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(birds chirping) (muted music playing)

(calm electronic music)

- [Announcer] Good evening folks and a hearty welcome

to our drive-in theater.

(calm electronic music)

- [News Reporter] Earlier this spring, volunteers

in Carbon County gave up their weekends to save

a connection with their past, they helped fix up

the Mahoning drive-in near Lehighton

and they hope their hard work would help

keep it open for summers to come.

But the theater just off Route 443

also needs $60,000 for a digital projector.

Hollywood will soon stop printing films

that run on older projectors like this one

at the Mahoning drive-in.

- [Man] So many drive-ins are abandoned, torn down, gone.

- [News Reporter] A drive-in movie theater

is back in Carbon County despite talk it would have

to fold after being unable to purchase a digital projector.

- [News Reporter] The manager here says if they are

still unable to purchase a digital projector

for next season one option would be to run this

as a classic drive-in playing older movies

still available on 35mm film.

- [Man] We really hit it off with our love of our film.

- [Man] And then you get to hold a piece of film

in your hand, the actual, physical film and say

all these images that I've been watching

over all these years on this little plastic strip.

- [Man] It's not pristine, it's not spotless.

That's what I love about film more than anything else

it's messed up in some weird little way

that makes it unique. - That print carries with it

the entire history of the life of that print.

This is the same piece of film that passed through

a projector when this film was new.

- [Man] 24 frames per second was initially chosen

because it was the speed at which you would trick

the brain into thinking it was looking at something

real and moving and not just pictures in a row

and Quentin Tarantino points to that when he talks

about what he thinks is the literal magic of movies.

- [Man] We're up on this pedestal that 35mm is our format,

the only format. - We keep this retro mentality

film first and 35 forever, that's it.

- [Announcer] And now, on with the show.

- Oh yes, home sweet home.

We do have R, PG13 where we run all ratings.

I've never run an X, I don't think I would do that.

I wouldn't want people driving down the highway

looking at the no, no, I would never do that.

I can't do that.

I don't know if that's something that we can.

This was pretty much what it was like when it closed

in October, I mean they've got a couple,

I mean they were packing up some posters

and some video tapes, but with the decorations

I mean this is the way it was in October.

(sighs) That's what I came to do today,

is finish up setting up all the sound,

finish getting the projectors oiled and cleaned

and I'm hoping to run one of the intermission reels

tonight just to test things.

Most drive-ins in general have been renovated many times

and this one has not, this one is almost original,

and that's the way I wanted to keep it.

That's why I fell in love with it

when I thought oh my goodness.

This was meant to be a single screen drive-in,

everyone facing the same direction at the same time,

watching the same movie at the same time.

That's how drive-ins were built.

Nobody used to build drive-ins in the 40s

with the idea of having two, three screens.

This is the way drive-ins were meant to be.

When you walk into a drive-in that does what I'm doing,

you are stepping back in time.

If you look around you you see a field

that hasn't changed in 67 years.

You see a building, a screen, the interior of the building

that hasn't changed in 67 years, you think

my gosh this is old and it's still operating.

I always liked movies, ever since I was a little kid.

I got this projector when I was in junior high.

I mean it's an old 16mm, it's from the 1950s.

I have my own 16mm collection, features, shorts, cartoons.

And I've been a projectionist, a professional projectionist

since 1978, the air force base theater needed

a projectionist and I thought well that would be neat,

so that's where I learned to work professional 35mm

was in the air force, at the air force base theater.

Yeah, the projectors I have there are Simplex E7s,

they're the original projectors from 1948 when the

theater was built, they've been running 67 years.

And these are considered heavy machinery, you used

to have to have a license to run these,

you couldn't just, you had to have a license to run these

because they can kill you if you're not careful.

Guys back in the 70s who had long hair

like Patrick for example-- - Ha ha, get his comment.

- They with projectors, they'd get it caught

while it's running, it ripped the hair right out

of their heads. - Oh!

- Oh yeah, it ripped the hair right out of their heads.

- Dang it, I'm bad. - Now everything is digital

and you press a button, you're not working with it.

It's all exactly the same thing, ones and zeroes

from a computer you know.

Your loops have to be the right size,

because if they're not then the sound is not

synchronized with people's lips.

You don't even have to go into a projection booth

anymore, you can set a timer on these digital projectors

and at the same time everyday they'll start the movie.

You don't even have to walk into the booth.

What's the point?

What's there to do?

That's why there are no more projectionists anymore

because it's not a profession, there's nothing to do.

Well there isn't.

Look at computers, look at your laptops or your desktops.

After five years, they're obsolete they're junk.

Systems are faster, electronics are better,

they're smaller, so the digital projectors

that first came out say eight years ago

or even 10 years ago, now it's almost

that nobody wants them.

They want everybody, the industry wants everybody

to be digital, so there's only two ways you can go with it

and that was the juncture that I was at.

Turns out we can we get one more summer, hopefully

this summer will be good enough that next season

we can put in a digital projector.

If you are fortunate enough to have one of the few

remaining drive-in theaters there's only two directions

you can go, you're either going to stay first run

and be digital, the only other option

is to play old movies, because they're not making them

on 35mm anymore, so now I'm not gonna be able to afford

to get a digital projector, I better figure out

what to do with a 35mm projector that I already have.

I was able to keep it going for the first part

of 2014, this is before Matt and Virgil came along.

- This is probably not gonna do anything.

(engines whines)

- Choke it, choke it. - Yeah, I've got it choked.

C'mon, yeah!

(engine thrumming)

I'm driving, I'm come towards Lehighton

and I'm coming down this 209,

and there's construction, there's construction

on the bridge and traffic is backed up

all the way down 443 and up 209.

I decide I'll take a detour, I bust out my trusty

road atlas and I don't have a smartphone,

I use maps, I'm old school and basically track

the new route, I never gone down that road,

first time I ever drove down it was a good couple years ago

and I was going down 443 and I see the marquee,

the big red arrow that a first impression was

oh a bed and drive-in I should go check that out.

Gave Virgil a call right away.

- And said you'll never believe what I'm looking at.

He says I'm standing under the marquee of a drive-in.

- That's where I met Jeff.

(calm electronic music)

He invited me into the projection booth.

I sat down that old antique theater chair

and we literally talked for like an hour.

- Late 50s, early 60s this was the way to go

as far as sound goes because magnetic sound

was better than optical sound, because the only speakers

you had at a drive-in were those little speakers

in the steel case, it's not high fidelity.

- Jeff I don't know what to say about Jeff.

He's a magician. - As soon as I met Jeff,

the first day that I met Jeff, I knew that he was

gonna be (laughs) a really important part of my life.

He's not worried about all this other shit

that everybody else worries about all the time.

You know what I mean he is very pure.

- Did you leave your hot dog clamps on here or what?

(laughs)

- So then I am the projectionist and the owner

of the drive-in and I lease the property,

I do not own the property, boy I wish I did,

I hope that's coming some day, I own the business,

but the property is still owned by the guy

who's had it for decades and he leases it to me,

but some day I would like to buy the property

so that I actually own the whole lock stock and barrel.

- I consider Jeff's relationship here as that piece

of the past and Matt and myself coming in here

is a little breath of the future.

- They knew an opening that I was not familiar with.

They knew social media, where I did not,

I only knew the bare bones of it.

- He saw that immediately, that these guys want to

help me save this drive-in.

(calm electronic music)

- When Matt and Virgil came in, I honestly

didn't know what to think of them at first

and there's definitely a lot of frustration I felt like

I was just pushed aside and I wasn't important anymore,

we definitely has some arguments, especially Matt and I.

- Jess has been around longer than any of us,

with the exception of Jeff, the hardest thing

for her I think is when we showed up,

everything just got turned on its head,

everything is different, all of a sudden.

- I was very upset, I would talk to my parents

about it or Jeff, because I'm really close with Jeff.

- Well, she was a little bit worried at first

that maybe Virgil and Matt wouldn't take to her

that much and I said don't worry, I said I hired you.

- He's always been there for me especially with

the changeover, like he's probably

been the biggest supporter.

- Jessica is nostalgia herself because she's the last

holdover from my old crew from years ago,

Jessica is the last person still with me

that was there years ago.

- When Virgil and I came into the fold,

it was in dire straits, we're looking at

four car nights at best.

- We weren't getting any business really,

there was people barely showing up,

which was just heartbreaking to see.

- I was driving up to the theater one day,

it's when Guardians of the Galaxy first came out.

Everybody had Guardians of the Galaxy and I thought

it thins out the herd too much.

We've got two great movies for you, first of all,

we've got Guardians of the Galaxy and that's rated PG-13.

So we finally decided okay, once we're done

with Guardians of the Galaxy,

that's our last brand new movie.

After this, we're going retro, we're going classic.

It was up and down, it was a rollercoaster.

By the end of the season, overall we had lost money.

I don't mind admitting that, we had lost money overall.

I know this place went through some scary times.

Every now and then somebody offers to buy it,

they want to take it out from under us,

but fortunately the land owner he won't sell it.

He will not sell it.

Yeah, sure, we'd like to make money, that's important,

everybody wants to make money, nobody wants to do

it for free, but the idea is to save the drive-in

and to keep it going and get it even better

than what it is, so all three of us,

we worked for free last year basically.

We haven't taken any pay checks.

We're not paying ourselves at all.

- It's a piece of my dream coming true

and that's all I can ask for you know.

- That's the short story, that's basically

how it all came together.

- It's a universal story and that story needs to be told.

(gun shot rings out)

- When he first came out, yeah, I usually take the tickets

every night and when they're doing work since I live

down the road, I'll just come in and do stuff whatever.

- Yeah, we just come and help out.

That's why we came here, because we were always like

wow I wish that drive-in was open and played old horror

movies because I would go every time it was open.

- Very good deal, I mean free admission, free food

and free movie just for helping out, all I do is just

take tickets, it's easy too, because it's $10 a person

so you don't have to remember a lot of shit

and then I don't know I just like shitty little movies,

like lower the budget the better usually.

- We're gonna break to slide away our slides.

So I'm just kind of clean sweeping everything.

We started from that end, we're decluttering,

we're moving this way, I'm now by our storage chest,

which are actually ancient freezers.

It goes dormant for six months and for six months,

it gets dusty, dusty, dirty, animals break in,

you just have to clean it, hose it all down,

power wash it, it's not a glorious job,

not necessarily a fun job, but it's rewarding.

- I am all right. - My name's Corey

and I'm basically just the head chef.

Was asked by Matt to help out cooking,

but I've kind of made cooking my whole life,

so kind of just fit in and all this stuff is

basic drive-in food, fries, hamburgers, we also do

chicken nuggets, we do veggie burgers too.

They were thinking of closing two years ago

and Matt was like no that can't happen,

we have to keep this place going,

this is a piece of history.

That's what keeps me coming back,

that's what keeps me sleeping here too sometimes

on every weekend it's kind of a trek to get up here

so we'll just crash here, we'll sleep.

(drill humming)

- It's easier to stay there than it is

to drive all the way home.

Yes, home sweet home.

- You have guys like Matt and Corey that are staying

at the theater over night from Thursday through Sunday.

- We spent all weekend here, we basically prep

the place, clean the place and run it when it's open

in terms of the concession end of things.

It's finding the people who will do that,

finding the company is fun to be around,

this man is the most fun to be around.

- Yes, and we do it because who else, who else but us?

And lettuce?

So lettuce begin. - Whoa.

He and I have worked together for years.

He's one of my best friends.

- [Announcer] Now Mark's only hope may be his last.

- Well see these torches go against the--

- That's probably the biggest project we've worked on

is Demon Stone, my first feature film.

That actually premiered last season at the drive-in.

- [Announcer] Demon Stone, coming soon.

- Ah, oh, oh yeah get me out of the car

and I'm all stiff and I can't walk, thanks a lot. (laughs)

- How are you brother? - Hey Virgil.

Forgot one thing in the back seat, gotta get

the time clock out. - Oh yeah, it's official,

it's official now. - Yeah.

- Want me to help you carry anything in?

- Well if you want to carry that you can.

It's not that heavy, but it's hard for one end of it.

Here we are man. - Five days, Wings Hauser.

- Wings Hauser. (laughs)

35mm.

- Baby steps. - It's been a little while

since I've been up here.

- Ooh, ooh. - Yep, just like

I remembered it. - Please don't.

- Virgil is my film agent, he takes care of Hollywood.

He gets all the film sent at the right time and books them.

- 35mm baby we're back!

All right, you want to hold the ladder for me?

- Looks good. - It looks beautiful.

- My film agent at the time was not happy with me

because he was a first run film agent.

He didn't want to be booking old films

because that's not where the money is

you know that's not where revenue is for the film companies.

The film companies aren't gonna like the fact

that he's booking retro so he didn't really want

to be a part of it so I gave the film agent job to Virgil.

- Guess I'll move this, all right, so that's sent,

so literally what we just did is is e-mailed Paramount

just like that because we had to change in our schedule.

Originally we were planning on trying to make

a Patrick Swayze weekend work, Crazy for Swayze weekend work

but it's amazing honestly that we have that type

of relationship now with the studios that

we're on a first name basis.

One of the studios had said you guys are nuts

the fact that you're transferring back to reel to reel

and standing on the fact that you're gonna be able

to get 35mm for a long time.

He said literally my only suggestion to you

is go digital and was like very true to heart about it.

And this is the same guy now that responds to me

like that whenever we come to him with a new 35mmm request.

We have technical standouts now at the theater

on why it is appealing for people to want to do shows

with us, the idea that we have the largest CinemaScope

screen in Pennsylvania, second on the East Coast

and in the country is for some people

they would kill to be able to have their film

shown on that screen, not only that but we transferred

back to reel to reel, which for some people,

that's the only way that they will put their films

out there, so that opened up the door for us

as far as being able to get private collectors.

- [Man] Ladies and gentleman in the 1950s,

the world had 5,000 drive-ins.

- For a dying medium it needs people like us

to kind of keep it alive you know

and stand on that podium I guess,

on high ground and shout it (shouts).

(laughs)

These are ideas of

like actors we want to do retrospectives

of certain actors and obviously directors,

some of them we've already been able to check off the list.

- Any feature that we put in, any double that is

Mahoning-branded show is the brain child of Virgil.

- But this office in general has become like a

brainstorming center for me as far as the booking

of the films goes, but you know these are dream lists

in a weird way, it's like obviously we want to do

Coen Brothers one year, we obviously are going

to do a Coppola weekend one year, but I think this is

I don't know a weird little motivator for me.

- Just wondering when you guys are swinging by?

Cool, yeah, there's no rush, just the gate opens

at six is all, all right we'll see you soon bud.

Peace.

Said he wanted to help us and show up right away,

I get worried, I'm like a protective mother.

I'm a helicopter mom.

I'm a helicopter Matt.

I'm bit a disjunctive personality,

meaning it doesn't exactly line up,

I have this weird intense serious side

that tends to come out in stressful situations

that's just like all business and no bullshit,

like get stuff fucking done.

What's going on here at the fryer, what's going on here?

What's this?

And then there's times where I become an alien

and chase people around the lot so I you know.

- I know, I know, don't look at the camera,

don't look at the camera. - How you doing?

- Good, good to see you guys I'd expect nothing less.

(calm electronic music)

- What's up Virgil, what's going on man?

- [Virgil] It's all happening my friend, it's all happening.

- Ashley, hi, how you doing? - Hi Jeff.

- All right, okay, here we are.

Our season opener is always The Wizard of Oz

and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

because it's a tradition and everybody

wants to get here for that.

(calm piano and violin music)

- Say cheese. - Cheese.

- Show time!

Good evening, ladies and gentleman and welcome

to the Mahoning Drive-in Theater, one of the largest

and oldest drive-ins with one of the largest screens

left in the United States, we're certainly glad

you can be with us this evening, especially

you're not just here on opening weekend,

you're here on opening night and that's fantastic.

All you folks out there, you make us feel real good

for showing up tonight, I think we've got a great

season ahead of us, we've got two great classics

for you tonight of course we have the Wizard of Oz,

1939, I don't think anybody every remade that

unless you're talking about The Wiz,

but and then our second film tonight is

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,

the original from 1971 with Gene Wilder.

(film projector rattling)

(old time movie music)

- I'm catching up on Rick and Morty

and discovering his work in that has been

another one of the many ways--

- The Mahoning Drive-in Theater is filled with characters

to say the least and maybe one of the biggest

characters I'd say is Robert.

- It is a nice image, I kind of made me gasp,

I guess you're recording now, well what does Roger Ebert

say, movies are windows to the world,

they're like empathy machines and I love

sort of the democracy of movies, they can be anything

and I love popular movies, I love the small arty films

and coming here for the first time for The Wizard of Oz

was perfect, I feel almost blessed and I'm not even

necessarily a religious person but movies bring me

closer to God or whatever you want to call it.

Yeah, I'm into it, I'm a zealot.

- He's the king of conversation.

- I'm gonna be here, like I counted the movies,

I think I'm already planning on seeing 35 movies here

this summer and those are just the weekends

you've announced. - He's very sweet,

sometimes I don't know what to say to him

because I just feel like he has so much knowledge

on all these older films and I just don't know

how to chime into to compare with what he has to say.

- He has an analysis of everything.

- Yeah, it was a little hard for me the first time

I watched My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done,

but I think it's worth taking that leap of faith.

I don't even really care about the Friday the 13th movies.

I was this close to Sam Neal once.

I'm not going to make this easy for you

in the editing room, I'm really sorry.

That was the year of the terrible Godzilla movie.

The Brexit this morning so stupid, so stupid.

Superhero movies even where they're good in many cases

bore me because it feels so cookie cutter.

I fall asleep during the climaxes of Ant-man

and The Amazing Spiderman, but then something like

Mad Max: Fury Road comes out and I see it eight times

in theaters, I'm not sure, I have to double check.

I actually do keep track.

- Sometimes weird stuff happens out here.

Last year was mice used to run around

when we were sitting in here after it's quiet for a while,

they start to touch your shoelaces and stuff

and you look down and then they run away,

but this year for some reason it's ants.

Try crawling in my soda and stuff

and I probably drink a whole bunch.

Some people get mad too about the movie price

$10 per person is apparently too much some guy

like freaked out on his wife and he was like

that's it we're going home and they pull over there

and they just sit forever and I can just see him

yelling in the car and then he comes back

and I tell him the price and he goes yeah I know

and he just throws the money at me and drives in.

- Ladies and gentleman thanks for coming out tonight

at the Mahoning Drive-in Theater especially on opening night

you made us feel fantastic, we hope you'll come back

and see us again soon.

Good night and God bless.

- Nice to see you. - Me too.

- I missed you guys. - Yes.

- What do you think?

- I think we had a successful show my friend.

- Think so?

I'm pleased with what we did tonight.

Considering the weather was supposed to be bad,

turns it wasn't, but that's what people were expecting,

so I am overall pleased with tonight,

thinking about it I am I am yep.

- All right brothers. - All right man, take it easy.

- See you soon, drive safe. - See you tomorrow night.

- Brother. (mimics exploding sound)

(radio music)

- Honestly, like there are worst things in this world

than Ewoks. - Minions.

- There are minions, there are emojis.

- They're Ice Age in Space. - Is that a thing?

- Yep.

- Oh, you would think they would notice

that their headlights are shining on the screen.

- [Matt] Do you think they notice that or not?

- No they're shit on the brain I don't know.

- Oh thanks, enjoy the movie. - It just makes me feel

all worm inside and nostalgic.

I haven't been to a drive-in, there used to be one

in Limerick, Pennsylvania and it's closed now.

I think they made it into a Target and (laughs)

I think the last movie I saw there was Funny Farm

with Chevy Chase and I saw Beetlejuice there in the 80s.

I haven't been to one in 20 years and I'm 38 now

so this is exciting to be back here.

It's very fun.

(calm electronic music)

- All throughout my childhood, my dad went to

Back East and Shanklauder's, so for me

the drive-in experience is burned into my soul

and so discovering this place, it was almost

like a calling, I was like oh, the second I saw this lot,

I was like this is big, this is a special place.

(sighs)

- So for me like a lot of people the drive-in represents

a simpler time, it's a nostalgia place,

but for me it brings me back to a simpler time.

My initial love of storytelling and film and theater

in general started at a drive-in.

We had the Bucks County Twin in my town,

which I saw so many double features there with my family

I'm getting emotional talking about it.

I fell in love with film in the back seat

of my parent's car, you know what I mean and

that comradery with my family is something that I feel like

we're trying to build back with the drive-in.

(calm electronic music)

- When I was little we went to a lot of drive-in theaters

and I don't know I remember looking out of the car windows

and seeing all kinds of people I didn't know walking

around the field and walking in and out of the concession

stand and we always parked in the field

where I could see the people going into the concession stand

and coming out and seeing the lights on the concession stand

and of course I would see the intermission reels

when they would play and it just made

a magical kind of thing and it just stuck with me

even through the years that I was running in-door theaters.

The drive-in thing always stuck with me

and I always thought gee wouldn't that be neat

some day if I could run a drive-in?

The one we went to the most often was the Super Skyway,

that was in Coonsville, right outside of Allentown

and one day they pack us up in the car

it's the middle of the afternoon, where are we going?

Well, you'll find out.

Well I thought this was neat because it just happened

to be my birthday, right, yeah.

So all of a sudden they're heading over towards

Coonsville towards the drive-in theater,

towards the Super Skyway and I'm wondering

why are we going over here?

It's like six hours before the show's even gonna start,

they aren't even letting people in yet,

this is like three in the afternoon,

so we went over there and they drive up to the gate

and they just keep on going, no tickets,

they just drive into the field, of course

there's nobody there I said what's going on

and they're like well this is happy birthday

and I was like what, and they had actually

gotten permission from the manager to let us

come on the field early and have a birthday party for me.

And it was it was fantastic.

Oh we saw all kinds of movies there over the years,

but that was neat, yep.

I still have both of them, but they haven't been

in good health for several years,

so when I think back to that I remember when

they were young and in great health and

it was just a fantastic time, it was a great time, yep.

- Oh yeah, oh yeah, big time big time, big time.

Very busy, huh, wrong place at the wrong time,

had a couple of wonderful girlfriends in my history,

women that I love dearly from the air force on

and just either my working schedule

or something in well

yeah I regret not having a wife and kids,

I think that would be perfect,

but I tried gave a 150% whenever I had a relationship,

I really gave a 150%, I tried to,

but for whatever reason I'm still single

and I've got radio and I've got my drive-in, whoopee,

no it's cool, but I do regret it,

it's a good thing to mention.

- You know we talk a lot about getting back

to a simpler time and nostalgia and this world

is insane (laughs) you know what I mean

and I mean I see why people want to escape.

Why people want to get out of their head

because life's hard as shit.

The older you get I see it, loss of love,

loss of life, like you long for simple

and long for a time that is pure and Mahoning

is a portal into that without a doubt you know.

- Hey, what's happening my friend.

How are you? - Hey how's it going?

- Good to see you. - Gene, how's it going man?

- Okay, yeah. - All right.

- There, make out of that.

What does timeline mean, what does that mean?

- Hm? - What is timeline?

- Timeline is like it's basically, it's your profile

it's everything that you post or people share with you.

There you are. - Mm-hmm.

I had glasses on there but they weren't dark frames.

They were clear glasses.

- Gene is that portal back to the days of the Mahoning

specifically that we don't have access to.

- He's like the Yoda of this place,

they kind of travel to him

and get the sage wisdom of the past.

- He was the original projectionist at the drive-in.

He opened the place in 1948, I'm sorry '49.

Yeah I know, I know, I keep I do the same thing,

it was built in '48, let me start that again,

he was the original projectionist from 1949.

- [Virgil] So we established it was definitely '49.

- Definitely, you want to go to the bureau building

and find out the rights, go ahead, geez.

(laughs)

- [Jeff] Now I've got a copy of the ad from opening night.

I have a copy of that.

- April 29th? - April something.

- '49 April. - April sign.

- April Showers. - April Showers.

- In April. - Ann Sothern

and Jack Carson was in it.

- And everything was set up exactly like it is now right.

- Yep. - So the projection room--

- Those E7s are still around, Jeff huh?

- Yes they are. - Did it pay well back then?

- Well yeah, well I loved it, I didn't care if

I didn't get paid nothing I loved it so much.

- Absolutely. - That's how I felt Virgil,

I'm telling you. - Well we know how that is

because we don't get paid.

We're the same exact way.

- Well, where did you get trained on?

- Apanesca, I think I was about 12 years old I guess.

I was working them when I was under age,

when the war broke out, the one operator got drafted.

- [Virgil] Wow, so you're in there at 12?

- And the government left me go, they said let them work

we need manpower. - (laughs) They're like

ah, we'll look the other way. - Yeah, they turned their head

the other way. (laughs)

My favorite thing was I used to love they went in

and inspect the film, we had to inspect in those years.

- Oh yeah. - Run through your fingers,

Jeff, you know. - I still do it.

I still do it on most of them not all of them.

- [Virgil] And this was right around here, this photo?

- Banger, Rosetta. - Wow.

Well I remember we asked you if you had any personal

pictures and your answer was they're with

all of your old girlfriends. (laughs)

They held onto them-- - A couple, a concession

that they kept coming over to the projectioner,

I didn't get the gist of it, you know.

- Kept giving you the peek? - Yeah.

Beautiful, that's why I got married late in life probably,

yeah you better get married, it's getting late.

- Would she come out to the drive-in with you?

- Very rarely and then she got a kidney disease

and she got like kidney transplant, it lasted 17 years.

It conked out, they couldn't get it going anymore.

She passed away.

- That's a shame. - Yep.

- I miss going out there.

I just love running movies.

I used to work till one o' clock and I'd go to work

the next morning. - Oh me too.

Yeah me too. - When you get used to it,

I don't mind it one bit, three hours sleep, I'm up.

- Stop in again. - I will my friend.

I'll see you soon. - I can talk more and more

I can keep talking. - Yeah, I know you can.

(old time movie music)

- Today, it was 11:30, we usually stay up pretty late,

but it was 2:30 and we were like we need to go to sleep

because I mean it's not that we're gonna have

a crazy night tonight, we don't think it,

but we hope-- - Yeah, it's supposed to rain

I think. - Yeah, we hope something good

happens or we have some kind of profitable thing.

(radio noises)

Matt

are you dressed, hey, are you dressed?

There's this weird hole here, used to have a door knob.

Matt, hey, are you dressed?

Are you I don't know oh yeah.

There's a gentleman here.

(quacks)

- Breakfast.

Well I thought we had like 32 people last night

and I think it's messier than some of our bigger nights.

Oh the used condom that I found in the bush

behind that exit sign all the way on the end of the lot.

That's kind of weird.

I don't know why you wouldn't just do that back here

or anywhere else besides under that bush.

(rain falling)

(spray bottle hisses)

(muffled voices talking)

- I don't know I mean it's never happened before,

I know that there was one time when it was raining

real bad and it was only one dude and we still

showed the movie for him, but there's never been

a time when it's just zero people,

you know what I mean, the least that ever show up

would be like 20 or something like that,

and it's rare when it's that little.

Oh it's Jeff.

- Hey.

Nothing like showing up late to your own party.

Oh my gosh, do we have anybody yet?

- No. - Nah?

- No. - All right, but we'll see,

it's a messy night, but we may get

a couple people showing up.

- Yeah, hopefully. - Yeah.

- I remember cutting high school to go and see

the original Spiderman, but it rained that weekend

and we got the worst attendance of the year.

- All right, all right. - All right.

- [Jeff] Then they're rolling, we're rolling.

(projection reel rattling)

Then if you only have a couple of cars send them home.

No you don't just send them home,

how do you know how far these people have traveled?

You don't just go, oh I'm sorry, it's raining,

we're closing tonight, you don't do that.

You run.

- Every single weekend we have people coming from

New York, New Jersey, Maryland.

- So here in Keen, New Hampshire on this lovely

sweltering Friday morning I usually like to start my day

roughly on the road by 10:00 at the latest.

- It's amazing I think he said it takes him five hours

one way to drive, that's just how much he loves--

Oh, six and a half.

- People think I'm crazy when I tell them that I drive

six and a half hours to be here.

I think they don't understand exactly what this place is.

They say, well don't you have any drive-ins closer,

well yeah I've got one 45 minutes away,

but it's not the same thing.

The Mahoning is different though, it is truly

a love of film, I love it, I mean Matt and Corey

don't believe me when I tell them,

I thoroughly love what I do here,

I love dealing with the people, I basically

just run the register at the snack bar.

Thank you very much. - Thank you.

- Enjoy. - Yep.

- I am paid nothing, I worked my way all the way up

to being an unpaid snack bar attendant.

Pretty much true.

- But for somebody's who's volunteering

and isn't really getting anything out of it,

except a free hamburger you know or something you know,

I mean he can eat all the food he wants

if he's driving six and a half hours.

- And if people think I'm crazy, let them.

I don't really mind that much, it makes me happy.

So everything I need to be somewhat human

fits into a tidy backpack here, along with holiday-themed

unmentionables, my Mahoning work shirts,

a change of shirt in case it's a hot day,

I am now the cleanest I will feel

for the next three days and it is time to hit the road.

(old time movie music)

So I pass it every time I come down here twice

and some day I will stop when I have enough time

and enjoy the Snake and Animal Farm.

And this is why I always leave early.

Invariably, somewhere along the way

traffic is gonna come down to a crawl.

And here I am in Pennsylvania.

(rain falling)

My heart always sinks a little when this happens.

It always seems like the closer I get to Lehighton,

the more chance of rain, I don't know for me driving

rain at the drive-in isn't a huge deal, I mean

you turn your wipers on, but I want the place to do well

and I know most normal people when it starts to rain

they just cross the drive-in off their list.

So today it took me about seven hours to get here.

The first big thrill is always seeing the Mahoning sign,

makes me happy, lets me know I'm kind of back home again,

but really the excitement for me kicks the first time

I see the screen, there it is,

the giant, towering Mahoning screen.

(old time movie music)

- So what this has created here it's a clear

health code violation.

(kite rustling)

- The flag of our people, the symbol of our planet.

- Well every weekend isn't going to be a winner.

We had one or two weekends where the turnout

wasn't what I expected, I thought it really would be better.

We're four months done and two left,

so we're like three quarters of the way

through the season and I would say maybe three weekends

weren't what I thought, so that's a pretty good record.

That's a pretty good record.

- My zombie getup.

- With any show that we decide to put on,

any theme that we decide to hit, without a doubt

James has memorabilia or something that falls

into the the love of that theme or that film.

- Right, I brought stuff at the Wal-Mart because

only a few things. - Oh, that's great.

- It means the stuff that I buy for myself

doesn't make me a hoarder if I'm able to share it

with other people, because I'm already gonna get it

anyway, some of it at least.

So I met as well it's sad when it's just sitting

in my house or my garage and nobody sees it,

except for me. - He is the guy that

single-handedly turns our show into an experience.

- [Virgil] That'll be a fun and great day you know.

- I'll try to come up as much as I can.

- No, definitely dude.

- Camp Blood though, I'm calling dibs on this because

I'm really-- - Dibs I'm telling you

it's yours. - Invested in this.

- It's yours, it's yours, well it's yours.

- Like I'm gonna try to make this as much

like you're in Camp Crystal Lake as possible.

- That's what we really kind of need to work toward.

- I'm used to at my job nobody really cares

about the things that I care about.

I can't really go and you know up to somebody I work with

and express like oh my God, isn't this cool

that this is happening like they don't really care,

it's not a big deal to them, but then I get to come down

here and watch Night of the Living Dead

and dress up as a zombie and you know

it is cool to be able to show that part

of myself and have people actually care what I'm saying

and not just be like all right, yeah whatever,

you're a movie fan I get it you know.

But here it's like everybody is, everyone's a movie fan.

Everybody if you're here, if you made the trip,

there's a reason for it.

- Give me a second here, so unfortunately

I couldn't make it to most of the events prior,

because I was a server, but I just quit my job

to make it out here and you gotta do what you gotta do.

So now I can go to all of the horror events I want.

- This is my first time actually I've never been here

before and I'm pretty excited about it.

- Don't leave home without it.

This is just to show the friendly horror chicks

that we're not misogynist pigs, we have appreciation

for all genders of Disney films

and we love our heroines, not heroin, heroines,

but yeah drive-in is like the best way to see a movie.

- And you know drive-ins too they're kind of going

the way of the dodo, so I mean--

- Yeah, not many left. - Not that many

that are around here, you gotta support them.

- Support the hell out of the drive-ins,

so you know I'm an old school horror guy,

my mom got me started on it, so I have a lot of appreciation

for actual reels and all that.

- I love the festival mentality that we've brought to it

and with us working with outside people

like Exhumed Films or Grindhouse Pictures,

we're hitting the Grindhouse Market now.

♪ They're a church in the valley by the wild wood ♪

♪ No lovelier spot in the dale

♪ No place is so dear to my childhood ♪

♪ As the little brown church in the vale ♪

♪ Oh come to the church in the wild wood ♪

♪ To the trees where the wild flowers bloom ♪

- You haven't lived until you're eating a corn dog

at 2:00 in the morning. (laughs)

- I'm used to this after 15 years, I love it.

I don't love the temperature and the humidity sometimes,

but I still love the job.

♪ Come come come

♪ Come to the church in the wild wood ♪

♪ Oh come to the church in the vale ♪

♪ No place is so dear to my childhood ♪

♪ As the little brown church in the vale ♪

- Thanks man. - Thank you.

♪ How sweet on a clear Sabbath morning ♪

- The international film make Kevin Smorth finally made it.

♪ Its tone so sweet

- [Man] This is what it's all about man,

you know what I mean, the fandom in the extreme.

♪ Oh come to the church in the vale ♪

(grunting)

- Oh you scratched. (laughs)

(muffled people talking)

- When's the movie supposed to come out?

Because I understand you started off

wanting to make a movie about drive-ins and then

decided to make a movie about this drive-in, very cool.

- Yeah. - Very cool.

I don't know I want to see more like these

documentaries that don't get the huge national exposure,

I'm finding more and more interesting sometimes

like I'll always watch a Herzog or an Errol Morse film,

but there was this one film that I barely even knew

existed but I had a chance to see it,

it was called Dwarves Kingdom and

it was this really insightful into like

all of these issues race and xenophobias

and it ended with I think an accidental homage

to Citizen Kane, but I thought it totally fucking earned it

and the film maker was there

so that was a pretty cool experience.

(car engine rumbles)

- He e-mailed us actually a couple days before,

saying I have a DeLorean I'm thinking about coming

to the drive-in would that be cool?

Like as if that's not cool. (laughs)

And he didn't confirm that he would show up,

he just said he was thinking about it

and he did, he just totally surprised us.

- The illusion, it doesn't go out

as far as it looks. - Oh Mills wasn't,

well he was made for this car.

Hell yeah dude.

- I've been waiting to sit in a DeLorean,

I think this was the right place

to break my DeLorean virginity

with about to watch a 35mm Back to the Future

and sit in a DeLorean for the first time,

that was pretty sweet.

(old time movie music)

- Hi guys, how's it going?

- Good. - Not bad.

- I've only missed one weekend so far,

that's because I was in Georgia.

I'm gonna volunteer Sunday of this week

for the first time as long as nothing changes

with my plans that day, I'm looking forward to getting

to know most of the other volunteers better,

I mean there's a different dynamic

when you're on the other side of the counter

and I've tried to respect the fact that they're part

of an organization as friendly and casual as I may be,

they can't always match me at that level

and I think I'm looking to erode that a little bit

by becoming more officially part of it.

- I'm assuming it's the original Hills Have Eyes,

granted I haven't seen it. - Yeah, yeah.

- I haven't seen the remake so I can't pass judgment,

but I can be skeptical.

- Four bucks is your change man.

- Thank you sir, so yeah my friend can help,

his name is Kyle and he and I have been like

basically joined at the hip except for actually

becoming adults and moving apart to different cities,

so it'll be something to fucking see.

It'll be like two of me talking, yeah I've got this one.

- One day I guess--

(hammer loudly tapping)

- Yeah, that's not going up-- - I feel like we do a lot

of horror films, that's personally not my favorite.

So and I feel like kids wouldn't come to that.

- Sebastian. - And Stefan.

- Mine is from Part 5 and I like it because blue is my

favorite color and I like the designs on it.

It's really awesome.

- I keep forgetting about this mask from what part it is.

- This mask is from Part 7, I don't know why he chose it,

seven why did you choose that mask?

- I keep forgetting that.

- They know the difference between what's real

and what's fake and they just like the entertainment

of the movies and they just really like it

I mean I don't see nothing wrong

I mean I was raised on it and my generation

was raised on it, I grew up fine, I'm working.

I raise a family. (laughs)

Not mention we also have a six foot animatronic Jason

at home that we put out,

so the boys really get a quick out of that,

right guys? - Yeah.

(whistle blows)

(people laughing)

(people laughing) (people clapping)

(people cheering and clapping)

(video game music)

- [Man] I can't get out of this room.

- The fact that they're open.

- Right here.

Wait, you can't see it. (laughs)

- It's a bitch.

- Sorry.

- I show up as Jason and people seem to

like need to get a picture with me,

so it's pretty sweet to go on Instagram, Facebook,

wherever and see pictures of me that people are posting.

It was really surreal to be walking around

during Friday the 13th Part 6 dressed up as Part 6 Jason.

(calm piano music) (bus engine rattling)

- Friends, we have all come here today

to witness an important day in the lives

of Tricia and Sean, they have invited us all here

to share with them their expression of love for

and commitment to one another.

- I thought it was the ultimate compliment.

I really did, people love your drive-in so much

they want to get married there.

- And then it came down to logistics of it,

how do we put a wedding on this lot?

You know what I mean, how do we make this a memorable

thing for Sean and Tricia?

- Sean, I choose you forever and always,

in sickness and health and failure and triumph.

I will dream with you, celebrate with you

and walk beside you through whatever our lives may bring.

- Tricia, I love you so very much

and I promise I'll always be this tall

and I'll always be this funny.

(laughs)

And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.

- By the power of your love and commitment

and the power vested in me

I now pronounce you husband and wife,

Sean you may kiss your bride.

(people cheering and clapping)

- We just love coming to the Mahoning drive-in,

it's a wonderful place, the first time we ever came here,

it was I would say a few years ago and we came

and we loved it, one of three cars here

and the last people were Tricia, Jeff and I

and we thanked them for the evening,

and we've just been trying to come back as much

as we can ever since, it's you don't get an experience

like this pretty much anywhere, a triple feature

in the middle of a giant field, screen that big.

It's magic.

(calm electronic music)

- Every great story starts with having a beer.

Corey and I bought this 3,000 lumen standard definition

Viewsonic projector a few hundred bucks on Amazon

and I got it for the explicit purpose

of lighting up a small screen in the snack bar

to project VHS tapes during intermission and stuff,

just as an extra little bonus.

We're playing with it, we're playing tapes

and we're drinking beer and you know

a couple beers I was pointing out the screen,

let's drag it outside and aim at the screen,

just see, let's just see, so we get an extension cord,

we plug it into the wall

and we wander outside and just.

- It's something that shouldn't have worked.

It wasn't bright, but it filled that screen,

but then one day Matt said to me he said you know what?

He said I think if I bought a couple of auditorium-sized

projectors and stacked them together so that

they would have a brighter output, he said

I think I could fill that screen.

- What got the ball rolling with this thing

was that Jaws screening. - I was on my way

into Allentown to pick up supplies

and I got the call from Virgil that the prints

weren't going to show up.

- I feel like I walked into Matt panicking

and he was just like our film didn't come in,

I'm trying to figure out a solution,

this is what I'm doing.

I need you to stay here, I'll be taking care of that,

if you really need me, come out and get me.

It was just it was a madhouse.

- So comes showtime Friday night, we have Jurassic Park,

but we don't have Jaws.

- So we were totally screwed, we promoted this thing

as Bite Night, Jaws and Jurassic Park, a tag team.

- So we thought well we already know we have the license

to run it, we have the rights to run it.

- We were scheduled to play Jaws tonight,

35mm print, obviously, that's what we do

and we got a call zero hour from Universal

saying that the print is delayed on the deliver,

now for us we don't really have an option

as far as a backup for something like that,

it's pretty much the show goes on or we cancel the show,

so what Matt's doing up there if you can see it is

he's calibrating a kind of a back door approach

to doing digital. - I'm aligning these two

so the same image they're the image is aligned up

on the screen and I'm using this test pattern

here as a means of synchronizing the two

and what it does is it increases the brightness,

so these two projectors are going to hopefully

light up that giant CinemaScope screen.

- Fingers crossed that this all goes well

because if that screen says Jaws in about five minutes,

we're all gonna be happy.

- So it was kind of a blessing in the sense that

well none of us know what's gonna happen,

so I guess we're all in this together.

(radio music)

- Sorry. - There we go.

We're jacked in, we're plugged in, all the sounds going.

- The suspense is killing me. - I know.

(laughs)

(howls)

- This is the first time we've done anything like that,

literally, put on a show actually first realized

we don't even have a print, then realized

that no one wants to see any other print that we have,

so we have to put on this show somehow, digital.

- That was basically our first real test

of the system. - But it worked,

the fact that it worked was enough for me

to explore the idea and begin developing

an actual system that we could professionally

premier a film, I don't know that weekend is

pretty pivotal and that's what really threw us

into building the actual projection booth.

- And then I had the booth constructed

with projection glass, which is low iron glass,

it's specific glass for a projection booth.

- So the way this works

we've got three large venue projectors,

these are like auditorium projectors

that you'd find at like a school or a business

and what I've done is I have routed them

all into a splitter, a VGA splitter,

that goes into a laptop, there's also an analog splitter

here for like VCRs, DVD players things like that,

so there's two inputs in each projector,

but it's all coming from the same source,

so each of these projectors are getting the same signal.

And what I've done is I've overlaid the image

to make it brighter, each projector adds brightness,

more light in one space, so the idea is

with these three projectors we're able to illuminate

with a presentable image the entire screen

that's corner to corner of the whole scope.

It's exciting you know as Jeff it doesn't take anything

away, that's the important thing that's what we wanted to do

it doesn't change the original booth,

it doesn't change the drive-in, this is completely mobile,

this is completely unobstructive

and it basically is a system that can it's a tool

it adds to what we can already do.

Now we can do anything.

- As far as digital goes, it's a $5,000 answer

to a $100,000 question. - Absolutely.

- That's 5-6,000 including the projectors,

instead of turning this into a $100,000 mess.

- We have a means to play digital films now

and it freaked some people out.

For some people the reason they come to the Mahoning

is to see 35mm film for a lot of people

that's the reason they come to the Mahoning.

- I wouldn't want to see a digital presentation

done like that instead of a film print.

Like I know a lot of theaters, studios force them

to do it, but if Gene Wilder passes away,

a theater wants to run Willy Wonka, so they go to their

video library at home and go W, okay they pull

the disc off and just throw it up there

and I guess that works, if it looks good

and people show up and are happy, I guess that's okay,

but for me it shows less effort,

so for me the digital here if they're using that

to show things that they just cannot get on film,

then I don't really have a problem with it.

And if it looks good, that's the thing too.

If people are coming from farther away

and paying money to see something,

they should get the best presentation possible

and if they're coming that far

and they're seeing a pan and scan copy of something

and it's advertised as being the feature for the night,

that's a little cheesy, but--

- I think it helps that what we're doing on digital

is fucking cool. - Hey friends,

Henrique Couto here and I want to tell you about

something I am just so excited about

and that is the VHS drive-in, you heard me right,

two of your favorite retro things, VHS and the drive-in

are coming together at Mahoning, Pennsylvania

at the Mahoning Drive-In.

- It's almost like beyond retro to call the studio

and be like we're not even gonna play it on film,

we're gonna play a VHS tape at a VHS-themed event

that we're gonna sell VHS tapes in.

It's just like beyond you know.

- They'd be like what? - They'd be like hold on.

- What? - You want to pay us

money to do that? - Oh, you're crazy okay.

(laughs)

- Jeff made it very clear that this is an enhancer.

This is something that will allow us to show things

that we couldn't play on 35mm for whatever reason.

- The digital is

not a betrayal in anyway, it's not like

oh it's a Dillon Goes Electric or something like that.

First time I saw Hateful Eight was on digital

and it looked great, it didn't look 70mm great,

but it looked great

and in fact I have since seen twice on proper 70mm

and at the Museum at the Moving Image

there was either something wrong with the print,

it was something wrong with the print

and the focus was going in and out

I'm not sure what it would I think that

there's some sort of warping of the print

that might have happened because I can't imagine

how it wouldn't have spilled over into

we saw a double bill that day, The Wild Bunch

and The Hateful Eight and it was me and another guy

named Rob who comes here, he has an orange Prius

and that was a really cool day trip to New York.

- We thank you guys so much, 2016 Mahoning Drive-in Theater.

Ah, the memories, bask in it.

(laughs)

- [Jeff] Isn't he a trip, isn't he a trip?

- I'm gonna miss seeing everybody every single week for sure

some of these people are her every single weekend

to hang out. - It was magical.

Oh no.

Oh my brother.

I would call these people family, I mean we sleep together,

not in that way, when you share a cement floor

next to two other men on air mattresses,

stuff gets pretty real. (laughs)

- How do I look?

Do I look like a disco queen?

I guess it's all of it, it's all good all the time,

I like being here, it's a job where I actually feel

like I make a kind of a difference in the world.

I always have a good time, I always look forward to it.

I'm here every weekend.

I never call off or anything.

Yeah, just like being here.

I don't know I mean I always feel like you come out here,

you always come out here at a time

when I have nothing to say. (laughs)

(calm electronic music)

- Every week we did a little bit better,

and a little bit better, finally the rollercoaster,

the up and down was gone, it started to climb

on a gradual increase, I thought wow, this is actually

going to work, it looks like this is going to be

a viable thing for the future and it's been working.

Make sure that the sprockets are fitting right

over the sprocket holes, they fit in

so that the gates close even, otherwise you can damage

a lot of film so you always check to make sure

that they're seeded properly in the sprockets.

Ladies and gentleman, for one more time this year,

good evening and welcome to the Mahoning Drive-In Theater,

one of the largest and oldest drive-ins with one

of the largest screens left in the United States.

We're certainly glad you could be with us this evening,

especially on our very last night of the 2016 season.

(calm electronic music)

- This community experience of all of us getting together

who like zombie movies, horror movies, sci-fi movies,

dinosaur movies and we all get to hang out

and you know shoot the shit.

It brings people together.

(calm electronic music)

Some of us just being on the computer and typing online

about how much we like something,

we could actually talk in person again, like it used to be.

- And you are literally going back in time,

a time capsule and you aren't where you live

and you aren't where you grew up

and you know you aren't where your problems are,

it's somewhere else, it's a free place

and this is an enjoyable escape, I think for everyone,

I think that's why everyone comes back and stays here.

It's a place to be yourself and it's a place to escape

lame things (laughs) that yeah

I mean my personal life is all over the place,

especially this weekend this was a real crazy weekend

for me, I almost didn't come, but I had to,

the last weekend, there's no way I couldn't.

- That's why I do it, I mean I don't sleep on that floor

just to be up there and I love drive-ins I do,

but it's the people and I go there

to be around those people.

(calm electronic music)

- But here we are, last night, last night of the season

and I miss it already, every weekend was an adventure,

every weekend was something different.

- It's the shit. - It's the shit.

(laughs)

- I feel like sometimes I'm a daughter to him

and I feel like that's how he views me, which is really nice

because I absolutely adore him, he'll reach out to me

on holidays and stuff or I'll reach out to him.

He's just a great guy and he's super sweet.

- I'm just glad she's hanging in there.

Every year she says she wants to come back

and I think that's great, I love her.

- Thank goodness it's a beautiful night.

Look at those clouds, man it's gorgeous

and it's comfortable, last night we were freezing.

Tonight it's beautiful.

This is the way to end a season,

if you have to end it and unfortunately we do,

this is the kind of night you want to end it on.

♪ I heard a corny old letter song on the radio ♪

♪ A while back I hadn't heard one in so long ♪

♪ But I wanted to laugh

- This is how I wanted to break the news to everybody

here at the theater, but we had our T-shirt guy

work on the newest edition, the onesies,

which is also gonna be my newest edition,

the newest edition to the theater, December 1st,

we're expecting, it's a blessing and one of those things

that like I said growing up at a drive-in

is something I always wish for my kid

the idea of trying to pass that on to

the next generation and it's about to happen man

you know what I mean, I'm gonna be a proud poppa,

proud drive-in poppa.

- I have to get a kick shot of that sky

as I'm sure you can well appreciate, how are you?

I've made friends here that I've already been able

to see outside of working hours and you know

it's yeah I'm kind of I guess I'm a little bit

without words, a little bit speechless,

maybe that's more meaningful than anything I could say.

♪ I was holding back the tear drops ♪

♪ When the record stopped

♪ And the last laugh on me

♪ For you see it had turned back the clock ♪

♪ And momma was rocking to sleep again ♪

♪ While daddy, daddy held the farm ♪

♪ And it sounded very much like this old letter song ♪

- [Announcer] We hope you had a wonderful time.

Come back soon.