OUT OF BODY (AND MECHANICAL) EXPERIENCES
For the Movies by THOMAS GRECO, PUBLISHER I’ve written about my love of movies many times in this space. It is a longtime family tradition. Memories such as seeing The Beatles’ Help! (1965) at the Capitol Theater in Belleville. Planet of the Apes (1969) at the Franklin in Nutley with my best friend, Dean. The Poseidon Adventure (1972) at the Anthony Wayne Drive-In in Wayne with my parents and my sister Diane. Taking my dad’s Lincoln Continental to impress a carload of friends when we saw Heaven Can Wait (1978) at the Cineplex Odeon Route 17 Triplex in Paramus. Sneaking off with my college crush, Judy, instead of my “big eyes” girlfriend to see Demon Rage at the Paramus Drive-In (1982). That one I’d like to take back. When I kept pulling away from her and wiping away the steam from the windshield to watch the nude scenes, my companion got fed up and demanded I take her home. I mean, come on. It was Lana Wood up there! I guess I deserved that. Some of the memories are bittersweet. Going to see a matinee of Scarface (1983) with my dad at the Allwood Theater in Clifton not long before he passed. Looking back, it was kinda awkward but in a funny way, since Scarface had more “fu#ks” in it than any other movie up until that time. (My
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dad loved it, by the way.) Independence Day (1996/Route 17) was the first movie I saw after heart surgery, so that has special meaning, as does John Q. (2002), the first movie I saw after my second heart attack. I remember walking about a mile to the AMC in Clifton worrying if I’d make it or not. My wife is gonna kill me, but the only thing I remember about seeing movies with her is that she always fell asleep and I had to constantly elbow her to wake up. My daughter’s first movie was Mousehunt (1997) at the Allwood, and my son’s was Ali (2001) at AMC Loews Meadow 6 in Secaucus. In the early ’90s, the Sunday night tradition began with my nephews, Michael and Danny. After an afternoon of NFL football, they would come by my house and we would head out to the late movie in Paramus, Secaucus or Edgewater and see whatever came out that week. It wouldn’t matter if it was Christmas or Easter or bad weather; we were like the old postal saying, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…” Nothing would prevent us from seeing a movie. I have to admit that sometimes they did have a date, so I ventured out on my own. I have never had any qualms about continued on pg. 37
