cinema history class: 42nd street memories

Session: Documentary Month, Week 3
Movie: 42nd Street Memories (2016)
Directed by Calum Waddell
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

After two documentaries about movies, Keith showed us a doc about a time...a place...an experience. 42 Street at its gritty, grimy best.

42nd Street in the Times Square area is a huge tourist attraction these days. But it's sanitized, corporate and safe -- not like the 42nd Street of a few decades ago, which was full of porn and peep shows. In all fairness, there were legit movie theaters as well, and (to hear the talking heads tell it) the area was a paradise for movie fans. Owing to my age and a somewhat sheltered childhood, I never really experienced that phenomenon, but I had* a friend from high school who would wax poetic about the place.

The bulk of the movie consisted of movie industry insiders reminiscing, and it was interesting to watch -- though possibly the most interesting part was seeing movie titles on marquees and saying "We saw that in this class!" I actually was impressed with the wide assortment of characters who spoke:

• Joe Dante -- possibly best known as the director of Gremlins
• Lloyd Kaufman -- the impressario behind the Troma brand of movies
• Veronica Hart -- a porn star from long ago
• 42nd Street Pete -- Some guy. Seriously, I couldn't figure out what his significance is other than being some guy.

The one thing that did annoy me was the repeated complaints that the 42nd Street they love was killed by "corporations," who gradually made over the whole area into what it is now. I could sympathize -- in a couple of recent blogposts I touched on the decline of the Jewish deli. But more people (or at least more people in Queens) want Korean barbecue than Jewish deli. Similarly, corporate interests transformed the area because that's where the most valuable use for property is. There's more money in the sanitized cheap imitation that the area is today than there was in the classic version. Because that's what people want.

Of course, it should also be noted that the availability of home video also had something to do with it. And the seedy street of yore will be no more.

*I say "had" because he and I haven't had any contact in six years, and I doubt that we'll ever speak again.