Though I do have some acquaintances who've assured me that this generation and my generation might not be as different as I believe, it would seem to me that -- generally speaking -- the phenomenon of repeat viewing of flicks we love on the silver screen has gone out of style. Yes, I realize that there may be exceptions to that rule here and there, but my anecdotal experience alone informs me that today's youth take their cinema in on a one-and-done basis. Again, I'm sure that exceptional event pictures might buck the trend, but -- lo and behold -- today's entertainment consumers likely have vastly more choices than I did as a young'un, so they explore alternatives probably more quickly and easily than do we old fuddyduddies.
Today's evidence: 1981's Dragonslayer -- which enjoyed its U.S. theatrical release on this day back then -- was a bit of a cultural phenomenon in my hometown. While not as popular as 1977's Star Wars with audiences of its day, Dragonslayer did hang around in my twin-cinema megaplex for a few weeks, largely buoyed by we young'uns who were into that sort of thing and didn't want to see it vanish as quickly as did most flicks. I know that I saw this one several times up in the lights, and I couldn't get enough of it.
As a matter of fact, the house where I lived as a teenager was one of the first to invest in the ol' laserdisc player -- a flawed but superior format in several ways -- and (you guessed it) one of the flicks they first purchased was Dragonslayer. It was a presentation we played end over end over end: whenever we couldn't find anything else to explore, we threw this one in for posterity's sake. And, yes, we likely found some new reason to celebrate its Fantasy goodness with each airing. For us, it was just that kind of picture, and it's sad to see how it's mostly vanished into obscurity today.
Of course, its effects are obviously dated. This was done well before the advent of CGI, and the studio was forced to incorporate only some of the very best stop-motion photography along with some fabulous in-camera production trickery, the likes of which are pretty much extinct these days. Though the flick was no box office sensation (there are many who suggest it was poorly marketed and/or hamstrung by Walt Disney Company's involvement with one of its first PG-rated properties), this was exactly the kind of thing that I and my buds embraced whenever Hollywood sent it our way. It's a shame that the film is all but forgotten.
Happy Anniversay, Dragonslayer! Here's hoping your dragon never loses its mighty roar!
-- EZ