Intermissions in Movies?

[ejp626]

Seeing The Hateful 8 in the snowy Western thread reminded me that I actually did see the "Road Show" version in the theatre and that there was an intermission, though I am pretty sure I didn't leave, not sure if Quentin was going to pull a fast one.  This is the only recent movie or indeed the only movie since Gandhi (1982) that I recall having an intermission.  I'm wondering with so many movies pushing the 3 hour mark (a lot of the Marvel movies as well as Blade Runner 2049) that we might see a return of the intermission.  Again, I may be wrong and if anyone has any other examples do let me know.

What I'm having a bit of trouble reconstructing is whether HBO (back in the old days) actually included the intermission during various rebroadcasts of Gandhi.  I think they actually did, though at some point they would have phased it out.  In the streaming era, I wouldn't imagine anyone would program in an intermission.

[Rooster_Ties]

My wife and I saw what I remember as being a Kenneth Branagh directed film of a Shakespeare play — probably his Hamlet (from 1996) — that had a 10(?)-minute intermission.

That’s the only one immediately springing to mind.

[adh1907]

Saw ‘Tar’ yesterday, which comes in at around 158 minutes. Judging from the number of people who had to pop out for a few minutes during the screening, an intermission might have been helpful! Mind you, this was the afternoon cheap ticket performance, so it was an older audience in attendance.

I do recall an intermission during a screening of ‘Out of Africa’ in the 80s, which was (according to Wikipedia) 160 minutes.

Anthony

London

[Rooster_Ties]

Yeah, Tár is the longest film I’ve seen in a theater in years (saw it a couple days before Thanksgiving, also an afternoon screening).

Knowing it was 20-min shy of 3 hours, I definitely didn’t buy a large soda going into it (just a bottle of water, which I don’t think I even finished).

I was very strategic about it. 

[sidewinder]

54 minutes ago, adh1907 said:

Saw ‘Tar’ yesterday, which comes in at around 158 minutes. Judging from the number of people who had to pop out for a few minutes during the screening, an intermission might have been helpful! Mind you, this was the afternoon cheap ticket performance, so it was an older audience in attendance.

I do recall an intermission during a screening of ‘Out of Africa’ in the 80s, which was (according to Wikipedia) 160 minutes.

Anthony

London

Waiting for that one to come out into the provinces so I can use up free Odeon tickets !

Not half as long though as a Ken Dodd performance - or one by Sun Ra !

Edited January 17, 2023 by sidewinder

[BillF]

The most memorable movie intermission I recall was in Anatomy of a Murder which I saw in 1959 and in which the Ellington orchestra provided extra intermission music.

 

[HutchFan]

If I recall correctly, David Lean's films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago had intermissions.  Maurice Jarre composed the music for both.

 

22 minutes ago, BillF said:

The most memorable movie intermission I recall was in Anatomy of a Murder which I saw in 1959 and in which the Ellington orchestra provided extra intermission music.

 

Hearing (more of) EKE's music would be too much of an incentive to stay in my seat, rather than making a dash to the concessions stand or restroom.   

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

My wife & daughters went to see the latest Avatar movie in the theater and I passed because I didn't want to have to get up in the middle of the movie to go to the bathroom (which happens a lot more since my surgery 6 years ago). I'll just watch it on BlueRay with my 3D glasses and surround system.

[ghost of miles]

I always thought Warren Beatty’s 1980 Reds had been the last relatively modern film to have an intermission—didn’t realize that Gandhi had one as well. 

[BillF]

1 hour ago, HutchFan said:

If I recall correctly, David Lean's films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago had intermissions.  Maurice Jarre composed the music for both.

 

Hearing (more of) EKE's music would be too much of an incentive to stay in my seat, rather than making a dash to the concessions stand or restroom.   

 

Yes, I and my Ellington-loving friends remained seated - for 15 mins IIRC.

[medjuck]

The recent film RRR has an intermission. 

[soulpope]

15 hours ago, HutchFan said:

If I recall correctly, David Lean's films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago had intermissions. 

That's correct ....

[Dan Gould]

I accompanied my wife to the first three of the epic Tolkien film adaptations and all I can say about that is that I'd have been even more aggravated had their run times been extended by intermissions.

In all seriousness I thought back and came up with The Sting as a picture from my childhood that had an intermission but now I am not sure, since Wiki tells me that the run time was only 129 minutes. Did 2001 have one?

[Dub Modal]

Reinstituting intermission on a regular basis would require theaters to staff properly which they either can't or won't do for the most part. Specialty theaters could do it but not many art house flicks stretch over marathon distances. 

[JSngry]

The last theatrical intermission I recall was an early '80s screening of Napoléon. It was both logical and welcome. Such a densely packed film!

[BillF]

I watched all 4 hours of this at home and created my own intermissions.😃

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225831/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[jlhoots]

Any movie over 120 minutes in a theater should have an intermission for us old guys.

[ejp626]

On 1/18/2023 at 8:05 AM, Dub Modal said:

>> Specialty theaters could do it but not many art house flicks stretch over marathon distances. 

Well, except for Jacques Rivette and Andrei Tarkovsky and Béla Tarr and a few others.

[Rooster_Ties]

Supposedly intermissions were “not sanctioned” (or not allowed, or whatever you wanna call it) by the director/producers of Titanic (which clocked in at 3hrs-15min…

…but I’ve also found online reports that some theaters that did have an intermission (or people who saw it at the time, remembering intermissions in some theaters).

[Ken Dryden]

Ben Hur and The Sound of Music had intermissions.

[Dave Garrett]

On 1/17/2023 at 1:53 AM, ejp626 said:

What I'm having a bit of trouble reconstructing is whether HBO (back in the old days) actually included the intermission during various rebroadcasts of Gandhi.  I think they actually did, though at some point they would have phased it out.  In the streaming era, I wouldn't imagine anyone would program in an intermission.

Not sure about HBO, but TCM still airs intermissions (and the associated music) for the big-budget roadshow epics that had them back in the day - Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, 2001, etc.

[Milestones]

Yes, the later David Lean films and many Biblical epics demand an intermission.  If a movie is three hours long (or close to it), an intermission only seems fair.

And god bless TCM for showing films without commercials, and showing them uncut.  Lately, I've even seen some with boobs and f-bombs!

 

[Dave Garrett]

On 2/13/2023 at 9:58 AM, Milestones said:

And god bless TCM for showing films without commercials, and showing them uncut.  Lately, I've even seen some with boobs and f-bombs!

TCM Underground aired FLESHPOT ON 42ND STREET a couple of times, which contains several very explicit scenes that go way further than boobs and f-bombs (as in full hardcore sex). Despite the late-night timeslot, I was pretty surprised they aired it uncut and was imagining some of their core classic-film audience having heart attacks if they happened to be tuning in - there was never any shortage of online griping about TCM Underground from that contingent. It's possibly a moot point now as the programmer in charge of TCMU was recently laid off and it's not clear what, if any, future that series will have. 

[Milestones]

It surprising that they would show that.

 

 

[Chuck Nessa]

Let's all go to the lobby.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Chuck Nessa