First flick in “Dinner and a Movie” series will be “The Sixth Sense” on June 1. Officials hope films will draw more people to downtown restaurants.
By Bernard Harris
Published May 22, 2006 13:42
Now the city wants people downtown on Thursdays, too.
In just over a week, the first screening of the city’s new “Dinner and a Movie” program will held in Binns Park, in the 100 block of North Queen Street. Movies will be shown every Thursday night, from June through August. The screenings, which begin at dusk, are free and open to the public.
Everyone is invited to bring a lawnchair or blanket, or rent a chair from the Lancaster Boys & Girls Club. The club may also be selling popcorn, drinks and other snacks, said Kate Kennedy, Lancaster City’s special events coordinator.
“We’re encouraging people to make it dinner and a movie and to enjoy one of our fine downtown restaurants,” said Pat Brogan, chief of staff to Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray.
Brochures advertising the program include coupons — most offering 10 percent to 20 percent off the bill — for five restaurants. There is also a coupon for $1 off at the Lancaster Parking Authority’s Prince Street Garage.
Some 5,000 copies of the brochures have been distributed to downtown businesses.
The movies range from classics — such as “Casablanca,” the 1942 movie staring Humphrey Bogart, and the Charlie Chaplin silent film “Gold Rush” — to 2005’s “Good Night and Good Luck.”
Movies will be shown by Shumaker & Associates. The program is being funded by a $14,685 state grant provided by LIVE, a nonprofit city promotion organization launched by state Rep. Mike Sturla.
The schedule is:
· June 1, “The Sixth Sense” (PG-13). Directed my M. Night Shyamalan, this film tells the story of a boy who communicates with spirits and seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.
· June 8, “Groundhog Day” (PG). A weatherman, portrayed by Bill Murray, finds himself repeating the same day over and over again.
· June 15, “The Wild One” (Unrated). Marlon Brando stars as Johnny Strabler, the leader of the motorcycle gang, The Black Rebels.
· June 22, “Malcom X” (PG-13). Biography of Malcolm X, the controversial and influential African-American leader.
· June 29, “Good Night and Good Luck” (PG). This 2005 film tells the story of how Edward R. Murrow brought down Joseph McCarthy, one of the most controversial senators in American history.
· July 6, “Gold Rush” (Unrated). This silent film, starring Charlie Chaplin, tells of a man who searches for gold and finds much more.
· July 13, “The Mask of Zorro” (PG-13). This film, starring Antonio Banderas, depicts the story of the elder Zorro training a new Zorro to fight the enemy Montero.
· July 20, “Hoosiers” (PG). Based on the true story of a small-town Indiana basketball team that made the state finals in 1954.
· July 27, “Viva Zapata” (Unrated). The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the early 20th century.
· Aug. 3, “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Unrated). Based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book of 1960, Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge and his kids against prejudice.
· Aug. 10, “2001 Space Odyssey” (Rated G). Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Man’s colony on the Moon... a whole new generation has been born and is living there... a quarter-million miles from Earth.
· Aug. 17, “High Noon” (G). A retiring lawman about to leave town with his new bride seeks allies among the fearful townspeople when an outlaw he put in prison returns with his gang to take revenge in this classic Western.
· Aug. 24, “E.T.” (PG). Directed by Steven Speilberg, this is a heartwarming story of alien and earthling friendship.
· Aug. 31, “Casablanca” (PG). This classic film is set in occupied Africa, during the early days of World War II, where an American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
