Our unpredictable weather ruined our plans for the evening. We had every intention of going to our favorite drive-in, The Bengie's, in Middle River, MD, tonight. A Trippple feature of MONSTER'S UNIVERSITY, THE LONE RANGER, and IRON MAN 3 was playing tonight, and we hoped to take in at least the first two movies. But the on and off rain kept us at home, much to my daughter's disappointment. We're getting just too much rain lately.
We discovered The Bengie's several years ago. I didn't know there were any drive-ins left in Maryland, and since I hadn't been to a drive-in since I was a kid, I was anxious to take my daughter so she could experience going to one. We've been almost regulars ever since.
There were two drive-ins I went to somewhat regularly with my family when I was a kid. One was the Ranch Drive-in in Clinton, MD, and the other was the 301 Drive-in in Waldorf, MD. Both were gone by the mid-80s, replaced by a housing development and shopping center, respectively. The first movies I vaguely remember seeing were from a double feature: THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, which was a sort-of documentary about an Arkansas Bigfoot, and THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER, about a dinosaur hiding out in Crater Lake in Oregon, who doesn't appear until the end of the movie. As a kid, the movies were scary. In reality, the movies are pretty darn awful. I'm afraid to admit I've seen both movies as an adult. I also remember seeing THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK at the drive-in, which was about the coolest movie I'd ever seen up to that point.
All of the drive-ins around here seemed to disappear back in the 80s, before my teen years, and I feel a bit cheated to have missed out on a great past time: making out at the drive-in. You see it in so many movies, especially those set during the 50s and 60s, where the guy takes his girl to some really bad monster movie and they spend the whole time smooching. I think I would've liked that generation. In fact, I'm missing it now, too, since I have yet to take a date to The Bengie's. I love going with my daughter, but that's not going to cut it in a few years.
So, instead, tonight, I got sucked into a couple of movies on TV: TOMBSTONE, which is #7 on Eric's List of Favorite Movies, and OCEAN'S TWELVE, not on Eric's List of Favorite Movies, and was the vastly inferior sequel to OCEAN'S ELEVEN, #16 on Eric's List of Favorite Movies. I enjoyed them very much. In fact, the soundtracks to the OCEAN'S... movies are by David Holmes and are well worth checking out.
We're going to try again to go to The Bengie's this weekend. My daughter really wants to see MONSTER'S UNIVERSITY, and she was pretty disappointed to miss it tonight. I need to make it up to her.
Have a great evening, everyone!
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