The Death of a Legend

A legend sometimes involves a powerful distortion of fact. It often elevates its subject to stratospheric heights thus solidifying its "legendary" status. But today, I speak of a past location where magic took place. The subject of this post had no involvement with fact distortion. This place became the legend it is today, only after it was wiped off the map. It is mentioned off and on in the DFW Fanforce forum. It was THE place to go to watch movies. To experience the cinema. General Cinema, that is. The Northpark General Cinema I & II is a legend. It is a Dallas legend that is revered for its excellence. It is a once mighty pinnacle of the American cinematic experience. It's truly a shame that it no longer exists. To date, very few cinemas in the Dallas area can even come close to the perfect picture and THX sound that the Northpark I & II produced. In my mind, the only cinema that can equal the visual quality would be the DLP theater in Cinemark Legacy of Plano, TX. The only cinema that could match the sound quality was the Galaxy 10 theater of Garland, TX. I say "was" because they lost their THX license. Their best audio presentation ever was with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. To this day, not one single theater I've been to has ever even come close. I was so blown away by the perfection of audio that I shun just about every new movie I watch with contempt at its unworthy audio. But back to the real hero here, the Northpark General Cinema 1 was where I saw Titanic. Man oh man, when the ship started to break up, the cracking of the floorboards and the breaking of dishes just shook me to the core! I felt like I was inside the ship as the destruction commenced. WOW! And the film picture was so crystal clear, the accuracy was phenomenal!

Unfortunately, most audiences just don't care for quality. Let's face it, when it comes to the cinema, we certainly don't hold a candle to Cannes. Most don't demand a quality cinematic experience. Most are content to just buy some popcorn, see the flick, babble incessantly about this and that and go back to their daily lives, unmoved by the cinematic jem that was just ruined by the theater's lack of quality and the moviegoer's lack of high standards.

As ticket prices steadily rise higher and higher, so to must our demand for the best possible quality presentation. The movie makers are constantly upping the ante in terms of movie magic. It's up to the theater owners to convey that magic to us in the best possible means.

Follow this link for a rare inside glimps of the perfection that was Northpark General Cinema I & II:
View the Legend