The Projectionist
The Projectionist
| 05 June 1975 (USA)
The Projectionist Trailers

A projectionist bored with his everyday life begins fantasizing about his being one of the superheroes he sees in the movies he shows.

Reviews
Hellen

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Tedfoldol

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

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Aubrey Hackett

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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Portia Hilton

Blistering performances.

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Tad Pole

. . . THE PROJECTIONIST is the sort of hit-and-miss, brilliant-one-minute\mediocre-the-next, "all over the map" mash-up that every Tom, Dick, and Harry is doing on the internet nowadays. Chunky Chuck McCann as the title character has an (on-screen) imagination filled with Nazis, war, Ku Kluxers, riots, science fiction horror, lynchings, assassinations, machine-gun fire, Busby Berkeley female kaleidoscopic formations, gang fights, dinosaurs, explosions, cavalry charges, burning dirigibles, concentration camp carnage, super heroes, arch villains, crackpot evangelists, and nude chicks on bearskin rugs. Adolph Hitler features most prominently. References to actual movies are everywhere--on projectionist Fred C. Dobbs' big screen at the Palace Theater, on his film poster-papered apartment walls, and on the marquees of the sidewalks he haunts while off-duty. His brain is filled with snippets from dozens of movies sampled here (director Harry Hurwitz sometimes needs to split the screen five ways to cram everything in). McCann as Dobbs "does" Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, and James Stewart, among others. Did this obscure flick "inspire" Monty Python, Benny Hill, Laugh-In, That was the Week That Was, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and BE KIND, REWIND? Who is to know?

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Charles Herold (cherold)

Odd little movie about a dumpy projectionist who wanders around not doing much but fantasizing about movies, imagining himself as a superhero and making up stories for friends about his love life. The film is predominately film clips strung together as rather uninteresting collages.I've seen this movie described as one you have to love if you're a film buff. Well, I'm a film buff, and I recognized tons of the clips, and I found the movie quite tedious. The film collages seemed pointless and rather pretentious (especially when you start getting a lot of Hitler footage). The superhero section aims to be a comedic silent take of old movie serials, but the physical humor invariably falls flat.I don't see this movie as something for film buffs. I see it as something for people who like somewhat arty films that reference movies, which is something else altogether.

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petelush

There have been movies before and after The Projectionist that tear down film's equivalent of Theatre's fourth wall by lifting the barrier between the movie and the real world. Buster Keaton did it most brilliantly in Sherlock Jr. (1924, 44 mins., also featuring a projectionist), and Woody Allen pulled off a reversal (character steps out of the screen) in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Steve Martin duked it out with Cagney and others in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982). The Projectionist is an amusing and annoying combination of a sweet schlub played by Chuck McCann, very reminiscent of John Candy, Rodney Dangerfield's film debut as a dictatorial movie theatre manager given to delivering incredible dressing-down speeches at his hapless ushers (shades of Full Metal Jacket), a nostalgic look at Times Square before it became "Times Square", and a melding of our hero with his screen idols, including his eye-popping drop-in at Rick's Cafe Americain. So what's to be annoyed at? A running super-hero theme is weak, and once you realize it will return again and again it's stomach tightening time while you anticipate the enjoyable sequences being interrupted by this underwritten motif. But without question The Projectionist is not to be missed in a time when imagination has been sucked out of Hollywood. And so I appreciated this film last night even more than when I saw it in a theatre 31 years ago, not excluding a hilarious trailer for a faux end-of-the-world flick that's a little too predictive of 9/11 for comfort.

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zmaturin

"The Projectionist" is a witty, clever, creative fantasy that deserves a large underground following. The simple tale tells of Chuck McCann (played by, er, Chuck McCann) who is the projectionist at the local uniplex. His life is pretty uneventful, and most of his time is spent watching, quoting, and generally living deep, deep inside movies.His boring every day life gives way to wonderfully shot black and white fantasy sequences in which Chuck becomes Captain Flash, super superhero and all around nice guy, who must save the world from the Bat (Rodney Dangerfield) and his army of Nazi stock footage.The fantasy sequences look great, really capturing the look of a silent movie serial. The scenes mix real old movie footage with the new stuff seamlessly, looking fantastic. There is another fantasy sequence, in which Chuck tells about a women he met & fell in love with, also shot in black and white, that is sweet and very reminiscent of Woody Allen's "Stardust Memories".McCann is a wonderful talent, mixing impersonations, physical comedy, and a surprising tenderness that would almost be heart-breaking if the movie didn't remain upbeat. Rodney Dangerfield is superb also. He doubles as McCann's boss in the "real" world as well as the villainous Bat in Captain Flash's world. Dangerfield's character is a miserly control freak, and Dangerfield never breaks character to crack a joke or anything- he remains slimy and unlikable in a professional performance altogether missing from his starring roles (not to undermine the subtle nuances of "Meet Wally Sparks").My only complaint is that the color reality sequences don't live up to the day-dream scenes, but they too look great and gritty, a real great contrast to the fantasy scenes.I whole-heatedly endorse "The Projectionist" as a fine, entertaining art film disguised as a comedy that makes few mistakes in it's character study of a lonely, good natured man mired in pop culture.

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