" (Millenium Films, 1996). On the left we get the Cameo and Arcade theatres. See the pages about them on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more information and photos inside and out. On the Cameo marquee: "Happy Holida s."

Dennis is an aspiring screenwriter just trying to survive while working as a low-level errand guy for local thug Michael Madsen. Daryl Hannah is a porno actress and hooker hoping to stay off the drugs and Keifer Sutherland is a harried porno director who likes to play the horses. Peter Markle directed. The cinematography was by Phil Parmet. 

The film uses many great L.A. locations including the Arts District, the L.A. River and Union Station. Thanks to Sean Ault for noting the theatres in the film. The producer was Elie Samaha, currently the lead partner in the group that owns Yamashiro restaurant, the Chinese and Dolby theatres in Hollywood, and the buildings on Hollywood Blvd. that were formerly the Vogue and Fox.

On IMDb: "The Last Days of Frankie the Fly"

"Eye For An Eye"

Getting an ice cream cone on Broadway in John Schlesinger's "Eye For An Eye" (Paramount, 1996). The film stars Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Olivia Burnette, Joe Mantegna, Beverly D'Angelo and Philip Baker Hall. Sally's character is on a hunt for the man who raped and murdered her daughter. Thanks to Eric Schaefer for spotting the various theatres in the film and getting the screenshots. He comments: 

"Well, not a good movie but this one does look great thanks to cinematographer Amir Mokri. The Kiefer Sutherland character lives downtown so we get plenty of cool footage there."

 

At the end of the ice cream scene the camera pans up a bit and we get this view south as Kiefer gets lost in the crowd. The Roxie is at 518 S. Broadway, the Cameo, with "Happy Holida s" on the marquee, is at 528. Just beyond, unseen in this shot, is the Arcade Theatre at 534 S. Broadway. On the right in the distance it's the Los Angeles Theatre down in the 600 block.

Check out the pages about the Roxie, Cameo, Arcade, and Los Angeles theatres on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more information and photos inside and out.   

 

A fine look over at part of the east side of the 400 block of S. Main. It's the view out the window of Kiefer Sutherland's SRO room. The Regent is at 448, now reborn as a live music venue. Over on the left the Main Theatre, with the "XXX Movie" signage, was at 438, in a storefront of the Canadian Building.   

See the pages about the Main Theatre and the  Regent Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the venues. 

 

That neon sign in the previous shot prompted a search to nail down the building it had been taken from. This shot gives us a better look at it and reveals that the Main St. view had been a process shot. The building Kiefer is on in this shot is the former El Dorado Hotel at 416 S. Spring, a block away from the Regent Theatre. Thanks for this, Eric! 

 

 

A 2024 view of the El Dorado from Google Maps. We're looking southeast. The Rosslyn roof sign can be seen in the distance, over at 5th and Main.

On IMDb: "Eye For An Eye"

"X: The Unheard Music"

The Pussycat Theatre, 6656 Hollywood Blvd., is seen in "X: The Unheard Music" (Skouras Pictures, 1986), W.T. Morgan's documentary about the L.A. punk band X. 

 

We go around to the alley south of the theatre. 

Brendan Mullen takes us down the stairs. From August 1977 until January 1978 the basement under the theatre and the adjacent office building at Hollywood and Cherokee had  been his infamous punk club, Masque. The club didn't last longer because it was closed by the Fire Marshal.  

 

 Looking at the walls.  

 

The film cuts to a vintage black and white still and zooms into that for the trip down the stairs.

More investigation.

 

Another look at graffitti. 

 

Surplus seats. 

See the page about the Pussycat / Ritz Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It had opened in 1940 as a newsreel house.

On IMDb: "X: The Unheard Music" 

 

For more recent footage of the basement see "Masque," an 11 minute video made in 2012 by Mike Plante that's on Vimeo. Esotouric had located it for a Facebook post that was spotted by Terrence Butcher. 

"Broken Hearts of Hollywood"

Filming in the forecourt of Grauman's Egyptian for "Broken Hearts of Hollywood" (Warner Bros., 1926). It's a shot by L.A. photographer Robert Board. Thanks to Grauman-focused historian Kurt Wahlner for spotting this when it went for sale online. Visit his site about the Chinese: GraumansChinese.org. The title of this film and "Warner Bros." was written on the back.    

Kurt notes that the readerboard on the roof says "Estelle Taylor - Jack Dempsey - Monday." See a detail from the photo. Estelle had married Jack in San Diego on February 25, 1925. The couple were acting as hosts on June 21, 1926 for the evening screenings of "Sparrows" and "The Black Pirate."   

 

 The ad in the Times on June 21. So the photo was taken a day, or a few days, before June 21st.

 

An article, also from the Times issue of June 21.  

The film is the tale of a former movie star returning to Hollywood for a comeback. Her daughter follows her and they get cast in the same film as mother and daughter. Troubles ensue including a shooting. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon. The cinematography was by Virgil Miller. The film features Patsy Ruth Miller, Louise Dresser, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Jerry Miley, Stuart Holmes, Barbara Worth and... wait for it... Sid Grauman. 

Sid's and his fellow performers from the film's "theatre sequence" are in this shot taken in the Egyptian forecourt. It appears on IMDb with no date about what publication it was from.   

See the pages about the Egyptian Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of this 1922 vintage movie palace along with hundreds of photos. It's located at 6712 Hollywood Blvd., between McCadden Place and Las Palmas Ave.  

On IMDb: "Broken Hearts of Hollywood" 

"Broken Hearts of Hollywood" was released August 14, 1926. This poster is one that appears on IMDb.  The site notes that there's a surviving print of the film at the George Eastman House in Rochester. 

 

 

"The Truth About Hollywood." This presentation was a two page ad in the August 28, 1926 issue of Motion Picture News. It's on Internet Archive, where you can zoom in to read all the tabloid gossip in the Hollywood Sentinel!

There was also a 1926 indie production from Jaffe Films called just "Broken Hearts" that starred Lila Lee and Maurice Schwartz. It was released on February 16. 

"Strange Days"

It's a dystopian nightmare in New York City in 1999 with guns and tanks on the streets in Kathryn Bigelow's "Strange Days" (20th Century Fox, 1995). Ralph Fiennes cruises the streets on December 30, two days before the expected Y2K meltdown. But the Christmas decorations look suspiciously like the ones on Hollywood Boulevard during that era. Indeed, the theatre he passes is the Ritz/Pussycat at 6656 Hollywood Blvd. 

 

Ralph is playing a cop turned street hustler who peddles "clips," videos that feel real if you are "wired" by putting on a special headset. Customers, of course, want sex clips but also thrills they can't get in their own boring lives: robbing a liquor store, getting in fights, etc. Many of the clips are generated by people wearing the headsets and having a recorder nearby that records not only what they're seeing but also their feelings.  

 

Ralph and friend Juliette Lewis stumble upon what looks like a police department death squad after an acquaintance is executed. There's a clip to prove it and two cops are after it. The film also features Angela Bassett, Tom Sizemore, Vincent D'Onofrio, Brigitte Bako and Josef Sommer. The cinematography was by Matthew F. Leonetti. Thanks to Sean Ault for noting the various theatres that appear in the film. 

 

Ralph drives around a lot with different footage cut together to make the streets look different. But this is a second view of the same theatre. And we get it in a brief shot a third time as well.

See the page about the Pussycat / Ritz Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It had opened in 1940 as a newsreel house. By the time of this film shoot it was in use as a church. 

 

It's new Year's Eve and we're supposedly in Times Square. We are on Broadway but it's the one in Los Angeles. The Palace Theatre, 630 S. Broadway, is down there in the distance in the center of the shot. 

 

 

 

The Palace is in the background as Ralph Fiennes, on the left, and Angela Bassett, on the right, run from a death squad cop who has spotted them. 

 

 The military on alert in front of the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway. 

 

 

 

Another shot at the Los Angeles. 

 

See the pages about the Los Angeles Theatre on the L.A. Theatres site for a history of the 1931 vintage movie palace along with hundreds of photos. 

 

A troublemaker at the festivities. And a bit of the Palace signage on the left. 

 

 

Angela Bassett is in the foreground, trying to flee from one of the death squad cops. She has the clip showing a murder and gives it to the police commissioner. The overexposed signage in the background says "... Times Square," trying to help with the New York Vibe.

 

Angela still running, with the Palace in the background. Evidently she was looking in the wrong direction. Note that the shot has been flipped.  

 

 

 

One of the cops has her on the ground. She's fighting. 

 

More wrestling in front of the Palace. 

 

 

 

She triumphs. But only for a moment and then additional police subdue her. She's rescued by the arrival of Josef Sommer, playing the police commissioner. He's finally looked at the clip and now understands what has been going on.  

 

See the pages about the Palace Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1911 as the Orpheum.    

 

 

A distance view of the New Year's Eve celebrations. This shot actually IS New York City. Note the marquee of the National Twin in the upper left.

On IMDb: "Strange Days"