NY Theatrical Run
I was managing a theatre that opened this film. I remember we had scores of senior citizens who came to see Ava Gardner and Van Johnson.
shareInteresting. I could see this film having geriatric appeal.
So how long did this run in the theater? I can't imagine it was around for long. I had never heard of this film until I bought it today.
We played it 3 weeks
shareThanks for the reply. That's actually longer than I'd expect.
shareYes but in the pre and early video days first run movies often played 6-8 weeks before they moved to second run theatres. In those days we played some movies for months and a handful for a year.
shareYou were lucky to live in New York during a great era for movie theaters, with a huge array of first-run and repertory theaters to choose from. Video made it very easy for the average consumer to see a wide variety of films, but it also took much of the magic away for movie lovers who were accustomed to theaters.
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In Toronto it played ironically at the theater where I worked as an usher when not making movies.
We had it for about 2 weeks
George "Stompy" Hollo
http://www.chaseclub.com/Kidnapping.jpg
That seems appropriate. Wasn't much of this filmed in Toronto?
shareYes it was. The main scenes were at Nathan Phillips Square and the Eaton Center across the street.
Because it was a Canadian novel and filmed in Canada there were rules that stated that at least one of the stars had to be Canadian which is how Shatner got the part
George "Stompy" Hollo
Thanks for the details. I didn't know about that rule on Canadian actors. Is that still the case? It almost seems like in Shatner's case they were using a loophole about hiring local talent because he was more a "Hollywood" than "Canadian" actor by that point.
So many films set in D.C., Detroit, New York and San Francisco are actually filmed in Toronto, Vancouver or Winnipeg.
As far as I know they still have Canadian Content rules. Regardless of where he lives, Shatner is still a Canadian citizen and maintains membership in the Canadian acting unions so he qualifies as a Canadian Content star.
Leslie Neilson was another person who got work this way. A lot of the SciFi shows shot in BC use Canadians in the cast.
George "Stompy" Hollo
Thanks for the details. I forgot about Leslie Nielsen being Canadian. I've noticed a lot of sci-fi TV movies are shot in Canada, as well as other films and shows because Canadians locales easily substitute for U.S. ones, and it's often much easier for crews to film in Canada.
There are also some superb Canadian directors such as Denys Arcand, Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg (though he seems to work more in the U.S. these days).