The Whitehorse Curling Club will undergo a transformation a little over a week from now, taking on a picnic/drive-in atmosphere for Movie Night at the Rink.
Families are encouraged to bring a lawn chairs or blankets and watch a trio of specially selected all-time favourites on the club’s two large screens.
The evening double bill starts off with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, followed by a pre-midnight screening of the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The afternoon is reserved for children’s fare, with a showing of the animated feature, Rio.
Rio tells the story of Blu, a macaw bird from Brazil, who’s decidedly out of his element but totally comfortable as the companion to Linda, a quiet bookstore owner in Minnesota.
Their serene life together is interrupted by Tulio, an ornithologist who informs Linda that Blu is almost the last of his species. He persuades her to accompany him back to Rio de Janeiro, where he hopes Blu will mate with Jewel, the only other remaining macaw.
Not only is Jewel uninterested, but the two are kidnapped by exotic bird smugglers.
Director Carlos Saldanha is from Rio, and the brilliant palette of colour for his film, along with a lively Brazilian soundtrack, make for a compelling visual and audio treat.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is the ultimate slacker movie, from director John Hughes. For anyone growing up in the ’80s, Matthew Broderick’s portrayal of the ultimate fantasy day and high point in creative truancy is a generational marker.
The title characters feigns illness to get the day off school, and persuades his girlfriend and best buddy to accompany him on an exuberant whirlwind tour of Chicago, visiting Wrigley Field, the art museum and the Sears Tower, and still getting back home before his parents return from work.
John Hughes died three years ago next week, at just 59. Ferris Bueller, made in 1986, is often hailed as his best work.
Ben Stein, a former speechwriter for Richard Nixon, plays a particularly pedantic teacher in the film. Stein once described it as being about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—very basic stuff, and I don’t know that there’s ever been a happier movie. It’s a movie that you cannot watch without feeling really, really great.”
The phrase “cult classic” might well have been invented for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Taking its inspiration from a London stage production, the film made its debut in August 1975, and has been in uninterrupted release ever since.
It tells the unlikely story of Brad and Janet, knocking at the door of a sinister-looking mansion one rainy night, seeking assistance for a flat tire.
They’re immediately whisked into a surreal netherworld of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, courtesy of Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his degenerate band of transsexual Transylvanians.
Whitehorse Curling Rink business manager Matt Bustin says the traditional audience participation is encouraged, so bring your own toast and rice along with your lawn chair.
The club is perhaps one of Whitehorse’s best-kept secrets, in that it’s the largest indoor space in the city, with a seating capacity of around 1,200. Movie Night at the Rink is the club’s first effort at holding this sort of laid-back late summer entertainment.
Admission price for the evening double bill is just $12. You can bring your own picnic, snack on burgers, popcorn and cotton candy at the club’s concession, or treat yourself to Tony’s Pizza at their own food stand.
In keeping with the drive-in theme, Angelina’s Toy Boutique is awarding prizes for the best do-it-yourself cardboard car design for kids who show up for Rio.
Rio screens at 4 p.m., Ferris Bueller’s Day Off at 8 p.m. and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at 10:30 pm., all on Saturday, August 11.
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Correction: A column a few weeks ago incorrectly attributed Man of a Thousand Songs to local director Don Sokolowski. The movie was actually shot by Newfoundland director William D. MacGillivray. Our apologies.
