You Know What I Miss?

[NDX]

So here I sit, nostalgiaing hard as a motherf*cker watch Beverly Hills Cop when I just realized something, I miss movies from the 1980s. Not because of the stories or the characters or the actors, but because of the locations.

Yes, this is all about location, location, location, and grittiness that most big cities had back then. Beverly Hills Cops, for those who don't know, starts off in Detroit, which might as well have been NYC in that film. It has the very same feel, and it's that industrial dirtiness, that grittiness and griminess that I just get nostalgic over.

Growing up in NYC in the 80s and 90s, I never saw much of the city. Not on my own. And by the time I could, Rudy Giuliani cleaned it up. And, granted, it's a lovely place to go, but it's too clean (Long Island City is now like that too, sadly). This sucks for me.

Why? Because I have a love of industrial looks. Back in college, my photography thesis was me roaming around LIC's discarded train tracks and factories photographing the refuse scattered all around (tires make one hell of a subject). And that's what I love about films from that era.

I think it's why I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It felt like a film where ninjas could roam NYC streets because it was that f*cked up a place. I could never buy that in today's NYC.

I know, it's a strange thing to be nostalgic for, but the 80s/early 90s was a fabulous, and my favorite, setting for movies. You just don't get that feel anymore.

[gorepolice]

Man, the fun we would have had growing up in that grimy time. Lots of great looking filth. It looked really great in movies like Taxi Driver and Basket Case.

I know I would have hit up all those local theaters showing those trash and mondo films of the time. All we can do is look at past photographs, old films and read about it in books. Ah, those were the days.

[NDX]

Yeah, I would love to have hit those smaller mom and pop style theaters that showed marathons and such. Kung-Fu flicks galore. You can't find that much. At least we still have a few theaters here that do midnight movies, but they were much more abundant back then.

[gorepolice]

I miss going to Times Square and going to the stores finding all kinds of random ass movies. I don't think 98% of them made it to DVD.

[NDX]

There are at least a few places where you can still pick up some random and obscure stuff, like those $5.99 dvd stores and Kim's. But imagine how it was 20 years ago. Man, we would have had a ball back then.

[gorepolice]

Makes me wish I raided the local video stores back in the day. If we only knew then what we knew now...

[NDX]

I'm feeling nostalgic again, so I'm bumping this. Want to know what other people think of the importance of locations in films, and if people have a favorite era.

[gorepolice]

You already know how I feel. 70's and 80's for sure.

[NDX]

True, but I want to see what the others feel. Not everyone likes a grimy city to look at.

[endo]

I never had theaters nearby, it was always a ride to go see a movie. But we had a great little video store back in the day. Always had popcorn ready for you with paper cups and had a Chucky doll hanging in the window. Not real up to date with the newest releases, but their horror section was great. And, if you wanted something adult oriented you could always go through the swinging saloon style doors in the back. I was always too embarassed to go through them, even when I was old enough, lol.

The new at the time Blockbuster was finally too much for them and they closed. I wasn't sad when Blockbuster suffered the same fate.
I guess with Netflix and torrents we'll never see the quaint old video stores again, but they were great while they were here.

[gorepolice]

I miss that too. My local video store in Virginia was pretty tiny, but they packed the hell out of the shelves.

[apple]

I miss full size theaters.