2021 The Longest Bengies Season Ever, Part 1

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In part 1, I want to share what attending the Bengies Drive-In during the winter was like, typifying the post-pandemic can-do attitude of the management and staff. At the end of the December 2020, the Bengies was one of the few attractions for entertainment, indoors theaters being dark for months. We attended end-of-year shows, I wrote a year-end review, and thought the drive-in experience was stopping until spring. But the show must go on.

Winter Shows

As there was again minimal snow, the theater could book showings. But, there was minimal new content and oldies were getting stale. The Bengies worked with another group to schedule films that would have been shown at The Charles if their house was open.

January 4

The first double bill in 2021 went from sublime to ridiculous; we stayed through intermission and into a few minutes of Borat 2 before heading out.

One Night In Miami we'd watched as a play at Baltimore's Center Stage; the movie version came out broader and to me less intense.

January 24th I messaged that there would be two Fellini Films [La Strada and Juliet Of The Spirits. New restorations--in Italian with--English subtitles. Alas, incorrect information.

January 24

"Eight cars on the field so far"

"And the evening ends early since the films have no subtitles."

A Fellini film is often surreal; seeing it at the drive-in in January was also. Almost seeing a restored print was sublimely surreal.

February

Hitchcock I can watch any time, any number of times. Maybe not all perfection, never disappoints.

The marquee street view of the Hitchcock bill [Vertigo and Rear Window] is seen below in a "coming soon" crawl for the Revival Sunday; I got this double feature of classics on a bright February morning.

Ghost / When Harry Met Sally

I had seen the second a few times and the first none I could remember. I liked both even on re-run. The winter temperatures and humidity didn't fog up the car windows. We were inside for all these features, with plenty of blankets. Not a pleasant time for everyone though!

The next double feature, on February 16, was 42 (The Jackie Robinson Story), and Judas and The Black Messiah. Judas would be my number one movie choice for 2021. Amazing story, and true to the times as I can recall them.

March

The third month stayed on the warm side, no snow, and moderate rain. The partial marquee image shows Tom & Jerry alongside Wonder Woman 1984.

We managed to avoid seeing any of T&J, while enjoying every moment of Wonder Woman. Excellent escapism for the one-year anniversary of the pandemic outbreak. 

This recap doesn't have a Letterman-style top 10 countdown, as I already picked number one and everything else is number two. Though the 10 minutes of Italian was almost a zero.