Movie night

Well this summer has been amazing full stop. I have been using Time Out as my Bible of NYC. Doing everything from a comedy show where Demetri Martin and Aziz Ansari show up, to the seeing the Prime Minister of the Tibetan people in exile being interviewed at the Asian Society, to bite size Broadway in Bryant Park and the list goes continues.

Last night I headed to Bryant Park with a friend to see Cool Hand Luke with Randy Newman a young prison on a chain gang. Cool Hand Luke was released in 1967 and the movie is very telling of the times and restrictions lack there of and censorship. The story line includes a lot of dares and “I bet you can not” mentality among the prisoners. The wardens do little to intervene besides putting different inmates in “The box” and wearing aviator glasses, which the cameraman has an affinity of taking shots of the reflection. There is one screen when the chain gang see a pretty woman washing a car rather explicitly, but still in censorship guidelines of MPAA, before the rating system started. The scene was basically a woman hamming up washing a car while the prisoners watched while digging a ditch.

We showed up around 8:30 and were able to snag chairs at the back. I guess if you want to get on the lawn you have to show up around 5:00. Old episodes of Bugs Bunny were being showed before show time. While the sound is probably better on the lawn we were able to see the screen well and were able to keep up with the movie. We still had a great time people watching and looking up at the buildings that surround the park.

Next Monday they will be showing Airplane! I think I will be there… despite the fact that later that week I will be flying half way across the world.

Bryant Park