When the Austin temperatures soar, Bill and I head for the dark and cool environs of The Paramount Theatre for their Summer Classic Film Series. Generally there are two “companion” movies on most summer evenings, with some daytime showings on weekends. Since a single admission covers both, we often end up staying for the second film after an earlier show.

The movie schedule is set up around themes; for example, this week is “1989: 25 Years Later.”  Yesterday we saw a double-feature of Parenthood and Field of Dreams. Both have aged well, even though their initial releases were back in 1989. Bill had always liked last week’s offering, The Way We Were, more than I did. On the other hand, I have always been more partial to The Sound of Music, especially the sing-a-long version that was shown in June. We both enjoyed the patriotic selections in early July: The Pride of the Yankees and Yankee Doodle Dandy. We also agreed that Saturday Night Fever was a better movie than we remembered (or at least the soundtrack was). And we are looking forward to a jam-packed August of Hitchcock, Chaplin, and 1950’s films such as Modern Times, Vertigo, An American in Paris, and High Noon.

Since we have enjoyed this series so much in past years, Bill and I decided to become official Film Fans this summer. As FFs, we receive some great perks:

• Discounts on Flix Tix (packages of admission tickets)
• Our own private collection of unused Free Popcorn Tokens.
• Fashionable VIP badges to wear around town.
• Extreme Happiness in supporting a theater that we love.

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