Apr 19, 2025

Rock Out With Your Hitchcock Out


Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
This weekend was what the start of what is very likely going to be an annual tradition at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater.

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Hitchcock Till You Drop was a two day tribute to the master of suspense, director Alfred Hitchcock.  His filmography includes over 50 full-length feature films, including five that received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and six for which Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director.  If this does turn into a yearly tradition, they could keep it going for many years before ever needing to repeat a film.


Before I get into the movies, we got to celebrate our friend Jen's 40th birthday on the lot on Saturday.  She, her husband Tom, and their son Jackson are one of the coolest families that we know, and it was an honor to be a part of their celebration.


Saturday was also the first meeting of the 2025 season for the Mahoning Book Club.  The subject was the 1952 short story The Birds that served as the inspiration for the Hitchcock film that was released eleven years later.  I'd offer an opinion of the story, but I forgot to read it, so I spent most of our meeting sitting quietly, nodding, and hoping that no one asked me anything (which they didn't).
 

The first movie of Friday night was a 35mm screening of the 1963 film The Birds.  This was my first time seeing it, and while I thought it was enjoyable, it felt like the kind of movie that I'd expect to see on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Actually, it reminded me more of the 2008 M. Night Shyamalan film The Happening than a classic horror film in that it is sincerely trying to be terrifying, but it came across to me as an unintentional comedy.  It wasn't helped by a love story between Melanie (Tippi Hedren) and Mitch (Rod Taylor) that was about as convoluted as you can get.  When I learned about the director's disgusting treatment of Hedren during the filming of The Birds, it started to make sense.  It seems that the famed director had the sexual maturity of a horny 12 year old boy and a lack of respect for his lead actress who, quite understandably, was not receptive to the advances of a married senior citizen with the body of a walrus, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the romantic chemistry between his leads felt forced.


The second half of Friday night's double feature was the 1954 mystery thriller Rear Window.  This is another movie that I was seeing for the first time, and unlike The Birds, this is the kind of film that I'd expect from a director with the reputation of Alfred Hitchcock.  It's beautifully filmed, and it puts you in the shoes of the protagonist in a way that's as effective as any movie I've ever seen.



The first movie of Saturday night was one of the greatest horror films of all time; the 1960 classic Psycho.  We saw this at the Mahoning for the first time when it was screened as the first half of the Janet & Jamie double feature on the second to last night of the 2021 season.  Seeing it come alive on the big screen blew me away as much this time as it did four years ago.
 

During intermission, Rob screened a 35mm print of a classic Tex Avery cartoon from 1949 called Bad Luck Blackie.  This MGM short was voted the 15th best cartoon of all-time in a poll of animation industry professionals in 1994.  It stars Spike The Bulldog as the bully of a small kitten, who is able to fight back after meeting a black cat from the Bad Luck Company.  When the kitten blows a whistle, the black cat appears to cross Spike's path and curse him with bad luck.  It's a pretty funny short that, to the best of my knowledge, has never played at the Mahoning before.  Click here to watch it on YouTube.


The final screening of Hitchcock Till You Drop was the 1958 film Vertigo.  It's widely regarded as being one of the greatest films of all time, but quite frankly, I didn't think it was very good at all.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that I hated it, but it doesn't come close to living up to its reputation.  The pacing is terrible with long periods of the film that seem like they drag on forever.  Also, while the love story told in The Birds felt convoluted and forced, the relationship between John and Madeleine/Judy in Vertigo was just plain asinine.  The one thing that this film has going for it was its visuals.  The shots were absolutely gorgeous, particularly the scenes in Ernie's Restaurant.  It's a shame they weren't used in a movie that told a better story.


And that's a wrap on Hitchcock Till You Drop.  Prior to the start of this weekend, the talk had been that this could become an annual event if it was successful.  Judging by the size of the crowd on both nights, I'm pretty confident that we'll be seeing this event return for years to come.