Summer Movie Series Line-Up Unveiled

One of the highlights of the summer months in Columbus, Ohio for the past nearly four decades has been CAPA's Summer Movie Series, which unspools classic movies from all eras of cinematic history on the big screen of the beautiful, historic Ohio Theatre in the heart of downtown. This year's series is the biggest yet, with 24 classic films being screened between June 16 and August 27, including two classic silent movies, as well as two Saturday morning screening of classic theatrical cartoons.

The line-up for the 2006 Series includes some of the greatest films ever made, such as Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz and National Lampoon's Animal House. I can see that I will taking the bus downtown quite a bit. You know that I'll be there for Casablanca, 'cause there is no way I'm going to pass up a chance to see my all time favorite movie the way it was meant to be seen and with a crowd of people who appreciate the film as much as I do. (I'll leave my 8 year old niece, who told me the movie "sucks" at home.) I'll also be in attendance for Citizen Kane, Animal House, and Wizard of Oz. As many times as I've seen Oz, I have never seen it in a theater. There are also a couple of films I've never seen at all, like the James Dean classic Giant and Chinatown, the noir classic with Jack Nicholson, that I might check out. One of the silent offerings features Harold Lloyd, one of the all time greats of silent film comedy and certainly looks worth trekking downtown for.

As you can tell, I consider the opportunity to see films that I've only seen on TV on the big screen at last to be one of the major selling points of the series. Another big one is the price. Tickets are only $3.50 ($3.00 for you old farts) and a strip of ten can be purchased for the bargain price of $21.50, a savings of $8.50, or roughly 2 1/3 flicks free. For great movies and an air conditioned respite from the summer heat in a beautiful old theatre complete with live organ music before the shows and during intermission, as well as accompanying the silent films, plus special events and giveaways on Friday nights that's a heckuva bargain.