All language subtitles for Back.To.The.Drive-in.2022.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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♪ We're going to the drive-in
on a Saturday night ♪

♪ We're meeting up
with the girls and
we'll be out of sight ♪

♪ 'Cause Danny likes Pam
and Susie likes Freddie ♪

♪ 'Cause Johnny and Ginny
are already going steady ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

♪ You're cruising for a bruising
if you try to sneak in ♪

♪ That old man Jenkins
sure gets under my skin ♪

♪ Just when you think you
fooled I'm and got in for free ♪

♪ They call the cops and have
them throw away the key ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

♪ At the end of the night,
we get our story straight ♪

♪ We all watched the movie
and we thought it was great ♪

♪ The movie was a thriller
and a really good fright ♪

♪ We know what we're doing
next Saturday night ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

[soft music]

- My name is Jennifer Miller.

I bought the drive-in
in 1984,

so I've owned
it approximately 37 years.

This is the best business to
own to raise your children.

I've got two great kids.

They've worked it since
they were five years old

and they're in their 40s now.

- I love it. This has been my
favorite job I've ever had.

I've been here almost two years.

- Older people that have
come to me and said,

"I used to work in a movie
theater and it was one

of the best times in
my life," you know?

And I go, "I know, exactly."

And I mean, it's picking
up the cigarette butts,

It's picking up the
trash, it's everything.

Built in 1952. It's
always been in operation.

It's never been closed. Last
year there wasn't anything new.

So everything we played
last year was old product.

Like "Back to the Future",
"The Flintstones",

"The Rascals", and all the
families came in droves.

Now that everything's back
open again, they're not here.

They're very picky at
what they wanna see now.

But it was fun. I mean, it
was fun while it lasted.

[birds chirping]

[upbeat music]

- Found out yesterday at
noon that I have two bands

playing out here
before the show.

So, you know,
regardless of what goes on,

every night we show a movie,

I have to be out here
cooking hamburgers and brats

and hot dogs and getting
everything around,

so that when the crew
comes in to start working,

we're ready to go.

But I can see the first band
starting to set the stage up.

That's a little bit exciting.

- This is the first year
that we've brought bands

in from outside of the area.

So working with a promoter.

- Yeah. 14 years of having
parties in my backyard.

It's a...

It's a combination
party-carnival.

My buddy says, "Hey,

whatever happened to
that drive-in idea?"

And I said, "Well,
we shelved it,

it's got to be too expensive.

The town was a little
iffy about it."

He goes, "Put it
in your backyard."

I said, "Jarvis,
I'm gonna go home.

I'm gonna tell Donna

Jarvis says, 'We gotta put
the drive-in in our backyard.'

She's gonna tell me to quit
drinking and stop hanging

out with you."
- That's true.

- And I said, "Two weeks later,

she's gonna come to me and go,

'Do you think we can do this?'"

I've had probably seven comments
today. "I like your shirt.

Are you really?" [laughs]

- Yes.
- Yeah I am.

[soft music]

You know, now that things are
opening back up, I mean,

the drive-in isn't the top
of the choice any more.

It's in the middle. And
our crowd is showing that.

Two and a half,
three hours from now,

the first people start
showing up and when the kids

get out of the car, look around,

get the smile on their face,

they get the frisbee or the
football or the softball,

baseball out, start throwing
it around, and just, you know,

you can't put a price on
that and you can't really

explain that feeling.

And then being a phys ed
teacher on top of that,

seeing people move
around, um, is...

That's the best part.

[uplifting music]

- We opened May 13th this year,

and the governor was
here and helped cut

the ribbon and stuff.

And then Thursday
night, Friday night,

Saturday night
that week we rolled

into "American Graffiti"
and "Grease" all weekend

and that Saturday night

saw our first near
capacity crowd of,

we had 514 cars
here for that night.

Team get out of the starting
blocks so that you could

get anybody to talk to
you about financing.

You had to know way
more about the business

than one would think.

But now that it's time
to do it, you've talked

and coached somebody
through it so many times...

Part of what they were
trying to get us to quit

is what they were doing.

And it is a crazy idea,

especially when we
started this back in 2017

when we bought the property.

It was the dumbest thing
anybody'd ever heard of.

What the hell is wrong with you?

Why do you wanna
open a drive-in?

And it's like trying to
explain rock and roll

to somebody that's
never heard it before.

They started to get it after
we put some plans together,

Jenny being an architect,

things we knew going
in that it would work.

They all started to kind
of figure out that we said

we were gonna do this and
we're going to do this.

And March of 2020, all
of a sudden we were

geniuses because everything
had turned into drive-in.

- My typical job is I'm
a healthcare architect.

I design hospitals, clinics,

but I love mid-century
architecture.

We live in a 1955
classic mid-century house

and I really love the atomic
era of the '50s and '60s.

So space race,
that kind of stuff.

That's partly where
our name came from,

Quasar, the white light
from a black hole,

with a big vendor.

And that was a piece I just
really wanted to salvage.

I was so jealous
when I first saw

it at the Boulevard
Drive-In in Kansas City.

And when I got my
own, I was like,

I'm designing around this piece.

- These screen pieces
started life as three

70 foot Selby screens at I-70.

And we took 'em out
when they closed,

they got about a month's notice,

re-engineered and
reassembled the pieces,

it's already seen 80 mile
an hour winds here, so,

and we haven't lost any
panels out of it, again,

knock on wood, but it's,

we've got enough pieces
to duplicate that screen

on the other corner
of our property.

- All the stainless,

the little vendor and our
Cretors popcorn maker are

all from the I-70.

These were pieces of
equipment that had been used

for 40 years.

I mean, there was so little
we really had to do to any

of this to get it to work.

And it's just, it's
all labor of love.

- I've gotta block some space

for friend's birthday tonight.

I told him I'd hold
some of the spaces

in the middle for them.

Two, four, six...

That's eight spaces. I
promised him eight spaces.

I should split 'em
between rows though.

I'll have to come, maybe I'll
send Jay back to do that.

[upbeat music]

- The tower was restored end
of last year. We finished it.

It cost me a fortune.
And it's beautiful.

Do you see the other
side? It's all silver.

It's back to the original.

Sean, just before, when I ask
you the last time, we were

at 160 tickets?

Was that right?

- No, 116 or no, 135.

- 135. Oh that was
your prediction.

- Yeah. We should get to 160.
- About a 100.

He's thinking about 160.
I'm hoping for more.

[soft music]

You get a quick glimpse, but
don't anybody read it. [laughs]

Those are all our notes.

Fix and repair daily.

Nice day to people.

You know, it's a 64
year old physical plan,

not me, the drive-in. [laughs]

Actually it applies
to both. Okay?

Some of them still have
this hard surface and you'll

see some on the roadway
here that are just precious.

I need to get them restored.
It just, it's a real project.

Boils down to everything else,

costs and you've gotta
weigh out what's important

for us to...

What's next, et cetera.

- I take it you're
all vaccinated. Right?

- [Both] Yes.

- You know, you don't
have to call me.

You don't even have to tell
me that, you know that.

- I'll proudly tell people.

- This happens very,
very often. Uh-oh.

I didn't realize it. I
got a sign repair too.

Evidently that hit that
on its way down. So...

And you see that great big sign.

Do not enter, if the
box, day or night...

Do you know how many
people do it anyway?

No, it's silly. It's a
very hard place to protect.

These were my favorite.

See these little things?

They go out when
they're done, right?

They're blocked this way.

Now all the paint's come off,

I have a chance of doing again.

But these all glow, it looks
like a little flying saucer.

All these LED lights,

the signs that move and
have changeable copy,

I'm not allowed
to have a chaser,

that's why I stabilized it
and only use the outside,

the middle row.

But I'm thinking
what's difference

between that and an LED sign?

So I might be able to.

[upbeat music]

- We've been doing more
and more props this year

than ever before and
it's really coming across

very, very well.

Like bowling balls,
bowling pins, Dude cookies.

You have to have a Dudeish
sweater just in case.

I have to be really mindful
about what candy I put

in here because it's so hot,

especially once we get to
August, that I can't really

have anything that's chocolate,

otherwise it will just melt.

This came with the drive-in.

It doesn't function
so it doesn't actually

keep things warm.

But we just use it for display.

- Okay, what do I need to
go? I need to get the bar...

- I would start getting it-
- I'm getting the bar then.

[upbeat music]

- Dwight originally
thought that a regular size

Tic Tac is small enough.

So why do we need mini Tic Tacs?

And I said,

because mini is just mini
and you can't help yourself.

I mean we also have mini
Nutella, like who doesn't want

a little tiny Tic Tac or
a little tiny Nutella?

But this is gonna be the
big seller tonight, I know.

We've got our
shortbread cookies.

We do custom ones
for some of our films

and they always sell
out really fast.

- Dedication to
your craft. Yeah.

Now I just need
to, gotta get them.

There, there...

Those two items there...

And we're ready to go.

All right.

So, this area here at the
Greenville Drive-in is known

as the Projectionist Club.

It's kind of the licensed
area that's attached

to the concession area.

And one of the things
that we're known

for is our cocktails.

Tonight, because it's
"The Big Lebowski,"

the ephemeral cocktail

is the White Russian, of course.

People do find it a little
unusual that they can come

to a drive-in movie
theater and get a cocktail.

And it pleases me that people
are confused by that. [laughs]

We basically throw a
movie party every night.

The majority of the movies
that are shown here are

movies that people have seen
numerous times and really

get into the spirit of it.

We obviously encourage people.

And we love it because
we have random people

who just show up dressed in
the attire from the movie.

One of Lee's top favorite
stories from running

the drive-in for the
last seven years,

she came in here like she
just has now to the bar.

I was making a drink and
I looked across the bar

and there was a duck sitting
on one of our tables.

- And I said, oh that's
just Gary. [laughs]

- See, you spoiled the joke.

- I had invited Gary to come.

- You spoiled the joke.

Let me, can I do that one
again 'cause she jumped

in too fast.

Okay, well let me take your
sticker off of your glasses.

- Okay.

- Okay.
- I guess I'm have

to redo the whole thing
'cause I got the stickers on.

But then it was kind of funny.

[upbeat music]

- Wait 'til you see when
this place fills up, [laughs]

it totally changes.

Has to, sometimes. There's
a lot of people here.

Like when we have 900 cars,

if it's three to
four persons per car,

that's a lot of people in here.

We have a brand new
movie for a change.

We have the "Fast and Furious".

Usually we'd show
double features.

We're understaffed
so we can't do double

features right now.

It's been really
hard with staff.

Staffing has been probably
our number one problem.

Last week I think I ended up
doing 53, 54 and then some

of my staff are
doing 45 to 50 hours

and they're still teenagers.

They're 16 to 18
years old doing that.

I felt really bad during
the winter this year.

I mean, kids that working
40 and 45 hours a week

that really need to be
concentrating on school

and doing their homework
and stuff like that 'cause

school had changed for 'em even.

And they would, wanting
to come here and give us,

but then I'd hear
things like, well,

I'm failing this class and
I'm failing that class.

Oh and it just hurts
me so bad to know that

that they're falling behind
and what's more important

for them at this age,

or some of our staff
went through depression.

You saw that too because
of COVID, being locked up

in their home for so long.

You see it out here
with our customers too.

You see a more
aggressive customer.

It brings it out in people,

when they finally get
out here and get loose,

they're still a little
aggressive for being locked up

all the time.

Yeah, that was actually really
scary for a little while.

[soft music]

- We would normally expect
probably 200 to 300 cars today,

if it hadn't rained and
had severe thunderstorms

an hour before opening.

We'll probably only
have around 50 cars...

I scale back to two cashiers,
two people in the kitchen.

It's not gonna be a
great night tonight.

So after we were open for
a couple of months, I, uhh,

had to go and increase
all the prices

because of the
inflationary situation.

Supplies: candy, popcorn cups...

Even our Pepsi supplier has
problems bringing in some

of our syrup.

I don't even know where
to start. [laughs]

Well, the pandemic made
everything twice as hard

and it's gotten much easier
this year than it was

last year from
pandemic standpoint.

We don't have to wear face masks

if you're fully vaccinated,

we don't have to
have 50% capacity.

But then there's other problems.

Staffing has been
extremely difficult.

There's a lot of people
that were laid off

and they're just not ready
to go back to the workplace.

I've never had so many people
do the no show, no call,

just kind of vanish off
as though Thanos snapped

his fingers and they
disappeared into the ether.

Never had that happen before.

I've had more of those
this year than in the past

30 years combined.

We're still in the midst of
this period of uncertainty,

date streaming with new movies,

is that going to be
a permanent thing?

I hope it isn't. 2022
is a different year.

I think that the studios
will be reevaluating

their first-run business models,

and they'll have to decide,
how much of a priority

is the theater going experience?

[upbeat music]

- I started in 1987, became
one of the owners in 1997.

So I've been here for 34 years.

First couple of summers
it was in between college

and in the Marine Corps.

With COVID, we had a
little bit of consistency,

which is good because
you knew you were capped

out at the 300 cars and
we knew that like everyone

wanted to come and
get out of the house.

This summer It's kind
of been back to that,

they have to have the real
reason to get out and come.

As you can see,

you're literally from
within our own field-

- [Radio] 645, six out of 81.

- So let's see how-
- Thank you.

- Fog works in this area
sometimes. [chuckles]

We are somewhat prone to
fog here in Wellfleet.

It's the F word. In fact,
no one's allowed to say it.

I just broke my own rule.

You can say og, there's
various alternate names to it.

It's not bad to the point
where we're defect to show

it at this moment.

But the fact that it's only 5:52

could mean it could get
progressively worse.

If you're seeing
"Jaws" and, you know,

adds to the effect. [laughs]

Real special effects
I guess you could say.

But the ocean is right down
there and it's so foggy,

we can't see down
to see the ocean.

So it is pretty bad here.

And this would severely
affect the movie

if this made it all the way in.

And in this case,
rain would actually,

a little bit of rain would be

preferred 'cause it would
wipe out the fog that has

the better part of
Massachusetts except

Cape Cod, and it's
marching a little north.

So I don't think we're
gonna get any rain tonight.

We're right here.

So hopefully it doesn't
get much worse. [chuckles]

[birds chirping]

- Hi everyone, this is Ben
coming to you live here

at the Harvest Moon.

As you can see,

our weather right now is
actually pretty fantastic.

We have a light breeze. It is
nice and blue skies out here.

We did get drenched
here a little earlier,

however it looks like
most of those have gone

through now and it should
be a really nice night

for drive-in movies.

So it's also our final night
for showing "F9: The Fast Saga"

in the primary movie slot.

So if you guys wanna see
that during the regular

prime time, you definitely
wanna come out and join

us tonight over on screen two
with Vin Diesel and the gang.

- [laughs] Geez.
- it's not a great one.

The drive-in isn't as
big as ones I've been

to in the past.

There is a train that goes
by at 9:45 directly behind

the screen two.

So we miss part of the film.

I would suggest the management,

that you coordinate
intermission with the train.

[indistinct]
- I know.

You can do this
like every time now.

That keeps you in there.
[child babbling]

- Yeah, so you don't fall out.

[child babbling]

- Yeah. We gotta take it
apart and try and fix it.

Yep. It doesn't work this year.

- So I wanna get a
hold of the railroad

so we can coordinate
that as soon as possible

so we can resolve that issue.

- This will be the third
generation of our family

in the business.
[soft music]

But she gets older-

[child babbling]
- Right. Yeah.

[child babbling]
- Mm-hm.

Dad can't wait till
you're old enough to go.

- That good?

- Leave your truck here with-
- Yeah!

- Okay, leave your truck
here with Uncle Ben.

You can get it when you
come back, all right?

I'll be back in a little bit.

That's our first customers.

Hello.
- Hello.

- You have pre-sale tickets
or you need tickets?

- No.
- Okay.

All right, you're gonna
be on screen one tonight,

which is one in front of you.

It's 91.3 FM for
the radio station.

- Okay.
- Our main snack bar's open.

It's the big building
in the middle,

two cars between the
poles when you parked.

That wasn't so bad.

- Nope.
- Now we wait.

[tense music]

- It opened in 2003
but me and him did most

of the building.

It's really bad.

I got to put the whole floor
in the projection booth.

- The biggest problem
now is having employees,

people to help.

I mean, we're so
shorthanded now,

it's like barely getting by.

- We used to have enough
to run two separate

concession stands and have
every single box office

open and now it's just
trying to keep enough to keep

a concession stand open.

Luckily, now they're old
enough they can just take

over everything for us.

- 'Cause you're a
lot nicer than I am.

- The managers, the
kids, I love them.

They're really chill people.

And I love working with
people here as well.

'Cause I've made
a lot of friends.

- There was a new concession
stand in the works.

A new marquee was in the works,

a lot of things were in
the works and then COVID

happened and now
nothing's in the works.

[laughs] We're just trying
to keep heads above water

and keep rolling right now.

- The theater was
put up in 1957.

It was a single screen,
1200 car theater.

And then when the suburban
multiplexes started opening,

they decided that they would
turn this into a fourplex

so that they could play more
movies for the customer base.

[soft music]

We're very fortunate in this
COVID-19 issue to have been,

for the most part, permitted
to continue to operate.

Folks are in a hurry. They
want that best spot, you know?

we're gonna have to bring
you in over here. All right?

- Yeah, I'll get
'em, I'll get 'em.

- Okay.

- So we do have some
rules that have changed.

Any time you exit your
vehicle, please wear a mask.

Don't sit up chairs or
sit outside the vehicle

and please park one place away
from everybody else please.

- All right, thank you.

- You're gonna be in screen
number one and it's 106.9 FM.

We had a lot of new
customers and they're unused

to drive-in and everything
has to be explained to them,

and it slows down
the box office.

So I'm there to keep it
moving, keep it moving.

[upbeat music]

[upbeat music]

- I have quite a
reputation, good or bad.

I mean most people, depends
on what side you're on.

I have those who love me
for having rules and I have

those who say I shouldn't
have any at all.

And to those people, I
say, if you think that,

don't come here because
I'm not gonna run

a free-for-all, I refuse.

But I've actually got
compliments about having rules

that at least it
establishes boundaries

so that you don't have patrons
arguing with each other.

They were very grateful last
year just for me to be open.

And that was a challenge
because we were greatly

reduced in capacity.

And then I had that
other problem is like

I even had somebody say to
me, believe it or not,

"D, why are you playing
those old movies?"

And I was like, what is it
do you think I could play?

'Cause they're not
releasing anything.

And then it was like, "Oh yeah,"

I used to have, and
I need get them.

We didn't use them last
year, we didn't need to.

Little blinkers so it calls
your attention to them,

see as they go, and
some are very diligent

about, and the other ones
are just total disregard.

It's right in front of their
eyes and they could care less.

It means everybody
in the world but me.

Movies used to mean something,
and people used to anticipate

their release and there
was something called

showmanship when you
attended a theater,

and you're not gonna get
that on your TV at home.

And I don't care what unit
you bought or what you did,

you're not gonna
have the same thing.

Will it survive? I don't
know, I really don't.

I think drive-ins
have a better chance

just because it's a venue
and it's an experience all

by itself with or
without the movie.

But I worry for
the indoor, I do.

It just hit me and
I just realized

that the S is turned.

You see it?

I'll tell you, it's funny
too because the man who did

this is pretty professional,
but yeah, that's upside down.

We can go to the
other side, you see?

See, we can't pick up
and discharge people

on the roadway so don't
know what's going on.

I guess she's not, oh she's
gonna go ride with them maybe?

I dunno where to go.

These people are pulling
over to cover their lights.

[people chattering]

- I'd recognize that-
- There you go.

- Pick it up. All right.

And if you have trouble,

if it's a hotshot or
whatever, we do rent radios,

but if you can use that, good.
[gentle music]

[chattering on radio]

[person shouting]

[chattering on radio]

Okay, Sean.

What time do I
start the countdown?

[chattering on radio]

- Okay, 10-4.

[upbeat music]

- Favorite part right there.

[people chattering]

- Your part is
gonna be able to go.

- Can't go across this-
- You got another.

- Give ourselves more-

- You got more extension boards?

- Yeah.

- Every day A new adventure.

- Help me to empty
a trash can up here?

- Yeah.
- I'm not strong enough

to do it by myself.

- Tell me then you
run just, like,

I just wanna make sure
'cause like at least see

the shows, some of you...

- You guys play both
kinds of music, right?

Country and Western.

- Right.
- Okay.

- Do you have any idea
what movie I just quoted?

- No.
[gentle music]

- Lets move it back.

[upbeat music]

- It's 891 on the radio.
- Thank you.

- You're welcome,
y'all have fun.

[people chattering]

- They love the drive-in because

they can come as they are
and they can bring chairs

and tables, set up a camp,

I always call it if they
get it early enough,

and sometimes there'll
be four or five cars

that come together
and then they can stay

a while before we start the
movie and it's just great.

We see, we've had proposals
out here and people walk up

and down with their dogs
and they hold hands.

It's really a lovely
place, and it's romantic.

The drives are romantic.

- There's a few locals that
come every week but most

of our customers are tourists
and probably, I don't know,

50% each night are new
newbies that come to see us.

Pandemic brought out,

I don't know if it
brought out new people,

it's just because they
couldn't go to the theater.

They walk in, hard
top, they call 'em.

They couldn't go to restaurants,
they couldn't go to any,

the kids were stuck at home.

And so this was a,

you know, you keep your
distance and they came

to the drive-in.

- Last time.
- Yes.

And that's the only reel
worth showing today.

We just get that
one screen, so...

Well, we've got a few
more cars than last night.

Of course, that's
par for the course.

Saturdays are usually a little
bit better than Fridays.

- Large nacho, extra cheese,
and a hamburger with cheese.

- I hope y'all enjoy the movie?.

- Three cheeseburgers, three
drinks and two candies.

Oh, water too.
- Do you take cards?

- Yes, ma'am.

They do work fairly well and
they'll last up to two weeks.

I usually, when I wear one...

It's sad, and it'll come back.
You just don't know when.

You know, another generation
probably and it'll come back.

You know how the wheel turns
really slow, comes back around.

[light music]

- We're just coming into
our third calendar month.

We started May, 13th, so
just a little over a month

and a half under our belt.

We keep getting continually
newer crowds every time.

- It's teaching a lot
of people how to use

a drive-in because actually
we here in Nebraska

haven't had, in Omaha, haven't
had a drive-in since 2006.

So there's a lot of young
kids who have never been

to the drive-in.

- I have no idea
what this movie is.

- Most of the equipment
that's manufactured

for outdoor theater
projection is made to go

into an existing drive-in.

Those were always
three phase power.

It was gonna be about $30,000
to get it to our curb,

and we've gotta get it
from the property line

to the middle of the
property for the building.

So that expense we took
and rolled into a laser

projector that runs off
of single phase 220.

It plugs in like
your clothes dryer.

I was down by the lower
left and I took a kind

of nice little artistically
framed photo with the trees

in the side, and Jenny accused
me of Photoshopping it.

[gentle music]

We've had a lot of friends
through the process.

Everybody from Rick
Cohen and D Vogel

and the Neils outta Kansas City.

But one of the things
that sticks with me,

Rick helped me out with
some vintage blueprints

for Selby Foundations
because we had

to engineer foundations
from scratch.

I think he's put a couple
of Selbys up out of transit.

But I did have an inkling

that they had kind
of a canoe shape.

I didn't have any figures,

I didn't have anything
engineering wise, and Rick had

a set of prints
that had the data

on it that we needed
to extrapolate.

But I asked him, I said,

"Rick, is there anything I can
give you for these prints?"

And he says, "You know what?
Just build a good drive-in."

[gentle music]

- And because of the weather,

most people made their
decision that the drive-in

wasn't gonna be open tonight
or they weren't gonna

come out to the
drive-in tonight,

they weren't gonna risk it.

So we opened the gate at
eight o'clock and of course

it's not raining at all.

It may not rain at all
for the rest of the night,

but the damage is already done.

It's gonna be pretty dead.

Basically wait around for
the movies to start then

get off lights.
- Okay.

- The Segways came about.

We were promoting the "Paul
Blart II" movie "Mall Cop II",

it came out in 2015.

So I borrowed a Segway
and I did a cosplay,

and I dressed up as Paul
Blart, and now we're up

to four Segways, and
our staff is on them,

and they really come in
handy with helping people

to get their lights
off during the movies.

I started working
here when I was 15

in the concession stand, and
through the years, I moved

up to cashiering, projection,
and when I was 19 years old

I took over as manager.

So I've been managing
the drive-in theater

for over 30 years,
and what I like most

about it is probably just
seeing all the families

coming together and having
a good time and having

this shared experience doing
something that's unique.

Now, we'd like to have
the drive-in theater here

for another 60 years.

Just we'll see how things
work out with Hollywood.

[gentle music]

The thunderstorm watch is in
effect until 11:00 PM tonight.

So a lot of people, they're
just not gonna risk it.

We'll be lucky to
have 20 or 30 cars.

Maybe next week will be
better but it's supposed to be

thunderstorms all week.

This is the fourth week in a row

that there's been thunderstorms.

Literally, if not every
day, then every other day.

[upbeat music]

- Do you guys have
a reservation?

- We do, no.
- No problem.

- We've got plenty
of spots open.

- Okay.
- Have you been here before?

- Nope.
- 88.7,

Dwight will put it up on
the screen so you just tune

into your radio.

We have also radios you can
borrow for a buck inside.

Beer garden is open. He's
making White Russians.

- Awesome.
- [laughs] Awesome.

You guys have a great time.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- See you.
- Hello-hello.

Do you guys have a
reservation tonight?

- No.
- No problem. Two?

- Yep.
- Bar's open.

Ice cream sandwiches.

I made 'em last night so
they are fresh and ready

to go for you.

- Awesome.
- Awesome, thank you so much.

So you probably know
what our beer garden

special is tonight.

- White Russian.
- You bet.

- I brought my robe.

- Wave number one. [laughs]

[upbeat music]
[people chattering]

- That would be
mostly me, I think.

I mean, for us, it's been nice.

Like we, in terms of like
last season we had a season,

but for, so like, but for these,

for other businesses who lost
all of last season and then

to have the rain this season.
- True.

- For 2020... [indistinct]

- This is our seventh season.

So the drive-in itself has
been around since 1959,

but this is, for us, year seven.

The other reason you
need to remember E7

is if you want a one chocolate
chip cookie delivered

to your car during the movie.

We have a friend who
made these for me

because I found that people,

when I tried to explain
to them next to the pole,

they still wouldn't park with
enough room for another car.

So we made these little
dioramas so that it could

be really clear to
everybody, you know,

what the expectation was, right?

So we have, we actually
have two versions.

We also have a version
with the pickup truck

so that they can see it's
okay to put your pickup

truck the other way around and
sit in the back if you want.

I have a couple of local
friends in the community

who help me out with the box
office and sometimes some

of the youth who work here
will do the box office.

But I like it 'cause it gives
me a chance to see everybody.

I at least get to say
hello to everyone.

So, not everyone goes
to the beer garden,

but everyone comes through here.

- It was funny, I,
like, pulled the 7 and 7

out on kind of kind of a whim

for airplane, and then
I discovered I really

was enjoying it as
like my summer drink.

So I'm like, you know what?

I'm just gonna put
it back on the menu.

[light music]

[upbeat music]

[gentle music]

- Like everyone, we're
experiencing hiring challenges,

and the supply chain
challenges have been real.

I've never seen anything like
this where basic things...

We're still in a
weird situation.

It's 2021 and things are
not totally back to normal.

I think everyone knows that.

It's nice to feel like
you're getting there,

but it could be the worst July
attendance-wise on record.

But that could flip. We'll
see where it goes. [chuckles]

Customers really like them.
They are a pain. [laughs]

We try to maintain
every spot to have it.

We're running into some
underground wiring problems.

So some rows are
weaker than others.

This is our speaker shop.

We're fortunate enough to
have a RCA former technician.

He repairs the speakers for us.

These were pulled out of
a drive-in in the eighties

and have not been rebuilt yet
to be put in service here.

Hopefully, obviously
we wanna use as little

of those as possible every year.

And this is one that obviously
damaged beyond repair,

if it weren't run over.

If the underground wiring
problems are not localized

to this speaker pole area,

it's tough to justify
digging up the pavement.

So...
[gentle music]

All right, this is
our 1957 projector.

one of two original 1957 RCA 9R.

Also it's a rebranded

Ashcraft Super Core Lite
Carbon Arc projector setup,

with Century heads.

This was in use right
through this end

of the summer season in 2012.

We actually have a 1.33 lens,

and we would run the
film dancing hotdog

and the welcome to
the show in 1.33

as it was originally
produced, which,

you know, was the TV,

what is now known as a
TV aspect ratio where,

the older TV aspect ratio.

And this is the motor
generator control.

We could fire the Carbon Arc
by either motor generator

or those rectifiers.

That's our field speaker
switching thing. Original 1957.

11 is bad going out there.

So we out in the field,
we've got it sliced on,

I think, about 12.

This is the Barlow 32B,
which I'm sure you've seen

in many other drive-ins,

and that's a sound
rack broadcast,
warehouse transmitter.

[light music]

- My father owned and operated
several movie theaters

and he was able to
redo enough stuff here

by used equipment to reopen
the drive-in June 16th, 1989.

And ever since then, we've been
operating the drive-in here.

- 36... About 40 people tonight.

That's what they had last
night. 40 some people.

And we usually get half
of that in cash sales.

- Da-da.
I know. You got another truck.

This is a new one. Where'd
you pick this one up?

Okay, you can have it back.

- Yeah.

- Some random night I got
a friend request from him.

And literally five blocks away
from home, and there he was.

- I think the third
date I brought her here.

- I don't remember
what movie it was.

- I think it was
"The Jungle Book".

- I think so too. Yeah.

"Jungle Book" when that
came out in live action.

Two years later, he
asked me to marry him,

a year and a half later,

we got married in October,
they closed, and then

weekend later we got
married and it was great.

And, I mean...

- And then we start off
our first year of marriage

right into the
COVID catastrophe.

[both laughing]

[people chattering]

It's kind of combined here.
- Yeah.

- You move from, okay,
cool, you run a drive-in,

and now she wants to go
visit every drive-in.

- Yes, I would really
love to go see a lot

of the drive-ins.

It's just one of those
things that just makes

you feel really good,

like you are actually
doing something good

in the community or just
in general that people

are actually
expressing it to you.

people don't really
do that a lot.

- The highest we
did get last year

with COVID, because
people were appreciative

of having something to go do.

- Yeah.

[uplifting music]

- We have four
screens, we have a bar,

a snow cone trailer,
frozen margaritas.

We have beer, we
don't have any liquor.

We also have a concessions.

We have four box office lines
that run the vehicles in.

Normally we'll have a
caboose out here that has

our merchandise in it.

Yard games, couches, everything
so you can sit outside

and enjoy the movie from
outside the pavilion.

Then we have a beer garden,

which is very popular
on Friday and Saturdays.

Got a little bit
of popcorn candy,

cotton candy that
we make here daily.

Cheeseburgers, bacon
cheeseburgers, hot dogs,

corn dogs, pizzas, nachos.

And I make a pulled
pork barbecue now too.

That's really good here.

Nacho chips were hard to
keep up with this year.

Some of the styrofoam
and things like

that were pretty easy.

We would have to change,
but we could get 'em.

We couldn't use the
ones we normally had.

So, but we could
still get those.

There was a time
period where this year

where we couldn't
get popcorn boxes.

We had to actually drive
to Arlington and find

a different style
of popcorn box,

which is really, really weird.

This is our delivery
system back here.

When the order first comes
in... Lemme show you.

You confirm.

And then they'll put
the order together,

then grab the food
right outta the kitchen,

which is directly
right here beside it.

And you can just order it,
make the order on your phone.

And then somewhere around
15 to 20 minutes later

we'll bring the food
up to your vehicle.

- Two to eat.

- You know, just take it.

Yep. Grab the popcorn,
cheeseburger, hot dog.

When we first opened,
it was insane.

There was a huge
volume coming in.

Somewhere in between
100 to 200 tickets.

To where now it's
somewhere in between 30

to 50 tickets.

There you go. Perfect.

And then right now on
a slower volume night

like tonight, I won't even
staff my runner position

or my filler position,

managers, different
kids like that

who kind of help me out on it.

We'll actually have
my grounds crew,

which we'll call
'em on the radio,

to come run the order.

Are you gonna run them?
- Yep.

- Okay.

Sometimes we'll go out
to doing the delivery

and there'll be
nobody in that spot.

And so we can actually
call the phone number

on the ticket or look in
the tablet and call it.

And most of the time,
the customer is giving

you the wrong spot number.

1C 28. Awesome.

- 28.
- Thank you very much.

- Well, we're 15 minutes to
showtime, and Thursday night,

pretty good crowd.

The horror movies are filling
up and the family movies,

it's not quite the family night.

I think we're gonna be
pretty good getting a nice

house and getting the
movie starting on time

without too many
stragglers coming

in after the movie starts.

I grew up outside of
Philadelphia and we had

four drive-ins within a half
an hour of where I lived.

They were all big
single screen drive-ins,

100 foot screens.

And the bulk of the audience
was in my age cohort.

They were teenagers.

And then by the time
I got into college

in the late '60s and '70s,

that's when the drive-ins
started disappearing.

Shopping centers
would be put up,

other kinds of business
venues would be put up

and the owners of the old
drive-in lots would get

out of the business.

We've stayed in by
multiplexing and being able

to show eight movies a night,

which helps you
stay in business.

So we have 21 screens
now across six venues.

San Diego, Riverside,
here in Montclair,

in Salt Lake City and another
one in Atlanta, Georgia.

[train horn honking]

[gentle music]

- Last year during the
height of the pandemic,

we were running side
by side of streaming

and on the screen.

Well now they've decided
if we're gonna stream it,

we can't let it go on
the drive-in screen.

Well, why not?

All it's gonna do is sell
their product even more.

We look ahead and
like, oh great,

it's finally gonna break loose.

We're getting ready
to roll again.

And next thing you
know they say, well,

we're going straight
to video with this one.

Now, "Fast and Furious"
is doing quite well.

This is the first
busy weekend we've had

since COVID started.
- If it wasn't for "F9,"

we wouldn't be this busy.

I mean we, there'd hardly
be anybody out here.

The "F9" is actually
what's bringing them in,

and I'm hoping next
weekend's a good weekend

as well without rain.

[gentle music]

- Still fit?
- Kind of, just this finger.

- [Jeff] Should we see
if Dad's still fits too?

- Oh, yeah.
- Yep.

He's got some sweat equity
out here already at six

that a lot of kids don't
have in the family business.

So...

Thanks for the footprints.

[child laughs]

Walk all over me.

Oh my gosh.

Are you guys coloring
your space ship?

That's awesome.
- I'm Jason!

- That... You're
Jason, you're scary.

This is our boy Wes, he's
our youngest and his namesake

is down in Kansas City,
Wes Neil, who's the kind

of the patriarch of
the Boulevard Drive-in.

- Wes. I mean Jason.
- Yes.

We're gonna take the
spaceship and then

we're gonna build it.

- I got a lot of pre-show
content that I put up

that really is so washed
out, you can't see it,

but it's something to put
over the air and let people

know they're tuned
into the right channel.

We've got a runway.

That was always one of
the things I thought was

so cool about indoor
theaters when I was a kid

were the lighted
strips in the floor

along the center path and
we've got a runway path base

of the screen which beckons
them and leads 'em right up

to the snack bar where we
can feed 'em or they can get

to the bathroom or whatever.

So I love to see people
interact with what we made.

- It's just such a
compliment to hear them say

that it was so nicely
designed and planned

because it really was.

I went through and
I took aerial shots

of over 50 drive-ins about
how they were laid out,

how close they were
to the highway,

their queuing distances,
every little thing.

We spent two years
planning and going

over that with government
entities and everything.

I mean, we really put the
research into it and I think

it paid off.

- Is this the De
George party coming in?

These slam short boxes.

- You are correct, sir.
- Ooh, all right, well,

I'll lead 'em to their way
and we'll get 'em parked.

- All right.
- Back in.

- I'll take it on,
so you coast with me.

[gentle music]

- The wind's just the wrong
direction tonight. [chuckles]

I've seen a lot worse with
the, as we call it, the F word,

we're not allowed to say it.

I've seen a lot worse with the,

I've seen it where I can't
see the screen and I can't

see the marquee.

I can see both.

So as long as it doesn't
get too much worse,

I think we'll be okay.

Well, you never know.

It could get worse in
five minutes and then

it could totally clear out.

I've had that happen.

It's totally a point
you can't see the movie

and 10 minutes later
it's clear as day.

I saw "Back the to Future"
here when I first got

my license, I saw
all the classics here

from "Star Wars" onward, "ET",

before I even worked here.

Started the summer of '87 in
that ticket booth, main one,

six nights a week
as a second job.

[laughs] Which a lot of
kids these days could learn

something from that. [laughs]

This probably would've
been a 300 car night.

Some customers aren't
deterred by it.

So I think we have,

actually you can look at
the old school counter.

We only have 117 in so far
and that is slow for Saturday.

Especially when we have
the staff for 300 or so.

It's one thing to
be expected, but...

Yeah, so we'll see.
I'm gonna wait.

I wasn't automatically
programmed to start at 8:20.

I pulled it off the
automatic program

or I'm gonna manually
start it and I think

it's really dark.

So that it's hopefully
gonna be a decent picture.

It's "Space Jam," which I
guess is bright, so we'll see.

[gentle music]

- I used to wake up
in 1988 when I bought

the drive-in, '89-'90,

I wake up every morning and say,

what do I have to do today?

And then you get it there and
you get into your 20th year.

I'm in the 34 now.

And then you get into what
the hell's gonna happen

to me today?

What's gonna break?
Who's not gonna show up?

But it's still,
how do I say that?

High energy, you have to be
a little bit of high energy

to deal with it and you have
to look at whatever happens.

It's one of my favorite
sayings, and Sean and Ken

both know this,

I come in to do one
thing, and I never get

to it because of at
everything that might show up

in the interim.

The most favorite is show start.

It's gotta be. Even on the
day when we're operating.

Even in the winter
'cause I'm here

just about every day, truly.

Sunset. And you see that
shadow cast upon the screen.

It's kind of a blue just
before it turns little

dark and gray.

And so we're able to
receive one, and being able

to start the show, do
a good presentation.

That part never gets old.
And I always feed on it.

Folks, this is a
comprehensive list

of all our household policies.

It's a mighty good start.

We refer you to the
flyer that you received

when you came in tonight,

and all of our household
policies are in it.

- Yeah, we missed him. He
hasn't been on the radio.

- He has not been
here doing that.

- [Edward] So in the bar then...

- Sometimes he'll say the
one he should have saved

was the gateway.

I don't know, I never
saw the gateway.

- [Edward] But here we go.

If you too put on
106.9 FM, I'm sorry-

- Needed to be saved.

- [Edward] So you're not
draining your car battery.

One of the biggest
movie theaters...

[upbeat music]

[people chattering]

- Everybody I've talked to
is cool with us around. Yeah.

Might not be our music but
it's still live and it's cool.

I'm like, okay.

We're trying different things

and I don't always
know what I'm getting.

[people chattering]

- All right. I'm gonna
go do some Facebook Live.

You wanna come with me?
- What?

- Do Facebook live?
- No.

[gentle music]

[people chattering]

[upbeat music]

[people chattering]

- Now if you don't mind,

make sure you all the
headlights along vehicles off.

Please rise for singing the
national anthem... [inaudible]

[soft music]

[people chattering]

- Yeah, I saw
lightning to the north.

- [Ben] It's to the
north and the south.

- So is it gonna hit us
before in intermission or no?

- No, look, right in the middle.

- Good.
- We're in a pocket.

- Please turn your headlights
out as soon as you get

parked and have a great night.

Thank you.

- So far it's missing us.

- I've been seeing lighting-
- Yeah you see it

in the distance.

- Car that came in
a few minutes ago

said that it was raining
like crazy over Packs.

- I believe it.

I think that's one
of the red dots.

I learned how to shut off

a 2021 Hyundai
Sonata lights today.

We used the old fashioned
handbrake trick.

They were trying everything,
like well you can tape up

the lights if you want.

I'm like, well see if you
can figure something out.

And then on my way
back I Googled it.

I'm like, oh, that's
easy. Went back out.

Hey, pull this lever. Voila.

Lights out. [laughs]

Our intermission, it's 9:24.

- Got it.
- That can't be

the same train then.

- Oh yeah.
- Because

he's already blowing his whistle

so he is gotta be down here.

So he's gotta be going this way.

- Good. I'm running!
[group laughing]

- It was 9:45.

- Yeah.

- This one's going south.
- Stop it right in the middle

of this action scene.
[group laughing]

- You just gotta base it
on the train now, I guess.

You don't get

to go off the movie.
- Like it's been

10 minutes since it's been on.

I don't care. The train
goes by right now.

- I do take it
personally. [laughs]

Well, think of all the
positive people and then

you get that negative like 5%
out of that 100% of positives.

- And he's not going
very fast either.

- I like watching the trains,

I don't know what
they're talking about.

That's why I cut
those trees down

so people could watch the train.

[gentle music]

- I think it is harder
to run a drive-in now.

It's more complicated.

There's more people
you have to please,

and, uh, it just is.

Yeah.

And I drove up today and
there wasn't any line.

Of course, you know, I
got here half an hour

after they opened but
even so in the old days,

that line would be
continuous, and it's so cool

because you see all the
headlights of the cars waiting

in line and they pulled over
to the side and those things...

Those things aren't, haven't
been around for a while.

They just haven't, you know?

Jennifer, I have a
guy that wants to buy

that poster, he
wants pay for it now.

It'll be $5.

Is that all right?

- But it'll be three weeks.
- That's the way I told it.

- Well maybe, maybe...

- Always been looking at
that movie out there to see

if it's on the screen. [laughs]

Yeah. Oh lordy, just have it.

[people chattering]

We used to have 35
millimeter in that.

I always thought I was
gonna miss that a lot,

but I really don't now.

I do miss that click
click click click click.

Give him that tonight even.

If he pays for it, he's
gonna have it tonight.

I don't know if we're
allowed to take that down

and another poster another day.

- 25 giving-
- But what if it's not?

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

Enjoy the movie.

- We have a window from
the concession that looks

in there that we could
always keep an eye

on the 35 millimeter,
but now we can look

at the computer screen
and see how long the movie

is before it's over.

So it's pretty nice. We
do like that a lot better.

Yeah, overall it is better.

but it was sad to
see 35 millimeter go.

- And jalapenos on the side.
- A large nacho.

I would love it when they
want jalapenos on the nachos

'cause I really load it on.

And we used to
only have one size,

we had the smaller
boats for the hot dogs.

So when we ran out of the
large boats one night we said,

well we're just gonna
have to sell smalls.

And so that's how we
came up with two sizes.

And that's only happened
like two years ago

and I've had this
place for 37 years.

So trial and error,
I've learned a lot.

- Do you need a little tray
or you think you got it?

- I've got it, yeah.

- I've used the expression
before about some

of my employees, and I
love them, I love them,

but if I tried to run 'em
off, they wouldn't leave

because they love it, the
drive-in, and it, excuse me,

but it's bullshit too because
they'll go home and talk

to their parents about it,
how many people were here,

something that
happened that night or

or go to their other job

and talk to 'em and
then they'll have

a friend that says, "Oh
I wanna work there."

So then we'll hire their
friend to come and work.

And that's usually how we
hire everyone is somebody

knows somebody else
that wants to work.

It's not running an ad
or advertising at all.

- Could have saved 20.

- Oh. [laughs]
- And then we could

have split it all on-
- Oh, we could.

I'll tell it and
see what he says.

He says it's not
between anything.

He wanted it that bad.

- [Person] I would not do that.

[uplifting music]

- Yeah, I think he snuck in.

- See if you can head
toward screen two.

He's headed that way.

- Yeah, he came in next.
- Yeah.

- It's different every day,
you never know what to expect.

I just get tired of some
of the surprises. [laughs]

- Yeah, some of the surprises
are not really good.

- I mean...

- It's a really good
business for a ADD person

because I don't like
focusing on one thing.

I keep many things going
in my life at all times

and the drive-in is
different every single day.

But there's just some
things that become more

than you can bear.
[car horn honking]

- And people are destructive.
I mean literally destructive.

I mean they'll go in there,
they'll rig the toilets

to where they're
constantly running the,

they steal the tank
lids off of the toilets.

They steal the toilet paper,
they steal paper towels,

they steal the
soap, so I mean...

And we've been dealing with
this ever since we opened.

I mean, it's just been
a continuous thing.

- But I've cut both those off.

- Behind the cooler, on
the other side of the wall,

turn around about there.
- Okay, gotcha.

- We'll have to call
the service guy.

He told me not to be
messing with his machines,

I can't do that.

One thing a lot of people
don't know is every screen

here is different, but every
one has a different reason

for being built.

Every one was actually almost
a copy from my mind of one

of my favorite drive-ins
that I had been to at some

point in life.

[gentle music]

I tore down a lot of drive-ins.

I started back in
the '80s and worked

with a theater company

out of North Carolina and I
tore down a lot of drive-ins.

I destroyed a lot, but that
was my job at the time.

There were things that
I hated to see go.

There were things that I
kept from those drive-ins

and some of 'em are
implemented here.

I'm the only one
that even knows it.

Nobody even knows what I did.

And I can look at it and I'm
like, oh this come from there,

this come from here,
this come from here.

But nobody else
even knows or cares

because the property
is so long gone,

you know, it has industrial
parks or strip malls

or different things
built on top of 'em now,

and nobody would ever know.

It's just all stuck in my head
and when I'm gone, it's gone.

So many people immigrate to
the Dallas Fort Worth area

and, you know, we are very
diverse and we have met

so many great people
from around the world

that we would never
do if it weren't

for this location right here.

[upbeat music]

[people chattering]

[gentle music]

- We were having problems
with the DCP last night.

One of the reasons why I
like showing the older movies

is 'cause we have redundancy.

So we're gonna start up the
DCP and we'll see if it works.

And if it doesn't, we'll
switch it to the Blu-ray.

- Please be sure to tune
your own radios to 88.7 FM.

That's 88.7 FM.

For those without a
radio, please visit

the concession building and
pick up a portable radio.

Don't forget the
projectionist club

is always wired for sound.

Thanks for choosing
the Greenville Drive-In

Enjoy the show.

- Please help us keep
the Greenville Drive-In

and do not consume
outside alcohol.

Alcohol consumption is forbidden

in the licensed garden area.

You must be at
least 21 years old-

The spiders move quickly.

[gentle music]

[upbeat music]

- It's just been
really different.

Like, we were just talking
about this the other day.

About the first few
years we were open,

maybe once a year
we'd have some type

of negative interaction
with a customer.

But this year it's
every weekend.

Any time you try to approach
a customer on any rules

that may be being broken or
just any type of situation

where maybe parking a
vehicle in the wrong spot,

they're very aggressive
to come back and attack

you like you're doing
something wrong with them.

During COVID was the
worst with the masks.

I mean, even if you would
just ask a person to pull

their mask up or
have their mask on,

they would curse,
scream at our...

Some of my staff are 15
years old and they're up

there getting cussed out.

A lot of threats.

I've had rocks thrown at me.
I've had my life threatened.

I've been chased.
It's been, wow.

We've had people
urinate in the pavilion.

I hear it over the radio.

"Ryan, there's someone
peeing in the pavilion."

And it was a lady,

she just took her pants
up and squatted down

in the pavilion.

Yes. I couldn't believe it.

I came around the
corner and saw it.

I just couldn't believe
that was what was going on.

And she was like,

"I'm not wearing a mask
to use your bathroom.

I'll go wherever I want."

She did, she went right
out at the pavilion.

All the customers' kids
were out to see it.

Yeah, it was very embarrassing.
Very embarrassing.

Yeah. We had that
happen twice this year.

Just got body cams for
that exact scenario.

That way we can make sure
everything is copacetic

when, if some scenario
goes down and it needs

to be recorded or shown.

[gentle music]

[people chattering]

- Yeah, we try to share the
history of the experience

as well as the wall.

This is from an
old Simplex manual,

and that's from an old Century
projector parts manual.

And these are all
name plates and badges

from old 35 millimeter
projection equipment.

Some little way I have
of holding onto the past.

[gentle music]

Yeah, I think I said 50
to 100 cars, didn't I?

It's really hard to predict,

but this is still way down
for what we're used to.

[people chattering]

Just gonna run to the safe.

Out of singles at
the ticket office.

Try not to slip on the stairs.

Hop on the Segway
and zoom out there.

Pack of singles.

[gentle music]

And I'm off.

[upbeat music]

- Okay. That looks
good... [indistinct]

A lot of work to do.

Good.

Yeah, I know you're next.

How you doing?
- I'm doing well.

How are you?
- Good good.

Walk into my world.
[gentle music]

[people chattering]

[indistinct]

- No, not the walleye.
- Yeah.

[people chattering]

- So normal for a Sunday,

be even a little bit busier yet.

But I'm thankful for
what we have here tonight.

[people chattering]

Right now because
of what had happened

with COVID, et cetera,

we're limiting as to when we
use it only when we have to,

because now we have this
new idea where we can sell,

These are our ventures, driver
memorabilia, rent radios,

and in car heaters
when necessary.

The people that will come
behind me are with me now

and hopefully would carry on.

Realize Ken Adam will be here,

has been here 27 years.

And that's Sean here.

Just get the back of him.

Sean, I think is over 12.

Between 12 and 15.

And he met his wife here.

I hire tall people to
save me money on ladders.

He is one of them.

So I call him respectively
my right and left arm.

[upbeat music]

- So theoretically we should
never have to use our equipment

for anything other
than stuff that I...[inaudible]

- Right.
- Okay.

- Derek. Derek.

That was driving
me nuts tonight.

Customers don't know how
to turn off their lights.

They don't know how to
turn off their dome lights,

when they open their
dome lights or, I mean,

when they open their hatch,
the dome lights come on,

you can't get 'em to turn off.

They don't know how to put
their car in accessory mode.

There needs to be a
drive-in packet that's given

to all new car owners. [laughs]

- Counting what
we made today. $5.

The rest goes to the movie
studios. We gotta love them.

- Come on.

- Do we have any boxes?

[people chattering]

You know, I'm always afraid
of trying something new

and alienating customers.

My chat with customers tonight,
they liked it. You know...

Might not have been my style
of music at the beginning,

but that band said

they had 25 kids lined up
to buy merch from them.

I didn't see it. I
don't understand it.

But they were jumping
up and down happy.

- Last Friday was holiday
weekend and we had

brand new movies.

So to be up, I'm
pretty happy with that.

Very happy with that.

We should have been
down about 25%.

So maybe bringing the
music in made a difference.

[upbeat music]

- Hello, how many
have we got in there?

- Two.
- What movie

are you going to see?

- It's just become part
of life and I've just kind

of jumped into it and drive-in
is in our conversation

at home and here all the time.

I wonder what other
drive-ins are doing.

It's just a part of
everything we do.

We kind of think
about the drive-in

and all these lights on here.

If someone had made these
with the Harvest Moon logo

on there for our lighting.

- Some of the short staffing
issues can be a problem.

And then there's the
unruly customers.

We talked about
like the policies

with COVID that they
didn't wanna comply with

and things like that.

This season hasn't been
too bad for that though,

'cause our attendance
has been down.

Obviously there's the
hope that it holds

out for the future so she
can be part of the business

as she grows up and work here
and then eventually own it.

But in the same sense,

I don't know the
longevity of it any more

with everything going on.

And I've seen more older
owners trying to get out,

especially this
season, selling off,

whether to retire or just
done with the business,

'cause the way the
market's been, it's such,

it's not holding
like it used to,

in what they were
used to as the norm.

So now it's all up in the
air on whether you're gonna

have a good season, bad
season or no season.

[uplifting music]

- All right. So it's as
good as it's gonna get.

It's a flat movie,
which will be brighter.

So let's go see
what it looks like.

It does look better
from down there,

but I am gonna wait
just a little bit more.

Let's see.

- 23 come in.
- Go ahead.

- How's it look down there?
I'm up in the office.

- Man...
- [chuckles] Received.

I'll wait a little more.

So this is the
oggiest night I've had

in probably three
years, I can now say.

So we're gonna wait a
little while longer.

Later than we had
intended. That's all right.

Rather have a better picture.

National anthem is on
the screen at 8:34.

[gentle music]

But it's part of the
drive-in experience.

- It's finding a perfect
storm place though.

- Do you have-
- Maybe in the movie.

- Do you get any fog
out there? Like here?

- Once in a blue moon
we have that issue.

- This is as bad as we've
had in probably three years.

So it's not a normal occasion.

I mean it's occasions for
us to get some fog but not

as bad as this.

- I love seeing theaters
- [laughs] Likewise.

- One of the best part
of being a drive-in owner

is the community.

- Yeah, we are very
close for sure.

Very tight knit. We're very
open book to each other.

- Oh yeah.
- At all times.

- Yeah.

- On all our calls, all our
visits, convention, everything.

- And it's funny how
it's so much similar,

like the business, I
was talking to some

of your employees and they
were kind of describing some

of the issues we're
having and it's like

we're completely other side...

Way down south.

Yeah. Other side of the
country practically.

Having the same exact
issues with it, so...

[gentle music]

- I'm here so much.

I'm here between 20,
40, 50 hours a week,

sometimes more than that.

So I love being with
my family, basically,

everybody up here is my family.

I met the love of
my life here working

at the drive-in too.

So yeah, I'm Coyote
all the way. I love it.

The money's not the best
but my job is the best.

Stress of this place or
just different things,

would run people
off, but not for me.

For me, I just love it. There's
new challenges every day.

Every day seems like I
learn something else here.

I definitely learn something
more about people every day.

Everybody here kinda
is, I call 'em my kids,

because they are, seems like
I gotta help take care of 'em.

For sure. I do my best
to look out for 'em too.

I will not let 'em get
cussed out by the customers

and stuff like that.

I'll definitely step in,

won't let 'em to get degraded.

People are gonna get upset
about scenarios a little

bit and speak to you
negatively and a little bit

of that I'll take
and let happen.

But if they start cursing
or just demeaning them

in any way, I will,

I'll stop that very quickly
and definitely remove 'em

from the drive-in
theater for sure.

I've had to do that quite
a bit for people cussing

at 15 year old kids and
16 year old kids or making

negative comments towards 'em

or sexual comments towards
'em, we've had to remove 'em

from the property.

I'm actually in my '40s

so I've been to quite
a few of the drive-ins.

My mom would bring us, we
would pop our own popcorn too,

bring in our own
outside food products

to these drive-ins growing up.

But yes, we would go
to scary movies too.

They would do like double
features and the scarier

movie would usually
be the second movie.

So I spent a lot of
time growing up going

to drive-in theaters here
in Fort Worth and then some

of the ones that were
outside of Fort Worth too.

So it's kind of in my blood
a little bit, I guess.

I still think about it
when we're popping popcorn

in there and putting the
popcorn into the boxes,

about my mom doing
it on the stove

and these big poppers
and then just pouring

it into those paper bags.

It was so, it's just brings
back so many memories there.

I lost my mom this year,

and I do believe that without
Coyote drive-in I don't

know where I would be,

like, they helped me
really get through that.

I spent a lot of
time coming here.

I didn't take any time off.

I actually came here the
day at the funeral too

'cause this is my family
and I spent more of my time

here and I really needed that.

It was a big loss in my life.
She meant so much to me.

And without the drive-in I
don't know where I would be.

I really don't. I don't
know where I would be.

[gentle music]

- We got hit once by that
wind shear hit it and took

out a quarter of the screen
and tipped over my marquee,

completely over
on the side once.

And we had rebuilt that,

but some of that is
because it was rotten,

and it just needed
to be rebuilt.

When we bought it, it was
pretty much put together,

held together with
baling wire. [laughs]

But I put a lot of
money in getting

it to look good and
be strong, and it is,

it's in good shape.

And we have to get
that screen painted

about every four years because
of the hail that hits it,

chips it away.

It's all wood covered
in sheet metal. Yeah.

Back in the day, they would
either blow down or burn down

and then they'd put
'em back up with steel,

which is so impersonal, it's
just, that's not attractive.

That's not what a drive-in's
all about. The old-timey look.

[people chattering]

Yeah, I would like
to sell and pass

it on to a younger
family and let them have

it for at least 20 years.

But I don't know if
that's gonna happen

because the land values
are getting higher versus

what the business is worth.

But if you got in there
and really marketed it,

it would be better.

'Cause when I bought it didn't
do this kind of business.

The couple were older and
they were wanting to retire

and so I marketed it
because my kids were young,

and really worked hard,

but now I'm where
they are, were,

and I'm wanting somebody
else to take it over.

[gentle music]

- I was just here
last night seeing

"Groundhog Day," so it's
been twice for me this week.

I love the open air. I just
love the vibe in general.

The first film I ever went
to see on a big screen was

at a drive-in.

So they're very special to me.

And the Mission Tiki has an
amazing concession stand.

I can grab a taco and
burrito and watch a movie.

I think it's the only place
that I could do that I know of.

- It's like going back in
time to see the drive-in,

and once you're in here,

a lot of the different
things that are going on now,

especially the negative
or stressful things don't

exist once you're in here.

- I think that one of the
positives that will come

out of this whole situation
is more people will go

to drive-ins, that maybe
hadn't gone before.

It's common knowledge
that we sold this property

to a developer who's
gonna build a tech-centric

business park here.

They paid us a substantial
amount of money,

more money than we
could make operating

the drive-in
theater in 25 years.

- Oh, well, that's,
yeah, that's a bummer.

I guess I'll have to
enjoy the time here

as much as I can. [laughs]

Yeah... Oh.

[upbeat music]

- We're fine, somehow.
- You've made sure.

- Yeah.

They've usually forgotten
that they actually order

them by the time
we bring them out.

So it's like somehow this is
some big magical surprise.

Right?

That's there?
- Yeah.

- [Employee] There's
still dishes in there.

- It'd be awesome. Thank you.

Make sure everybody gets
a chance to get a Dude.

So yeah, I did save
a few for tomorrow.

So that's why we have
some more evergreen ones.

So at least if people
really want a cookie,

they can get our neon
sign, which they like too.

- I should be getting
better at like being able

to calculate like, okay,

we have this many people
for this sort of movie,

that this ephemeral,

I should know that's like,
we're gonna sell that.

I can't do that kind of math.

- The big thing about tonight
too is we had so many people,

it was their first
time here, which,

that always just excites me
when it's someone's first time.

- And now we're starting
to see some new faces.

Tonight was the first
night I saw a couple

of our regulars for the
first time in like two years.

Combination of pandemic and
babies and all sorts of stuff.

So it's nice when we
see the next generation.

Hey Lee, we don't have any more

of the infant onesies, right?

- Any more of the what?
- Infant onesies?

Just for Antonia and...

- Oh, good call. Let me check.

Do you have the key, Ben?

- Okay.

[gentle music]

- I thought it would
really be fun to spend

our retirement at a drive-in.

I didn't realize that we
would spend our retirements

on a drive-in as
well, but here we are.

So...

- [laughs] It is really
truly out of stubbornness

and maybe stupidity,
I don't know,

that we're standing
here today and-

- I'm willing to
try anything once,

twice if it doesn't
kill me. [laughs]

- Yeah, we, my goal was to
show my boys that if you have

a dream, you can build it.

And we'd been talking
about it so long,

even with our older kids,

and we just didn't wanna
be one of those people

that it just became
like, oh, someday,

and it never happens.

And we just saw the opportunity
and figured with both

of our talents, we really
could make it happen.

I don't think it's
quite gone off as well

as we had thought for
these first two months,

I mean, weather and the
new movie release schedule,

but we've made it work,

and I mean we try to
keep a positive attitude.

- You know, there
are a lot of things

that I kind of pigheadedly

tried to do all on
my own for a while.

There's 11 acres of grass that
need to be mowed every week.

I've got a 54 inch
riding lawn mower.

That was what we could fit

in the car when we were
buying that equipment.

I finally hired that out this
last couple of weeks and...

[laughs] Sam comes
on Tuesday to mow,

or Wednesday, depending
on the weather.

- The biggest thing
for us was meeting all

the other owners.

A few were standoffish at first,

but most of them welcomed
us with open arms and they-

- As soon as they found out
where we were gonna build.

- Yeah, as long as-
[Jeff laughing]

- And I get it, I
totally get it now.

Those are the only people
I talk to any more 'cause

I'm like, I know they're up.

[gentle music]

- Yeah. But yeah, it
does that sometimes.

Like you'll just
randomly get surprised,

like usually some days
are kind of laid back,

not as many people.

- Yeah, definitely
not like this.

- Yeah. So this was kind
of a surprise tonight.

If I see it need to be done,
I'll just hop in and help.

Like, I was just down in
box office helping get

that line down a little
bit ago, so, it just,

if I see it need to be done,
I just hop in and just,

you know what, here we go,
let's just get this done.

And everybody's like,
oh I hate doing popcorn.

It's so hot right here. But
that's what I started out doing.

So, like I still have a little,

probably can't even see it now,

but there's a little scar right
across my pinky right here.

It was super busy one night,

just dumping one
kettle after another,

putting more popcorn up
under the heat lamps,

and my hand had just gotten
sweaty and everything

and I grabbed a hold
of that handle to dump

it and my hand just slipped
right into the kettle.

It was blistered to-
- Hurts?

- Huh?

- What hurts is when a kernel
pops out of the kettle-

- And go down your shirt?
- It sticks...

- Drive-ins have had to
completely reinvent themselves

time after time after time.

And I think we're going through
a reinvention process now.

Now, one thing that I have
always done personally

and a lot of the older
owners have always done,

is we look back on history,
what was done in 1962 when,

you know, the first,

very first color
televisions came along.

How do we combat that?

And we used that in the '80s,

when HBO, Cinemamax, the
cable television came along.

We used little tricks
that were done back

in the '60s,
duplicated in the '80s.

Well some of that
won't work today.

We have to reinvent again.

And because the pandemic
was something nobody has

ever seen before,
that's never happened.

We're having to kind of
find our place and figure

out where to go.

There's nothing to look back
on in history and say, well,

we can do this,
it worked before.

That doesn't exist.

So we're gonna have to
find our place and move

forward from there.

I don't think it's the end
of the world by any means.

I think drive-ins
have a bright future,

but we just have to
find our place...

- Because it's been busy
the last couple nights,

because Friday and Saturdays
we've run out of strawberries,

we ran out of nacho
cheese tonight.

Yeah, we need chips,
cheese, strawberries,

maybe powdered sugar.

I think we have two
cases of powdered sugar.

A lot of people just get
regular powdered sugar,

but a lot of people want
chocolate syrup or they want

the strawberry topping on their
funnel cake and everything.

- Yeah, chocolate too.

- Yeah, we might be low on
chocolate. I'll have to check.

- We have no intention
of going anywhere.

We're gonna stay right where
we are. Keep moving forward.

I mean this is not
the first tragedy

that's ever happened and it
won't be the last, I mean,

we'll just deal with it.

Tomorrow's another day.

♪ We're going to the drive-in
on a Saturday night ♪

♪ We're meeting up
with the girls and
we'll be out of sight ♪

♪ 'Cause Danny likes Pam
and Susie likes Freddie ♪

♪ 'Cause Johnny and Ginny
are already going steady ♪

♪ Ooh, ah, we're going
to the drive-in ♪

- So I'm not sure how
good this will work being

is how we don't have much
reception out here without WiFi.

But this is our
current situation.

We got some water.

So we're just kinda
out here waiting to see

if it's receding, which
it has gone down already

a few inches since
we've been out here.

It was coming up rapidly
before, but it's going down now.

We're happy to be here.
We're still standing.

We've survived so many
years where we shouldn't

have continued on.

We're pretty confident
we'll see the sun rise again

and it'll be back
to where we were.

[upbeat music]

- There was the one in Chardan,

I think it's called the Midway.

It was breathtaking.

This is like the best form
of entertainment as a kid.

It's memories that
people will keep forever.

And I seen all those
people there were

there for that reason,
to create those memories.

And I, it, sorry, I
fell in love with it.

So it changed my life.

That night it was like
an infusion in me too,

to bring it back,
to make it happen.

I didn't know how I was
gonna make it happen,

but I knew I was going to,

I knew it's gonna take
a lot of money to do it.

How do I, how?

I've been in the business
of auto mechanics

for, at the time, 15 years.

And I just figured, well,

if I own my own shop then maybe,

maybe I'll make enough
money to build a drive-in.

We came across the old
Denniston drive-in,

the Denniston closed in 1985.

But when we found it-
- Thank you.

- It was it. We
knew we were home.

It had closed, it had never,

nothing had ever been
built on it since.

Mother nature completely
took the place over.

The fact that we were not
only building something

of history, we were building a
part of history, that, to us,

which, this is Don by the way,

that, to us, was
the cherry on top.

We're bringing
back one that was,

that all the locals have
memories of going to.

- Peace.

- So that's where we
came up with a name

Memory Lane drive-in.

[laughs] Everybody
kept asking me,

how you gonna build a drive-in?

And what do you know about that?

I don't know anything about it,

but I'm gonna figure it out.

The kids that we see, the
families that we see out here,

the first time I see the kids
playing on the playground,

my back don't hurt no more.

Like, the all the anguish
and all the mental abuse

that I took and it just
pretty much just faded away.

- For that playground.

- That's why we wanted
to build a drive-in,

because we needed it.

And as crazy as this
world has gotten,

we need to rewind the
clock a little bit.

So this is our contribution.

It may not be inventing the
internet or cure for cancer,

but this is what I got
to bring to the world,

and Don, and I think we're
both damn proud of it.

- [Person] Tilt on the screen.

- This place turned
out really nice.

- It's gorgeous.
- Was so small...

[gentle music]

- Funnel Cake is,
works real well for us.

What got it really going is
this when the smell would

come through the thing and
it would just attract people.

Last year it was
all retro movies,

and we did rather well
with them because we were

the only show in town.

This year, the releases by
Hollywood are being done

in conjunction with them
also data streaming.

So that kind of cuts
the crowd a bit.

- Yeah, we had a storm.

- Friday, we did okay.

- Yeah, we did well on Friday.

No sell out, but
no, we did well.

- Actually, Friday was the
highest number to date,

and to me it's a little more.

- That sort of thing. Yeah.

- But I'm not alone. We're
all in this together.

- Yes, we are.

- When things finally do
settle down and everyone's

pulled out of this,
that, the industry,

who knows it'll if it'll
go back to what it was

two years ago.

But we feel a little bit
optimistic about that.

- If you take care of it and
keep it up, people will come.

Myself and my wife
have owned it for 27,

have worked it for 55 years.

It was always my dream
to own a drive-in.

So dreams do come true.

I just hope that all
theaters fight to keep

their audiences and,
basically, to survive.

We need the theater
business to keep going.

We gotta all get in
this together and fight.

It's just time for someone
else to take the helm

of it and go with it.

And I just hope that they
keep up to the same standards.