Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Suspicious Bag Prompts Evacuation of Dark Knight Rises Showing at AMC Mission Valley

Have you ever been involved in a movie theater bomb scare? A screening of The Birth of a Nation that I helped to arrange for a college film society in Chicago was met with threats of violence. (The caller said that a bomb had been placed in the women's restroom.) Two off-duty Chicago policemen did everything short of frisking the audience as they entered.

The premiere of The Last Temptation of Christ brought out every religious nutjob in the Windy City. The Biograph Theatre had received so many threats they were forced to position four armed security officers in each corner of the auditorium during every showing the day it opened.

The closest I ever came to feeling a threat to my life while watching a movie had to do with a canister of fireworks some goon set off during a July 5, 1975, presentation of Clint Eastwood’s Bronco Billy.

Needless to say, all of the above mentioned incidents ended peacefully and took place long before some erudite Bozo-haired fanboy decided to make a name for himself by killing 12 people and wounding 58 others at a theater in Aurora, Colorado.

It wasn't long before the diseased copycat cockroaches began crawling out of the tivoli lights, causing more panic among moviegoers. Last Saturday night, during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises at AMC Mission Valley, a San Diego audience had a joker of their own to contend with.

Approximately two hours into the 8pm screening, the houselights went up and an employee entered the auditorium asking that the theater be cleared. U-T San Diego staff reporter Jonathan Horn was in the audience. According to the paper, "A worker was later overheard saying that a suspicious-looking bag had been spotted inside one theater showing The Dark Knight Rises."

The interruption lasted five minutes before the audience was allowed to return and finish the picture.

I love it when art shows that is still has a capacity to piss people off, but what happened in Colorado was not the work of an artist. The movies are our communal home and I'll be goddamned if I'm going to let a few headline-hogging sociopaths ruin it for the rest of us. It's bad enough that most of what shows on-screen is a bomb. We cannot allow threats and violence to keep us from going to the movies. Now, more than ever, is the time to get more out of life...go to a movie!

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/30/28788/

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Reader readers sound off about Encinitas cliffs

Not much sympathy for victims
Next Article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.

Have you ever been involved in a movie theater bomb scare? A screening of The Birth of a Nation that I helped to arrange for a college film society in Chicago was met with threats of violence. (The caller said that a bomb had been placed in the women's restroom.) Two off-duty Chicago policemen did everything short of frisking the audience as they entered.

The premiere of The Last Temptation of Christ brought out every religious nutjob in the Windy City. The Biograph Theatre had received so many threats they were forced to position four armed security officers in each corner of the auditorium during every showing the day it opened.

The closest I ever came to feeling a threat to my life while watching a movie had to do with a canister of fireworks some goon set off during a July 5, 1975, presentation of Clint Eastwood’s Bronco Billy.

Needless to say, all of the above mentioned incidents ended peacefully and took place long before some erudite Bozo-haired fanboy decided to make a name for himself by killing 12 people and wounding 58 others at a theater in Aurora, Colorado.

It wasn't long before the diseased copycat cockroaches began crawling out of the tivoli lights, causing more panic among moviegoers. Last Saturday night, during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises at AMC Mission Valley, a San Diego audience had a joker of their own to contend with.

Approximately two hours into the 8pm screening, the houselights went up and an employee entered the auditorium asking that the theater be cleared. U-T San Diego staff reporter Jonathan Horn was in the audience. According to the paper, "A worker was later overheard saying that a suspicious-looking bag had been spotted inside one theater showing The Dark Knight Rises."

The interruption lasted five minutes before the audience was allowed to return and finish the picture.

I love it when art shows that is still has a capacity to piss people off, but what happened in Colorado was not the work of an artist. The movies are our communal home and I'll be goddamned if I'm going to let a few headline-hogging sociopaths ruin it for the rest of us. It's bad enough that most of what shows on-screen is a bomb. We cannot allow threats and violence to keep us from going to the movies. Now, more than ever, is the time to get more out of life...go to a movie!

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/jul/30/28788/

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dozens Dead or Wounded After Gunman Opens Fire at Colorado Premiere of Dark Knight Rises

Next Article

4th row center: The Last Temptation of Christ

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader