Film for Film's Sake

Years ago, there was this thing called repertory cinema, where you could see a different second-run film every day, which, once upon a time, people really wanted to do – in a real theater. A shared experience! In Denver, you’d sometimes hit places like the Flick in Larimer Square and...

By Susan Froyd

September 24, 2009

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Years ago, there was this thing called repertory cinema, where you could see a different second-run film every day, which, once upon a time, people really wanted to do – in a real theater. A shared experience! In Denver, you’d sometimes hit places like the Flick in Larimer Square and the Ogden Theatre two or three times a week to, as my brother recently put it, “see a particular movie. Not ‘whenever.’ Not ‘whatever.'” We both used to work at the Flick, and I later managed the Ogden, both were temples to the cult favorites, the classics, the oddball films and the indies.

We still have our art-film theaters, but repertory was long ago bulldozed by technology. Unless you know where to look, and a good place to start would be at the Boulder Public Library, of all places, where film curator Joel Haertling mines the canon for diamonds, season after season, and the admission is free. I’m especially enamored at the moment with the Monday-night New American Cinema 1967-1974 series he’s included in his fall schedule, for which he’s unearthed such long-buried cultures studies as Paul Mazursky’s Blume In Love, Hal Ashby’s delightful cult flick Harold and Maude, Watermelon Man by Melvin Van Peebles (a black comedy on more than one level) and more. All screenings begin at 7 p.m. in the BPL’s Canyon Theater, 1000 Canyon Boulevard, Boulder; get a complete schedule at http://boulderlibrary.org/events/films.html or call 303-441-3197.
Sept. 10-Nov. 19, 2009

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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