“You’re going to need a bigger boat.”
I heard this phrase repeated over and over in my childhood, usually followed by laughter. Like anything else my older brothers said to me or to each other, I ignored them. Similarly, when we would go to the beach every summer and they would say, “Is it true most shark attacks happen in less than five feet of water?” I ignored them. Sharks? On the Cape? Losers.
Or were they?
I am not sure how I grew up with this bunch and made it this far without seeing Steven Spielberg’s 1975 hit “Jaws” in its entirety. As a teenager I finally put two and two together to calculate where their “bigger boat” quote came from. Still, I had no interest in seeing the movie.
That is, until last month, when my brother called and told me about an event at a local Boston theater. It sounded slightly interesting; at the very least it was a chance to do something different. It turned out to be more, though.
I finally gave in and became something I never wanted to be – a diehard “Jaws” fan. I blame it on my brother … and the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline.
The small screen of the television just doesn’t cut it for the best movies. The creative staff at the Coolidge recognizes this and then some, categorizing films as not only “the best” but also “the scariest,” “the goofiest,” “the cult-iest,” etc.
The theatre, easily accessible by riding the C train on the MBTA’s Green Line to Cleveland Circle, opened in 1933 with 600 seats and is one of the last original big screens in the country. It features many cinema events and features, including a new series called “Science on Screen.” The idea behind this new series is to highlight local people who have professions in the field of that month’s chosen movie or documentary.
“Jaws,” which was October’s featured movie, also included a session of questions and answers with a shark expert and presented video footage of sharks the expert has researched throughout the world. A question and answer period was also part of the series’ features, which will be included in some of the “Science on Screen” shows.
Besides “Jaws,” this past Monday featured the Errol Morris documentary “A Brief History of Time,” which takes a look at physicist Stephen Hawking’s theories and how he struggles with the degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease). The documentary featured interviews with Hawking himself, as well as with members of his family and people he has worked with. The guest speaker for Monday was Alan Guth, an MIT physics professor and cosmology expert who invented a modification of the big-bang theory called “the inflationary universe.”
If you can, take advantage of next month’s part of the series, which is scheduled to take place at the theatre Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. The Coolidge will show “The Elephant Man,” originally released in 1980, along with guest speaker Jerome Groopman, M.D. The movie is “based on the true story of John Merrick, a 19th century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves, Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a sideshow freak,” according to The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), and stars Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.
Groopman is the bestselling author of three medical books and his research targets the study of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, ALS and Alzheimer’s Disease. He also serves as the Dina and Raphael Recanati chair of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and is chief of experimental medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The theatre offers other movie events as well, including “Midnights at the Coolidge.” Every Friday and Saturday, the theatre shows a different movie at midnight. These movies are usually either old classics or underground films you wouldn’t ordinarily find at a theatre. This weekend features a movie presented by the Boston Bicycle Film Festival called “RAD.” Friday and Saturday, Oct. 28 and 29 will feature a special Halloween presentation of “Friday the 13th Part III in 3-D.”
For other Halloween cinema check out James Whale’s “Frankenstein” with live soundtrack by Michael Shapiro on Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. The movie, originally released in 1931, was filmed without music, so this showing will be a unique twist on the classic thriller. Also on Halloween at 10 p.m. the theatre will show the 1922 German horror movie “Nosferatu,” which will be joined by Boston’s own Devil Music Ensemble.
Tickets for all of these shows are $9. Students can purchase an annual membership for $30 and get three dollars off the price of admission and also two-for-one admission into the midnight movies. For a variety of other events besides “Jaws,” discounts, ordering tickets online and information on becoming a member, visit the theatre’s Web site at www.coolidge.org.
If one thing’s for sure, it’s safer than going for a swim.
– Emily Unsworth can be reached at [email protected].
